Topic: Anyone have any dynamic blocks they wanna share?

[ELOQUINTET]

These blocks are pretty specific to my company but I wanted to upload them to show everyone what i've been up to. This is an assembly kit for one of our motorized shade systems. I have developed tons of blocks but the most impressive ones are sepcific to my company. Let me know what you think

http://www.theswamp.org/lilly_pond/index.php?dir=dan/&file=ELECTRO%201%20STANDARD%20ASSEMBLY%20KIT.dwg

[Crank]

I've just tried them. At first they seem OK, but after a while it's impossible to restore to the original settings. :/

Some tips:

• Keep the grips as close as possible to the reaction. Of some grips it's not clear what they're supposed to do.
• Try to make a plan first of all the reactions that have to take place. I saw a rotate action, but after changing the visability state the rotation was restored. This may be done intentional, but that means you always have to start with setting the visability state. If that's the case, why not use separate blocks? As I see it, this rotate action has to take place in all visability states at the same time. (same story of for the stretch action)
• The stretch action of the line to a length of 0 rotates the grip horizontal. That's confusing. You can place the base punt a little higer and make the minimal length that distance. Your grip then always points in the right direction.

[ELOQUINTET]

thanks for the comments crank.

i'm not sure why it would be hard to restore the block to the original state. if you need to start over you can reinsert the individual piece.

as far as the grips go i am still messing around with placement. the hard part about the grips is that each piece shown here will potentiallly be apart of an assembly  so you need to have all of the grips visible when they are in the finished assembly.

it is intended for the user to select the visibility state first. and even so i don't think it's that hard to pick it and rotate when needed. it will most often be vertical also so it makes sense for it to appear that way by default. as far as the having seperate blocks comment, look how many visibility states there are for each part. i think thats one of the most powerful things about dynamic blocks is being able to nest many different types of the same part within a single block. i only have to look for 1 block and everything is within it.

i see what you mean about the stretch, good catch. i also noticed that when you stretch it down it actually moves the whole line down. it is just supposed to stretch the bottom end down.

thanks for your comments anyone else...

[daron]

Dblocks
Check out those, Dan. I've only been working with Dynamic Blocks for about 5 weeks. The one I was trying to teach in my other thread is in here. Check out the block on the lower right. It has a linear parameter, you'd swear it was a visibility setting. Hopefully, those few examples will give you something to chew on. Look for the simplest way for the job to get done. I've seen some blocks where visibility states are used to an excess. This increases block size and multiple unnamed blocks. For every VState, a new block name is created. Also, for every dynamic change to an object a new block is created. What are you going to do though, huh?

[ELOQUINTET]

hey daron cool thanks for sharing. i haven't tried yet but see you used an array parameter for the stove, nice. i was looking at the align block and i like the idea but i would do mine a little different. i would make the rotation parameter include all the geometry and i would make it so you can place the text off center. it is a nice example of how to do a multiple stretch though i will have to study that a bit as i may have another use for that.i may upload some other block shortly for viewing

[daron]

That's actually a plate and utensil dispensing table. You know, those one's they use at Chinese buffet's.

I wouldn't do the rotate all parameter. I think it's a little overkill, when grabbing the grip and rotating the block is just as easy and it won't create a new unnamed block in the process. The only reason the arrows won't stretch backwards, is because I have a minimum distance of 17" on them, so the arrowheads won't disappear. 'Twould be really cool if there was a union property where I could say <-1'5">1'5". That would be cool.

[Dave R]

The only reason the arrows won't stretch backwards, is because I have a minimum distance of 17" on them, so the arrowheads won't disappear. 'Twould be really cool if there was a union property where I could say <-1'5">1'5". That would be cool.

Why not put a flip action on them?

[Dave R]

Since you asked for people to share dynamic blocks I thought I would throw my hat into the ring with this one. We use a system of rolling racks for storage with optional fixed racks at each end. The racks can be 3', 3'-6" or 4' in length. There is also a fixed maximum number of rolling cars that can be used. One interesting point about this block is the spacing of the rolling cars. There is a 4" space shown between each rolling car and/or the fixed shelf at the left-hand side. An overall space of 3' must be maintained. As new cars are added in the array the gap on the righ-hand side decreases to compensate for the number of 4" spaces. That was a tricky thing to implement. This block uses  a look-up table an array and visibility states primarily. Anyway you may disect this block for your own education if you want.

[daron]

The only reason the arrows won't stretch backwards, is because I have a minimum distance of 17" on them, so the arrowheads won't disappear. 'Twould be really cool if there was a union property where I could say <-1'5">1'5". That would be cool.

Why not put a flip action on them?

Dave, your rolling racks? Don't you just hate how Dblocks work sometimes. I noticed that if you use the rotation parameter before stretching, it rolls everything nicely, but if you the use the move/stretch/array action, then try the rotation, it acts really goofy. Also, can't you just use the list feature in the linear parameter to get your values, instead of lookup tables?, or is that part of the 4" stuff you were talking about? Either way, nice work.

Heh! You think I'd've tried that one. DOH! You should see what these look like before I get to them. Bunch of rotated visibility parameters. Thanks for the tip.

[ELOQUINTET]

cool dave thanks for sharing. i haven't really figured out lookup tables yet so this will help me when i eventually need to explore it.

[ELOQUINTET]

Here is one I was working on awhile back. Again it it specific to what I do but it's an example. This is a shade indicator for our location plans. the block itself is working but when we use this symbol we also text indicators for what type of connection it is. example i.e.=idle end, c.s.=center support, then at the drive end we have a circle with an M inside for the motor and shade type and motor numbers. I was mostly trying to incorporate the i.e. and c.s. symbols thus i didn't use an alignment parameter but rather did a rotation. i haven't found a way to incorporate the symbols as the shade can be on any angle so fine tuning will be neccessary in which case why not leave it out. i may go back and put the alignment back in but am still brainstroming. the grips for the stretch parameters are supposed to grip to the mullion. i've also been playing with a radiused shade layout which is included . I know they're not prefect buti can't think of an easy way to acheive the desired look without programming prehaps. anyway have a look and let me know if you have any ideas

Electroshades

[Dave R]

Dave, your rolling racks? Don't you just hate how Dblocks work sometimes. I noticed that if you use the rotation parameter before stretching, it rolls everything nicely, but if you the use the move/stretch/array action, then try the rotation, it acts really goofy. Also, can't you just use the list feature in the linear parameter to get your values, instead of lookup tables?, or is that part of the 4" stuff you were talking about? Either way, nice work.

Yeah Dynamic Blocks haven't quite "got there" yet. Not sure if 2007 is any improvement I haven't installed it to try it yet. I'm waiting for the abiity to do nested Dynamic Blocks. Now, there will be some powerful stuff when that happens. As far as the stretching goes if you look at the stretch parameter on the block I do actually use the list feature. The look-up is just a bonus for the users so they can select a length without having to guess.

[ELOQUINTET]

yeah dave the nesting will be nice but sadly they abandoned dyn blocks in 2007 for 3d 
one thing i think they did was make it so you can choose the visibility state upon insert but i haven't tried it. i quickly uninstalled 2007 as alot of my users who like 3d wanted it too and as we don't do much 3d here we are going to skip this release.