Mike_M

Is it possible to use the Create Multiple Viewports command to create said viewports on a sheet layer I've already created? At the moment I don't believe this is possible. The command automatically creates a new sheet layer that I then have to edit and format after the fact. I have a template file I start drafting with that has a variety of pre-formatted sheet layers already in it. Various sizes and title blocks ready to go. It would be awesome if I could use the Create Multiple Viewports command to create the viewports on one of my pre-existing sheet layers. Is there something I'm missing or is this a wishlist request?

Pretty crafty idea Pat. Oddly enough I gave it a go and did not find anything listed as "Drawing Label 2". I did have success with my "final" option. I created a new file from my 2025 version template and imported my layers from the file I was having issue with. Had no problems with my drawing labels afterwards. The issue in the other previous file is still there however. I'm running out the door but I'll dig into a bit more tomorrow. As always, thanks for your help!

Hey all. After updating to Vectorworks 2025 I'm getting an error with the Drawing Label Tool. The error reads "The Format for Parametric Objects named "Drawing Label2" cannot be imported because a NURBS Surface with that name already exists in the current document. The entire operation is canceled." Though I'm not sure how to resolve the issue there are three things I can think of that might cause it. 1. I may have started this project from a template file I created in the 2024 version. 2. I may have imported symbols I created in the 2024 version that carried drawing labels with them. 3. I may have imported/copied a drawing label originally created in the 2024 version into my 2025 file. I've attempted to remove anything in the file from the resource manager that had a drawing label with it, refreshed libraries, and closed/reopened Vectorworks to no avail. Any insight here is appreciated. I could attempt to create a new file from my template (now saved via 2025 for sure) and import my layers from the current drawing. I fear I will have the same issue.

Evening all. Usually my issues arise from bringing in AutoCAD files into Vectorworks. My co-worker however uses AutoCAD and we get files from designers using Vectorworks frequently enough. So far we typically divy up the drafting between the two of us and he has had his methods of exporting from Vectorworks into AutoCAD. Today we got a relatively simple design that utilized a handful of stock vectorworks symbols, walls drawn with the wall tool, windows/doors in the same fashion, and some pipe/drape. Simply exporting the design from Vectorworks as a .dwg/dxf and opening in AutoCAD turns all of the above into 2D vectors only. Anything drawn "from scratch" such as extrudes maintains its 3D geometry. Is this just how it is or is there any means of transferring the 3D geometry from symbols or even just walls/doors/windows from Vectorworks to AutoCAD? I'm really only asking from a place of curiosity as a quick google search didn't give me much to go on. I've worked with AutoCAD more in the past but primarily stick to Vectorworks given the position I'm currently in.

I've got a DWG file containing various 2D views of a set for a theatrical production. Plan View, Side Views, etc. When I import this into Vectorworks it brings in 184,188 objects. This really slows things down. I've looked into a few things I can do on the vectorworks side to alleviate this issue. A suggestion from 2019 was to enable "Unified View" but this is buried in 2D legacy settings at this point. What I did do reset the User Origin to Internal Origin, Imported as 2D only, and put everything imported via DWG into various groups. Doing this seems to have helped a bit but not by much. The only thing that did help was deleting a bunch of "stuff" from the DWG that I did not specially need for the time being. I would eventually have to go back for this information, deleting other objects to compensate. This can be incredibly tedious. I've tried importing the DWG normally and as a reference, both having the same results listed above. The machine I work on here has no issues with Vectorworks files of similar size/detail in both 2D and 3D. I've drafted a handful myself that are more complex. They likely just don't end up containing 184,188 objects. If I open the DWG in AutoCAD I have zero issues with it. Pan, Zoom, pretty much every command reacts at the speeds I would expect. I'm less familiar with AutoCAD and I'm wondering if any one has a means of simplifying the file prior to import to minimize the number of object imported. It seems as if Vectorworks is breaking every curved line into hundreds or thousands of arcs. All I really need is the various layouts to scale with general snap points remaining. I'm more often than not redrawing 90% of the design. I do occasionally pull vectors directly from the imported file to cut on our CNC machine. Maybe this is more of an AutoCAD question? Maybe it's a workflow question. Maybe I need to learn more of AutoCAD as well? Regardless it would be really nice to just import this stuff into Vectorworks and run with it rather than jump through a handful of hoops. Thanks

