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Thanks for your concern Ray. That was an email address I use for questionable purposes, and I change it when spam gets too bad. However, I didn't realize I could send a private message - now I've figured it out. Thanks again

Wow. Thanks Ray. I hadn't considered making it a symbol first. This is a much better fix, as it also retains the editable history of the object, which I loose when I convert to NURBS. Gytis - Ray is on a Vista Machine also. It is a consistent problem for me, and if you can't recreate it on your Mac, I'm going to assume it is a windows (or win version) thing. I think there are a few of those. I notice you show interiorCAD in your signature. I am dying to know how well it works. I have tried several times over the last several years, but I can't get so much as an email response from the company. I am now programing a CNC for a cabinet shop in addition to shop drawings and renderings. If you'd be so kind as to answer a couple questions, I'd appreciate it. The main question is - does it help automate the 3D cabinet and cabinet door creation process? Thanks for the help. Sean

I found a work around - something I was sure I had tried before - Converting the extrude to Nurbs resolves the Rendering problem. I'd still like to know if there is a way to avoid this in the first place.

Has anyone else had this happen. Every time I mirror an "extrude along path" object, the object renders as if it is a shell and inside out. Or maybe its the texture itself that is inside out? I dunno. I have been getting around this by doing a lot of copying and rotating. However, on this project I needed an applied molding to fit an arched panel. The extrude along path tool works beautifully to create the molding, however, I have been baffled as to how the tool determines which is to be the inside edge of the object profile. Normally this means a trial run and then flipping the object if nec and re-extruding. However, for this arch, I could only get it to extrude one side of the arch correctly, so I was left to mirror the opposite side. This creates the correct object in a hidden line rendering. However, when rendering it with a texture, it appears to be inside out. I have even tried to map the texture to the object, with no luck. And yes, the object's properties include a solid fill. Please see attached images to help explain. Any ideas?

I use a move by point tool constantly. The majority of my work is millwork drawings, working at an accuracy of 1/32" or better. To move an object is difficult with the select tool since, depending on the snap settings, it doesn't necessarily snap to the exact corner or other grab point of an item, without taking a lot of care. The Pt to Pt tool makes an accurate move quick and painless.

I have just upgraded to 2008. The new "Move by Points" tool... Is there something I am missing? Why is a MOVE tool combined with a duplicate tool? I appreciate the two different ways that the tool will distribute duplicates of an object. However, I don't understand why they didn't seperate out the move function and keep it as its own tool. If you forget that you have the tool set to duplicate when you go to move an object, you suddenly have unwanted objects in your drawing. I'm going back to a 3rd party plug-ins for pt to pt moving unless someone has some insight for me. Thanks

Sorry I never got back. Shortly after posting the question I found my solution and only now remebered I had posted the question. In case someone else has had similar issues... As for mapping classes to different lineweights and then exporting lineweights to colors...this seemed to me to be the simple solution when I started to learn the software. However - it doesn't work for this CAD application. I do not have a clue why. I can only guess that when the color information is mapped to lineweights it is put into the file in a slightly different way which this software does not recognize. I dunno. HOWEVER, I found a plug-in at Vectorbits.com - Group Layers. It groups a copy of all the objects selected allowing it to be cut and pasted to a different location, file, etc. Once pasted, you can ungroup and all the original layer information is perseerved. It wasn't cheap, but well worth the money to resolve this problem for me. Thanks for the help none the less.

VW 12.5 Designer - Win Vista I am a subcontractor doing the drawing and some of the programming for a CNC router. The software they have for the CNC is rudimentary - but for now it is what I and the cnc operator have to work with. It will import DXF(text) of any version and DXF(binary) up to 12. The program uses groups which are assigned autocad indexed colors for each tool set up. If the drawing is done using these colors, much of the CNC programing can be done automatically using a group template in the CNC software. My problem - I have found that I can only transfer the colors through a DXF (binary) 12 and only if I setup VW layers to use the correct color. (I am using an RGB adjusted color table which I had set up for drawings to be exported into autoCAD.) I set the preferences to use layer colors, and then use VW classes more like I normally would layers (to seperate different drawings). I set layers to export as layers and everything works great.... until I want to create a symbol or just copy from one drawing file into another. Then all the layers copied get changed to the current layer - forcing me to work through all the objects to reset the layers each time. If I were able to use classes set to the appropriate color, this would not be a problem. However, the class colors, apparently, do not get translated through the DXF file in the same manner as layer colors. The CNC software does not pick up the various colors, and all objects end up in the default group. I have even tried changing the class lineweights so that I can map them to indexed colors...with no luck. Is there a way to either: - preserve layers in a symbol, or when pasting to a different drawing file. - or get class colors to export in the same manner that layer colors will export in a Binary DXF 12 file which I am missing. Is there an advantage to be gained here in VW2008? Thanks, Sean

Thanks for the info. It appears TouchCAD will import and export well with VW?

