Jim Smith

I generally have a sheet that includes most layers of a drawing. I call this sheet 3-D Model. I find that it is good for building my elevations and sections as and as a check. However I find that when I am drawing elevations & sections from 3-D Model I need to make lots of additions and redraws as I find that the rendered 2-D views are not acceptable "as is" in hidden line rendering. This is especially true of 3-D sections. I have found the best approach, so far, is to use the section that VW 10 produces as a template for a new drawing. (I often achieve this by converting a copy to lines & add polygons as required) . Does any one else have a better approach?

Bummer - if as a wish list item it is too complex to accomplish, if one could "resize" the dialouge box this would, in many cases limit the number of screen shots.

I am using VW 8.5.2, can anyone tell me if there is an easy way to print a list of classes, layers, and sheets? Presently what I do is take a screen shot, but even this takes a while as the dialogue box for classes cannot be resided.

I have not yet made the switch to VW10 so my points may be moot. I often use layer linking for detail drawings. The limitation I find is the need to call out dimensions in the detail drawing vs. the dimensions shown on the main plan. Presently I use hidden classes for the dimension lines on the main drawing and it works pretty good, but from my point of view it would be more simple to add dimensions on the detail sheet. Unfortunately dimensions added on the detail sheet are not accurate as they cannot ?see? the linked layer. My question is: has this changed in VW10? if not can it be considered for future versions? & is there a better way to approach what I am doing? Also, what about 3-D dimensioning for isometric views, does VW10 offer this feature? if not, is the idea being considered for future releases?

Are you saving different sheets for each drawing or are you putting all of a drawing on a different layer? You should be able to do what you want to do by altering the class and layer visability of each sheet when you set your sheet, or, you can edit your sheet as you go.

Rather than use the wall tool I would do this with a polygon. Use mulitple extrude or sweep depending on the shape desired.

JFMarch, I use several metal stud symbols I've drawn when drawing wall detals. If one does not group the symbol it will "cut" the wall and the result looks smilar to what is seen when a window symbol is added to a wall.

I often use a wireframe isometric vew to help me to set lighting. In this view it is a little easier to get a sence of the light's direction, and where the 3-D arrow is actually pointing. I do find the tool a little "fussy". Remember a couple of things, you have three kinds of lighting, make sure you have the right one for your application, also make sure the beam and spread is correct and brightness is adjusted. Using Quick draw 3-D will give you a "quick" idea of your lighting arrangement before you fully render. Hope this helps.

You know what would also be nice? The abiltiy torotate walls (& other hybrid. objects) in elevation. It would make drawing faster. Also, how does one add symbols to a wall (metal studs for example) and keep the attached records so they can be processed by the data base? I presently group these symbols to prevent them from cutting the wall, this means I loose the record info. (I end up "cheating" by making the wall cavity 1/64 larger before I un-group the symbol...Any thoughts?

DaveF, Have you used the "group" function rather than a symbol? As long as a group does not have a symbol inside it, one should be able to scale the grouped object. If you have many symbols that you use, go to edit symbol, copy what is contained in the symbol, then paste that in the drawing (as a group).

DaveF , If you set-up your sheets with classes and layers you should be able to do what you want to do. My Title block for example is always drawn 1:1 and is a layer that is visible on all sheets regardless of the scale of the rest of the drawing. The North arrow I use is a symbol (drawn 1:1) and it is on a layer and in a class that allows it to be visible or not depending on the sheet. My detail sheets may have 3 or 4 different scales, and in some cases a detail is layer linked to a layer at a different scale on the same drawing with additional detail and/or notes are added to the new layer. Here?s what I am suggesting: Add a layer titled "Symbol" (use class to help with visibility on different sheets). Choose the scale size you want to have symbols printed at and set the layer's scale. Next place all your symbols in this layer, you should always "see" symbols at this size regardless of what scale is used on the rest of the sheet. (One thing to watch is class visibility as the symbol brings class info from where it was created.) Set your sheet visibility so the symbol layer is visible. If you have different scales for different symbols you want to display you may want to address that by multiple "Symbol" layers on your sheets. Also keep the class or layer info in mind when running any spread sheet to pick-up records attached to the symbol. I understand that this may be a "work-around" but it may be less time consuming than redrawing. Hope this helps

How many DTM points do you have? I have found that the fewer points the DTM has, the better/faster VW seems to work. I have taken to building my own set of points on a seperate layer from the imported topo then trash the imported topo prior to making a DTM. I usally save several versions of the point set - as just the point sets. I have found the cut and fill to be...fussy. (It did not really work in VW8.5.2) with DTM's in general some of the contours when converted to a mesh or surface do not always turn out the way I would like. I generally edit the result several times. I add grass etc. with Renderworks, then bring the finished model into Photoshop & or Painter to "touch it up".

