Eaglerulez Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Hi there, I was curious if it was possible to have all the objects in a symbol inherit the symbol's class. For instance I have a lot of truss symbols that typically reside in a "Truss" class. On larger projects I will make different truss classes. For instance "Truss-Downstage" "Truss-Upstage" etc. While the symbols themselves go into their respective classes the sub objects that actually make the truss are still stuck in the "Truss" class which can make selection and visibility a little awkward. Any thoughts on how to best overcome this? I pretty much want it so that if I put my truss symbol into the class "Truss-Downstage" everything associated with that symbol is assigned to that class. Thanks so much! Quote Link to comment
markdd Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 (edited) The short answer with Symbols is no. However, with regard to Truss objects, there is a mechanism in Spotlight Preferences called Modify Truss Object Color in the Loads and Rigging section which makes an exception to this rule and will allow the geometry of truss objects take on the Attribute properties of a Class or the Attributes palette itself. Edited January 7, 2021 by markdd Quote Link to comment
Eaglerulez Posted January 7, 2021 Author Share Posted January 7, 2021 7 minutes ago, markdd said: The short answer with Symbols is no. However, with regard to Truss objects, there is a mechanism in Spotlight Preferences called Modify Truss Object Color in the Loads and Rigging section which makes an exception to this rule and will allow the geometry of truss objects take on the Attribute properties of a Class or the Attributes palette itself. Thank you. The problem isn't so much the attributes, it's the fact that I like to select classes and leave myself in "Show Snap/Others" so that I do not accidentally interact with other objects on my drawing. What I run into when doing this is that I can't really drag my truss symbols because I can't select the lines and geometry that comprise the symbol since it is in another class. I mean worst case I can select in "Show Snap/Others" and then move things around in "Show/Snap/Modify Others" but wondering if there are any other work arounds/approaches to this. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment
markdd Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Maybe the thing to think about is using layers for this instead. Each Truss or area that you want to isolate is on a different design layer. I often use the "Show others" Layer option and then use the Activate Layer Right-click command to toggle layers when moving around the drawing area. If you do use the Show Snap others option with Classes, try reducing the number of Snap to Object points to just a couple in the Smartcursor settings. By default, they are all on, but there is a choice of seven and eight and I often find that reducing down to just a couple makes a huge difference to the "busy-ness" of the SnartCursor. Quote Link to comment
Eaglerulez Posted January 7, 2021 Author Share Posted January 7, 2021 1 minute ago, markdd said: Maybe the thing to think about is using layers for this instead. Each Truss or area that you want to isolate is on a different design layer. I often use the "Show others" Layer option and then use the Activate Layer Right-click command to toggle layers when moving around the drawing area. If you do use the Show Snap others option with Classes, try reducing the number of Snap to Object points to just a couple in the Smartcursor settings. By default, they are all on, but there is a choice of seven and eight and I often find that reducing down to just a couple makes a huge difference to the "busy-ness" of the SnartCursor. Yes thank you! I thought about using layers, my problem is that I find I have to be fairly methodical with my layer order for things to stack properly and have found that to be a little limiting/difficult to deal with when working with a client who is changing things on the fly. My problem isn't so much the busyness of the smart cursor. It's just that I literally can't select any of my symbol geometry in "Show/Snap" because all of the geometry is technically in another class still. Quote Link to comment
markdd Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Have you tried turning on the Center Line for the truss objects. That gives you geometry that is easily selectable.... Are you working in 2D or 3D btw Quote Link to comment
Boh Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 I can see what you want but I think using the “show/snap others” class settings rather than the “show/snap/modify others” is holding you up. I suggest changing your workflow and find other ways of avoiding unintended edits to other objects. There is the option to lock objects or just pay close attention to the pre-selection highlighting of objects before editing to make sure you only select objects you want to select. That said if you delete the “Truss” class then you can reassign all objects in that class to another class such as the “Truss/upstage” class. You would then however have to go through and edit all the symbols in the Symbols in the truss/downstage class so that all the geometry was in the truss/downstage class also. Quote Link to comment
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