David Bertrand

then enter +or- the dimension directly into the X or Y position in the OIP. Of course, great idea. Saves having to open the "move" dialogue box. Also, if you want to copy something at an angle, you can duplicate in place and then move it using Polar angle and distance settings in the "move" dialog box. These kinds of things need to be documented and available so that users can refer to them.

With the Selection tool still active click and hold down on the object and drag it in the direction you want to go, so that the Cursor says "perpendicular". With your finger still down on the mouse button, use your left hand to TAB to the L (length) field and enter the distance you want, hit Enter, and let go of the mouse button. This is a great idea, but it's the very kind of thing I find so frustrating about VW. Do something with your left hand while doing something else with your right hand...etc. Some of us have a real problem with this. I now find it irritating to work on other peoples drgs with a whole bunch of "loose" lines. I've been working on a floor plan, strictly 2D. I've found that it's faster to lay it out with lines and then "compose" them into polygons, so there are no loose lines. Doing it with shapes is slower for me and leaves lots of stray "handles." This is a very interesting topic. Thanks for all the input.

Duplicating and moving is not an offset operation So true. But I've been using it anyway. For offsetting of vertical and horizontal lines, it works fine. Those of us who come from AutoCad are accustomed to using the "O" all the time. In fact, it's common to draw only two original lines in an AutoCad drawing: one horizontal and one vertical. All other straight lines can be derived from these two. When we arrive at Vectorworks, we run into a wall. The VW offset command seems like a real pain by comparison. I've been told on this forum that we should draw with shapes in VW. So I've been avoiding the offset command and have been adding and clipping surfaces. This sort of works, but then I end up with a zillion nodes. But now the offset command doesn't seem so forbidding. Maybe someone should write an entire chapter on the boomerang tool in the next user guide.

propstuff, Thanks for the tip. I had relegated the offset tool to the "useless tools" bin because I thought that it was awkward to use. Also, I've discovered that I can change the offset distance by typing "i" while still in the offset command. I have been using the duplicate - move commands to do my offsetting.

Oops. You meant, how can all 100+ symbols be repaired in one fell swoop. Sorry. Sometimes if the template directory is not there or is unavailable, the program won't remember which font is default. In that case, it'll use Arial, I believe.

Secondly, does anyone know a quick way to change them all back? Try selecting "all" and then go to "text>font" menu and change it.

ccroft: ...use add surface to connect them all together. Editing is very easy with the reshape tool. Of course, I didn?t think of that; they?re just shapes and can be dealt with in the same way. Another thing I like to do is draw temporary rectangles or other shapes and use them to clip surfaces down to size. I can then discard them. It?s easier than fussing with those little corner thingies (handles).

OK people, go back to your respective stools and take a time-out. After tinkering with this problem, I realized that, in architecture at least, it doesn?t make any difference. With a wall thickness typically of 5? or more, the length of the line would have to be very short indeed to cause the problem, and that never happens. Islandmon: When using the double line to draw, say perimeter walls, how do you ?connect/combine? the corners? Each wall length is a separate set of lines or polygons. Or are you using the double-line polygon tool which automatically trims the corners?

Not being a technogeek (I don?t comprehend the math), I?m more interested in a practical solution to the problem, bug, anomaly, or whatever it should be called. I sometimes use offsets of polygons or polylines to draw my walls and would like to know what should I be looking for, to avoid the issue. Maybe the ?imaginary extension? line condition? How do I know it when I see it? Or maybe I should convert everything to lines, offset, and then re-compose, as mike noted. That doesn?t seem very efficient. Perhaps the best solution might be to check the distances in the suspected locations, after the offset, and then add or subtract surfaces. Thanks everyone for an interesting discussion.

Yup. You have to create a templates folder. I had the same problem when I installed 11.5.1. I'm not sure if you have to actually save a template into the templates folder, but it wouldn't hurt.

Highpass, Thank for the tips. I made some quick changes to my palette and found it to be easy. I was interested in more grays and blues, from the medium shades to the lightest. I selected the darkest colors on the palette to modify, since I won't be needing those anyway.

