Is there a way to do this in iLogic? (Create a set of rotated planes)

[chris]

Here's what I am trying to do, I'd like to create a set of rotated planes, that can be user defined for the number of planes, I will consider "Y" to be the "UP" direction and the XY plane will be considered "0 deg", all other planes will rotate based off the XY plane, and each plane will rotate the same angle from all other planes.

I'm trying to follow along with the attached tutorial:

Example:

I want 35 planes, each rotated at 10 from 0, or I could decide I want 72 planes, each would be rotated 5 deg from 0, I can't think of an easy way to auto create planes if I decide I want more, without creating 360 planes and turning off the one I don't need.

However, once a plane is created, If I then choose a smaller number of planes I don't want to delete any of the previously created planes, as they may have sketches on them, I'd rather just turn those off along with their sketches, if possible?

I assume there is a way to do this, I just can think of how to do it, I could use some help

[chris]

I'm following the exercise, but obviously Inventor is not Rhino/Grasshopper, so everything has to be manually setup, rotated, sketched, etc. but I do have some slider controls in a form 

[WCrihfield]

Creating a series of WorkPlanes that are all rotated around a single central axis is not a problem, but then when you start talking about 'reducing the number of them without deleting any of them', that is contradictory.  How is it possible to reduce the number of items in a collection without getting rid of any of them?  Maybe instead of creation & deletion of WorkPlanes directly, you could use a 'circular pattern' feature, with a single original WorkPlane as input, to pattern the WorkPlanes needed.  Then, suppress the ones you don't need to see/use.  If doing this in an assembly, instead of a part, you could have a part that only contains a single visible WorkPlane.  Then use a circular pattern of that component.  With that type of pattern, not only can you suppress elements of it, but you can also make elements of it 'independent' of the pattern.

[chris]

@WCrihfield That is what I tried first, but because this design requires each "next" sketch to be Height-(pipe diameter * plane number), it quickly got out of hand, I thought I would try it as a single part with multiple solids. But I will give the assembly a go again. Each part is different, both in height and diameter, and each part needs to match a specific sketch profile to also match a specific plane number, so they can all sit inside of each other, regardless of the spline shape

[WCrihfield]

Interesting challenge, but not really something I have any use for, and unfortunately my time is short right now, because I'm about to leave for the long holiday weekend, so not enough time to really dig into that deep it right now.  I still have a couple other 'work relates' things to get done too.  Looking at how that other software works kind of makes my head hurt.  Extremely different from the handful of other design software I have used before.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  All have their 'pros & cons', with some being better for specific tasks than others, while not being as good for certain other tasks, in comparison.  Hopping around among multiple design tools can be a bit too cumbersome though.  Each one I have worked with, I thought was clumsy and awkward at first.  Then, the longer I work with them, the more I learn about them, and the better I get at using them, and the more I know that can be done with them, and so on.  Have a good weekend, and good luck with this.

[C_Haines_ENG]

You mean like, a circular pattern?

Sub Main

	Dim oDoc As PartDocument = ThisDoc.Document

	Dim oPlaneNUM As Integer = InputBox("Enter # Of Planes", "Plane Generator", "2")

	Dim oPlane As WorkPlane = oDoc.ComponentDefinition.WorkPlanes("XY Plane")
	Dim oAxis As WorkAxis = oDoc.ComponentDefinition.WorkAxes("X Axis")

	Dim oCollection As ObjectCollection = ThisApplication.TransientObjects.CreateObjectCollection
	oCollection.Add(oPlane)

	Dim oCirclePatternDef As CircularPatternFeatureDefinition = oDoc.ComponentDefinition.Features.CircularPatternFeatures.CreateDefinition(oCollection, _
	oAxis, True, oPlaneNUM, "360 deg", True)

	oDoc.ComponentDefinition.Features.CircularPatternFeatures.AddByDefinition(oCirclePatternDef)

End Sub