Luke Gilmer

I'm just beginning to use the irrigation tool set. Two questions: 1) I'm using impact sprinkler products for field pasture irrigation which are not in the VW Catalog. It seems I can not directly add new manufacturer outlet products to the irrigation Catalog ... but can do so indirectly by, for example, selecting a rotor outlet product that does exist in the Catalog, draw this outlet, then on the Obj Info select 'Get from Catalog', then duplicating the Catalog entry, and adding my new sprinkler data to this duplication. This process seems REALLY awkward, and difficult to later find my edited duplicate. Any direct way to enter new outlet device data so new manufacturer's data readily shows in the Catalog? 2) Related, I'm reviewing precipitation performance data for outlets, and something seems in error. The precipitation rates in the performance data are shown in 'ft/sec' units ... which no one uses. And, the data seems wacky ... a small Hunter rotor shows a precipitation rate-rectangular of 0.27 ft/s. That is impossible. It seems the units should be inches/hour, then the rate seems more believable. Many other outlet devices seem grossly in error. Is this a software bug in the display of performance precipitation units? Thanks, Luke

I'm closely following the instructions (Help and Video) for inserting a dormer into a roof object ... but no luck. Window is a 3D only symbol. Roof Obj and Symbol have Class = Roof-Main, and same Design Layer. Layer and Class Options set to Show Others. The Roof Obj never recognizes the Window Symbol. I've created dormers in the past without issues, but my current version VW17 seems to not work. I'm using Roof Styles, with multiple components, for the first time. I'm guessing this might be an issue. Any ideas what I may be doing incorrectly?

I have simple gable roofs that intersect, both at slightly different elevations. I'm using roof styles (first time), with decking and metal roofing components extending a few inches beyond the core roof object. When I go to trim for the intersections of the roofs, I'm having no luck using either the Clip Tool (basic) or the Clip Surface Command. Layer and class options are both set to S/S/MO. I'm using a 2D 'roof-trim-template' set on the screen plan, accurately made from a viewport with hidden line rendering. When I attempt to cut, I'm in Top/Plan. My trim-template is moved to the front, the roof object to be cut is moved to the back. 1) Clip Tool on Roof object: I select the roof, then select the Clip Tool, exclusion mode, polygon mode, and then use my trim-template as a guide. After the cut, the section of the roof with the cut, looses all of the styling settings and extensions, and is unusable. 2) Clip Tool of Roof Face object: If I ungroup the Roof object into Roof Faces, the Clip Tool 'kind of works', but is unusable; the roof style stays, but unfortunately the decking and metal components in my style now extend everywhere ... in the cutout area (unwanted) and now also at the ridge (unexceptable), with no ability to fix or edit. 3) Clip Surface Command on Roof object: I select both the Roof object and my trim-template, the command is selectable (in black), but does nothing. According to Help, this is suppose to work. 4) Clip Surface Command of Roof Face object: After the cut, the Roof Face looses all of its styling, and is unusable. Before roof styles, I used the AEC Create Roof command to build the structural component of the roof, then used separate objects on top of the roof to get the overhanging layers I needed. It seems that Roof Styles have almost no ability to adjust, like Wall Styles. Any suggestions, before I revert back to using separate objects to handle roof component overhangs. Best

J, thank you for your response. I've never liked Hardscape objects because they have to be flat and parallel to the layer plane, and they don't handle edge texturing well. Most of my work is not with flat installations. I've defaulted to simply using extruded surfaces that I can slope correctly and I can easily build out solder course edging with miters or other joints that texture beautifully. And Landscape objects are like Texture beds: They are essentially 3D polygons that loose all their internal curvature, i.e. they look triangulated and/or flat. I guess I'm stuck with my trimmed draped (NURBS) surfaces that will follow the existing site model contours. Best

Monadnoc, thanks for your suggestion. I just tired a texture bed site modifier. Unfortunately, it's basically a 3D polygon, and all the interior curvature of my planting beds and lawn areas are lost. With VW2015, specifically with the new ability to set mesh smoothing in Doc Pref, existing site models look almost realistic. But site modifiers don't mesh smooth because they are not NURBS surfaces. I'll go back and judiciously use the fewest number of drape surfaces with trimmed NURBS surfaces that I can texture for landscaping. Best, L

Benson, thank you. It worked. I did have to break sections up, as you suggested, to get the brick duplication to look okay. I also had to fuss with getting the initial rotation of my 'brick' sample for the arrayed bricks to look okay on complex curves with multiple inflection points. It was a bit of undo and redo, but the final result was good.

