HOUCAD

For some reason it isn't happening anymore. I tested the stacking order and as long as I was on a 100% layer, everything I draw now is 100% unlike before. The layer I had set to 50% had a pdf object which I have now deleted. Maybe it had something to do with the PDF? Thanks

I have a couple of layers that I set the opacity to 50% When I draw on another layer that is set to 100%, my fills pick up the opacity of the 50% layer. Lines appear fine. The only way I could get newly created fills to show solid is to turn the opacity on all layers to 100% Is this a bug or is there some reason for this?

oops I meant to post this in architect or general

I have been having some problems with the callout tool text and leader arrows. At first it took me a while to figure out how to set the marker style and it only seems to work when I define the marker in a class. No matter what I tried I could not select a callout and make it use a different marker. The second thing that is happening is if I change the marker by class, I have to select each callout and grip edit or text edit it for the arrow to update. I also have a similar issue where on some computers the text wraps when it shouldn't and I have to select each callout as above to reset them. Am I missing something? I am finding that many things have to be reset by toggling something when you modify them after creation.

Hi Doug, I have been setting up a set of drawings for a 4 story office building with 3 people working on the drawings in house and a couple of outside people using AutoCAD. I started off following the Ellicott Heights example found here This example uses a single master file for all your sheets but I have trouble working with their master file because it gets very slow and crashed all the time. This office typically creates one file per sheet but there are advantages to grouping sheet drawings by floor. With multiple users it is a good idea to have separate model files for each floor. The model files are not for printing, only building objects, walls doors windows etc. should go in the model floor files. I set up design layers in each floor file for slab, floor plan, reflected ceiling plan. It can also be good to add spaces and room tags on a layer in the model file as well as dimensions. Anything that is connected to your wall / floor plan geometry. If you need to change your floor plan then spaces set to auto adjust and dimensions set to auto associate will adjust themselves (most of the time). With layer options set to show, snap, modify others you can 2D reshape stretch rooms and modify all layers at the same time. For vertical circulation it is a good idea to leave a void in your floor levels and draw your stairs, elevators etc. in a separate file. These elements are usually the same on each floor so only draw them once. Make sure you keep the same origin as your floor plans. Reference these elements or any other common repeated elements into your model floor files. For MEP plans they will usually be plotting their own sealed drawings but if they use a 3D application you can import their ducting and piping into your model files. For structural you can keep the column grid and columns in a separate file and reference them into each model floor. I keep any drawings from outside sources in a separate background folder and reference the layers into my model floor file layers. This way when you get updates you just reimport the DWG into your background MEP file layer. For sending your floor plans to others you can export only the floor plan and clg grid layers without unnecessary notes etc. For exterior elevations and building sections you can reference each floor into your sheet file design layers. For exterior elevations you can stack all your floors and generate elevations and building sections. Keep your section and elevation markers on their own design layer so you can reference them into your floor plan sheet files. For managing borders and issue / revision data it is better to have one file with all your sheet information. I like the issue manager because you can manage a drawing set and record all issues and revisions in one place. If you want to have one person checking and plotting the plans then you can do all your notes etc on a layer in the model floor files and reference what you need into the master sheet file. This takes some planning and limits your production to one person per floor. What I ended up doing is I made a separate file with my borders on separate layers and separate sheet files for every sheet. I reference the borders into my sheet files and turn on the appropriate layer. This way you can manage the drawing set and issue data from one file and have as many people working on the plans as you have sheets. It is important to keep your drawing origin the same on all model layers and keep your scales the same across all model files. you can rescale your viewports in your sheet files. With our drawing we use a set detail module layout. The sheet drawing area is divided into a 5 x 4 grid and the detail titles are always in the same place and the numbering never changes even if a portion of the drawing spans several detail modules. This is a convention the boss insists on. It means you will have sheets with missing detail numbers but it allows you to make a cartoon set to plan where everything goes. We have a library of standard details made to fit the detail module space. I make a grid for the detail modules on a separate layer or part of my border so I can turn that on to layout my sheets. For sheets with multiple scales you need a scaled grid layer for each scale. This way you can draw details in place on your scaled design layers. This way you simply make a design layer viewport into your sheet layer and don't have to worry about cropping individual details. When switching between sheet and design layers everything is in place. Some of our older drawing are such a mess because people drew stuff all over the place and when you needed to edit something you had to search for it on your design layers. Often the cropped viewports would cut off parts of details etc. The file and folder structure for a large project is important. I like to have only my sheet files in the root project drawing folder. I make subfolders for floors, backgrounds, common elements, borders and site. You can make separate folders for each discipline depending on how many drawings from others you are working with. That is basically how I have set up our 4 story office building.

