michaelk

You need Pat Stanford's amazing vector script for reporting fields. Select an object and run the script. It will create a worksheet that shows all the record and field values for that object. http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=108487#Post108487

Kevin I think I see what is happening. While there is ample and mounting evidence that I have become suddenly dumber, I also think that there are two issues w/ accessories in 2010. One only affects user generated accessories, and one affects all accessories. In 2009 this was possible: 1. Create hybrid symbol 2. Make symbol active in RB 3. Select Accessory Insertion Tool 4. Insert Accessory ....1st click to place ....2nd click to rotate ....[Curser changes to a target] 3rd click to associate with an instrument. In 2010 this is what happens: 1. Create hybrid symbol 2. Make symbol active in RB 3. Select Accessory Insertion Tool 4. Insert Accessory ....1st click to place ....2nd click to rotate ....[Curser does NOT change to a target] symbol is now inserted as a hybrid symbol - not as an accessory. The solution seems to be this: 1. Create hybrid symbol 2. Select an instance of the hybrid symbol in drawing. 3. Modify>Convert>Convert to Accessory 4. Double click symbol in RB 5. Accessory Insertion tool should now be active. 6. Insert Accessory ....1st click to place ....2nd click to rotate ....[Curser does NOT change to a target - but cue on top of window asks for a 3rd click on an instrument] 3rd click to associate with an instrument Issue 1: I think the confusion is that while step 3, converting an instance of the symbol, was normal prior to 2010, it was not required. Just using the Accessory Insertion Tool was enough. Issue 2: And the use of the standard symbol insertion small cross curser instead of the "target" cursor for the 3rd click makes it look like you are about to insert another symbol... So if there is any bug at all, it is the dropping of the "target" cursor (unless that was intentional) for the 3rd click. That explains why I've been able to merrily go along inserting accessories created in earlier versions - they'd already been "converted" - but in this case, trying to do a quick one off accessory, it kept inserting as a regular hybrid symbol. whew michaelk

Label Legends live in the resource browser in a folder called label legends. You can import them like any other resource. hth michaelk

Looks like a 3D mesh object. Are you in top/plan view? Rendering in hidden line might make the situation clearer.

Chris I haven't had time to look too closely at it, but I suspect that there is a bug in the Accessory Insertion tool in 2010. I'm able to insert accessories that I created in earlier versions, but not accessories that I created in 2010. They don't associate w/ their instruments. Of course, it is more than possible that I've just become suddenly dumber, and I'm doing it wrong. I've found it's usually more productive to investigate the latter first. I'll post something if I figure it out. Or if the procedure has for creating accessories has changed, maybe Kevin will enlighten us. michaelk

Are you using 2010?

3D Reshape tool. Assuming you have VW2010.... (It might also work for 2009) Double click the wall (or select the wall and then the 3D Reshape Tool) Make sure you are in the Reshape 3D Walls Mode Grab the handle at the bottom of the face you want to move. Acquire the smart point on the top of the intersecting wall. (Holding down the shift key at this point helps) follow the plane and smart point cues to move the bottom handle into place. Repeat for the top handle. I think it works better if you move the bottom handle first. hth michaelk

Have you tried making them into symbols? Select the riser and the seats. Modify>Create Symbol... name it. Makes it easy to put into new drawings. hth michaelk

It doesn't really work that way. There are a couple problems: 1. The light from the instrument actually comes from the center of the body of the instrument and vectors towards the focus point. It doesn't really care which way the instrument is orientated. So you often get light coming out of the bottom shutter. 2. While the instruments understand Rosco, Lee, and Gam color numbers and will attempt to color the light an appropriate color, those colors can't be accessed in the color library. (That would be a good wish list item...) Your best bet may be to photoshop the image. But if you want to stay in VW, there is a work around. But in this case it is a long way around. 1. Create reasonably accurate symbols for gel frames. 2. Create symbols that contain the gel frame symbol and a disc that has a custom texture that has a close approximation to the gel color and a constant reflectivity. 3. Insert them as accessories to the instrument. Still not great. It requires creating a new symbol for each gel color and each size of gel frame. But it might do in a pinch. hth michaelk

Wes. I just tried it. You're right, of course. Has that changed in the last few years? Or have I always been needlessly converting to nurbs? I've always done it the way Pat describes: make sure you have a nurbs object in the path edit space before clicking out.

