RussU
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Posts posted by RussU
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6 hours ago, Kevin McAllister said:
I couldn't function without the Navigation Palette which isn't included in Fundamentals
Absolutely agree... this should be rolled out for all users, restricting to a design product just ruins the fundamentals experience...
Also, I'd like to break out the pallettes so I have classes and layers in side by side menus, rather than flicking between the two... although nested classes are a great organisational tool
6 hours ago, Kevin McAllister said:It would be more beneficial for me if development was focussed on proper navigation (non-tool based), direct modelling tools, and drawing presentation/co-ordination.
Do you think it could be useful to instate a quad view (top, front, side, perspective) similar to what you have in the bulk of other 3d apps? or do you like the current way?
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6 hours ago, EAlexander said:
I use a lot of symbols, and everything is a hybrid symbol.
Hybrid, as in 3d, with a 2d overlay? or autohybrid?
Do you go to the effort of wall insert options?
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Hi everyone,
I'm really interested to to hear what people think of the many tools and workflows in VW.
I've been using VW since v2008, and generally had the full "Designer" package, which is what I use today. While some tools, like stairs, structural shapes, site model, fastenings etc. are really good and quick for initial layout, when my designs becomes more complex and more "custom" I tend to break it out into generic geometry, extrudes etc.
During Initial file set-up the parametric and plug-in objects are really handy, but when you have something very specific in mind I've found it much quicker to directly model the item in question, rather than trawling through dialogues and drop downs, with a lot of hit and miss. (Sure, this is probably because I didn't learn the tools thoroughy enough in the first place, but often I want something which is not supported anyway)
So my initial plans and first stage designs are full of quick and easy plug in objects, but end up with a very VW look and feel, but as the design matures I end up with custom modelled content, and almost no parametric items at all.
I'm really interested if people think this is a normal workflow, or if in general folks try to keep eveything as parametric and do everything through dialogues and the OIP. What do you find quicker?
Therefore, personally I would prefer to see development focussed on generic modelling and texturing tools, rather than the Plug in stuff. To that end, I get a lot of comments about why I use Designer and not Fundamentals (Although I do enjoy section viewports, drawing number co-ordination and the Navigation panel!)
What's your two cents? I'd love to know what people consider to be the "normal" way
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On 27/06/2017 at 6:43 PM, Andy Broomell said:
By the way, in the meantime you can actually use Section Viewports even when not cutting through things. For example, to get a front elevation, just draw the section line a bit in front of the objects, with the section looking towards the objects.
As it happens, I tend to do this most of the time. There's two advantages, firstly you get the reference line which ties the two drawing numbers together, and secondly if you set a depth to the section then you "cull" the geometry beyond it, making a re-draw much quicker (much less to calculate than a side view). You're right that there's a conversion in these VPs also.
If I'm really pushing the boat out, like we have sketch and renderworks styles, it'd be nice to have hidden line and dashed hidden styles as well. Although the current workflow isn't bad at all.
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I'm on PC, and I like to model a lot in OpenGL, ortho projections. Feels really natural.
When I'm just working on a layer plane, the ctrl+middle mouse button orbits around nicely. I often use the flyover tool as well, for specifying the centre of rotation.
I do a lot of setting new work planes and drawing geometry, but when I go to orbit, the axes are correct with regard to the WP, but feel odd when you orbit.
Is there a central setting which I can toggle this behaviour on and off? so I can get the natural feel back?
At the moment I'm setting a temporary WP to a layer plane and then going back to the WP after I orbit.
EDIT:
Working planes to not affect space navigator use, only mouse wheel orbit....
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Great!!! What a lovely resource!
Don't forget the sketchup 3d warehouse too, that's a brilliant place for quick and easy models and the like
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1 hour ago, Markvl said:
The best forum I've ever been on. I check-in everyday...except weekends. Always plenty of nuggets of knowledge to be had. Kudos to the @Jimw and the other moderators.
Always a pleasant experience.
Plus 1 on this!
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3 minutes ago, Pat Stanford said:
Yes, it is probably possible to create a script that would reset the title block, but is saving a click worth the hassle of having to remember another menu command. But if anyone really wants this script and promised to use it at least 100 times ;-), I will see what I can work up.
I was just teasing! I seems like everything is possible in a script, but I just thought it shoudl work out of the box.
3 minutes ago, Pat Stanford said:I am hopeful that the title block will improve for 2018.
Do you know something we don't
I expect you're a beta tester already, so I'll absolutely read into that!!! Insider dealing.
4 minutes ago, Pat Stanford said:These two points confuse me. First you say you want an exact duplicate and then in the next sentence say that the numbers should update. Does that not make it NOT an exact duplicate?
I have just tested it on a simple sheet... I have four viewports of a steel frame, numbered one to four... I make a duplicate and all new viewports on the new sheet are numbered as five... just tested on 2017, sp4.
