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Kevin McAllister

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Posts posted by Kevin McAllister

    Improve Extrude Along Path

    in Wishlist - Feature and Content Requests

    Posted

    If I'm understanding Kevin's "origin point" correctly, it's the 0,0 point at the intersection of dashed lines clearly visible when editing a profile in VW 2008. Has this really been abandoned subsequent to 2008?!? If so, bring it back!!

    It's there, sort of. At the moment those origin lines seem to appear/disappear with VW2011. The origin should also be a snap-able locus like in a symbol.

    1.) The ability to extrude profile symbols (change a crown molding's symbol, and all the EAP's using that symbol automatically update...)

    I vote for this. I would love to use symbols in Extrude Along Path objects.

    Kevin

    Improve Extrude Along Path

    in Wishlist - Feature and Content Requests

    Posted

    Please improve Extrude Along Path to include the following:

    - origin point is clearly visible when editing the profile object after creation.

    - the ability to click on the profile object and define the origin during the process of creation.

    -automatic view alignment when editing either the path or profile. Right now you have to hunt around.

    - the created extrude should be created on the current working plane not the ground plane.

    Lately the behaviour when editing within Extrude Along Path elements (profile or path) has changed subtly with each service pack. Clearly there are things with the planar objects / 3D working procedures still being resolved. It would be great to get some improvements at the same time.

    Thank you,

    Kevin

    Vectorworks 2011 Service Pack SP3

    in Architecture

    Posted

    Check the mode of the Selection Tool in the mode bar. After installing SP3 mine had reset to Enable Polygonal Selection Mode and I wasn't able to select objects by clicking on them. (The cursor looks like a small plus and a polygon icon when you click down.) After setting it back to Rectangular Selection Mode, all was well.

    I've found in general that SP3 resets things you wouldn't expect. There are some other quirks as well which I'm monitoring to see if they're reproducible bugs.

    Kevin

    Problem with solid subtraction

    in Architecture

    Posted

    Hi Chris,

    I am very curious when you say "I drew polygons of the correct sizes". What does this mean? I have attached an example of how I would create your shape. It uses basic geometry (circles, rectangles, arcs) and the Add Surface / Subtract Surface commands. While you could use the Polygon tool as Michael suggests (it is a powerful tool to learn, but unfortunately its not as intuitive as say Adobe Illustrator's pen tool), you don't have to to get the same result. The reason I'm confused is because Add Surface / Subtract Surface always create polylines as far as I know, not polygons. I'm not sure how you're ending up with polygons. Perhaps its because of the Clip Tool. I don't use it very much myself.

    Add Surface / Subtract Surface / Intersect Surface are commands I use all the time and I've had very few problems with the resulting polylines.

    Kevin

    PS> As an aside its interesting how much larger the file is when exported back to VW2008.

    Stability/Compatibility over Fast Development/Features

    in Wishlist - Feature and Content Requests

    Posted · Edited by Kevin McAllister

    Kaare,

    I entirely support this. I too could care a less about BIM. Every project I work on requires an entirely different approach.

    I often use the architectural tools, but not in ways they were designed for or intended. The power is there under the hood, it just needs to be revealed. Its like the release of Excel a few years ago where they didn't add features, they just made the existing ones easier to find, renamed them so people actually knew they existed and revamped the user experience. The Fit to Roof command is a prime example. I have never drawn a roof, but I use the command to fit things to other things all the time.

    I also think that this wish, especially when it comes to modelling tools, is completely appropriate to this thread. When tools fail regularly and have an inconsistent UI, for me that falls under Stability.

    Kevin

    Locating Objects which cause Program Crashing

    in Architecture

    Posted

    The only way I know of is process of elimination. Save a copy of your file under a new name as a test file. In the test file, delete half the layers or half the classes. If your crashes stop the offending object is in the layers/classes you deleted. If not, choose revert from the File menu and delete the other half of the layers or classes. Keep repeating until you begin to narrow down where the object is.

    It can take a while, but I have found offending objects this way.

    Kevin

    Creating Site Model from DWG

    in Site Design

    Posted

    This is only a guess, but as someone who played with a site model for the first time recently, maybe it will help. The site model is a hybrid object with both 2D and 3D data. Its likely that if you are only seeing contours you are in Top/Plan view. Change the view to a 3D view (Top / ISO / etc.) and you will see the mesh.

