John Thomas

thanks...I looked at that as well...away on vacation :-( I did find an indivdual who gives training...may work out.

Pete and Peter...you were indeed correct, sills was the answer to that question, and I certainly agree with you on the value of architects. I work with them daily, through the good and the bad, but I do so on mega projects in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and in a position where I am responsible for their performance. In this case, I hired a friend who is an accomplished architect to vet several concepts and who added a few of her own. I didn't try to tackle this unaided. Further, as we have owned this house for more than a dozen years, we had a pretty good idea of how to improve things overall. Since I was planning on doing the structural design in either case, it made sense (to my pea brain) to pursue the drawings myself. Frankly, my house lends itself to a rather simple addition which completes the original design intent. In any event, I had no intent to suggest anything other than my frustration for running into (and not understanding) little roadblocks like the sill issue, and seeing no clear notations in the manuals or training CDs to expect that behavior. Programs aimed at one market can do that, become intuitive that is. I realize now that VW aims to be much more, and is consequently more complicated...I still think, with some assistance, that I can complete what I set out to do. You guys who dedicate time to these boards are invaluable in reaching that goal...and I thank you very much for your help. At this point I am looking into getting a few hours of 1 on 1 training to help me over this hump. Thanks again. john

I wish I could take you up on that. In my case, I am simply looking for a guide to walk through a simple residential design. I downloaded the product tour mentioned above, and it is great, but my installation gave me an unexpected result when inserting a door in an ext stucco wall. The insertion worked, the wall was cut, the trim pieces show, but the door swing won't show. I am sure it is something simple...I inserted a garage door in a different wall, and the outline is correct...it's just an irritation that will take a while to figure out. I can only get to this when I'm home at night...or on weekends, when the kids aren't around, so my time is often limited... I know...not the way to tackle something like this!

True enough, Peter...however, I am a Civil Engineer, and can draft well enough in AutoCad....but decided I wanted to try this type of CAD program after seeing a friend do a complete design using Chief Architect...with NO formal training, no engineering or architectural training, and do so essentially with the training demo's the program came with and their online forum. I would have gone w/ that program myself, but I had switched to Mac a year or so ago, and was bent on using s/w that would work on that platform. It is obviously a capable program, I am simply saying that it is NOT intuitive, even to someone with a good number of years using autocad...and who is pretty good with computers in general, be they Mac or PC. Couple all of that with the going rate for home remodel designers in my location, and the investment in this program or CA is cheap...by a long shot...and I am talking a factor of 10-20:1

I'm not sure I wan to spend much more money here...I went down this road (purchasing VW 12) essentially for a one off assignment (my home) and have found the program to be much less intuitive than I had hoped. I grant you that I don't have any classroom instruction in this program, but I am continually surprised when things don't work the way you would expect (or don't work the way they did when running through a tutorial! Sorry for the rant...

Thanks Peter. No...I did not...for some reason I thought you had the ability to apply basic textures...at least colors...w/ the VW architect design series. I want to be able to modify the appearance for simple openGL rendering in order to differnentiate materials...windows, stucco, trim, etc.

Thanks Michael. I checked the 'render' tab, but there was no list available. It only gives me the option to modify the render settings...ie, rough, careful, etc. Did I fail to load something when setting up the file?

I am very new to using VW 12...and am running through training files (Residential Product Tour for VW Architect 12), where the dialog box does not look the same. The training file is obviously a windows based version while I am using a Mac, but... Here's the question, I was simply editing a wall type but noticed that I don't have the ability to define the texture as is shown in the video...but the video indictaes that you can. Did I miss a basic setting? I have 'wall definitions', 'insertion options', 'data fields' but nothing on textures. If not here, is there somewhere else to go? Thanks in advance...continuing to move 1 forward and 3 back!

Thanks, I managed to get one to work...after moving the 'window' over the image of the floor plan. But I think this has something to do w/ the way I started the file initially...I tried a different view, say front, or isometric...and it didn't appear in that viewport...I had to zoom to objects to find it. I obviously have alot to learn...when I did a front view, you could see that my stake points were well above my building (the stake points elev are 100' +/-, and the model ff is 0) Should I have used the survey data for the main floor elevation and input this in the model? or will it automatically incorporate that information from the survey points?

I am trying to initiate my use of VW 12 by drawing the existing conditions at my home first...then move on to the addition part. One (among many challenges) problem I am facing is how to create a framed bay window which is a seat, not to the floor? The window has a 5'x5' center glass section, two casements at 20" x 5' and an offset of 30" from inside face of wall. The interior opening is 107" wide and 68.5" high. If I draw walls there, it will appear incorrectly on an elevation view...maybe that would be as close as I could get? Thanks in advance. John

Hmm. I select the vp, go to the OIP, and update is grayed out. what am I missing?

Thanks Peter, I'll try that out. The return under the window (below the seat) is on an angle that matches the copper roof above...I'll see what I can do before I come crawling back to the wise people here. Now, the other problem currently straining my brain is simply printing what I've got drawn! I tried creating a viewport, but when I try to print it, all I see is a red box with an 'x' from corner to corner. I have selected the saved view, set the layers I want to be visible, but it still doesn't work. Perhaps I should have prefaced this by saying that I started this file by workgroup referencing the survey file, and then drawing the house on top of that...for some reason, I'm not aligning my viewport w/ my drawing...

