Travis

Armstrong, you make me laugh. Diaphram sounds a little too flexible for my floors, however. I prefer they be rock solid. . .

If, as you say, your classes are all "on" the next thing to check would be the Viewports. I wonder if by chance you have a large VP that, when rendered, is overlaying the titleblock. We've made our custom titleblock into a symbol which we then place on each new sheet. But that's similar enough to cut/paste that I don't think that's the root of your problem. By the way, welcome aboard. Keep working VW and keep asking questions here. It'll all come together. Good luck, [ 11-02-2005, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: Travis ]

Richard, Kudos to you for your persistence. I (as well as many here, I imagine) am also self-taught. VW was the only CAD program that I thought I might have a chance of learning on my own. . .part of the reason I purchased it in the first place. After some years of using VW on a daily basis, I purchased Archoncad's manuals. They were worth every penny paid. Though they won't suggest using the roof PIO to create a floor, they might still be of value for you. (No I'm not affiliated, but for this endorsement I might get another free pencil!) Good luck and keep asking questions,

I guess I think along the same lines as Andrew. . .does it really make a difference what the title in the PIO says? I suppose it could be renamed the slope-able, mostly horizontal object! If we have a PIO with the functionality ? whatever it happens to be called ? then we don't we actually have the functionality? Truth is, the visibility and detail (line weight, fill, etc.) of whatever object is used can be controlled by Classes. If I assign the floor class to an object, that's how I think of it. . . rather than which PIO I used to create the object. Maybe that's helpful,

Is the computer you have the printer connected to also used as a workstation? Ours isn't. I believe you'll find there's not a really good dedicated RIP solution for a Mac network from Epson. So we just dedicated an older G4 (733 w/1gb RAM) to the printer. There are days the queue is 30 sheets long (many will be from the same file, of course) and we've never had a hitch. I'm not exactly sure how the raster processing is divided between the workstation sending the print job and the "host" computer that manages the queue. We just make sure to have plenty of memory (at least 1gb) on each of the workstations. Good luck,

Kimcz, Please see: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=16;t=001703 Ramon, I place my General Notes directly on the Sheet layer. . .they are, after all, General notes. Virtually all other notes are handled as Callouts which are placed in Annotations. See above reference. I second HEARTILY the request that General Notes have the ability to run in multiple columns. Our General Notes typically take up two full Sheet Layers and whatever revisions are required for the specific project then require layout editing. I suppose we could be doing General Notes in a wordprocessor and then placing a PDf. Hmm. . .will have to think about that while we're waiting for Armstrong's v20. Good luck all, [ 11-01-2005, 07:36 PM: Message edited by: Travis ]

I'm curious, Richard, why this feels like a work-around to you? Would not a sloped floor have to be created basically the same way? In fact, I kind of like the "roof\floor" PIO because I can specify a different texture/fill for the edges than the slope. . .something that hasn't been possible with the Floor PIO. Just curious.

Ramon, Doesn't Sheet Layer Setup take you to Page Setup and then apply the setting globally? If so, you can set the output sheet size as well as the output scale directly from Page Setup. This is how I would change from printing an Arch D (22x34) sheet at 100% to printing the same Sheet Layer on Ledger (11x17) at 50%. I wouldn't want to rescale the Sheet itself, just the output. HTH

Also, David, where are you using the PIO? On a Sheet layer (Viewport Annotations?) or on the Design Layer? If you're annotating a Viewport, you should check to make sure you have the insulation's Class turned on both at the Viewport and the general sheet Class Visibilities settings. Good luck,

Make sure you have your dimension class turned on at both the Sheet and Viewport settings.

Katie, Did you ever have a chance to sort this anomaly out?

Alan, A bit of trivia: on a "qwerty" keyboard there's typically a slight bump or dot on the F- and J-keys (sometimes the D and K) so a touch-typist will know his hands are on the correct alignment. There's also typically this same little dot on the 5-key of a 10-key pad. I was lucky enough to have a great type teacher back in middle school. They don't even teach "type" anymore, I think it's called keyboarding. But thanks to this teacher, and those little dots, I can usually blow these youngsters away when it come to words-per-minute. To say nothing of complete sentences. . .even complete words!! Just figured inquiring minds would like to know!! [ 10-25-2005, 10:26 AM: Message edited by: Travis ]

I haven't used the Sheet Layer Setup from Vectordepot, so my comment had to do with the VW's options. If I interpret the What New list correctly, this should be significantly improved in v12. We'll see. And by the way, I don't wish Adobe made CAD software. They're very good at what they do, but can you imagine the cultural adaptation they'd have to make to effectively cater to our needs? Stick to the knitting, as they say. [ 10-24-2005, 09:15 PM: Message edited by: Travis ]

If everyone has .pdf markup software (ie Adobe Acrobat), then notes and some limited "sketching" could be added easily. However, true pencilled redlines are difficult no matter what software you might use. . .unless everyone is fairly proficient with the same CAD software. We occasionally send a drawing around for approval (owner's rep, civil, structural, etc.) using the .pdf protocol. It's worked reasonably well, but it somewhat limited. Good luck,

