jeff prince

That's actually not a bad idea. I should start a thread dedicated to the actual project instead of this drone stuff. This is my first actual vectorworks project with the past year being spent on limited experiments with the key 3D tools to see if this would even be feasible. I've haven't even composed a detail or a sheet in the software yet 🙂

Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to share in the coming weeks 🙂

Thanks. Glad you liked it.

Some rough cut of aerial videography with 3D modeling.

@rowbear97 Thanks for the reply. I'm a believer in hardscape and grade modifier objects, just wish they would advance a bit in their modeling capability. Forgive my ignorance, but what is the advantage of creating your hardscape objects in 3D, beyond reporting areas and such, if you don't have enough information to tie them to the site elevations during early concept? Is there a speed advantage compared to making 2D shapes in conceptual design and converting them later? Do problems manifest once you start reshaping these 3D hardscapes to conform to the site levels you are proposing later in the process? How would you produce something like attached photo (hardscape warped into wall)... as a BIM compliant hardscape object that quantifies like the rest of the hardscapes? Have a great weekend.

Thanks Jim. Ill send you a couple when I get back to the office next week.

Anyone....anyone? Where should I direct this question?

How would you handle this workflow... Start a project as a masterplan in 2D, but it will eventually migrate into 3D. You design a complex series of hardscapes that you know you will have to change the elevations and slopes of later. You would like to keep certain sides or points of the hardscape related/connected to a proposed building's FF (will change) and a nearby existing building's FF (not changing). You don't have any of this level information yet, the survey has not been completed. You will establish the proposed building's FF at a later time and you would like the hardscapes to adjust their slope based upon this change to the building. You would like to constrain these slopes to min/max limits and investigate drainage options. Does the software have these capabilities?

For those interested, I have combined my VW site model generated from survey data with the 3D model generated from aerial photographic survey. Of the images attached, "3 model and aerial" really shows the level of accuracy when you look at the parking lot at the right side of the stadium. Those little islands in a sea of green are cars picked up by the drone that were not accounted for by the survey crew. The same is noticed with vegetation and a building excavation that began after the survey crew had visited the site. It's really pretty amazing how close things are. Green = VW site model, Ghost = Drone generated model Drone generated model Green = VW site model, photo model by drone poking thru. Note parking lots and footing of buildings as they relate to the largely flat property with photo textured cars, vegetation, and buildings poking thru with a fair degree of accuracy. Drone model with 3D contours from VW site model shown in white.

You are my hero with that little tip on picking multiples classes and hitting edit! I did it all class by class on the example I posted the other day. Thanks for sharing this great time saver.

No problem Naomi. I made a video explanation for you that I hope will explain it a little better and attached the file for reference. There is one pumpkin drawn on a design layer. The video shows 4 different viewports arranged on a sheet layer displaying that pumpkin. By clicking on the viewport, looking at the Obj Info pallet, and then clicking on the "classes" button in the Obj Info pallet, you will see your class control for the viewport you clicked on. Clicking on the class here and editing it overrides the design layer behavior in the viewport, but not on the design layer. I like my methodology in AutoCAD with plotstyles better, but this will make Vectorworks behave in a similar fashion. Note, transparency works too, which is essential to my architectural diagrams. The fact that we can apply patterns or textures using class overrides is actually a pretty powerful feature for diagrams now that I think about it. Please know I am a beginner at Vectorworks and just discovered this workflow from this thread and experimentation. There may be unintended consequences or better ways to do it. Halloween.vwx

Last year I had downloaded a trial version of Vectorworks and created a few drawings. Today I tried to open them using my licensed copy and it says they were created by and educational version. How is this problem resolved?

@JHAM Thanks for the motivation. Attached is a test of the same files originally made in AutoCAD and imported into VW. It took me a bit of doing, but using class overrides on the viewports yielded a similar result. I think the AutoCAD plot style workflow is faster/stronger/more logical, but this will at least work as intended. Vectorworks Sheet layer displaying 4 viewports each looking at the same Design Layer objects, each viewport having unique overrides. plotstyle test4.pdf View inside Vectorworks design layer using the "black background" preference setting. Too bad it effects both design and sheet layers, it would be nice to have the sheet layers white and the model space black (or a color of choice).

In AutoCAD, you can give each layer LINEWEIGHT and PLOTSTYLE to control the output. Assigning colors to get line weight is an antiquated methodology. Assigning color for print output or screen organization is a nice feature. The attached PDF is an AutoCAD example of using plot styles, lineweights, and viewport specific settings in a single paper space tab. Modelspace of the same file is attached as a screenshot. This is accomplished in what sounds like VW viewport overrides, which sounds very promising! Autocad Layout - 4 viewports looking into model space, each with it's own PLOTSTYLE settings for the viewport plotstyle example2.pdf AutoCAD Modespace view - displaying layers as their native colors for visual organization, not plotting

Thanks, glad you like them. I was going to try to photomodel the water towers in the last photo, but I ran out of time with the software. It will be interesting to see how it resolves the shapes involved seeing as they are spheres supported by a column tapered to a sharp point.