whashisface

Hi All I've not been able to find an answer to the following question so I'm hoping someone on here might be able to help? Although I'm not sure it can be done... Is it possible for a wall to have a cut plane similar to a hybrid symbol [http://app-help.vectorworks.net/2015/NNA/eng/index.htm#t=VW2015_Guide%2FShapes3%2FCreating_Auto_Hybrid_Objects.htm]? We'd like to set up some low external walls around the edge of some outdoor space. As they are below the cut plane of our plan it'd be great if they displayed without any of the components showing. However when we cut a section through the wall it would be good to see the components! The rest of the walls in our plan need to display with components showing as they for construction. Is there a way round this as I can't seem to see any settings in the object info palette? Thanks in advance!

Hi Please could the improvements to the stair tool outlined in this article be incorporated into VWs asap: http://needleandmortar.com/wiki/stair-tool-improvements-2015/ We particularly need item 2 to be implemented as currently we cannot use the handrail tool for regulation compliant non-domestic hand rails here in the UK. Thanks in advance!

Thanks Alan. I could resort to adding formulae [and that's what we've done] to the schedule but it's not very BIM compliant. Ideally all of this information would be contained within the door object itself.

Hi I'm not sure if there is already a thread requesting these features but we would be very keen for the revision note enhancements detailed in this article to be added to VWs ASAP. http://needleandmortar.com/wiki/revision-notes-improvements-2015/ Particularly points 1,2 & 4. It would help all of us in the UK meet the Government's BIM standards more easily.

Thanks Vincent. I agree with all of those points at needleandmortar. Most of the rest of this conversation went a bit over my head to be honest. All I wanted to do was be able to place the :rAppr & r:No twice in the same title block element. Sounds like it's not easily achievable though!

Hi All Is it possible to display revision data twice within the same title block? Ideally we would like the highlighted fields on the following screenshot to both automatically update when the revision data is changed. Unfortunately at the moment only one field can be automatically updated and the other one has to be done manually which is time consuming and leads to user errors. I have tried to add the :rAppr & r:No codes to both sections of the title block but if I do this it still only displays one revision code. Does anyone know of a way round this? Below is the symbol to show the codes used at present: Thanks in advance!

We have had some success with using a symbol consisting of a window with two wall end caps adjacent to it to create the custom reveals. We then apply this symbol to the wall. We've managed to get it working in both 2D and 3D but it is fiddly to set up and is pretty unstable when you want to edit any of the properties of the window. We've therefore given up this process on the whole unless we have a window which is placed between two walls of different thickness/materials. We generally wrap wall components within the window to create the effect Fergus is asking for at scales up to 1:50. I appreciate it doesn't look great on screen but when you print it out at the correct scale it looks fine. We then use traditionally drawn 2D window details at scales greater than 1:50.

Actually, I've just looked at our projects and generally the user origin and the internal origin overlay so that can't be causing the issue of the origin jumping.

I agree Kevin that more control over the gaps around the leaf would be useful. The gap underneath the door could vary these days depending on the ventilation strategy for the building so that would be a useful thing to be able to control.

Andrew: if layer referencing - right click on the viewport in the navigation window and select edit. The option to ignore source user origin is towards the bottom of this dialogue box. We are also having this issue with VWs 2015 SP4. It seems to affect certain user's computers more than others. Generally we check all the origins to ensure they are the same which usually works. Otherwise we have checked the ignore user origin. We have been sent a pdf from our reseller [Tips & Tricks - origins] which explains the difference between internal, user and temporary origins. It doesn't really help as the system seems overly complex to me but we're going to try and ensure the internal origin and source origin are the same from now on to see if this helps. This could do with being resolved ASAP as it's incredibly frustrating!

Would it be possible to allow specific critera to be removed when you edit the criteria of a database? In the following example I would love to remove the multiple criteria which have been created for different layers [previously to call in multiple layers to the same database] so I have just had two for the ground floor layers. Currently, if I click fewer choices it removes the bottom criteria which I still need. It's therefore far quicker just to change all the layer criteria to ground floor rather than doing it properly and removing the unwanted layer criteria as I have to find the other functions from scratch again. If we had more control over which functions could be removed it would make life much easier! While I'm at it, can we make the field value menu easier to navigate [perhaps with two levels] as it's very time consuming to find field values for items at the bottom of the list [spaces, slabs, etc]! Thanks in advance!

