Ajychau

Hey Hippothamus, Thanks for the reply, I'll have another look at it. I was attempting to select all the objects on a specific class and then move it to a new layer. Then it needs to revert back to the original import layer and find a different class. I'll try out the Foreachobject command and see if that works, and I guess I'll build a script for each class first and then try combining it into a master script... Cheers!

Hello! I've been thinking about writing a script that has the ability to automate the importing of consultant drawings and setting it up to our standards. Essentially I have a survey drawing coming in and it may have multiple classes for the contours. We generally want to move those contours to a separate layer. So the usual step would be: Import DWG, with prefix 'X_SUR-' for all the classes. Rename layer to 'X_Survey ACTIVE'. Create layer 'X_Survey contours'. Go to any class that might be 'X_SUR-contours major' or 'X_SUR-cont maj' or 'X_SUR-cont min' etc. Turn class options to 'Show/Snap' Select all Copy and then Paste in place in 'X_Survey contours' layer This is what I've written: PROCEDURE MoveObjClass; VAR LayBase, Lay1, className, Cs1, Cs1a: STRING; i, n: INTEGER; BEGIN LayBase:=Concat('X_Survey ACTIVE'); Lay1:=Concat('X_Survey Contour'); Layer(LayBase); SetLayerOptions(4); cs1:=('X_SUR-cont*'); FOR i := 3 TO CLASSNUM DO BEGIN className:=CLASSLIST(i); n:=POS(Cs1,className); IF (n=1) THEN BEGIN ShowClass(Cs1); SetClassOptions(5); ReDrawALL; SelectALL; DoMenuTextByName('Cut',0); Layer(Lay1); DoMenuTextByName('Paste In Place',0); END; END; END; RUN(MoveObjClass); It's a bit of a frankenstein peice of code...but I don't know if I'm heading down the right path, and I don't know how to get it to select the classes it finds with "X_SUR-cont" Any help would be much appreciated!! Happy Easter!

Second the wish. Now time to look for a script that does it.

Okay Dokies! It seems that the issue is a user related issue! (but yet to be confirmed) There is a solution though, Tools>Set origin>Set origin to drawing center.

Thanks Vincent, it's hard to submit a bug report, as the files associated are big, and it is hard to replicate. I've emailed NV support in my country...let's see what comes back..

Hey everybody, We've been experiencing a bizarre issue with Vectorworks, first noticed in 12.5, occured in 2010, more frequent in 2012. But to explain it properly I have to paint an image of how we structure our files. We have numerous files to complete 1 design package. Survey Civil Arch Landscape Details Sections We reference everything into a design package file, we use the layer reference function, and everything is georeferenced, so for Melbourne, Aust, everything is roughly at x=350000ish, y=5200000ish. Now the issue that we are experiencing is that one of our working files, ie. landscape, moves to the wrong coordinates. Everything moves there, including the locked reference layers. It even saves in the wrong location and opens in the wrong location. The only times that you notice that something has gone horribly wrong is when you set up stakes or coordinate markers for setout, or when you update your reference files (which in the original file stays in the correct coordinates, so the update will move the reference layers back to the correct location). Has anyone else experienced this issue? Has anyone got a solution? This is a major issue if you are dependent on the coordinates. The only fix that we have is reverting back to an archived copy of the file, or laboriously moving everything to the right location.

Hey Nathan, Super late reply to your query, but... We have experienced the same issue that you have described. What I find is that the reference files are in the correct location, and the file that you are working in has moved to another location. Updating the references will then move the correctly located survey to it's correct location, exposing the working file's wrong position. At first I thought it happens when VW crashes, but it has just happened to a file of mine and it has not crashed recently. Can you confirm that the referenced survey file is in the correct coordinates?

Have you got transparencies? I find that PDF translate the transparencies differently to how the Quicktime engine renders it on screen. I had the same issue as you described above and was further confused by why some of my PDFs exported from within the same file were perfectly color matched.