Is the VA project prefs thing just for standardizing lists for hardware and finishes etc? I see how the info is used by spaces for example to fill in a room finish schedule but does it store the actual worksheet schedule and record in a text format? I have custom schedules for door and room finishes. Is there any way to save those to a default file to be used when setting up a drawing or do I have to create a new project pref record and schedule field by field in VA R&S? Or is it better to just save a template file or drawing set up with everything?

I went through the same issues with the issue manager recently. I started a thread on it in the Architect forum. I had used a custom border I made a while ago to set up a 60 sheet drawing set. There was no issue data visible and there was no issue data record when I set up this drawing set. The first time I ran the issue manager all this crap from months ago appears on all my sheets. the issue data must have been retained in the border itself but set to not show anything unless there is a record template somewhere VW uses to set it up the first time. I tried deleting the record but it comes back when you run the issue manager again. What I ended up doing is I ran a report to list the issue data record elements then went column by column - highlight/delete/enter repeat. For my master templates I will have to strip it down to a single file and clean out the entries then rebuild my sheet set. I am worried that it will appear again when I am in a hurry to print up a set of plans. I know it will.

Thanks everyone. I like the schematic pipe tool. It would be nice to be able to use those line objects as an actual line style so you could could assign it to a class. This works nicely though.

Is there a way to make a line/dash style with text embedded? most site plans have line styles with "GAS" for gas lines or "S" for sewer lines etc. I know this is an autocad thing but these are the standards I have to follow.

Ah yes I looked but didn't see that line. I just tested this out with arcs and it worked fine but when I tried extending a polyline my Vectorworks locked up big time. It has been churning for a few minutes so far. It finally finished and I can see the highlight of polyline but not the pline itself. I am not sure what it actually did. When I zoom it locks up again. I had asked about this a while ago and I dont think this trick came up. This works like the Autocad extend command which is what I was looking for.

Is the alt/option extendtrick documented anywhere? I have been looking for something like this for a long time.

I am having the same problem with lines disappearing when zooming in close including within the snap loop. In my case it is a referenced layer in a background layer in this drawing and the plan rotation is at an odd angle. When I set the rotation back to world (0) then the lines are visible at all zoom levels.

I realize I am coming in late to this discussion but I have recently encountered the same questions. In 2009 Top/Plan View the shim gap shows up as an extension to center of the outside of the frame so you can dimension to it in plan. What I would like is the actual cut hole in a wall to be set to the opening plus the shim gap. I would like to see the frame and the gap in plan, section and elevation views. Usually the rough opening size is scheduled along with the frame dimensions but often in residential the called out window size is the actual rough opening size and the windows are sized to fit the opening and they are not always scheduled. With BIM in mind the objective should be to model everything accurately and have the actual opening and window components sized precisely and parametrically.

OK, I ran fontbook and several fonts had some warnings. I cleaned them up and opened up the drawing again and saved. The font still wraps on other computers. I clicked on some of the text to reset them just to see if the culprit computer would change the text back and it seems to be ok once the text is reset. The other text I didnt touch is still messed up. When I open the file on the other computer and save it, then open it again on another computer, the text is messed up again.

I would like to hear from others how or if BIM is being implemented or required. In Texas we are being told that we have to be BIM capable to bid on county, state or federal projects. Federal and military have clear guidelines for BIM but the state doesn't have a clue beyond layer/class guidelines. All they recommend is to follow AIA/NCS. The NIBS National BIM standards are still fairly new so hopefully this year they will decide on a format. I know in other places in the states they have a defined format for BIM. I would like to know what is being done elsewhere and if any kind of BIM capability / data quality rating scale is being used to qualify for bidding.

