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Joe-SA

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Everything posted by Joe-SA

  1. How about a double break line with a solid mask between them? Achieved with two toggle switches. No need to clip for intermediate breaks. I've needed this for years. Made a symbol out of two breaks and a mask but still a hassle. Joe
  2. Customization within the door leaf is possible. Choose custom from the Leaf tab of the Door Settings menu. Make your own custom leaf symbol and reference it here. We use this to create custom carriage overhead garage doors. The 3d leaf symbol will reshape to the opening size so small changes in width or height does not require a new symbol unless you are specific about your proportions. Also used this feature to make dutch doors. Your mailbox door would be a good application. Joe
  3. Not an answer to your question but some perspective. I've been working in VW since 1996. Stories are a feature that was added just last year. Often it takes quite a few updates of VW for new features to get 'up to snuff' you might say. I looked at Stories in the last upgrade and frankly I saw more hassles then they were worth. Granted my look wasn't an exhaustive study. I currently do fully 2d/3d hybrid plan/modeling without using Stories at all. I simply manage my 3d Z-heights with my layer elevations and wall heights. Others who have flushed out the use of Stories will likely give you pointers on their use and likely work arounds for the short comings I'm assuming the feature has. In my current understanding I view them as Layer Groupings if that helps. I just wanted to let you know you can use VW very effectively without using them at all. Joe
  4. Just tried Pat's script. It wouldn't run from a menu command PIO but run as expected from a Vectorscript in the Resource Browser. Read Pat's disclaimers. After running the script the OIP was grayed out when highlighting a title block but ran the Issue Manager once and input set 'A' and the file was reset to just the A set and the second run defaulted to 'B'. Very cool. Thanks Pat. Joe
  5. Just went to the Resource sharing - Vectorscript section of the forum and set it to display ALL DATES. Lo and behold...Pat Stanford posted a script that does what you are asking back in 2009. Haven't tried it but it may be just what you need. Joe
  6. Rick, My script was written for the purpose of changing existing data sets. Not purging the file of the data sets so when you enter the Issue Manager it thinks its the first time. The Issue Data Record Format doesn't show in the OIP until you run the Issue Manager. The weird part, however, is if you select a titleblock and run the Edit Issue Data and then click OK without making any changes...the Issue Date Record is no longer visible in the OIP. But it then comes back with the same info the next time you run the Issue Manager. I'd have to do a lot more research in order to re-write the script for your purpose. Not sure I know enough to do it considering the odd behavior which I would suspect is designed and not a bug to limit tampering. One work around might be to edit individual sheets until you have only one instance of each letter. Then use my script to input spaces into each letter in order to achieve a clean text free title block. Then with each new issue date use my script to assign new info to each of your existing data sets. Not what you are looking for, I know, but the best I got right now. Joe
  7. I would suggest giving up on the Stair Tool and moving to the Custom Stair tool. This is another case where the new and improved tool doesn't yet do everything the old reliable tool does even though the new tool has been out a few versions already. For us the Stair Tool from introduction has been a non-starter despite all the features for treads, railings, etc. it contains. When first introduced it couldn't do both an upper plan and lower plan display like the Custom Stair tool. You had to 2d draft your upper stair plan. Without that it was worthless to us. It also didn't have the ability to link its height to layer heights. I think it may have added these features in later updates but then didn't have an offset for either the lower or the upper heights like the Custom Stair Tool. I think it was another version before that was added. Still in this version you can't do an angled platform with this tool. The Custom Stair tool isn't perfect but I get far closer to what I need for construction document production by modeling the stairs I need for plans and sections. If I