[Marionette file doesn't work when pulled into a new file?]

I am going to be owing you both a drink for helping me with this, if you are ever in sunny Lancashire uk, let me know if your close to the senator group headquarters and I will take you for a drink  😀

[Marionette file doesn't work when pulled into a new file?]

thank you @Marissa Farrell and @Pat Stanford i appreciate your help with this.

 

@Marissa Farrell if possible a basic example with symbols would be really helpful, if you think this might be the better way in marionette to do that, like you say I don't want to end up with name issues for the original items.

 

what I found when I used that item I had created from the resource browser from a workgroup library as a test, if I click the unstyle button for the item in a new file, the item goes back to working in that active file, I am guessing it somehow resorts to the original naming.

 

From what I had been creating today I had a feeling it was that named item that might be a problem after working on some other items, I had started to see a pattern with that, it is a pity that it is though and isn't just contained in the original object sub group without auto-renaming but I understand why it does as you need unique ids on everything, the other way I thought would be just create some nodes for the parts like the bracket that are created in script form and can just move and change those then I don't have any named items in and don't need to do it completely in script and can keep some of it in marionette form for other users to be able to edit the materials list.

 

my other thought was just to do it completely in script, so I might have a look into that myself as well, but the problem if I do it fully scripted will the average user be able to edit a material list to add new materials, where as the marionette is a little easier for the average user to see.

 

We are producing a lot of items and we want to be able to have this power of the dropdowns, resizing items, most of our items of furniture are just that where it will stretch either in X, Y or Z axis depending on width, depth or height and change finish and I want to preset everything.

 

I want to almost create a configurator for our items that all the users can use. I know it's a big job but a massive saving in the long run, especially if they add or remove materials quite a lot and if we have all the sizes available added in rather having to create each item, each size and permutation manually (as we do at the moment ) so it will save time in the long run.  I understand swift to a level and have done some objective-c in the past and when I looked into vs script for the debugging it looked feasible just certain things that would throw me, so I will have a go as well.

 

On a side note for either @Marissa Farrell or @Pat Stanford Is it possible in script form to fillet all edges of an extruded rectangle so you can then run a stretch width and depth on that scripted item and it keeps the radius the same? I am guessing you would just feed the width, depth and height in and that would set the width (width) and height (depth) of the 2d rectangle and then the height (top extrude) of the item then run the fillet on the end of that but only if fillet is available as a scriptable item, if not I am guessing I would just do as I did where I create the ends and then just stretch a rounded rectangle in the middle of those.

 

Appreciate any help with this.

 

Thank you,

Sim

[Marionette file doesn't work when pulled into a new file?]

thank you pat I appreciate you quickly looking into that, I have had to park that for a day or two to sort some project work but once I get back onto it, I will have a look. I did have all the nodes connected originally so maybe something has glitched out when I saved it because a few things were glitching when I was creating that. Could I ask whether doing this via Marionette or should I just create a vectorscipt or python coded tool / object item is the best way. I know we want to have these kind of dynamic options for stretching length and changing materials but I want to make sure I am going down the correct route. Thank you, Sim

[Marionette file doesn't work when pulled into a new file?]

Hi If possible could somebody check this Marionette file please, it doesn't work at all when inserted into a new file from the resource pallet but works when I copy it, could somebody check this and tell me where I might have gone wrong or if I am overcomplicating things. it seems like a fairly simple item but I have had to feed the materials, lengths and certain other properties in so the output displays correctly on the text and in the record items, could somebody kindly see if they can help me with this please as I am almost pulling my hair out trying to get these dynamic items working, also apologies for the larger file size most of this is because i am trying to embed all our finishes which are quite large, but I will be having a look into that and see if I can pull the finishes in a different way or reduce them a little in file size. Appreciate any help with this. 