I've drafted a lighting plot using primarily hanging positions but a few simple lighting pipes as well. In creating a top/plan view in a viewport, it looks great. My hanging positions, lighting pipes and lighting device symbols show up as desired in a wireframe rendering. In an ideal world, I'd like to use the same model to create a side view in on a second sheet. In doing so, everything shows up as 3D models. Not unexpected, this is what how it's worked for every other thing I've modeled and plotted. In recognizing this eventuality, I ended up coming across a webinar for Schematic Views. It seems like eventually, I would want to figure it all out and be able to use one master 3D model/LX Plot to create every viewport I need. In the meantime, is there a "shortcut" or a few direct steps I could take to use what I have as a side view in a viewport and preserve the depictions of lighting devices, lighting pipes, etc that I see in a top/plan view? Without totally figuring out the Schematic Views, my temporary solution might be to draft a secondary "side" view of my model on another layer in top/plan. Essentially as if you would sketch two separate plots on paper. Perhaps this is the way it would be done without using Schematic Views?

Thanks Mark, this was exactly the issue I was facing. In doing some further digging I just realized I was watching your amazing webinar on Schematic Views. Really incredible stuff and the capabilities Vectorworks has for lighting design is immense. I wanted to ask a general follow-up question and in some way I'm sure it relates to the aforementioned webinar. Some of what you went over is still a little confusing to me, not because of a lack of clarity on your end, only because it's just a lot of information. I've drafted a lighting plot using primarily hanging positions but a few simple lighting pipes as well. In creating a top/plan view in a viewport, it looks great. My hanging positions, lighting pipes and lighting device symbols show up as desired in a wireframe rendering. In an ideal world, I'd like to use the same model to create a side view in on a second sheet. In doing so, everything shows up as 3D models. Not unexpected, this is what how it's worked for every other thing I've modeled and plotted. In recognizing this eventuality, I ended up coming across your webinar for Schematic Views. It seems like eventually, I would want to figure it all out and be able to use one master 3D model/LX Plot to create every viewport I need. In the meantime, is there a "shortcut" or a few direct steps I could take to use what I have as a side view in a viewport and preserve the depictions of lighting devices, lighting pipes, etc that I see in a top/plan view? Without totally figuring out the Schematic Views, my temporary solution might be to draft a secondary "side" view of my model on another layer in top/plan. Essentially as if you would sketch two separate plots on paper. Perhaps this is the way it would be done without using Schematic Views? I'll eventually get around to figuring out everything in your Webinar. For now I kinda need a simpler solution, even if it's redrafting a second "side" view.

Hey all, Step by step, what I'm trying to do is the following. 1. Create an extrude from a 2" circle to represent a lighting pipe 2. Draw a 2" rectangle over the top for 2D geometery 3. Group the 3D extrude and 2D rectangle together 4. Convert this group into a hanging position This all essentially works but when I go to hang a lighting device, it defaults to one side of the pipe or the other. The light does not hang on the center of the pipe as it would if I had just used the lighting pipe tool. Is there something I'm missing? I'm attempting to do this as some of the lighting pipes I want to create eventually aren't simply straight pipes. They have vertical uprights that offset and secure them underneath a catwalk for example. It's all welded together as a single unit. For the time being I can just keep the piping separate, combining sections of pipe via the lighting pipe tool. I'm just curious as what I might be doing wrong above as the steps seem to line up with various tutorials I've watched.

