API : divide by plane ROBOT STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS .

[youssef_taamallahCZ4NM]

HI , im fairly new to using the API documentation and im having some trouble creating a VBA macro that allows me to use this :

Public Sub DivideByPlane(_val As double, _axis As IRobotGeoCoordinateAxis, Optional _only_gen_node As Boolean = false)

my purpose here is to be able to divide for exemple my already open robot model that is composed of 5 bars , 1to5 

by plane z=3 for exemple .

and i would like to use the divideByplane function if possible .

As i said , ive been trying to make sense of the documentation about this function and how to properly make it work on vba , but its not that easy for someone not used to it .

can anyone show me an exemple of how it can be done ?.

Thanks in advance for your help and guidance.

[Stephane.kapetanovic]

hi @youssef_taamallahCZ4NM 

there is no API function to use directly for this. What you are looking for is the intersection of two lines in 2d geometry. For the numbers of the nodes and their coordinates XZ, the API can provide them to you. To code the function, there are many examples on the web, it also seems to me that your cutting line is horizontal, you will only have to make a proportion.

Best Regards

[youssef_taamallahCZ4NM]

Hi @Stephane.kapetanovic ,

Thank you for your answer, as i have been on a long vacation i couldnt answer this before .

I was reffering to this  function that is described in the API documentation  in page 754 .

As you can see in the picture below : 

somehow i cant make it work in VBA ,

Are you sure there isnt a way to make use of this ?

Thanks again for your input on the subject .

[Stephane.kapetanovic · Accepted solution]

hi @youssef_taamallahCZ4NM 

DivideBar already exist from IRobotStructureEditTools on page 1038, your case is to find intesection with the plane (a line in 2D), for that nothing exist apart 2D/3D trigonometry, you have to make your own. 

Best Regards

Example of 2D function

Function Intersection(p1 As Point, p2 As Point, p3 As Point, p4 As Point) As Point
  Dim a1 As Double, a2 As Double, b1 As Double, b2 As Double
  Dim c1 As Double, c2 As Double, d As Double
    
  a1 = p2.y - p1.y: b1 = p1.x - p2.x: c1 = a1 * p1.x + b1 * p1.y
  a2 = p4.y - p3.y: b2 = p3.x - p4.x: c2 = a2 * p3.x + b2 * p3.y
  d = a1 * b2 - a2 * b1
    
  If d = 0 Then
    MsgBox "The lines are parallel and do not intersect.": Exit Function
  End If
  
  With Intersection
    .x = (b2 * c1 - b1 * c2) / d
    .y = (a1 * c2 - a2 * c1) / d
  End With
End Function

Note : you can suppress the message (lines 9 to 11) if you make the input data reliable

To use  DivideBar here an example

Sub DivideBarByPlane2D(p1 As Point, p2 As Point)
  Dim RobApp As RobotApplication, Visible As Boolean, IsActive As Boolean
  Set RobApp = New RobotApplication

  Visible = RobApp.Visible = -1
  IsActive = RobApp.Project.IsActive = -1
  If Not (Visible And IsActive) Then
    Set RobApp = Nothing: Exit Sub
  End If
  
  Dim BarCol As IRobotCollection
  Dim Nodes As RobotNodeServer, Bars As RobotBarServer, Bar As RobotBar
  Dim EditTools As IRobotStructureEditTools, RVA As RobotValuesArray
  Dim p3 As Point, p4 As Point, Length As Double, a As Double, b As Double
  
  With RobApp.Project.Structure
    Set Bars = .Bars
    Set Nodes = .Nodes
    Set EditTools = .Edit
    Set BarCol = Bars.GetMany(.Selections.Get(I_OT_BAR))
  End With
  Set RVA = New RobotValuesArray: RVA.SetSize 1
  
  For i = 1 To BarCol.Count
    Set Bar = BarCol.Get(i)
    With Nodes
      With .Get(Bar.StartNode): p3.x = .x: p3.y = .z: End With
      With .Get(Bar.EndNode):   p4.x = .x: p4.y = .z: End With
    End With
    
    Length = Bar.Length
    With Intersection(p1, p2, p3, p4)
      a = d2D(.x - p3.x, .y - p3.y)
      b = d2D(.x - p4.x, .y - p4.y)
    End With
    
    If Abs(a + b - Length) < TolE Then
      RVA.Set 1, a / Length
      Set BarNos = EditTools.DivideBar(Bar.Number, RVA, True)
    End If
  Next i
  
  Set RobApp = Nothing
End Sub

Before

After

[Rafal.Gaweda]

Hi @youssef_taamallahCZ4NM 

Mentioned function is designed for panel \ contour edges only.

Use approach given by @Stephane.kapetanovic above.

[youssef_taamallahCZ4NM]

@Stephane.kapetanovic  Thank you for the tip , i will need to figure something out to make this work for 3D objects .

But ill make it work 🙂
I will keep you updated with the final solution once i make it happen .

much thanks !

