BandA

Since floors of our wooden structures are typically made of a group of standard components, I was curious if there was a way to draw a floor similarly to the way we use the "Wall Type" function with pull down types with standard components. In other words, if a wall is created using the "wall type" tool (made of 1/2" sheetrock, 5 1/2" framing, 3/4" sheathing, and 3/4" siding) why can't a similar tool be used to create a floor (made of a 1 1/2" plate, 11 7/8" floor joist, 3/4" subfloor, and 3/4" finished floor)

It would be really handy to have Window or Door Record data in the object info pallete. That way you can select a window and instantly see what type it is without having to open the window properties and go to the data tab.

another possibility is to frame the roof using using rafters with no eave overhang and a thickness that you desire. then model whatever you'd like for a rafter tail as a 3d polygon, make that polygon a symbol, and then place the rafter tail symbol at the ends of all the rafters. that way if you ever want to change the eave profile, you just have to modify the symbol and everything updates automatically.

EJ, i'm just trying to get an idea of what steps you take in going from 3d loci to your finished roof. how do you set up your 3d loci? do you draw the roof plan in plan view, place the loci, then loft the appropriate loci? if so, do you bust out math to calculate what goes where, or do you use a drawing method? then, how do you take your 3d loci to make a roof object or roof faces (i'm assuming you used these roof objects b/c as far as i know, that's the only way to use the rafter pio)? do the rafters you create have any unique eave detail, or do they just have a bird's mouth cut out of them so then can rest on the plate? thanks.

sounds good. it's working the way i hoped it would. one thing.. i'm really not getting the eave profile i wanted with any of the automated roof framers or the rafter detail pio either. do you resort to making the rafters from extruded polygons?

what file format is your tutorial? it's coming up with no extension.

Nevermind. I missed the fact that you can add a # sign to the text field in the record and it makes a multilined text box.

Kinda like photoshop. This would be handy for jumping around. [ 02-03-2006, 07:16 PM: Message edited by: BandA ]

This ability would be extremely handy since floor plans are often drawn with stud walls, while elevations have sheathing and siding. The ability to turn on/off wall components in either viewports or design layers would be very very helpful. Yes, you can currently "hide" the wall components, but you still have a wall thickness that correlates to all the components and is somewhat useless when it comes time to dimension the floor plans.

I know this issue was brought up a while ago, but I am still having the same problem with VW12 and I was wondering if anything has changed since the last post a while back: I cannot get linked text in a title block to wrap when the text becomes too long for the box that contains it. Others have suggested that cutting and pasting a carriage return is the best solution to this problem. Does VW have a solution to this, or is the CR method still the best? thanks.

just a suggestion, but check your font mapping if you haven't already done so. you may have avante garde on vw12, but the program may not refresh properly or recognize it when it comes time to mapping the fonts, hence your problems.

Along these lines, a 'fit wall to wall function' would be pretty useful. Namely, if a stepped wall was created in one layer, walls in the other layers could simply be fit to that wall instead of needed to be stepped themselves. Would save some time and frustration, especially when walls lose their 3D shape and must be reshaped again.

I think it would be really useful to have an option to make the mapping of a renderworks texture document/globally based, like 2d hatches are now. That way, when two walls are created with the same texture, one on top of the other, it wouldn't be necessary to edit the mapping of one wall to match the other. This would be particularly useful when there are multiple walls stacked on top of each other that all need the same origin based texture applied (eg, clapboards.

I know this has already been suggested, but a 'stop rendering' function would be extremely useful. There are many times when you do something (like save, opening some dialog boxes, etc.) that does not change the drawing in any way per se, but causes the drawing to re-render. To be able to halt this process and switch the rendering mode back to wireframe would be very helpful and would be a big time-saver.

By my experience, the ability to further edit rafter tail details (such as width of rafter tails), as well as being able to adjust rake thickness, would greatly enhance the roof function. I believe this would allow roofs to be a little more accurate, construction-wise, than they currently are. Thanks!

It seems like the program is a little rough in this category. Shaping a stepped wall is difficult, especially if trying to use the reshape 3d wall feature. It appears that 2 'peaks' can't be placed directly over each other as would be required by a stepped wall. The only luck i've had in creating a such a step is to use the fit wall to roof command, shaping the wall to geometry below. However, any irregular 3d shape in the wall is lost when you try to move that wall (when it's connected to other walls, and only in appropriate cases such as when both the top and bottom of the wall has a unique shape) or when you replace the wall. Improvements in this area would be greatly helpful. Thanks! ps - a 'revert wall to original shape' function would also be extremely useful.