Thank you,

Simeon

 

 

Aspen Modesty.vwx

[Material dropdown plus height change]

hi Marissa I really appreciate your help, that helps with that specific item and I apologise because of my explanation I didn't fully explain what I am trying to achieve, the item I am trying to get fully working correctly is this dynamic top item that can be re-used for other things, that can dynamically change the width depth, height, radius and materials of the unit, so when the user feeds the cupboard unit in from that previous one, this will get the overall width from the cupboard - a user defined left and back measurement that will be an inset of that inner top in either side and at the back then it stretches out to the relevant full dimensions. i have tried to get basically a filleted box working but I had to reconstruct it with spheres and circles and rectangular middle parts and add solids with all those items to construct that, but this is the part that I can't quite get to work. I was originally trying to get something more dynamic than this that would allow me to do any top of any of our items, that could include portholes or scallops but I think that would be quite a huge job but would save a massive amount of time. for other items I am managing to get them working, like legs and beams, the only thing I do worry about in the nodes I have been doing is if I don't have the duplicate ticked in the name node it doesn't do the work after all the drop-down and everything else is calculated, but if I have the duplicate ticked it will create a duplicate item inside the original script items, is it better to put the original items inside control geometry or inside the script part and is that the correct way to feed the original items in to change and am I better to construct everything in marionette form not use originally geometry and just change it. sorry let me know if you need any further clarification on this and I truly appreciate all your help with this, it saves massive amounts of time using marionette, thank you, sim

top.vwx

[Materials in Marionette?]

hi Marissa , thank you I have posted a new thread, is there a way for you to delete the file I uploaded in this original thread? I can't seem to find where you do that.

--------------------------------

 

Member

 40

Posted Friday at 03:44 PM

Hi Marissa really appreciate you helping me with the text file I am still going to have a go at implementing that but I am struggling with something to do with material drop-downs and I think I have messed up some of my nodes in this, I am trying to create a full dynamic storage unit that will change finishes (I am sorry if any of the nodes are a bit messy I have tried to keep them clean but I got a little stuck and messed up and apologies for that)  Basically the top should be part of the credenza storage unit and the height of the top will change when the user changes the finishes and my implementation maybe really incorrect, but is there any chance you or somebody at vectorworks could have a look into this file please and let me know if this is even possible with marionette nodes and if I am going down totally the wrong route with the way I am creating it, I have implemented a dropdown with the finishes just hard coded at the moment instead of the pull in list that you sent just to try and implement it first. I appreciate any help with this, I post the file here if it helps anybody with dropdown nodes and objects if this is the correct way to do it. Appreciate the help. thank you, Sim

Credenza.vwx433.87 MB · 1 download

[Material dropdown plus height change]

Hi @Marissa Farrell  I am struggling with something to do with material drop-downs plus feeding that into resizing a top item,  I think I have messed up some of my nodes in this, I am trying to create a full dynamic storage unit that will change finishes and the top height of the unit to the relevant material (I am sorry if any of the nodes are a bit messy I have tried to keep them clean but I got a little stuck and messed up, apologies for that). I was trying to create a filleted top that would adjust in height based off the finish list, basically the top should be part of the credenza storage unit and the height of the top will change when the user changes the finishes and my implementation maybe really incorrect, but is there any chance you or somebody at vectorworks could have a look into this file please and let me know if this is even possible with marionette nodes and if I am going down totally the wrong route with the way I am creating it, I have implemented a dropdown with the finishes just hard coded at the moment instead of the pull in list that you sent just to try and implement it first. I appreciate any help with this, I post the file here if it helps anybody with dropdown nodes and objects if this is the correct way to do it, I have removed some of the finishes because of the size of this file to allow me to upload this here.  Appreciate the help with this. thank you, Sim

temp.zip

[Materials in Marionette?]

Hi Marissa, should I create a new post for this question? thank you, Sim

[Requests/Enhancements]

I really like marionette and wish I had a lot more time to do more with it, one node I would like is Filleted radius 3D shape having tick boxes to fillet top, bottom, left , right , back and front and a picker for radius of corner and it automatically fillets whatever shape are in those planes or a simpler version just fillet 3d box with the same options that blend straight edges to curved edges if that makes sense.

