MHBrown
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Posts posted by MHBrown
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I forgot to mention, the scale of the viewport doesn't matter. It's 1 1/2" =1'0", but that is not the issue. I've done hundreds of viewports at that scale.
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No. They are solid lines. I can do whatever I want to the line render options and it does not change anything. The only place is works is in the modeling window when selecting Render/Dashed Hidden Line. Nothing else creates dashed lines.
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I have a model in VW2013. It renders as a dashed hidden line just fine in the 3D modeling window, but when I create a view port and select dashed hidden line in the Object Info box it fails. It creates gray lines, but they are not dashed. The same is true with the Convert to Lines command. If I choose to convert as a Dashed Hidden Line it fails. The lines that should be dashed are grey, but solid. I tried it on a brand new document and a simple rectangular solid and the same thing happened. I've been having a ton of problems with VW lately. Any ideas about this one? I have not changed anything in any prefs file anywhere at any time regarding dashed lines. Besides, even if I did the model wouldn't work correctly.
MH
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Thanks, Alan, but that is way too many steps. First, I generally set my so-called working plane by simply selecting the view I want using the key pad. Secondly, looking at a drawing in wireframe in isometric gives too many points to snap to. (What's so special about the iso views, anyway?) By looking at the object in elevation I can minimize the snap points (helping remove human error) and make sure I'm snapping in the correct place in the 2D space I'm working in. It is then a simple matter to slide that new piece into place after extruding it. Vectorworks doesn't snap very well in any other rendering modes
plus all other rendering modes are slow to re-render. Lastly, it is hard to precisely place a rectangle in 3D space when you are really only concerned with using two of the dimensions. The 3rd dimension makes it less precise, more difficult and is not necessary. I do all my VW work in 3D, but it is much easier to keep everything aligned if I only work in two dimensions at a time. Too many VW tools work less well in 3D and ultimately it slows me down. Certainly this is not the same for everyone. This is just how I like to work and it's unfortunate that this tool is no longer useful to me. All the other tools seem to work just fine as before. It's just the rotated rectangle that is balking. Thanks for your tip, however. I'll give it a try sometime when I'm not up against a deadline. Perhaps I can get it to work as you say and find it actually is better!
MH
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Yes, Alan, that is what I'm trying to do, but I'm doing it in the right elevation view (command-6, I think on my keypad). I'm not doing it in an isometric view. I prefer to draw 2D shapes in a 2D view. It doesn't work for me, however.
MH
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Here is the symbol that is not letting me draw a rotated rectangle from within its editing window when in side elevation view.
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OK. When I do cut a section viewport in the Top Plan view it automatically puts in a title block with the generic "Drawing Title." When I go to the Object Info and change it nothing happens. I hit Update. Nothing happens. The title stays the same. Is there a way to simply delete this auto title block (which I really don't want anyway). I'm not sure this is how it is supposed to work.
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Sorry, Jim, my mistake. I see now that's not an email address. How do I send it to you? By the way, I'm not a "greenhorn." I've been using MiniCAD/VW since 1995. I guess I'm just new to this forum!
MH
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Thanks, Jim, but it's very unlikely to be the symbol. It's most likely user error because I'm unfamiliar with the changes in VW2013 since moving from VW11 a couple of years ago. I'll send it along regardless since one never knows. I assume I send it to the kbase email address in your signature? There is nothing that allows attaching a file on this forum as far as I can tell. I'll put it to your attention.
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...also just noticed that VW2013 doesn't allow creating section viewports from any viewport—only Plan View oriented viewports. Not real useful. Trying to create a section viewport from an elevation viewport, for example, leaves a blank drawing with a title block (which I don't want or need. I do my own title blocks). Is this the way it is supposed to work? If so I'll stop trying.
Thanks,
MH
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I forgot to mention that all the other 2D shape tools work fine: circle, rectangle, arc, etc., which is why I believe it is a bug in the software.
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Hmmm...the pulldown menu is set at Screen Plane, but when go to edit 3D (it's a symbol) and double-click to get down to the group I want to edit, then hit "6" to have a right side elevation view, it changes to "Screen Aligned." The rotated rectangle does not have different click modes (like an arc or circle) in VW2013. It only works one way. Anyway, it still does not work. I cannot draw a rotated rectangle in this view, in a symbol, with multiple groups, but thanks for trying. I think it is just a bug that resulted from complicating the view plane selection in the last couple of VW versions.
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In VW2013 on a Mac
I have a 3D symbol that is a table top at an angle, like a drafting board. I go into "symbol edit 3D." I look at it from the right side (hit numeral "6"). I need to draw a rectangle that is tilted, so I select the rotated rectangle tool. In previous VW versions, I would be able to snap to the corners of the extruded table top and pull down the angled rectangle to match the side of the table. Done. In VW2013 this is not possible. I can see the side of the table top, but the tool fails to work. I've tried all the various "Plane" modes (none of which are useful to me. I only ever want to draw as if the screen were a drafting board.) What am I doing wrong? Is this a bug? Is it no longer possible to draw a 2D shape in a 3D view? Any help is greatly appreciated...especially if you can tell me how to disarm all this Plane business back to VW12 or 11 functionality. That would be great!
MHB
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Thanks, to everyone's help. Jim W., it's very possible that I'm thinking of VW11 and not 2012. Regardless, it used to work the way I explained. Although in my 20 years of using MiniCAD/VectorWorks I've never once needed to edit a symbol in anything other than the orientation in which it was created, I'm certainly open to the idea that others need this flexibility. I'm curious if anyone has a quick case where this is helpful. I might find I could actually use it, too. Never too old to learn new tricks!
