Pamela

Tremendously helpful, Thank you

I am attepting to build a dtm model of an existing site for which I downloaded survey data points. I have been able to successfully use these points to build existing dtm models in the past, but now I want to learn more about modeling as we are progressing from simple 2d plans to 3d presentations. My first question - when I select the stake objects to build a dtm the contours extend past the perimeter boundary of the survey, I have tried adding 2d & 3d polys to the surface, and adding site modifier fences to force the contours to clip at the edge with no avail. I know this can be done, but can't get VW to work for me, any help would be appreciated. Second question - What do all of the options in the site modifer object properties dialog box mean? specifically the fence properties say I select fence for the config option what value do I enter for elevation and slope? I have a fence surrounding my site which varies by 30 feet of elevation from one end to the other, but not in a constant fashion. I have gone through the online help info to no avail, can someone please either give me answers or point me in the right direction to find them?

Thanks to such a great tech support system, I learned a very valuable lesson yesterday... Don't put the update file in the vector works program file folder and try to execute the upgrade from there. Obviously it won't work! On that note, since I now have our office up and running on 12.5 I would like to offer kudos to Nemetschek for the lastest upgrade. -p

Ok, I have now tried several times to upgrade, including a full re-installion of version 12.0.0 with the same invalid series 'a' message. here is the exact wording... You have entered a Series A serial number, but C:\PROGRA~1\VECTOR~2.0\Update VectorWorks.exe is not a valid Series A version of VectorWorks. Please enter a different serial number, or select a different folder to update. Exception Type: None Exception Value: None Exception Stack: None Help please?

We are running 3 seats of VW landmark in our office, and when I started the VW 12.5 upgrading process this morning the first one upgraded without an issue, but the second two have me stumped. Both machines will go through all the motions only to tell me that I have entered a series 'A' serial number but the VW 12.0 I am trying to upgrade is not a valid series 'A' version. Any suggestions?

I hate to revisit this topic since it is so old but not sure where else to go. At the time I started this string, I was working on exporting points for stakeouts. After unsuccessfully getting this to work with VW I dropped the issue, but it has once again reared it's head and I have decided I am going to deal with it this time around. With our upgrade to VW12 and some experimentation with scripts I am slightly more comfortable with them. (Would love to attend a training session or class on the topis if there is one out there?) But after several failed attempts to modifiy the above script I am begging for help. I need to export additonal stakeout data beyond x,y,z. I need point or id number and description as well for staking out a project in the field. Would someone be willing to help here as I still don't have a full understanding of scripts and the programming language they require. Any help is appreciated and thank you Pamela

I am also experiencing this 'application error' which closes the program. At first I thought it was just a glitch in the translation from an VW 11.5 to VW 12 drawing, but after more work time, I experience this in both converted drawings and new VW12 drawings. We have a convereted VW 11.5 file with our custom 2d plant symbols which we are using to develop a customized plant catalog and that file has even started displaying this application error. A tech worked in it for about a week with no problems, and when he came back to it last week the error started showing up which is now preventing any further work on the plant catalog. Any suggestions?? Pamela

Thanks for the response. I understand the decision to not allow changes, but from a VW users standpoint, now I have to duplicate my plant, make corrections and be sure to delete the incorrect plant from the database, rather than simply correct an ID or name. Will this decision be reversed in the next version?? As for the disappearing SKU Numbers. procedure is as follows (I have tried this on new and it seems to work properly, but when I open our drawing with the plant catalog information it refuses to work.) Select place plant tool Select settings button to bring up the dialog box Select create new plant In the plant definition tab select the PLANT COST button Fill in the SKU number box Select ok When rechecking the data for the plant just created the SKU dialog box is blank I have modified a Plant list to include the SKU number for our purposes and when I insert this plant list into the drawing the SKU will show correctly there, just not in the plant definition dialog boxes. I can live with this bug as long as my plant lists are complete and correct. I hope that makes sense. After several tries to see if I was doing something wrong, I got varied results. It works correctly on a new file, won't work on my converted plant catalog file and on occasion in both old and new files crashed the system and closed vector works with the "Do you want to send error report" message. Thanks for the help.

