jfmarch

another way to prevent insertion into walls is to provide a 'barrier' between the wall & symbol. For example, if i'm laying out a ganged toilet room, i'll place loci at the edge of the wall at the correct intervals for fixtures. then i place the symbol at each locus- they don't get inserted into the wall because the locus is 'in front' of the wall, and acts as a barrier. you can also group the symbol, or use guidelines...

we happen to be working on a very large building as well (100,000SF+). I have printed the entire, single plan at at 20% & 25% on 11x17- no problems, although it is so tiny. we usually print at 50% onto Arch C sheets which gets us 1/16" and 1/8" scaled plans. Even with all our hatches on, all grid lines on, all doors, windows, etc., it prints/plots fine. I have set up the interior fitout plans using layer links to 'break up' the plans into 3 or so pieces so that when we do print, the sheets will be Arch E size and will print out at 1/4" scale. We have never experienced a debilitating printing problem with VW, so i can't see the fundemental problem.

We have found the if you hit the 'enter' key (on Mac Powerbooks), the data entry works the way it is supposed to. the 'return' key seems to work the same as the 'tab' key (?). hope this helps.

you should never change the layer scale to fit prints on small sheets of paper. you should always use the % box in the printv dialog box to 'scale' the drawings. i would think, though, that anything lower than 20% is going to be so small as to be hard to see. your building must be gigantic? perhaps you should 'break-up' the plan into small sections so you can print these at a larger %.

We have no problems with the PDF files from VW. But you need to clarify: 1. What system are you using? 2. Are you using 'Print-to-PDF', Adobe Distiller, or the system print driver? 3. What are the issues you're having? Which files are 'way too large'? 4. Why is size a problem? 5. 3D elements should not cause difficulties. I have noticed, though that if there is alot of hatching in a drawing, the PDF versions of it will be very slow in regenerating while viewing in Acrobat. And sometime if the font are not embedded, they will be replaced during the export phase. But otherwise its a great feature, especially in OS X. [ 06-25-2003, 03:18 PM: Message edited by: jfmarch ]

In old versions of VW, there was a symbol called 'Skydome' that comes in 3 sizes. Its in my object libraries folder as a sitework_general file, but I think I copied it from version 8(?). They are giant extruded arcs, I think, that have a nice mottled sky blue color- good for 3D modelling and perspective views. hope this helps.

'Scaled to fit' must be a printer driver feature. VW doesn't have this feature. ARCH D will fit on a 11x17 if the PERCENTAGE is changed to 50% in the print dialog box. I would think that 25% would work to get you on an letter sized sheet, but man, that's small. We use a graphic scale on all our drawings so that when they are reduced, someone can figure out the PERCENTAGE themselves. Also, make sure the the box called 'Print current view only' is unchecked under the Vectorworks settings of the print dialog box.

Time to use the 'Layer Link' command! If you place a layer link of the plan(s), in 2D, on the layer you wish to draw your elevations, you can unlock it and rotate it to your heart's content. Plus it is hot-linked, so any plan changes are reflected on the layer link. Its a good tool...

Huh? I think that if you create a series of grid lines that are rotated to your specified angle, you could do what you want (I think). They can either be a seperate layers or on seperate classes (S-GRID-A...). You can snap to them too. Under the Page menu, the Set Grid command can set the spacing and angle of the blue grid you see within the page extents, but as far as I know, this can only be done once. Hope this helps

By the way, what does 'ODBC' stand for.

I have some issues with setup assistant. It used to crash when I added floors or layers to a pre-existing file- but I think that has been fixed. The layer setup, though, is weks when it comes to working on a project that has existing conditions ('residential remodel'). Since I do alot of work on existing structures, there are no layers for existing walls (I end up using the 'mod-slab-' layers with corrected Z values), or classes for existing conditions (I modify one of the wall classes to 'wall-exst'). It is also difficult to do more than one schematic design for ether new construction or remodelling projects. I usually use the 'Sheet-FloorPlan-' for one design, and Sheet-Schemplan-'for another, with corrected Z values. It works, but its clumsy and takes some manual input time. I also use my own titleblock on its own layer, as I use special scripts for updating the drawing dates. I'm not there yet with the titleblock on each and every sheet. Otherwise, its a great way to set up a file really quick.

