Rossford

Not sure I will attend quite yet to what would be my 3rd Summit. I hope to. Well worthwhile for those who haven't. I can attest La Costa is a really, really neat venue for the event...….They were a client a few years back and I used to walk around singing that old Steve Martin song, "I can't believe I get paid for doing this!" (or, staying there...….perhaps 50 nights over a few years.) That's probably not why they chose the venue....but if attendees play golf there, they may take pleasure in knowing the golf courses were redesigned several years ago......partially on Vectorworks (by yours truly) in conjunction with a firm using ACAD for other parts.

Seems like it only switches it to the aerial when I try to select my Bezier polylines I use for initial contour lines. If I convert to polygons or 3D polys, they select fine.

I am not new at this, but on a Sunday afternoon, after a start and stop, VW keeps throwing me back to the aerial layer (which I want to keep on as it is useful base info for drawing on my grading layer) The Aerial layer is at the bottom of the hierarchy, I have show layers but not show/snap or show/snap/modify on for the aerial. Yet, when trying to select my 1 or 5 foot contour class on the Proposed Grading layer, it won't select, and it always grabs the aerial layer below, sometimes within a colored viewport edit box that shows "exit bitmap crop". Must be missing something real simple, or the file was set up differently than I am used to be the engineer? Quick tip for selection of only my layer and class appreciated.

From what I gathered, most convert profession graphics that are in jpg or other form to better vector graphics. It seems none could do much for a quick pencil line sketch, although some had some settings that might make those better. Tracing one last time with a sharp pen takes longer than tracing with a mouse or stylus pen on a Wacom board.

Would like to know what those are! I actually went on line and there are some free and subscription based on line conversion tools. Looking into it to see if and which might be best for hand drawn lines like a contour plan.

Michaelk, Whenever I have tried render bitmap, albeit on pencil drawing grading plans, the lines come in as a lot of spots, not a connected line. Anyone know of any setting that may help that situation. If I have to trace hand drawn contours with a sharp pen before importing them, I'm not saving much time, and I would love to have the render bitmap truly work. Any help would be appreciated.

I think you can just click on the text header, go to size, and reduce it there.

Think that's it - productivity techniques. Shameless (although unaffiliated totally) plug - JP always does a great job on those seminars.

Think I saw it as a replay on Novedge, but Jonathan posts here, so maybe he can lead you to it.

I am a landscape and not building architect, but most folks I know using VW either draw in the none class and assign later (boo!) or are forced to follow some office standard, which they for some reason seem to hate. I had draftspersons using layers like classes, such as contour elevation was layer "54", 56, 58" etc. ouch. We set up a system with few layers and basically classes for every type of work we did. If it is a line item on our standard bid form, i.e., 6" pipe, it is its own class, with its own 2D (and if appropriate, 3D) characteristics. Yes, sometimes we get a site where a lawn looks too light or dark compared to the tree mass, which you can change for that drawing, or add "light lawn" and "dark lawn" as classes, if absolutely necessary. We debate how many layers to put in. For architects, I gather site plan and one per floor makes loads of sense. We tend to divvy layers up by either contract phase (analysis, concept, CD) or with more detail, like Clearing, Grading, Drainage, Grassing, etc. I tend to like more layers, but others in the office like to minimize them. For both layers and classes, scrolling through even the enhanced interface in 2019 is a chore. However, just watched a Jonathan Pickup video on creating scripts to make picking common classes from much smaller custom menus, which I am going to try! Would also probably work with layers and sheet layers, etc., rather than rely on the VW set up.

Wish I could help. I didn't even remember this, and since I upgrade each year, it hasn't been a problem since.

Have you looked at the tool settings? Seems to give many options, including, I think angle.

Benson, Have you ever tried the 3D polygon up the swale, and then lowered the entire thing -0.5"? Seems like that would help, and often, topo maps really omit that little "fast flowing channel" at the bottom of many swales. Similarly, I have thought about, but not tried yet, using the road tool like you or someone used to cut a stream through a landscape. Any thoughts on that? Might work better for proposed swales, IMHO, over several sections of the straight line grade tool. For that matter, why can't the swale tool use a curved polygon rather than straight line only? Seems like that would make the site model more intuitive to those of us old guys who still grade with contour lines.....seems like they could start with road tool, tweak it, and label it as a curved swale tool. Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

That was it, thanks. Not sure I even knew that was there after 15-20 years of VW, LOL>

I have never noticed this before, but it appears that in 2019, I can only get the same line marker end point (i.e., circle, arrow) on both ends of a line. I used to use different markers for a lot of things, but can't get VW to do this now. Anyone else notice this? On SP0, haven't upgraded to SP1, due to stability complaints here. Thanks in advance.

Just noticed the little bell icon signaling a message in the upper right hand corner of my screen. Curious, I tapped it, and it was 4 various messages from VW about new seminars, etc. for 2019. Only problem is, it won't close, or let my drawing close, etc. Tried everything, including shut down via task manager, but I hadn't saved the very final version of my drawing. I know its something simple I panicked and couldn't find, but what do I do to close the message center whenever I happen to open it next? Thanks in advance.

Haven't used it yet, but didn't the video suggest the site model can auto change the max and min limits now?

yes, not the best.....

I have taken the time to drawing offset polys and giving them lighter and lighter colors as the go to the middle of my ponds, but yes, maybe a gradient tool that could follow that swimming pool edge or something similar would be handy.

Tui, I keep it open all the time, too. I like to keep it narrow, but just wide enough to make sure I know what the layer (and more often, the class) is before clicking it. Also have never used the Control + Arrow much, seems like it takes more time than scrolling down (at least in my class system)

Not sure if I asked this before, and yes, I can use the boxes on the right, but often, want to use drop down menus. Problem is, my template has several sheet layers, and to get to an appropriate design layer, I have to scroll through sheet layers first, whereas I change design layers much more often. It seems they should be listed on top, or perhaps a separate drop down menu for sheet layers would speed things up a lot fo me.

Regarding poly lines, whenever I have worked with other firms using ACAD, our poly lines convert to literally thousands of points in ACAD. I convert those to polygons, and simplify them (you can convert to 3D and use simplify poly, then convert back to 2D if required) but I have an old script for poly smoothing. Even if you simplify relatively little, you can reduce on polyline from thousands of vertices to hundreds or if you don't mind a bit of choppy look, maybe to dozens of vertices. It takes a little experimentation. I have also found many duplicates for reasons I cannot understand, so running the purge duplicates command usually helps.

Agree, contour labels could be more flexible. Years ago, ACAD allowed drawing a line to align the contour labels as described above. also, do need ability to have independent decimal places separate from dimensions, etc. I rarely go below 1 foot intervals, and would set it to 1 as the precision limit. Sometimes, go to .25, but rarely. Also, want more control, line for proposed alignments. Existing contour labels should show up near the edge of viewports, just outside grade limits, and maybe (maybe) just once in the center. At least, that is how I typically draw them.

Pat, Checked into it, and seems like only the dimensions can be dually labeled, no? We use polygons for our centerlines, and prefer to have those measured in yards to auto produce our scorecard. Right now, our worksheet measures the polygon and divides by 3. I have considered a separate drawing as you suggest above, referenced in and will try that if units stick. Thanks.

I think it would be helpful if you could list dimensions two different ways in one drawing. In my case, as a golf course architect, I would love my centerlines in yards, so I can make a scorecard, and put those on one layer and specific class. The rest of dimensions are in decimal feet as Andy needs. Jim? Add it to the wish list?