stuartgsmith

The offset parameter moves a window wall vertically within a wall, as well as horizontally. However, the opening in the wall does not get offset, leaving a gap at the top of the window wall equal to the offset. The offset should only be horizontal, since vertical positioning is handled by the height parameter. Until this gets fixed, can anyone tell me how to modify the vectorscript to accomplish this?

A suggestion and a (possible) bug regarding the Stair Plug-in Object: Suggestion: I would like the option of turning off the dashed lines that indicate the nosing indent when viewing the 2D portion of stairs. Oddly enough, when one checks the option for '2d stair break' these lines disappear. I have a complex stair made up of multiple stair objects and I would like to have the 2D break line drawn on the upper most stair, however, the two modes are drawn inconsistently. Possible Bug: Sometimes stair objects seem to get 'corrupted' or forget that they are 'stairs'. More specifically, when i select a stair PIO to edit, it will show up as a generic 'Plug-in Object' in the Object Info, and none of the stair parameters show up. I haven't been able to figure out what causes this or how to fix it. I end up inserting a new stair. VW 8.5.2 Architect 1.0.1 Mac OS 8.6

The ability to reference layer links is an absolute MUST if you want to use Architect in an office where more than one person works on a project. You could have one file with all of the 3d/Plan information, which the people drawing elevations and sections could reference to generate their drawings. Changes to the plan/model would be reflected in the layer link and consequently in the elev/sect files. Without this feature we are stuck.

There goes that idea. You can not Reference a Layer Link. Back to the drawing board. (pun intended)

I am currently trying to figure out how to do exactly what you describe. Architect is only really useful if you work the way it wants you to, i.e. the way the Setup Assistant sets it up. Essentially, we are using all of the class and layer names created by the plug-in objects, but assigning our own colors and line weights (mainly because we like to draw on a black background). I have also tried to cull out the classes and layers which are not applicable to the types of drawings we do to reduce 'clutter'. Another thing that is important for us to be able to do is to have more than one person working on a project at the same time. The VA Setup Assistant assumes you want everything (plans, elevations, sections, details, etc.) in one file. My idea is to have a plan file with all the 3d info and a layer link layer which is workgroup referenced to the elevation/section/interior elev files. Time will tell if this philosophy is actually more productive than our old 2d 'virtual drafting table' approach. If you like the idea of working in 3d and generating your drawings from the model, then Architect is pretty handy. If your doing mostly 2d drafting it doesn't offer that much over basic VectorWorks.

We are currently trying out VA after using VectorWorks and MiniCAD (primarily for 2D drafting) for the past three+ years. In that time we developed our own class and layer standards to suit the types of projects we were working on. Architect seems to offer some great tools but locks us into the class and layer names and attributes set up by the program. For example, if i add a sheet using the VA Add Sheet command and i am working in black background mode, the black and white line color attributes reverse so that things like walls are drawn with white lines on a white background and black lines on a black background. I have also noticed that any changes to class attributes are wiped out after adding a sheet. i assume that this is due to the VA Setup Assistant recreating the class and layer set-ups from scratch, and that the only way to edit the attributes of classes would be to actually edit the worksheet which the setup assistant references. Is this correct? We are used to being able to tell the class of a certain object just by its color, which may not be as necessary in VA, I guess. I also read a post somewhere on this board from a Tech Support person saying that modifying the Setup Assistant worksheet is tantamount to modifying the application and therefore is strongly discouraged and unsupported by NNA. Is this true? MiniCAD/Vectorworks was great because it was so simple and easy to learn, very intuitive. It was also very easy to customize to suit our needs and method of working. I'm afraid Architect may be trying to do too much at the expense of simplicity and customization. Please feel free to offer rebuttals. I am interested in how other people are using Architect.