Peter Eichel

I learned VW's class structure by using the TASK MANAGER, always. It was certainly frustrating for awhile, but each "mistake" was a lesson and it's a much better system than AutoCAD's. I've had to deal with DWG files that contained 500 layers! What a headache. 50 layers with a class system is much easier to navigate. In addition, you can now jump to a class or layer by right clicking. So Tad, stick with it and you won't be sorry.

Gary, Thanks for your help with my dimension format problem, I wonder why "Dimension" isn't the default format setting instead of "General". Regards Peter Eichel

Welcome to VW's. Your setup is correct, the problem requires more options in the MODEL SETUP WINDOW

Mark McCay-Moran, do you know how to change the dimension format in the door schedule from 6.667 under door height to 6'8". The existing formats are correct in the Rough Opening columns but for the life of me I cannot duplicate this in the door dimension columns. Thanks VW 12 Designer, Win XP

Welcome to VW's. Your setup is correct, the problem requires more options in the MODEL SETUP WINDOW which may come out in future releases. The best solution is to go to the layer your wall is on in the ORGANIZATION WINDOW and set the Z value to the slab bottom which will lower your walls, however, your walls now need to have their height increased the same amount. Do this by increasing the DELTA Z value an equal amount. This will correct all the walls on the layer which are linked to the layer height immediately without having to edit them one at a time.

Gary, your column is to narrow, grab the column line to the right and drag it.

Hold the civil war, you are both correct. There is a problem and a workaround for it. Specify as small a value as you can for the jam thickness. To small a value and your sash and glazing will disappear when rendered. I used .1" which minimized the effect sufficiently, however your plan view has very thin jams. I would set the jams to their normal thickness and when your ready to start final renderings change one window and use the eyedropper tool to quickly set this attribute in the others. VW 12.0.1 Designer-Win XP

Tad, try this, turn on Auto Classing in the DOCUMENT SETTINGS/STANDARD NAMING window. This will automatically create a windows class as soon as you build your first window. Turn off the line weights in the window settings under the view tab and pop in your window. Try changing the class settings and see what the effect is on your window in two views, one being a plan view. It sounds like you have the glazing line thickness or some other component set very high in order for other window components to be obscured although you've stated their set at .05 mils. In addition, to cover all your bases, install the latest display driver update for your system. I had rendering problems that were solved by doing this.

Mike & Heather, you cannot do global changes to windows and doors (this may be corrected in a future release) but you can use the eyedropper tool to copy the attributes of a window or door to any other. This is a quick way to enact multiple changes when you are working with a lot of windows or doors. Make the required changes to a single window, width & height for example, pick up the windows attributes with the eyedropper, switch to the paint can and every window you click will take on the new attributes. Make sure you have the PLUG-IN PARAMETERS box checked in the eyedropper preferences window. Tad, do you have the ZOOM LINE THICKNESS enabled in the TOOLS/OPTIONS/VW PREFERENCES window. It's under the DISPLAY tab. You may have heavy line weights assigned to your window but you won't see them with this preference turned off. Check the class settings your windows are in also. I had a heck of a time learning VW until I came to a good understanding of their classes.

Welcome Tracey, draw your exterior walls first at the correct thickness including the interior finish. Next, draw all of the interior walls that coincide with the exterior. You start each wall by setting the origin (0,0) to the point your measurement was taken from and using the TAB key to enter your x or y room size in the DATA DISPLAY BAR. As you draw the next wall you reset the origin again and so on. This approach will give you the exact room size from the start. No rectangles or lines to draw and erase. Use two line walls to start and you can replace them with component walls later. Don't worry about the lengths of perpendicular walls, use the wall cleanup tools to join them later. Next you tackle the remaining walls in a similar manner. Take as many measurements as you can from a single reference point. Do separate sketches and measurements that reflect your CAD methodology. A single sketch can get pretty messy. Hope this helps.