[Materials in Marionette?]

THIS POST WAS MOVED TO A NEW THREAD
 

 

[Materials in Marionette?]

thank you Marissa I will have a look through and see where I get to with that, I appreciate all your help with this, it is slowly coming together but I might post you some sample files once I get to the end of what I am working on to see if what I am doing is the correct way to do what I am doing. 

[Materials in Marionette?]

Hi Marissa thank you, if possible a small working example would be great so I don't misunderstand that, I did find a partial workaround by just using comments in the popup list but it would be great if the fixed list could be separated out so the users don't need to look at any the rest of the marionette. appreciate your help with this.

 

There are two ways I was thinking of going with this one, there was 1. a fixed list input as mentioned but I was also thinking, if I fixed the lists already would there be a way to have a tickbox options in the marionette node that the user picks and that input filters the popup list to show the relevant correct lists but I think feeding the lists into the marionette node would be the better option so the user only sees the lists input and then the finish list popup is the backend.

 

I am using this in a hMaterial input in Set Material on named input items for the different parts of a storage cupboard so it displays all the materials available to the user and only the available options to the user but allows me to re-use one for all the parts

 

I hope this all makes sense:

 

appreciate the help.

 

 

 

this is a node that worked for me:

 

@Marionette.NodeDefinition

class Params(metaclass = Marionette.OrderedClass):

    # THIS IS THE LIST OF FINISHES TO ADD TO THE LIST COPY ONE OF THE EXISTING AND MAKE SURE YOU ADD THE COMMA , and SPACE IN PLEASE
    finishNames = ['(MFC 1) BH Beech MFC', '(MFC 1) DHI Dark Rockford Hickory MFC', '(MFC 1) GRO Greige Castello Oak MFC', '(MFC 1) LG Light Grey MFC', '(MFC 1) SO Strata Oak MFC', '(MFC 1) UM Urban Maple MFC', '(MFC 1) WH White MFC', '(MFC 1) WK Winter Oak MFC', '(MFC 2) ABL Alby Blue MFC', '(MFC 2) BLT Basalt MFC', '(MFC 2) COG Cobalt Grey MFC', '(MFC 2) DSA Deep Sahara MFC', '(MFC 2) PUB PUB Premium Black', '(MFC 2) PUW Premium White', '(MFC 2) SGR Smoke Green MFC', '(MFC 2) SLG Slate Grey MFC', '(MFC 2) TAG Taupe Grey Egger MFC']
    #DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING BELOW THIS UNTIL YOU GET TO finishNameList
    
    this = Marionette.Node( "Get Texture" )
    this.SetDescription( 'Returns the selected texture from the dropdown list' )
    
    selectedTexture = Marionette.OIPControl( 'Popup', Marionette.WidgetType.Popup, 0, finishNames)
    selectedTexture.SetDescription( "A list of the available finishes" )

    output = Marionette.PortOut('h')
    output.SetDescription( "The selected texture's name" )

def RunNode(self):

    # COPY THE FINISH NAME LIST ABOVE TO HERE IF YOU ADD FINISHES
    finishNameList = ['(MFC 1) BH Beech MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) DHI Dark Rockford Hickory MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) GRO Greige Castello Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) LG Light Grey MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) SO Strata Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) UM Urban Maple MFC  - Senator', '(MFC 1) WH White MFC - Senator', '(MFC 1) WK Winter Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) ABL Alby Blue MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) BLT Basalt MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) COG Cobalt Grey MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) DSA Deep Sahara MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) PUB PUB Premium Black - Senator', '(MFC 2) PUW Premium White - Senator', '(MFC 2) SGR Smoke Green MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) SLG Slate Grey MFC - Senator', '(MFC 2) TAG Taupe Grey Egger MFC - Senator']
    
    index = self.Params.selectedTexture.value
    
    getObject = vs.GetObject(finishNameList[index])

    self.Params.output.value = getObject

 

