#Catch-22
A problem I had run into recently made me wonder how others have resolved
similar circumstances.
The problem is resolving the particular strengths and weaknesses of Autocad and
3D Studio. For example, when you have an object in 3DS that is going to be
repeated in a way which can't be easily repeated in 3DS, but can in Autocad,
and has complex mapping requirements, what can you do? Here is the particular
circumstance I was dealing with…
I was placing Auditorium seats in a large auditorium. The seats were drawn in
Acad, and could easily enough be transferred to 3DS. However, 3DS' lack of CAD
accuracy made accurate placement of the seats almost impossible by conventional
methods, consisdering the sheer numbers of seats. Using polar arrays, guide
arcs, object snaps and blocks, the placement of the seats wasn't THAT difficult
in Acad. This is the kicker: Each seat requires several different mapping
planes to look halfway acceptable. Mapping ALL those seats individually could
take many, many hours. If I mapped one seat properly, copying the other seats
would work, but, as I mentioned, such placement would be very difficult in 3DS,
and hence could take many hours.
There is the quandry. A catch-22, if you will. Place the seats in Acad, and
you're faced with difficulty in mapping. Map the seat and copy it in 3DS, and
you've got difficulty in placement.
How would others handle this? Naturally, there's always one answer which might
be easier for each individual, but I'm wonderingif there's a way to get around
this. If 3DS had the capability to use one particular object as a protoype,
like a BLOCK in Acad, in which changes made to mapping could then be applied
automatically to the other unmapped seats placed in Acad, it would be easier.
If there were a way to automatically map objects in 3DS, it would be easier.
If you could use polar arrays and snaps in 3DS, it would be easier. Even beind
able to see the object as it is moved would help, instead of only being able to
see a bounding box as you move it. If you could apply mapping in Acad, this
would help, as well.
I just wondered if there were any time saving short cuts anyone had invented
out there for such situations.
Thanx! -jk