Travis, Cipes and Armstrong, NNA should give you guys the CAD world equivalent of the Victoria Cross for services above and beyond! Keep those insights coming, please...

VW12 Designer/Win XP Has anyone heard if VW has future plans on being able to export 3D models in U3d format? Adobe has adopted this standard and we all use PDF's, right. Also, does anyone know where one can purchase affordable software that will import VW's existing 3D formats and convert the model to a U3d format.

I've taken a hard look at Acrobat Pro 7.0. as you have all suggested. I've discovered that this new release can enable a comment feature allowing a client to mark up your PDF file using the free and downloadable Adobe Reader 7.0. Pro 7.0 also comes with Distiller for creating your PDF's. If the $450 US price tag doesn't bother you, it's compelling. I would still like to see the redline tool in the viewer. I'm told they have had a lot of requests to do so and will consider it

EJ-I have a PDF converter(not by Acrobat)I use for single sheets on smaller drawings. One advantage is the small file size for clients still using dial-up and VW's files are very large indeed. It is, however, for viewing only. Regarding your suggestion, do you know if Acrobat can duplicate what the VW viewer does, namely, contain all of the sheets and views in one PDF file? I want to be able to forward the entire drawing as one file, not create and forward each and every sheet from a single drawing as a separate file. The VW viewer with the redline tool would accomplish this at no cost. If anyone from Nemetschek is reading this, getting firms to use your viewer is getting your foot in the door.

Can the redline feature be enabled in VW12 viewer? I do contract work for engineers and designers who, as luck would have it, almost always use AutoCAD, never Vectorworks. The plan is to email a preliminary VW drawing which they could open with the viewer and communicate the changes to myself with the redline tool. I now have a revision record and they cannot accidentally "mess up" my drawing. This arrangement is fine with my clients as long as the final drawing is in the format they want. VW12 designer/XP home

Peter: Sorry, I mean't the annotation mode when I mention "in a viewport". I tried but the lines of any object in a viewport, or should I say any object being viewed in a viewport cannot be picked even though I believe you can snap to them (is this correct?). Therefore you would have to create an enclosed space by snapping around the area you wish to hatch. It's much easier to do in the design layer.

EJ: I have studied your solution and see only three steps when I apply it to my situation. Could you please be very specific, step by step. Tech support in Canada has been working hard to help me with this problem, but no solution so far. Thanks

Reading on I have discovered the paint box mode in the polygon tool. Clicking inside an enclosed area made of 2D lines, this tool creates a polygon the exact shape of the enclosure. It also creates cutouts in the polygon if there are any closed areas, like a window, inside the space. It's a great way to add hatching to a 2D elevation. The drawbacks are you cannot set a point of origin for the hatch and it cannot be done in a viewport unless you create lines (enclosed area) over the existing object in the viewport.

Thanks to both of you. I created a poly and applied my hatch. I then sent the poly to the back and my window reappeared with the hatch still showing over it. With the clip tool I snapped to the four window corners and presto! Quick and painless. I wish I had the time on Vectorworks that I spent on DataCAD & AutoCAD.

VW 12-Designer/WinXP Home: Hello, new member. Great forum that has answered a good deal of my questions. Here's one, I want to apply a hatch to an exterior wall in a 2D elevation. I create a polygon over the area and apply my hatch. Can I "punch" a hole in the pattern to view the window in the wall. AutoCAD can place a hatch by merely clicking inside an area which excludes any inside closed areas like a window without the need of creating a polygon. Could this be in the works for VW? Thanks

VW 12-designer/Win XP Home. I have a similar problem. My HP DesignJet 110plus will print most sheets in an mcd file perfectly except one or two will only print part of the sheet, and in no discernable order. I print one sheet (page) at a time as I feed the printer manually. No other software I use gives me any problems with this printer and I have the latest driver. Like you, I have to convert my sheet to a PDF document in order to print it. Regards