Roger Webster

Hi Tamsin I made a test file and they work fine there. But not in the actual file I'm working on. I also tried copying and pasting from the test file to the current file but the wearing course still doesn't render. If I make a simple hardscape object in my file just using the gravel render that works

I am creating some gravel areas in a garden using the hardscape tool and applying the gravel pavement slab style. The gravel wearing course does not render, only the bedding and sub base. The decomposed granite style has the same problem but other styles work fine. What am I missing?

Hi I have been using a plant schedule that I originally created in VW 2009. Currently using VW2019. Now when I import the schedule it comes up with the wrong schedule sizes for many plants. For example, I have several shrubs whose plant style data is 10 litre, or 3 litre, all appearing on the schedule as 9cm. For a couple of plants it shows only a dashed line in the size column. I have tried recalculating. Also deleted and reimported the schedule, still get the same problem. Any advice appreciated.

I find the Vectorworks term "Plant Style" very confusing. Different plant "styles" are in effect different plant objects, usually different species ; it has nothing to do with plant form (standard, multistem etc) as one might intuitively suppose. In switching from 2009 to 2019 I found this a major stumbling block and I still find it bizarre that the difference between say an oak tree and a daisy can be considered a matter of "style". Confusing terminology aside, the software does allow you to build up a collection of plants that makes planting plans quick and easy in the long term.

Interesting idea but I can't see how that would work as I need to see the data (plant names) on the drawing as I'm working on it. I avoid overlapping tags by separating the planting into several layers / areas, so that it is more manageable both for me as I build up the design and for the guys on the ground who have to deliver and arrange the plants. I'm still catching up with all the recent changes but beginning to enjoy it!

Thank you Tamsin for such a rapid response. I'll look at this again tomorrow when my brain has rested All the best Roger

I have recently moved from VW 2009 to VW 2019 and have a number of issues! First problem - When placing plants on the drawing they now appear by default without tags and without their centre marker. How do I make these active for all plants by default without having to turn on them manually in each instance? Second problem - for some plants the outline will not show up at all. I have tried toggling outline class visibility on and off, and tried editing 2d outline but the still won't show up. Any advice appreciated

How do I create custom plant schedules that include categories such as "form", "size", "height", "root condition", "density" ? Better still - are there existing templates of these already available as this is standard information needed on landscape plans in the UK ?

Thank you Tamsin, that did it! All well this end thanks

Sorry, don't understand. I want to lay out a page with one viewport and some notes and print at A1. The grey page outline only ever shows landscape format but in this case portrait would work much better, but I can't find a way of changing it.

How do I format ISO A1 size sheets as portrait, rather than landscape? I will be exporting as pdfs for printing by others as I only have an A3 printer.

Thanks Tamsin, I have sent you the problem file and the small sample. Any help much appreciated

Have made a small sample file including some of the same plants and the same worksheet and it all works fine - heights in the sample file are correct. But they still remain incorrect in the other file. Not sure where or how I should attach the sample file?

I have created a new descriptive plant list worksheet with fields including height, flower colour etc. All working fine in most cases, but in just a few instances the height given is wrong - ie it does not match the height given in the plant object description. I have tried editing the plant object description, both within the file I am working on and in the parent library file from which the plant object was imported, to no avail. Where else should I look?

OK I'm finally there - with much help from Mike m and Bryan G - gratefully acknowledged. But I can't help thinking this should have been a great deal easier! The ability to produce a plant list from a plan, and to keep it updated, is a fantastically helpful tool for anyone in the landscape business and a good reason for using Vectorworks - but why make it so clunky to use?. The fields to be included will vary in different countries and according to the use the information will be put to - client presentation, costing, ordering etc, but surely sorting the list alphabetically and by plant category are pretty basic requirements for all of us. Why then do none of the standard sample worksheets do this, and why is information on such a basic task so very hard to come by? Does the process of customising a worksheet need to be so arcane? Sorry to gripe, but judging by some other postings on the subject of worksheets I'm not alone in finding this confusing, and as an Apple user I am accustomed to programmes being much more attuned to the needs of the end user.

Yes, just figured it out at last, from the file you sent earlier which I have now managed to open - I needed to copy and paste formulae into each database header. Thank you very much - a great leap forward for me

OK here is (hopefully) a small file to illustrate the problem with some random plants. The plant list has captured all the data, but only the trees show up. Many thanks for the help. And yes I have been hitting the recalculate button, and any changes are indeed incorporated.

I don't understand why either, but anyway ... as above, it's fine if I just have one section, eg trees, OR shrubs etc, but if I then add further database rows for shrubs, perennials, climbers etc and enter new edit the criteria for these all of these appear as blank rows. They do have data in them, I know this because if I add new plants, new rows appear and I can identify them using the "select data item" command, but all text in the worksheet rows is invisible/absent except for the first section. I also notice that the formula "summarise items with the same name" does not work in the subsequent sections, only in the first one. The only way I can find round this is to produce separate worksheet lists, one for each plant category. The Getting Started with Landmark 2011 pdf download shows the sort of plant list worksheet I need (though I'd want to edit the columns), but does not explain how it was created. I have also been trawling through the 2008 Design Series and Fundamentals manuals to get this far, but now I'm stuck!

Sounds promising but I cannot open the downloaded files. Are they available as pdfs?

OK I have gone through all my plant records making sure the category of each is correct. If I create a worksheet and include all categories, it's fine. If I then start to filter by category, the data disappears from all but the first category, ie, in subsequent categories all rows appear blank even though the "edit criteria" window tells me the items (plants) are being correctly sorted and counted . The "select data item" command also identifies each one, but no text appears in any of the row columns. Any help gratefully received.

Thanks Mike, I get the picture. Looks like I'll be spending the Christmas break sifting through plant object definitions.

How do I sort plants on a schedule into trees, shrubs, groundcovers etc? Should I place them on separate layers and create separate worksheets for each category using the "edit criteria" command? Or set up seperate classes for each?

Hi Just experienced a crash whilst using the place plant tool. After relaunching, my resource browser appears completely blank. This is for the file I was working on and any other file I open, new or existing. Any ideas please?

Thanks to all who replied but I'm still puzzled as to why my small vectorworks file - 2.3 MG - becomes so huge and cumbersome when exported - 34.9 MB. Using a compressor reduces it to 32.5MB, so not much difference. In this case I burned the file to disc and hand deliveed it, but I'd like to think there is a better way if only can find it. I'm continuing to look through the manual.

I'm running VW 2009 on a Mac, working on a landscape plan. Colleagues have sent a CAD file for my input which I have imported and amended in Vectorworks; I now need to export and email back to them. The CAD file i received was 5MB. Exporting my VWX file to Dwg, the smallest I can make it is 34.9MB, and this was by first copying and pasting to a new VWX file only the relevant parts, cutting out the rest. My VWX file is only 2.3 MB. The drawing is a simple 2D plan but includes some hatches (on their CAD file) and some plant symbols (added by me using Vectorworks). How do I make the file smaller so that I can email it? Roger Webster