Samuel Derenboim

Is there a method to create a surface from points without recreating it out of polylines/nurbs points?

is there an easy, fast way to divide a polyline into segments? i.e. lets say you have a polyline with curves - segment it by distance or number of points that convert it into a segmented polyline made up of straight lines? This would be incredibly useful for making clean nurbs lines that can be lofted with an equal number of segments. (currently I need this for recreating a ceiling from a point cloud object/file)

Tom, I couldn't recommend it more. Its a bit of a learning curve to move from 2d to 3d however I couldn't be more happier with the BIM element. The only problem youll face later on is figuring out how to share information in drawing format. It's especially useful because recently renderworks was recently fully integrated into vectorworks architect and the hatch / texture feature is incredible! among various space features. What you mentioned about annotation earlier...now you can set additional 'annotation' layers to the same story plane as your design layers, and you can fully separate annotation from the BIM model itself. Youll need a fairly powerful computer for most of the operations though...although ill admit, much less powerful than a revit workstation. Good luck!

Is it me, or when an existing work sheet exists in a file and you move it to the folder, the document can no longer target it. As a result it never regenerates the data when you exit worksheet mode. Could someone verify just in case?

I have done the experiment, so far so good. The sketchup file is strictly intended for importing textures, I doubt that any information would be sent back to the sketchup file given that it is only imported, no information is actually written to the file itself. I've done this in the latest version so far, the only comment I have about textures is figuring out how to scale them to their real world size at the same time. But I doubt that's necessary. Looks like ill be experimenting....I'll share some resource's soon! Thanks for your help!

Michael, Beautifully written! I'm trying to decipher the script - Setrfield can only be done in a script? or in a worksheet as well? I can see how you used the variables and recalled the record information to place the calculation into 'Space'.'11_User-Def Info 1', I'm wondering if that's possible in just the worksheet. You basically temporarily change the string value of 'Space'.'11_User-Def Info 1' from text to num which is incredible. Can we just modify it in the parametric record toolbar??? :)))) Thank you!

Does anybody know how to do this? I have hundreds of textures that i would like to make libraries from. I have found a workaround - by using sketchup as a mass importer, and then import that file into Vectorworks. I was curious if there was a direct way of doing this? or perhaps a script that scans a directory and updates a library?

Michael, I'm very curious about this. I surprisingly didn't know you made a script for this, and I posted this a year ago, so unfortunately its a bit embarrasing for me to ask - would it be possible to share the script one more time? Or perhaps there's a function i don't see to download that attachment?

There's one more work around. Create a viewport, Group it and scale it by the handles. Easiest way to do custom resizing.

Good evening everyone, I have a question regarding the space tool. With the latest version of vectorworks - some issues regarding space tools have been drastically improved - like the custom locations of boundaries for the space tool. I started playing around with it, and I have a question for everyone regarding it. There is a string inside the space tool called "formula" that allows for calculations to be done between two strings so long as there are hashtags around them. I.E. =#GrossArea#/#OccupantLoad# returns a calculation that can be displayed inside the symbol. I am attaching a sample file here. Is the formula string the only string that allows for this to be done? or is there a way to turn on a regular text string to use multiple formulas in one symbol. The reason for this is when calculating day care spaces for example, there need to be multiple displayed factors shown on the plans inluding occupancy for kids, number of security guards, teachers, etc... that requires multiple calculations. Could anyone help please?? Thanks in advance! Sam *note : some of you might not have vw 2017, i'm attaching v2016 inside as well. occupancy calculation test.vwx occupancy calculation test v2016.vwx

I have been mistaken. I contacted technical support, and they pointed me to my obvious mistake - whenever you modify wall parameters, make sure the 'replace IFC Data' checkbox is checked on at all times. Just thought Id share my experience. Thank you for your help!

I think it affects windows O.S. only...Could anyone confirm this please?

Can anyone confirm? Service pack 2 just came out, and it seems that the id label tool, nor the wall schedules still don't work? This was said to have been fixed in the update list, but still doesn't work. It's becoming very frustrating. Thanks in advance.