 

but I need to add all the other material finishes here: 

band1Finishes = ['(MFC 1) BH Beech MFC', '(MFC 1) DHI Dark Rockford Hickory MFC', '(MFC 1) GRO Greige Castello Oak MFC', '(MFC 1) LG Light Grey MFC', '(MFC 1) SO Strata Oak MFC', '(MFC 1) UM Urban Maple MFC', '(MFC 1) WH White MFC', '(MFC 1) WK Winter Oak MFC']

band2Finishes = ['(MFC 2) ABL Alby Blue MFC', '(MFC 2) BLT Basalt MFC', '(MFC 2) COG Cobalt Grey MFC', '(MFC 2) DSA Deep Sahara MFC', '(MFC 2) PUB PUB Premium Black', '(MFC 2) PUW Premium White', '(MFC 2) SGR Smoke Green MFC', '(MFC 2) SLG Slate Grey MFC', '(MFC 2) TAG Taupe Grey Egger MFC']

band3Finishes = ['(MFC 3) BOK Black Cassella Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 3) DCO Brown Casella Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 3) LCO Light Natural Casella Oak MFC - Senator', '(MFC 3) NCO Natural Casella Oak MFC - Senator']

stockLaminateFinishes = ['(SL) BLK  Jet Black Stock Laminate - Senator', '(SL) LTG  Light Grey Stock Laminate - Senator', '(SL) OAK  Summer Oak Stock Laminate - Senator', '(SL) PLA  Platinum Stock Laminate - Senator', '(SL) PWT  Pewter Grey Stock Laminate - Senator']

globalLaminateFinishes = ['(GL) BLK Diamond Black  - Senator', '(GL) BWN Smoky Brown - Senator', '(GL) CHC Dark Chocolate - Senator', '(GL) COF Planked Coffee - Senator', '(GL) CST Chestnut Woodline - Senator', '(GL) EBY Ebony - Senator', '(GL) FOG Fog - Senator', '(GL) FOS Fossil - Senator', '(GL) GRY Sarum Grey - Senator', '(GL) MOK Millenium Oak - Senator', '(GL) MSE Mouse - Senator', '(GL) NAS Natural Ash - Senator', '(GL) STM Storm - Senator', '(GL) WAL Oiled Walnut - Senator', '(GL) WAS White Ash - Senator', '(GL) WHT Brite White - Senator']

marbleTops = ['Bianco Carrara Honed Marble', 'Romano Bianco Vein-Cut Mastic Filled&Honed Travertine', 'Verde Oriental Honed Marble']

metalworkFinishes = ['BLK  Black Metal - Senator', 'SLV  Soft Silver Metal - Senator', 'WI  White Metal - Senator']

plasticFinishes = ['(PLA) BKP  Black Plastic - Senator', '(PLA) SLP  Silver Plastic - Senator', '(PLA) WHP  White Plastic - Senator']

 

[Materials in Marionette?]

Hi Marissa, Great work with that node, I have a question about those drop-downs. is it possible to feed a couple of fixed lists into a node, say I have a list like ['600 standard', '800 special'] and then another node for the actual sizes [560, 760] is there a way to do that whilst still having the drop-down appear in the shape tab, would you just use something similar to how you have created the node on this or is there a way to feed the lists into a standard dropdown somehow better, I am trying to make it more simpler for the users when going in to edit the sizes so they don't see most of the marionette they only see the bits that are editable, if that makes sense. appreciate your help. Sim

[Need help with a script, for creating symbols from groups]

Raymond you are a legend, thank you, I tested that and that works perfectly for what we need, I definitely owe you a drink for sorting that. I did not know that the user origin was shifted away from 0,0 on that file so the template at some point must have been moved and I have not checked the origin since then. I will make sure my templates are an unmoved user origins going forward, I thought I had used the base metric template from Vectorworks as my starter for all my templates and just put things like title blocks and things like that in so at some point it must have been changed, when I get home tonight I will look through the whole script because it will be helpful to me learning that as well. I didn't even realise functions were the same, I thought you had to use procedures so that is very useful information throughout your code for both learning scripting and doing the work we need. you just saved me a lot of time doing symbols. Thank you,

[Need help with a script, for creating symbols from groups]

thank you I appreciate it a lot you creating that so quickly it helps considerably  @MullinRJ , I am going to have to make some time to get my head around scripting in Vectorworks because it would save a lot of time for some of our repetitive tasks. viewport creation and symbol creation are two of the longest tasks that are the most repetitive in our work.

