Don@Black Dog

Any ideas for a reasonable (or understandable) method of drawing property lines from the typical coordinates on a deed (ie: Northeast 44 degrees, 24 minutes, 30 seconds)? Thanks!

Cool. Did not know that existed. What is the differnece between back and foreground vi a vis the rendering? Also, can that be done in the design layer when just doing a flyover?? It is nice to turn the plan around with the client and a sketchiness is a bit more pleasant and less "done".

Hi. At risk of retreading old ground: I have a viewport of a camera view. I would like to use the Sketch rendering, but it returns it to a wireframe (with sketchy lines, albiet), and will not do it to a hidden line view. Any methods? Thanks. A sketch-style wireframe is useless.

I am trying to modify a roof object to have a smaller bearing inset. It is sitting on a 2x6 wall and at 0 inset it seems to default to a full seat on the wall (5 1/2"). I only need 3" of a seat (the rafter bearing on the wall) and am guessing I need a negative bearing inset. The OIP won't let me do this. Is there a work around or something I am missing? Thanks, Don 215-886-6916

I have also noticed in the past that copied stairs seem to be linked. I ran an experiment on an older project, copied the stairs, changed the floor layers, settings, etc. When one or the other is deleted, the other goes also (even making sure they are both de-selected to begin with). Try it in flyover and see! The cleanest way is to make new stairs in each location, though contrary to the usual benefits of CAD.

Islandmon, care to share the procedure you used, at least for the window? Thanks. I always look forward to you dropping these complicated little nuggets into the forums! Don

In the Old Days, pin-bar overlay drafting, we used a separate layer for the revision clouds, with a triangle and number corresponding to the date in title block revision box. When things changed again, we pulled out that layer and put in a new one. We also kept a reproducible hard copy of each revised version. Corresponding technique would probably be a separate design layer with the revision date (Rev A-6-20-07), use the clouds and a revision version icon on that layer, and save each revised version separately. This would be because after several revisions, the old clounds are meaningless. Paper record saets may be adequate for some project types or sizes. That said, as a single person firm, I tend to do it all in the annotations, but should probably switch to the above.

I'm sure this has been discussed, but can't find the thread. How can I add different hatches to the wall-type default hatches, or at least get to another one to use when creating a wall type? I want to make a SIP wall with a moderate stipple, but the question applies to others. Thanks.

Make sure None is an active layer in the viewport, and try turning on Dimensions, which had defaulted for me in the past for section lines.

I think mdarch's point is more like it. You need to get the primary drawing back into the design layers. Now, you can copy a viewport with everything, just by CTL/click and move (in windows)then edit to your hearts content. But I think the real issue is work flow. The viewport is not the place to do primary drawings such as sections or elevations. Better to make a Sections Design Layer (or Elevations) and using the classes for line weights, or a new batch of classes such as Sec-1,2 and 3 with specific line wieights (ah, the old days...)turn on the Mod-Floor layer in the back ground and draw your sections or elevations on the new Sections layer. that way, as mdarch mentioned, youcan viewport the sections tot he Sheet layers and better control the final output, including different viewports for different parts of the drawing, and for details. Another issue is found in older threads, which is the Section Viewport should establish lineweights based on a heirarchy of distance from the cut line, rather than the classes, or along with them, somehow. This, of course, taps into the discussion of whether drawings hsouel be set up in the design layers or sheet layers, but I find the Sheet layers with Viewports much handier.

Try drawing a line adjacent to the wall, extruding it to the heights you want and giving it a texture. There was a thread a while back about making curtains for scenery this way that worked pretty well. It is just one more thing to keep track of, though.

Does anyone have some basic profiles such as crown molding, window trims, etc they would care to share, for extruding? Or suggest a source? Thanks!

Good catch, Pete. That tip has proven invaluable.

Good catch, Pete. That tip has proven invaluable.