ever needed a detailed stair for an interior 3d view I might consider the Stair tool but it would be only for the 3d view. Not for construction drawings. A simple improvement that would give me a lot of what I need in the Custom Stair tool is the ability to connect two straight runs of stairs and not only set them to independent widths (which we can do) but to offset their center line from each other. This would allow me to transition from an open tread to a narrower closed flight when one or the other railing dies into a wall. For this I either have to create a tread out of a platform or literally stack two Custom Stair PIO's with upper and lower height offsets as needed. What we really need is ALL of the abilities of the old tool reflected in the new tool BEFORE the new tool gets introduced. One step forward and one step back is not progress. Joe
  8. Toggle off 'Show Detail' in the base cabinet PIO. Doesn't effect 3D view. Joe
  9. I'm sorry, but I think this movie is a ridiculous solution. No offense to Alicia who I have emailed many times and found very helpful. Not sure of the date on the movie but I approached an alternate technique with her directly last year. A better solution that doesn't involve ungrouping the PIO into its individual parts is to simply turn off the countertop that is created by the base cabinet. Then place the separate CounterTop PIO over top of the base cabinet. The CounterTop PIO includes controls for creating a hole for a sink either square or oval. Place your sink in the hole. There you have your solution while maintaining full control of your PIO for future edits of door panel, hardware, texture, etc. This solution has been around for long, long time. The issues I had last year with this solution was that the back splash display in 2d was different between the countertop PIO and the countertop made by the adjacent Base Cabinet PIOs. They were controlled differently and displayed differently from each other. 2d and 3d back splash creation and view were linked in one and not the other. 2D Patch lines were needed in plan just to get a common look. The other issues was the obvious question....if we can make sink holes as part of the CounterTop PIO then why isn't the hole function included as part of the sink front base cabinet? The code already exists. Can't they be combined? I don't think these cabinet PIOs have been modified in many, many updates. They've been the same for about the past 10 years or so. Haven't looked into this in some time. Seems like an easy fix. Hopefully one of the Service Packs improved it. Joe
  10. The SP4 update loads new default content files for the Walls-Slabs file, the Architectural Schedules file, and all the template files. Tech support is unable or unwilling to give me any information on why these files were over written. My concern is that I want my custom content to perform well and reflect any bug fixes that may have taken place to the content of these files. In comparing the content of the SP3 file and the SP4 file there is no readily apparent difference to the walls-slab file. Does anybody know what I'll be missing out on if I just continue to use my SP3 default content files? Joe
  11. I have used EAP's a lot. My experience with lofts are limited. Only the occasional eyebrow roof dormer. Either EAP or Lofts may be equally appropriate. Sweeps are not, though they may be the easiest to implement.
  12. One caution here. Use of the Sweep command will cause facets of the curve to show up in your hidden line views. Extrude Along Path automatically turns your 2d polygon path to a NURBs curve which results in a clean hidden line view of the curved elements. You won't see this difference with renderworks textures. I run into this when I create detail profiles in the cap and base of my exterior columns. I start with the Column PIO, make it into a symbol, and then wrap the block base and head with the rest of the detail profile made from EAP's. I would suggest you use a symbol with a 2d elements on the 2D side of the symbol and then a 3d side made up of separate square and round EAP objects. Joe