[Stephane.kapetanovic]

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/robot-structural-analysis-forum/api-addin-for-intersection-extension-...

[youssef_taamallahCZ4NM · Accepted solution]

Hi  @Stephane.kapetanovic  i was able to get some heavy inspiration from your exemple in order to make it work on 3D  .
i have made slight adjustments to the intersection function and i made it work automatically on all selected bars .

Public Const TolE = 0.0001

Type Point
  x As Double
  y As Double
  z As Double
  
End Type

Private Function Intersection(zp As Double, p3 As Point, p4 As Point) As Point
  Dim Alpha As Double, Beta As Double



Alpha = (p4.x - p3.x) / (p4.z - p3.z)
Beta = (p4.y - p3.y) / (p4.z - p3.z)



  With Intersection
    .x = ((Alpha) * (zp - p3.z)) + p3.x
    .y = ((Beta) * (zp - p3.z)) + p3.y
    .z = zp
    
  End With
    
    
 
End Function



Sub DivideBarByPlane3D(zp As Double)
  ' Déclaration et initialisation d'une nouvelle instance de l'application Robot Structural Analysis
  Dim RobApp As RobotApplication, Visible As Boolean, IsActive As Boolean
  Set RobApp = New RobotApplication

  ' Vérifie si l'application est visible et active
  Visible = RobApp.Visible = -1
  IsActive = RobApp.Project.IsActive = -1
  ' Si l'application n'est pas visible ou active, sortir de la subroutine
  If Not (Visible And IsActive) Then
    Set RobApp = Nothing: Exit Sub
  End If

  ' Déclaration des variables pour stocker la collection de barres, les nœuds, les outils d'édition de la structure et les valeurs numériques
  Dim BarCol As IRobotCollection
  Dim Nodes As RobotNodeServer, Bars As RobotBarServer, Bar As RobotBar
  Dim EditTools As IRobotStructureEditTools, RVA As RobotValuesArray
  Dim p3 As Point, p4 As Point, Length As Double, a As Double, b As Double

  ' Récupération des barres sélectionnées et des nœuds de départ et d'arrivée de chaque barre
  With RobApp.Project.Structure
    Set Bars = .Bars
    Set Nodes = .Nodes
    Set EditTools = .Edit
    Set BarCol = RobApp.Project.Structure.Bars.GetAll()
  End With
  ' Création d'une nouvelle instance de RobotValuesArray pour stocker les valeurs numériques
  Set RVA = New RobotValuesArray: RVA.SetSize 1

  ' Boucle pour parcourir chaque barre sélectionnée
  For I = 1 To BarCol.Count
    ' Récupération de la barre et de ses nœuds de départ et d'arrivée
    Set Bar = BarCol.Get(I)
    With Nodes
      With .Get(Bar.StartNode): p3.x = .x: p3.y = .y: p3.z = .z: End With
      With .Get(Bar.EndNode):   p4.x = .x: p4.y = .y: p4.z = .z: End With
    End With

    ' Calcul de la longueur de la barre et de la distance entre les points d'intersection et les nœuds de départ et d'arrivée
    Length = Bar.Length
    With Intersection(zp, p3, p4)
      a = d3D(.x - p3.x, .y - p3.y, .z - p3.z)
      b = d3D(.x - p4.x, .y - p4.y, .z - p4.z)
    End With

    ' Si la somme de a et b est égale à la longueur de la barre dans une certaine tolérance, diviser la barre en deux parties égales
    If Abs(a + b - Length) < TolE Then
      RVA.Set 1, a / Length
      Set BarNos = EditTools.DivideBar(Bar.Number, RVA, True)
    End If
  Next I

  ' Fermeture de l'instance de l'application Robot Structural Analysis
  Set RobApp = Nothing
End Sub

Function d3D(x As Double, y As Double, z As Double) As Double
  d3D = Sqr(x * x + y * y + z * z)
End Function






Sub Divide()
 Dim n As Integer
   n = Range("C" & 5)
    
    For I = 6 To 6 + n - 1
        Dim zp As Double
        ' Example with a cut // to z at level zp
        ' Select Bars and run
        ' Program cuts each selected bar
        zp = Range("D" & I)
  

        DivideBarByPlane3D zp
        
    Next I
    
    MsgBox " Divisions realisée ! , veuillez vérifier la coherence des résultats"
    
End Sub

i also made it work for multiple instances of zp so i could repeat the division n times , as much as needed :

this here is the list of  heights at which i want to divide my bars .

This is before :

This is before :

So yeah ... even if it took a while to get , i was able to make this work .
This is really usefull to design or make divides on many levels at a time for pylones .

I dont know if this code can be simplified , but it works fine 🙂 
Thank you again for the help and advices .

[Stephane.kapetanovic]

hi @youssef_taamallahCZ4NM 

• RVA can contain more than one value (multiple cuts at once, look at : Divide Members by Maximum Distance 
• to go further than this first test carried out, instead of manually creating bars and cutting them by API, it will be better for you to generate them. Try to look to this old example

Best regards