Very large! Thanks,

AS FAR AS I KNOW THE CUTTERS WILL ACCEPT A DXF FILE, MY CONCERN IS WOULD I HAVE TO EDIT 2-D OBJECTS AND EXTRUDE THEM RATHER THAN USE SUBTRACT/INTERSECT SOLIDS? WITH THE 2-D EDIT OPTION, OFTEN UNWANTED LINES APPEAR. IF I EXPORT A DXF WOULD THESE UNWANTED LINES BE A PROBLEM IN THE INCOMING PROGRAMME? -ALSO, I HAVE SHOWN ANOTHER CLIENT CROWN MOLDING DESIGNS, BUT I FIND I HAVE TO USE RAYMAKER TO ILLUSTRATE EVEN A SIMPLE ISO. DRAWING AS AN EXTRUDED MOLDING IS NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND AS A FINAL HIDDEN LINE DRAWING. IS THERE A MORE SIMPLE WAY TO SHOW A LINE DRAWING OF THINGS LIKE TUBES, MOLDING, STEEL WIRE ETC. IN 3-D SO THAT I DO NOT HAVE A MASS OF MENINGLESS LINES? OR DO I HAVE TO DO WHAT I DO NOW, IE. DRAW PLAN, ELEVATIONS, AND THEN RENDER AN ISO. IN RAYMAKER? MANY CLIENTS JUST WANT A LINE DRAWING AND I FIND I HAVE TO ADD LINES IN A LAYER "ABOVE" THE RENDERED ISO. VIEW.

I've worked on both platforms up to VW9 and use a MAC for my own work. I have a client who runs VW10 on a PC who has had nothing but headaches. (Now to be fair he was using a clone.) He ended up junking the clone (he could not get VW10 to work) and has had fewer problems with his new machine, but, some keyboard shortcut functions just do not work such as trim. - I'm biased, I have never seen a PC that was worth the price in the long run.

Using VW 8.5.2 on a Mac with G-4. I have no problem in the past with 2-D exporting DXF. I have a client who is looking at starting with an Abobe Illustrator file of a cardboard merchandiser, I would then work up a 3-D model to be exported to die cutters.

I have not used VW-10 yet. Can a 3-D drawing be exported to DXF/DWG to give cutting instructions to a CAM system?

Hi, I don't know what version or system you are using but I saw this problem in version 8.5.2, on MAC's, and at the time VW's folks said that it was to be fixed in VW10. The problem that we noticed was two fold. One was when the refferenced file was moved into new folders, so the solution was to establish where a set of drawing "lives", then don't move the location of the file. The second problem was using the "move page" tool. Using this tool seemed to mess the drawing totally. Our fix was to set the drawing and not to use the "move page" tool. So did the fix happen in VW10 ?

I should have been more clear, the ".TEXT" file would be lines of code produced in a cabinet making programme of some kind. The premise is the client would provide me with lines of code that would make reference to "X,Y,Z" locations and VW would "import" the code and make a drawing from the information. Would this code have to be somehow converted to DXForDWG prior to importing to VW? Any thoughts?

Does anyone have any experience in importing a .TEXT file into VW that refers to vector locations? Is this even possible? Apparently it can be done in AutoCad.

Did I mention 8.5 on Mac OS8.6? There is an inverted arrow button near the lower left corner that takes me to the sheets menu (I use this all the time to move from sheet to sheet so I don't have another palette open -also who whould disable scroll bars?). If I save a sheet then I am making a new sheet. I don't want to do that, I want to correct/edit a sheet that exists. This is a "bug" I have noticed for some time & as noted I have a workaround, but in reading the VCR instructions, er, sorry, the documentation it seems that "SAVE VIEW" in the EDIT SHEET is how I SHOULD be able to do this.

Sorry, I do not see the "button" you are talking about either in the edit sheet, or save sheet box, nor in the save sheet palette. (The save view check box does not seem to do a thing.) The work around I have found is to have the active layer of a sheet in plan view (even if it contains no information) then have multi layers with whatever view I want to illustrate (iso, front etc.).

Is a secret to saving views? I am running VW 8.5 and it seems that when I have a 3-D view (say right isometric) saved in a sheet, the view will sometimes be saved. Other sheets within the file will revert to say plan view. Sometimes I cannot get anything other than plan view. I have tried the RESTORE VIEW under edit sheet with no apparent effect. Can I have a file with multi sheets and multi views?

jnr, I agree some kind of viewport would be an improvement. One thing I've done is to have a layer(s) just for the details that will be enlarged. I admit this can get complex if you have many views or details - but it works. Does anyone know if workgroup reference has been improved in VW 10? Our experence is... "don't ever use the move page tool or you'll wreck the workgroup!"

Yes, if he double clicks on the rotate tool he gets to the box. I will suggest that he adjust his double click speed.