P Retondo

You can control some lineweight issues by carefully using the "Class" assignments in window and door objects, but you will always have to "convert copy to lines" and clean up your sections and elevations - until VW comes up with a more automated system for producing these views!

Are either of your objects set to a class other than the active class? If so, is your class setting Show/Snap/Modify Others? I recently ran into a similar problem because I had inadvertantly reset my class visibility - maybe your new file in 10.5.1 isn't set the way you think. [ 02-16-2004, 12:54 AM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

Brendan, I believe you are talking about the 3d "extrude along path" tool, where the question is about the 2d "duplicate along path" tool. The interface for the "duplicate along path" tool is a bit non-intuitive, and, frankly, I haven't totally figured it out, but I have been able to get correct results. A couple of things that will help you: 1) The initial position of the object to be duplicated is irrelevant to the result. Its orientation, however, is crucial - as you have noted. 2) The object will only duplicate with its center aligned to the path. To get different results, create a cleverly offset path. The duplicate array advice is another way to get this kind of result, but it will not generalize to path objects other than a circle. [ 02-11-2004, 07:32 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

Katie, I edited the symbol using the Resource Palette. The PIO object did have 5 handles, and I dragged it to the center of the circle. I didn't notice any change in the Resource Palette thumbnail. You referred to the "OIP thumbnail" - I don't know what that is . Should I expect the label to behave more predictably now? [ 02-11-2004, 07:20 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

The label location for lighting PIO objects appears to be unstable. I just edited the font size for my lighting symbols, and instead of just getting smaller, most of the tags moved their location significantly. Other edits in the OIP seem to trigger this instability as well. I suspect this is a bug, but if anyone has advice about what I might be doing incorrectly, that would be welcome.

Amen!

I changed the eave profile by editing the polygon in roof plane edit mode.

Robert, in working on this further I discovered that what you have said is normally true. The exception proves the rule, however. I have a roof face with a modified eave edge for some bay windows, and in that object the hole edges do not align normally. I could send you a file containing that object if you would like. [ 02-06-2004, 06:10 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

PS, what I've done to prevent this in the future is I've gone to the Workspace Editor and removed the keyboard shortcuts having to do with Class visibility options, since I never use any mode but Show/Modify Others.

Katie and Mike, Ach! You're right - I must have hit that key combination inadvertantly. Wasted 3 hours dealing with this . . . Thank you both! [ 02-06-2004, 08:08 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

I'd have to say this is the strangest bug I've ever encountered in over 10 years of using this program. Suddenly, objects belonging to at least two of my classes can no longer be selected. I cannot snap to them. I can make them disappear and reappear by toggling the class visibility. Further, any new class I create exhibits this behavior. Rebooting VW and the computer has no affect on this bug. If I recover the objects through Workgroup Referencing, they behave normally. But if I paste them back into the original document, they cannot be selected unless I have first changed their class membership. Apparently, the whole mechanism for handling classes has been corrupted within this document (note that other documents are unaffected by this problem). Two questions: does anyone have any experience with this problem? Does anyone have a recommendation for recovering/reconstructing this file? I have submitted a stripped-down file to bugsubmit.

This bug goes way back at least a couple of versions. After printing (HP1220C) my screen hints are disabled, and I have to close and reopen VW in order to get them back. Is there any progress/advice on this issue? VW 10.5.1 Win2K [ 02-06-2004, 02:43 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

When I edit a roof face to create a hole and select "Square cut miter," the resulting 3D hole bears no obvious relationship to where I cut the face, at either the top or bottom planes of the roof. The sides of the hole align, but the upper and lower edges do not. Does anyone know how to predict where the hole will be? Note to NNA: the way this ought to work is that boundaries in my 2D edit space would mark the upper edge of the hole, similarly to a square-cut eave.

The lighting symbol PIOs could be enormously improved by the following: 1. Provide a field for the lighting circuit designation. 2. Allow the "Config label" to be dragged to the desired position. The current coordinate system is a tedious trial-and-error system, and the labels sometimes move when the text is changed. 3. The letter "R" for recessed fixtures should always be oriented horizontally, instead of rotating 90 degrees when the symbol is rotated. 4. When a wall fixture is scaled, the circle gets smaller but the line stays long. It should be smaller per drafting conventions. 5. It would be very convenient to have a OIP field for comments, so that the designer can add pertinent info when laying out fixtures. The comments would show up on the lighting fixture schedule.

Don't know whether framing in 3d would help your sections, but cavities do not exist in 3d wall objects and do not show up in a section. This is something we'd like to see incorporated as a feature at some point to help us generate framing detail when taking a section.

The method I've always used is to convert the 3d to lines, then edit.

Katie, thanks, I was unaware of the cavity join tool. How long have I been in the dark about this? I'm sure glad you are still around to help out on this board! It does take a few extra steps to get the lines to all join the way we'd like to see them - is there any thought to make joining cavities a default mode in the case where walls have equal numbers of cavities?

What version of VW are you using? In the old days, with 32 bit precision, it could be a problem to set a fillet to exactly 1/2 the length of a side. Im my current system, double clicking on the 1" x 4" rectangle successfully fillets all corners. VW 10.5.1 Win2K

You're not doing anything wrong. This is VW behavior. Unfortunately, some architectural conventions still haven't been implemented in VW. But keep an open mind - VectorWorks does have its compensations when compared to ACAD.

There used to be an extend tool that did more-or-less what you would like, but for some reason it left us and despite pleading has never come back! Maybe it is being transformed, and when it returns will allow multiple selection + "Enter" to extend a series of lines, instead of having to click on each line. [ 01-09-2004, 01:18 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

buz, to get different views of a 3d object, create a link in a layer and rotate the link in 3d space instead of changing the layer's viewpoint. This is the technique that is behind what Robert is talking about. You can insert multiple links and look at all sides of an object at once, either in a single layer or using multiple layers all set to a "top" viewpoint. VWA has convenient tools that will set all this up for you. Sounds like you are working with 3d models, which is more than a lot of professionals do with a CAD program. [ 01-06-2004, 01:38 AM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

"Saved Sheets" does not save the 3d orientation of any layer other than the active layer. We wish it did, but it doesn't. So selecting your Saved Sheet will not return you to exactly the view you had when you saved it if it involved other layers being in a 3d view. Those layers will be visible in whatever mode they happen to be in. I'm not sure if this is what your problem is - maybe you could be more specific about exactly what you are experiencing, and what version/platform you are using.

Rebecca, you may have a problem object or a corruption. Try making a copy of this file by saving it under another name, and removing layers one at a time until you notice that things are working better. Then see if you can isolate the object.

Robert, thanks a lot for clarifying how these preferences work. I'm a little unclear about buz's question. The OIP (object information palette) gives info about an object, but isn't a tool for creating one. The Objects palette is one place to find the door and window PIOs; also there are a bunch of door and window symbols in the Resources palette, which is I guess what you (Robert) are referring to, but they are objects that have already been created and stored in a file (I think). Are the PIO door and window tools, wherever they are located in the workspace, the only actual object creation tools, or is there another set?

I can confirm that the problem I describe above occurs with version 10.5.1. Opening an internet connection after launching VW causes the serial number detection error (one computer, one OS, one copy of VW installed). [ 12-30-2003, 02:15 AM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]