cberg

Maybe I am not seeing something obvious... Why does the object information dialogue box for standard viewports allow you to change the drawing/detail tag name, but not the drawing number? Section viewports on the other hand allow you to change both the drawing name and the drawing number.

I've discovered that exports to Sketchup work better when the VW files are exported as ACAD 12/13 instead of later versions... Not sure why this is the case, but thought I'd share.

This drives me crazy as well.

Export from VW to Sketchup is neither quick nor easy. And while you can do it, there is a ton of time/cleanup work involved. I start with a fairly easy VW model. Attachment 0. 1. I have to export via dwg since in the standard architect version of the program there is no easy way to export to SKP directly. (I haven't found any other way to export cleanly.) As a rule, I do not export hatches or fills, and try to export as ACIS solids to keep the faces as coplanar, though this doesn't guarantee success. I turn off all classes that aren't necessary. Here are the things that I've discovered. 1. You can only export one layer at a time. Otherwise you get a huge mess. See Attachment 1, export with multiple layers turned on... 2. Even when you export as ACIS solids and no fills or hatches, there can be inconsistent results which require a fair bit of cleanup. For whatever reason, on one floor of my building there is a lot of triangulated faces. I have to delete all the hidden geometry to my faces coplanar. Window glazing objects do not export as planar objects, but as faceted planes. See Attachment 2. 3. Hybrid types of objects do not export consistently. Slabs for example are tricky to export, and require a lot of fussing. See Attachment 3. The complex slab shape for whatever reason, doesn't show up as a solid object. All of the above results in a lot of time fussing with the export model.

What about Sketchup export? There's an intuitive ease of use about SKP, that Vectorworks really doesn't have. It would be very helpful to quickly work back and forth between the two programs. Sketchup is much easier to design/communicate with. Vectorworks is better for documentation and figuring things out.

Then we would also need 'live' updating viewports that wouldn't require you to hit an 'Update' button once something changed in the model. Imagine having to hit Update to your plan viewport every time something changed....

Is there a way to adjust the Space Tool dimension tolerances separately from the VW Document Settings unit tolerances? For example, I might want my drawing dimensional tolerance to be set at 1/8" but Space Tool dimensions only set to the nearest inch, cm or whatever... Same thing for areas. Frequently we use these values to show general dimensions. I know you can adjust globally, under Settings_Document Preference_Units, and then recalculate dimensions... However, it would be helpful to adjust these values locally within the space tool. Thx cberg

The plugin works for me in 2014, sp3, on a mac running 10.7.5. Perhaps it is related to your OS? In my opinion, the screen vs layer plane mode is one of the most dysfunctional and confusing aspects of 3D Vectorworks. Screen mode seems like a legacy function that really should just go away. There must be some reason why it hasn't....

Is there any way this tool can be modified to add a Vertical Grab Bar? In our part of the world, we are required by code to install vertical bars in our accessible toilet stalls. Perhaps there is a workaround....

They probably used the Touch Up Text tool in Adobe Acrobat Pro (full version, not Acrobat Reader...) While you can probably secure or lock the PDF somehow, it is probably easiest to save the PDF jpeg, so that it is no longer vector based. It may make the file sizes a little larger. But you shouldn't notice a huge problem when you print. Cberg

Maybe you can help me fix this.... I have a few problems using Jonathan's approach. I modeled two simple sliding barn doors. One that included the track hardware and another that did not. When I used the door with sliding door track. The door symbol inserted with an irregular opening. I then modeled the door only and used it as the symbol figuring I could add the track element separately. With both openings, I had trouble getting my wall lines to reappear, and controlling the location of the door in plan, ie showing it open instead of closed. Maybe there are fixes. Would it be possible to just add this functionality to the door command? Thx, Cberg

Thanks Jim for the tip on perspective crop tip. It makes navigation much much easier. Other items mentioned are not so much bugs, as I think ways that Sketchup translates objects, but I am not sure...

I have been exporting dwg files from VW... And it works, but the process is never quick or easy, I think by design on the part of Nemetschek. To get things out successfully I have to export incrementally, and sometimes re-export the same elements a few different ways so that they appear correctly in Sketchup. Sometimes materials and colors export; other times they don't. I haven't figured out a rhyme or reason to why things export well or not. Windows in walls seem to present issues when exporting, as do complex blocks like furniture pieces, and of course hybrid objects. It would be helpful if the VW's software developers stopped thinking of Vectorworks as competitor to Sketchup (even as they try to poach its useful features). Instead they should encourage interoperability between the two programs realizing they have vastly different functions. Sketchup is a great communication and design tool. Clients absolutely love SKP's simplicity and it's ability to visualize quickly and make changes 'on the fly'. Vectorworks is far better at technical documentation/quantification/coordination, but it takes a special set of skills to design with it. Visualization is a *huge* weakness of the program. VW's perspective function is a true cludge. (Why, for example do you need a special 'window' to view something in perspective?) The flyover 'space ball' tool needs a complete overhaul. Even with rotate around object selected, the model is always hard to navigate. And things just look ugly, not as the eye sees them or how you experience them. Oh well. I stop my rant. Thanks for your help on this!!! Cheers!

