Sanford

Peter, I think you have something there - I used my floor object to make the framing plan. But I still can't find the joists; are they inside the floor object? I've found that using just a polygon seems to be the better option for framing plans.....but still one extra step, ie. replicating/tracing a floor slab with its stair cutouts etc.

Yesterday I completed two floor framing plans and a roof framing plan and today when I opened the file, the floor framing members weren't there; the roof rafters were, just the joists are gone. I've checked everything I can think of in terms of having class visibilities set correctly etc. - both rafters and joists are set to the class "structure" which is turned on. Help! these drawings are due soon and I don't want to re-do everything just to lose it again!

Robert, thank you! That was it - something so simple - I turned Auto-classing off and all is well.

I recently seem to be having difficulty changing a window's class....I have changed them before (I often have "high" windows in a separate class so that I can see them in elevation view but not in plan view) but can't seem to now. Is this a new thing with 12.5?

What it the best way to access a notes database made in a previous version? I copied/pasted a wall section from an 11.5 file into my current 12.5 document and went to change a couple of the notes but the database as a whole didn't paste with it. I find I can highlight each individual note and access the Vectorworks11.5\Plug-in\common\Notes\callout.txt but is there any way "connect" all the notes at once to that database to save a little time? I can only find info in my manual about updating versions prior to 11.

Thanks, Katie, I will do that. Glad I know that now about the wall components, for future reference!

I recently installed the updater, (but wonder whether I should have ordered the DVD instead so I could have kept a seperate copy of 12.0.1) so my existing files I'm working with have all been upgraded automatically. LOVE so far the active wall style indicated in the tool bar!... but also a few frustrations: 1. dimensions seem to flip and move, especially when I go to alter them manually in the object info pallette 2. wall attributes were visible in design layers but not in sheet layers of viewports; I had to re-do them all..... 3. section symbols (altered to fit my office standard) went haywire when I went to move them - size, line length etc. all changed arbitrarily when I went to nudge them into a different place, and I could NOT change them back. Likewise with windows- when changed in the object info pallet, they changed in plan, ie. shown open when previously they weren't. I had to manually go and change every one to be "fixed glass" 4. could not select the roof pitch box while creating a dormer. Relatively small issues so far, but disconcerting nontheless, especially having to re-do things in files I've been working on for weeks - could it be that I don't have a recent Intel Mac? I'm on a slightly older G4 on 10.3.9. Some of the improvements seem worth it, but I'm a little nervous about the jumpy-ness of it so far, to me it doesn't feel as stable as V12 so far. What are other users experiences so far?

Thanks for the great advice! I can see that it may get a little more complicated with my 4-story project which has windows in each landing; I can forsee needing a couple extra "dummy" windows that overlap each other in plan so that windows above and below the landing are cut out appropriately in elevation view.

I am wondering what to do when a window or door is placed high in one layer, (i.e. in a stair landing) and essentially overlaps into the layer above it. When the building is modeled I only see the lower half the window - can you clip part of the offending wall so that the upper part is seen, and also the slab between the layers?

OK, I get it now - thanks for your help! I guess I'll get to work. Ha!

I agree with Peter, it seems simpler to do it his way, and I agree that the up/down arrows aren't that great looking. I've had problems getting the "set by layer" to work; I get a weird message about how the "floor to floor height doesn't allow for any risers" and as such the stair disappears in 2D. Maybe I just haven't spent enough time with it....

By saving the 11.5 drawing to the VW12 library folder I can only access the few windows I used in that drawing, right? Is there any way to access the entire Marvin library so that I can select different window types/sizes for my new job?

I have recently upgraded to V12 from V 11.5 and was surprised to see that the resource library no longer contains the window manufacturer's spec., i.e Marvin, Anderson etc. I want to import the Marvin files from V11.5 but am unable to do so; am I missing something? I really miss being able to just plunk in a chosen-size window! In general, how would one go about bringing in third party data such as this into a drawing?