Jonathan Pickup

I was looking at a program called Concepts Unlimited. This program has the ability to choose what happens when you scroll the mouse wheel. I think that when he clicked the wheel button the he got access to the pan function. I would be in favour of giving users the ability to control these functions. I don't think there is any wrong, but it would be better if we could make changes to suit the way we wanted to work.

just a thought, maybe you need to read the users guide, or maybe a more visual manual would help to explain this...

Petri has a good point. You could think of each layer in VW as being like a separate file in Microstation. Then you could think of each class as being like a level in Microstation. When you set up drawings each sheet layer is like a separate file in Microstation, and instead of reference files, you use viewports to make drawings. The viewports can be thought of as cliped reference files....

what about using the issue manager. You can use a standard VW title block, or you can make your own title block and link the text on a custom title block to the Drawing Border record format. This is covered in the VW Architect manual and i also cover it in my Architect tutorial.

do you have an exisitng site model and a proposed site model?

I saw this once on one of my clients files. It turned out that he had two walls. The window was in the wall to the front, but when he went to render the wall, the wall without the window obscured the window. Drag a marquee around the wall and see on the object info palette how many walls you have.

i have noticed that photoshop zooming and panning is identical to VW zooming and panning, it requires two hands. I wonder, if you change the scoll wheel to zoon in and out, how do you scroll up and down, or left and right? surely then you would need a modifier key to make it change. Would that be called "inefficient"?

tom, when you save a file into the standards folder it doen't have to be a template file (.sta). You can save a regular file into the standards folder. That way you can update your standards when ever you want and keep it up to date.

hong, sorry about that it is part of the localised Australia/NZ version. Maybe you sould email Julian Carr direct.. sales@ozcad.com.au

William, i notice that you are at Wentworth. I have some information for you about this if you want to email me direct... jon@archoncad.co.nz For other peole... Isn't this the sort of thing that the user groups should cover. Our user group covered this topic last month and we had some great notes and exercises that went with it...

Robert, would it be useful to have a check box on the Object Info palette for "Show Viewport Crop Object" Then we could turn it on and off without the hassle of entering the viewport. While we are on about viewports... can you update the eyedroper tool to pick up view port attribures. And we need the ability to edit several viewports at the same time. if you select two viewports the the object info palette will not let you edit the rendering, classes , or anything.. So you have to edit each viewport independantly.

I was playing with the Crete Objects From Polyline and noticed that you can create ceiling grids from a polyline. It may not suit you in this case, but have you tried it?

I agree with Robert, give the viewports a try. I would not like to be able to break the link to the design layer, the whole point of viewports is that they are linked. If you want to make a similar detail, but altered, then - work in the design layer - copy the area of the detail - use the clip tool to remove bits that you don't want - edit the detail - create a vewport from the new detail

Julian Carr (http://www.ozcad.com.au/) has several enhancements for Architect. One of them is a tool that will offset walls as you asked for. Another in the same line is a tool that will change the wall thickness while keeping one side in the right place... very useful...

In VW Architect there is a file 00_Arch_Sheets. is there a reason that this is not included in a basic Landmark install?

this may not be what you were talkig about but have you tied to use gradients as colours. I noticed that you can change the plan to b/w only and gradiens still show their colours

If you want to make a custom title block that you can edit on the object info pane, then you have to: 1. create title block symbol. 2. create a reccord format to hold the edited infomation. 3. Link the record format to the title block symbol (called "Link Text to Record..."). 4. Then you can edit the symbol on the data pane of the Object Info Palette. I sugggest that if you do this, make the symobl Issue Manager friendly by using the corrct record format. This is covered in my Architect Tutorial ...

I agree with Phil, we need to get live sectioning that we can use like a viewport.

if you want to know how to save a corrupt file using the WGR method to to this website and download the free PDF file: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/ look under tips and tricks Jonathan

you can email me direct as well: jon@archoncad.co.nz

also try www.vectorworks.co.uk

for creating advanced animations check out animation works from julian Carr. I'm making an animation at the moment where the roofof the building lifts off to reveal the inside, the old walls fade out, the new walls fade in and a car drives into the site.

if you need a tutorial that shows you how to make a house in 3d, put the roofs on, install windows, get elevations from 3D model etc, then I have writen an extensive beginners manual for VW10. http://www.archoncad.co.nz click on the link for manuals

I was a bit surprised that no-one picked up on my comments that the 2D selection tool in the viewer allows you to move and reshape objects. Should a viewer allow you to move information. The layer dialog box allows you to delete layers. Should this be allowed as well?

I was surprised by a client the other day that started to stretch walls using the Viewer. Then we opened the layer dialog, and deleted all the layers. Now I know that we can't save the file, but surely stretching walls and stuff shouldn't be allowed in a viewer?