Davide

I'm sorry; it's a human error. The person performing the upgrade in the office didn't know that my machine, unlike the others, had RenderWorks too, so he disregarded the RW serial number because he didn't know what it was. I just need to redo the installation. Thanks for your time.

I no longer have RW functions anywhere, it's like is no longer installed, no create texture dialog etc. Yes, the textures library is still in the 9.0.1 VW folder. We updated thru a cd. Thanks

I just realized that after updating to VW Architect 9.5, Renderworks disappeared from VectorWorks Architect 9.0.1. I no longer have Renderworks options. What now?

Bryce 5 is a much more powerful animation program, but you need to export everything to it in DXF, assign materials, fix problems, learn how to use it. Rendering quality will be fantastic, but forget the simple and quick VW Renderworks inteface; it takes time to learn it.

Thanks, but it does work with circles.

I don't know if 9.5 fixed the problem which I encountered too in 9.1. Solution: convert your shapes ( while you still have them) in 3d polygons or ,even better, meshes. Every object that is "smart" ( they have a history to go back through like symbols, groups, extrusion solid boolean operations plug ins etc) can fail, a bunch of 3d polygons can't go anywhere. Obviously you'll lose the editing flexibility.

I can't get the new (9.5) trim command to work when I try to trim a rectangle ( even converted to polygon) with a line. It's always the rectangle that wins, the line spliced. I draw a line on top of the box, select both, activate the trim command ( not tool), select the line, the line is trimmed. With circles or walls it works fine. Any input? Thanks.

Oops I forgot, last 3 things:1: side vertical bar (like a thermometer) with z values, where you click and reset the horizontal working plane height. A small axonometric representation would allow for WP rotation, snapping to known angles for easy resetting of the WP. 2: a click of the right mouse button would show a table with a set/legend of notes I?ve preloaded, scrolling with the wheel or the mouse pointer I could select which note/ keynote to insert, second click of mouse would assign leader starting point. This way I carry all the notes I need to insert with me on the drawing, virtually attached to the mouse.Obviously same notes are linked to each other for overall editing. 3: click record icon: draw anything, click stop, give a name, a new plug in object with geometrical parameters is created. Click play, the program starts recreating that object under my eyes but in the obj. info/edit palette I can set/modify its geometry. And yes, Titanium Samurai, it would be a nightmare of bugs, but it?s holiday time, it?s time to dream.

Oops I forgot, last 3 things:1: side vertical bar (like a thermometer) with z values, where you click and reset the horizontal working plane height. A small axonometric representation would allow for WP rotation, snapping to known angles for easy resetting of the WP. 2: a click of the right mouse button would show a table with a set/legend of notes I?ve preloaded, scrolling with the wheel or the mouse pointer I could select which note/ keynote to insert, second click of mouse would assign leader starting point. This way I carry all the notes I need to insert with me on the drawing, virtually attached to the mouse.Obviously same notes are linked to each other for overall editing. 3: click record icon: draw anything, click stop, give a name, a new plug in object with geometrical parameters is created. Click play, the program starts recreating that object under my eyes but in the obj. info/edit palette I can set/modify its geometry. And yes, Titanium Samurai, it would be a nightmare of bugs, but it?s holiday time, it?s time to dream.