Sorry for the delay - Here is one of the vent hoods. I am only concerned with the exterior shape. Thanks for any help. Sean

I am doing some model work for a sheet metal manufacturer. The design is for a vent hood, which is made of 3 curved surfaces (and one flat) rather than the more common angled surfaces. He is hoping I can generate the 2D shapes, that need to be cut and rolled to create the vent hood, from the CAD model. This seems like something that should be possible, though I haven't been able to determine how to set constraints and "un-roll" a surface of the model. Can anyone help?

I have worked through most of the kinks with creating an original drawing and exporting into a DWG ? as long as I don?t need to re-import it again. However, I have been trying to work on some drawings from a couple different architecture firms. I have some minor? issues that, if I can?t resolve them, will either prevent me from getting this work, or at the least, not doing the work in the preferred VW. In the hopes that the problem is my ignorance, I would appreciate any help I can get. Color: Both of these firms still used color based plot styles. Is there a way to import a complete AutoCAD indexed color table? When a drawing is exported into DWG, colors are adjusted to fit the closest ACAD color. When the drawing is re-imported they are adjusted again, and so on. The result is the color can walk through index numbers with each import and export cycle, meaning that objects may plot differently due to the color change. I did adjust a color table to include 100 ACAD colors using the RGB values, but I am not allowed to adjust the complete table, even if I had the time. Fonts: If I open a DWG in AutoCAD from a firm, fonts are remapped to fonts available on my system. Once I save and resend the file back, the fonts revert back to the original. If, however, I import a DWG into VW, the fonts are remapped and no memory of the original font is retained when I go to re-export? Is there a way to remap fonts to the original? Link files: The files from the firms contain links to images in their system(logos, maps, etc.) that are not part of the DWG itself. If I open these files in ACAD, the space for the image and the link information is retained, but the space is blank. The file can be saved and resent and will open on there system just as it did when they sent it. If I import that DWG into VW, the link information will be eliminated from the file. Is there a way to retain this information? Dimensions in viewports: This one gets me the most. If I dimension in a viewport in Vectorworks it gets exported to a DWG as a dimension in a sheet layer - fantastic. However, a dimension in the sheet layer of a DWG gets imported into VW as a group or symbol ? not as a dimension, whether that dimension was originally created in VW or A-CAD. Is this due to something I am doing? Any help? Or should I transfer this to the ?wish list?. Also, I still have a problem with a FATAL ERROR when my 2000 dwg exports are opened on a A-CAD 2002 system. If I open in A-CAD ?06 and resave it to a 2000dwg the file size increases slightly and the client has no trouble with the file. Thanks in advance, Sean

You just solved a problem it hadn't occurred to me I was about to have. Thanks for the info!

If this has been covered I didn't find it. The AC 2000 DWG file I export causes a fatal error in my customer's AutoCAD 2002. The file opens up to the point you see the drawing but just before it completes the process, there is a fatal error, and AutoCAD has to close. This has happened in 4 completely different files. I found a fix. I can open the AC 2000 DWG in AutoCAD '06 (with no trouble) and resave it to AC 2000. Then she has no problems with the file. I noticed that there is a slight file size increase when it is saved from with in AutoCAD without making any changes to the drawing what so ever. Is there a solution without having to open up autoCAD every time I need to send a file? Thanks for any help.

This sounds like it will be closer to what I'd like to do. Thanks George.

Ha! I knew I was missing something. Thanks for the Polygon from inner boundary help - never even looked to see what options were available there. It appears that all the bounding objects need to be of the same class? but I can live with that. As for the plug-ins, I have been searching these sites, and I don't see anything new. I currently use the Pt to Pt copy - however, It doesn't allow me to just keep the copied selection in the clip board. If I miss a place to which I need a copy, I have to set it up again. If I see something I need to fix while doing pt to pt copies, I can't just fix it and continue on with pasting copies. I also can't paste a copy and rotate it or mirror it before going on to the next paste, etc. Thanks for the help - wish I would have gotten around to asking the question a year ago.