Thank you for the tutorial. Quick question though, is it possible to incorporate mathematical equations into the space label, and is it possible to add additional records into the space record format? In my jurisdiction I need to create spaces that show the dimensions of the space and calculate the number of people permitted per space. So lets say I have a requirement of 30 SF per person, id like to add an additional record that dynamically adds this to the space label once the dimensions are revised. The inputs for additional miscellaneous notes does not calculate equations, but the equation record does. Then I need to extract this information into a worksheet that access the database record of the space label. I'd like to do this without manually revising result, but rather have the label output it automatically. Could this be done? Or would I need to do this via marionette tool? Thank you in advance Samuel

Yea, I was hoping to avoid that. That's one of the solutions that I figured might be possible. There are 2 other solutions which are a little rugged. 1st solution is to create a "master worksheet" that references all this information, calculates and tabulates it, and then using design viewports - crop the areas that are for that room only. The second solution is to create a separate worksheet for every room to calculate each condition separately, or reference a master worksheet. But both solutions are a bit crude.

That's strange. I think I might have thought of another workaround, but also not sure if this is possible. Records can normally be changed from worksheets if they are referenced in the worksheets properly. Once referenced, the information in the records show up in the cells via database can then the record entries can be revised remotely. Is it possible to setup a script so that the areas are calculated and are printed in the cell with the record? i.e. lets say referenced cell 1 is 5, referenced cell 2 is 10, referenced cell 3 is an empty entry from the record. Could a function be inserted into the database object column to calculate the addition of cell 1 and cell 2 and print it into the empty cell record format? in other words - =(record.recordfunction) is equal to =(a+b) I'm not sure if I phrased it correctly.

Just curious, why is it that in a record format - if i enter a formula for say 30/5 = it prints out an answer, but if i try to reference the field, it doesn't modify it?

just tried that, ha, I didn't even know you posted. The only problem is that it doesn't update, and each worksheet requires an individual room to calculate. Or do you think its possible to use one worksheet to create different solutions in different symbols? What database information would you use?

I just found a possible workaround - but it involves alot of worksheets. If you were to say create 1 symbol for every space type, and enter different values for each space - using functions inside of the worksheet can reference those values - and calculate the number of occupants. However, because it has to be distributed by room name - each room requires a separate worksheet. Additionally, you have to update the worksheet calculation every time you modify the record entries. Any way to update all worksheets at once?

Hello again, I am looking to create a formula inside a record format to display in a symbol...Is this possible? I can't seem to be able to do it. In other words - lets say you have a custom format record with 4 or 5 different entries. They're linked back in a symbol to relay the information. But lets say in the record format I would like to create a mathematical formula that uses record 1 and 2 and show the solution in number 3? What I am trying to do is to create a custom symbol that will allow me to calculate the number of people using different occupancies for the building code. So lets say I have an area of 300 sq. ft. (I.e. record 1) and have an occupant load of 30 sq. ft. per person (i.e. Record 2), I want the occupant load to be calculated in record 3 by using the entries of record 1 and record 2. Is this possible?

Thank you for that! Ill try to attach IFC records to objects from now on, seems it might work to get a clean model out.

Just trying to render it in sketchup using Vray. I also don't have the render works feature yet, so I don't know if that limits me in my choices for export...does it?

The purpose is to render it using Vray and Sketchup. For Collada export - do I need render works? Just curious though, why does 3ds export so poorly?

Just curious, I am having major issues exporting a vectorworks 2016 model into 3d. If I go the IFC route, none of the geometry for walls or nurbs exports. If I export to 3ds, the windows are destroyed, and the walls start flying all over the place. Is there a single way to export all geometry and walls from Vectorworks 2016 without major problems??? Thanks you in advance for any comments !!

Ok, just verified. In 2015 - If i do extract surface to NURBS - you are correct - it doesn't show anything. But my extract surface tool was configured to creating 'planar objects' while my VW 2016 was not. By creating planar objects - it creates a polygon along the surface of the geometry instead of a nurbs surface - which in turn can be hatched. If I do the same in 2016, it does the same exact thing. Thank you for your help!