shasta

Will the gaps where the elevation numbers intersect the lines matter? If so, what is the best method for mending them?

Thank you Katie. We seem to be making some progress: I imported 3D only and got something that looked useful. I first turned-off all classes other than 'contours' to simplify the drawing. I started the 'Site Model' command and it began calculating. After a bit, it stopped and gave the following error: 'Creation of the DTM failed. Examine your data, eliminate duplicate or vertically stacked datapoints or crossed contours and try again' The only visible potential problem was that the major contours have a gap where the elevation is numbered. To test this theory I deleted all but a few contours at the bottom of the survey that were complete and tryed again. Same result! Ideas?

I've got a common situation: a(n AutoCad file) survey of a house and property that I wish to convert to a 3D model. 'Importing' it gets me an 'Error on line 2' message. Trying '2d polys to 3D contours' seems logical: when I start with the 'lowest contour' and 'contour interval' inputing, it pans back so far I can't see the lines it's refering to. Thinking it's a scale issue, I imported the file at 1:1 on a 1:1 setup layer and found the survey to be either way to small or way to big (couldn't pan or zoom enough to find it). What do I do?????

In VWLandmark, there is a script called 'material fill' that duplicates and resizes small objects within a polygon. It gives 3 options: concrete, sand and gravel. I want to add my own (ie Grass) but the script is 'locked' (and I've never used VectorScript). Any ideas?

What determines the scale at which patterns are printed? Can AutoCad hatches be imported for use in other drawings? I know that they can get translated into shapes, but what about the hatch files themselves?

Tvetter: Can I insert a symbol from the 'old plant' folder into a v10 drawing, select it, choose 'make symbol' and give it a new name? Will that re-define it, or do I have to actually draw all new symbols? What is a symbol pack? " still find it cleaner to recreate a new symbol pack " [ 12-19-2002, 09:52 PM: Message edited by: shasta ]

1. No, I was just curious. The manual is mute on this subject. With AutoCAD it's best to make make symbols at 1' and then scale them for each plant type as you insert them. 2. I have not had a problem with the standard symbols, but I just tried it with another symbol from the 'old plants' folder and the same thing happened.I need more symbols than are contained in the standard ones.... What is the user origin?

I've got 2 jucy ones here: 1) Plant Symbols- When creating plant definitions, does the program autmatically scale the symbols to the value set in 'Appearance: Spread"? In other words, should a symbol be created with a 1' diameter so that when Spread is set to 6' it will be drawn on the plan at 6' in scale (ie. 6/8" in 1/8th scale)? Or should the symbol be edited to be 6' in scale manually? This is important if some drawings or sheets are at very different scales. It would be a nightmare to make new plant catalogs for each scale. 2) A Bug? - Try this: I wanted to make a generic plant definition to come back to later and assign a plant. I named it 'narrow conifer' gave it a code of 'NC' and chose the symbol 'Shrb1Tp' (which I had pulled from the 'Old Plant Libraries' folder). When I went back to the Plant Placment tool and dropped one in, I got a black and white symbol at the insertion point AND a color version a few inches up and to the right of the insertion point. They could not be separated. Thinking that the symbol may be messed up, I double clicked to edit it. I selected 'path' (and later 'profile' on a second try) was taken to the edit mode where I saw NOTHING to edit. When I hit 'Exit Symbol' I immediately got a slew of Runtime errors and was bounced out of VWL. This has been repeatable. Any ideas before I send this to the bug forum?

Thanks! That seemed to do the trick. Now I'm trying to export to AutoCad. Keep your fingers crossed!

A client (an Architect) recently sent me an AutoCad file with topos and the proposed house footprint. The survey he got seemed to not match realities on the site so he shot a radial series of elevations from a central stake located on a corner of the house footprint. All elevations were relative to the height of the stake. I wanted to create some new topos based on these measures, but I can't figure out how to get these measures (looks like 8 spokes of a wheel with numbers along the lines) into one of the supported site modeling forms of VWL. I thought about using a very fine grid, but when I tried to start inputing them, the red grid points obscured my radial data on the screen. Any ideas?

did you save in filmaker format from excel?

