Sam Lee

Im trying to draw a shape like the icon for the polyline tool but im having trouble drawing it with one line. Each time i go to draw a straight line and the move on to the next one it trys to curve the point where to two lines join, how can i get it to let me make a join thats not curved like the one circled in green in the image below ? Just to confirm i know i could draw this polyline icon shape as several smaller shapes and combine them, but its actually the principal of mixed curved and straight lines with non curved joins that im after rather than that particular shape.

Ive got a PDF 'binder' file with 6 drawings in it, the file itself isnt very large about 500kb, but becuase of the complexity of the lines it and panns / zooms very slowly, even on a machine with 16gb ram and a 1gb gpu. By default ive always used the default 'preview' application on mac to view pdfs, but is there pdf viewer that can better handle complex files ?

@Gytis - thanks i ran the purge command it saved about 5% so not a great deal, but it all helps. I also checked the VP cache it was already off. Im going to look at that video now. -- Do you know if there is a way to see which objects are taking up the most space (file size) ?

We've been working on a file for the past couple of weeks thats begun to get quite large - 125mb. Theres not that much going on in the file, just a site plan, external elevations, and 10 floorplans. Apart from the obvious - strip out external elevations and site plans and re link them as reference files. Are there some 'quick wins' i should be looking for that can help reduce the file size ? Also on a bit of a side note why when i get a 2mb .dwg file and export it into vectorworks does it come out as a 10mb vwx file ?

Ive imported a dwg into a blank vwx file when i try to draw a callout box in the Design Layer i get the following error, any ideas how i can rectify this ?

@GatoWorks - Thanks those look useful, my only concern with them is that if we needed to propose minor amendments to the GAs, this would be the best workflow, as far as i can tell this will reference the other drawing but not allow you to directly work on it, correct ? I was thinking about just copying out all our classes with the fit marks and just matching up the fit marks on the new drawing, is that a normal approach ?

If your designing a furniture scheme to fit with existing GAs but they are updated by a third party as they refine them, is there a best practice / workflow to integrate your existing work with their newly released drawings ?

Hi Jim, When you say the 'Wall PIO' do you mean the wall tool in the Tool sets ? Its 2d drafting but was drawn in the 'Front' current view. - the problem with that is that half the drawing is in 'Top/plan' and half in 'front' so that when we try to view all the drawings together on the design layer we cant as they are in different current views. I could just change it on the viewport, which would work for exporting individual drawings as pdfs or to print, but again the issue is that i cant see and make decisions on all my drawings in the design layer as they are in different current views.

Thanks Jim, I was really looking to get the speed improvements of the publish workflow with out the extra folders and files, is there a way of doing that ?

We have a drawing we did the other day which was half drawn in 'Top/Plan' and half drawn in 'Front', this was done by mistake, is there a simple way we can take the drawing from 'Front' and move it to 'Top/Plan' ?

Im using the new File > Publish feature of 2014, but when i do it i get a folder like this - PDF - Drawing name - The actual pdfs as well as a .txt file called publish logs. Is there a way i can just export the actual The actual pdfs without all these extra folders and files ? (Just a bit of background, we always tick the box "export pdfs as separate files", not sure if that matters but i though id point it out.)

Any update on this ?

Any update on this ?

Normally our documents are named something like JA001 - [Dining Room Layout].pdf This is made up from the drawing number then the sheet name and is made into a pdf by using file > publish. Is there a way to also get the revision number into the pdf title when using the publish command, so it would be something like this below ? JA001 - [Dining Room Layout] - 1.1.pdf

Ive just installed a trial of vwx Designer on my machine (coming from working in fundamentals) one of the things ive seen when ive used Designer in the past is the 'Furn / Fixtures' tool set. But this time around its not there, is there some additional content i need to download / enable ? Please see attached screen shot to see which part i mean.

Is there a way to expand on the configurable objects in the 'Tool Sets' panel. For instance we really like the way the 'Table and Chairs' object works below and the way you can config the object, in the object properties panel. Is there something like this for Beds, Sofas, Armchairs, Baths, Sinks, Toilets, Kitchen Units. Is there an add on / plugin, that we can get to add this functionality ?

@Kevin Thanks all the input, Yes its completely an architectural / interiors workflow, the table was just what i had to hand at the time.

Thanks Kevin, Ive begun to check those out, I had a couple of questions When you say you dont use a viewport crop is that because you have each drawing separated onto different design layers ? When ive tried not using a crop i get everything in the design layer in the viewport, how else could you separate the items you want in the viewport from the ones you dont want ? When you say you dont use 'create viewport' do you mean that you have an empty viewport in your sheet layer template and then you edit the crop on that default viewport to select what you want ?

Ive attached a video of my current workflow to go from my drawing in the design layer to a viewport in the sheet layer to a pdf. At the moment at top speed i can do this in about 1.30 mins, but i feel its probaly a bit cluncky and im not using some of the more advanced features in vwx, is there somthing i can change in this to speed my process up ? [video:youtube] Here is a list of the steps i currently take, which are in the video above. Make drawing in design layer Duplicate already existing 'template' sheet layer and rename Return to design layer Create shape to become viewport crop and set class to 'viewport' Select crop object and go to view > create viewport Select scale and sheet layer and click OK When viewport is pasted in sheet layer cut it, move to bounding page / title block and paste it Tweak scale to suite Change text box in Title block to title drawing Go to File > publish Select sheet and click ok Select where to save file on my local machine. DONE

Im trialing VWX Designer 2014, which i downloaded from the main vectorworks website. (although we are trialing designer if we did change it would be to architect.) One of the things im keen to try are the subscription libraries, we currently have a VSS subscription (fundamentals), so i logged into my account to see what libraries are available. I chose to try the 'Duravit Sanitry 2014' library. But when i try and install it i get this error and when the file opens its blank and i get this across the top of the page. Any idea how to get around this, so i can use these libaries in the trial ? Just to be clear this is when using the trial version of Designer confirmed below.

Coming from a web dev background im used to outsourcing all sorts of projects on sites like freelancer.com freelancer.com and odesk.com odesk.com is there a marketplace like this for outscoring vector works scripts. Im aware these (vectorworks scripts) are written is Pascal, so i could probably find someone on one of those above sites, but i was wandering if there was a specialized marketplace for vectorworks outsourcing of script development.

Thanks Rick, so once the viewport is created you cant go into the DL select the box that is used as the viewport crop and move that too, is that correct ?

I have a vwx 2013 fundamentals license running installed on to my desktop and also my laptop for when im out and about, ive recently purchased a new laptop which ive had to put my serial number onto. I believe you can only have each serial number installed on 2 machines (only running one at once), how can i deactivate the serial off my old laptop ?

Is there a way in Vectorworks to have custom text variables - a bit like symbols but for text.. I know i could make a text box a symbol, but im talking about making a text string the variable so that you could paste that text variable into any number of differently shaped text boxs.

Ive got some text in a document i need to run find / replace onto change, the only problem is that i dont need to change all instances of it only the instances of it that are in a certain class.. Is there a way you can do a hybrid custom selection with a find / replace text ? Something like : Find text "Lorem" replace with "Ipsum" were class is "Lighting text"