One other thing I should have mentioned: If you double click an extrude along path and choose to edit the path object, it is no longer a polygon (or line, or rectangle, or whatever...) it is a nurbs curve. So you can't delete it and put in another 2D shape. You need to make sure the path stays a nurbs curve. hth michaelk

To solve the crop issue: Double click the viewport, choose crop, if the crop object is not selected then select all. Set the pen to none. hth michaelk

You can put your reference on a design layer viewport. (set up the same way, but put into a design layer rather than a sheet layer.) The OIP of the design layer viewport will have controls for layer and class visibility of the reference. Then make a sheet layer viewport of the layer with the DLVP hth michaelk

Andy Most 3D objects remember how they were made. So if your picture frame is an Extrude Along Path, then double click it, choose the path object, and change the size of the path object. If it is a extrusion, double click it to get the original polygon, and edit that. If the picture frame is a solid subtraction double click it to get both the original objects, then double click those objects to edit them... Works for most 3D objects except for Lofts, and filets and chamfers hth michaelk

I forget how it worked in 11... Is the curser changing to a target or cross or something that indicates it needs a focus point for the seats? michaelk

hmmm let's see if this url will link: http://www.landrudesign.com/

There is no light bar tool. You have to either treat each lamp separately or gang them together as a multi circuit instrument - think of them as a striplight. For a scrim you need to create a texture. See the discussion here (and many other places): http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=126756&Searchpage=1&Main=25660&Words=scrim&Search=true#Post126756 Or if you don't want to roll your own, take a look at Mr. Dunning's solution: http://www.landrudesign.com/DefaultFrameSet.htm?VWPlugIns.htm~LandruMnFrm hth michaelk

You're right. Almost exactly 10 times bigger. Try the attached symbols. fwiw, the drawings from the thomas website didn't seem to scale correctly either. You might also check http://fieldtemplate.com/ to see if Mr. Shelly has a better symbol. hth michaelk

I'm pretty sure you can do this on 2008. I don't have 2008, but this works in 2009... 1. Make a record format w/ the fields you want. 2. Attach the format to the symbol. Add dummy text. Link text to record. 3. Make a worksheet w/ a database criteria that references objects w/ the record format. Anything you enter into the worksheet instantly shows up on the drawing. Anything you enter in the data pane of the OIP will appear in the worksheet after you tell it to recalculate. There is no autofill. It's sort of like very primitive excel - you can copy and paste one field at a time. However, each field can have a default value in the record format. Sounds much more complicated than it is. See attached example. Anything you type in fields in Worksheet-1 will show change in the symbols in the drawing. (I really hope this works in 2008 :0) hth michaelk

Maybe I misunderstood Tobias' question. I assumed that he was using VW 2010 and he had one instance of an instrument on a plot that he wanted to convert to a regular symbol. If he has 2010 and wants to insert instrument symbols as symbols, then he needs to manually select the 2D symbol insertion tool after making the symbol active. Of course, anything before 2010 that would be the default behavior. michaelk

Hmmmm. It might not work after all. I tried to download the demo but it doesn't run. Emailed the company and the email bounced back. Bummer.

Select the symbol Modify>Convert>Convert to Group>Don't convert sub-objects to groups. hth michaelk

I just opened it and it seems to be working. It is finding all the objects with the record format requested. All the fields are filled in correctly. Duplicating or deleting objects makes the count change. With the sums removed I can zoom to individual objects. Am I missing something? michaelk

Does it do this with all the constraints turned off? michaelk

I'm pretty sure that the lighting calculation in Spotlight 2010 is exactly the same as the lighting calculation in Spotlight 2008. (At least I haven't noticed any difference.) So if you already have spotlight, getting 2010 won't get you better calculations. And it would be a lot of work to make it work in a landscape application. And Spotlight doesn't use IES data - it just calculates direct beams of light. So it would have a hard time w/ point sources. Does Visual import your .vwx drawing? I was just looking at another similar program that seems to be mac based: http://www.ltblight.com/index.html. It looks like it is a plug-in for VW. No need to leave VW & export... Anybody tried it yet?