I have been unable to ever get through to phone texh support. I have tries 3 times and waited on hold 15 minutes on average. For me (and most of us) it's a long distance call and very frustrating. Is there a 1-800 number?

Robert, I must agree with you about using the 'comments field' and 'custom filter' with 'containing' selected. It allows you to add any attributes you wish without tinkering with any database modification.

That sounds very promising! If I understand correctly, the procedure you described is for editing the fields within VWL only; if you want to have the field choices sync with the Utility you have to change them in exactly the same way using FileMaker procedures. If this is the case, where can we go to find out how to modify the Utility?

I have never been able to get thru to Tech Support. Waited up to 15 min on hold long distance. Is there a 1-800 number?

At first I did, but I think the new plants actually did not disappear. I think they were still there but not where you were expecting to see them. Which is really just another reason to use the utility. It seems to be a more direct way of editing the database. Also, it allows you to re-sort (ie. aphabetical by Latin Name) after you have made a few entries. When you're done, just run the script to export it (find the txt file in the same folder). For convience, just keep the utility running in the background. One caution: if you have already made a few plants from within VWL and then made more new plants inside the utility, moving the txt file that the utility created to the VWL data file will overwrite the new entries made from within the VWL program itself. In other words, it seems that making all changes from the utilty is really best. Correct me if I'm wrong, Robert.

I just found the answer to that one by doing a search. When you run the script it says that a txt file was created and placed on the desktop that should be dragged to the data folder. In reality, the file is created in the same folder as the utility. From there it can be dragged to the data folder. I think this is a bug! Should I report it?

(please see previous post)I actually just found the 'help' button (as opposed to the help pull-down) and checked it out. I still can't see where the txt file that was suposedly created by the script is located so that I may drag it to the data file...

(windowsXP)I clicked on 'help' at the top of the window and was returned to opening page that shows 'distributed by' 'version' 'notice' etc but no 'more' button. Just an 'ok' button. Also, I tried using the 'export to VWL' script and it said that it created a txt file on the desktop and that I should move it to the '/plug-ins/landmark/data' folder but I founf no txt file on the desktop to drag....

By the way, I made a change to one of the entries then clicked 'ok' and exited the program without seeing any other way to save the changes. When I went back to VW and checked the plant's record my changes did not show. How do I make them stick?

I just checked out the utility and was first prompted for a password which I dont have (do I?). Is this important to using the utility or does it just limit my ability to 'mess it up' by changing important parameters of the program?

Is there a way to add to the material fill options? For instance, make a flagstone setting for filling a path?

Thanks for the fast response; I'm going to try the template method today. As for the 'System' folder, how do I do what the manual says regarding "2D or 3D symbols moved into these folders become available for selection in the Define Plant dialog box"? Are they just dragged? I'll just tried the tag suggestion but hit a 'runtime' error (I get lots of those!) when I failed to see a tag display after setting it and double clicked on the symbol and went into an edit mode. The error occured when I tried to exit the edit mode by pressing that button. I'll try again later.... Thanks Again!

I'm actually having quite a bit of trouble with gettting 2 plant list based on the same style (simple) to display the individualized content (trees, shrubs etc.). I've gotten pretty comfortable with getting an an individual plant list to display what I want, but when I've got 2 there it's another story....

I think I'm on to something easier (for me) to visualize: 1. Make sure that all trees are on a layer called 'Trees' 2. All shrubs on a layer called 'Shrubs' 3. Again for each plant type. 4. Select a Plant List from the Resources window and add one to the drawing. Double click the Plant List you wish to modify to edit it. 5. Make sure 'Database Headers' is selected from the arrow shaped pull-down. 6. Select the Database Row (seems to default as row 3). 7. Hold-down a LEFT-click on the Row # (3) until more options display; select 'Set Criteria...' 8. Select the field 'Name' and change it to 'Layer' 'is' 9. Select the layer you want to display (Trees, Shrubs etc.) from the toggle on the right. It now displays only the plants on the selected layers. There seem to be a few things to work out from here, like how it changes the criteria on both lists if you have more than one of the same type. I think renaming each one will solve that issue...