Let?s say we are on the Star Trek Enterprise set and they are going to show a CAD. How would that look and feel? How would we design it to make it look so advanced and powerful? That?s how we should think imagine and design what a CAD should be. Most of these capabilities already exist on different programs, we need to implement and integrate them.For the overall feedback interface, please refer to the previous ?Interface? posting and very acute replies. The program should always ?talk? to the user, trying to understand what you are performing (or trying to) and suggest, help, automate, repeat. A nice woman voice (ok you can choose a man too) would salute you saying: ?What should we create today Al?? The program layout would be very contemporary and cool, with strong colors differentiating task Palettes (not draw, edit, 3d blah blah) such as Floor Plan Zone, Modeling Zone, Data Analyzing/Displaying zone, Word Processing Zone etc., appearing and disappearing depending on what the task is (context specific), and very mobile, boldly colored orange, green, yellow, blue, no frames around the palettes or fake shadows: just flat colored areas with tasks oriented operators. Background could be any color, tools wouldn?t be gray but any color you want with big icons: highlight it, type a key combination, ?you got a shortcut?! With the same spirit colors for fills could be graduated like with illustrating programs then filtered like on image editing programs, making presentations more compelling then artificial 3d renderings. CAD operations shouldn?t be anymore an assembly of lines, simple shapes, but logical operations. This will work if the CAD is specialized toward a typical industry, such as architecture. I?d choose ?draw floor plan? task, a small window would open (the ?Design Window?), then manually trace /sketch with a free line, maybe a digital pen on the monitor, a building perimeter. Type the length of each side by it, type a wall thickness/height offset etc and the real floor plan would be displayed on the main window. Click ?now inserting window/door? task and sketch the line of opening (perpendicular to the plan) on my sketched plan, typing the dimensions or previously setting default sizes and jamb/wall offset. They would automatically appear in the right position in the plan, no trouble inserting or typing info. Then I could click on a window (the real one in the floor plan, not the sketch) and a specific info palette (very small) would open by the object selected and there, with a radio button, I could check ?make it a symbol?. Type a name, some record info if I want. Or click ?edit without affecting other instances?, or ?un-symbol it?. I could click on a group of elements or lines or single object too and my little Info/edit window would open and allow me to convert that to an existing symbol making my life much easier when somebody else drafted many objects without making them symbols. Basically every time I select something a small orange (I like this color) area would appear by it allowing me to fully redefine the object, be it a line or text string or a door schedule etc. The automatic scheduling would allow me to type in it the record info for the doors, for example, and that would be automatically repeated on each row of same kind of doors; still I could type record just for a door without affecting the others if I choose so. Any record typed / edited in the schedule would be reflected on the actual instance of the door in the drawing, geometry included. One day in the Star Trek Next Generation I could type: wall#1 12?6? W-N then wall#2 ?90 degree 12?-0? etc. Windows on wall #1 2?-6? from floor 6?0 on center etc and get the model displayed on the monitor. On little windows, stacked vertically on the right side like little TVs I would see the 3d views of the model. I could turn on some little views displaying each a layer (some of them) with just that content at the base of my display and by clicking on them switching layer. Choose ? let?s do the roof? task and sketching the roof plan ( draw valley/ridges overhang lines)in my little Design Window would create the roof to display accordingly for 2d representations as well as 3d modeling. Space would be associated with time: saving views would save the history of that moment, reverting to a previous status of the drawing elements too, not just the view location. Drawing a lasso around a portion of the drawing would open a window asking me where (on which layer) I want to display that area at what scale. Editing this cloud content would be bilateral affecting the main drawing if I choose so. There would be a ?Let?s section it? task that will create not just an outline of the cut, but, associated with specific scales/amount of detail, I could specify layers thickness ( 5/8? gyp, ?? ply, 2x6 studs, double plate, top of plate at 9?