Delmer

Good cues could be taken from Adobe here (again). The marquee could not only be polygonal but holding shift or alt/opt could add and subtract selection areas.

You can of course do the layer cake stepped contours for a site model. This is probably the easiest I know without the Digital Terrain Modeler. Multiple extrude in attempts to get a site will really go haywire if the vertices are not just-so. The DTM is a very powerful tool. Of course the more accurate and detailed the original 2D or 3D polys are the better your model will come out. Once done you can adjust your contour interval, switch from layered to grid to triangulated models, include drainage arrows and a number of other features. If you were on the verge of getting Architect just for the purely architectural features, this might tip the balance.

Wow, that would be a great feature. Click on "Display in Structural Engineering Mode" and all headers (maybe even with editable callouts attached)come on replacing sashes, door swings etc.

Its not perfect as the star is uniformly distorted in width whereas it should become progressively longer toward the extremities, but if you're not dimensioning off it it may be close enough.

Here?s a method, there are shortcuts but I'm hoping this is the best way to follow first time through: 1) Create your cylinder. I drew a circle of radius 5, offset another inside it, clipped surface and extruded. 2) We need to determine the distorted dimensions of a flat star so that when projected it will not be distorted. a) Find the angle of an arc whose length is 10 and whose radius is 5 Theta = L/tanr =10/tan5 =114.3 degrees b) Draw an arc of 114.3 degrees with a radius of 5 so that it is symmetric about the x axis (starting 57.15 degrees above and ending 57.15 below). c) Draw lines from the center of the arc to its endpoints. d) Draw a vertical line tangent to the arc. e) Connect the two c) lines and the d) line, making a triangle. f) Determine the length of the d) line ?I get 15.5. 3) Draw the 2D star, group it, distort the x value from 10 to 15.5. 4) Put a loci in the center of the star, multiple extrude the two to the radius of the cylinder; 5. 5) Place the locus point of the pyramid-like star at the center of the cylinder, subtract solids.

R o tate

Making your light into a symbol will do just that. Ratate individuals outside the symbol, set universal attributes within.

I think that the file was an ACAD version 2006 was the culprit. Though ACAD itself may still import, the new add-ons like AecCivilBase will produce proxy objects that the VW import module doesn't support yet. You would think turning off proxies in the ACAD file and saving would do it, but saving the file as an extremely old version of AutoCAD that does not support proxies seems to be the only work-around.

I see. I had thought you were only looking to obtain an rgb file. The value that VW assigns to it colors is in sync with those of other programs. For example, the blue on row 1 column 5 of the standard pallet is given a value of R:0, G:0, B:65535 (on a 65536 scale). If you create a color in Photoshop with values R:0, G:0, B:255 (closest value on the 256 scale) they appear pretty much identical. However if you export the R:0, G:0, B:65535 color via eps, Photoshop reads it as R:63, G:64, B:150 -as you say, quite different. Similar variations with HSB. Exporting as an Image file has no problem. As long as I can remember this has always been an issue with EPS files, for if you take a color created in Illustrator, rasterize it into Photoshop you will end up with the same type of color variation. Not precisely a VW only problem. I'm sure some clever person somewhere will or already has a translation solution, I have generally saved the use of eps files for bringing line drawings to other programs.

I could be wrong, but I'm not sure that an EPS has a color mode attached to it. EPS files in Illustrator are adjustable by either mode in the same color pallet. When opening EPS files in Photoshop it will ask you what format you would like it before it rasterizes.

This hasn't happened for a while, but a few versions back I recall that if I copied a 3D object in one view, say top plan, and then pasted it somewhere else while in a different view, maybe front, it had a 50/50 chance of getting screwed up.

Since I really haven't a clue I'm tempted to ask if a symbol falls in virtual space and your sound is turned off did it really fall? - a poor substitute for actual help I know . . .

Sorry Larry, I didn't really mean it would be useful. A somewhat similar quirk is the elevation benchmark. If you are using it as a spot elevation in plan and want the extension line to run up from the mark you end up with your elevation on the top and title on the bottom.

How many architects does it take to determine a wall thickness . . . ?

You'll find this useful: deselecting Adjust Flipped Text in your preferences leaves the dim on top, if you value that over all the text being backwards.

The default setting for the scroll whell on my mouse moves something like 1/20 of the screen but I still never use it, the pan being so simple.

That is useful. I just wish I could do the same with the 2D reshape tool. I constantly use it for stretching multiple objects with varying lengths.

ROFL

My understanding is that text has the ability to be scaled or not. Dash styles are thought to relate only to the page and therefor don't scale.

Are you sure you're not editing a symbol in one location (ie rotate up within the symbol) and then find another instance of it where it had once been rotated up but then becomes flat? No disrespect, just worth asking.

That has happened to me a couple times after a long day when both the program and I were tired. Rebooting VW set it straight.

As far as I know the scroll is only adjusted through your mouse software. You do know about holding the spacebar -in the midst of any other command- for panning?

1) Absolutely. If you have a shortcut to the eyedropper (pick up attributes) tool, tap the key twice -or double-click the tool itself. In the dialogue box that comes up check the "Pick Up Sets Defaults" box. 2) Haven't a clue.

Am I just missing it or is it still not possible to move an entire dimension string in one easy swoop? . . . and what about pulling dims off the line and getting a leader . . . or even just being able to drag the number to some spot off the horizontal without pulling the dim line with it.

You probably don't have a machine with ACAD on it do you? If you could ask the people you got the file from to go into their Xrefs in ACAD and "Bind" any external references there. That could take care of the proxy error which is possibly generating the memory error. About the font mapping, if you didn't see it then it is likely not a problem. As the import is in progress, if it finds a font it can't use it will give you the option to substitute another. Unless someone else knows another way to tackle that one . . .