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Joe-SA

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Everything posted by Joe-SA

  1. I'm trying to manipulate the textures and hatches that get automatically applied to walls as defined inside the wall style in VW2015. The Attribute Mapping Tool asks me to convert from Auto-Align Planer to another format. I choose Planer and then begin to resize and move the control box that shows up. Nothing I do seems to produce a change to the texture/hatch. Origin, size, rotation. Is there a trick that I am missing? Any material that needs to bridge first floor and second floor walls will need to be aligned for proper display. Is this possible? Joe
  2. The error message that pops up when restoring the backup makes it very confusing and leads you right into thinking the objects have been lost completely. I had assumed this the first few times it happened to me. Joe
  3. Joe-SA

    StoneCad

    I just received word from StoneCAD that they are working with NNA to make this available and it is due to be ready in a matter of weeks. Currently, no Vectorworks formatted items are downloadable from StoneCAD as they await these updated items. Joe
  4. I'm sure NNA has looked at VectorDecks. The handrails in this tool are amazingly superior to the current VW tool. VW should really consider buying out VectorDecks and incorporating much of it right into Architect. We haven't bought it because its too expensive to maintain on a per seat license that needs to get upgraded annually. Its been a while since I tested it but some of the features to the handrails are: - reference a rail symbol profile that gets used in the top rail extrusion - same for bottom rail - replace basic baluster with baluster symbol Allow for newel posts with replacement from a newel symbol as well. Either greatly improve the hand rails that are also included in the Stair Objects or make this one easy to add to existing stairs. Either way the rails at stairs and balconies should be made to match each other without having to repeat the same settings in multiple tools.
  5. Something else to consider with EAP's. If you have breaks in an otherwise continuous extrusion....say with a skirt and cap being interrupted by doors....use extruded blocks to create a Subtract Solid object that removes the gaps from the EAP. Easier then creating many smaller segments and the overall profile is still able to be modified in a single revision from inside the Solid Subtraction. I have found, however, that if you need to restore one of these from a backup VW won't generate the Solid Subtraction. You have to enter it and exit it before it comes back. No drawing information is lost, however. It just requires a manual regeneration of the EAP from inside the Solid Subtraction. Joe
  6. One of the most cumbersome aspects of transitioning from one VW version to another is getting all of the years worth of accumulated third party and custom resources updated to the new VW file format. It would be an exceptional improvement if a universal file type could be developed that the Resource Browser could always access regardless of any annual program update. Similar to saving a VW file as a 'template' we could save a VW file as a 'resource file' while still having access to all VW files that are in the format of the current program. Opening one of these 'resource files' for edit would convert it to the current file type. It would then have to be saved back as a resource. However, no revisions would be needed to a 'resource file' from one program release to another if no change to that file was desired.
  7. Joe-SA

