shorter

Which version and flavour of Vectorworks are you using? Architect, Landmark, Funkymentals? There is a setting in the UK version of Architect 2024 to export a DWG with Data Visualisation. Does this not work, or it is not available in your copy? If you have used class attributes religiously, you could save the file, change the class attributes temporarily, export and then reverted to saved. Bit of a faff though. I assume you have all your design layers and sheet layers in one file? A different file structure would help but not in this case. I am surprised that setting the viewport to b+w, or the file itself, does not work. Never use these tbh for controlling graphics, so would need to test. Another option is to tick 'use DWG indexed colours' and set all to black.

Would anyone like an update to these class libraries? Judging by the few that download them (thanks, by the way), they are not required by the majority. We are now taking orders if anyone would like mapping tables to convert their practice CAD standards to ISO13567 or BS1192 layer naming, or any other standard.

Sorry. Thoght the date of this was August 2024! Hope you found a solution!

Data Manager.

I do wish we could drag and drop vectorworks files into the navigation palette or organisation palette and have vectorworks reference them. Don't need necessarily to tick layers or create viewports but simply to refeence them would save so much time, although if there was some mechanism to tick the layer and have the layers adopt the pre-existing design layer scale which of course would be consistent throughout the file. Or if when referencing you could select more than one file to reference. Just been sent 40 files and need to assemble them. That's another hour gone.

From our drawings procedure manual... GA = General Arrangement, defined as a plan, section, or elevation of a building or landscape setting out primary elements, and openings therein. Secondary elements like doors are shown in outline only, i.e. no manufacturer's DWG detail dump. The GA contains annotations and dimensions related to the objects shown (linear dimensions, floor levels, etc), and references other drawings of a smaller scale, i.e. 1:20 englarged areas and room layouts, and 1:5 details where these are not referenced with the 1:20 enlarged area. A GA must always attempt to avoid duplicating information displayed on another drawing, particularly detail, and should be segregated into multiple drawings to avoid overcrowding the drawing, i.e. separate blockwork setting out drawings from drawings displaying door numbers. Further Reading... Working Drawing Handbook by Keith Styles and Andrew Bichard as published by the Architectural Press ISBN 0 7506 6372 3. Good examples of what to do and not do in this book.

But bit wouldn't disrupt your workflow. It would be an OPTION for those that find it annoying, frustrating, counter-intuitive, or simply don't work how you do, @Jeff Prince Do I now act with equal petulence and thumbs-down all your post where I disagree with you?

Ho hum

We draw the detail and annotate in the design layer, then create a viewport of that design layer on the sheet... The design layer scale of the design layer is 1:5. If you mix and match design layer scales, and the design layer scale of the 'GA' is 1:50, how do you coordinate the GA with the detail? We set all design layers to 1:50 or 1:5 to see the detail with the GA underlay. Design Layer scale is only useful when placing text at a specific size for a specific scale of drawing. We have different files doing different jobs, and not one file for all our eggs, so perhaps this simplifies our use of design layer scale, i.e. GA is referenced to detail. GA file remains 1:50 throughout. Detail file is 1:5 througout, including referenced GA layers.

I know we have the dubiously named 'Solibri Inside' but we will by nature import an IFC, check it in VW, clean it up, reduce it's size, and then reference it. In such a scenario we are looking at VW to VW data. We use data visualisation for coordination now. It is brilliant for this, but at another level deeply frustrating because it does not quite do what you want it to do, and misbehaves, like resetting attributes as mentioned on another post. Thinking about it, I now have a workaround.

ps I neglected to use the word 'option'... It would be good to have the 'option'... BIM models layer scale 1:50. Detail drawings layer scale 1:5 Detail Sections layer scale 1:20, etc Viewport scale... world is your bivalve.

@Jeff Prince That's what viewports on sheet layers are for? Are we talking at cross purposes?

Sorry to ask again, but it would be really great if we could 'pin' layer scale to a file, so that all layers automatically change layer scale if you change one or make a new one or reference from another document using layer import referencing. We never use layers with different scales and it is now one of the questions in our vectorworks questionnaire aimed at checking how well new recruits know vectorworks and what bad habits they have acquired en route.

I think a hierarchical RM would be great, and the parent wold reveal the contigent desecendants upon clicking on an arrow, totally unlike the current implication of the symbol or resource folder which doesn't although the favorites do! Sort of wished the folders would open up like this, with an arrow to the left.

Yes. In effect any 'root' or parent should be able to manage it's offspring. This is the basis of good data management. Change it once, and it changes everywhere. Too many instances of change it once, change it again, and again.