The fit to extruded polygon is basically the technique I resorted to as well. I was hoping VW would consider other walls (say below the wall I'm trying to edit) 'geometry', but, alas, no. Bummer. I was going to post this to bug reporting and/or wish list if no one else has done so. Any objections?

I've been trying to make a stepped wall to follow a drop in the grade around a building. The foundation steps down as well as the stud wall above it. My problem is that I can't find a decent way to make that 'step'. The Reshape 3D walls feature doesn't help b/c it appears that while in this mode, you can't place one 3D locus/wall peak directly above each other (makes sense if this feature is only designed to make walls fit peaks in roofs), and thus I can't create a true 'step'. I can fit walls to 3d geometry below, but there are a few inconveniences here too. First, it doesn't appear that VW considers other walls 3D geometry. Hence, I create a nice stepped concrete wall using the fit walls to roof command, I have to do the same process, albeit in the other direction, for the stud wall above. Second, If I replace the wall type, move the wall, or look at the wall cross-eyed, it loses the geometry I spent so much time giving it. Anyone have any suggestions? [ 01-07-2006, 03:44 PM: Message edited by: BandA ]

Sorry, I never mentioned my name.. it is Theo. I used BandA because there is a least one other person from our company that may use this forum, and I figured it would be less confusing to have one username. My original thought on the working planes was that if you had a wp set to a particular surface, it would be a lot easier to extrude objects and not have to move them a few times to get them precisely where you wanted them. However, I guess with multiple faces on each elevation, there would be too many working planes and it wouldn't necessarily save time or be less confusing. This is all speculation, of course, because I have never really used them that extensively anyway..

Peter, I found a plug in corner board tool on one of the non-official vectorworks sites. I actually haven't tried it yet, but maybe it will fill the gap for the time being. Hey, just a quick question: do you use custom defined working planes a lot? Say, to save the trouble of extruding an object and then having to change the view to place the object correctly on the axis perpendicular to the original plane? Any word on when 12.0.1 might be making an appearance? I know Robert's hands may technically be tied here, but any possibility of a rough estimate? Merry Christmas

I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem: when I create a roof face from a polygon and I want the eaves to have a square miter, it causes the peak to have a square miter as well. This is mildly annoying when i'm trying to make a roof with two roof faces. The only way I can get the peak to have a vertical miter is to to put a vertical miter on the eaves as well. Has anyone run into this problem? If so, know any way around it? Thanks

That's good to hear. I went through every option in the window prefs and nothing made it go away (except, I found, removing the trim like you said). When did they say 12.0.1 would be coming out..? I figured that modeling the roofs as accurately as possible was probably best, I guess I was just hoping you'd say something else. 'Oh yea, don't worry about that..' Ha! Thanks again for your help.

One thing that I'm finding with the hidden line rendering is that i'm getting a some extraneous lines where I don't want them to be and I'm not getting lines in a few places I would like to have them. For instance, my windows have an extra box around them in elevation view. It's not a weird trim size, lintel, or anything else. It doesn't show up in a renderworks rendering, nor does it show up in the floor plans or wall sections. just in the hidden line rendering and wireframe. I'm stumped. I also seem to be getting lines that I originally thought were tied to some wall behind the visible wall, but now I'm not sure. As for the lines that I would like to be there.. It seems like crashing two 3d shapes into each other doesn't create a 'junction' line in the hidden line rendering like I hoped it would. In order to do that, I need to use the 'add/substract solids' command which makes the roofs pretty complicated. Any way I can make that line appear without add/subtract solid command? How 'messy' do you leave the roofs underneath the visible surface ? Sorry, but one final question: do you render your window panes opaque in the elevation viewport so you don't see through them? Sorry for the long post. More practice with the 3D features of VW seems to just generate more questions. I'll get a chance to see how things look when plotted tomorrow at the office.

Sounds good. Are you talking about posting the bug on the forum somewhere, or making an official bug report to NNA? If it's the later, I guess I should probably know for the future..

A quick addendum.. so I created a roof for an L-shaped building with a stepped gable roof using the create roof command. The problem is that on the smaller of the two gables, the roof under the other gable doesn't tuck under the eave to meet the wall correctly. Using the new ungroup roof command (handy), I can now slide that roof under the other. Is this the best way to accomplish this? Thanks a bunch.