The color palette that came with my VW doesn't have many colors that I can use. Too many greens, and many of the colors are very dark and may as well be black. Are there other color palettes available anywhere, so that I don't have to devise my own? I don't have enough understanding of colors. Thanks

I played around with this and came up with the following procedure. After creating the walls using "wall tool," I did this: "tool>convert copy to lines." Then I moved this copy to a different layer, "ungroup"ed the copy and erased the diagonal corner lines.

dunsterville says: I was pleased to see that some of the students this year, have made VW their main design tool. I think the reason for this is that Vectorworks is much more suitable for presentation work, which is what students mainly do. VW is better at color, graphics handling, and fonts. Coming from AutoCad structural drafting, I would never attempt to outdo myself with Vectorworks. I'm simply faster at 2D black and white drafting with AutoCad (can't speak for others). However, since I've been using Vectorworks at home, I've noticed that my drawings are much better looking. I think it's because of the easy color and textured fills that VW provides, and also because I can now use Truetype fonts, which really slow AutoCad down. Doing presentation drawings at work with AutoCad was always a chore that I tried to avoid. Now, with Vectorworks, I like to show off my drawings to anyone that I've cut off from escape.

set both the fill and the line to 'none' Great idea.

I just had this same issue come up. NickB is right on. The key is to click on the vp, then go to the object info palette where you can turn the invisible class back on. Don't try to turn it on at the class menu for the layer because that won't work - this is where I got confused. After revising the vp crop, go back to the object info palette and turn it off again.

I copied the pages listing the structural shapes from the American Institute of Steel Construction and keep them as a reference. Most of the information you wouldn't need, but they will tell you what's available, and the exact dimensions.

Nicholas says...I'm durned if I can interperet some of them into 3D objects. I remember taking an analytical geometry class many years ago that required such visualization. I could sometimes get the picture for few seconds, and then I'd lose it. ...subsequently spent many years doing commercial sculpture This explains the sculptural speaker design. jan15 says...I used to enjoy hand sketching, and cardboard modelling, too. It's too bad that modeling isn't as popular as it once was. People are much more intrigued by a scale model than a 3D computer model. I read that Frank Gehry starts with hand sketches, then goes to models, and then to CAD. I had hoped to do sculptural models (I love geometric abstraction) for display only, and use CAD for the initial design. It's probably outside of my talents.

Nicholas says: That's why I recommend to Brian and David forgetting the 3D poly tools. Draw in orthogonal planes(including custom working planes) where you can control things easily, then extrude. It's a relief to know that I'm not going crazy. Do you ever get to the point where you can design in 3D without making preliminary sketches on paper for visualization? You know, the "what-if" approach, which then can be changed back easily to a previous model? I was able to work in 2D AutoCad this way, not quite in Vectorworks and not at all in 3D.

Nicholas, The speakers are beautiful works of art and should be in a museum (once they become obsolete, next month). I'll have to look for the movie Brazil now. Maybe it'll be on AMC or TCM.

Did you build the crossover networks yourself? What's a crossover, and is that something I should know for 3D work?

Thank you Peter. Very helpful. That is basically what I did in ACAD, but I thought that Vectorworks would be more sophisticated. Somehow, I got the impression that I could draw 3D from an iso view. That's what the user guide seems to indicate when they illustrate the extruded rectangle command (and other 3D commands as well).

If I may chime in, in support of brian-rwc. I too am just getting into VW 3D and am having similar problems. Drawing an extruded rectangle on top of another 3D shape while in an isometric view is impossible. It comes out all screwy. I too must be doing something wrong. Does it all have to be NURBS?

Have you tried converting the doc to RTF? I'm able to copy and paste an RTF document into VW with no loss of formatting.

Yet more advice: I'm a sloucher with bad posture, and never had back or neck pain. People with great athletic posture had problems. Another tip: keep the keyboard relatively high so that your wrist doesn't bend back. Keeping the wrist straight or bent forward helps combat carpel tunnel problems. My theory (probably worthless) is that keyboards and mice don't have enough feedback. They require too subtle a touch. This causes the muscles to tense up and get sore. My favorite keyboard of all time was the original IBM mechanical keyboard. It had a distinct "click" and you could really pound on it. Don't be afraid to beat on the keyboard and slam that mouse around. If they break, they're cheap to replace. But, please get the computer glasses! You'll be able to stare at the screen all day without any eye strain.