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one of the first questions: why is there no 'z' coordinate for site models anymore? thx, rob

i think we'll be moving to ifc properties instead of concentrating on data records. where can i find some explanations on the ifc props in the worksheets/database? thx in advance. rob

attention, though a small thing, is already a beginning. as lao tse said: 'even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step'

thanks, wouter. btw, what do you mean by 'object reset'? rob

terra, thanks, i've actually hoped to have to deal with the psets, and not with the record formats. my favourite place (more natural, as in the case of dimensions - why would i insert a dimension, it's just already there, in the object) would be oip, though. but if i have to live with the pset entries, then so be it. rob

hi, is it somehow possible to import the dwg content not into the standard xy plane (top plan view), but also in the xz or yz planes (front or side views)? thx. rob

hi, still lacking the possibility to have roofs with components (i know, it'll come in v2016), but it's not restricted to the roofs, just to all newly created non-standard elements, then assigned to ifc entities. the trouble is with the materials assignment, and apparently also the thickness of the elements. i'm talking mainly about extrudes, which are automatically exported to ifc without material nor dimensions (an example enclosed). does anybody know where is the proper place to insert this information? is it in further ifc psets, in the oip, or in additional record sets? thx in advance, rob

hi, i've read a robert anderson's brochure 'construction sequence in vectorworks' (4D_narrative.pdf) and watched a film '4d.mov', probably available somewhere on the net. the 3:41 minutes movie sports an execution of a script named 'Q&D_4D-wkg.vs' which displays the succession of placing of the construction elements in an edifice. does anybody know: - where is this script? - is it free available? - will it run in v2015 or v2016? thx in advance, rob

your design consultants may encounter troubles while importing your vw ifc export into revit in case you've used boolean operations (aec > fit walls to objects). the import of ifc data from revit may be offset in your vw file - advise them to use the gpl (open source) ifc translator for revit, not the native one from autodesk, and define the model origin exactly. rob

peter, i actually know how to set up a saved view. the only thing was my inability to recognise the power of its appearance. i simply thought of a sv as of a fixed screenshot, no more editable and not updatable. so thanks for the enlightenment rob

ok, my vw shortcomings will thus probably come to appearance how could i use saved views for this?

hi, is it possible in vectorworks to choose a certain set of design layers to be visible (like in archicad)? i have some 35 drawing layers in my current project and it's a pain in the ass to choose all layers i want to see for a particular view, like a model perspective or 2d drawings. for instance: i have for each storey design layers with 3d elements that don't appear in 2d views, and 2d descriptions that are not supposed to be visible in 3d views. as for now i differentiate the colour appearance in the organisation dialog, but i have to choose all of them manually for different purposes. does anybody have a clue how to automatise it? thx, rob

i can get the manufacturers' intention to model once, not many times (and as it remains contrary to the designers' intention, based on lod stages) but i can't get the insertion point schedule for those workouts. from what i understand the manufacturers' contribution happens in the final phase of the design / ipd process. generally there is no need of that exact modelling, as it was the case of 2d references. what i am interested most is the possibility to reproduce the modelling principles of revit families in vectorworks. is there a possibility to export parametric (symbols?) for the construction industry market? or go you think we can get away with the ifc standard alone? rob

i use my wacom intuos3 (4x5 inches, small, but sufficient for any project size) for several years already. for the input i use wacom 5-button wireless mouse. the combination works like a charm. rob

but if oip could be that flexible to gather all necessary information chunks and still be able to forward them to the ifc, i'd really welcome it...

ida, i've considered available options and i see for instance that there's no other way 'round as to edit the ifc psets for custom objects. actually i don't see the possibility to activate the oip parameters for objects modelled in 3d tools, and not having the standard features. we still have the record sets as the third data source and i start to believe i can really follow the trouble of the application developers when it comes to data modelling. we probably need (and will need) all three data inputs. but i'd gladly take potluck with nv. unfortunately the architects will have to pay for it with lots of hours of the additional learning. i have a few years as a software engineer behind me, so i can't be that objective, other architects will surely have their challenge with it. and yes, i've seen the parallel thread. i am sure we can get such tool in the next releases. rob

