Matt Panzer

Regarding the Wall Tag: The ID Label looks at the Mark value of the wall style and autofills the ID label. If you have a wall with a given Mark value (in the Wall Style Settings "Data" pane), when you place an ID label (with the second click touching the wall), it auto fills the Mark value in the label. If the value is changed later for that wall, the ID label will update with the new value.

But if you want separate control of attributes of each element, the dialog would certainly grow in complexity. In any case, we're looking at issues like this and have been investigating better approaches in the future.

I think the current implementation of the Structural Member may not quite do what you need. However, if you have a good example file showing what you'd like to be able to do, I'd be happy to file an enhancement request. We do plan to making improvements to the Structural Member in the future and the more use case examples we have, the better. As for using Marionette with the Structural Member, I'm not sure how this could help you. Are you suggesting having a Marionette wrapper that creates and controls structural members?

Right. I get your point about having to create separate classes for each texture, but that it currently the only way to do it. Before the implementation of Plug-in Styles, it certainly makes the most sense in managing them. Now that we have Styles, managing then through the style (without classes) should be looked at as an option. However, there are other things to consider since the pen and fill attributes of those elements are also set via the class.

Well, you CAN apply a drop shadow to a viewport to get that, but that will apply to everything in the viewport.

Drop shadows are purely 2D attributes. Having them work in 3D would, in many cases, result in undesirable results because the shadows would be applied to the projected geometry and not the actual 3D geometry. For example, drop shows would look like this for this chair.

Have you tried creating a pillar like this (attached)? I drew the shape of the pillar including the wall thickness, then joined the wall to it. The shape to the upper right is a copy of what it looked like before joining. BTW: if you have trouble with the joining, try moving the ends of the wall just short of the pillar before joining them.

Hi Phil, The drop shadow is a 2D attribute and only displays in Top Plan views. When you render a Top Plan view in anything other than Wireframe, the viewport changes to a 3D Top view.

Hi Samuel, Currently, the Structural Member object tries to maintain joins as long as the axis lines (control lines) intersect. When moving one beam so that its axis no longer lines up with an associated beam, they will lose their connection. Given this behavior, you might be able to get what you need by changing the profile offset (in the Structural Member Settings) to effectively raise the geometry without moving the axis. This is assuming the member is not sloped. Structural Members used for columns can connect to other Structural Members used for beams. Again, their axis lines must intersect for the connection to work.

Hi Samuel, The Classes pane of the Window settings dialog is what you're looking for. Those classes allow you to texture each element by class. The class of the Window PIO itself and the Visibility Classes (in the 2D Visualization pane of the Settings dialog) allow for visibility control.

The old Rotated Rectangle tool is a legacy tool but is still available to add via the Workspace Editor. You can find it in the Legacy category. Keep in mind that legacy tools and commands could eventually go away in future versions.

No. I assume there were technical reasons for this limitation since the markers must be located within the design layers.

How did you know about the implant chip? ;-) The Leader Line tool (not the simple one) should remember the insertion mode it was last used in. It does for me.

If you you use the Simple Leader Line tool with an active class that is set to use class attributes, the leader should take on the marker size and type of the class.

Hi Phil, You can create the section viewport from the design layer or the sheet layer and have the section line show where you like. In the case of creating a section viewport from a design layer, the section line will show (by default) on the design layer you placed it. You can control where the section lines show by selecting the section viewport and clicking on the "Section Line Instances" button at the bottom of the Obj Info palette. The dialog will allow you to select any design layers and viewports you'd like them to display.

The arrows showed in Top view because the viewport also had a Dashed Hidden Line foreground render mode. That is why the arrows were dashed with no fill. I tried moving them up as well. I believe they stick to the design layer elevation by design.

When's the next time you'll be in Columbia Maryland? :-P As for the smart cursor. Give it a little time. You'll get used to it. Even if you don't, I think you'll have plenty of good reasons to not go back to VW 12. ;-)

Ah yes, you want to "Leader Line Simple". It has been removed from the default workspaces, but it can be added back in. Go to the workspace Editor to the Tools tab. You'll find it under the View/Draw category (in the left column). You can drag it over to the desired palette in the right column.

Hi Phil, The problem is due to the Interior Elevation markers being located at the design layer's Z-height of zero (on the floor) and the ceiling is above. If you put the viewport in a Top Plan view, the problem goes away, but rendering the viewport in hidden line in a 3D Top view places the ceiling over top the markers and hides them.

In the Basic tool palette, click and hold the mouse button down on the Callout tool. You should see a popup appear with the leader tool.

Here's the script. If you open the script in a text editor, you will find the following lines: SetRField( hPIO, hParamRecName, 'IntTrim', 'TRUE' ); {//// 'TRUE' = Show Trim, 'FALSE' = No Trim } SetRField( hPIO, hParamRecName, 'IntTrimWidth', '3' ); {//// trim width in document units} SetRField( hPIO, hParamRecName, 'IntTrimDepth', '0.75' ); {//// trim depth in document units} SetRField( hPIO, hParamRecName, 'ExtTrim', 'TRUE' ); {//// 'TRUE' = Show Trim, 'FALSE' = No Trim } SetRField( hPIO, hParamRecName, 'ExtTrimWidth', '3' ); {//// trim width in document units} SetRField( hPIO, hParamRecName, 'ExtTrimDepth', '0.75' ); {//// trim depth in document units} Change the values shown here in red as needed. Set All Door Style Trim.vs.zip

As I understand it, Sketch does its thing at the display and print level so the sketched geometry is not actually stored in the document. This is why the sketch effect is recalculated with each display change. I wonder if this geometry could be cached to the video card to help minimize these redraws? I don't know. just thinking out loud...

Great news! Thanks Andrew!

Thanks for the screenshots, Jim. I'll see what we can come up with to better handle this in future versions.

Hi Jim, While it looks like you found a way to work around the issue, I'd like to better understand what you're after. Would it be possible for you to post a simple file showing what your were doing (that you could not get what you needed) and what you wound up doing to work around it?