    StoneCad

    Has anybody yet put the StoneCad 2d hatches and seamless jpg images together into a single VW2015 texture library that produces 3d color and black and white images from the same objects? I'm about to take on this task to some degree while trying to establish some new office standards / resources for my firm. Joe
  8. We've made the entire fascia around the eaves and rakes of the entire perimeter out of a single Extrude Along Path object. This is easily done with the square eaves of your design. Then there is no need for trimming at the miters. We also use the Roof Tool as you do. We would also use it for the soffits and just clip out the center. Identical results in section. Joe
  9. I would like to see as a future feature added is that a SLVP cropping object can not only be a 2d polygon or rectangle but a 3D Extruded object with a toggle to show either the inside or the outside of the container. Joe
  10. My hope was that flattened DLVP's could function in enlarged detail development on Design Layers instead of needing to develop details linked to the model only in the Annotations layer of SLVP's. Many improvements need to occur for this to happen, however. See this previous thread and the links it contains. https://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=40423&Number=200672#Post200672 Joe
  11. This is not the help you are looking for but my reaction is to say that I gave up on auto-bound slabs about the first or second time that I used them. All it takes is one edit to one wall of the perimeter to turn the entire slab into manually bound. We found this to be inevitable with every job. Now we just create them by drawing the perimeter or purposefully unbinding them right after they are created with the walls. I hope auto binding to walls is not the hold up with Roof Components because if it functions like the slab does we are more likely to stick with manually binding them anyway. Joe
  12. So I'm trying to complete details this week for a project. I have Section Viewports at 3/4 scale filling a couple of sheets. I took them into VW2015 due to the extreme lag time and crashing caused from working with viewports in VW2014. In this regard 2015 was a life saver. I now find I am unable to Show the Components of the walls and slabs while still overriding the fill settings either in part or as a whole. This is different then VW2014 and appears to be a bug in VW2015. I've tried about a half dozen ways to emulate the behavior I got in 2014 with no luck. I resign myself to redraft every component with the Linear Material plug-in but now I find it can't create proper thickness as set in the thickness field. I've started manipulating the thickness to a fraction that appears the correct thickness graphically but as soon as this bug is fixed all of my details will be wrong again. Any chance SP2 is issued quickly to not only resolve the crashing issues reported with SP1 but also this unworkable quandary I've found myself in? Joe
  13. Those settings don't do it for me. I'm still getting some components to show while others don't. In addition, some of the fills that I have loaded as part of the original classes I don't want to show in the detail. I do wish to see the outline of every component. I used to be able to do this simply by choosing the NONE class. There doesn't appear to be a way for me to do this anymore as there was in 2014. I'm guessing this is a new bug. Joe
  14. The methods I used in 2014 to display wall components in a section do not appear to be working in 2015. I do get some components to show but no component shows everywhere consistently and no wall is showing all the components its suppose to. This is true in both Detail Viewports pulled off of Section Viewports and directly cropped section viewports straight from the plan. In the Advanced Properties Pane I can not manipulate the settings the way I used to in order to get this to show. In the cropped section viewports I am able to toggle off the 'merge adjacent components' toggle in Detail Viewports but I am able to turn it off in Section Viewports. Neither, however, show the components correctly. Strangely, toggling 'Show Components' off entirely doesn't make what smattering of components that do show go away. In fact, manipulation of all of these settings seem to have no effect on the look at all. Anybody else experiencing this? Joe
  15. Extending the conversation on #4 above... Not only does the bottom of the frame create a bump in the sill but the lower trim does not shift down when a timber sill is selected and creates a similar bump in the sill along the plane of the casings. When trim below the sill is checked on it should be BELOW the sill and not sharing the same space. Nor does the side trim extend down to the top of the Sill Lip. It stays the same length as if a picture frame trim was intended. When a sloped timber sill is used the side casings must extend down the height of the Sill to meet it and avoid leaving a gap. 9.) The exterior trim on clad units butt up against the projected jambs and do not partially cap the jambs as this tool as always shown. Its a minor technicality but the final width of the unit from the outside edge of casing is always slightly narrower then what will be built. Increasing the width of the casing is not an acceptable work around. 10) The width of the Head Trim should be independent setting from Side Trim. It would be nice if this was true for the Lower Trim as well.
  16. Very good. That is what I needed. Thanks for the quick reply. Joe
  17. Thanks, Jim. Does this include the 'activate serial number' process every time I switch from one to the other and I can go back and forth activating as many times as needed? Joe
  18. Is it possible to load VW2015 and begin using it on some projects while continuing to work in VW2014 for other 'in progress' projects from the same work station? I seem to remember the serial number only able to be associated with one or the other but not both. The reason is that I have a project that would really benefit from the added speed and memory use of VW2015 but I have other files that I need to collaborate on with VW2014 users without forcing them to upgrade as well. For the time being I need to jump back and forth. Joe