I hope I didn't add confusion by including to seperate tool wish items in one posting. The copy w/ reference point has nothing to do with the "Region" tool.

Okay, I'll give it a shot. Here is a very simple example - Say I am drawing an object in a side elevation, by pulling lines from a plan and front elevation view. I'll end up with the rectangles I need to for the side elevation. I can then use the rectangle tool to go point to point to form these rectangles as closed shapes which can be hatched, extruded etc. I would like a tool which will allow me to just click in the open spaces that would be the middle of these rectangles to automatically form the rectangle. Am I making myself clear? There are many times that I find myself with several lines and arcs, or even a freehand line in a 2d drawing that have been placed individually for any number of reasons. At some point I need to offset or hatch a shape that is formed by a group of these. The lines, arcs etc. may extend well beyond the shape I am concerned with, and I may need them to, so in order to create the shape I want to offset, I need to copy and paste in place the lines, etc. then trim them into the shape which I can then offset or hatch. If I could use a tool to click in the open space formed by all the lines, arcs, etc. that would create this shape automatically, it would save a ton of time. I hope this helps explain what I am getting at?

While I am at it...This may not be possible, however... The only aspect of Nurbs curves that I do not appreciate is the inability to dimension an arc. When I do a 3D model, I need to save a copy of any 2D polygon containing 1 or more arcs before extruding it into 3D. This is the only way I have found to dimension the arc or arcs I used. This can very combersom when changes need to be made. Is there anyway in which the arc could be saved automatically when an object is converted to Nurbs? It would be extra nice if this arc could then be used when a drawing is converted to a DWG format? Is any of this possible?

Perhaps there is an existing tool or plug-in for these which I have not run across? I would like to be able to use a tool to click in an open area, and have a closed polygon or poly-line drawn of the bordering lines, arcs, etc. There is an ACAD tool that does this, if I remember correctly it is called "Region"? As it is now, I either redraw lines, etc. or trim them, and select and compose them (or use connect/combine which is often a little iffy)to create the polygon or line, so that it can be hatched, or offset, etc. A one click tool would be very helpful. I have mentioned a copy with reference point tool before. It was not part of 12, so I am mentioning it again, in hopes there is a plug-in out there. It would be good to be able to copy and specify a point (any point - inside the copied selection or outside) which would be used when pasting the object(s). This is also an ACad tool. I would improve the ACad version by giving the option of specifying coordinates of the reference point when pasting. Thanks in advance for any help.

I've killed a morning trying to figure this out. Its got to be something simple. I'm creating a customer presentation for some mill work. I would like to have a rendered floor, and have done this many times in the past using VW11.5. For reasons I don't understand, the surface of the floor will not render in renderworks- it remains white, yet the edges of the floor render. To further confuse me, the floor reflected in the glass doors is rendered correctly. I have tried creating the floor as a "Floor" as well as a simple extrude which is all I really need. Same result. I have tried the mapping window -had to shut down and restart the computer to stop the program from crashing here- but it shows it rendered correctly. It renders correctly using radiosity. Any suggestions? Thanks, Sean

Thought I'd resurrect this issue... I agree with Christiaan. Replace symbol does not remember your last choice if it was in a symbol sub folder. It returns to the main or root folder each time. When you have a lot of symbols to wade through, this can eat up a lot of time- particularly sense the sub folders are listed at the end of the root folder symbol list.

I agree - one of the few things I miss from AutoCAD is the ability to set up and save different plotting configurations. Each layer (class in VW) could be set to print a specific color regardless of screen color. It was great for shop drawings - different dimension classes could be printed with different colors, allowing for quick reference and fewer mistakes. I stopped using the Black screen option in VW because if I decided to print in color...

Thank You Nina. That helps a ton. Sean

No one? I haven't even been able to get a response to an email sent to tech support, and the "registered user tech support form" link is broken. Can someone at least let me know if VW12 will export more than 1 sheet layer at a time. Has this been an issue for anyone else? Thank you in advance. Sean VW 11.5 - PC