one more thing: in revit there is something called an 'ifc mapping file'. it consists of simple text strings with 3 entries for each row: ifc_common_propertyset_nameifc_property_namerevit_property_name i don't really know revit and its ifc import/export functionality (and it should be years back, facing the deprecation of this format for years by autodesk), but this principle looks pretty logical. i don't want to suggest anything, but there must be an easy way like this to proceed, doesn't it? i know the (newly created) record sets should have doubled inserts for the vw properties and for ifc ones, but it doesn't seem to work easy enough... rob

ida, thanks for your feedback. the trouble is, that in order to speed up the implementation of bim in our country (and to make vectorworks a viable solution) we have to keep things simple. architects are spoiled by the autocad-2d-mentality, and i don't think they will try 3 different places to insert the important data. unfortunately the most common understanding is the parameters' dialog of each element as a starting point for nd data modelling. it's really hard to force the artists (the architects regard themselves as such) to learn the rules of object-oriented programming (ifc hierarchies and their psets). and the data records are adding to the confusion. so you're right, ida: jeff, this chaos must be cleared in the most simple and understandable way. rob

ok, i'm just reading the 'IFC Handbook-templated' and there is a hint to the missing automatic assignment for the door object. the suggestion is to: 'assign the appropriate Pset and fill in the fields.' so this brings me to the question: which pset is an appropriate one for the door object to be ifc-exported properly? a collateral question would be like this: what do i have the door settings for, when they don't get exported? thx, rob

jeff: either i don't see the connections, or are those data sources not correlated with one another. we have, say, a door object with its user dataset in the settings dialog (door_data.png attachment) we have the record sets for this door, i choose 'material take-off' one, although (btw) i expect the data preparation for exchanges functionality to be implemented for me in the first place (door_material_take-off_record.png attachment) we have ifc property sets that don't mirror anything set up in the user settings for this door object (door_one_ifc_pset.png, door_another_one_ifc_pset.png attachments). the measurements of the door are both 0.000, the glazing thickness 0.000, no fire rating, no nothing from the user defined values from the settings' dialog. now please tell me anybody, how am i supposed to get, say, the door fire rating (happen to be 'ei30' in the settings) to be visible in the ifc model of the building? how can the user data fields be automatically exported to the model? do i have to choose any other psets or even create new ones? who is supposed to know these exact procedures in any standard architectural office? thanks in advance for any clue. rob

this is yokohama port terminal by foreign office architects (i happen to have taken part in the competition, too, some 20 yrs ago): https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-M77watdQggk/TX4dBMPB9vI/AAAAAAAAACE/M8l7amdvMWs/s1600/32-Rendered+sections.JPG is there a way to draw or/and model it in vw? rob

recently i've checked a few threads and yt videos about the slanted walls. facing the (great) novedge webinar #126 on the malta seashore project i still can't get why there is no slanted wall tool in vw. we can practically model what we imagine, but the hard reality is the 'space planning>model to floorplan' winding up as vertical remnants of any bold shape. i know about two ways of doing the thing (one being a 'slanted wall' tool - not vw case, the other one being a free-form 3d modelling and then assigning the wall values - not exactly true, as the full wall functionality is never achieved). when will we get a fully functioning 'model shell to wall' tool? or am i asking too much? rob

hi, an additional question: how to retrieve an object data and populate the ifc psets with it? the assigning of the record format (say, take-off data record) doesn't have any influence on psets' values, the same (zero) effect is the choice of this record in the 'manage custom property sets' in the ifc data dialog. this assignment disappears after the ifc data dialog is closed. does anybody have a viable procedure how to use the ifc functionality in exporting the full object data for interoperability? i understand there are ifc entities with predefined, noneditable values, but how to use those values, and any user-added object ones, for data exchange? when i send an ifc model, there is no further way to communicate the data as via the ifc psets themselves, or am i missing something? thx, rob

thanks guys for useful tips, a really great forum i think the way is to improve the schedules' imaging, all manual actions are counterproductive. christiaan, are the bottom parts of w04 and w09 not fixed? rob

apparently the direction of the software applications for creative professionals includes the visual diagram modelling (the uml-principle) before the real modelling takes place. i encounter this for years already in the animation software (toon boom harmony and animate). in the beginning i was wondering if it wouldn't reduce the artistic input, but i was getting accustomed and pretty comfortable with it (it's called 'network view' in the toon boom software). i learn pretty easily, though. i can imagine there are many architects around who will have troubles with this (technological) approach, claiming the affected freedom of artistic expression. we'll see... rob