How might I texture a single curving bricked boarder? This is a single brick solder course, delineating graveled patio areas and grass or garden areas. Rendering options don't handle such a surface that is not rectilinear, or spherical, or cylindrical. Has anybody successfully used the 'duplicate alone a path', using a 'single brick' (basically I'd be tiling (crude rendering) my single brick along the boarder path)? Any other solution that has worked for you? Luke

I want to texture non-planer surfaces for landscape areas like sloping garden beds, undulating gravel pathways, grassed pathways, grass berms, etc. I've used a drape surface (3D power pack) over my site model to get a nice NURBS surface. Then I used the Project Tool to trim the drape into various landscape areas. They look good ... but the Project Tool seems to be only 'hiding' the full NURBS drape, not truly trimming the NURBS surface. As a result, I end up with a lot of copies of my full drape surface, using a lot of memory and slowing my performance. Does anybody have a solution to quickly generate texture-able NURBS surfaces for these non-planer landscape areas, without a memory and performance hit? Should I use the loft surface tool, and then edit the NURBS surface? It would be great if I could extract small sections of the site model surface or a drape surface, or if there where a command like 'convert to generic NURBS' after using the Project Tool to trim a surface. Best.

Application Version: 2015 SP2 Workstation: iMac OS X 10.9, 2.93 GHz Intel Core i7, Memory: 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3; Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 5750 1024 MB. Customer Name: Luke Gilmer I've got a design with four small buildings, multiple patios, a road, and long retaining walls. I've got many actual xyz points of data, but not enough for a useful site model. I know the finish levels for each building site, retaining wall surfaces, patios, roads, etc. The site is about 1/4 acre in size. I want to generate an 'estimated' site model without having a full site survey. My first attempt was to draw contour lines and enter them. Result: I'm horrible at drawing contours that function well. Hills and valleys exist in the resulting site model that don't exist; and when I use site modifiers to 'tamp down' or 'elevate' the problem areas, I end up with really strange surfaces in-between retaining edges. My second attempt was to 'add' 3D loci all over. What a horribly time consuming process. Current Plan: I've generated extruded pads for building sites, yards, patios, roads, etc (-1 inch thick) and placed them so their top surfaces are at correct elevations, and for some objects like roads, also at correct slopes. I also have an entire extruded plane for the entire property, tilted and elevated 'correctly' for an estimated site model. * I will be cutting out from the property extrusion the other pads for buildings, patios, roads, etc. * I will Create a Drape Surface over all. * I'd like to added an array of 3D loci over the drape (place an array at z=0, then send to drape surface). * Then I can use these 3D loci to generate my 'estimated' site model. * If the drape doesn't work, I might try extracting from my all my extruded pads top-surfaces nurbs surfaces, and try to add combine these into a surface. But how can I efficiently place thousands of 3D loci on such a surface? Has anybody done anything like this ... and have any words of advice? I've already gone down many wrong paths and I've used way too many hours trying to get this done (no luck with first attempt at nurbs curves, to nurbs surfaces, to extraction tool, to 3D polygon conversions, etc).

It would be wonderful if the roof tool had the ability to manage components like the wall tool, with the similar ability to make component offsets. I could create the inner finishes (wood, drywall, etc), roof core, insulation, decking, paper, shingles. Right now, I can only use the roof tool for the core. All other components I add individually. Secondly, to get multiple gabled roofs to connect perpendicularly is difficult, with attic areas open to each other. I can use the Connect/Combine Tool to nicely join one roof face to another (I have to first ungroup the roof into individual faces). Then I have to 'cut' out the other gable's roof face using Jonathan Pickup's method of selecting that roof, then Modify>Edit Group and placing a 2D 'cutting/masking' polygon overlay. Magically, when I place this 2D object, and then exit the Edit window, the roofing tool performs a subtraction with clean vertical miter cuts. This is great, but not documented and requires a lot of steps. It would be great if I could simply use the Connect/Combine Tool to select one roof (without having the ungroup it into separate roof faces) and select the other roof, and they would neatly trim themselves and have their attics open to each other.

