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Taproot

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Posts posted by Taproot

  1. Frank,

    That sort of helps ... as a work around. "Custom Modification" allows universal changes to OIP settings, but not all of the plant settings are available through the OIP. A common example would be plant shadows: It's a common event to want to adjust all plant shadows in orientation, hatch/fill, etc. These seem to only be available on an individual plant basis.

    The other limit to "custom modification" is that it's after the fact. You end up placing plants with ID tags all over the place when you want to just concentrate on a loose design concept. So, it's helpful in the end, but a little awkward along the way.

    If in fact, the Place Plant Tool can't modify the symbol to suit the user's default settings, then my follow up question would be, how can you modify elements of 30-100 symbols simultaneously? Note, I wasn't able to get there with "Change Symbol Attributes."

    I really hope that I'm being obtuse here and that this is a simple thing ...

    Thanks,

  2. I've been working with NNA's example files for a wee bit and have yet to find the right chemistry with Vectorscript.

    I'm trying to create a tool or menu command that will allow me to set the active class and layer to that of an object by selecting it. Intuitively, I know this is only a few lines of code, can anyone enlighten me on how to do it?

    Many thanks,

  3. Can the Place Plant Tool defaults be set so that they apply to multiple plant symbols?

    I started with a simple schematic project using rendered symbols from the default plant library and though I reset the defaults for the place plant tool i.e. [turn "on plant list" off],[turn "tick style" off],[turn "random rotation" on], etc. I found that these settings would always change back for the next plant placed.

    I discovered that within the Place Plant Preferences ->Edit Definitions -> Default Prefs, you could change these characteristics, but they would only apply to that single plant. All other plant symbols are placed with NNA's default display settings.

    I'm using 30 or more symbols and want them to have the same characteristics and rendering. Changing every symbol individually seems like a really tedious way to do it. Is there a more sensible way to do this?

  4. GMM18 - Truly an excellent tutorial. I think this will serve everyone in my situation. By observing the correct way to do it, I was able to identify the problem. My TitleBlockRec-Arch record does not show up in the Resource Browser, nor can I import a new one from a generic file. I can import the record under a different name, but VW won't allow me to rename it correctly. I'm working with Tech Support now to re-animate the ghost.

    Pat - your get-name cheat sheet tool is excellent. I'm really looking forward to unlocking the power of worksheets ... one step at a time.

    -- Matthew

  5. I've been following the latest discussion on worksheets with interest. Thanks Pat and GMM18 for the very helpful tools and feedback.

    I've used it as an opportunity to develop my own understanding but have had mixed results. My personal challenge was to create a worksheet that would pull the page data out of the title block / drawing border and create an automated drawing index. In principle, I would like to pull the page #, Sheet Name, Current Issue, and Date from the sheets to auto populate the worksheet.

    Right off the get-go I ran into a roadblock. When setting up the database row criteria, I find that no objects meet the criteria of Type->Drawing Border; Record->Drawing Border; Symbol Name->(Drawing border symbol name), etc.

    I have it set up in what I understand to be the standard workflow with the drawing border/title block on the sheet layers.

    The title block is a customized version of a VW standard and shows up in the OIP as a "Drawing Border" ... It functions as one in all other respects ... what am I missing?

    Thanks!

  6. Use the Polyline tool. It will allow you to toggle between curved and linear lines (using the mode bar) on the fly. You can then offset the whole linear and curved polyline (since it's one object). In the event that you only want to offset a portion of the original object, just offset the whole element and then trim it accordingly.

  7. Kelly,

    That doesn't sound like much fun! I would suggest calling tech support and working it through with them. It may be an operating system issue or program build issue or ... get some expert help, don't let it spoil your Valentine's Day!

  8. Although layers and object opacity is extremely helpful, it is invariably in the presentation of the work that we need to control opacity. Such as:

    ? Rendering the building as a background at 50% opacity so that lines and notes read clearly.

    ? Rendering trees and vegetation image props as a foreground viewport with opacity. This way, the hidden line is not applied to the boundary of the image prop.

    The main benefit is simplicity. One doesn't need to remember every single layer that they want to override per viewport. They can just adjust the whole viewport at once.

    This would be a great expansion of VW's presentation capabilities.

  9. To my knowledge, you can't!

    You can however, make a copy of the door, change the original to a "cased opening," and then in a 3d view ungroup the copy. You can then select the door leaf elements and group them (delete the other elements) and place it into the cased opening. You then turn the leaf into s symbol by drawing a rectangle for it's 2D representation and you're there.

    The whole process takes about a minute. Or, you can of course use a "custom leaf" in much the same way ... but it takes longer.

  10. I've been importing textures into my file by the ol' fashioned double click method ... i.e double clicking on library items in the Resource Browser. This will add the texture to the file - But not to the resource browser within that file. Why not?

    I can access the imported textures by class for instance, by changing the properties of the class, a full list of imported textures appears, but within the resource browser they are simply absent.

    Clearly I'm missing something and hoping it's a simple obvious user error.

  11. PS, if classes aren't convenient for you, you can copy the viewport in question, and turn off all of the layers except the demo layer and then override all of the classes to dashes at once. Then, by stacking the copied viewport under the orignial (turn demo off in the original),you'll get the look you're after.

    It's a small work around, but effective.

  12. I believe that I am one of the minority in that I maintain the building model through the construction drawings. Perhaps, my rose colored glasses are too deep a tint, or I'm a "true believer" in the BIM concept. Tedious as it may be, the 3D building is almost achievable in VW except ... for the matter of sections!

    As I see it, they can be done in three ways:

    1. The tried and true method, cut a section or section viewport, convert to lines and then draft away manually. Slow, but very accurate.

