MaltbyDesign

@line-weight Interesting. When I draw in 2D (AutoCAD) I tend to draw building sections with quite a lot of detail where I need it. Window and door heads, sills, wall/roof connections, parapets, etc. Then it's just a matter of drawing them only once in the context of the overall building assembly and then referencing to a different sheet at a larger scale and adding text. If I make changes to the main section, those are them reflected on the details as well. After 30+ years of drawing in 2D, I've developed a nice mix of brevity and information in my drawings that, I think work well. Now with 3D, I'd like to try and find that sweet spot where a drawing, or model, is developed to show enough information to be usable for contract documents. If you are building a model stick by stick, do you use storeys? Or just stick to Design Layers? Also, I assume that a lot of your drawing information is put on a large number of classes that act as containers for the various parts of the assembly (Structural wall framing, floor framing, wall sheathing, finishes, etc.).

@Boh Thanks for the tip!

@Boh I can see that as being a benefit. Right now I'm working on an addition to an existing house and am trying to draw things in a way where more detail is shown on the addition so that it graphically stands out from the existing while still showing the existing accurately. I think, like you, I see the modelling as a tool to quickly and accurately generate elevations, overall sections and plans for both presentation and contract documents. I suspect I can be more efficient with my time by generating details in 2D.

@Boh thanks for the links. It sounds like you do the same as what I've been doing, according to your post in the first thread:

Hi all, this is a question for other architects and residential designers who model in 3D. How much detail do you put into a 3D model and how does that transition to your contract documents? I suppose one could spend quite a lot of time building a model 'stick by stick', as it were, so that when you create section and detail viewports, your viewports are showing an accurate representation of what's to be built. However if one is using wall, slab and roof styles, the detail and section viewports will show section outlines without much detailed information. In the past this is what I've done and then on my sheets, I go in and add to the sections and details in 'Edit Viewport - Annotation', using the detail or section viewport as a base to start from. So, I'll add dimensional lumber, window/door heads, flashings, etc. I suppose if one were modelling in true BIM, everything would be accurate and there'd be no need to add anything to details and sections other than notes. For residential projects, I'm not sure this would be time well spent as it seems to me that the time spent modelling to this degree would be a money losing proposition. That may be an assumption based on my own level of proficiency with 3D modelling. If you model in 3D, how far do you take it? Do you model absolutely everything - put lots of work in to the front end to save time (hopefully) in contract document production? Or do you model for the 3D form to convey the necessary information for plans, elevations and basic overall building sections and then build up larger scale, detail sections similar to how they're done in a 2D workflow? I'd love to hear from those in the industry for what works for you and if you've found a 'sweet spot' in your work flow. Transitioning from a 2D workflow (AutoCAD) to a 3D workflow presents all sorts of challenges but I'm hoping to be able to become efficient enough with Vectorworks to be able to say goodbye to my annual AutoCAD subscription for good. Thanks in advance.

@Tom W. Thanks Tom, that solved the problem quickly and easily.

Weird thing that I just noticed on my drawing. Typically a page boundary is centred on 0,0 but mine is not aligned at all. Also, my model is way above 0 on the z-axis, despite my layers set to a base of 0. Any ideas what caused this and how I can reset it? Thanks very much.

@Pat Stanford Thanks very much for that. That did the trick.

Thanks @zoomer I think I got it to work with the "Delete Wall Peaks" and then selected the walls that I wanted to fit to the roof individually and that seemed to work.

This is an issue I've notices with a few 2D/3D symbols in the past but never asked about. I just noticed this the other day with the "Furn Eames Hang it all" symbol; in 2D (plan) I place the symbol on a wall. Simple. But when I view in 3D in OpenGL, the symbol is now floating about 6" off the wall. The height is correct but it seems to have sifted its location on the X,Y axis. I noticed this a while back with some other 2D/3D Symbols (pillows, I think). Is there a fix for this? I've attached some images for reference.

@zoomer The first image shows both the new and existing roof. The shed roof is part of the existing roof. So I created a layer for the existing roof and a layer for the new roof. When I used the "Fit Walls to Objects" command, I set the walls to extend to the layer 'New Roof' but it seems to be defaulting to the existing roof, even though that layer is turned off.

Hello All, I've run into a bit of a snag with a small renovation/addition project. I'm building a renovation model that show existing, demo and new layers. and edition with a shed roof is being removed and a new addition and new roof added. The new roof will marry to the existing roof of the main house in the same place where the demolished shed roof was located. Everything is fine until I try to fit walls to object. In the area where the demolished shed roof is located, this command seems to default to the underside of the demolished shed roof despite asking it to extend to the underside of the new roof layer. The existing roof layer is turned off. Why are the walls defaulting to the underside of the existing roof layer (layer off) and not the new layer (layer on)? I've added a couple of screen shots of the house rendered in OpenGL to show the situation.

@Andy Broomell great idea! Also glad to know it’s not just me.

@zoomer Argh! I wasn't even looking for the simple solution and thought there was a bigger problem! Thank you for seeing what I couldn't!

I'm using VW 2021 SP2.1 and all of the Libraries in the Resource Manager show no items when clicked on. Scree Grab attached. It works fine in VW 2020 but for some reason there seems to be a problem in VW 2021. I checked the Session tab in preferences to ensure "Enable VW Libraries" was checked. Any suggestions?