I have physically removed the font from one system and copied and installed the same font on both and the problem persists. It is in vectorworks, not just when printing. I just came across another problem with the same machine with a different font. (notetaker) All the text is set to bold but rotated text does not appear bold. I haven't checked it out on other computers myself yet but I was told that it is ok on at least one other computer. I am sure it is this one computer that is causing the problems but the OS and vectorworks versions and fonts etc are all the same.

I have been having the same issue with fonts behaving differently between computers. I checked the font mappings on 2 computers and neither computer had any font mappings for the suspect font (ariel narrow) In my case it seems to be one computer that is causing the problem. I have installed the exact same font on all computers and that didn't resolve the problem. With one drawing the text is in callouts within an annotation layer. The callouts appear fine on the computer they were created on but when you open up the drawing on any other computer the text wraps as if the text box size was reduced. The parameters of the callout have not changed and there is plenty of room for the text. If you click on the callout then close the dialog the text resets and is no longer wrapped and overlapping. This has caused a lot of problems with one set of drawings in particular and it has cropped up again recently when we have had to reprint a plan from another computer. One thing I suspect may be happening is in the mac fontbook display for that font there are several different default modes for the font. I did set the font to the same defaults on both computers but it didn't change the drawing.

I have been dealing with the same problems. Switching walls to a demo class is the quickest way of doing things but it only works with a single component wall. With my work, I want the existing walls to be simple 2 line walls so the newer more detailed walls stand out. Simple wall styles set to by class for existing walls lets you change the walls to dashed for demo plans and remove them for new floor plans. That is how I have my drawings set up. I thought that with the components set to "by class" they would take on the class the wall is on but it is only the encapsulating wall class that is changed. There needs to be an option for all components to adopt the attributes of the class the entire wall is on like there is for symbols and groups. Switching wall styles works but it takes a few more steps and if walls were drawn with different baselines they will move. You can achieve the appearance you want for all component classes by setting a view port class override. I make my walls with different classes for each component so you can control the appearance. You can set up the class attributes and save it as a view so you can activate that view in a new view port. Another quick alternative with viewports is to just turn off the wall components on the demo viewport under advanced settings. It would be nice if we had control of attributes by component or object type.

Thanks Pat your the best! That works great.

I was about to post a question with the same name so I might as well tag it on here if you don't mind. Is there a setting that will place a window label a certain distance from the window? It seems to only be controlled by the bubble size. Our standard size for the bubble works fine at 1/4" scale but it overlaps the window at smaller scales. At 1/8" scale it just barely overlapping the window sill. This is the most common scale we use for floor plans and we basically have to manually reposition each tag or change the size of the bubble and text from what they have always used. It seems there should be some setting for ID label offset or something.

I am having an issue mainly with my borders becoming invisible until you switch to a different layer and back. It mostly happens with my border layers but it has happened with viewports and floor level layers. The way I have my title blocks set up is a single file with a custom title block for each sheet in a drawing set placed on separate design layers. The title blocks are referenced into the sheet files. This allows me to manage project, sheet and issue data from one file for an entire drawing set and maintain a digital record of issues and revisions for the drawing set. Usually when I access a title block layer by clicking on the viewport that references it, the design layer appears blank. The title block and border are still there and are selectable but it is not visible. I have to switch to another layer then back to the invisible layer to get the border to show up again. I have had a similar issue with floor plans and other design layers. It seems to be more of a problem when accessing a referenced design layer from another drawing. Has anyone else experienced this kind of behavior? Is there a workaround or any idea why this is happening?

Thanks Pat, I was trying to figure out how to set an isometric view in a viewport but I was forgetting about the project 2D objects thing. That tutorial helped a lot. It would be nice to be able to draw anything on any plane. The way 2D and 3D are separate in VW is kind of confusing. It's nice to know that there are ways to fake it.

I have been trying to dimension a 3D object in an isometric view without success. It is a column detail with the view set to right front. I have tried setting my working plane but the dims only go in plan view. I wound up drawing the dims manually to get it to look the way I want. Is there a way to add dimensions and text on a 3D plane?

I am not sure what I did but I managed to get the title blocks working again.

arghh! I created a report to list all the issue data and deleted all the unwanted entries. Now when I launch the issue manager I no longer get the individual sheet or project data. When I click on a titleblock to edit it, all I get is a huge dialog with blank issue data that goes off the screen!!! This is nuts. I tried to reassociate the record with the title blocks but nothing happens.