3D Modeling Special Interest Group – October 2018

3D Modeling Special Interest Group October 2018
In this session, we demonstrated creating hybrid objects, creating footings for a building slab by using the Extrude Along Path command, and changing Title Block styles.

Topics covered:

• 00:10 We started with a blank file and a discussion about hybrid objects. One challenge with extruded objects is that they don’t have a solid fill in a 2D view. Turning the extrusion into an Auto Hybrid is a quick solution to this problem. However, there is another question to consider: Are you going to reuse the object in the same project or on future projects? If so, you’ll want to turn the object into a symbol. If the object—its height, width, size—is unique to that project, don’t make it into a symbol. With symbols, where you place the insertion point is critical. We discussed where you should place it depending on your use for the object and covered whether to make the symbol page-based or world-based. A helpful characteristic of symbols is that if you make a change to one, all the instances of that symbol in your file automatically update. We demonstrated changing a 3D symbol into a hybrid symbol by adding a 2D representation to it. Sometimes, you might not want to change a 3D symbol into a hybrid because then it won’t follow a slope—a hardscape, a site model, a roof—when you insert it.
• 13:12 Someone had a problem rotating 3D letters that they had imported into Vectorworks, which led
  us to experiment with text in Vectorworks. We played with the Text Along Path command—you can choose to preserve or scale the height and width of the text. There’s an option on the Object Info palette to change the text into 3D extrusions. You can even rotate the text around the path. It’s a really flexible text command. We experimented with a 3D car, seeing how it doesn’t rotate to a surface as a hybrid symbol, but automatically rotates as just a 3D object. Vectorworks 2019 has a Generate 2D from 3D Component command, but as soon as we used the command on the 3D car, it no longer rotated to match the surface.
• 24:18 We looked at the new Component Edit function, which allows you not only to edit the 2D top view of a symbol, but also the 2D component for every other view. You can determine what the view is going to be in a viewport regardless of what the 3D model is showing. Maybe you want to use a complex 3D object in your model, but want a simpler view of the object on your drawings.
• 35:34 Next, we covered how to create footings by using the Extrude Along Path command. We drew our path along the edge of the slab and created the outline of the footing that we wanted. One challenge in using the Extrude Along Path command is that the path always goes through the middle of the object. Invariably, you’ll need to edit the profile and possibly the path. We used the Add 3D Object to Slab command to combine the footing and the slab. You can create an indentation in the slab, such as what you might want for a shower, with the Subtract 3D Object from Slab command. The only problem with this method is that the footing won’t automatically update with the slab if you change the size of the slab—one solution is to edit the path used for the Extrude Along Path process. I recommend creating the footing at the very end of your project. We demonstrated using wall objects, instead of extrusions, to construct footings. Wall objects are easier to change.
• 52:15 We finished the session by discussing title blocks and demonstrating how to use the Title Block Manager and how to change a Title Block style into something that works for you. Because we were using a Title Block style, changes made in the Title Block Layout window happened automatically

3D Modeling October 2018

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