Chris, I've always thought of a Section as part of the construction drawing set, so it seems most logical to have it incorporated with Viewports. One can easily add linework, hatches, etc via Annotations. For Details that are referenced several times in a drawing, we typically draw them in another file and then WGR them in. I know you can't WGR a Viewport, so the detail is generally drawn in 2D on a Design Layer complete with all the "detailing" (hatches, fills, notes, etc). If you'd like to use a Section Viewport as a base for detailing, Andrew points out above how easy it is to convert it to linework. I don't quite see how the modelling process is limited by not being able to make revisions in the section "view" you imagine. If a wall needs to be revised, I've got to revise the whole wall (or divide it into segments) not just the portion I might see in section view. I can understand that being able to see the revision, perhaps in a split-screen window, might be useful. Having done some pretty limber mental gymnastics to create reasonably "live" section Viewports in 11.5, I'm thrilled to have the functionality built-in (and much more intuitive, I might add) that I see in the demo. I'm curious if there's a fully-baked cake somewhere against which you're comparing this one to determine it's half-baked status? Look forward to playing with v12 directly. Good luck,

Adobe's OpenFont actually includes TrueType and PostScript type 1 info. You'll be fine with OpenFont. It'll actually give you a few more letter types (called glyphs) as well as extended language support. We bought the Arch Font Pack some time back and ended up not using any of them. Not because they wouldn't work, but because they didn't really appeal to us. Good luck,

Katie, I'm emailing you a simple file now. Hope it will be useful. Thanks for your attention to this.

Dean, You add comments directly on the door record. You'll find that when you select a door, then click the Data tab on the Object Info Pallet. Scroll (if necessary) the upper section to see that Door Record is checked. The lower portion shows the various data fields, one of which will be labeled Notes. . .if I remember correctly. Then you'll just need to make a column for Notes in your schedule worksheet. The doors you can't find are probably NOT doors, but rather some other object that has the Door Record turned on. You'll solve your schedule problem by finding the offending object, clicking on the Data tab and "un"clicking the Door Record. That line on the schedule will then go away. Sorting: Near the top of the worksheet?next to the pull-down menu arrow?there are three small icons. One is labeled SUM; the other two are sort icons (sorting up and sorting down). Drag one or the other to the database header of the column you want to sort by. Voila, the database rows are sorted. You can even use more than one. Good luck, [ 10-19-2005, 09:13 PM: Message edited by: Travis ]

Mate, you're as anxious as a hound before the hunt! The horizon will start to lighten here in about a week. Then we'll be able to see through the mist enough to go after the prey. A little dose of patience, perhaps with a spoonful of sugar? As someone else noted recently, I do appreciate your contributions to these boards. Between you and Alanmac, tho, there are days I wonder if you've got a little too much time on your hands. All the best! [ 10-19-2005, 11:07 AM: Message edited by: Travis ]

Thanks, Sean, for revealing a little reality. I suspect most of the guessing re new and/or improved functionality will go away once we have v12 up on our screens. I, for one, look forward to many of the enhancements as well the challenge to determine where the limits are. Like some (perhaps many?) others, I make a pretty decent living in no small part because of VW. While I'll argue and occasionally complain, I'm generally confident that I've got a solid partner in VWA+RW. Keep up the good work,

Ramon, As Mike points out, there are tools that you probably could use. Even then, I'd be sure to make my revision notes and/or redlines in the Viewport Annotations rather than on top of the viewport. If revisions turn out to be extensive, you may want to consider using a revisions Design layer that you stack immediately above the affected original layer(s). This would preserve your options to use WGR from a new file, it still separates the original drawing from the revisions, and it can still all be managed for output via Viewports. It seems the consensus is clear in encouraging you to steer away from edits directly on the sheet layer. Good luck,

Katie & dtg, This is a pretty commonly known issue. . .at least to those of us who frequent this board. It's directly related to the elevation benchmark tool. I can consistently reproduce this "exploding text size" every time I place a benchmark on an elevation VP and then move the VP at all. Please see: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/cgi/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=16;t=001476 http://techboard.nemetschek.net/cgi/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=16;t=001454 http://techboard.nemetschek.net/cgi/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=16;t=001428 http://techboard.nemetschek.net/cgi/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=004854 http://techboard.nemetschek.net/cgi/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=004865 In spite of my comment in the last thread, I have in fact had the problem recur. Consistently and predictably. I sincerely hope it is resolved in v12. (BTW, why is this on the Printing board?) Regards, [ 10-18-2005, 09:06 PM: Message edited by: Travis ]

So you're redlining on top of a Viewport? Directly on the Sheet layer? Interesting. I presumed you do your drawing in Design layers and then viewport them to Sheet layers for output. I do redlining either in the Design layer or (more likely) by annotating a Viewport. Thus the visibility control via the Viewport. The only suggestion I have, if I understand you correctly, would be to check your Class visibilities when you have the Sheet active. If you use a Saved View to access the Sheet, you might need to modify the class visibility settings in the Saved View dialog. Good luck,

The bearing point (not the eave) of your roof should be at Z=0 on the roof layer. (This is verified by looking at your roof in elevation, such as Front View.) As Ed points out, the wall layer delta-Z needs to be accurate as does the roof layer Z-height. (Both of these are set in the Layers dialog.) It sounds to me like you might have your roof set too high in its layer. Or that you've moved a layer link vertically to correct a Layer Z-height mistake. When you layer link your various design layers together into the 3D "check" layer, make sure that you DON'T unlock a link and move it up or down vertically. Rather, make any vertical adjustments by revising the Layer Z-height in the Layers dialog. This will force you to have the layers "programmed" at the right height so the Fit Walls to Roof command returns the proper results. Good luck, [ 10-15-2005, 07:19 PM: Message edited by: Travis ]

The necessary steps are simple: trace over the scanned image with the appropriate tool(s) using your wisdom to correct as needed. No computer program(mer) is as smart as you are when it comes to tracing!!