Ramon PG

"You can also render the model in Sheet Save View-Use the bitmap tool to copy images shadows-then copy and convert to lines-Hand Sketch Mode and place on top of Bitmap image and edit line atributes-Quick and dirty. Without view ports. " This will take me a week to analyze...

"But it seem benchmarks do not work in annotations. Try start a new viewport at 1/4" scale add a bench mark, go to the sheet and move the view port. The bench mark scales its self to 1:1? I've tried it a few time" Jonel, Happens to me too. Font goes to size 668 or someting. It's a bug in VW, I think. I am too trying to do the "live" elevations and sections. It's so silly to go through the tedious 3D modelling only to have to manually redraw the elevations and sections.

"I can't figure out how to view the model as a whole entity. When I go to View>Standard View>Right Isometric, for example, the 3d view is displayed for the active layer. How do I look at a 3d view of the whole building?" Layer Link an Model View do it, but how about an editable or live 3D of the whole building? It's really strange to have to double-click a 3D model and have it revert to the Plan/Top view of the layer; then you have to go back and select 3D from the Standard Views menu. Is there a way to achieve this?

Travis, Thanks again. "Saved Views of every Design Layer" sounds nice but it means you should have your setup pretty well thought out (which I don't, right now) in order not to have to go back and re-save the views. I think it would be great if you could divide your window into several views or layers all showing at once. You could click on a smaller window or pallete name and that layer would come up. You work on it and select another layer or view. Having to scroll down the layer and class in the Data Display Bar is starting to make my index finger and hand numb... Of course you could memorize the layer windows pull-down commands but you still would not have, say, plan and isometric side by side.

I am currently exploring the possibility of doing a Convert Copy to Lines" on top of a rendered elevation. I hope to get the lines needed for precision and rendering (including mild shadows shadow) needed for depth understanding.

I'll check that out. I actually pasted it onto the Sheet layer. I thought maybe VW would tell me "NOT HERE DUMMY!!" Thanks for the help.

Pardon my lapses, please take note of my member number. OK, for the Nth time I saved the view. As you say. BUT, now I have all layers squished at the same height relative to themselves. I know Model or Links can fix it but I won't have the layers readily editable unless double clicking. Or do I have a defective drawing, program or brain.

Jonel, BTW, you can try and ungroup the Benchmarks. It tames them into inert submission.

mjkoolighan: " i rarely trim or cut, just cover. i have found that adding more to the enormous amout of lines is faster than trying to take away- " This makes a lot of sense to me. But I wonder if there is a way to keep the elevations or sections as "live" as possible as Seena (and I) wish. It is obvious she has seen that rendered elevs show no object line-joints and can make for super-cool construction drawings even with some mild shadows.

Chris, Thanks for the reply. You were right. I was really lost because I can undersatnd why classes go invisible without you telling them. I'm really freaking out with the Create Layer Link command which suddenly decides not to show the roof layer even when several operations back it did. Seems to me that the Views you use turn off layers also in the Layer Link, but why would that make sense ???

Exactly what class do you use to place the drawing border and notes to be seen in the final Sheet. I am trying to export a Sheet to DWG and they are nowhere to be found.

Does anyone know why my Model elevations will not show door or window detal? I only get the shape of the opening.

Seena, I am pretty new with VW but I too find annotating Viewports (VPs) really clumsy. I was playing around with your idea of using the Model View Tool (in design layers) to generate the elevations and find it quite promising. I could even insert lighting into the layer and got shadows in. Even the hidden line rendering looks better than in VPs. But I'm just starting to experiment... The only drawbacks I see with using the Model View Tool in design layers is cleaning up the drawings if you want line art since hidden line does not solve the joints between objects (which would be great) and the fact that you cannot render the elevs separately as you can in VPs. BTW, anyone, how do you clean joints between objects? Do you manually retrace the final version of the elevation/section?

I did find a "NW House.mcd" but it was a very simple drawing. it helped a bit.

