'Craftsman' Columns With Molding P-Lines or (Primitive Tool) Pyramid?

[HumbleChief]

I've seen them done with P-Lines (Joe shows an example here) but I don't understand how to get the angled column with a p-line. (Found a video here)

I can create them quite easily using the Pyramid tool but was wondering what the advantage might be to either technique. I have a very large Craftsman design I'm working on and need a technique that's both flexible and easy to re-create.

[sutcac]

Larry, here is an example of a molding I use for one kind of Craftsman column. You just have a square molding p-line in plan and use a molding like this. But what I tend to do is do this in a blank plan, then take a 3D view and Convert to Solid so I can then go in and add stretch planes if I want and the column looks better in plan than with the molding p-line. You have a lot of control on the column profile this way and can copy/edit as you like. You can do them in several different pieces too if you want, say, a stone base, stone base cap, etc. and can then get different materials/colors on the different sections.

[HumbleChief]

Thanks so much for the reply Bryce. It looks like that will be the most flexible method as virtually any shape can be created.

Never used that technique will will try it now.

(Did you mean Convert to 'Symbol' above?)

[sutcac]

Yeah, that's what I meant. The control in initial creation using this method is very nice, until of course you go to use the symbol in your plan. Convert to Symbol then gives you a different kind of control that I think is more important once the symbol is created. I use these a lot and often you need different height columns for different purposes. If you have a stone base then sometimes you want to stretch the base, and sometimes you want to stretch the column on top of the base, change plan dimensions, etc. which are a lot less flexible if you keep it as a molding p-line in the plan.