WilliamK

@StructuralBIMGuy Definitely. Computer CAD should reduce effort. As many high end parametric structural objects as possible. I've written a few scripts to draw structural steel beams as lines for plan views, with automatic white space at the ends, the maximum number of shear studs and bolts for the end connections and an extruded 3d section not visible in plan but accessible for section details. Unfortunately it's too time consuming to write very many of these scripts...

I've been keeping a list of all the things that I'd like to see changed or improved. I'm a structural engineer, so these items relate to my engineering work: 1. Beam diagrams with accurate, scaled load graph at the top. The current diagram shows only load locations with no values. 2. Today I tried to add dimensions as annotations to an isometric detail. The results were unfortunately incorrect. I would think you could scale the dimension value to fit the model, knowing that it's a standard isometric view. Alternatively, you could provide a scale factor in the Info box for the dimension that would allow us to correct for the angle of projection. 3. I like to draw my models at full scale (1:1), use viewports to create individual views to scale for my drawing sheets, and then dimension and annotate the viewports to produce the final details. So even though the dimension tool snaps to the viewport objects, the dimensions don't associate and won't automatically change size. I would like the dimensions to remember the points that they snapped to when dimensioning objects in viewports. 4. The break line tool produces a break line that does not obscure anything behind it. So if I put it on the edge of a rectangle, the rectangle still shows a continuous line through the break line. Could we have the break line produce a "white line" to obscure any continuous line behind it? Also, could we arrange to have the triangle inside an object white filled, and the triangle outside the object to match the hatch of the object? 5. I know how to copy model layers between drawings, but I use a lot of letter sized sheets where almost everything is the same from project to project. I'd like to be able to copy the model layer and the sheet with all the viewports for that layer into a new drawing file. At present, I'm putting all these sheets in separate files but then I have to duplicate the title block information in each VW file and I can't use Batch Print because they are in different files. 6. Add to fasteners: 1. Hilti Kwik Bolts or other generic wedge anchor, 2. Generic threaded rod 7. The page border can display a grid to help organize details. But I've noticed that the title block can take up a fraction of one gridded area, so we don't know directly how much to adjust the positioning of details within the remaining area. Could we have the title block area excluded from the grid? I'd like only the area outside the title block to show the grid outside the border. 8. When I override a linear dimension, it's easy enough to enter a " in the dimension field. How do I enter a degree symbol when I override an angular dimension? 9. Title blocks often have a field for CAD Filename. How about making it enter the file name automatically? 10. I often dimension specific distances on a building plan or elevation, but it is not necessarily associated. Then I want to create a worksheet having those dimensions. There does not seem to be a function to obtain a dimension length. If I use "=length" in a worksheet, I get the overall length including the slashes if in Arch format. So I usually change the dimensions to ASME format so the "length" is equal to the dimension value. This is kind of hokey because all the other dimensions will be in Arch format. It would be nice to be able to get more of the items on the object info pallet into worksheets. 11. If I use a spreadsheet to make a database of objects, and then use MAX to find the largest value in the database, I get the summation of the items, not the largest individual item. This makes MAX useless. Have not tried "min" or others, but they probably do the same. I've been using this product since it was called MiniCad 4+. So it must be great or I would have moved on. Thanks for your consideration! --Bill

Definitely multi-core support. I'm importing 50 pages of really complex ACAD drawings this afternoon. I'm getting 52% CPU utilization. I estimate that all 50 files will be imported in another couple of hours. I have 1.5 hours into so far. I checked the disk usage and it's not disk-bound, almost nothing is being written to the disk. It's totally CPU bound. At least as far as the one core it is running on...

Blind Expert has a point. Unfortunately, the design team says Revit is the standard that they will issue the files in. I could pay them to convert them to DWG if they have time to do that. Any conversion to a different format comes at my expense. But I'm arguing that AutoCAD became such a dominant standard that Vectorworks at least tries to read the files, and often succeeds. Revit is fast becoming the new standard for modeling complex structures. Deciding to have Vectorworks support the standard file produced by Revit, will give Vectorworks a competitive advantage in this market.

I take every opportunity to point out the relative efficiency of Vectorworks. I've been a devoted user since it was called MiniCad4. But my issue is with big projects where the design team has dozens of architects and engineers working on projects in the $50 million plus range. My role is relatively small, so refusing to do what all the other team members are doing is like the proverbial "tail wagging the dog." They would just say, "Fine, we will get someone who is more interested in working with us," and I would lose the job. Cheers!

I tried IFC. The Revit file, ending in .rvt is grayed out. So I can't import it. I see nothing in the documentation to suggest that IFC will import Revit files.

I'm getting a lot of projects where the design team is working in Revit. At least until they make construction documents. These are big, complex projects, where VW would look good and produce high quality drawings with less work. Except that I can't exchange information with the design team in Revit. This trend has been increasing fast. At some point, I will need to begin using Revit, at considerable expense, in order to retain interoperability. This might be before VW 2012 comes out, so the need is crucial.

Revit can read and write Revit files. VW can't. I'm getting a lot of projects done in Revit, where the architects and engineers are distributing their product as Revit models, at least up to the point of producing construction documents. They have no interest in converting their Revit models to any other format, so at some point, I will have to begin doing more work in Revit. It's a serious threat to Vectorworks in my field.

Cool! Thanks Raymond!

Using VS to create a viewport, how do I set the attribute for the "Project Screen Objects" box on the Info panel?

Agreed, in general. The information seems to be there for the redline object. That is, it shows up on the Info pane as the correct layer for that object. When I get a free moment, I will draft a simple example that could be used in a bug report. My clients usually put all the design work on one single design layer and then produce 200+ sheet layers out of it. It's best for me to put my markups on the annotations to the viewports that make up the sheets because the fonts and scale are correct then. I follow up with a redline object around those markups. Giving them a redline report that tells which of the 200+ sheets are marked up, would be a value added product. Thanks for your comment.

Ah. I should have been more precise. When I generate a "Redline Status WS" from Text/Redlines, I get a worksheet with headings but no item. When I generate a report from Tools/Reports/Create a Report, with the "Viewport Annotations" box checked, I do get a worksheet with all the redlines listed, but no information on the sheet layer upon which they occur. I added a column for layer, entered "=L" into the database row, and I get "None."

Yes, redline class is "visible."

I have redlines generated in viewports. When I do a redline report, it shows nothing. Has anyone had any luck with this? It's necessary because sometimes I have to redline the annotations. When I look at the object properties, it shows the correct reference in "Layer" though it is grayed out. I can't get the layer value to show up in any worksheet or in the redline report.

I'm using VW 2010 on Mac OS X 10.5.8. When I try to use the Symbol font in text, I just get rectangular boxes (which usually mean the font is not understood). How do I use common Greek letters in text?