-0? etc, R-19 insulation, typical mudsill/ footing, sub floor, T&G flooring etc. By saving these settings I wouldn?t need to retype all this info, but just edit some of it. And again more feedback: a soothing voice ( or a cartoon like displayed message) would remind me that ? sorry, you cannot edit this element because it is locked; do you want me to unlock it for you?? Or ?the object you are trying to select is on a layer at a different scale, do you want me to switch you to that layer?? Every time the cursor goes by an element on a layer different from the one being active, a cue would tell me which layer is that on. Having to search to which layer an object belongs to is like going to a time before the drafting table. Searching objects (to select, hide etc.) would require just clicking on an image (icon) depicting it on a ?search? zone palette that would display all and only the objects present in the drawing categorized by kind, layer class or whatever. A ?publish it? zone would allow me to instantly transfer a file or view to the web and or retrieve info/drawings elements from other computers in my office and or the other side of the world where users share components/details/specs. Imagine how simple would be doing 3d modeling if we could share a huge data bank of 3d elements instead of a thousand of users drawing them a thousand times. Modeling would require the same ?I sketch and input geometry, you draw? approach as for the floor plans. If you enjoy modeling you can choose to do it in the traditional way, but with a ?dynamic? environment:we could apply virtual forces to shapes to model them, a sort of more mathematically refined 3d stretch tool. I.E.: inserting a cylinder through a slab would instantly create a hole if I choose that mode; applying perpendicular forces to a cylinder I could shape a finger out of it, or, more abstractly, applying a torque to a cylinder I?ll get a spiral like shape. It would be the same approach you have using your hands on clay. Assigning a weight/force to a surface with a defined elastic coefficient ,tensed between two vertical elements,would create the appropriate inflection and Nurb surface. Animating would be assigning a little colored sphere, as a symbol for that complex element to be moved, be it the whole thing or a portion of it, like an arm. Move / rotate the little balls, color coded, type at each position the time you want that to happen and your complex model ( or part of it ) would do the same. Walk through? Draw a free line through the model; choose view height, speed (actual speed such as 1 meter/sec) and then a little ball/head representing you will move thru the model filming it. You can stop the head for a few seconds, rotate it toward a point, let it continue. The program will record all these ?events?. Opposite approach would be needed if showing something in particular is the scope of the animation: we have a landscape of architectural elements. Select the element that needs to be seen at 0:10 sec, view height 1.8 meters and type that on it. Then the other element at 0:20 sec same height etc. You could specify lens size per object, fading effects filters etc. Get a curve computed by all these parameters representing the movie, edit it smoothing it, assign it acceleration / deceleration/ pause and there you get exactly what you want to see. Calculating surfaces would imply clicking on some walls defining the space instead of drawing a polygon, by choosing interior exterior median line. Same for dimensioning, same for hatch. Which should allow origin, rotation and scale to be constantly redefined when I insert it and better yet, 3D display of it, creating very nice line style renderings with brick lines tiles etc, no pasted pictures.Dimension will also have a setting that allows me to define the distance ?module? of the dimension line/text from the object so that all the strings are evenly spaced between them, i.e. 1x for the first string, 2x for the second, 3x for the third etc. The architectural CAD will contain already parametric bathroom kitchen layouts with all the objects, to be dropped in, edited, saved as office standard. In the Next Generation episodes just editing the word ?5?0? D table? on top of the table symbol with another dimension or even word (18?x18? chair) would modify the symbol. Along with more feedback from the program on what is happening we would need more preview of what will happen: i.e. the assistant would remind me ?moving this wall would bring the previously calculated space to a total of 1001 sq.ft., you might need an extra exit!? Or little displays showing a preview of the effects of adding/editing a light source, material, objects on a saved scene. Printing preview interactive with my moving the page area on the drawing, choosing scale and sheet and defining margins, clicking on objects or lassoing areas not to be plotted and saving these settings. I could have a little plot window showing my drawing elements, moving them to rearrange the plot layout and get the correspondent print without affecting the position of my elements on the drawing. At a point my cool application will allow me to open a number of files altogether, not just scroll through them, showing them as a new file with several little windows indicating the different files and their content for a specific sheet on the main drawing window as in a new ?Working Table? file and interactively allow me to drag an object from one file to another, literally dragging and moving them from little window to little window, and or editing same elements, text blocks simultaneously on all the files. My smart CAD would know what?s installed on my machine and tell me: ?are you sure you wouldn?t rather edit this paragraph with MS Word , Excel for the spreadsheet, or this image with Photoshop or instead of killing yourself trying to get nice looking outlined fonts, can I launch Illustrator for you? My friend, you better export and use Bryce for this animation?. All this inside my program so just to edit portions of its elements. Linked to the web, my nice CAD will know the weather forecast and say: ?It?s a sunny day, why don?t you go play outside while I finish this elevation for you? I?ll save the file too, don?t worry? and a nice smile would appear To boldly go where no designer has been before.

