Mark Aceto

Hey @Wes Gardner , totally understand the thinking behind that, and it’s certainly great to have the option but the rule of thumb for me has been: only annotate on the SLVP when absolutely necessary. Without listing a bunch of small specific use cases, there are 2 main reasons: I want to edit one time (on the DL) and have those edits populate in all SLVP’s where I can control them with classes The last thing I want to do is dimension 10 SLVPs, revise the DL with client feedback, and then re-dimension 10 SLVPs (especially if a VP corrupts) I realize that dims and DT’s associate to objects but often times I’m adding a new object or… Entering the annotation mode is slow, and working on SL’s in general is slow That said, I’ll definitely give this new method a shot with various plots and plans to see if this improves my workflow but the idea of switching back and forth between DL and SLVP annotation modes while working with Braceworks doesn’t sound very efficient. Maybe I’ll just edit / enter the Braceworks DL through the SLVP? Thanks for the tips on the Space Tool. However, there are still cases where I need to use the ST because of the DT's limitations with displaying units, markers, and ability to calculate functions (sometimes literally displaying the function operators vs actually calculating).

First I’m hearing of Data Tags set up to work best on Sheet Layers but that certainly explains their page-based placement. Why are they not set up to work on Design Layers like myriad other tags and annotations from the space tool to gird lines / dimensions to label legends...

Imported their latest rev as both a mesh and 3D poly’s. Files look identical pixel for pixel but the 3D poly’s file doubled the size (and took forever to import), so I’m sticking with mesh as the preferred import option for now.

Just found this thread. I was surprised to discover that my client’s copy of Fundamentals does not include the Nav Palette. Upgrading doesn’t sound like an option for them right now, and the crippled features (mainly navigating the app) is not a real selling point for them. Is there really no workaround other than using those drop down menus?

I haven’t fully tested this yet:

@Tim Norman-Prahm I've never seen that but I alway export (from a SLVP) vs save. Does that happen when you export as well?

@Art V I imported that one as a mesh. I’ll try 3D poly’s next time. Let me know you recommend anything going straight into VW. I’ve had a few trial versions of Rhino and Cinema over the years that I mainly used for importing/exporting. I may rent Cinema for this project over the next few months…

Thanks, everyone! Sounds like my original plan was a great example of “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” Nevertheless, as I get to know their process, and we continue to collaborate, this thread will be a fantastic knowledge base for streamlining and troubleshooting our workflow. 🤘🏼

Guess that would explain this mess mesh. Also, thanks for sharing the link!

@MattG AFAIK data tags are only page-based, so my workflow is to select all similar objects, place the tag at center or insertion (which populates all of them at once), and then I shift them all down and over together. Inevitably, a handful of the tags will be piled on top of each other so then I’ll start nudging individual tags out of each other’s way. Now that I’ve adapted to that workflow, it’s not too bad. I still don’t understand why they’re page-based but the win for me is being able to format all of my tags in the same style across departments, spaces, objects, plugins… for more consistency / readability. As for the X,Y coordinate arrows… I typically draw in 1/8th scale (1:96) so they’re always a mess. My workaround is to just add X and Y to the data tag. On that note, you’ll want to tweak your units to avoid 3 decimal places. That also needs to be refined in a future update because the “round coordinates” checkbox is sorely missed.

I’m working remotely with a client that designs mostly in Cinema but also dabbles in VW. My role is drawing the venue model and technical production. They’re mostly designing the scenic. My hope is that I can set up Project Sharing, so they’ll always have a base model from me. The icing on the cake is if they can Send (their working file) to Cinema 4D… Before I propose that workflow to them, I want to consult The Oracle to see if anyone has experience testing it. Please advise on best practices and anything to watch out for… Thank you!

Every few years, I relearn the same lesson that VW can’t import native Cinema files (only textures). Is there a reason that this will never happen, or is this something that’s being worked on for future compatibility? In the meantime, I’ve asked my client to export 3DS files. Some light research seems to indicate that FBX might be missing some level of detail including textures and surfaces.

@JuanP I finally updated to Catalina over the holiday, and this issue is finally fixed! Seems like the issue was on the Mac side not the VW side. So happy to see Exit Group again!

@AnotherLD your classing looks good. Is the Clip Cube activated? What symbol is it? That bounding box looks like a group which is a symbol option (usually unchecked by default):

Is there a way that I can enter a ROUND function in the Data Tag formula?