matto

on mac you can get quickkeys to call an applescript command. and in the applescript library for VW you will find a command that tells VW to run a script, or a menu command. but if you call up the applescript library for VW in quickkeys it will give the exact syntax for it. [ 03-19-2003, 05:09 PM: Message edited by: iboymatt ]

i've always thought it was strange to call them cavities. and even stranger to set them from the middle. wall styles sets up better but is so far out of the way. would be better if the wall styles tool had a way to scroll styles (and show which style was selected). instead of going to menu command

maybe the other way of looking at it is to give more power to saved sheets. as they already do most of the job. Something akin to stylesheets in web design. or more simply the abilty to set up standard or template sheets, then as part of the saved sheet dialog you could then nominated what template the sheet is to based on. instead of having to muck round with class setting,(of coarse leaving that option open if needed) it is then easy for the user to say 'i want an ceiling plan' then just have to pick the right layers. or even build in to the templete rules about which layers or classes can be active.

ouch... now that makes it sound really complex. what if you have groups of layers. such as model layers, sheet layer, detail layers.... this makes it more difficult to set scope the way you are talking. as you would want to set scope of a class to be all the model layers or such. yet in a ten story building that would be 10 layers or more. it's a sort of complexity that is easy to mess up. and well it's the sort of thing you want to able to configure and then lock down. i find it interesting you mention apple ethos. and that gives i think another clue. in that Os X has a powerful core and an intuitive interface, but they have graded users. (ie. root user, admin user, regular, restricted, developer, open source developer) If you start introducing the sort of complexity you are talking about, having graded users would also needed. you would need the ability to lock down setting , so that structure that can't be effected unless you have clearence. As VW gets more usable in group work this may be more and more needed anyway. the trick i guess is making it more intuitive as opposed to more simple. [ 03-12-2003, 12:52 AM: Message edited by: iboymatt ]

BTW... zaklee what do you mean by full scale drafting? just thinking that in VW or even at a drawing board. i what i'm thinking about is the true size of the object, ie full scale. not the length i need to draw it at, thats what layer scale or a scale rule is for.

Haich, i can't remember any one ever saying that viewports are bad, or that ACAD is Evil. what you will hear a lot of is that VW has a feel, that is in tune with people using it. We think that makes it good, in a different way to other programs. more importantly we would like development of VW to improve on it's own strenghts, not just to copy other features.

the other options is good old scripts. each wall style you want as a script. and they float in an easy to find palette. just make them part of your standard drawing and they'll always be handly for to use. where as the wall styles tool in ARCHITECT you have to go to a menu comand ever time you change style.

deselect key- one vote yes please. sometimes on coloured presentation drawing there isn't blank space for three or four arrow clicks.

just wondering from people who already use SDK. How big a leap it is from VS to SDK? i have some very minor programming experince (java), and have written a few things in VS but finding it limited for what i really want to do. How do you normally tend to work? Do you write part of the script first in VS? then move it to Codewarrior. or work from scratch in codewarrior?

www.vectordepot.com is one place to find lots of vectorbits both freebies and for sale. you can even sell your own creations or www.vectorworker.com the other option is to subsrcibe to the mail list in digest form. then you get just the one email a week that lists all the headers for the email that week.

Hey All not sure if anyone else would find this useful... but would it be possible to get an option where the keyboard shortcuts is assigned to the slot in a palette. and option-key (or something like that) scrolls through the tools in that slot to bring them to front and make active.

the other trick in dividing line is that fields in the object browser allow calculations so say i have line of 1000mm long and want it in thirds. 1000mm/3 in the length field or just click after the lenght there and type'/3' if have the control handle set to the middle you'll be left with the middle third. these field can be use for all sorts of calculations

yes it is a big issue for office management. the offices i've worked for always tend to have it as a note on the drawings along with other legal type stuff like copyright, and no scaling off drawings. we also tend to use pdf output, or a striped back base drawing for dwg export for consultants. some sort of modifcation lock on a drawing would be nice. but would most likely be lost once the installer has run. and then is just the same problem further away. maybe a true industry file tranfer format is called for with feature like this built in. instead of just accepting what ACAD tells us is the industry standard, and excepting the lost of information that comes with that.

yep it's good to remember that your PIO is only redrawn if edited, moved or rotated, depending on your settings for the PIO. that is if the object is moved not the view. VW stores that info like a hybrid symbol between redraws. so if you only run the script part for the view the other part will be mising if the user changes view. (sort of if you draw just the 3d the top view of the 3d will appear in plan view). generally for each instance of the PIO the script will only ever run once.

well to follow the example of Ustation that has 63 equivalate to classes but that can be limiting on complex projects. it's good to have the ability to have so many classes. but the issue is not the number so much. 50-60 classes can be mangaged in the parent grouping system that VW has. the issue really is navigation, and getting the object on the right combo.

What are you using in the way of QT compression settings. in either package? is the QT pro file Smaller with the same compressions settings? or is it using a leaner compression setting? are your frame rates the same, the important one would be keyframe.

one thing to check- what is the class colour of your none class? if you change the none class colour does it change the colour of the objects concerned?

still PDF is in most cases the way to go. a- you can proof the output on a printer you have in the office, even just at a small size, before sending in. b- can you lock it so it can't be altered, yes someone using viewing to print file can't change the file. but... anyone with full version can. c- most print services in australia, and guess by your comment on a file fee, charge to process a file before printing, PDF is usaully the cheapest or including in the print price. so the acrobat will pay for itself on that first 15 sheet job. d- PDF files tend to be smaller too. it has offer advantages in other situations. if your consultants, or clients have acrobat that can not only look at the file, or print it, but can mark over the file on screen, make notes that are colour coded to them. while still allowing your orginal to be printed. oh the other one. PDF files are linkable so it's possible to do a transmittal file, that if you click on the drawing name will open that drawing file. one hint using PDF,because it can be scaled to any paper size it's always best to have a scale bar on the drawing. or a note at paper size as part of the scale note in title block.

but you can use the quicktime creation if you make a movie that has the frames you want at one second intervals and a frame rate of 1frame/sec. the frames can then be pulled out of the movie and copy of the frames made into thumbnails. pretty sure 'graphics convertor' that comes free with osX can process the movie file as a batch process.

there are a couple of ways of handling editable pio's that don't need any extra code. 1. an open source agreement- just like OS x-darwin, the hole linux thing, open source is sweeping the world. even if it was just the PIO's object's supplied in an unlocked form to those ppl will to sign the agreement. the agreement would then make the person who rewrites a script responible for there own work. the other benefit is that most agreements require reporting back to the community of developers. Such agreements have shown ,in most examples, to speed up development and better targetting on the market. 2. something that maybe possible is that the engine of the script can be part of include file which can be encripted, while the interface or such (the parts most likely to need customization) can be in unlocked script. i.e. less chance to break things.

that would be really useful finally being able to do usable signage drawings. :-)

if the objects drawn are 3d poly's you can use 3d rotate tool.

yep one vote here. that could have all sorts of uses.

it's not that weird really why it happens. it's just the way VW draws the image to screen. it draws the way you draw. i.e the first object you draw, it draws. is if draw objects from ground up. VW should get it pretty right in wireframe too. hehe not that we always draw like that. so 'send to front/back' etc. can bring it back to the right order. it's onlt until you render something that VW looks at which objects are in foregroung or back in real space.

but yes you will find most users of VW agree with you about to much development time being put into pretty 3D. or that VW team should be directing more energy into ways to turn 3D building models into those things we get paid for in the real world. i.e. the plans we hope the building team is looking at when working on site. or council submissions, so the building can be built.