 

With regards to the items I don't need to move the items together I would do that when creating them they would be normally together, the 1m from top to bottom gap was me just showing it like that so it was easier to see the 2d item and 3d item for scripting it.

 

If I wanted the insertion point for each symbol to be always at the front centre of the chair so 0,0 would always be front centre of the chair, created from each group and never be any different, how would I change the code you provided for that. I am guessing that would be part of the hMove or is it when it is defining the hCenter?

 

truly thank you I owe you a drink 🙂

[Need help with a script, for creating symbols from groups]

Hi Pat, thanks for getting back to me, that is from chatGPT, I started writing my own script but then I couldn't get it to work, so I put it into chatgpt to see if it could help me fix, I stupidly deleted the conversation in chatgpt once I knew that it wasn't doing what I wanted but forgot to copy my code back from it, I should have probably just come on here instead. I understand about constants and variables, while and for loops but putting the basics together and into practice is a little more difficult. Is there any useful ways to start working with vectorscript?

 

Attached is the extract of a few groups and a already manually completed symbol. I hope I made sense in what I am trying to ask for and any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you, 

Sim

test file.vwx

[Need help with a script, for creating symbols from groups]

PROCEDURE GetFrontCenter(groupHandle : HANDLE; groupCenter : VECTOR);
VAR groupHandle : HANDLE;
VAR groupCenter : VECTOR;
BEGIN
    groupCenter := GetGroupCenter(groupHandle);
END;
PROCEDURE IsTextInGroup(groupHandle : HANDLE) : BOOLEAN;
VAR
    groupObjects : DYNARRAY[] OF HANDLE;
    numObjects, i : INTEGER;
BEGIN
    groupObjects := GetGroupObjects(groupHandle);
    numObjects := GetArrayCount(groupObjects);
    IsTextInGroup := FALSE;
    FOR i := 1 TO numObjects DO
    BEGIN
        IF GetType(groupObjects[i]) = 9 THEN
        BEGIN
            IsTextInGroup := TRUE;
            EXIT;
        END;
    END;
END;
PROCEDURE CreateTextSymbolFromSelectedGroups(groupNamePrefix : STRING);
VAR
    h : HANDLE;
    numSelected, i : INTEGER;
    groupName : STRING;
    groupCenter : VECTOR;
BEGIN
    numSelected := NumSelectedObjects;
    FOR i := 1 TO numSelected DO
    BEGIN
        h := FSActLayer;
        FOR i := 1 TO numSelected DO
        BEGIN
            h := NextObj(h);
            groupName := GetName(h);
            IF (Pos(groupNamePrefix, groupName) = 1) AND IsTextInGroup(h) THEN
            BEGIN
                GetFrontCenter(h, groupCenter);
                CreateSymbol(h, groupName, groupCenter);
            END;
        END;
    END;
END;

 

I am trying to create a script that will use the currently selected groups, each group will have a 2d and 3d item in each group and a piece of text and I need each item to go into the relevant 2d part and 3d part of the symbol (so the 2d goes into top/plan and the 3d goes into the 3d in the symbol). The text inside each group should be used for the symbol name and be shown in the 2D. Is it possible to do this? I understand some things about scripting but not much about the way vectorscripting works. is this possible, I have shown a quick stab in the dark go at trying to create a script but I know that I have made mistakes in this. Any help would be greatly appreciated because we use this every single day on thousands of symbols, currency manually creating them. Thank you, Sim

[Vectorworks Graphic Legend - automation / separate sheets]

hi pat sorry I didn't get back from 2023 I had sorted a way of doing everything I needed using graphic legends in the end I managed to create my own workflow for it and got graphic legends working how I want and now saves me a lot of time manually creating sheets for everything by putting all the sheets onto one document page so I have x number of sheets on one page. thank you for getting back to me though and sorry for the delay its been pretty hectic here.