5 minutes ago, Pat Stanford said:This is coming from the interaction between VWs renaming algorithm and your trying to end your name with a number. If you use B1- as the name, then when you duplicate you will end up with B1-1, B1-2, etc. If you use B1 and duplicate you will get B2, B3, B4, etc. Consider adding a suffix separation character and you may end up with a better workflow. Any non-numeric character should work as the suffix.
Sorry, you're Right, I do generally have B-1 so the duplicates become B-2, B-3, and although in the navigation pallete they are numbered correctly, all of the title blocks display B-1. This isn't great as the workshop only see the printed files and not the filenames.
2 hours ago, Kevin McAllister said:It should just work, no user input required. Its those late nights you mention where I get bitten. It used to be fine so I'm pretty sure its a bug.... VW should just run the "refresh" automatically after duplicating a sheet and also before publishing.
Absolutely... We have "update viewport and plug in objects" before export or printing, so a quick rebuild of the title block database should cover this.... But I do remember that @JimWmentioned that a "fix has been found, but not implemented yet" in this post
Why wouldn't it be implemented yet??? Crazy!
11 hours ago, Kevin McAllister said:When I rename a sheet I shouldn't have to remove and re-add it to the publish list.
Tested at this end also... The Publish list can't find the sheet if it's renamed... Quite often sheet renaming is a requirement when working with outside parties, and it breaks saved sets and so on.
Thanks for looking into it though... I do love to hear "what's going on under the hood", as it increases my understanding of what's reasonable and what's not.
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Hi Everyone.
I've been using Evermotion models and textures for years, and they're very very good.
I've just noticed (and this might be old news) that they're giving some of their texture packs away for free.
https://evermotion.org/shop/cat/423/free_products
I've only used the first 3 packs before, and am now downloading the others. Lots of useful stuff in there.
Enjoy
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Just a quick suggestion.
After a few months a file can quickly swell to enormous proportions, some sheets showing full, very busy viewports, some showing tiny details and sections.
At the moment we have a global setting for 3D conversion resolution. Low, medium etc.
like we have a sheet DPI function, is it possible to have a sheet layer override, so sheet 1 can be in High 3d accuracy, and sheet 2 can be low etc. etc.
When redrawing a full on, high detail section at high detail, firstly it takes an age, and secondly the file size can be huge. To be able to control it on a sheet by sheet basis, like we can with rendering DPI, would be very nice!
Thanks!
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And here's some example files.
It's a bit of a conveluted workflow, but it does work... I hope it makes sense to those who are interested, and of course and suggestions whatsoever are all welcome.
You'll notice that it relies heavily on good referencing, good naming and especially good drawing number co-ordination.
You might need to re-reference the files on your local machine if they come up as broken.
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Although the sheets display with wrong numbers on duplicate, they're clearly correct on the "internals" of the program. As you mention, a simple edit title block and cancel corrects them. So a "Refresh numbers" button should set them all straight (Pat Stamford enters stage right with script in hand no doubt!)
If I'm being super picky, it would be nice to allow names to be re-used... I don't mean between sheets, but a design layer AND a sheet layer AND a Symbol of the same name. at The moment, I'm prefixing... l-B1, s-B1, d-B1 etc.
My workflow (for those who are interested) when detailing Steel is to;
1) Design up the frame in a file, using extrudes, structural shapes, plates and drills etc.
2) Use a symbol for repeatable parts (especially laser plates)
3) Symbolise the individual beams, B1, B2, B3 etc.. usually with the prefix of p-B1 to denote its a part
4) then symbolise the "assemblies" of each lump. so a-Beam1, might have 1no. B1, 3no, p1, 5no p2 etc...
5) do the general arrangement and erection drawings in that file
6) make a new manufacture file and reference in the symbols (for a two way relationship)
7) Make a new layer for each part, B1, B2 etc. and centre to origin, and rotate each part.
8) Make a sheet for each part, often by duplicating and adjusting layer visabilities.
9) annotate each part and assembly, using worksheets on each page to list the parts needed for each assembly
The lack of drawing co-ordination means that I end up with five sheets named B1, but they actually show B2, B3 but with the title B1. When it's late and everyone is tired, I end up with a workshop full of different B1's and no B2's and so on.... which causes a big headache, and sometimes steel is thrown away, and I get called rude names... all becuase the sheet numbers didn't update, and I was in a rush.
If anyone is interested in that workflow, I'll post a couple of example files to show how I do it.
There's bound to be people out there that say, use Tekla/Solidworks/Inventor, but I don't just do steel detailing... I work with fit out crews, electricians, window fitters, landscapers and all sorts, so the steel detailing is only one of the disciplines and it's nice to have it in VW.
The drawing co-ordination, or lack thereof is very annoying, and on occasion, costly.... Also... with sections, when you duplicate a sheet with sections on, the new section is bound to the previous sheet... and you have to activate it onto the new sheet by hand.
