Jump to content

Jeff Prince

Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,981

  • Joined

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Jeff Prince

    landscape edging/headers - best practices

    in Site Design

    Posted

    I'm very new to vectorworks and using 2017.  I would like to learn how people are creating landscape edging to represent in 3D and reports.  Many of my designs have these running between different landcape areas, usually abutting some other hardscape object like a walkway or path.  I used to just draw these as polylines in AutoCAD, but now I would like to leverage Vectorworks to make them properly in 3D so they will follow a site model and such.  I just made one with the hardscape tool using the path option and setting it to 6" wide.  It seems to work pretty good on curvilinear forms both in 2D and 3D, though I can't seem to find an option in the hardscape settings that builds it from "top of slab" and representing it's thickness in the downward direction.  I usually show a difference of 2" between the top of walks/headers and the adjacent landscape or hardscape surface and would like to represent this.  In the mean time, I opted to change to object from 3D to 2D, VW is taking forever to process that little instruction 😞

    thanks for any help,

    Jeff

    An origin mystery...sheet layer, titleblock, and border positioning

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm on VW 2017 and just learning how to set up sheets after dabbling in developing a project model.

     

    I followed the procedures in creating a sheet layer, border, and titleblock using the default VW objects per VW online video.

     

    I'm curious why VW created the sheet with it's center at 0,0 instead of the upper or lower left corner.  Is this typical and desired behavior?  If so, why?  I notice the Adobe softwares place the user origin at the upper left corner of a project by default.  This can be changed in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Vectorworks to correspond to lower left at 0,0.  Strangely enough, the "user space" in a PDF defines the origin at the lower left corner, but the rulers and coordinate tool display the upper left corner as the origin.  Does anyone know how to change this behavior in Acrobat?  I wish there was some consistency in all of this and just want to develop good habits while learning VW.  I'm thinking I should train my brain to view paper coordinates as originating from the upper left corner and adopt that in all my layout processes in various softwares.  What do you think is best?

     

    So getting back to VW, Is there any concern with changing the "user origin" of a sheet layout?  I see I can do this easily the same way I do it in Photoshop and Illustrator, but want to make sure it's safe to do so.  I really don't want to break some kind of functionality down the road as I'm pretty busy just figuring out the basics :)

    thanks for any help,
    Jeff

    Image Prop best practices

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    We have been experimenting with image props in preparation to create a new library of regional plant materials to be shown in elevation and perspective.

    Are there any recommendations or best practices for:

    • Image Size (width & height)
    • Resolution/DPI
    • Color Mode/Depth
    • File Format

    Are there any pros & cons to be aware of for various setting?

     

    I would like to nail down all these settings before turning my staff loose on what will be a fairly large task.  Our intent is to use these images for the construction of image props, display in the plant database in a custom report (to show a larger image and less data), and as Photoshop entourage.

     

    Thanks for any help,

    Jeff

     

    Plant Database - Font color changed to white

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted · Edited by jeff prince

    Some help finally arrived via our reseller and possibly from VW over the past week.  I was instructed to do a series exercises in accessing the plant database in a variety of ways.  Just like taking a car into the shop with intermittent problems, the bug failed to materialize.  I had to get some actual work done at some point, so I gave up.

     

    A few days later, the bug reappeared and today I made it a priority to figure it out.

     

    If Outlook is active and is being used to write an email or has recently sent an email, the text in the plant database turns white.

    This is repeatable.

     

    Of course I do not know why Outlook has this effect, but perhaps the solution is easier to identify now?

    I suspect it is a Filemaker Pro / Outlook issue, as there appears to be a long history of incompatibility between those two.

     

    Perhaps I will avoid this issue if I don't run Outlook while running the Plant Database. Time will tell...

    Maybe I can use this as justification for having email programs removed from my computer :)

     

    **edit - I just read an email from VW tech support that also laid suspicion on Filemaker... so perhaps Outlook vs Filemaker is the culprit.

