Grouping polyline segments

[Stosh]

I'm doing a house outline (including windows, doors, any lines I can find) and Polyline is amazing because so much can be defined in a single model.  I also love that it's "future proof" in the sense that I don't even have my lights yet, so my #of nodes per segment is purely a guess.  When I get the lights and start installing them, it will be a breeze to change # of nodes for each strand and all the downstream nodes will be adjusted appropriately.  So thanks for polyline!

Here's my question.  Is there any way to add individual segments of a polyline to a group?  I got the job done by defining sub-models and then adding those sub-models to a group.  The only problem is this method is no longer "future proof."  As I change # of nodes per segment, this will mess up all the sub-model definitions.

As for why I'm doing this, I'd like to have control over things such as all windows, all doors, vertical window lines, horizontal window lines, vertical house lines, roof lines, etc.

Also not related:  After defining my polylines then defining sub-models then defining groups to assemble these sub-models, I realized I omitted one line on the roof.  Is there any way to add more segments to a polyline after finishing it?  I couldn't find such a thing.

[Gilrock]

I don't know if there is a way to add them to a group.  But the last question is easy.  You can select any segment and right-click to "Insert Point".  That splits a segment in half which in essence creates a new segment then you just gotta drag the points where you want them.

[Stosh]

Awesome!  Thanks for the tip Gil - I missed that.
Now if there's any way to add segments to groups that would be awesome.  If not, I'll just have to go back and update all the sub-model definitions once my lights are installed.

[Gilrock]

A segment is equivalent to a strand on any typical model so if you could add one strand of a matrix to a group then you could add a PolyLine segment.

[Stosh]

Gil,
I agree with your statement that a Polyline segment is similar to a Matrix strand, but you said "if."  Does this mean it's already implemented, or it's something for the future?

I created a matrix and then made a new group to test this.  I couldn't find a way to add a single strand of the Matrix to the new group (without creating sub-models), I could only the add the entire Matrix.


And regarding the tip for adding segments to an existing Polyline - thanks so much for that.  I see now that you have to first select a segment, then right click, then Insert Point.  Previously I was right clicking on the endpoints hoping to find a function that would add a point.  Anyway, your way works great and thank again!

[Gilrock]

Yes I said "If" because I'm not sure.  My guess is you can't but sometimes new code is added that I'm unaware of.  If you go to create a Model Group and the name isn't in the box then it's not available.  It's not going to be hidden.

[keithsw1111]

Yeah I'm pretty sure that isn't there yet. And it would be tricky to add without making the group dialog unusable. Imagine having lots of strand level models listed ... How would you find your models. Some different way would be required. Maybe a tree or something

[Stosh]

Yeah I thought about the difficulty of displaying all those strands too - would get messy quickly. 

Since Sub-models are already implemented in groups, another way to accomplish the same thing would be when defining Sub-models, have the option to add entire segments (or strands) instead of specific node ranges.  But I imagine the established programming of Sub-models is based on static node numbers, so changing to dynamic segments would likely be an involved, complete revamp of Sub-models.

Looks like I'm simply redefining my Sub-models once the lights get installed and I figure out where the nodes are.

Thanks guys.