Issue 1 I would also be interested in finding a way to edit the plant ID and name once created. Issue 2 We are updating our plant database/catalog and so far most everything is working properly, with one exception, when entering the COST DATA dialog box and inputing the SKU number. VW12 seems to accept it ok initially, but when I go back to check/change anything the SKU dialog box is empty, although we did discover that it will appear when placing the plant list. Is this another bug to add to the list?? Thanks for the information

I have been working with VW 12 for about a week now and really like what I am seeing and finding... I too agree with tvetter about a Landmark training session. I have struggled to get landmark to give me the accuracy and control in developing and manipulating surfaces that I had in ACAD and Land Desktop. I am not sure if it is my lack of knowledge of the program or if I am asking it to do things it can't do. Althought Salt Lake is nice, may I recommend something in the Midwest...Discounts are always good too. Keep up the good work... you almost have a new convert of a diehard ACAD user.

I am still working on our custom plant symbol database, and for the most part things are going smoothly. The biggest problem I am having now is assigning a plant id to each plant that is quickly identifable when using the drop down selection box in the place plant dialog box. I have seen others comment on the same issue, it would be nice if we had more than 6 or 8 characters to try to describe a plant with. My options at this point are to either proceed with developing the data base usable with the place plant tool or return to using a large symbol library with plant records attached to each symbol. Will this feature be addressed in the next update? If not, what is the best way to attach a plant record to a symbol? I have tried several methods and they seem to work until I want to import the symbol into another drawing. Do I need a seperate plant record for each plant data or can I use one generic template? As alawys any help is appreciated

I honestly don't remember, I think I finally got it to work, but I don't use that function enough to remain fluent in its use. Sorry I couldn't be of more help, maybe Robert will remember. PSH

Just an observation here. While I haven't experienced some of the problems others are speaking of, I have noticed VW11.5 seems to unstable, my program has abruptly quit on me more in the 2 weeks since I upgraded, than it did in the year of using vw11 prior.

Thanks ever so much, now to just dig out what I need. It may very well be a site feature in Landmark, but I haven't found it yet. At least now I know there is hope. Thanks again

Having been an avid user of ACad I find myself missing some of the features I used the most. For example line types, in Acad I could create line types that would contain a letter or symbol say a "W" for a water line to be used in the site drawings. This helped to clean up the drawing and make it very obvious what the line represented. I KNOW there has to be a way to generate those types of custom lines in VW11, but I am not finding it through my research. I understand the concept of scripts (which I am sure is what I will need to create my line types) but I have yet to master the art of creating and using vectorscripts. Can anyone help me out?? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks PSH

Reference Topic: How to create color plant symbols in plant catalog http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=000349 I have managed to get our custom symbols into the plant catalog and they work very nicely for the most part, but my rendering of the symbols isn't working right. I understand the referenced topic of colored symbols and the backmost layer will take on the attributes as assigned in the drawing. I have set a white fill to this shape for that reason, directly on top of this white fill I have a duplicate shape with a light to dark gradient, which shows correctly in the resource browser and when the symbol is opened for editing as well as when I place the symbol by click and drag from the resource browser. The problem is when I use the place plant command the gradient changes to a ying/yang type look (left half of the symbol is light and right half is dark - but the colors are the two colors from the gradient) What am I missing here? The ultimate goal I am working towards is to develop a plant library the entire office can use with symbols already rendered so every drawing has a consistant color pallette. I have the objects that comprise the symbol on 2 different classes (plnt and plnt-colr) to allow the color to be turned on/off as needed (is this part of the problem? It doens't seem to make a difference if the symbol is on one class or two)

Well, I feel like an idiot, after reviewing the above quote and attempting to create a plant symbol in a new drawing file that was way too easy. But I have to say in my defense when I have created symbols in the past I haven't been given the option to place the new symbol in a specific folder. After a quick test, I discovered that you are only given an option of where to save the new symbol in drawings that a plant catalog has already been set up in. Because we are currently placing plants as symbols rather than through the place plant tool, I have not needed to establish a plant catalog in those drawings. It all makes sense now. Thanks for the help

I am attempting to integrate our existing plant symbols into the VW11 plant data base, can anyone help me with this process? I would like to use the symbols we already have created and put them in the 2d plant system folder so they are acessible from the plant catalog which can then be edited and modified like the generic symbols already in the plant catalog. Any help would be appreciated, I have gone through the manuals and understand how to creat new plants and plant records, but I can't anything referencing the use of custom symbols.