I'll post some files for people to give me feedback on the workflow listed above... might be over complicated, but thoughts and opinions very very welcome
Thanks
Russ
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11 minutes ago, JimW said:
Yes. Sometimes the fixes for issues fix other problems as well, but if that wasn't the original intention of the engineer, they might never know the other bug existed in the first place or that what they did fixed it. Often a bug from awhile ago will be labeled "cannot reproduce" which is what would happen in a case were a bug was "accidentally" fixed, but that status doesn't get a bug listed in the release notes.Makes total sense...
It's a dark art this coding thing.
Just a quickie though, when SP3 came out, and we had an issue with sheet borders and sheet names not updating (particularly when a sheet is duplicated) you mentioned that a fix was available but not yet implemented.
Why wouldn't it be implemented in this release? more to it I guess...
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Hi @JimW
With regards to the "fix list"... is it possible that they've implemented other fixes that don't appear in the list?
It seems like the rounded rectangle crop on a detail view is fixed, but the sheet titles on duplicated sheets are not.
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1 hour ago, JimW said:
SOME good news: this issue is no longer present in the latest beta version of Vectorworks, I'll look into when the fix should be expected to go public.
On that note, is there a beta program that can be volunteered for? Or a list of patch progression that's accesible?
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33 minutes ago, CraftyCat said:
Everyone has been so helpful on this forum so thank you. How, aside from using VW can I do research etc. to help design and learn quickly. Apologies yes I am impatient but also so eager to learn!!
Go to as many exhibitions as possible.
Take a camera, take a sketch pad.
Also, if you can, get into the workshop and talk with the guys who build things, have a look at how the CNC machines work, you won't regret it.
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@Andy BroomellI can say that I've crashed here and there, so it is possible.
ill keep an eye on it and report back. interesting thought.
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On 16/06/2017 at 3:19 PM, CraftyCat said:
Thanks Alan, even though designer for years, new software like this can be overwhelming. I do not want the company to suffer due to weakened drawings by myself!
Where in the world are you?
US, UK?
They're a friendly bunch here, so ask away. No question too daft.
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Perfect answer. Thank you!
I must have had a shortcut that disabled it.
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Hi everyone,
I can't replicate it, but once it happens in a file, that file is stuck with it.
Whether I have snap to angle on or off, I can only snap vertically or horizontally. This is true with callouts, rotates, mirror etc... not just the line tool.
I can't do 30, 45 or 60 any more... Any ideas what I've done?
Thanks
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I might just give it a very good go then... dust off the old books
Thanks Pat.
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Brilliant!
I think I should go back to school and learn scripting all over again... I gave up because I learned Pascal first, then Actionscript in flash, and Actionscript 2, then ASP, then programming in Symbian, all of which are now more or less obsolete! Seemed everything I touched went to the wall...
But what @Pat Stanfordmanages to achieve with script really levers the power out of VW.
Thanks again @markddfor that!
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A nice feature I've been used to in 3ds max is a hide and show option.
basically you can just right click and hide selection. Then later you unhide all.
would be useful as a temporary simplification measure to aid workflow
also an isolate selection is good (basically a hide non selected)
at the moment i group the objects and then edit group, but it's one step further and can muck about with layers and classes if done carelessly.
would also be good in viewports too, especially hidden line ones where you could have show/hide/grey to emphasise certain elements
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17 hours ago, rDesign said:
^^^^ I sincerely hope this is NOT true. If Vw were to consider switching solely to an Adobe / Autodesk subscription-only model, I would very seriously consider switching to other software.
Autodesk's switch to subscription-only pricing has not been going so well:
Autodesk Posts 5th Straight Quarterly Loss : Engineering.com
I wasn't at all suggesting that that a perpetual licencing model should be dropped.... We all paid a lot of money to purchase the software initially, so I don't think that it would be possible to terminate the perpetual model for those who have bought it....
We currently have the option to use VSS to get the annual upgrade, or wait a year or two and pay for an upgrade path.... (VSS is cheaper in this respect, but some consider the differences between releases to not be worth the money. Some people use a version for 4 or 5 years, and then pay an upgrade lump)
All I was suggesting was that we have the annual £550+VAT VSS, or a monthly option for the same. We all have perpetual use of the software on our most recent release anyway.
I agree that the Autodesk model is highway robbery.
Modelling VS PIO - Opinions?
in Workflows
Posted
One option I would love to see, is "convert to hybrid symbol".
At the moment, if you have 3d and a 2d overlay, it makes the symbol a hybrid.... nice.
When you convert a PIO, you either get the 2d, or the 3d, so you need to do it twice and combine... not a major hardship, but another step
I work in a similar industry to yours, so it's very broad from job to job.
This is exactly the discussion I wanted to have. How people work and to understand other peoples workflows, to improve our own. As I mentioned I tend to start with parametric where possible, and then break out to custom when needed.