[Renderworks Texture Help]

totally agree @line-weight if it could have an intelligent autobox mapping so you can just align to a direction on all faces and it automatically maps planar but in the direction you choose in the UV box.

[Renderworks Texture Help]

When using renderworks textures and you apply the texture (for example a plywood edge on a desktop) to a multiple filleted shape.

What is the best way to get a texture UV wrapped correctly so all the faces are the correct way up and aligned correctly, when I need a texture just on the edges of a shape not the top and bottom, how do I get it to align all the way around without manually mapping each one. I have included a file that shows the rotation of the UV. In some other programs I can use UV unwrapping or other UV methods to make the texture align correctly but I can't seem to do this quickly within vectorworks within picking every face individually and rotating them.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Simeon

Sample Fillet renderworks texture.zip

[HELP with Texture Mapping please]

When using renderworks textures and you apply the texture (for example a plywood edge on a desktop) to a multiple filleted shape, what is the best way to get the texture UV wrapped correctly so all the faces are the correct way up and aligned correctly, when I need a texture just on the edges of a shape not the top and bottom, how do I get it to align all the way around without manually mapping each one. I have included a file that shows the rotation of the UV. In some other programs I can use UV unwrapping or other UV methods to make the texture align correctly but I can't seem to do this quickly within vectorworks.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Simeon

Sample Fillet renderworks texture.zip

[Vectorworks Graphic Legend - automation / separate sheets]

Does anybody know how to script the sheets and viewports so that it can loop through all my design layers in a file and generate for example 8 viewports we need per item and an overview but with the codes for each item displayed on the overview.

 

we have hundreds of viewports to create and I have looked into partially scripting this but I wasn't understanding fully how the viewports worked with the design layers to get each item and how we could maybe use either cameras or a fixed viewport to define the view properties for all other viewports.

 

For example we have 10 design layers, on each design layer is a symbol titled as the code of the product and the design layer is named the same code. They are all centred in the middle of the origin in the same place for each item, we need for each design layer, 1 sheet layer that will show the plan view and all 8 custom view / camera view rotations all around the item, think turntable. After this overview sheet we will have the 8 separate rotations all as separate sheets but we might have to repeat this for 1000's of items and on each overview page we need text that displays what the symbol name is.

 

I would highly appreciate any help with this.

 

Thank you,

Sim

 

 

On 1/26/2023 at 4:59 PM, Pat Stanford said:

Assuming this is actually a 3D object the only way I can think of is to create a design layer for each object with the object in the same location on each layer. You then create the first Sheet Layer and layout the Viewports the way you want with appropriate layer (Only one Design Layer active) and class setting and view and rendermode for each viewport.

 

Duplicate the Sheet Layer, Go to the new sheet Layer, select all the Viewports. Click the Layers... button and change the visibility so that the "next" Design Layer is the only one visible. When you update the viewports you should have the second object.  Repeat for all the other layers.

 

This is scriptable, but I don't have time right now (next two weeks) to work on it. 😞

 

 

[Vectorworks Graphic Legend - automation / separate sheets]

Hi @line-weight thanks that almost works fully but with the amount of sheets and hidden line geometry it may get very slow and may even stop but I need to check the main file, I haven't had chance to try it with all the items I had so I might when I get chance with all 300 items (I managed to complete the project over the weekend that I was doing, creating them partially manually each page using a graphics legend for the 300 separately) but I just tried your method with 14 random items from vectorworks library and it seems like you can use this way to create them.

 

It looks like you can use your way and get rid of the margin which is a way of creating the titleblocks side by side and it creates one PDF with all the pages in which does work and if I wanted individual images I can create individual images like that but the only downside to this method is that there is no automatic method of naming the pages like sheets and no way of exporting as individual PDF pages so only one per PDF.