Let?s say we are on the Star Trek Enterprise set and they are going to show a CAD. How would that look and feel? How would we design it to make it look so advanced and powerful? That?s how we should think imagine and design what a CAD should be. Most of these capabilities already exist on different programs, we need to implement and integrate them.For the overall feedback interface, please refer to the previous ?Interface? posting and very acute replies. The program should always ?talk? to the user, trying to understand what you are performing (or trying to) and suggest, help, automate, repeat. A nice woman voice (ok you can choose a man too) would salute you saying: ?What should we create today Al?? The program layout would be very contemporary and cool, with strong colors differentiating task Palettes (not draw, edit, 3d blah blah) such as Floor Plan Zone, Modeling Zone, Data Analyzing/Displaying zone, Word Processing Zone etc., appearing and disappearing depending on what the task is (context specific), and very mobile, boldly colored orange, green, yellow, blue, no frames around the palettes or fake shadows: just flat colored areas with tasks oriented operators. Background could be any color, tools wouldn?t be gray but any color you want with big icons: highlight it, type a key combination, ?you got a shortcut?! With the same spirit colors for fills could be graduated like with illustrating programs then filtered like on image editing programs, making presentations more compelling then artificial 3d renderings. CAD operations shouldn?t be anymore an assembly of lines, simple shapes, but logical operations. This will work if the CAD is specialized toward a typical industry, such as architecture. I?d choose ?draw floor plan? task, a small window would open (the ?Design Window?), then manually trace /sketch with a free line, maybe a digital pen on the monitor, a building perimeter. Type the length of each side by it, type a wall thickness/height offset etc and the real floor plan would be displayed on the main window. Click ?now inserting window/door? task and sketch the line of opening (perpendicular to the plan) on my sketched plan, typing the dimensions or previously setting default sizes and jamb/wall offset. They would automatically appear in the right position in the plan, no trouble inserting or typing info. Then I could click on a window (the real one in the floor plan, not the sketch) and a specific info palette (very small) would open by the object selected and there, with a radio button, I could check ?make it a symbol?. Type a name, some record info if I want. Or click ?edit without affecting other instances?, or ?un-symbol it?. I could click on a group of elements or lines or single object too and my little Info/edit window would open and allow me to convert that to an existing symbol making my life much easier when somebody else drafted many objects without making them symbols. Basically every time I select something a small orange (I like this color) area would appear by it allowing me to fully redefine the object, be it a line or text string or a door schedule etc. The automatic scheduling would allow me to type in it the record info for the doors, for example, and that would be automatically repeated on each row of same kind of doors; still I could type record just for a door without affecting the others if I choose so. Any record typed / edited in the schedule would be reflected on the actual instance of the door in the drawing, geometry included. One day in the Star Trek Next Generation I could type: wall#1 12?6? W-N then wall#2 ?90 degree 12?-0? etc. Windows on wall #1 2?-6? from floor 6?0 on center etc and get the model displayed on the monitor. On little windows, stacked vertically on the right side like little TVs I would see the 3d views of the model. I could turn on some little views displaying each a layer (some of them) with just that content at the base of my display and by clicking on them switching layer. Choose ? let?s do the roof? task and sketching the roof plan ( draw valley/ridges overhang lines)in my little Design Window would create the roof to display accordingly for 2d representations as well as 3d modeling. Space would be associated with time: saving views would save the history of that moment, reverting to a previous status of the drawing elements too, not just the view location. Drawing a lasso around a portion of the drawing would open a window asking me where (on which layer) I want to display that area at what scale. Editing this cloud content would be bilateral affecting the main drawing if I choose so. There would be a ?Let?s section it? task that will create not just an outline of the cut, but, associated with specific scales/amount of detail, I could specify layers thickness ( 5/8? gyp, ?? ply, 2x6 studs, double plate, top of plate at 9?