Rob P

Hi Bob I can't get that to work. I'm using the Plant Line in a very simple way - to create uneven edges to rectangles and polygons that are representing sections through hedgerows and shrubs/planting where these appear in simple illustrative sections. But your suggestion has helped me find an alternative solution - just convert the shapes into landscape areas via the 'Create Objects from Shapes' tool. I can then set default settings for the landscape areas. Cheers, Rob

Hi folks Is there a way to copy the characteristics (segment length etc.) from one plant line to a second polygon, rather than having to keep typing in the settings? This is probably something obvious that I'm missing... Thanks, Rob

Thanks Peter - that sorted it! Rob

Thanks Pat - I thought it would be something to do with making viewports to show the projection that I wanted, but it was the 'convert to group' bit that I was missing. The file that has been created is quite big, so I'll need to simplify the models to make them suitable for the scale that I'm working at with these sections. Many thanks, Rob

Morning All I'm probably missing something obvious, but I've watched various tutorial videos and I still can't work this out. There are lots of great 3D vehicle models in the VSS Entourage Vehicles library, but I need to create 2D symbols of some of these that will remain as 2D front, rear or side views, even when viewed in Top/Plan view. This is so that I can show them in some landscape cross-sections which have to be created the 'old fashioned' way in top/plan view (because the file becomes to large/clunky and over-complicated if I use Section Viewports). Screen shot below shows the sort of thing I'm creating - this is only a small extract from a 750m long section that stretches across a large chuck of countryside. I've managed to get some vehicle symbols from contacts and from the web (as shown in the screenshot), but I want to be able to create my own from the 3D models in the VSS libraries. I've tried (I think) creating a 2D symbol from a rendered front view, but when I insert the symbol into the section, it reverts to top/plan view. Any pointers towards the right video to watch or simple step-by-step instructions would be gratefully received... Cheers, Rob

Thanks Peter Can I send you the file by PM? Client confidentiality etc. - don't really want to put it on the forum. Rob

Thanks CipesDesign. That's what I was trying before, but it seems to have worked this time so I must have done something different... 🙂🙂🙂 One more query though: If I uncheck the 'Display Extents beyond Cut Plane' option (i.e. I really want a section, rather than a section-elevation), and then update, the whole section disappears... I've tried restricting the 'Extents Beyond Cut Plane' and 'Extents Before Cut Plane' to 0.1m instead, and the same thing happens - the whole thing disappears. Clearly I'm missing something - any thoughts? I can send you the file if it helps. Rob

PS - I've Googled and watched a number of video tutorials (both official Vectorworks tutorials and others), but nothing I've found so far covers what I'm trying to achieve. R

Hi Can anyone point me towards an idiot's a beginner's guide to creating longitudinal sections through a site model? The normal section elevations don't seem to create the right sort of output, but it may just be that I'm not using the tool correctly. I've imported 3D contours and created the site model for the area around a quarry - see screenshot. I need to create some sections so that I can test how proposed screen planting will help to reduce the visibility of a proposed extension to the quarry. In the past I have done this manually (see below), but I'm sure it should be possible to do this much more efficiently. Any pointers and suggestions would be much appreciated. Rob

I found where the back-ups were supposed to be saved, but there was no back-up there. This might have been because it was set to over-write backups (which I have now changed to keep the last 5 back-ups), and when I opened the old file to see what had been lost this may have then overwritten the previous back-up). It was set to autosave every 5 mins. To prevent accidental over-writing of back-ups, it would be better if VW created a separate type of file for back-ups (i.e. basically the same but with a different suffix on the filename) which wouldn't then be over-written accidentally anyway. This is what happens with AutoCAD, where back-ups are .bak files, rather than .dwg files. But this doesn't explain why VW crashed out in the first place - I certainly wasn't doing anything heavy. 😖

Hi VW2019 just crashed on me without any warning - it just shut down. Where, if anywhere, should the autorecover or backup file be saved? I'm running a GeForce GTX1070 with the latest studio driver: I've run the diagnostics: DxDiag.txt Thanks, Rob

Now I'm feeling stupid! I was expecting that by applying a background that would auto-generate a fill... Thanks for your help - my excuse is that I have to jump between AutoCAD/Keyscape, VW, SketchUp and Adobe as all my clients have their own styles and approaches... Cheers, Rob

This is probably something obvious, but I've searched for and can't find the answer... I've set up a text style for callouts which includes a white background so that the label is easy to read when overlapping a base plan - see image below: However, as you can see the background isn't showing... Settings for the text style are below: Any ideas anyone? [I'm running Landmark 2019 - not yet brave to install 2020] Thanks, Rob