 

It is almost there but definitely if the graphic legend had an output to separate sheets or even a publish like window for generating separate sheets that would be perfect so you could just create one template page and output lots of sheets from that with whatever filters you have, speeding up multiple page creation.

 

I think vectorworks is definitely improving with each release, just needs some streamlining to things like this and certain user interface tweaks,

I could see some vectorworks improvements as:

 

1. have something like the graphics legend that is similar to affinity publisher or indesign master pages so you can create one page and all other pages you assign the master too automatically uses that master for creating views from and automatically publishes from a filter setup a bit similar to publish pages but with this graphics legend built in.

 

2. maybe something like a hybrid stretching 2D and 3D symbol that has an offset and the offset allows all items outside the offset to be fixed and everything on the inner of the symbol stretches, I know we have marionette but if we had a dynamic stretching style block we wouldn't need to take ages setting up marionettes for some things. 

 

3. in addition to the above hybrid stretching symbol have a pulldown option that is configurable by the user so you can hide and show things in a symbol and assign the hide and show to a dropdown item, you could assign any 2D or 3D item to the dropdown and it just hide or show depending on what option is picked. I know autocad has dynamic blocks like this but they were limited but if vectorworks allowed hybrid stretching and hybrid visibilities and it automatically creates a plugin symbol it would be very useful.

 

4. making startup times a lot quicker (maybe removing plugins from startup until you run the tool for the first time and then after that first run each plugin runs quicker because you started it already from the tool, it would speed up startup a lot I think. It might slow down the tool a little for the first use but I could see a lot of speed increase in that as each user doesn't use every tool / plugin inside of vectorworks and if you use the plugin / tool you are more than likely to use it more than once in the session your running. I might be wrong with my thinking on this though.

 

5. Worksheets update the user interface to be more like apple numbers like style filters / categories and build in better formatting for cells, maybe improve and put in auto dimensioning into worksheets as well (it may be that graphics legends could be the replacement for this but its not advanced enough yet, but certainly getting there. 

 

Thanks for your help with this graphics legend.

 

Sim

[Graphic legends]

Having a look into Graphic legends myself my understanding and I might be wrong though:

 

if you had multiple extrudes the only thing you can do with them for listing off into a graphics legend is display what foreground or background fill or any of the image attributes or pen display or properties of the extrude there isn't a way I can see of listing extrusion lengths off unless you create them as hybrid symbols.

 

The pulldown you posted @line-weight  you might already know this but you are correct it has to fit one of those object modes apart from if you choose legend type object attributes instead of object, if you pick object attributes you can list materials, textures, fill colours and everything else related to image / appearance.

 

The object list above I can see working is as follows:

 

1. Hybrid Object = 2D/3D Symbol Hybrid just means the 2D/3D Symbol could be a door, window, furniture item anything that is a symbol or some built in items (best to test a single item by filtering it to one item first but very handy for displaying most items)

 

 

2. Vertical wall = as described any vertical wall takeoff that you would want from any of the walls in your file it is created to show vertically up and down the page as image below

 

 

3. Component can be a wall item by component or anything that is component based that you can break down, handy for dimensioning wall parts (others may know additional uses for this)

 

hardscape is as it says and planting is any plant from the database you can list from basically an image of a plant and descriptions etc you can put into a legend.

 

I only use graphic legends for furniture items but I am seeing how it can be quite handy.

they are very powerful but need a little more work and they would be perfect.

 

 

 

 

[Graphic Legend Enhancements]

The thing I would really love and put it above anything else for the graphic legend as a feature is splitting up across pages as that as a feature would have saved me 3-4 days of work creating 300 sheets manually.

 

I think the graphics legend is very powerful what you can do with it and hope its pushed for future releases and will help us do so much more with sheets.

 

I am thinking graphics legend is like master pages in indesign or affinity publisher where you can change one and it changes hundreds of pages. even if the updates for the pages take over night to process it is still one night compared with days for hundreds of items.