I figured it out.... The window has to be double hung. In the Jamb and Sash options you can select unequal sash and divide it proportionally.

Maybe I am missing something in VW2014, but I can't seem to figure out how to model a single hung window with custom glass sizes. (Where the glass panels are not divided in two equal panels) Looked through the custom window tool, but didn't seem to find anything that allowed me to do this. Any ideas as to how to do this? Cberg

Why is the Collada export command only in the Renderworks package? -Cberg

Even though we do a fair bit of modeling in Vectorworks, the 3D interface is not particularly user-friendly compared to other modeling programs such as Rhino or Sketchup. VW models are not a particularly good communication tool especially in real time with clients. I know in some of the VW literature there is some mention of exporting to Sketchup via Collada (at least in the Renderworks Package). Since we haven't purchased Renderworks, it is hard to tell how well this works. We would like an easier way to export VW to Sketchup, or at least a clear set of instructions about how to do so. I for one have trouble exporting hybrid objects, framing members, and other sorts of objects using "Export to Dwg". Thx

I concur that VW2014 is one of the worst versions of VW in terms of overall stability and random crashing. I am running 2014 SP2 On Mac OSX 10.7.5 with 8GB of RAM. I have found that checking the Confirm Before Autosaving button seems to reduce (but not eliminate) the frequency of crashes. And at least this helps remind me to save more often...

From what I can see there is a problem with the create roof face tool which prevents it from working optimally at least with square miter roof edge. For the roof to model correctly, the polygon that is used to generate the roof plane needs to be the lowest inner point of the roof. Axis Z represents the height of the lowest point of the roof. On a square mitered roof it is the inner corner. The problem is that when you set your roof face in this manner, then the 2d hybrid object does not show the roof correctly in plan. It will represent in 2d the inner polygon, (which is the underside of the roof) not the roof as it really projected plan. There is no way to use the top plane of the roof, and make roof thickness a negative number. My only workaround is to "draw over it". Kind of a dumb solution, but not impossible one to execute.

This may be an easy question, but is there a way to copy merge model information from various VW models/ files so that all the layers and 3d story information imports intact? Copying and pasting puts all the information on one layer.

Perhaps this has been addressed before. But I will ask again. I tried searching for this in the forum database, but didn't quite find my answer. I was wondering how people use the section viewport tool in VW. I am doing some research into how we want to use the 3D capacities the program. The section viewports come out pretty rough in terms of actually providing usable information--possibly related to the way we model things. In terms of our workflow, I'd like to use a section viewport as an underlay for drawing true architectural sections that would update as the model updates. If one puts a section viewport into the design layer, as some suggest we have to draw 2D information in 3d space, which presents problems in terms of hatches fills, etc. The only workable solution I've found is to reference the model, rotate the sections all to one orientation and then put them in a 3D front view. Is there a better way to do this that allows for a true 2d drawing? Do folks then draw in the annotation environment of sheet views? Seems like a bad CAD practice... And how do you keep annotation information separated from design information? Or is there something I am missing here? How do you all incorporate section viewports into your design documents? Cberg VW2012 SP3

Hopefully you are not referring to our detail. :-) But I guess we can fix that since we are in DD, lol. Does the slab tool address the issue of framing direction at all, even with a wood system. Seems like an important feature to get right? CB

Thanks for sharing the files and the tips on how to use this tool. I still would like to see a true concrete slab tool. We would typically draw turn down edges and steel edge angles in our wall sections. Your hatch would need to have directionality to it, meaning if a section were cut in the other direction you wouldn't see the corrugation. For now it might make sense to keep the slab generic and "draw 2-D" over the wall section. But I've been studying your basic drawing organization (with the help of Dutch translation tools). Very informative to see how you organize your files. Thanks again, Cb.

Not sure if I asked my question correctly... I can make this object in 2D, and that is how we've been making our wall sections. In fact we've created special linear material objects that allows us to "draw" this. What I am looking to do is to make this a smart BIM modeling object that functions as a 3D slab. Is this possible in VW2012? See attached.

I was somewhat disappointed to see that the slab tool did not have composite steel and concrete decking as one of its typical slab components, since it is a typical construction type. Since I am new to VW 2012, perhaps there is another way to do this. Anybody have any thoughts as to how to do this?