Cloud Hidden

Back to the PDF creation. After experimentation, it seems to be just one VW file that won't put the lines into a PDF, just text. Can't find anything unique about that file, other than it's the only one I've wanted to PDF thus far, of course. Otherwise the file edits, saves, prints just fine. Any ideas?

Austin, that is an utterly perfect answer. Thank you. It's all so obvious now......well, it's not at all obvious--had no clue about the "fake" IP address. Got a PPD installed, and glad I did, because when I chose Arch D in Page Setup, it didn't center my pages in the print area. Woulda had to rely on the service bureau to do that or else have the top 2" cut off. Thanks again for the crystal clear explanation. Nemetschek, thanks for the list of service bureaus. Came in real handy. Ridgways in Shreveport LA has been wonderfully cooperative. You might be able to update their info with their email: shreveport@ridgways.com

It's non-RW printing, so the viewer will come in real handy. But in formatting my pages from 11x17 to 24x36, I'm having to rescale layers and such. Probably can double everything (go from 1/8 to 1/4 scale), but I was hoping to have the proper size page chosen from Page Setup so that the service bureau wouldn't have to guess if the pages would print as I intended them. After all, they're 1000 miles away and I can't review them before the customer sees them. Seems like I'll have to guess at the scale and hope everything is laid out and centered.

Frustrating day. I've downloaded about a million drivers, but they won't add to the printer list. I select them and click Add, but nothing happens and the list stays the same old Laser and Fax. Ideas? 'cause I'm pretty well out of 'em.

A service bureau mentioned producing HPGL2 files. Does VW do this? How? And which HP drivers should I look to for modifying my VW file to send to the printer to do 24x36 prints? All the ones I've thus far tried are OS9 only, and I'm OSX. Figured you might know one off the top of your head. Thanks.

10.1.5 and VW 9.5.2 On a small test file got the lines, but on my real life file, got just text...not even dimensioning lines.

Getting Page Not Found on each of the links.

I just tried the first one from VW and it didn't show any of my lines at all! Just the text, none of the lines. Whassup with that?

I discovered your plotservice page coincident with your posting here. Contacting one of them to see if they can help. Just wish teh first one wasn't rush. Thanks for the other suggestions.

Haven't had to print prints on anything but my over-sized laser before. One client near Dallas needs larger format prints. Any advice on locating someone to whom I can email a file and have large-format prints produced for pickup by client? Obviously it has to be someone familiar with VW. Suggestions on the ins and outs of doing this? Thanks

Katie, in light of this thread, I had a good laugh when I saw the new "Weather Effects...Have you ever designed a ski chalet and wanted to add a realistic touch with a few snowflakes? Now you don't have to wonder anymore. New weather effects such as snow, fog, and ground fog can be added to your scenes for more dramatic impact." Who knew I could be so prescient?!?!?! For my next trick...

You're right. I get it now. Thanks. Though it does seem an inefficient way to have to work. Gotta print everything out to see which ones are light on a Laser, and then individually select and edit, on each and every project. Any shortcuts to this process? I'm not familiar enough with VW yet to see my way through all the possibilities of symbols, scripts, and whatever else is in this endless product. Trivia Question...Since you select these things from the Object Browser, why are they Symbols and not Objects, and why don't you Edit Object rather than Edit Symbol? These are the things that could keep one awake at night!

"I've selected them, noted the class, and changed the default class line weight to 6." All classes are 6-black. All objects are 6-black. Yet some still print differently than others.

I continue having problems making objects with a line weight of 1 print adequately on a new Xante 11 x 17 laser. The objects are the residential appliances (stove, frig) and the furniture (beds, sofas). I've selected them, noted the class, and changed the default class line weight to 6. I've also selected each object and changed its individual line weight to 6. Each is also set to black, though they seem to print gray. Neither makes a difference with these, though the same action helped with plumbing fixtures. What is it about these objects that they won't print anything but a thin, gray line even though 6, black _seems_ to be specified?

I know how to make an arched opening in a wall, thanks to a prior answer to that question. The new twist is how to do it where two wall segments join. Have a curved wall becoming straight at its end for another 4'. The wall join tool made them look nicely connected. But an object wants to be exclusively in one wall or the other. How to best accomplish the opening where I want it, which is right about where these two connect?

Never. OSX 10.1.5. Sometimes the clicks have trouble seeing past the top object to select one further back, but not what you asked.

By the time I create a nurbs surface and subtract some parts of it, the surface area is no longer displayed. My wish is that there would be a way to show surface area sf for the sorts of surfaces I create, be/c that's how I do material takeoffs.

.sit is a Macintosh file format--StuffIt. Might you have downloaded the Mac version and not the Windows' version?

Command-shift-arrow nudges according to your grid. I wish it had even larger nudges--maybe "shoves"--that would move 5 or 10 times the grid. I know, I know, it's called the Move command, but still.

Turns out I just had to quit VW and re-launch it for the PIO to work. Thanks Katie, for that instruction! And especially for telling me it existed. This is the perfect solution! Will save me HOURS of work.

Not really Katie. The ellipsoids we use are pretty precise. It affects the way the footers are measures and other things. I really just need to create pure elliptical arcs.

OK, I found it, downloaded it, seem to have put it in the right folder (Plug-Ins), and even got it into a menu in a custom workspace. Now what? When I view the layer from which I derive the elevation--a linked layer--and select this menu item, nothing happens. What should happen? What else should I be doing? Thanks, Katie. If this works, it'll make my day! [ 09-09-2002: Message edited by: Cloud Hidden ]

Thanks Katie, but gotta credit the clients for that. I just superimposed the dome on a digi pict of the site as it sits today, teepee and all. Touched up the front tree a bit to overlap the dome, and removed a construction vehicle and materials. Gettin' there with VW. <G> Not quite to Mike's use of custom materials yet. Maybe the next project...

The exterior of my buildings is a NURBS surface created via Loft. When creating a hidden-line elevation, whether via the View menu or the Convert Copy to Lines, the NURBS surface is drawn as a million polygons. This totally messes up the elevation, which should be just the outline of the building. Having to trace the outline via the polyline tool, and/or delete all of those line segments, is a grandiose waste of time and loss of accuracy. Really, all I'm asking is that you have an option by which VW does LESS work--just show the perimeter shape of the NURBS surface without all the segments that fill up the field. Ideally I wouldn't need Convert Copy to Lines be/c then my curves would be smooth lines rather than segments.

Let's see if this is an improvement... [ 09-09-2002: Message edited by: Cloud Hidden ]