    Kevin

    Reduced Size Sets

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Kevin McAllister

    Jim,

    I use ANSI D (22" x 34") as my standard sheet size and have a custom paper size without margins. All of my sheets are set to this size. My standard full size sets are created by using Batch Export PDF. If I want to do a half size set from within Vectorworks I do the following-

    - make sure the file is saved.

    - select all of the sheets in the Navigation Palette, right click on the selected sheets and choose Edit>Page Setup>Printer Setup

    - set the paper size to 11x17 (I have a custom size for 11x17 with no margins) and choose 50% (or whatever is appropriate in your case) for scaling.

    - choose Batch Export PDF to create the 11x17 set. This works pretty cleanly because of the two sheet sizes (ANSI D and Tabloid) being in direct proportion. This means none of the content has to adjust to fit the smaller sheet.

    - choose undo or revert from the file menu to set the file back to full size sheets.

    Another easy solution if you have the full version of Acrobat is to create a watched folder that automatically does the conversion when a file is dropped into it. Its possible to put the watched folder on a server so any staff member can drop an original size set into it and have it auto create a 50% set.

    Hope this helps,

    Kevin

    Fix Drawing Co-Ordination and Viewport Names

    in Wishlist - Feature and Content Requests

    Posted · Edited by Kevin McAllister

    Drawing co-ordination is great but - viewport names are now really annoying.

    I wish that the following were true when drawing co-ordination is turned on -

    - Drawing Title and Viewport Name were always the same (ie. if you updated the Drawing Title, the Viewport Name would change to match). Clearly there is no reason for both, except unfortunately you need to update the Viewport Name (see below).

    - When exporting to PDF, there was an option to turn off PDF bookmarks or use Drawings Titles instead of Viewport Names for PDF bookmarks. This is the only reason to update Viewport Names. Frankly its just annoying. Right now I often open the PDF in Acrobat Pro and delete the bookmarks Vectorworks creates.

    This would make the drawing co-ordination workflow to PDF so much better.

    Thank you,

    Kevin

    PS. Please also make Drawing Numbers editable in the OIP when a viewport is selected, much like you can edit the Drawing Title.

    Sculptured solid in 2011

    in Rendering

    Posted

    A few things to look for when making a surface from Nurbs curves -

    - I believe all the Nurbs curves need to go in the same direction. Click on the Show Direction checkbox in the Object Info Palette to see the direction arrows. Use the Reverse Direction radio button, also in the Object Info Palette to make your curves consistent.

    - I have had more success using Modify>Combine to combine various curves first. This is also a good way to discover which curves don't quite touch. If you are able to combine all the curves into a single curv, the Create Surface from Curves command will still work.

    - I have found that it can be finicky if the curves are different degrees. Look in the Object Info Palette and see how each of your curves compare. Often you can increase the degree, not alter the curve, and get them to combine successfully.

    Hope this helps.

    Kevin

    Custom Dimensions

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Bruce,

    You can cut and paste a custom dimension from one one document to another and then delete it. When you paste, the custom dimension style associated with the pasted dimension is imported into the destination file. Unfortunately you still need to go into the document preferences and select it as the default for the file.

    Kevin

    Vectorworks 2011 downgrade to 2010

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I have had a lot of weirdness with VW2011 as well. Often with files imported from older versions, but also with clean files originating in VW2011. So far I am soldiering on because there are some great features.

    The weirdness has included:

    - random disappearing objects. I've often had to cut/paste objects back in after retrieving them from an archived version of a file.

    - trouble editing extrudes. Often the objects in the edit extrude mode won't select directly with the selection tool, but need to be selected using select all or by dragging a marquee around them.

    - broken 2D views while using the custom stair tool, where the stairs look discontinuous in 2D.

    - extrude along path objects randomly breaking in symbols brought forward from earlier versions. These objects suddenly jump to a new orientation, disconnecting from the rest of the symbol geometry.

    - trouble in many editing modes because of the new planar objects. I notice VW now often jumps into rotated plan mode. I have avoided this mode in the past because it has caused some problems and I wonder if its causing many of the problems now.

    There are lots of positives too, but the more I use it, the more oddness I seem to experience in comparison to VW2010, which seemed very stable.

    Kevin

    Mirroring Callouts

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Is anyone else having problems mirroring callouts in Sheet Layer Viewport annotations? The duplicates created by mirroring don't seem to mirror correctly. The callout itself is a mirror image but its placement is not symmetrical about the mirror line. Other objects (even if part of the same selection to mirror) seem to mirror fine.

    Kevin

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