-0? etc, R-19 insulation, typical mudsill/ footing, sub floor, T&G flooring etc. By saving these settings I wouldn?t need to retype all this info, but just edit some of it. And again more feedback: a soothing voice ( or a cartoon like displayed message) would remind me that ? sorry, you cannot edit this element because it is locked; do you want me to unlock it for you?? Or ?the object you are trying to select is on a layer at a different scale, do you want me to switch you to that layer?? Every time the cursor goes by an element on a layer different from the one being active, a cue would tell me which layer is that on. Having to search to which layer an object belongs to is like going to a time before the drafting table. Searching objects (to select, hide etc.) would require just clicking on an image (icon) depicting it on a ?search? zone palette that would display all and only the objects present in the drawing categorized by kind, layer class or whatever. A ?publish it? zone would allow me to instantly transfer a file or view to the web and or retrieve info/drawings elements from other computers in my office and or the other side of the world where users share components/details/specs. Imagine how simple would be doing 3d modeling if we could share a huge data bank of 3d elements instead of a thousand of users drawing them a thousand times. Modeling would require the same ?I sketch and input geometry, you draw? approach as for the floor plans. If you enjoy modeling you can choose to do it in the traditional way, but with a ?dynamic? environment:we could apply virtual forces to shapes to model them, a sort of more mathematically refined 3d stretch tool. I.E.: inserting a cylinder through a slab would instantly create a hole if I choose that mode; applying perpendicular forces to a cylinder I could shape a finger out of it, or, more abstractly, applying a torque to a cylinder I?ll get a spiral like shape. It would be the same approach you have using your hands on clay. Assigning a weight/force to a surface with a defined elastic coefficient ,tensed between two vertical elements,would create the appropriate inflection and Nurb surface. Animating would be assigning a little colored sphere, as a symbol for that complex element to be moved, be it the whole thing or a portion of it, like an arm. Move / rotate the little balls, color coded, type at each position the time you want that to happen and your complex model ( or part of it ) would do the same. Walk through? Draw a free line through the model; choose view height, speed (actual speed such as 1 meter/sec) and then a little ball/head representing you will move thru the model filming it. You can stop the head for a few seconds, rotate it toward a point, let it continue. The program will record all these ?events?. Opposite approach would be needed if showing something in particular is the scope of the animation: we have a landscape of architectural elements. Select the element that needs to be seen at 0:10 sec, view height 1.8 meters and type that on it. Then the other element at 0:20 sec same height etc. You could specify lens size per object, fading effects filters etc. Get a curve computed by all these parameters representing the movie, edit it smoothing it, assign it acceleration / deceleration/ pause and there you get exactly what you want to see. Calculating surfaces would imply clicking on some walls defining the space instead of drawing a polygon, by choosing interior exterior median line. Same for dimensioning, same for hatch. Which should allow origin, rotation and scale to be constantly redefined when I insert it and better yet, 3D display of it, creating very nice line style renderings with brick lines tiles etc, no pasted pictures.Dimension will also have a setting that allows me to define the distance ?module? of the dimension line/text from the object so that all the strings are evenly spaced between them, i.e. 1x for the first string, 2x for the second, 3x for the third etc. The architectural CAD will contain already parametric bathroom kitchen layouts with all the objects, to be dropped in, edited, saved as office standard. In the Next Generation episodes just editing the word ?5?0? D table? on top of the table symbol with another dimension or even word (18?x18? chair) would modify the symbol. Along with more feedback from the program on what is happening we would need more preview of what will happen: i.e. the assistant would remind me ?moving this wall would bring the previously calculated space to a total of 1001 sq.ft., you might need an extra exit!? Or little displays showing a preview of the effects of adding/editing a light source, material, objects on a saved scene. Printing preview interactive with my moving the page area on the drawing, choosing scale and sheet and defining margins, clicking on objects or lassoing areas not to be plotted and saving these settings. I could have a little plot window showing my drawing elements, moving them to rearrange the plot layout and get the correspondent print without affecting the position of my elements on the drawing. At a point my cool application will allow me to open a number of files altogether, not just scroll through them, showing them as a new file with several little windows indicating the different files and their content for a specific sheet on the main drawing window as in a new ?Working Table? file and interactively allow me to drag an object from one file to another, literally dragging and moving them from little window to little window, and or editing same elements, text blocks simultaneously on all the files. My smart CAD would know what?s installed on my machine and tell me: ?are you sure you wouldn?t rather edit this paragraph with MS Word , Excel for the spreadsheet, or this image with Photoshop or instead of killing yourself trying to get nice looking outlined fonts, can I launch Illustrator for you? My friend, you better export and use Bryce for this animation?. All this inside my program so just to edit portions of its elements. Linked to the web, my nice CAD will know the weather forecast and say: ?It?s a sunny day, why don?t you go play outside while I finish this elevation for you? I?ll save the file too, don?t worry? and a nice smile would appear To boldly go where no designer has been before.