    2. Use section viewports and annotate like crazy.

    3. Use section viewports with very little annotatation and assume that everything will get worked out in the details.

    In my opinion, #3 doesn't work. For myself, I need to think through the construction as I draw. A section needs to be predicated on framing dimensions, material offsets, etc. This level of complexity needs to be accounted for in the section drawing process.

    #2 also doesn't work. With half of your material in the annotation and half in the model, a change of any kind requires so much movement between views that it takes the fun out of drafting. Let's see: move a wall - switch to VP - annotate - move wall plate annotation, insulation, etc - go back to model view - move another wall ... laborious!

    #1 works. But hey, why did I invest all that time in modeling everything if I only get to use it as a rough underlay. With the number of lines that I have to delete from the underlay, lineweight cleanup, and class rework, I could have redrawn the section from scratch (well it still takes longer - but not much!).

    So, to this day, the section remains in my opinion the "bane" of VW. OK, I've duly expressed my opinion, and this is old news to most of us, so why am I bringing it up.

    I'd really like to propose that Nemetschek take a hard look at the future goals for this side of the program.

    If VW is REALLY planning to go the route of BIM, then:

    1. We need a section display mode that allows interactivity. That is, a "stack layers" view that displays in section view (Sketchup has a good example of this, Archicad too). That way, you can see the building in section while being able to modify the elements.

    2. We also need a floor and roof tool that utilize the same functionality as the wall tool i.e. be able to have multiple cavities that can be classed.

    3. Finally, we need the ability for sectioned 3D solids to display a 2D fill (hatch, gradient, etc).

    I know it's a lot to ask, but I'm looking way ahead and figure that the release of the most current version is the best time to ask for future functionality.

    In the meantime, if interactive 3D sections is programmatically impossible, then we need to consider making the 2D form of sections more workable. To my knowledge, converting a Section VP to lines will now only convert the sectioned objects (not the background objects). In order to do this, one must consistently rescale the lines from 1:1 to whatever design layer they are working on - why not just export the lines to the right layer at the native layer's scale?

    Thanks for listening.

  13. Cartuckman

    Interesting query. Locating this in the textures portion of the shared file website is probably not the best location, but ... I did stumble on it and may have an answer for you.

    I'd suggest downloading ICC/ANSI A117.1 from the ICC website. It costs a nominal fee, but it will give you all of the current ADA code text in PDF format as well as the details of general requirements. You can then either embed or link the PDF diagrams into your detail sheets.

  14. Try changing its class to make sure the class settings aren't overriding your input. I assume you've tried moving it or deleting it to determine if there isn't another copy below - obscuring the fact that you've changed the upper item.

  15. Regarding the section line - if it's actually a section line linked to a section viewport, you have to go to that section viewport and in the OIP for the viewport, select what layers and viewports you want the instance of the section line to appear in.

  16. Korat,

    Not that I'm aware of. VW has a simple beam component. But it sounds like you are needing a full frame analysis.

    Islandmon, I'm curious what you use for calculating dynamic loads on geodesic domes?

    I think what you're really after is a program called Dr. Frame. It's dual platform; analyzes in 2D or 3D; link as follows:

    Dr. Frame

  17. Ptarmigan,

    Sections are definitely a weak link. Given the amount of time that it takes to model everything, one would expect to receive the return on investment in the form of auto sectioning. As we all know, however, there is invariably a fair bit of cleanup no matter how good your model is.

    Some of the tricks I use:

    In your example above, consider using a white filled rectangle (converted to a polygon) as a mask and turn off the edges on three sides of the rectangle. Then, change the line-weight of the fourth side to match whatever it is you are abutting. That way, the mask will render correctly.

    If there is a lot of cleanup, I often will convert the section viewport to lines, copy it back to a design layer and scale it accordingly. This won't auto update, but toward the end of CD's, I find accuracy is more important than updatability.

    A third technique is to convert a copy of the section viewport to lines and then paste it back into the annotation layer of the original section viewport. You can then turn off all of the layers of the viewport itself so that it is not trying to update itself. This holds the viewport as a place holder in case you ever want to re-render the section in the future. It also keeps it keyed to your section cut lines on the drawings (if you have them displayed).

    These are all work-arounds which I try to avoid because they are clumsy. However, sometimes a dose of pragmatism is needed to get the end result that you want.

  18. Well OK, I eventually did figure this one out. You can transfer the attributes via the eyedropper tool. And "Custom tool" settings will get you part way there.

    Alas, I do have another gripe with the General Notes. How do you keep these guys organized??

    That is, in version 12, sequencing of notes within lists was alphanumeric. Since I typically have a LOT of notes per section, I numbered them to keep them in the proper sequence. I've discovered that in translating the database to v.2008 that they are no longer alphanumeric. Perhaps they are listed in creation order... I don't know ... only that my notes are presently a mess!

    Does anyone (at NNA?) know how to preserve sequencing when using a v.12.5 notes database?

  19. Does anyone know how to set the default font display for Keynote / General Note lists?

    General Notes always default to Geneva, while Keynotes default to Tekton (what I use), but I generally "Bold" the heading and other minor details... really puzzled as to how to set the default for these tools.

    Thanks,

  20. There is a LOT of room for improvement in the framing suite, so this is simply a few of the items that have come to my attention recently:

    1. Create a "Post" tool with the capabilities of the "Detail Cut Wood" tool. In plan view it would show the profile of framing, blocking, or finish, but in 3D would show an extrude with textures.

    2. Provide layout options for the framing i.e. click what side of the polygon to begin layout from, whether layout is to center or edge of the first and last framing members... Archicad has had this mastered for some time.

    3. Rafters: I find this tool to be counter intuitive - rather than the bearing inset being keyed to the exterior of the wall (and the beginning of the eave), it is keyed to the interior of the wall and adjusts the eave length in and out by whatever inset is used.

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