Dieter @ DWorks

I once tried to have classes as materials, but it failed om different things: - You can't override in great extend, like only the brickwork of your interior walls. - Takeoffs becomes more complicated and impossible in different ways as VW can't differentiate 3D objects representing things like walls - ... So before you roll it our, thing it through as I had made that mistake too.

Like above, the roof tool can do this for you if you set the parameters correctly...

You can also use a custom roof where you can draw any 3D geometry for the roof, if you can not create the one you want with the normal automatic options.

You can create your own named folder in a defaults folder and access it that way. I have done this once, but don't know it out of my head for the moment. You can use GetFolderPath to get the folder of the defaults folder in the user or application based path. It is not possible to get the folders of the workgroup folders, which is a shame as I also need this...

What about: http://developer.vectorworks.net/index.php?title=VS:GetNextElement ?

@Vincent C: you can also use DLVP instead of symbols with the added advantage of overriding the classes.

Not true! You can draw 2D in Revit. You could even draw all of your plans in 2D in it. But let us not speak of the presentation of those 2D plans....

I think it would need to be wall types because if you leave it to materials you might have a material in one wall type that you want to show but not in another wall type. Another solution might be the ability to switch between Wall Attributes and Component Attributes in the object info palette for any given instance of a wall (instead of on a design layer or viewport basis). We could then have three options when it comes to design layers and viewports: 1. Use/show wall component attributes 2. Use/show wall attributes 3. Individual control (defaulting to wall components). This perhaps doesn't give as much control as I would like but it's simple. Or the ability to override the classes for each wall style.... In the current condition, I think making some extra classes will do the job in a clean manner.

A control point is always relative to the plugin center point. So it works like designed. If you want a point to be set in the drawing and want these coordinates, you need to use other methods: One would be that you save the coordinates in some field and adjust the control point when the plugin is moved/updated. Another one would be that you work with another object which you reference. There are other solutions to....

How about two viewports on top of each other where the top one is for your internal walls where you override the components' classes?

Yes, there is a preset renderworks style that renders all the surfaces in white with shadows, then use hidden line as foreground rendering.

It could be a bug. I did this a long time ago and do not remember having that issue.

Your name must be a string, so enclose it with ' And I think that ? will not work in a filename.

If you choose good names, a description isn't needed.

If your plug-in is event-enabled, then you can do that. Take a loot at developer.vectorworks.net to find some usefull info.

If you spent some extra time on each project for creating good librarie components, at some point, you have a 99% complete one so that you can create a whole project somewhat out-of-the box really fast! I do 8 to 16 hours for a first predesign wich include 3D interior views and several section cuts.

Nice work! 3D is better, but it needs to be learned and you need to have a better intellect in the sense that you need to know how a building is really build and that you can represent the things in your head. This is where a lot struggle. Also, the initial first drawings will take the same time, 2D or 3D, but it's after that that you get the time saving. This is very true, you can go into 3D step by step. I now draw that far that from the first sketch, I get even the interior views for the client, and this in the same time I have Always done before. It's just that you need to build a good library and use some custom plug-ins, because those are invaluable! Architects are mostly against 3D because they are afraid it will take more time, and more time means more money spend, and more money spend means less for them....... BIM/3D/4D is the future and we all need to embrace it.

If you can't hide complex objects, then use simpler versions of these objects. Most of the time, it's not needed to have a high res nurbs surface and you can just have some generic 3D object instead. This is the reason why I make all my library objects myself, because the one that comes with VW are too detailed. Another thing are textures. Make sure these aren't too heavy. You just have to try several combinations of the above tips to find a render method that's fast enough with a quality that's ok for you.

You could use one pio for what you are trying to achieve. It will make it easier internally: - On path can be the 'real' path of your space plug-in and be in the path container, the other can be in the profile container of the plug-in. - Or you can force to have one path with a hole in it and then extract the two paths in your plug-in as normal paths. This way, the user can modify the two paths at the same time through the path container. - There may be other solutions.

This is also possible from within VS. I once did this to create extra control points, but it's a lot of work and not so simple to do in VS.

You can use the edit-path mode on your MasterPIO and then set that path to the SlavePio from within your MasterPIO.

Then you will need to save these different default values somehow. You can use a file or a record, ....

You could store default values in another file? Or you could save these values in the strings of the plug-in or in your script as constants, because why would you want the defaults you set in the plug-in editor as the user can also change this? I think there is a better solution for what you are trying to do.

No, but if you know the width of the component, you can find it by class and get the volume of the 3D object. With the known width, you can calculate the area. What you can do, and will get you also the worksheet results like componentarea and componentvolume, is creating your wall, with the outer component with an offset, so that you have one type of siding already there. The other part of siding, you can do that will a wall of one component in it's own class and on the same layer IN a GROUP or on another layer. It can be that you will have to modify the wall or draw it in pieces because of possible wall hole cuts from symbols and pios. The reason for putting it in a group when placed on the same layers is because then it will work better with wall joins etc because VW doesn't count the walls in groups for that. There may be other solutions, but this will satisfy your need for the worksheet formulas. Personally, I have a model layer where I draw 3D extrudes of 0.1cm on top of the parts of the wall that have another finish and gave those objects a different texture.

Those solids have a history in VW, so perhaps it has something to do with it? I think it's better if you convert them to a generic solid, so that the history is gone.