  13. Last year I wrote a script to get me past a similar issue I was having with the Issue Manager. Inevitably, shortly after sending date and description to 20 title blocks of a project the issue date would change or a typo would be noticed. The only way to fix each of these sheets was to edit each sheet individually. The Issue Manager is not capable in its current state of manipulating a set of sheets a second time even though it assigns common letter or number value to each sheet set. My script allows you to input the designation of one of these sets and then input revised date and description data...(or just spaces) It then searches all your title blocks for dates and descriptions that fall under that set designation and updates them accordingly. You could use this to modify each of your existing entries instead of deleting the previous ones and adding new. The script could likely be modified to do what you are asking all in one click. I posted this to the Vectorscript section of this board but I'm not sure if it is there anymore. This seemed like such a easily corrected deficiency that I half expected this feature to be added in an upcoming service pack. In a much more elegant fashion then I can do, I'm sure. Here is my script. I created a menu command plug-in out of it and keep it right next to the Issue Manager. Joe (Start of script) Procedure ReviseTitleBlockIssueData; { This procedure searches all instances of the 'Issue Data' record created by the Issue Manager and takes a user input previously issued set letter and revises the associated date and note to a user input values. } Var Request1, Request2, Request3, Default1, Default2, Default3, IssueLetter, RevDate, RevNote, FName, DName, NName, FValue, FinalCheck : String; Record : Handle; NoOfFields, X : LongInt; Answer : Boolean; PROCEDURE ReviseData(ObjHdl : HANDLE); BEGIN X:=1; REPEAT FName:= Concat('Number-', X); DName:= Concat('Date-', X); Nname:= Concat('Note-', X); FValue:= GetRField(ObjHdl, 'Issue Data', FName); IF (FValue = IssueLetter) THEN BEGIN SetRField(ObjHdl, 'Issue Data', DName, RevDate); SetRField(ObjHdl, 'Issue Data', NName, RevNote); END; X:=X+1; UNTIL(X>50); ResetObject(ObjHdl); END; BEGIN BEGIN Request1:=('What is the letter of the Issue Set you wish to revise?'); Default1:='A'; IssueLetter:= StrDialog(Request1, Default1); END; BEGIN Request2:=('What is the revised date you wish this issue set to display?'); Default2:='mm/dd/yy'; RevDate:= StrDialog(Request2, Default2); END; BEGIN Request3:=('What is the revised note you wish this issue set to display?'); Default3:='Issue Note'; RevNote:= StrDialog(Request3, Default3); END; BEGIN FinalCheck:= Concat('Are you sure you want to change issue set ', IssueLetter, ' to the new date ', RevDate, ' and the new note - ', RevNote, ' ?'); Answer := YNDialog(FinalCheck); IF Answer THEN BEGIN ForEachObject(ReviseData, (R IN ['Issue Data'])); END; END; END; RUN ( ReviseTitleBlockIssueData ); (End of Script)
  14. I'm not surprised. It took me a while to work out the bugs of the system. You have a few different ways to define the lines of a wall. One is the exterior lines of the wall itself (the container) and the other is in the definitions of the components themselves. The component lines will overlap the 'container' lines on the wall edge. The 'container' lines are controlled in the 'Edit Wall Attributes' tab while the 'component' lines are controlled when editing each component. Your components should end up in a component class while your wall should end up in a 'container' class. I HAVE been able to use line and fill settings of the container class to manipulate lines as I described. I have not been able to do the same with component classes. Under Edit Attributes inside the Wall Type definition, be sure to assign attributes by class and also be sure to assign a default class under the Insertion Options tab. Under the component, be sure the component that is adjacent to the wall edge has a zero line overlapping the wall edge. Now things should work as I described. From the Class tab of the organization dialog box you should be able to manipulate the line attributes of the wall objects. This method falls apart when dealing with multi-component walls because you are only able to manipulate the perimeter edges of the walls but for footings and foundations it seems to work once you have reset your wall type definitions. Joe
  15. One note here....I've had situations where I've used the component join tool to fix these joints and at times I've wanted some components to be square and some to be mitered. However, later I've modified the texture assigned to the Wall Type and when the walls get replaced as part of the wall type update process...all of my custom component joining goes away and I return to my default wall join. Very frustrating when tweaking a texture is often the one of the last thing you do long after you thought you were past the floor plan development. Submitted this to tech support over a year ago. Haven't tested with the latest service pack.