Thanks. I'm basically experimenting right now before I get too far into the actual drawing work. I rotated the survey work, the workgroup reference then looked good, so I entered the stake points and created the DTM...that part worked well. In autocad there is a way to rotate the view and not the drawing, thus maintaining all relationships to the coordinate system. I'm sure you can do that here to, I just went the 'easy' way and rotated everything...so the drawing looks good, but you can't, for example, enter the property lines w/ bearings and distances and have them line up properly. back to the manual thanks Islandmon... [ 02-06-2006, 10:09 PM: Message edited by: John Thomas ]

I'm new (1 week (ok nights only)...and maybe a bit slow...but what am I missing here? I've imported my autocad survey file, and while I couldn't get it to recognize the points to create the DTM, my lot is small enough that I thought I would just use the stake object to create the existing condition. I planned to simply snap to the loci in the survey... wow...I think I solved it! I used workgroup reference and selected 'show/snap others' voila...one problem solved...I think. BTW, can you rotate the referenced workgroup file? Or should I go back in and rotate the original file and then open up the file w/ that uses it? thanks...this is tough when you can only devote a few hours at a time john

That is a good idea...I've done most of that as my design is actually nearing completion at this point. Most of the work will be in generating the sections and details once I've input the basic house model from my current 2d work. To that end, does anyone have advice regarding using a survey I have as a reference layer? I have it in a dwg file...and wanted to use it in a similar manner to what VW shows in the tutorial where they use a sketch and then draw over it. Is that possible? I thought I could then 're-input' the points pretty precisely (there are only 20-25 anyway) and create a DTM from that... thoughts? TIA john

Thanks, I look forward to it. Looking over the posts, here and elsewhere, it's great to see so many people willing to give their time helping others solve their problems. john

well, wish me luck, I've placed my order for VW...should arrive by Friday! You may see more of me on here in the near future! Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and responses. john

Mike, The produce tours were very helpful. After watching them, I'm surprised people say VW is more difficult than Chief. The interface and methods seem very similar, at least at the high level shown. I like what I see there. Thank you. john

Alan, Thanks for the reply. I wasn't clear regarding my impressions of the work shown for sketchup. Most of the images look as though a professional illustrator did the work. My talent is for copying, not original art work. To that end, I am sure I could do a fair job of re-creating my home or even the addition w/ sketchup. You are right, it is an easy program to use. I was running through some of the tutorials yesterday, and my kids were engrossed. They wanted me to buy it right there just so they could play w/ it. At $500 that's a little steep if I don't intend to use it for the home project...but who knows, as I go through more of the tutorial, I may change my mind. For options, yes, I used ACAD LT to develop the plan and elevations, but, since I don't do this for a living, I was having a tough time taking the next step...filling in the gaps, etc. Making the drawings look professional. Chief Architect does that...yes it is windows only, but that is where I spend my days, and up until 6 months ago, I had no experience w/ Macs. My wife can't seem to visualize my 2D work, even w/ scale elevations, it doesn't click for her...but after one weekend w/ CA, I had a full 3D model of the job...minus a few details, but not too many. Now she is engaged and (maybe unfortunately ;-)) asking questions and making suggestions. That is what I was hoping for w/ VW. To find a program that will do that on a platform I have grown to love. john

I downloaded PC, but at the risk of proving I am dense, haven't found it very intuitive. And I haven't found very much in the way of training clips or other tools to assist me...any suggestions? One reason I was attracted to VW was the 3D capabilities...my cad abilities are basic...frankly I was looking for the easy way out. I have no doubt that someone w/ talent could take most programs and produce greast results... Heck, I just played some of the clips for sketchup and I'm amazed at what some people can do w/ that s/w...but I'm under no delusion that I could produce anything close to that. john

Roger, Thanks for that, you've been very helpful. The additional capabilities are very tempting...It is apparent even from my brief exposure to Chief that there is a market for those willing to work w/ homeowners to quickly develop plans and 3D models for their new 'dream' home. So many people cannot envision the final product w/out good 3D representation. That said, I'm pretty busy w/ my career and family, so there's no guarantee that I'll find the time to start a side business. As I think I mentioned previously, my desire to move to a Mac based program was driving this decision...and VW seems to be the best for that platform in this price point. thanks again, john

Thanks for the replies. While it may seem OTT to spend $1400 for the s/w, architects/designers are routinely getting $20-50k to do similar work in my area. I've worked out several designs, even brought in an architect (acquaitance from kids school) to assist in design development, so at this point it is more an issue of working out the details for submission to Planning...besides, I like doing this sort of thing. From there I do intend to produce CDs. Using CA, I am already nearly there for the planning submission, probably need a few more days of relatively uninterrupted time (hard to find). But constantly borrowing a friends computer stifles the learning experience to some degree. I'm just about at the point of ordering VW and trying it out on my Mac. If I find it too hard (compared to CA), well then either I order CA myself, or pay my friend to use his computer/program. Thanks, John

Nicholas, One of the reasons I didn't go there was because it isn't clear from the www site whether the home design features are in Fundamentals, or what is specifically excluded. I was leaning towards CA or VW due to the 'object oriented' approach. I was hoping to add a large crutch to my poor drafting skills by essentially drawing in one view and having most of the other views take care of themselves. Can Fundamentals do the same thing? wall styles, windows, doors, etc? Thanks, John

I hope this is the right place to post this question...if not, please direct me to the proper location. I am working on plans for a major remodel to my home, and while I started in ACAD LT due only to having some experience with it at work...I was quickly disappointed after finding out how just how limited my drafting skills are, and how much effor is involved everytime your wife says what about moving that over there??? I have run across several programs...VW 12 as well as Chief Archtect to name two which seem to meet my needs. Any comments from users re: how easy VW 12 is to learn? I consider myself a relatively quick study...but I don't want to spend months getting up to speed just for this project. Unfortunately no demo is available for VW 12, but I have demo'd CA 10 and did find it to be pretty straight forward. One hitch w/ CA is my preference to use a Mac to do the work. In any case, any pointers, or reviews which you might think would be helpful are appreciated. Thanks, John