The vendor for windows was just selected, and I'm now updating the windows and doors in the walls to the actual measurements and adding manufacturing info into BIM. However, there seems to be no way to save a 'style' for a window or door, and then simply update others; nor is there a way to select multiple-same-widows or doors and make updates to the object info palette; nor is there a way copy and paste these object since the pasted object doesn't insert into the wall. It appears that the only way to do this is either update each window and door individually (very error prone and time consuming on my part), or completely delete all my windows and doors and re-start with the door and window tools and completely re-entry them into the walls (still time consuming). Am I missing something obvious? Are there perhaps betters door/window tools available for purchase? In a training manual of J Pickup, there was a mention of a 3rd Party tool from New Zealand. Any recommendations? Best, Luke

Tamsin, thank you. Best, Luke

Any suggestions about quickly creating 3D boulders for a landscape? I found old 2002 and 2006 postings about boulders, in the Landmark Forum, but they seemed to me to not be helpful nor current. Best, Luke

I'm struggling with using the roof tool to do more advanced work: 1) I now need to adjust roof over hang depths, thickness, and slope: How do I do this? The obj info palette gives almost no ability to adjust current settings. 2) I need to add multi-piece facia: Currently, my file (using 'insert facia') is making a simple facia but placing it in incorrect locations. Any ideal what's going on? 3) I need to add real roofing materials, like underlayment and shakes, with real thicknesses, which overlap the core roof structure. How do I do this? Ideally, it would be great to have a roof-tool which is like the wall-tool: Able to specify materials, off-sets for individual materials, etc. Given the roof tool is basic, with a few bugs: a) Is there an alternate way to build out a real roof on-top-of and along-side the current roof? b) Is there any training video showing how to do more advanced roof work? c) Is there a way to use individual working planes, then use 'convert copy to lines', then the push pull tool to build-up or build-out roof materials like shakes and facias and rakes? Your suggestions would be great. Thanks, Luke

I'm using VW 2012, using the Property Line Tool. There seem to be significant bugs ... how do I report these problems to VW? So far: *The Property Line Tool while drawing generates an extra, unwanted vertex on the second line input, making it in operable. *Changes made for a selected Property Line in Object Info, selecting "Move: Vertex Only" doesn't work ... the entire Property Line object moves.

I'm a 'newbie', trying to enter data with Stories. I have a basement (8'), main floor (10'), and second floor (9') ... existing house. How do I adjust heights in the simplest way? I first used the default set up, but couldn't successfully modify wall heights. I then read "Help 2010", and followed it's instruction to edit "Default Story Layers ...". Ouch! Slow and inflexible. Surely not the way to make changes. I'm sure I'm missing something obvious. It appears that you can not edit heights once a story is created from the Stories page of the Org table. Where do I make height changes? (In Design Layer page of the Org table?) ...Aside: Where are user instruction for features? The 'Help' is way too obscure for a newbie like me, and very light on operation description. This community board is great, but not good as a 'user's manual'. Webinars are good, but fly through the commands too quickly without any documentation. The tutorial manuals are good, but generally don't go deep enough, nor or they organized well for quick, later reference based on common working procedures; they also don't outline the bigger picture (it took me awhile to discover that slabs could be ceilings (not obvious to the uninitiated), etc). ..... Thanks in advance for a bit of your coaching! Best, Luke

Tamsim, thank you. Your directions worked perfectly. Best, Luke

I just imported a DWG file, outlining buildings. I'd like to select one line, then have a way to have all the adjacent lines become, likewise, selected or joined. I recently saw it done in a Webinar, but I can not figure out how to repeat this process. Any suggestions would be great. Best, Luke

Bob, I found them. They were off the printable screen window. Thank you for your help.

I'm unable to get Notes to show up for Keynotes when I edit a viewport's annotation. Individual Keynotes appear fine, but the Notes, after exiting the viewport, only have numbers but no text. The Notes object, also, has no blue handles. If I don't perform an annotation edit within the viewport, everything works fine. Any idea what I might be doing wrong?