What have you tried so far? Have you tried Edit Group? Select the roof, selected Edit Group, drawn a shape to be deleted, and hit Clip Surface, then deleted the drawn shape and exit Edit Group. It may take some tries to get the 3d interface correct.

It might help to do a search or go back through old posts, since these are basic questions of drawing and project set up. It would also help to take some basic training and find a user group. That said, in a nutshell: You draw a plan on the Design layers, ie, 1st Floor on Mod-Floor-1. You draw the objects to be in that plan in the Classes, ie, a window on the window class, an interior wall on the Wall-Int class (or your choice of label). These you can turn on and off to generate the desired view on the Design and Sheet layers, such as framing, floor plan, lighting, furniture etc. You save those views in Save View in the menu bar on your bottom left for ease of future navigation.. When you want to generate drawings, you can select a portion of a plan and create a viewport (view/create viewport), assign it to a particular Sheet Layer and render it how you like (wire-frame, Open GL, etc). Section viewports allow you to create a section from your model, assuming you have set up the model parameters properly. These, along with 3d views and elevations tend to show up as either red boxes or an image with a dashed red line, which you Update in the Object Info Palette. As jmarch noted, some folks prefer to note on the design layers. I prefer to use the annotation capabilities of the viewports. You can assign the viewports anywhere and use them to organize the drawings. I often set up an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet and make a series of viewports of plans and 3d views that evolve as the design progresses. I can place one of these over the sheet outline or titleblock and File/export/pdf and send them to clients for discussion. This is a rapid way of getting an idea to the client or a detail or image to a builder or vendor without using a large format sheet. Nuff said for now. Good luck.

I tend to set the crops to a very pale grey that won't print, and a thin line weight. That way I can see them on the sheets. I am not sure if it matters, but it helps me with layouts and makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

The tool defaults to keeping the copy on the same class as the original. You can hit the OIP right away to change that, which might be safer than having to remember what class you are in. Would be a nice option, though, so select the class of the copy during the selection process.

Small update: I find that your cursor has to be over a line or fill for the double click to work. Also, you get different menus on right click depending on whether you are over a line or fill, or over empty space.

That's a great little tool. Too bad you have to dig through all teh tools to the legacy tools to find it. It should be standard to the dimensioning tool set! It is particularly useful for RCP lighting codes, windows, etc. Just don't forget to set the diameter of the label to 10 or 12 " (assuming 1/4" scale design layer) to accomodate a 10 or 12pt letter.

Ron: I just did it and it worked fine. Are you remembering all the steps, especially making sure you have assigned it to the sidelights, etc, then going to Organization and setting up the glazing layers with the right glass, (clear. Blue is not see through, unfortunately)? Is this a PIO? It may also make a difference if rendering in Hidden line versus openGL etc.

Must have a class turned off. Click on the viewport and in the Object Info Palette make sure Sills is on, as well as other necessary layers and classes. Probably just an oversight. Make sure the original objects are on their correct classes and layers as well.

Ron: set the "Sidelight Glazing" to a Style Glazing Class (in Settings/View). Set that class to your choice of the glazing options. The transom apparently is seen as a sidelight in certain instances. The glass in the door panels can be set by doing the same to the int. and ext. panels. HTH

I export my sheets to PDF's. File/Export/PDF. I do them singly for my printer's convenience, but if you like, you can do batches. This is also a very handy way to share your drawings with owners, engineers, Mom... The PDF will default to your Sheet size. This is in v. 12.5.1

My own answer, from a discussion with another user and actual further thought on the subject: Set up detail design layers at various scales, draw and note the details completely on those layers. You can save and reuse the details since they are not project dependent (derived froma plan), then viewport them to the necessary sheet layers. PS: The use of scaled design layers helps keep the detailing tools at the proper scales when using viewports. Some elements may not scale up properly if drawn at one scale and viewported at another. The experienced among us will say, yeah, so? but this might help the less fortunate. Variations?