David Bertrand

Browsing the book store the other day, I looked through a copy of a book Introducing Revit. It was interesting and brought up some questions about detailing in BIM software. If you cut a section through a modeled building and use it for detailing, will the software automatically fill in the details, or will you have to draw them in yourself? The book noted that you can set different levels of detail in a model and this brought my question to mind. Vectorworks doesn't fill in detail sections and we have to complete them ourselves, even when we use the provided wall tool. I suppose this makes VW not a true BIM software. My impression of the gallery of renderings in the Revit book was not very good. They seem to lack realism. Maybe it was that I didn't like the designs. Also, the drawings lack a personal touch which is unfortunately true in most of the renderings I've seen.

Bob-H I love your avatar.

I would organize the details according to the type of building construction. Wood, masonry-block, masonry-brick, steel, mixed steel and wood, etc. Within those categories, I would then organize them by level: below grade walls, footings, floor to footing, 2nd floor, 3rd floor (if it's different from 2nd floor), and roof details. Also, I found that pieces of details which can be assembled into complete details sometimes makes things easier. I used to do that with AutoCad all the time. Even if the parts aren't perfectly sized, you can stretch them to fit. I had cross sections for all the standard steel members, wood members and trusses. Then I could plop them in and assemble a detail. There are all kinds of possibilities to make the work quicker and easier.

Yeah. I hope he's alright. Maybe Finland froze over.

As a Mac user, I'd recommend that platform (of course). There may be fewer problems with it and the interface is friendlier. Also, a Mac will run Windows if you must. A good suggestion that someone made is to get a 15" size laptop, which travels easier, and then to buy a larger monitor for desktop use: maybe a 22".

There's an advantage to using layer 0 in AutoCad, which doesn't apply to VW. If you insert a block which was drawn in layer 0, it can assume the characteristics of the layer that you are inserting it into (depending on how the lines are specified). The same block can appear differently in different drawings or in different layers in the same drawing. A door can appear heavy in one layer while appearing grayed out in another, without making any changes to the original block. Other than for placing a class at the top of the list, I don't see any advantage of a layer 0 in Vectorworks.

As gmm18 suggests, can't you simply import the dwg into a new drawing, purge it, and then save and insert it into your project?

Thank you. 3D Studio Max sounds reasonable. I suppose the Mac could be running Windows. I thought that I saw the modelling on the actual Mac screen. Those are fun shows.

At least one of the programs on HGTV show people using a Macbook Pro 17" with 3D modelling of an interior design. I didn't catch the name of the show, but I'll be watching for it. Does anyone know what software they use for these 3D models? I'm guessing that they may be using Vectorworks or Sketchup. Thanks

Bob-H says: One of the reasons I'm glad to be out of the business. The drafter now has so little control over the appearance of the drawings.

Also, it might help if you tell us one particular thing you are trying to do and we can tell you how.

Yeah. I can't speak for ArchiCAD, but VW does have a certain artsy quality about it that is certainly missing in AutoCAD.

I keep my snap radius at about 5 and don't have any problem with the trim tool.

LarryAZ says: That's a very good point. A few months ago, I took a simple typing test and totally messed up because the keyboard was in the wrong place and the space bar didn't work properly. Tests, or style of working, are far less indicative of someone's potential than is his productivity at the end of the day.

Petri says: If the results meet office standards and are done in a timely fashion, then his style of working should be respected.

Christiaan says: Possibly the antagonism comes from the fact that individual CAD people do things differently. If a person fails at some test questions, it doesn't necessarily mean that he needs training. It could mean that he accomplishes the same task in a different way. Productivity is the goal. If a person is getting his work done on time, he doesn't need testing. If not, then you can investigate how to get him up to speed. Or, in other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Also, in a typical work place, the faster guys usually help the slower guys to get them up to speed, by showing them various tricks that they've learned over the years. You could consider talking to the more productive CAD people to get their take on the situation.

Christiaan says: You mean that you don't know if your employees are any good? Pete A. says: My knowledge of the industry was abysmal, but I was a whiz on the computer. It is more important that they know how things are built than how to use a CAD system I have to admit.

Does that apply to 2008 only?

You're talking about AutoCad, right? With AutoCad, you insert the border at the scale you intend to plot (x96 for 1/8" scale, for example), and then you can see how much space you've got for the drawing. You still draw at 1:1 scale. This topic is all over the place. We really need to be standing around a monitor to see how it's done.

All these items can be saved in template drawings. I had a template for every scale. Or you can write scripts in Autolisp to change all the settings, though I never got around to it. Also, I had a procedure for changing the scale of a drawing in midstream. That was not so easy as in VW unfortunately. It involved inserting the drawing into a template of the correct scale, rescaling the notations and border, and resaving. Or, just switch to Vectorworks.

I found scaling in AutoCAD really easy to understand. Draw everything full scale and upscale the "notations" and "borders" times the plot scale. After a while, you memorize all the common scales. For example, if your drawing scale is 1/8"=1-0", draw at 1:1, then plot at 1/96, etc. You can mix scales in AutoCAD by using xrefs -- so long as you know the eventual plot scale when you are drawing the xref. I actually got more confused with Vectorworks scaling and sheet layouts, probably from my AutoCAD experience. VW is simpler than it seems.

I am impressed and intimidated. I could never learn to program.

You must be really old, Katie. On a Commodore 64, the keyboard IS the computer.

I've always liked working with computers; it challenges my organizational talents. But I don't think they've done anything for our quality of life. I just like to play with them.

I think PowerCadd has a similar feature.