    Plant Database - Font color changed to white

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    On 9/13/2017 at 5:25 PM, jeff prince said:

    Probably get down voted again for that....

     

    Meanwhile, no solution to the above is forthcoming from the company that writes the software...

    And of course, someone took the time to read my message and negatively impact my "reputation" for pointing out these issues.

    Amazing company and community.

    • Like 1

    creating conceptual graphic styles for diagrams

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Pretty much every one of my projects starts with sketches and site analysis.

    I draw them by hand to communicate quickly.

    My team uses M-Color to create similar hand drawn graphics (see image) based upon AutoCAD vectors when these types of graphics need to be included in formal reports.

     

    Is it possible to create similar graphic styles in Vectorworks quickly?

    If so, how?

     

    Ideally, I would place a few symbols to mark key features or site influences, draw a shapes to define areas, and draw some lines to define paths.  After all that was done, simply apply a graphic style to create the look I'm after.

     

    SA graphics.jpg

    Site Model Area / Resolution Limitations

    in Site Design

    Posted

    4 hours ago, lisag said:

    Hi there,

     

    I have a survey file of an area of approx 3000 x 1500sqm, with 0.5m contour data (3d polys) and a few spot heights (3d loci). 

     

    I have validated the data and Vectorworks detects no issues, but everytime I try to create a site model from this data Vectorworks appears to crash (presumably due to area / resolution?) I have extracted a smaller area of the same data as a test, and this generates a site model fine.

     

    I don't want to simplify polys, as a.) I don't want to lose definition and b.) simplifying polys causes the contours to overlap and I will have to spend a lot of time re-validating this data. I also don't want to amend my minor contour interval (0.5) as again, I don't want to lose definition. The site model is required for construction information to set levels and calculate cut and fill, so needs to be as accurate as possible. 

     

    Do I have any other options in terms of creating a model from this data? Is there a typical size of area that Vectorworks can handle as a site model? Does anyone have any experience of the length of time it typically takes to generate a large site model? I work for a Landscape Architecture practice and we are just starting to test the capabilities of Landmark for our work, so good to understand the limitations in advance.

     

    I'm currently on Mac OS Sierra 10.12.6, Processor 3.2 GHz Intel Core i5, Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3; Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M 1024 MB... running Vectorworks Landmark 2014. (I will put this in my footer for future use!)

     

    Thanks,

    Lisa

     

     

    Can you ditch the 3d polys and just request a point file from your surveyor?  That seems to be faster and more accurate in the testing I have done thus far.

    Plant Database - Font color changed to white

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    On 9/8/2017 at 7:18 PM, JimW said:

    The above is all assuming the text color has not been modified via Format > Text Color in the VWPlants application, correct? if you select a cell and attempt to edit it in that way to red or blue, it remains white and does not respond to color changes, correct?

    If the same occurs after a preference reset, then a uninstall (make sure to uninstall first using the utility in the Application folder, avoid just installing overtop the original) and reinstall is warranted. However, if it still presents with that, let me know and I may get some diagnostic info from your machine.

     

    The text was not changed via format > text color

    If I try to change it, nothing happens

    The same happens, intermittently strangely enough, even after a preference reset per the VW instructions involving the deletion of numerous plst files and reentering the serial number.

     

    And then this situation just gets better and better.  Having tried to get support directly from Vectorworks, I was referred to our reseller.

    After waiting over a week for the reseller to respond, they have informed me that it has been referred to Vectorworks for resolution...

    I can't help but feeling like this company is staffed by people who retired from long careers as DMV workers ;)

    Probably get down voted again for that....