I have some other issues with setup assistant. It used to crash when I added floors or layers to a pre-existing file- but I think that has been fixed. The layer setup, though, is weks when it comes to working on a project that has existing conditions ('residential remodel'). Since I do alot of work on existing structures, there are no layers for existing walls (I end up using the 'mod-slab-' layers with corrected Z values), or classes for existing conditions (I modify one of the wall classes to 'wall-exst'). It is also difficult to do more than one schematic design for ether new construction or remodelling projects. I usually use the 'Sheet-FloorPlan-' for one design, and Sheet-Schemplan-'for another, with corrected Z values. It works, but its clumsy and takes some manual input time. I also use my own titleblock on its own layer, as I use special scripts for updating the drawing dates. I'm not there yet with the titleblock on each and every sheet. Otherwise, its a great way to set up a file really quick.

-'You're right, being forced to use another program like Excel is archaic and a waste of time.'- That's not what I was saying. What I was trying to say is that the forcing is coming from the user, not the program. The worksheets feature may be flawed, but for producing door schedules (on construction documents), let's say, as a database it is excellent. If I hear you right, you are trying to creat long form (?) specifications on a spreadsheet- something I would not do. In fact we do not use written specification if we can avoid it. We do use the worksheets for text items such as code reviews or contact information, an it works fine. we don't worry about making cells biggger or word wrap. VW is not acad, nor is it microstation, etc. It is an affordable software with good 3D capabilities and great graphic abilities. I understand alot of post-ers have gripes about the worksheet feature- I just don't see it, that's all.

I can't imagine why you would be copying excel sreadsheets into vectorworks- it seem so archaic to me, and a huge waste of time. Plus its adds another layer of error to your documents. The worksheets in VW can handle basic data and text info for any project. It seems to me that many users are making a big deal over a minor issue- the power of excel versus the lack of power in VW. The only beef I have with worksheets is that you cannot export them in DWG format. But for us, this issue rarely comes up. PDF files works great for us, and no one can manipulate them. Again, if you like acad so much than go back to using it. Whether you mean it or not, you comments have an acad bias, and vw is not acad- its better. If you have to make a correction to your spreadsheet and recopy and repaste- the problem is not with vw- its with your drawing standards.

I beleive the default IS unchecked, at least that is how it is on our machines. Perhaps you need to trash your preferences and reboot VW? Hope this helps...

You can 'change' any or all the colors on the color pallette through the 'set attributes defaults' under the page menu.

again- We use WG Refs alot, and are on a network too. They work great. We do notice that if a file is open and a user wants to reference it, that connot be done. The file needs to be closed first. If a file is already referenced in a target file, and a user wants to update it, this works fine as long as the referenced file has been saved. Otherwise, I don't know why you are having trouble.

Yes, MikeB, this happens to us too. We just reselect to preset view and it corrects it.

We use WG Refs alot, and are on a network too. They work great. We do notice that if a file is open and a user wants to reference it, that connot be done. The file needs to be closed first. If a file is already referenced in a target file, and a user wants to update it, this works fine as long as the referenced file has been saved. Otherwise, I don't know why you are having trouble.

jnr: i stand by my comments. if you are into spreadsheets, than yes Excel is the way to go. Since we are architects, and we like to design buildings and create working drawings, we use VW. the worksheet feature is not Excel, nor do we think it should be. as a way to express databases, or other text in a grid, it works fine. Having control over row heights does not make any difference when you are designing buildings and creating construction drawings. having a 'hot linked' door schedule, though, is. propstuff: I agree with you. i like your 2c.

Worksheets cannot be rotated. What we do is 'rotate' the sheet they are plotted on. Instead of landscape, we use portrait format, when the worksheet is to long to fit. I creat a layer link of the title block and rotate that. works pretty good.

if you like autocad so much, then go back to using it. cell heights are controlled by text height. word wrap is not an issue for us. the text editor, i think, works fine. its a one stop place to deal with fonts. resizing the rows/columns is a good feature for making the schedule fit on a page. sometime, though, we 'rotate' the sheet if the schedule become to long to fit on a horizontal format. for what it is, vw worksheets work pretty good. i'm a former acad user and i'd be hard pressed to have to go back using it.

I am not using VW 10 yet, but have you checked to see the the 'Style-Glazing' class is on for that window? I usually have to turn the style classes OFF so that the window appears transparent, the way it is supposed to. I bet if you trun on these classes, the windows will appear opaque. Hope this helps

You could make the cased opening(s) a symbol, and then attached the record to it. That should be a reasonable workaround. We always create symbols from the objects, it works a lot easier and saves much time with duplicates. Hope this helps.

What can I say, there are some good reasons for using Mac's!