Oh, and by the way, I just recalled that only 2-3 years ago a major expensive cad couldn?t even have a solid fill, something given for granted on most Mac applications (including Minicad) since ever; that great cad had to use a very dense hatch pattern to simulate it. And try getting shadow-like, transparent hatches with that too.

The hatch creation interface in VW is complex to grab as a concept, but once you do, you can create a lot of nice effects. It requires some arithmetic and geometric dexterity. Is it true though that the "draw something, convert it to a hatch pattern" is the most obvious approach. VW should definitely adopt Motivo approach and implement it. That allows for curves to be used. Leaving VW because of the hatch is really a signal to me that someone would never get the grasp of a full potential of any sophisticated software, especially a more expensive and complex one.

Shouldn't the program display a nice title, colored, after the file name or on the upper right corner, stating which sheet is active if any? Like: you are now displaying the "Roof Plan Sheet"? Or alert messages such as: watch out! You are drawing on a referenced layer, you'll lose anything when you'll refresh. Or: you cannot select this object because it is on another layer, or you cannot change/trim etc edit it because it?s locked, grouped, a symbol etc? Or alert! You cannot select this object because its class is off but we are still displaying it because it is a tricky program and that class might be the active one.Or sorry, I cannot compute this solid subtraction because it?s too complicated, simplify objects, please. We need feedback from the program. This would make life easier for new users and moreover people teaching them!!!

How can we change the origin of the associativehatching so that for example a tile pattern starts exactly at a corner with a full square? I've tried setting the origin in the hatch edit window matching the coordinate of the "corner" I wanted as the starting point with no luck.Even if it worked, that would move all the similar hatched areas.Do I have to use the flexible but "stupid" static hatch?Thanks.

A linked duplicate of the base floor plan in another location on the page, at another scale / orientation.

Yes, you are right about the complexity, basically we would increase flexibility exponentially, thinking about all the possible combinations. While I like this idea, I know that new users have already hard time finding objects just because the layer is on but that class is off. This happens because everybody is used to the simple linear organization of other Cads. Your idea of the extra layer is the solution. The only problems is for doors/windows that have to belong to the same layer of the walls. Thanks.

Using layer links, there are some situations where in order to display on the same sheet (small project) a reflected ceiling plan and a floor plan or an enlarged plan and regular scale plan, it would be useful to have the capability of turning off a class on a layer while keeping it on on another.For example we may want to have the door class show on the floor plan yet be off or grayed out on the reflected ceiling plan, or turn off the furniture class on the floor plan and turn it on on the enlarged one. Again, on the same sheet, showing simultaneously two layers, one of which is the layer link. I know that maybe this goes against the classes? philosophy, to exist thru layers rather then residing on each of them. Any thoughts about it?

1-Why do very thick lines show/print rounded endson Windows while they show appropriate straigth ends on Mac? 2-Why does the open file switching in the Window menu work sometimes and sometimes it doesn't?I'm refering to when you have more then one file open and you want to switch between them thru the window menu.Most of times is perfect, other times it doesn't do anything.A faster solution is press Ctrl+Tab to scroll between them, on Windows. Win 2k P4 1700 VW Architect 9.0.1

I sometimes use Microstation 95 (yes, from 1995), just to build complex 3D shapes thanks to its powerful Nurbs surfacing tools and integrate them with VectorWorks models. Yesterday out of curiosity I tried to use the reference feature. You choose the file to attach, then an horizontal palette opens with tools such as update, mask, clip, rotate, flip, scale, detach etc. Now, all this simplicity and efficiency to reference (one palette contains all you need instead of having to go through different menus), is what we really need in VW Architect to make it powerful enough for any project size.How can you really reference between files/layers if you cannot mask/clip without drawing polygons etc on top? A situation specific palette is the ideal environment, one that opens close to the action and specific to that action Instead we have first to file reference, if by mistake you draw on that layer ( no warning) you?ll lose everything, then create a layer link, then unlock it, finally rotate it and then eventually draw a polygon to mask it, or go through complex things like making the portion to reference/link a symbol or assign it to specific classes only ( so that the rest can be shut off), or working the other way around (draw the portion, reference it back to the whole). I don?t know anything about programming and so how difficult is all this to design; yet it needs to be done quickly to have VW jump to a level it deserves. This is really the only thing that separates it from the big guys (beside Nurbs surfacing and in some cases real 2d-3d integration). I wished so much such a feature had been included in VW 9.x.x at least as a temporary solution in the most crude way, where a script allows the user to draw a solid fill double line polygon from the inside perimeter with big/ infinite thickness, no outline and lock it. This way the user in one step draws the perimeter of the area he wants to keep, and the script takes care of double line polygon thickness, white fill, no outline, locking. Please do it!!!Thanks.