  16. I use a custom wall type for my footings with attributes set by the overriding class the wall objects are in. (not set my wall components or by wall type) Then in your viewport you can use your class overrides to change your footings class to a different wall type. I do the same thing with my foundation walls. In this way my default line types in plan are solid line and hatched foundations with dashed and no hatch for footings. In my elevations my footings show up dashed and I override my foundation wall class to also be dashed. In my building sections my foundations show up solid line and hatched and I override my dashed footing to also be solid line and hatched. Once you are controlling the attributes by the 'container' class and not by the 'component' class or by attributes buried in the definition of the wall type it works pretty well. Similar control is needed of the wall poche in plan vs sections and details or slab framing component when you want it hatched in overall building sections but not hatched in more intricate details. Admittedly, a better interface is needed. One idea would be expanding Wall Type attributes to different 'sets' of component lines and fills and then allowing a viewport to interface with those wall type attribute presets depending on the nature of the viewport. In this way you can assign to any wall (or slab) component how you want it to display in plan, elev, overall building section, and details with simple toggles or OIP viewport settings. One switch from the 'plan' setting to the 'section' could change the look of all the walls and slabs in the viewport. Joe Joe
  17. The Extract Tool has a mode for Extract Surface. This will create independent planer objects on the face of your walls. Add to these polygons your 2d brick hatch. Use the Attribute Mapping tool to control origin. These polygons won't change with future changes of wall openings or shape. Hatch will show in viewport elevation views and 3d views as well. However, if you are creating brick with textures already you will want to turn these surface hatches off. Use them in black and white elevation views or over solid color brick walls without texture. I create classes for ease of applying the hatch and turning them off when I don't want to see them. Another caution...these vertical planer objects are no different from the 2d planer objects you might draw on your floor plan that show in 3d view aligned to the layer base. If you normally toggle planer objects off in the OIP in your elevation viewports (they appear as lines in side view of the plan) you will also turn off your brick at the same time. You have to use your class and layer structure to get around this conflict.
  18. I do use the framing member tool at times for rakes and certainly for rafter tails. If our current project, however, has a crown moulding at the fascia and the rake with mitered corners the Extrude Along Path is the best way I have found to achieve that. There is also something nice about clicking 6 points on a gable roof from a 3d view to define a 3d polygon path and wrapping a common profile around the whole roof in one object rather then creating 6 different objects to make the same thing....or 12 objects if you have a double fascia and rake. Of course there are complications like the above only working with square fascias at the eave. Plumb fascias do need to be separate objects from the rake. But say you want to wrap a flat fascia with a gutter around a hip roof? That's where the Extude Along Path object is easiest to implement with great results. Often you can include the soffit and frieze all in the same object. Like I said...its quirking and needs improvement but I found the co-planer ability that was recently got me to the point where its a more effective use of time to model these elements and have them show up in all the elevations, sections, and details then to omit them from the model and 2D overlay draft them into each of these drawings. Joe
  19. Yes, nice video but some of the advanced tools can be used to create some of the more complex pieces and used in the viewports. For example, we created a foundation wall type that is made up of two components and we can set the top of each component to a different height. Stepped foundation using a single wall object. Wall Type for the footing as well. Stepping the top or bottom of the components also works for sheathing and siding overlapping floor framing and truss faces on gables. This may require duplicating your base wall type many times for different overlap scenarios. Slab components can be used in a similar fashion. As to the roof, I started out doing only the sheathing with the roof tool as well. You must do it this way if you want to model crown moulding on your eave. In a recent project I went one step further because I needed to generate interior and exterior 3d views of a gambrel roof. Because we lack the ability to add roof components to the roof objects (major wish list item) I took my finished sheathing only roof object (or objects) and duplicated it. I then altered thickness and overhang to create the frame depth and stacked it beneath my sheathing so it ended at the wall plate. (wall sheathing and siding components can rise up to overlap if needed). I then duplicated again and created a gypbd layer for the ceiling. This was cumbersome but with each component in different classes it was workable. I went this step only very late in the design process as edits had to be done in quadruple including holes in the roof. Both the gypbd ceiling and roof sheathing components were needed as separate roof objects, however, to achieve clean lines both inside and out. I'm imagining an updated roof object that automates this process in the future. As for fascias and rakes the built in tools are a waste because you have limited options and cutting holes along the eave doesn't cut the fascia. Best bet is to use the Extrude Along Path tool. The co-planer nature of this tool allows for a single profile to be extruded along the entire perimeter roof line of a straight gable roof including transitioning from eave to rake and over the ridge. This tool is not without its quirks and needs to be improved but I'm achieving crowns modeled and mitered in all the right spots that then appear in elevations and building sections and base detail backgrounds which I then only partially draft over similar to what was shown in the video. So I do use the parametric tools for the walls, slab, and roof for the base model and then add specific 3d elements to it as needed. In the viewport you can use your class overrides and visibilities to manipulate the wall and slab components as needed to work best with the finish drafting.