I've been drafting in Vectorworks for a few years now but plenty of the functions withing Spotlight are unfamiliar to me. I've been tasked with creating a lighting plot for a theatre that has a fixed grid. While the trim of a few pipes could be changed, they rarely are. Most are fixed to a catwalk. I've checked out a few articles and videos. Some convert objects into groups>symbols>hanging positions to insert their lights on. Other create pipes using the lighting pipe tool and then insert lights via the lighting device tool. Two end goals here. First is to have rep plots that shouldn't change much. Secondly is to have files that various designers (familiar with vectorworks) could manipulate with relative ease. From what I'm gathering, hanging positions might be ideal if you were drafting for an event space with truss for example. You might want to manipulate an entire piece of truss at once. That there may be more functionality for moving location, keeping all of your lighting objects in place. In my case, I'd like the pipe to remain constant but allow for lights and side arms to be added, removed and moved around. I'm not overly concerned with focus points at the moment. It seems most of our designers prefer to be in the space for focus anyway and my primary goal is the established Rep Plots. Does it make more sense for me to simply use the lighting pipe tool versus creating hanging positions? Bonus points if anyone had a suggestion for integrating side arms into my process here. Right now I'm thinking I will use the lighting pipe tool to create my fixed grid. Then use the the lighting pipe tool to create simple representations of 12" and 24" side arms. Then convert those to symbols to be able to add more for different plots/shows. What I think is a bit of bummer is I have to adjust the z height of each one. They don't snap to the height of pipes (or hanging positions for that matter) light objects from the lighting device tool does.

Maybe it is just a Windows/PC thing at this point.

Before discovering the need to engage "NumLock" to use a numeric keypad to control views I tried a quick fix of modifying the shortcuts for "ctrl+1" and "ctrl+2" for a top/plan view and front view. I've learned that these shortcuts are "hardcoded" to be zoom in and out functions. Forgive my potential presumption but as most users likely have a mouse with a scroll wheel, is it necessary to prevent these two shortcuts from being re-mapped?

Thanks for the insight Pat. I think I will add it to the wishlist. I'm imaging most users these days have a mouse with a scroll wheel function for zoom. One would think the need for a keyboard shortcut for a zoom function is less of a priority let alone remaining hardcoded.

Hi all. I created a new workspace in order to change some of my hotkeys. I wanted to set ctrl+1 to a top/plan view, ctrl+2 to a front view, ctrl+3 to a right view, and ctrl+4 to right isometric. I've had success with the second two hotkeys. ctrl+3 shifts me the right view and ctrl+ 4 to a right isometric view. The first two do not work however. ctrl+1 zooms in and ctrl+2 zooms out. All 4 hotkeys show as being set up when I look at the view options from the pull-down in the tool bar up top. For example, if I click View > Standard Views > Top/Plan shows as being set to "ctrl+1". Anyone have any idea why? I'm using Vectorworks 2024. I have a second question in case anyone has any insight. I have a numeric keypad on my keyboard. At the moment, these numeric keys move around my model space like directional controls in a video game. Shifting left, right, up, down etc. It seems that in some version of vectorworks, these keys should be switching my views like I was trying to set up above. Has that changed for some reason? Could it be an issue with my keyboard? Third queston, not a priority, the answers to my above questions might make it irrelevant. If not, I'll make another post in the general discussion forum. It's less troubleshooting and more of a question. From what my quick research is telling me, I probably can't use these keys as custom hotkeys/shortcuts. It seems the most I could do is turn on/off the functionality of them for use in the data bar. Am I correct or is there a work around? A guy I used to work with had a separate numeric keypad, plugged in via usb, that he used with Vectorworks 2021. This second numeric keypad was set up with shortcuts. 5=top/plan, 4=left, 8=front, 6=left, 2=bottom, etc. I thought this was super cool and am hoping to set up something similar. Said previous co-worker was a little more tech savy than I am and that setup could have been a little more in depth. I'm curious if anyone has or knows anything about a similar setup? Edit: After digging further than perhaps should be necessary I found the simple solution to my numeric key pad question. In order for the numeric keypad to change views one simply has to turn on number lock key first. This doesn't explain why the shortcuts I initially setup in a custom workspace for "ctrl+1" to be top/plan view isn't working. I much prefer using the numeric keypad for this however so I'm not super concerned about it now.

