AnaisR

Hi, see what katie said in the topic "dynamic workgroup referencing". cheers, anaisr.

Hi katie! This is another question regarding workgroup references. I have set up a library database that I reference to target files through Workgroup Referencing. The library contains a custom title block (on one layer) and my own textures (on another). I have only referenced these layers of the library. Now I have a whole set of documents that are referenced to the library. Each document contains a component of a mechanical system from which I would like to build first sub-assemblies, and then assemblies. Each component is built as a series of solid substractions (on layer 1, say), then copy it as a Generic Solid (on layer 2), and finally create a symbol out of it, a symbol whose texture comes from the referenced library(on layer 3). ( I am not sure this is very important, but nothing is working, so I thought i'd go through each step). I had in mind to open a new document for a sub-assembly, which would reference a series of "component" documents. I need the symbols and the textures to be imported, and wasn't sure if that meant I needed only to import the "component" file which would automatically import its library links with it, or if i needed to make two implicit workgroup references to both the library and the component file. I have tried both, and none has permitted me to import the symbol into my new target document! If I try and copy and paste the symbol, I obtain something that vw calls a "non-selection", somehting that is assigned a class but not something physical. I have checked that I could reference something from a document that is not already referenced and this works fine, so I conclude that vw does not permit multiple references! Surely this cannot be? 'eek' i say! please get back if you find anything i say unclear. anaisr

Hi! It seems the weekend did good to the font problem. But VW is still behaving badly, giving me run time errors with only "Abnormal Program Termination" as info. It's doing this about every hour or so. Could I have hurt VW in some way? cheers, anaisr.

What should I change it to? anaisr.

By the way I am still PC, Windows NT, VW, Mechanical 10.5.

Hi katie, No i didn't change any settings, and havn't installed anything on my computer. I was just working with VW when it crashed. I restarted it, and many settings had changed. I had to reset my workspace, for eg, as well as some VW preferences (like the docking of palettes). When I tried view my graphic settings, the font in that dialog box seemed weird to, too large. I have no idea what happened, and it's very annoying as I use the dialog boxes in VW all the time! Hope you can help me out on this one (as always!). cheers, anaisr.

The VW preference "Enable palette docking" seemed to have been disconnected when VW crashed. That is fixed. However I have not managed to resolve the problem about dialog boxes for tools such as 'rotate', 'move' etc being empty. Any suggestions anyone? anaisr.

Hi, All was going well with VW, when suddenly, my palettes disconnect themselves from the main VW workspace (after opening it again after a crash), and it is impossible to get them to dock back into it. Also, whenever I use tools such as 'rotate', 'move' etc... the dialog box seems to have a font problem so that istead of asking for a 'x-value' it merely says '-' and the same for all other dialog boxes. Sometimes I cannot even see the values I enter. Does anyone know where this pb might arise from? And how can i get my palettes to dock back? anaisr.

I might have renamed my 'None' class to 'Eng 2D - border' so that the new class 'Eng 2D - border' has the same properties and cannot be removed. Then when I copied/pasted objects from another document that were themselves in the 'None' class it was created automatically in the target document, this time removable. Ok! It wasn't actually a problem! thanks! anaisr.

No, I created it in VW 10.5.0 for a template. That's weird, isn't? anaisr.

Actually I have a class (other than Dimension and None) that also cannot be deleted. I have named it 'Eng 2D - Border' and it contains only my Drawing border and Custom Title Block. The class is created automatically with a template. It seems I cannot delete this class either. This is rather out of curiousity as this is not very important for me for this document, but how has this come to be? anaisr.

Of course! That was just me not thinking, that's what a long day in front of a pc does to you. cheers, anaisr.

No I mean I want to actually delete the class. That is an option 'remove' in the class pop-up and is sometimes not an active option (that what I meant by greyed). I do not understand when I am not allowed to delete a class. anaisr.

