Alan H

Thanks Chris, Appreciate the feedback. Yeah that seems a lot of changes at once. I am just tired of all the hurdles we seem to come up against with a 3D workflow in VW. Guess I need to trial some other software in my own time to compare.

Since workgroup referencing still hasn't been replaced in 2013..... Can you urgently fix it !!!! Still having disappearing walls using the layer import reference setting, this software is so buggy it is unbelievable! Edit: this is class related, something happened from the change from design layer to layer import which switched off some classes.

Chris, Just wondering how the transition is going, and is the grass greener? Have you started modelling up any reasonable sized schemes yet? I have a few genuine questions if you have time to answer. How do you find the modelling process compared to VW? How is Revits stability and buggyness in comparison to VW? Is it quick/easy to get the 2D construction drawing information from the model? (things like room elevations and 3D views as well as sections elevations etc.)

Indeed! whatever it takes! One model should mean all drawings should be created quickly from that model! I am not even looking for fancy presentation drawings with shadows lights etc. At the moment all I am trying to achieve is some black and white hidden line drawings, but the process is terribly slow.

I am doing some Internal room elevations at the moment for a large scheme. Even though I have a cropped viewport of where i want to take elevations through I think VW tries to render the whole model. Unfortunately this process takes a long time, i have even had to force quit VW. I want to be able to segregate part of the model so that when i do a section viewport to get a room elevation I don't have to wait for ages. Granted I am a bit low on RAM but this would speed things up a lot. Getting a camera view takes even longer!

This seems to happen with all my files, i'll submit one as a bug when i get time. I also find that i need to sometimes update viewports after i go into an annotation layer as well, again i don't see why this action should require updating viewports either.

Just wondering what the logic behind this is, I don't make any changes to the model but after a PDF batch I have to update viewports?

When creating a new wall style or amending an existing wall style, it would be convenient to be able to duplicate a component. For example an internal wall may have plaster on both sides and rather than fill all the information twice I would like to just do an exact duplicate of that component. This would be a great time saver.

Well done everyone for compiling that list! There seems to be a lot of effort that has gone into putting that together. I'm looking forward (even excited!) for next year and see these items being scored off the list

+1 yes please!!!

After modelling a project containing 3 buildings this way I would recommend that you avoid it! I don't think that this is a very good work flow, for the following reasons: 1). It is very time consuming to produce, hatches have to be manually extracted from surfaces, all parts need to be combined to show correctly over different levels/storeys, then they need to be given classes/hatch etc.. 2). All hatch faces have to be manually aligned so that the elevations show the correct brick coursing/cladding positions. 3). One of the biggest problems is that hatches are static and doesn't adjust with the model, so when the model changes, which it has several times, then the elevations need to be re-hatched. 4). Updating viewports can also take quite a while. 5). I had to chop the model up where i needed to take sections through my building to show some of the elevations in VW 2012 (This was too much of a workaround in the end). However section viewports in VW2013 would make this al lot easier. 6). The biggest problems where bugs, usually only noticeable when i needed to issue information. (some minor but there where quite a few major issues in the software which caused me to miss deadlines). I've had stability issues where the drawing would be very unpredictable and not show hatches correctly, geometries would show through from the other side of the model making the drawings un-issuable or hatches would not show at all. I've also had issues where SLVP's showed on screen perfectly but where not being able to be exported to PDF's, which was extremely stressful. If you are determined to give it a try i would hold off till they solve some of the issues, these should hopefully be dealt with when VW2013 SP2 comes out. On the plus side, when produced (AND WORK!) the hatches do create clear sharp images which is good for construction documents. But after all these bad experiences I can't see myself EVER using this workflow for any future projects. A few of my colleagues are using renderworks to show materials, which although not ideal, seems to be a much better way to show materials, at least it will adjust with the model. There needs to be a much simpler process that adjusts with changes in the model. I.e Vector based 3D hatches, as a top priority for VW to develop, and definitely released for 2014. All the competitors have had this for years now!

I had a bit of spare time so I was just trying to figure out how the surface array tool works. Seems very limited in what you can do with it. Vincent - how did you get the repeated surface to offset the brick. i still cant work this out? I was just experimenting to see if i could get a brick stretcher coursing pattern.

Maybe that doesn't help at all. +1 To chamfer a small section from a corner of door? This would also be very useful for doors in roof spaces.

You can. Change the top shape to sloped and give the rise a + or - depending on which way you wish it to fall.

I don't like others deciding how i work either..... but at the same time i want a hassle free guaranteed workflow that just works. Without having all these stresses and aggravations that all the VW bugs and workarounds bring with it. A workflow that works means more time designing better building, rather than wasting hours/weeks sometimes months (my latest problem!) trying to get the information needed extracted out of VW in a suitable format and actually on time!

Thanks everyone for posting possible solutions. I thought I would draw the model in the OS map position, as this was a small project. The reason the walls didn't connect was because I broke one of the golden roles. I was drawing miles away from the VW origin point. (thanks VSS team for sorting this). When I moved the model close to the origin point, the walls and roofs connected without any problems. Its better to save the correct co-ordinates for a site model plan and reference buildings into it!

Thanks I had tried that as well, but still no luck, unfortunately. I'll maybe have to upload it to VSS and see if they can solve it. I was hoping to get to try out some of VW2013 features with this project.

Thanks Vincent, The wall has several components and all are set to follow wall peaks.

Thanks Peter, I have the roof overlapping by a few inches, I'm using stories, so wall is in floor layer, roof is in roof layer (Using roof faces) the wall extends to the peak but does't follow the roof fall. I cant think that I am doing anything different from 2012. Which is baffling me.

Has anyone tried yet to fit walls to roof objects, and got it to work?

I seem to be having trouble with getting the walls to fit to the roof geometry. See attached image I don't know if this is a bug or because i have an incorrect setting.

Is anybody having trouble fitting walls to the roof objects in VW2013?

I think a good starting point is Chris D's list! http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=174581#Post174581 Obviously this can be expanded on to be more specific, but I think he outlines very well the major shortfalls that VW needs to resolve.

1+ that would be a good time saver

Looks like this was a problem with upgrading to 2012-SP5. Unfortunately the hatches didn't show correctly when taking the file into VW2013....another reason why not to use planar objects to put hatches onto drawings! so going to have to revert back to SP4 VSS where looking into this and going to contact nemetschek about the problems. Just thought i would share to avoid others having these problems.