  20. I use two different section viewports each with their respective marks. Each drawn to the step in the section and then cutting off the objects beyond. I then snap these viewports together on the sheet layer. I created a couple of custom section line end marks that represent the lines of the step and point them at each other. Works reasonably well. No drafting of the step line needed. Joe
  21. I can't help you on the fill attributes but if you decide to cut your sections in your original model and reference them into your section drawing file you won't be able to use your auto-numbering and there is no way I have found to get your section marks created by a Section Viewport in your model file to display in a Sheet Layer Viewport of a different file. I can get them into Design Layer Viewports but not sheets. Joe
  22. Are you placing your custom title block symbols from INSIDE the Sheet Border plug-in object? Joe
  23. Pat, Maybe I'm showing how novice I am with my phrasing...I was thinking a custom script that created the interfacing dialog box I described. Yes, I want the script to find all the instances of objects attached to a particular format. I think you understand my intent. I'm seeing the first column of the dialog box being the boolean field where I toggle each instance on or off and save those settings back to each object. The other two columns would be text fields of the same instance of the record format merely providing label information to assist in determining the desired toggle setting. I haven't scripted an array so your directions I think help me with the next step of the script but you are right, its the creation of the actual dialog box I'm looking to get an example of. Any example of a similar dialog I can probably manipulate to do what I need. Thanks for the input. Joe
  24. I've written many custom PIO's and various menu commends but have only used the default preset dialog boxes when needed. I'm a total novice when it comes to making my own dialogs from scratch. What's the best resource to get guides and examples? I've spent a lot of time in the Vectorscript Function Reference but I'm not grasping what I need to know from there. My need right now is to create a dialog box that finds all the instances of a Record Format in the document, list a check box based on a boolean field in that Record and than label it with other text fields from that same Record. I'd like to be able to toggle each of these fields from one dialog and then either save or cancel at the end. Pretty simple, I think, I just need something to get me started. Thanks for the input. Joe
  25. Dropbox is our answer. I recently set up all my office work stations to have their libraries sync to Dropbox. Now any cad station can be taken off site and take the entire library with it whether connected to the internet or not. But as soon as you connect to the internet the files will be sync'd. One person adds a new symbol to a library and as soon as dropbox sync's its available to all other stations connected to the internet...even those off site. Here are some quick steps to take: 1) Buy a Dropbox account. ($100/year - 50GB size) Free 2GB account is too small. 2) Follow Dropbox instructions to download dropbox to each station and link to the same account. 3) From one station create a folder in Dropbox and copy your entire VW 'Library' to it. It will get copied through Dropbox to every station connected to the account so make sure you have the hard drive space on each computer. You can delete or just rename your original library so VW can't see it anymore. 4) You would think you could just then create a alias in your VW folders titled 'Library' that connected to the dropbox library location but DO NOT DO THIS! The Favorites folder inside the library cannot be part of the dropbox files because the paths set here need to be unique for each station. Instead, create a new 'Library' folder and from inside of it create an alias for each sub-folder of your library skipping Favorites. Do this on each station. 5) If you use Favorites, create a folder inside the 'Library' and create a unique alias to each file in the library you want to access as a Favorite. Do this on each station. 6) Any change to any file in dropbox gets copied to every other station as soon as it is saved. 7) Use the EXPORT resource feature to send new symbols or other resources directly to the dropbox library without even leaving your active document or opening the library file. 8) This is great way to standardize your Default content. Now when I export a new custom wall style to the library it instantly shows up as an option within the the wall tool on every other station. Years ago Jonathan Pickup illustrated how a project file located in dropbox could be Design Layer View Port referenced to a local VW file. Even if two cad stations are half a world apart... updates made in one place were seen at the other in a matter of minutes just by updating your DLVP reference within VW. Good Luck.
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