Logic behind profiles, components and spans - when to use which

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Jeandre le Roux

• March 01, 2020 22:19

Hi There,

I watched all the tutorials and, from my perspective, it was never clearly explained when a profile, component or span should be used when building assemblies. 

What is the rule of thumb in this regard.  When is it best to create a profile.  When should a shape be rather made a component and when should it rather be made a span?

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  Dale Martens

  • March 02, 2020 22:21

  Great question!  In simple terms:

  • Use Profile Members when the object is continuous along the path
  • Use Components when the object should be placed at discrete or repeated locations along the path
  • Use Spans for objects that connect between supports

  Hope this helps!

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  Steven Silcock

  • March 20, 2020 01:24

  Hi, I think I just posted a question on building an industrial handrail which is relevant to this post.

  https://support.mindsightstudios.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360041145334-Industrial-Handrail-Build-how-to-do- 

  I suspect I would need to use components or spans to make it repeat as handrail segments with D Loops at each end, as oppose to having continuous handrails (like the PB3 Library Industrial Handrail model). But I'll leave the detail on that to my post so as not to confuse posts.

  I've also followed the video tutorials but found then a little confusing & when I've tried to replicate the assemblies with my Profile Members or Components etc I've had issues getting it to work as I'd like. I'm really like to be able to use PB3 for more things but I've struggled getting it to work so far. More posts to come;-)

  Cheers.

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  Dale Martens

  • March 20, 2020 22:27

  Yes, I have responded to your other thread.  You are correct that you need to use spans for that case.

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