I sometimes use Microstation 95 (yes, from 1995), just to build complex 3D shapes thanks to its powerful Nurbs surfacing tools and integrate them with VectorWorks models. Yesterday out of curiosity I tried to use the reference feature. You choose the file to attach, then an horizontal palette opens with tools such as update, mask, clip, rotate, flip, scale, detach etc. Now, all this simplicity and efficiency to reference (one palette contains all you need instead of having to go through different menus), is what we really need in VW Architect to make it powerful enough for any project size.How can you really reference between files/layers if you cannot mask/clip without drawing polygons etc on top? A situation specific palette is the ideal environment, one that opens close to the action and specific to that action Instead we have first to file reference, if by mistake you draw on that layer ( no warning) you?ll lose everything, then create a layer link, then unlock it, finally rotate it and then eventually draw a polygon to mask it, or go through complex things like making the portion to reference/link a symbol or assign it to specific classes only ( so that the rest can be shut off), or working the other way around (draw the portion, reference it back to the whole). I don?t know anything about programming and so how difficult is all this to design; yet it needs to be done quickly to have VW jump to a level it deserves. This is really the only thing that separates it from the big guys (beside Nurbs surfacing and in some cases real 2d-3d integration). I wished so much such a feature had been included in VW 9.x.x at least as a temporary solution in the most crude way, where a script allows the user to draw a solid fill double line polygon from the inside perimeter with big/ infinite thickness, no outline and lock it. This way the user in one step draws the perimeter of the area he wants to keep, and the script takes care of double line polygon thickness, white fill, no outline, locking. Please do it!!!Thanks.

Ok, the tool/plug in is in the notation standard symbol library of VW Architect 9.0.1. But where is the date stamp string that could be updated automatically in VW Architect 8.5.2 that used to be in the tool menu? Thanks.

One of the most frustrating episodes that regularly happen in my office is when people are ID-ing windows and doors. Since many are new to the program, they sometime forget to turn off the on schedule option for doors or windows (supposed to be existing or to be demo, so not to be on schedule), or accidentally click with the ID tool on other plug -ins (ie a keynote), therefore getting a long list(on a big project) of empty rows in the automatic schedules. Sometimes there is only the ID number, sometimes the whole row is empty, because somehow the door record is present but there was no ID. Anyway the custom selection (looking for objects with door record) will help only for plug-ins that are not inserted in walls. So here we are searching under doors to see if there is a duplicate of it, temporarily erasing portions of the plan and updating the schedule to understand where the ghost object is hiding. Is there any other way? How can we search for object/symbols inserted in walls? It takes hours to clean up the schedule to show only what we want. Thank very much for any suggestion.

One of the most frustrating episodes that regularly happen in my office is when people are ID-ing windows and doors. Since many are new to the program, they sometime forget to turn off the on schedule option for doors or windows (supposed to be existing or to be demo, so not to be on schedule), or accidentally click with the ID tool on other plug -ins (ie a keynote), therefore getting a long list(on a big project) of empty rows in the automatic schedules. Sometimes there is only the ID number, sometimes the whole row is empty, because somehow the door record is present but there was no ID. Anyway the custom selection (looking for objects with door record) will help only for plug-ins that are not inserted in walls. So here we are searching under doors to see if there is a duplicate of it, temporarily erasing portions of the plan and updating the schedule to understand where the ghost object is hiding. Is there any other way? How can we search for object/symbols inserted in walls? It takes hours to clean up the schedule to show only what we want. Thank very much for any suggestion.

Thanks Matthew, that helped. For Samurai, I do use the set origin to center of Drawing option, no mouse click. Still origin won't match the ideal middle point of the gray box diagonal, on this specific file only.