Boh

This is an interesting idea and one I haven't tried out myself. I'm sure there are others out there that work in this or a similar way who could provide some advice. I am wondering though if the plot files would be able to "read" data attached to objects in the design files? Can data tags in a plot file viewport annotation attach to an object in the design file? Can worksheets in the plot file report on items in the design file? Would referenced design layer viewports be used or old style layer referencing. If old style design layer referencing needs to be used to read data then does it save much in file size? What are the advantages with this if there are multiple people working on the project? I guess one person can be working in the plot file and others in the design file(s).

There is an OzCad video that explains how to link spaces to WinDoor objects. And another showing how to list doors and windows in the same schedule. They might be helpful. They are available from the OzCad website

So just did a test using the revised script to rename a single selected viewport on a file with ~40 viewports including dlvps and it took about 2 seconds, ...then a test on a file with ~200 viewports including referenced viewports and it took just on 1 minute...

I’ve come across this before and the short answer is, as suspected, you would need seperate referenced dlvps for each condition. My workaround is to have a dedicated dl for each dlvp. You can then just duplicate the dl and adjust visibilities as required.

So now you know just enough to be lethal! 🙂 I use these scripts all the time. It’s crazy vw doesn’t have an in built vp naming tool. I did notice the delay in larger files so will try the tweak you mentioned earlier. Thanks

Sorry I didn't get this bit! How did you call up this record in a worksheet? I'm wondering if something changed between v2019 and v2021 as I've made data tags for title block sheet data records before but don't remember having this problem finding the record.

Hey @Nikolay Zhelyazkov The other day I was trying to make a data tag that referenced sheet data but couldn’t find the records in the edit data tag dynamic text dialogue. Can you direct me? Thks

Hey Melanie. Pm me the files. Will try tmrw.

So my take out from this thread is that I've just realized how little I use the attributes palette as I only use it to occasionally tweak the attributes of already drawn objects which had all their attributes determined by class at creation. So going forward I think I won't even display it in my workspace and just use a shortcut keys to call it up when needed. More valuable screen real estate for the OIP (which will hopefully one day display the object attributes as per @lineweight's suggestion). 🙂

Oftentimes vw users want to deploy the same methods they used in other software. That way of working was probably developed because it suited the way the other software worked -but may not suit vw. The challenge for you, being a new user, may be to figure out the best way for you to convey this sort of info in vw. I also do multi unit/floor developments with a lot of repetition of doors. As you do, I have symbols for the unit types. For the doors however I simply give all doors which are identical the same number. No floor or room info needs to be in the label as this is evident from the drawing title and unit label. In this way of working, with lots of repetition the schedule worksheet only needs to identify the different types of doors and how many of each type there are. So a hypothetical six storey hotel development that might have 12 units per floor with 4 unit types and say 3 doors per unit. I.e. 216 individual doors would only have 12 or less different types of doors that need scheduling. The inclusion of a “count” column in the schedule worksheet is all that’s needed to show the number of each door type. This is the way I figured out how to schedule doors in mult unit developments. Others will have figured out other, probably better ways that work for them.

The room numbering could be made of two seperate text blocks. I.e. the prefix, linked to a user field space record, and the number, which should then auto increment. Put them next to each other in the label with the prefix right justified and the number left justified.

I guess, as is often times with vectorworks, there is always more than one way to skin a cat. For my work flow using class attributes extensively and the "use at creation" setting activated allows me to ignore the attributes palette for about 80-90% of my work. In fact the default attribute palette settings don't matter at all to me. Having both "use at creation" and "by class" attributes palette defaults I think this is just a way of VW accommodating different workflows.

Maybe there is a custom tool script you are using that changes the attributes palette settings? I too notice that my default attributes palette settings seem to change for some unknown reason but it’s not actually a prob for me as I have “use at creation” on for almost all classes incl the none class. I always keep the none class as my active class and class objects after they are created. As they have class attributes when they are created, when the are reclassified they take on the new classes attributes.

So it sounds like you all want your attribute palette to be set to use class attributes by default but you don’t want to use them “at creation” for the none class. can someone explain why not have “use at creation” set?

I don't see any difference in the order listed in the Title Block Manager and in the worksheet. Am I missing something? If you want them in number order I suggest you do that in the navigation palette.

Yes when you export a resource it only shows as a resource in the file, it's not actually placed on a DL. Our office has a few files we use as library files for resources which have been "favorited" on everyone's version of vw. It is simple and works really well. I've found that staff use the library favorites a lot as it is fairly comprehensive for our needs. It took a bit of work to set it up with a library RM folder structure and naming standard for resources that is consistent across all the library files, which then also ties into our template files etc. However once up and running there's not too much maintenance involved. I have noticed that having too many files "favorited" can slow the RM down when switching between files or between types of resources so we have kept the number of favorites down to 4. We also have a workgroup folder set up however, for an office of just 6 we could get by just using the favorites library files.

You should be able to use classes and/or data visualisation to do this.

First check the graphic attributes of the class the worksheet is being placed in. The worksheet is likely being placed in the active class.

My old boss / mentor used to say "the more stuff on a drawing, the more it will cost". He also had the theory that drawings done on A1 sheets would always end up costing more than drawings on A3 sheets...

A lot of very good advice in this thread. I would just add that it is a good idea to avoid repetition wherever possible. The use of keynotes and smart markers to reference between drawings and details is important. Repeating notes or details creates unnecessary clutter, making the drawings harder to read, but more importantly it makes the drawings a lot harder to keep up to date if there are any changes, (which there inevitably are). Using symbols (as in vw symbols) is also a good way of keeping drawings consistent as well as keep file sizes down.

I would hope that the improved native window and door tools would actually incorporate the best bits of the Windoor tools that are currently lacking. That’s what seemed to have happened with the title block border tool improvements from a while back which seems to have used a lot of the features of the now redundant OzCad VAA titleblock.

I’ve recently started using worksheets as keynote legends and it works really well. Keynote callouts are still used but they all go to a single legend. The actual keynote legend is not used except to organise the number order of the notes. The legend on the sheets is a database worksheet which lists all the keynotes on that sheet. Each sheet has its own keynote legend worksheet. I’m on my third project with this technique and so far it’s going really well. All keynote with the same note have the same number. You can copy and paste keynotes from one sheet to another and the legend will pick up the change.

@Pat StanfordFrom your test the "Use embedded design layer viewport settings for:" works for class overrides for referenced vps. I don't think it can work for class visibilties (as the referenced file could have a different class structure). I recently had some issues with this setting for sections through DLVP's (non-referenced) where the visibilities option didn't work for DLVP objects cut by the section line. It has been submitted as a bug.

I’’m not sure what best practices is but it is a bit like when you ungroup a PDF to get the embedded vector line drawing which you want to use but there’s loads of lines and also very slightly not to scale. . In that scenario, if I want accuracy and there is not too much I want use then I will simply trace it. To get it accurate I will trace on another deign layer with layer settings to “show/ grey” and set my grid snap to the precision level I want. Its actually quite quick.

You shouldn't have to group the vp prior to copy anymore (as of vw2021). I often copy vps from one file to another as I do a lot of my detailing in the annotation space. If I am working on a project that has similar details as another it's handy to simply copy and past the vp and carry all the annotations through with it. Having the same layer and class standards in both files helps.