Thank You all for your comments. My 'extras' folder Islandmon writes about has nothing of the sort and the "sample" folder only includes: Air Cylinder.mcd Collar.mcd Mfg Example Butterfly Valve Adjacency Matrix.csv PCB Assembly.mcd Survey File.txt No Architectural drawings.

I really forgot that the reason for this post is to inquire if there are any sample drawings that one could study to learn about layers and classes. It would help me, and I am sure many others, a lot more than verbal explanations. Maybe someone would like to share his or her setup. Thanks for any help.

Thank You for your reply. 1. I still have not figured a high tech solution. Yours is as good as any: draw it twice and get the job done. I'm too new for workgroup references. 2. I decided, in order to get the job done, not to show the roof layer in the Ceiling Plan and instead substitute it fior a Roof-Outline class. And again, this roof outline (dashed) is needed in Floor Plan in order to establish where the roof ends. So the same item repeated 3 times.

"Error: _3336 _3339 - Index outside array limits." I also got this message after setting up a drawing. I wanted to add a Sheet layer for sections. And of course could not. I did add it thrugh the Layers setup dialog, but I wonder if I by not doing it at the very start of the drawing setup I missed a propper setting of its visible layers, classes, etc.

I am very dissapointed with the tutorial material and the online help in one respect. It does not tell you where to draw stuff. For example, 1. I am trying to figure out how to draw an overhead beam that should show dashed line in Floor plan but solid line in Reflected Ceiling. I would prefer not drawing the same item twice in different layers since keeping tabs of changes to duplicate items is a pain, esp in 3D. 2. Some parts of my bldg have ceilings while others do not and you actually see the roof (a flat conc. slab). In Refl Ceiling Plan view, if I set the Roof layer as visible it will show on top of the Ceiling layer and thus you see no ceiling. If you change the layer positions to Roof under Ceiling then the prob is you see the ceiling on top in the Roof Plan. In other CAD prog I use I can decide (or reverse in this case) the layer positions any every layer setup. Possible? RPG

Mike and Island, Thanks for the suggestions, I'll give them a try. But, let's keep the pressure up on VW programmers !!! VW is a superb product. I'm sure they recognize this featute would put VW in very positive light versus the competition. (Like ArchiCAD, for example...) BTW, where can I get or buy decent symbol and/or object libs like trees, cars, furniture. RPG

quote: Originally posted by reem: I solved it by creating a roof face to represent my wall and inserting a skylight. It's a little confusing to do it that way, but it worked. The only problem is, the top of the wall is mitered and I couldn't figure out how to make it square on the top. Well, I protest. I happen to think this method, although very clever, is totaly unacceptable if the computer is supposed to do the dirty work. I want to spend my time designing and developing a model of such design, which is why I bought VW. Instead, I find myself battling with the program. Slanted walls are an everyday occurrence, especially in interior design where you can create all sorts of wacky shapes in gypsum board and other materials. I mean, VW has so many specialized and complex features I've seen that I will probably never use. I bought the program several weeks ago and have made great progress with it (in spite of the VW Architect manual) but now I am stuck and very dissapointed with this lacking feature. There should be a better, much better way. RPG

More correctly I am drawing them in Mod-Ceiling with Ceiling-Overhead Class.

1. I'd like to know in what layer (and what class) should you draw overhead stuff like bulkheads or beams that should show as dashed lines in Plan but solid lines in Reflected Ceiling. I am drawing them in Ceiling-Overhead which looks perfect in Plan but then show the dashed lines in Elevation. 2. Also I tried a 2D section but I did not get an elevation of the items I am supposedly looking towards (walls, windows, doors, etc) only the sectioned floor, walls and roof slab. Thanks

Thanks for the info. I am getting up to speed. Now I need to know how to print all commands since I customized some to my liking but the tools will not show them as in Windows.

quote: Originally posted by BiplabNNA: in the 3D reshape tool, you can select more than two vertices in two ways - (a)by drawing a marquee around the vertices you want to select (b)by shift select. Otherwise you are selecting just one vertex by clicking on it. Please let me know which one you are using. I've tried this in VW 11.0.1 and I simply can't do it !! I want all 4 top vertices in a cube at different heights. Please help.