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This is not so much a wish as a demand. I like VW very much, but the way the edit symbol command has been altered is inexcusable. In versions before VW13, if you selected a symbol in a drawing and selected "Edit Symbol" you got a projection of the symbol as originally drawn. This is always in some orthographic view that allows you to easily switch between front, side and plan views. The way the symbol is created is always the way it is most easily edited. In VW13 this has changed. Now when you hit "Edit Symbol" it gives you the view as placed in the drawing. Often this is at some odd angle. VW recognizes this blunder by giving the embarrassingly ham-handed ability to straighten it up by hitting Top Plan. Fine, but when you go to any other projection it gives you projections as if you were still in the drawing. The worst thing about this unconscionable bug is that VW knows it is wrong (proven by the afore mentioned invoking of the Plan View) but decided it wasn't worth the trouble to finish the drill. Sure, I can go to the Resource Palette, scroll down, find the symbol, go to the pull down menu, select edit, and then edit as before. That is absurd. The real crime here is that it was better before. This is a case of where the newer version is less than the older one. Is that what Nemtschek wants? Fix it.
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To add...every time I try to add a "sketch" to either the foreground or background it creates the sketch look, but it changes the rendering to wireframe. This is true even if I have selected Hidden Line in either foreground or background, as soon as I select "sketch" it changes the rendering to a "sketched" wireframe. Very frustrating and WAY more complicated than it needs to be. I need two buttons: Rendering and Sketch mode. This new system makes no sense (because there is no "foreground" or "background" in my drawing) and makes me long for the old Doodle days.
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I'm been using VW2013 for almost two years and I just can't figure out what the "background" and "foreground" render is for in the Object Palette. I don't have anything in my model that fits that description as far as VW is concerned. I also would like to add a "sketch" look to the hidden line renderings, but that in buried in the menus of each Xground rather than a separate button as it should be. Can anyone help me out? Thanks.
MHBrown
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Why on Earth do they insist on changing the names of tools for absolutely no reason. This is inexcusable! I had to hunt for it myself and never found it. Now let's see if it actually works. Thanks for the helpful tip...and translation.
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I stand corrected. It is checked already and it is still not rendering.
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Great! Thanks. I figured I must have been missing something somewhere. That language is a little obtuse, however.
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Well, it sort of works and certainly I may be missing something. In VW13 when I create a section/elevation viewport I can't use the Annotation edit because I can't render inside the Annotation window. All the render selections are grayed out. I have my elevation set to Hidden Line render, but when I select Viewport Annotation it reverts to Wireframe. This presents me with a useless tangle of lines, the overlapping objects of the entire building. What Einstein at Nemetschek missed this one? I mean really, viewports have been around for over seven years now and I can't believe I'm the only person who had had this problem. On the other hand, that also points to me doing something wrong or missing a setting somewhere. In any case, "conserve viewport rendering" should be the default, anyway. Can anyone help? Don't suggest shallowing up my "look" distance. There is too much in the walls for that. I want the darn thing to stay rendered. Thanks for any help.
Mike
OS10.8.x
VW2013
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Hmmm...regarding dimension styles, maybe I've made the wrong assumption about what they are. I thought they were formatting styles that simply wrote the units in different ways. I'll take a look and see if that can be made to work, but I'd still rather be able to set the units on each saved sheet (or each drawing) independently as units: feet, inches, centimeters, etc. I suppose I want all the same options I had back in the hand drawing days. I could use any units I wanted at any time. I consider this very fundamental, but that's just my opinion of course.
Thanks,
MHBrow
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This is so basic a CAD need that I'm sure I'm just missing something obvious, but I can't find it. As with every drawing package, you generally need different units on different Saved Sheets: feet and inches for large areas, inches for small details and decimal for metal work, for example. I've never seen a set of construction documents with a single unit style, so I know it must be a part of VectorWorks. I've been trying to figure this out since MiniCAD 5 so now I'm finally asking the question.
Please don't tell me to use the dual-dimension and turn one off. That is a workaround and besides I need more than two options. Also, VW2013 has a bug that often places the remaining dimension below the dimension line. That is not a good thing. Also, please don't tell me to use the dimension styles. That is also a workaround that isn't really what I'm looking for.
Anyway, I'm sure there is a way to do it and I just can't find it. Thanks in advance for any help.
MHBrown
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I found the bug; I'll try to describe it:
If you have a viewport placed on a sheet you can dimension it just fine in the original view. If you copy and paste it in the same sheet and change the orientation, say from Front to Right, it cannot be dimensioned. You have to go back to the Design Layer and create another viewport with the orientation you want and paste that one in your Sheet. This is a crippling bug for me. In VW12 I created one viewport and duplicated it three or four times, changing the orientation each time. I even did perspective views. I can still do this, but since the dimensions do not work I won't.
Yes I'm running SP3 and yes I rendered the viewport. Thanks for the tips, sometimes it is something simple like that. I wish that were true this time. The fact that VW2013 doesn't snap well makes drawing very difficult. I only turn on the snaps I need at the moment, but that doesn't work. right now I'm fixing a box frame structure that should be 10'0" tall, but is actually 9' 11 61/64" tall--all because the dimensions were snapping to arbitrary points. It was indicating it was snapping to a corner, but was 3/64" off. Very frustrating.
By the way, is there any way to turn of those annoying little arrows that I assume are showing the direction a plane was constructed. The serve no purpose whatsoever and I'd love to deep-six them, but I haven't seen a way.
Thanks again!
MHBrown
Dashed hidden line render does not work
in Architecture
Posted
...consequently, when I change the scale to anything else the condition remains the same.