So I added dialog boxes so anyone can just type in the strings of text that need replacing... PROCEDURE FindRenameClasses; { Modded by Andrew Chau based on Renameclasses by ? Petri Sakkinen 1997 - 2009 } VAR className, newName, cs1, cs2 {cs1 is the trigger or to be replaced, cs2 is the replacement} : STRING; i, j, n : INTEGER; BEGIN cs1:=StrDialog(Concat('Find text string in class name to rename...',Chr(13),Chr(13),'Find:'), 'S_'); IF NOT DidCancel THEN cs2:=StrDialog(Concat('Rename text string in class name...',Chr(13),Chr(13),'Replace:'),'X_S-'); j := LEN(cs1); FOR i := 3 TO CLASSNUM DO BEGIN className := CLASSLIST(i); n := POS(cs1, className); IF (n=1) THEN BEGIN newName := className; DELETE(newName, 1, j); RENAMECLASS(className, CONCAT(cs2, newName)); END; END; END; RUN(FindRenameClasses);

We occasionally get this problem as well. What we have found is that it is usually attributed to a polyline that is fairly big and attempting to close itself. Happens with contours and similar large polyline objects. You can sometimes detect them when you zoom in close it might fill in or momentarily show a closed polyline. Polygons are usually better to work with in this case, you can convert it to a polygon by decomposing the offending line and composing it again... But otherwise you'll have to somehow turn the PDF into an image file and back to PDF again...

I found that if you select all the duplicates of one particular polygon and add them (from the modify menu) that combines them to 1 polygon. The other option is if you had imported the file from DWG and that it inherently had duplicates in DWG, go back to AutoCAD and 'Overkill' it there first. Type in 'Overkill' and select all objects and leave default check boxes checked.

If you have access to AutoCAD, go back there and 'Overkill' your file. That will get rid of the duplicates...literally type in 'overkill' leave the defaults checked and let it do its thing...If you don't have ACad, good luck and I hope you have health insurance for that RSI you'll be getting by going through manually cleaning the drawing.

Vectorbits is now at vectorbits.org and the plugin is only for mac.

That's a pretty awesome Script...looking at making it more user friendly with input dialogs for what the 'trigger' and the 'replacement' could be..

Hey Guys, This is awesome! I just modified it slightly to help with tracking printed documents! Our template now has your script sitting in there! Cheers!

*Update* So the issue is VW2012 ability to handle more than 350 fonts installed on a Windows 7 PC. We tried this on a machine with 355 fonts: 1. Open VW2012 2. Create new VW file 3. Create additional new VW file 4. navigate to Window menu 5. mouse down to \'Untitled1\' 6. click on \'Untitled1\' Result: Nothing happens. We did the same thing on a machine with 321 fonts. Result: Normal operation. Thanks to Gunther at Vectorworks for providing the solution, and Julian at OZCad for the explanation.

Hey all, We're in the transition from VW2010 to VW2012, and it's going to be a fun ride converting files!! But anyway, I've come across a bug. As the subject suggests, it has something to do with the Window menu. The problem is that I can't switch between files when clicking on them in the window menu. I can't even access the resources like worksheets, or referenced files. It's like my mouse was a ghost trying to open a door. Ctrl+Tab works a charm, opening reference files from the navigation panel works wonderfully...but the window menu does not work. The tool called 'Document Windows' in Workplace editor. The other times I've come across similar problems was in VW 12.5 as a warning sign it was going to crash. Anyone else have this issue?

I use VW on a PC, so inherently there are already short-cut key clashes with Windows, but despite those problems you can somewhat use VW quite well. I've been working at my currently place of employment for just over a year and half now, and thus have only used VW for that amount of time, prior to that I've been using the classic AutoCAD + Illustrator/Photoshop Combo. Both those programs have a big list of short commands/shortcut keys. What I've found with using VW is the huge list of shortcut keys. We've all seen the PDFs of the list of key combos, enough to compete with the Mortal Combat and Streetfighter combos combined. But what really errs me is the weird combos; for instance: Shift + '-' for offset. Essentially you are using two keys on the opposite spectrum of the keyboard, whilst removing your hand from the mouse. Another is the precedence of the snaps over tools like trim and eyedropper. Which do you use more, trim or turning snap to point on and off? Consequential to the weird mix of logical and illogical shortcut keys, a lot of people at work are 1 handed drafters. Click-centric drafting with their idle hand stuck on alt+tab to transition from VW to Firefox. What are your shortcut keys remapped to?