J. Wallace

So I'm trying to create a section viewport of a portion of a site model. The area shown in the attached image is not large or complex, but when I go and create this all the trees are either removed or rotated on a 90...This happened to me a couple of years back and I'm not sure why or how I worked around it. Any help would be appreciated. Image section1 is what you see when you double click the view port and go to edit the active layer...the trees are there. I should also add that the appropriate layers and classes are visible.

Thank you Benson and Peter...Benson, your notes regarding NURBS curves and how you use them are very helpful...thanks. I noticed my file is lagging a bit, when I zoomed in on a contour you can see many unnecessary vertices which explain the slow down. I may build a new model using your suggested methods.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I was playing with the file this morning and came up with this... The swales are on contour ( or level, flat) which makes this a whole lot easier. I made a polyline which I felt would represent the bottom of the swale (and was following contour), then copied the same shape and converted both to site modifers (pads). Assigned elevations 2' below existing for the swale and 2' above for the mound. The grade limits seem to naturally create a smooth transition. I'm happy, and it was not difficult. Benson I first started with NURBS object and changed this approach as I'm not that familiar with the behaviors of these. This is virtually the same approach just different objects. Thanks it works well.

Thanks Dillon I was hoping to use an extrude of some other shape as a form or template that would work as a site modifier to speed this process up. It will take some doing to place stake objects all along a swale and mound.

Hi Everyone I have a unique challenge which I thought I would post here. I have a site model of a 24 acre farm which I'm applying a permaculture design to. One of the elements I need to add and thus effect the model are swales (see attached for side view). These are placed on contour (level) and in this case I would excavate a 3.5' wide by 1' deep swale and place the material downhill creating a mound. So the question is how do I create an object which will give my site model this look or effect? It needs to remove a channel and add down slope. I very much appreciate any ideas, I'm certain this can easily be accomplished if you know how...

Hi For the past few weeks I have had some strange behaviour from the stake object. When I place it on a model it will not give me a surface elevation, it seems to bury itself (see images). Settings on the stake are set elevation to site model. Is the stake setting itself to the existing surface? Edit: two seconds later....just noticed the setting for the stake within the oip for proposed and existing...please ignore

Thanks Jim...that worked well.

Thanks Jim that worked. Is the same to be done with parking space lines. See image. They are elevated on one side of a 5% sloped parking area. Update: the parking space lines don't appear to be editable...

Hello everyone I'm on a little 3d project which has a sloped driveway (8%) and a vehicle I want to place on it. When I go to rotate this vehicle, so it reflects the driveway slope it will not work... Any help would be appreciated, thanks

Hi Jim It has fill...and yes if I convert it to a polygon it works. Thanks for that... a little bug lurking?

Hi I'm having some challenges with the create objects from shapes tool...I commonly make a shape using the polyline tool then convert this into an object. Here I made a polyline then when I go to create objects from shape it creates the object outside the polylines rather than using the polyline as a constraint. The polyline is closed and looks fine..any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks ps I should add that simple shapes still work fine

When you click reply or post you'll see a small highlighted File Manager label below...click that, it will guide you the rest of the way.

Hi Phil Yes correcting it is no trouble...I'm questioning why it changes in the first place and why it defaults to a text width of around 1"... added I just moved the call out and this occurred, same happens when I edit the text. If I was creating a new one I could understand this happening.

I have downloaded some of the details available from the Service select site. These are wonderful and I've made them into symbols so I can easily share these amongst drawings. When I go into the symbol to make some minor changes to call outs and notes I get some strange behaviour. If I just move a call out the text width automatically changes and needs adjustment. If I change anything on the notes the text size and width shrink...What might I be doing wrong?

While in the sheet layer if you double click the view port and select annotations. You can know add your call-outs or dimensions and they will apply to that view port only.

Hi RDS I recently discovered that when importing a dwg file from, lets say a surveyor, that you can apply a prefix to the classes that form during the import. All existing layers from the import are converted to classes and by applying a prefix you can easily isolate these. View port visibility is controlled by selecting the view port and using the OIP/selecting classes to edit what is visible. Hopefully I have understood your question.

Thank you very much Pat and Jim. Good ideas, I've started to download some dwg files to build up my library.

Hello all I have branched out into the Rainwater harvesting design field. Question that I'm putting out there relates to designing a system in 3d. My immediate challenge is creating a 2d/3d plan to show the components and storage tanks. The tank is easy, but items like lengths of 3" pvc and 3" elbows are a bit of a challenge. It does not look like the irrigation tools create a hybrid symbol. I can change the pipe size to reflect the desired size but I don't suppose anyone has wanted to see pvc pipe in 3d. Here is a sample image which represents on a design example. I'm sure this was done in Sketch up, I would prefer to stick with VW if possible...I look forward to some feedback.

Tony May I ask why you can't open VW 12.5... Does it not run on your OS? If so you could run Parallels on your mac with on older supported version of OSX. edit: Just found this which might be helpful http://www.megabits.co.nz/support-training/support/system-requirements/

Thanks bc... that was an excellent post. A great idea for 3d work... now we just need the same idea (colour as a resource) for 2d....thanks

Thanks Jim That was a huge help...

I've been playing around with a plant list(worksheet) and I seem to be having challenges with one plant listing. Arctostaphylos is listed twice as I have two plant groups... I don't remember how to fix this without changing the group within the design layer. I would prefer two groups with two separate tags for clarity. Anyone remember the quick fix to this? Thanks

Thanks for that Jim... I have been using/watching this forum for some time and I wanted to let you know that you addition to this and the support you offer is fantastic. Thanks.

Hi I'm puzzled that active colours in a document don't show up as a resource in the resource browser. It would be handy to be able to access these easily via the rb... maybe I'm not seeing something, I do see gradients but not colours...

Thanks for that Tamsin...that makes sense...