First of all I'd like to thank everyone for all the help given out on this BB. It's very useful! Thanks a lot to Katie and Tomu! Here's for another question, if anyone knows. When accessing the Class pop-up in one of my documents, some classes offer the option to be removed, for others the option is greyed. What defines this? Some of my classes were imported when an object of that class was pasted into my document. The others come from a template. But this does not define which class can be removed and which one cannot. cheers, anaisR. Windows NT VW, Mechanical 10.5

I have currently set up a library database that I reference to target files through Workgroup Referencing. I have set up a template which opens new documents with this workgroup referencing directly set up which is very pratical. This library database is situated on a network, and although I am the only one to edit it at the moment, this job might be transferred to someone else, and the library databse might have to change location. At the moment, the location of the library through Workgroup Referencing is found under 'Workgroup Referencing->Edit->Reselect Document' and this location is an absolute one (ie if the libary file is moved the workgroup referencing will no longer work). Is it possible to set up a workgroup reference, where the location is dynamic? Ie, any new (template) document is opened with a workgroup reference to "file/subfile/library.mcd" where 'file' and 'subfile' would be variables? This would be very practical since the library I will be transferring (along with the target files) will no longer be my responsibility (and the library file will no longer be situated on my computer), but will still need to be updated by future users. Anyone changing the location of the library database could inform a centralised template instead of needing to retroactively change all the workgroup references of past documents. Any suggestions welcome! cheers, anaisr. Windows NT Vectorworks, Mechanical (10.5)

I have tried redrawing the object, and even the compose command, but none of those fix the problem. I still manage to fillet only 2 out of 4 edges. Sometimes reducing the size of my fillet radius helps, but not always. I don't know why! anaisr.

Does anyone know if it is possible to insert a symbol at fixed intervals along a rail. In this case I have a circular plate (diam 26mm), and I want to place 9 shafts through it at intervals (84deg;+/-24), (204deg;+/-24),(324;+/-24) along a circle with diam 23mm. Is there a tool with which to do this? cheers, anaisr.

Hi, I am having problems with the Fillet Edge Tool which is not consistent. I have a symmetrical 3D object with 6 identical fillets to perform and VW accepts to do 2 but gives me the message: "Edge Filleting Failed. Try changing the radius or turning on the select tangent entities option" for the other 4 which he does not perform. I have tried both options but still the Fillet Edge tool will not operate. Has anyone had any similar problems? VW, Mechanical 10.5. Windows NT. cheers, anaisr.

Yes, this is the only way around it, I was hoping there might be a different solution but I guess that's what the sheets are there for! cheers, anaisr.

Cheers Katie and Tom! Tom's solution works well, and I do not need to create the symbol's classes in the target document, as it is created automatically when the symbol is imported. great! anaisr.

I am currently setting up a symbol database, and I would like to assign different classes to different symbols, so that when I import a symbol into a document it automatically puts itself within a class. It might be that the target document need already contain the class name, but that is not really a problem as I am working with templates, and can set up class names in the template. I would be grateful for any info on this, I could not find anything on this in the VW helpfile. cheers, anais. Windows NT, VW & Mechanical 10.5

Sorry I forgot to specify, the Engineering drawings I am importing have various layer scales which is where the problem comes from.

Hi Tomu, Yes, it seems that the title block scales correctly, but the text is messed up. The title block is a symbol named "Custom Title Block" which is saved in a symbol library and imported into my target documents (through the use of a template). I am then importing old Engineering drawings into these templates and want the drawings to fit in one page for printing on A4. cheers, anaisr.

(on PC, Windows NT) In VW Mechanical (10.5) I have created a Custom Title Block following the instructions in the HelpFile, i.e. creating it with a 1:1 scale. When I have a drawing that needs to be in 1:2 scale my whole drawing border shrinks down too, which is not what I want. A solution to this is to delete my drawing border and then reset it using "Mechanical->Drawing Setup->Insert Drawing Border->Custom Title Block". The drawing border inserts itself fine, but not the Custom Title Block, where the linked text is all messed up. I could set my Drawing Borders and Drawings on different layers, with different scales, but I want my Drawing Borders on the same layers as my drawings since I have several issues of them and want each drawing border to be associated with a single drawing. Why does the Custom Title Block not adust itself to the new scale as the ASME Title block does? I have also tried changing the print area, but the Custom Title Block is still messed up. Has anyone found a way to go past this problem? cheers, anaisr.

Yes, that was the reason! My original drawings were inside the printing area though, how come they were shifted when I sent them to another computer? Also, in this case, do I need to move my drawings to the printing area, or can I move the printed area around my drawings? anaisr.