cberg

Reshaping it fixes it, and reshaping it to another point breaks it again. It depends on where the stretched line "lands".

I haven't used the Linear Material - Corrugated Deck tool in a while, and it looks like the fill/closure is not working properly. Linear Material - Corrugated Deck.vwx

Figured it out. There is a way to extract a curve that provides the desired length/geometry. Possibly easier than switching back and forth to the annotations space. The shop usually needs steel dimensioned to the 16th of an inch. We are exploring digital fabrication -- i.e., sending STP files directly to the cutter. At the end of the day, you may be correct, and it is too much detail. However, putting all the pieces (accurately) into a worksheet helps check the data. Final.mp4

Agreed. It would also be great to pull a line off a cylandrical extrude, which seems like a much more modest ask. :-). Thanks for all the help!

I put the data into a record format so that I can develop piece sheets & order totals for fabrication. Maybe a little beyond the scope of VW. Sadly there is no good way to automate the process.

Piece.vwx

It goes back to the question of the bounding box delimiting the object vs some screen-oriented abstraction.... @Tom W. I don't think the length of your structural member would be correct. If one were to cut that shape out of steel (or any material), you would need to measure the piece from long edge to long edge, because the tapered bits are created out of a longer piece. The dimension is taken at the centerline.... @Jeff Prince I think you are correct, that the only way to find this dimension is by cutting a section, and overdrawing/dimensioning it in a sheet layer. Thanks for the help!

The tape measure tool does not yield accurate results.

Is this the function you are referring to? If so, there is no way to snap the iso curve location, which somewhat defeats the purpose.... I can ungroup, move and stretch the line... But it is a little cumbersome, and prone to snapping errors. It is surprising that there is not a better, one-step process to find the overall length of a 3d object. Especially with Vectorworks' promise of instant, 3d data. In general the 3d curve tools feel a little limited and outdated.

Easy(?) question. Is there a function that will help determine the overall length of a rotated 3d solid? The object in question is a 3D section. Pulling curves off a round extrude (or snapping to edges of cylindrical objects) is difficult in VW. The only way I can find the "out-to-out" length is to find the dimension it in the annotations space of a section viewport. This seems counter-intuitive given Vectorwork's focus on analytics and data. That said, the OIP is incorrect, and the AEC 3D Properties, does not yield the desired results. Is there an easier way to do this?

This may be a VW Designer issue. The list of objects I can create is much smaller, which is why I never noticed this before.

You can use a stylus and the VW freehand tool, but the lines are extremely bitmapped. There is no palm rejection; you frequently have to redo the lines. I have used it in combination with an iPad when I wanted a freehand vegetation line for a site plan. If you have access to a Mac, link the iPad, set it up as an external monitor in System Preferences, and "extend" the display. Slide VW over, and draw as long as you can before the laggy interface drives you mad. The result looks like something that was drawn using a stylus in 2003. You might be able to play around with smoothing, at the expense of accuracy....

@Ed Wachter The wide flange 3d tool was developed when 3d really meant "plan item extruded". The tool was developed in the early 2000s. Steel shapes generated in this manner have a tendency to lose their curved corner edges at random, inopportune times, which can be frustrating. I sometimes use it for posts and columns. And frequently regret it.

Yeah I debated whether to call it quasi-legacy. Like many other tools (in the architectural and MEP toolsets), the Framing Member tool was developed decades ago and not thought about since. Is zombie a better adjective?

I am partial to the framing member tool. Use a steel profile. Sadly this legacy tool can do things that the structural member tool still cannot.

I think double-keying to toggle between two modes is probably the easiest option. I can set the keystroke to the selection command that is programmed into my mouse. After rereading @Tom W. 's. quoted thread above, it appears that VW folks use the Selection Tool in quite a variety of ways. I'm trying to use the Transform Mode more, but something about its location or implementation makes me not want to bother.

@Pat Stanford Brilliant! Is there a way to modify the script above to toggle between Single Object Interactive Scaling Mode and Transform Mode for the selection tool?

The most accurate way to achieve the cutout shape is to use section solids with a polyline that hits the pipe edges and the desired offset. Screen Recording 2025-05-05 at 6.31.25 PM.mov

Thanks Pat. Both were set reasonably high, and adjusting doesn't seem to change anything. I think the tessellated wireframe representation is a VW "feature."

3D conversion is set to Very High. Where are the 2D Conversion settings?

It would be nice if we had more intuitive deform tools but there are a lot of other needs. Is there any way to improve the 3D wireframe resolution. The geometry is defined correctly in hidden line and shaded render, but the bend is distorted in wireframe?

Thank you so much. For whatever reason, I was having a lot of difficulty figuring that out. Now I understand. Very much appreciate!

Easy question. But I am struggling. How do you control the bend tool? The magenta line is the center of my pipe bend, but I cant figure out the sequence of clicks to control it. Would love to figure this out instead of extruding along a path. Are there any videos or tricks? BEND.vwx

Looking at the text file, it would be helpful to understand what the headers signify. Very helpful. I can muddle through.... I will break out the Steel Manual and compare the data to the numbers. I am sure something refers to height, depth, web thickness, and the radii of the profile edges. I will tread carefully lest I break, and report back. Channel-Inch.txt

@Pat Stanford If you don't get paid to do what you do, you absolutely should. You are amazing!