Christiaan

There's a limitation in VectorWorks which I've commented on here (see quote below). What I'd like is some kind of system for easily editing PIOs en masse. I'm not sure what I think is the best way to implement this but it might include the ability to select multiple objects within a wall and maybe the ability to link PIOs of your choosing so that when you edit certain parts of one of them the others change as well.

The same short cut for switching Design Layers works for Sheet Layers. Or are you asking for a short cut for switching Saved Views?

This is a fundamental limitation of VectorWorks that toobiloo has touched on though. The current paradigm of symbols and PIOs means that when you choose to make your symbol using a PIO you lose the ability of that PIO to interact intelligently with the rest of your model. But if you use PIOs on their own they can become cumbersome and prone to mistakes when you need to edit them en masse. One problem I've had with the loss of intelligence, for instance, when using a PIO-based window symbol was that it meant my windows no longer new which were the left and rights sides of the wall (so they didn't insert how I expected) and I couldn't use PIO features such as wall cavity returns. (and you have the same limitation with regard to records) My immediate reaction was to suggest that VectorWorks should be altered so that symbols didn't stop PIOs from being intelligent, but, as Islandmon pointed out in response at the time, the behaivoural limitations of symbols can be viewed not as a weakness but as a strength, forcing awareness of precise insertions as well as protecting against undesirable global changes from outside the Resource's container. So it seems to me that there needs to be a new paradigm altogether, one that makes the editing of PIOs en masse as easy as editing a symbol. I've posted a wishlist item here: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=77113

AutoSketch file?

As far as NNA are concerned I imagine their main concern is security. You can potentially open a big can of worms when you let people upload files to your server and publish them on your website. Still, it would be very convenient for us users.

1. Depends on your situation 2. No 3. One problem with leaving them there is that you can have problems when double clicking on VectorWorks files, and having them open in one of the old versions instead of the latest version (default apps have been a bit temperamental in Mac OS X over the years). One problem with removing them altogether is that you might have plugins that only work with a certain version (i.e. they haven't been updated for the latest) so you may need to use them in an emergency, or you may have forget to bring resources or workspaces, etc. with you to the latest version. For these reasons I've got into the habit of just zipping them up and leaving the zip file in the Applications folder for safe keeping.

On the other hand, it could arguably be called something else altogether as it's rather a tool that lets you do all those types of walls that the Wall Tool can't handle.

It's currently too easy to add a Default resource to your file. For instance when you choose a Wall Style with the Wall Tool mode bar pulldown menu, from one of the Defaults, it immediately adds that Wall Style to the file. I think the correct behaiviour should be that it doesn't add the Wall Style until you actually start drawing with it. Otherwise it's too easy to populate your file with resources you don't need.

We have a single template, yes. All Classes are predefined with colour attributes preset.

This is one feature that's really improved the draughting in our office because we now draw on Design Layers in full colour (according to Class) and then, depending on whether we need some colour or no colour on our prints we either choose Document Preferences Black and White only, or we edit the Viewport accordingly.

It's probably worth dropping the "plot" moniker too. Plotters are those vector-based machines that use pens, which have their own drivers and file types (don't they?). So asking about a "plot" file is potentially confusing. Today we're all using raster-based printers.

Great.

Think I'd prefer OpenDocument (ODF) compatibilty to MS Word compatibility (if there was any prioritisation being considered): http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=62285

We had no problems.

I'm just about to look at the possibility of implementing the Issue Manager in our office and I'm wondering how useful those who've been using for a while find it? Is it one of those tools that can create more headaches than it solves? Or is it reasonably intuitive? Can you automatically create drawing register sheets with it? Has anyone used it on reasonably large projects (does it scale up well)?

You'll definitely want to update to 12.5.1 as there were a few problems with batch print in 12.5.0.

It's on the wishlist: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Number=64428

It really depends on what you're drawing. Don't think you'd ever use C though (drawing in a blank viewport?). When doing section details, for instance, you might find it useful to draw sections or part sections on a design layer (at whatever scale) and then viewporting the various bits that you want present as details. This is good for keeping your details in context.

Not sure what your problem is exactly but I do remember having problems myself with 12.5. I'm pretty sure if you create a new mapping file you should overcome your problem, but others might have better advice.

American thing maybe?

Batch changes really should be built in. I've spent many an hour manually doing such changes. One for the wishlist.

If you didn't want the default content to show you'd be better off just unchecking the "Display default content" option in Preferences > Session.

Ha. Oh dear.

As an aside, I would have thought the current Pillar tool should be called Column and the current Column tool should be called Pillar.

Thanks Jonathan, that's far more useful that being able to set the Column into a wall. Interestingly the 'command-j' shortcut for joining walls doesn't work for the Pillar, although the Wall Join tool does.