Adjustable Family parameters

[Anonymous]

hello,

im trying to create a parametric lighting fixture family and i want to create adjustable pipes and control their number and their height and location.

1.how can i align circle extrusion middle line to reference line? its probable very easy but i didnt find a way. (picture 1)

2. how can i control the amount of pipes visible, and how can i move them up and to the sides (while aligned to the first picture axis), what i want is to control them with instance and grabbing them in plan view for example (picture 2 describes what i want to acheive).

thanks

12

[piotr.bocian]

Hi,

1) You can use MOVE and/or ALIGN tool.

2) To control amount of the objects use ARRAY tool with assigned integer parameter, but if you need to control height of the pipes, they need to be done in nested family and constrained with length parameter, which will be mapped to a length parameter in main family.

[Anonymous]

i know how to align and move, it's just that i cant snap to the middle axis of the circle extrusion so my circle extrusion doesnt align to the middle of the lighting fixture profile.

about the number of the elements, basically i can use array, but the array has fixed distances which i dont necessarily need, i want the distances be adjustable from the model(like an instance parameter that you can grab and move).

[piotr.bocian]

Sure, you can achieve that.

Edit extrusion, select circle and in properties window select center mark visible - it will be visible only in editor mode, but you can use it to make constrains.

After array align and lock the first and the second object to reference planes and you will be able to adjust distance by parameter.

[cyrankam]

(1) If I can make a suggestion, do not use extrusion for hangers / pipes whatever that is. Make a separate family (Generic Model or similar) with parametric cylinder, then insert that family to your lighting fixture family. You will find it much easer to manipulate, align and control that way.

(2) To control the amount of pipes you will need an array, mind that the distances between your pipes will always be equal. Alternatively if you have given, and small amount of types (for instance 2, 3 or 4 pipes) you could get away with hiding unnecessary objects with visibility parameter.

[piotr.bocian]

1) As I wrote earlier, to be able to control dimensions of objects in array, object need to be nested family.

2) It is not true! You can control distance between objects in array if you do as I wrote earlier.

[cyrankam]

(1) Right, I've missed that.

(2) You miss read me. You obviously can control the distance between objects in array -that’s the point of an array, but it will stay equal across the array. So you can do AAAA, and control the A value. But to do ABAB for instance, you will need to introduce visibility parameter.

Plus for some reason I find arrays in families to be really heavy on the performance, but I guess that subjective. Whenever applicable, I prefer to use visibility.

[piotr.bocian]

Oh yes, sorry. I've missed that. Distance between objects in array is always equal.

[piotr.bocian]

If you need to control distance between object independently, model objects (pipes/hangers) and constrain them to reference planes. Add length parameters and label to the dimensions between reference planes. If reference planes will have strong or week referene and parameters will be instance you will be able to grab and move objects in a project.

[barthbradley]

The way I understand your question, is that you are looking for a way to manually space the support rods within the project. For example, your light fixture may have four support rods suspending the light fixture from the ceiling, but the spacing between the support rods may vary based on placement instance of the light fixture in the project.  So you want to be able to grab 'em and move 'em individually.  

If so, this can be accomplished by modeling the support rods as a separate family and nesting instance of them within the host light fixture family.  If you align and lock each instance to a Ref. Line within the host, pull dimensions between those Ref. Lines and say the Origin Ref. Plane in the Host Family, Label each of those dimensions with a unique Instance Parameter, and then load the Fixture into the Project – you will have grips associated to each rod.  You can then manually drag those grips to re-position each individual rod as you want.  Each instance of the Light Fixture can have its own unique (and unequal) support rod spacing.

p.s. nesting is not absolutely necessary, but I would strongly suggest it.  You might even want to make the nested family shared.  

[barthbradley]

Yep, that is what I was describing above.  Cool, huh?  Even better would be to use Ref. Lines instead of Ref. Planes. By using Ref. Lines, you can manually adjust spacing in Project 3D views as well.  Try it. You'll like it.   

[Anonymous]

wow thanks!

I appreciate all the effort you guys made to find me a solution
this solution can do the work for me, ill try combining it with barthbradley's solution and ill probably get what i need.

[vbenkovskyy]

Thank you a lot!