  19. I saw this on occasion in 2014. Its not isolated to 2015. I was never able to pin down the cause but it was never consistent. It typically went away with a restart if I recall. I likely ran into it a half a dozen times over the past year but it was never something I couldn't make go away with some basic trouble shooting. Joe
  20. The Best and Worst part of Vectorworks is the ability to customize most tools as you wish. Best, because you can tailor the look and feel to your firms needs and Worst because you need the knowledge base in order to take advantage of the customization available. I've been working in Vectorworks so long that my firm practically works on a proprietary system that would in many ways be foreign to even the most experienced VW user. For example, I really don't see a need for a specific footing tool. As I posted over two years ago earlier in this same thread and as Wes recently repeated, custom Wall Styles for foundations and footings as described above worked well then and continue to work well now. Stepped footings are created by simply shaping the top and bottom of the footing Wall Style. Even if you have a foundation wall with a continuous top of wall but need a stepped ledge to follow grade on the face of it....this can be made with a single Wall Style with two concrete components. One component set to stick to the wall height while the other is set to stick to the shaped top of wall edits that follow the stepped ledge. One wall object creating both continuous top of wall and a stepped ledger. Even I, who has been working in VW since 1996, took a while to realize this duel functionality could be built right into a single Wall Style. So the point is...often times a new specialized tool is not needed. What is needed is maximizing the use of the existing tools in ways that are undocumented. New users can only hope to stumble on these methods on their own or to learn them in places such as this forum. New users who have just learned one of these 'tricks' often ask 'How would I have known that? Where do I find that in the manual'. This is where NNA needs to put much of their time, in my opinion. That...and Roof Components. Joe
  21. From your resource browser create a new resource and select Script Palette. Name it something like 'Tools'. Then create another new resource and select Script. Give it a name such as 'Revise Issue Manager'. From the Resource Browser select the arrow next to Script Palettes and then right click your new Revise Issue Manager Script and select edit. Cut and paste the script text that was posted into this section. Be sure to select Vectorscript as your language at the top. Save. From the window menu, pull down to Script Palettes for your drawing file and open your Tools Palette. Double click on your new tool to run the script. Move this palette and/or script around to any of your files just like any other internal resource that is managed by the Resource Browser. Both scripts can be run with this method. Hope this helps. Joe
  22. You might be interested in this thread. https://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=37913&Number=187398#Post187398 I highly recommend downloading the two scripts that are noted. There is a chance VW 2015 has addressed the need for these two typs of interface with the Issue Manager: 1) wiping out all Issue Data in the current file 2) Editing the Date or Name of a previously issued sheet set as a group of sheets instead of sheet by sheet. Joe
  23. The current method is to use the Extract Tool to extract the surface of a wall into a Planer Object. Be sure to set this in the settings of the tool. Once created you can apply any 2d hatch to this plane and get it to show in 3D. You can use the Attribute Mapping Tool for origin, rotation, scale, etc. Be sure to toggle on Display Planer Objects in the OIP of the SLVP. The down side is that the extracted planes float over the wall surface and the two have to connection. Future edits to walls or windows will also have to be made to the extracted planes. Its a toss up whether this method is better or worse then 2d hatches in annotations of elevation view ports. It depends on the job. However, if you need 3D hatch this is the only method I know of.
  24. We've never adopted the 'new' stair tool. When first introduced it was inadequate in many ways I won't get into. Over the versions it became better and better but never good enough to cause us to switch away from the 'old' stair tool now called 'Custom Stair'. Neither is perfect but we still see more flexibility with the Custom Stair. Even with the Custom Stair we sometimes need to 'stack' two separate stair objects on top of each other to make a single, multi-run stair. If you have the stair tied to the layer heights you can still set your offsets from the top or bottom so they show as a single stair. You can also manipulate how they show on both upper and lower floors. We run into this most often when an open tread stair run extends past a wall and becomes a closed tread stair on one side only of a continuous run. Very common residential stair that can be impossible to make with one stair object. This could be fixed if the a setting to 'offset from center' was added to each stair run.
  25. Two thoughts here: 1) A co-worker just used the Framing Member Tool - Rafter mode to quickly model every seam. Works quite well. 2) A while back I tried to modify a board and batten texture to include displacement mapping at the battens. I couldn't get it to come together quickly or intuitively and didn't have time to train myself to properly make this overlay. It seems to me that a Standing Seam texture could have a displacement map added to it that extended the seams above the roof plane adequately to cast shadows. Step by step training videos on the Service Select site would be very helpful here.
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