Thanks, you guys are such a huge help, and after my experiences with a new pool program we recently purchased, your tech board and administrators are top notch. I am the ex-cad person and slowly coming around to VW, I recently discovered that my desktop processor is too slow, hence a great deal of my frustrations with VW were due to lag times in task completion. But the others aren't fluent with computers at all, much less complex drafting programs. We have one that refuses to use the call-out tool, instead to label everything there is at least one text block and sometimes one for every line, (text wrap is a foreign concept) and a leader line. It is driving me nuts. I have no idea how to conveince them to use the tools more efficiently. Well enough whining, Thanks guys.

Thanks, I had thought about it, but that method is too much like work. I can apply class assosiations which I know will hold, but my problem goes back to the others and getting them to understand the system and how it functions. I am working on them, but some of the vague concepts required for drafting (i.e. paper space vs. model space required for viewports) are very elusive and hard to grasp for some. Oh well, I guess we are in for some winter training sessions. Thanks again

Is there a setting that controls the layer association for objects? For example, I have a drawing that is completed, objects are given layer associations, but not class associations, I decide after the drawing is complete that I need to rotate the entire thing 45 degrees to fit a page better (yes I know about viewports and how to use them and like them, but teaching the rest of the office the concept of viewports has been a challenge and experience I am just not willing to undertake at this point) Anyway when I rotate everything, every object assumes the association with the current layer. My question is really, is there any way to rotate mass objects with different layer associations and retain those associations? I am aware that the class setting will retain the assigned associations, but here again, I haven't figured out how to explain class vs layer to the others and I am not always the only one to work on a specific project.

Thanks, can you tell me more about Vector Scripts, still not sure I have them figured out. I am working on determining what format the data collector requires, I think .csv or .txt files will work. Yes it is very possible to do stakeout with the data collector and much less time consuming than tradition methods. What we typically do is survey a site, download that information, develop plans which include stake objects that contain northing, easting and elevation data for specific points on the plan. I would like to upload this to my data collector so I can do a stake out. The data collector we have will do stakeouts, you supply it with the point files and you can select the specific point you are trying to stake out, say a corner of a patio, and it will turn to the correct direction creating a line between the data collector tripod station and the point in reference, the display then tells you how far back, right or left the rodman needs to go to locate that point, you then place you stake in the field and mark elevations as required for site grading. All without ever having to stretch a tape for distance offset measurements. That is the quick synopsis but I think you can get the idea.

We use a data collector for all of our inhouse surveys which allows me to simply download the file, import survey points into VW and connect the dots (so-to-speak) when generating new base maps for projects. The challenge I now face is to reverse this process for staking out designs in the field with our survey station. I have gone through the manual and worked with a couple of drawings, but am still not able to do this yet. I guess the first question becomes... Can I export points in a .txt file format for uploading to the data collector? The next question... How do I export points for use in staking out a project? Help is greatly appreciated, I know how to do the process in autocad, but don't want to transfer every project from VW to ACAD just to stake it out.

OK, we finally figured out the problem... Since there are 3 seats of VW, the office was set up that all 3 computers could asscess any of the 3 seats; and as I have the only VW11 seat with a specific serial number; one of the 2 others would open the seat with that serial number and thereby making it inaccessible to me. To solve the problem I now have a dedicated seat and the other 2 are shared by the rest of the office. Hope this helps someone else, seems like such a small problem now.

We recently upgraded my copy of VW10.5.1 to VW11, there are 3 lincensed copies in the office for VW 10.5.1, but I have the only copy of WV11. The problem seems to occur at random, but occasionally when I open VW11 it will tell me to check the serial numbers because it is licensed for only one user. The problem I have with this is that I am the only one running VW11, and we only have 3 people that use VW at all. The first couple times this occured I checked the other machines and only one other seat was opened. What am I to do? I like VW11 better than 10, but it is a pain to open and work with when it does this. pamela