Hey all! This is something that has confused me for awhile now. I had a level of success in the past, it worked and I let it be for awhile. At the time my goal was to create some 2D/3D symbols of certain stock items that I would re-use over an over. Then take those symbols and get them into the Resource Manager so I could easily access them this way in future projects. A couple people here helped me navigate this and suggested creating my own folders and files within the User Libraries on my computer. This way, I wouldn't be at risk of losing anything in future updates or upgrades of Vectorworks itself. This all worked out really well for the few things I had time to draft and work with. I created a main folder (ProVision) and then sub folders for items (Jacks). I drafted the item or items I wanted symbols of, created the symbols, named the Vectorworks file accordingly, and saved the file into the corresponding folder in my User Library. This is all working well and making a bunch of sense to me. I could draft different variations of items in the vectorworks files, create the symbols and have them show up via that file in the Resource Manager. While this all seemed fine I'm running into a few more questions now. I can see how "my method" here would make less sense if I had tons of different types, kinds, model, makes, etc of certain items. I could end up with very cluttered files and folders. Like if you search for "People" in the Resource Manage search box and then have to scroll through the seemingly 100+ symbols to find the one you really want. So a potential solution I envisioned was to create a number of different VectorWorks files. Sticking with the Flats example, lets say I had 50 different sizes of stock Jacks built from wood and 50 different sizes of Jacks built from Alumium. I would have one Vectorworks file named "Wood Jacks" and another named "Aluminum Jacks". This would help and work for my needs. 50 different sizes of stock Jacks is an exaggeration in my case. It wouldn't be that hard to sort through the more reasonable amount that I would have. But say I do have 50 and I want to break it down even further. I want to further divide up my files/folders for subsets of Wood Jacks and different heights and lengths? At this point, I think my method becomes a little messy. I would have a number of "source" folders/Vectorworks files to create symbols in and save to my User Library. All in all, not necessarily terrible but I thinking this could be made easier by creating Resource Folders within the Resource Manager. This is where I start to get confused again. I recently came across a Vectorworks file that had a ton of symbols organized in Resource Folders within the individual file. I'm not sure what files these symbols were originally created in by the guy before me. Unfortunately I can't ask either. I'd like to copy the symbols I came across into my files/folders in my User Library. In attempting this I'm realizing Resource Folders can only be created within a Vectorworks file and not like on the desktop or my User Library. So this clashes a little bit with my "personal" organization method mentioned above. I can drag and drop the Resource Folder with contained symbols into my Vectorworks files but I'm kind of doubling down. Now I would have User Library > Provision (folder) > Jacks (folder) > Jacks (Vectorworks file) > Wood Jacks (Resource Folder). If this is the best method I'm thinking I can just eliminate the "Jacks folder" in my User Library. Leaving ProVision as the parent folder and just having a variety of Vectorworks files for parent groups of items. The from those Vectorworks files, create the necessary Resource Folders in the Manager for organization. My follow up question is will all of my symbols need to be in the "main" Vectorworks files? Would I be able to draft a specific type of Jack in a brand new file and just drag and drop it into the Resource Folder I've created in Vectorworks file via my User Library? If so how does it save the source draft? Does the draft get copied into the Vectorworks file automatically? If i deleted the brand new file would I lose the symbol? Would I need to copy and paste the symbol from my brand new file to the parent Vectorworks file in my User Library, create the symbol and save it there? This seems like a lot to me and thanks for taking the time to read. If this makes sense and you have some advice or links to videos/articles explaining this better I would appreciate it. It makes a little more sense to me just typing it out. I might have to simple spend some time re-organizing, copy/pasting symbols/resource folders I want to save and figuring out what makes sense to me.

@Kevin K 🚍 Guilty as charged. I realized I had come up with a question of my own and thought who better to ask? 😄