    • Like 1

    Using the plant database

    in Site Design

    Posted

    14 hours ago, verdancedesign said:

    I'm looking for best practices and would love your perspective… I'm creating a single "master" file of preferred plants (planning to organize them by type similar to @J. Wallace's system). The 2D symbols will be simple circles. In my workflow I use separate classes for Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, etc. — primarily differentiated by line weight (trees = thick line, perennials = thin line, etc.). In your opinion/experience, should I create the 2D geometry using these classes and their default attributes (e.g. the circle representing Acer palmatum would be class Tree with thick line, the circle for Rudbeckia fulgida would be class Perennial with thin line) so that the class attributes always "follow" the symbol? Or, should I make the geometry generic (e.g. class 0), and assign classes to the symbols when I place them in the plan? The former method looks like a lot more upfront work, but if it has long-term benefits I'll spend the time… I just don't want to do this again. Thanks for your opinions!

     

    Im curious how people are handling this as well.  In other layer based CAD software, our symbols were composed of multiple layers for graphic purposes using AIA layering convention.  We then placed the block/symbol on layers based upon there master class/layer (L-PLNT-TREE) for instance.  Sometimes a project would have phases of planting, so we would place the block/symbol on an appended layer indicating that.  Problems would occur with our approach if you wanted graphic differentiation between the phases using the same symbol/block,  leading to further classifications to differentiate.  Wasn't a big challenge because it was an infrequent requirement.

    Plant Database - Font color changed to white

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    25 minutes ago, JimW said:

    Correct, purchases through the US team directly are supported first party. Many/most of the distributors and resellers exclusively provide support to their users and would have full access to your license info. This may change in the future, but it is the current state.
     

    Once they saw you'd been referred, they likely would not reply directly since the reseller is going to be handling it, they'd be speaking with the reseller to coordinate support since theres been such a huge delay.
     

    No, that was another user. But regardless; please stop with the personal accusations, I understand you're frustrated but they will not speed things along at all. Let's forget that portion of this conversation here and focus on the tech problems.

    What occurred after creating a new user account? Same issue with the text or did it appear differently? You should try an alternate user account (a newly made one) before a full reinstall.

    Same issue.

    Plant Database - Font color changed to white

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted · Edited by jeff prince

    Thanks for your comments.

    About the only thing left at this point is to reinstall the software I guess.

     

    I'm a US landscape architect working in the Middle East.   Our IT department was directed to purchase from a reseller in the region by this website, much to my dissapointment.  Jim, I will ask you the same question I posed to Jay and Juan of VW in a recent email... Am I to believge my experience with support would somehow be different if I personally purchased through VW in the USA?  I'm still waiting for support to materialize from our reseller and questions posed to your colleagues in the US (presumed) to be answered.  Tell Juan and Jay to check their email :)

    Evaluating Vectorworks - Developing a plant database

    in Site Design

    Posted

    My issue with the white text remains and support from VW seems unlikely.

     

    Today I successfully placed the plant database on my iPad and opened with Filemaker GO per:

    http://learn.archoncad.com/2010/09/445/vectorworks-plant-database-on-your-ipad/

     

    I was pretty excited, especially when I successfully opened the Vectorworks database on my iPad, added a plant, and even added some photos of it directly in the database.

    I then transferred the modified database off my iPad and back to my laptop.

     

    If I open the modified plant database in FileMaker Pro on the laptop, I can see my edits and photos.

    If I open it in VW on the laptop, no such luck.

    The modified database opens and displays the old plants in VW, but no trace of my new plant and photos.

     

    Any ideas as to what is going on?

    Installer for licensed version

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted · Edited by jeff prince

    Is it different than the trial version?  Reason I ask, the company just bought a copy of the software and installed it on my workstation.  If I run into trouble or want to install it on my laptop, I have the serial number, but not the installer.

    Plant Database - Font color changed to white

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    I reopened my custom plant database and suddenly all is back to normal after deleting it.  Interestingly enough, I had tried changing text color on a few plants back when they all when white.  That didn't fix the problem, however, those old custom plant databases that now look normal, have the colors I assigned to the names of a few of the plants now.  Seems like a software stability problem that I some how managed to set off.

×
×
  • Create New...