Hi All Just wondering if it's possible for the door leaf height to automatically take into account a threshold thickness when scheduled in a worksheet? We have a 2110 structural opening. When a shim gap and frame are taken into account we get a door leaf of 2058. I'd then like to reduce this to 2040 [standard UK door height] by including an 18mm threshold. Is this possible or do I need to resort to setting up a formula in the worksheet itself? Thanks!

Thanks Wes. Looking forward to them!

I should add [hopefully someone from VWs is listening] that Wes's workaround is great if it is a relatively simple building with a traditional roof. We work on multi-unit residential schemes which have roofs that often have 5 or 6 different layers. It would be very time consuming to draw an individual roof for each of these layers and even more time consuming to update these if the design of the roof changed!

Thanks for the tip Wes we might give this a go but given how well the slab and wall interfaces work these days with component parts it's disappointing we have to resort to drawing individual roofs for each component of the build up. I take your point about adding detail in 2D but we currently have a 1:50 section set up, taken straight from the model, which is looking pretty good without any embellishments. The only thing letting it down is the roof! Anyone know if this functionality has been requested before and if there are any plans for this to be included in 2016?

Hi All Just wondering if there was a way of giving roofs components in the same way that these can be specified in slab and wall build ups? We've begun to take sections straight from our 3D model. The slab and walls look great at 1:50 but roofs look incredibly clunky. We'd rather not add the detail in 2D over the top of the 3D information. Is there a way round this? Thanks in advance!

We're experiencing a problem where the exported .pdf file [GA plans 1:50 @ A1] is only between 2 and 4mb in size but we're finding they take a long time to print. Some of the consultants we work with are reporting that they take between 10 and 20 minutes to print on a standard office printer and a windows computer. I've included a screenshot of the .pdf settings we're using along with a copy of the file below. I'd appreciate any feedback anyone might have! The DPI of the sheet layer is set to 150. I'm wondering whether it is the fact we have used the batt insulation tile in our wall build ups? I have tried some test pdf exports [one with insulation and one without]. The insulation seems to add 1MB to the file size. I'm waiting to hear back from my other consultants as to whether this makes printing easier. I've attached these test files for reference too. Does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks in advance. Plans which other consultants are struggling to print: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17200339/firstfloorplanpdfissue.pdf pdf export settings: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17200339/printsettings.png Test pdf without insulation: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17200339/1-Test%20File%20without%20Insulation.pdf Test pdf with insulation: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/17200339/2-Test%20File%20with%20Insulation.pdf

We use AutoCAD WS to check .dwg files. This was available as a free download from the Autodesk website but I understand they have an online .dwg checker on their website instead now. We also use the free CAD viewer at www.sharecad.org If you would like to send 3D BIM information to other consultants and clients then I would recommend using the .IFC format rather than .dwg. Although we're still experimenting with the best export settings for this. Tekla BIMsight is a great, free .IFC viewer for checking files exported in this format. Hope that helps.

No, that's great for now Michael. Thanks again. Fingers crossed we get an improved door ID tag in the near future!

Chris/Michael Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. A very helpful set of webinars. Michael is there any way to link the label symbol/record format you create in part 1 with the door that it sits next to? Ideally I'd like to be able to pull in the data from the two records formats into a single worksheet to make it as easy possible for anyone in my practice to work on a door schedule. I'm guessing it's not possible but thought I would ask anyway. Thanks again!

Cracked this now. Very obvious now I think about it! I can just use the approval code :rAppr to bring that information into my title block when I add a revision. I can then put either the P or C code in there.

Thanks hippothamus I'll give that go. Will the P custom field be linked to the :rNO textblock? i.e. when I add a new revision so that I have more than one listed on the page will the P field be created next to it automatically?

+ 1

Bump. And also: Is there a way to draw RHS/CHS/SHS sections as beams with the framing member tool? If not, please can this be incorporated into VWs 2016?

We are currently updating our workflows to comply with the British Standards for BIM [bS1192:2007]. The standard requires that our drawing revision numbers take the format of a letter followed by a number. i.e P1, P2, C3, etc. The letter needs to either be a P for work-in-progress drawings or a C for post-contract drawings. The number which follows this increases sequentially following each revision. We can't seem to find a way to add the letter prefix to the :rNo code which we are using to display the revision data. I had hoped that if we could add the prefix to the code we could then have two different title blocks for P revisions or C revisions. Unless there is a better way? Can anyone help? Thanks in advance!