Bruce Kieffer

Sadly, this does not work with older converted files, and I have a lot of those files with fillets. The object in the converted file needs to be completely rebuilt to make history mode edit with fillets work.

I worked on this more. Creating complex object like the door rails is far too complicated to get the dimensions to appear in the correct order of T x W x L. The orientation changes when objects are subtracted and added to each other. Way too hard to keep track of. I give up!

I created a simple version of my drawing with only the doors and attached it here. Worksheet Cut List for Doors.vwx

Here's the redo: I'm seeing how this works by creating a 2D object, recalculating the worksheet to confirm the width and height are in the worksheet as shown in the OIP, and then extruding the object. Keep in mind that pieces of wood are oriented based on grain direction. Width is across the grain, length is with the grain, and thickness is almost always the smallest dimension. In the worksheet, the Height function is the object's Length, the Width function is the object's Width, and the Length Function is the object's Thickness (which is the extruded dimension). More work to do to get this right, but at least it makes more sense to me now. Now I can see that the panels are all appear correctly in the worksheet, and that means that I would need to create the stiles and rails differently to get them to appear correctly in the worksheet.

Thanks Boh. Interesting idea, but more work than it's worth for me, especially when I need to create a complex object like a door rail. I did some more experimenting and I see I name the column headers based on what the worksheet results, but the header names are not the actual function, IE Thickness is really the Width Function. So playing with this more I realize the headers have to be named the same as the function, and objects created have to be made so prior to extrusion the OIP shows me the correct height and width of the object. It appears to be just a matter of learning the correct sequence of steps to create an object to get it to list correctly in the worksheet. I'm going to revise the worksheet now and post another screenshot...

OK, so here's what I decided. It's cool to have Vectorworks create a cut list, but getting the database fields to associate correctly to T, W and L is way too hard. So what I will do in the future is to use the worksheet as a starting point for creating my cut list in a Numbers spreadsheet. Since I know which dimension is which, at least it will give me an easy way to compare and confirm my final cut list. It should be easier than how I have done it in the past which was to select each object and transpose the dimensions into the Numbers spreadsheet.

I see that I will to be more conscious of the process I use to built my 3D objects to have consistent T x W x L. I could also make separate database entries in the worksheet, but that is more work than it's worth. I wonder if there's some way to define the different dimensions in the OIP. Maybe attach a record?

Got it working now. The thickness, width and length are not labeled correctly for the rails and panels, and I think that's based on how those parts were built or extruded. They are 1/4" thick, but they show in the worksheet as Is there an easy way to correct that? And I see that the two sets of two rails each are different too. They are built differently.

That is why the dashes are there. How do I fix this? I want similar sizes summarized.

I'm trying to create a worksheet that is a cut list for door parts in my drawing. The worksheet shows the info for the door stiles fine, and that's because all of them are the same size, but it's missing width and length info for the door rails and door panels. The data for those appears as ---. I realize this is because the rails and panels have more than one size. What do I need to change in my worksheet to get all the parts to show and group them as similar parts.

I have it working, but I'm not sure it's much help. Is there a way to get a quick count of the objects "visualized?"

I'll give data visualization a try.

I can't make the select similar tool count them now, not sure why.

I would like to know visually that all the items I'm trying to count are accounted for. In this simple example my worksheet is counting 4 pipes with a record attached, so is that all the pipes I need to count? I have to confirm this by either my counting or using the select similar tool. If there was a R inside a circle indicator applied to each pipe, that I could toggle on/off, then I could quickly see any pipes that don't have a record attached.

It would be helpful to have a view/hide record attached indicator command. I'm using select similar to do this now, it works, but it is cumbersome compared to if there were visual indications on the screen.