Dynamic Modifications of Components
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Hello All,
I am having an issue with a interstate connector model I am creating. I have two interstates, Interstate - A going North/South, and Interstate - B going East/West. Interstate - B goes over/above Interstate - A. I need to create the on/off ramps that will connect the two interstates. The ramps will have a curve and will have elevation changes between the two interstates. I was hoping I could have my two interstates as components, and then generate the on/off ramps that would be connected to each interstate. I am hoping that when I elevate Interstate - B in the Z plane the on/off ramps would change with the elevation change (twist/warp). Is this something that is possible? If some, how would I go about doing this? Is it a Dynamic Component option?
Thanks...
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Ryan, you might be able to deal with scaling the height of the ramps although if you have much in the way of detailed geometry, I expect you'll find some unwanted changes as well. If you can manually scale a ramp vertically and have it change the way you want, you would write that into a dynamic component. Unless the entire intersection is a dynamic component, I believe you'll have to select the ramps and change them separately. You could make a control so you could enter something like the total rise and have the ramp scaled to suit. You wouldn't easily be able to change things like the radius of the ramp, though. I don't know if that would be needed or not.
The plugins that TECHDAVE linked to will help you draw the ramps but won't do anything for making them dynamic as you asked for.
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Thanks Dave and TechDave. These are all great options. I have been looking at the dynamic component option, but when I make a road segment (with the lines, medians, etc) and then use shape bender it loses its "dynamic" characteristics. It has gotten to the point where I will have to stick with the crappy model I have. But I will be looking at making this better. Thanks for all the help and plugins.
Ryan -
Don't use Shape Bender on a dynamic component. You could use Shape Bender to draw the ramp to start with before you make it dynamic.
This almost seems like it calls for some sort of plugin which may already exist, I don't know. I could see a plugin with a UI that would allow you to enter things like centerline radius, ΔHeight and angle of turn and then if would draw the roadway for you. I don't know if it would be that simple since the radius might vary throughout the turn and things like that but it could be interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a plugin already written somewhere that could do this.
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Thanks Dave. I would assume that there would be a plugin, but I haven't been able to find something like this. If this were to be developed from scratch, what would be your best guess of time and effort?
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FollowMeAndKeep might also help ?
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Thanks TIG, this sounds great, I will give it a try.
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