[top of floor elevation]

i want to place the floor elevation by giving the top of the floor rather than the bottom.  while designing, i should not always have to stop and calculate it in my head.

[pad and slope]

i am finding controling the slope of pads more complicated in 2016. i'm sure i am missing something. in the old days i could grab either end of the slope indicator arrow and drag it to the beginning or end points of the slope. in 2016 it seems to be fixed and moves with the pad only. there must be a way to control this. how?

thanks for any feedback.

ray

[massing model roof]

thanks for the feedback. i've seen the various help pages/videos. but it seems to make a difference whether i select a shape and convert it under the landscape menu, or draw it directly with the massing model tool. in any event, i've switched back to my old method of extrudes and symbols: faster and more flexible.

cheers,

ray

[massing model roof]

how can i change the default hip roof on the massing model to a gable roof?

i have looked far and wide (this forum, youtube, vectorworks help) but nothing is clear regarding on this topic. a good reference would be a big time saver.

cheers,

ray

[heliodon accuarcy]

hi. we have been using the heliodon as a design tool for years. we are now itching to use it to generate the shadows for our formal shadow studies, which need to be defendable against complaints (usually from project's neighbors).

does anyone know of any tests or documentation that show the accuracy of the heliodon?

cheers,

ray

[Stablity Issues w/ VW 2015 SP2]

thanks, jim, for the information. helps to know.

ray

[Stablity Issues w/ VW 2015 SP2]

but luckily we think the majority of these random crashes should be resolved in an upcoming SP.

hi, jim.

after experiencing several random crashes this morning--and other times as well--i came onto the forum looking for such a thread.

are you saying that this is common in 2015 sp2, and that i should just be patient? or should i start again sending all of the crash logs to tech support? problem with that is that it is time consuming and they often can't replicate the crashing.

how long will be before the next sp, and hopefully these fixes, be available?

cheers,

ray

[eye dropper color selector]

thanks for the update, jim.

hope they get it figured soon.

ray

[eye dropper color selector]

i know this has been discussed here before. but, i have to ask, is there any process being made toward fixing the eye dropper color selector? this is one of the most annoying bugs ever. any relief soon?

cheers,

ray

[Order of Sheets in Publish Dialog]

yes!!

ray

[2d and 3d plan workflow?]

hi, steve.

for what its worth, i most always keep a 2d layer and a 3d layer, similar to what benson is describing. though vw hybrid on objects can work in both realm, i find it easier to create and modify this way. but, i am not a purist by any means and my method gets a little mixed, as only i can make sense. but, this is personal and as benson says, you will eventually find what works for you.

by the way, i wish extrudes were hybrid 2d-3d objects. that would save a lot of extra steps. (i rely on the floor tool a lot.)

cheers,

ray

[Combine unified layers into single contiguous layer?]

jezza, sounds similar to what i just got through doing. i simply turned on all the layers, and with snapping on, created some quick extrudes and combined them into a solid addition, then turned off the floors. the floors remained in their own layers and the extrudes were made in one layer together, snapping to the floors. this took only a few minutes.

ray

[grade limit within grade limit]

hi, benson.

i sent this to tech support. word is that what i am trying to do--create limited, more detailed area within a larger more general area--is currently not possible with multiple grade limit modifiers. i remembered wrong.

however, similar requests have been made, and they find this reasonable. so, they are passing my request on to the engineers.

cheers,

ray

[grade limit within grade limit]

i thought that it was possible to have a grade limit within another grade limit--i think i have actually done it a few times. however, that doesn't seem to be working. am i remembering incorrectly? was it changed? is it a bug? or am i simply doing something wrong?

thanks for any input.

ray

[don't add duplicate layers to viewports]

please change the default so that duplicated layers are not automatically added to viewports, where parent layer is displayed. it is a lot easier to add the layers where they are wanted, than to turn them of where they aren't.

cheers,

ray

[Texture beds intersecting]

steve,

when you render the model, does it look correct? do the errors only show when you have the site model selected?

if yes to both, i would ignore the error indicators. i see these all the time. the new error indicator feature doesn't distinguish between errors that matter (overlapping pads) and errors that don't ) overlapping texture beds.

cheers,

ray

[Convert to Polylines]

+1 for benson's suggestion. need both!

[lost libraries]

you are right, mac. thanks.

now everything is downloaded and installed.

[lost libraries]

thanks, jim. that explains it.

where are the libraries? when i installed vw, the library installer showed up automatically. it has long since closed and disappeared from my screen. where do it find it now.

ray

[lost libraries]

after updating to yosemite, i did a clean install as suggested on this forum. after installation i was not able to download the included libraries. tried several times and the download simply didn't work. looking on the vw web site, i can't find access to those libraries. can someone tell me where to find them?

cheers,

ray

[loosing sketch styles in renderings]

at least i know i'm not alone.

i assume that problems being related is a good thing, as maybe one fix will do it.

if i discover anything useful, i'll post it here.

[loosing sketch styles in renderings]

thanks, jim, for checking on this.

it happens in all files, and has been for a while since at least 2014.

further investigation suggest that it isn't necessarily the viewport cache, as some recently opened files retain the sketch style in the image. but, seems to be more related--but not exclusively--to out of date viewports, even when there is no resulting change to the particular view. while the cached view would be fine for my purposes, i have to update viewports just to get the sketch style back.

if i discover any more patterns, i will let you know.

cheers,

ray

[loosing sketch styles in renderings]

i am using hidden line w/sketch foreground rendering over renderworks background rendering.

the images render as expected. however, the lines of the foreground hidden line revert to no-sketch after leaving the page or whatever...i can't figure what the patterns are; i can only assume that after a few clicks, the sketch style switch to no-sketch. very annoying because with this set-up everything has to be re-rendered over and over again.

has anyone else experienced this? is this a bug?

cheers,

ray

update: more details...when closing and opening vw, sketch is lost in the viewport cache. when lighting is changed, all viewports (now out of date) revert to no-sketch.

[clip cube 2015]

test in a new file suggest that it is limited to my file. sending to tech support.

[clip cube 2015]

i am finding it very difficult to place and orient the clip cube in 2015. as i recall, in 2014 the center point and rotation handles snapped to objects in the model (can't test it now because clip cube doesn't work anymore in 2014--os yosemite?) this snapping doesn't work in my 2015 model. (snapping is turned on.) what is you experience with the clip cube in 2015?

cheers,

ray