Amy L

'Just a quick follow-up question.....In what hypothetical situation is a grid snap recommended, since using it doesn't insure desired increments?

Or I could learn to drive while sitting in the passenger seat (in the UK)?.that would be less difficult. But seriously, this is intriguing. Actually, since my keypad is just left of my mouse pad, I could just shift the chair over 6? and learn to punch numbers with my left hand. It?ll be a challenge that?s certainly worth a shot. Thanks for your sage advice.

Jan, et al, Thanks for the suggestions. Dragging the line across the screen and watching the data bar has been practically a way of life. For me, your method would require an extreme mental shift. While designing, I never know exact dimensions. My head hurts thinking about punching in each and every number. I suppose it takes getting used to the idea. Early in the design process with VW, I?ve been trying to do prelim schematics using the rectangle tool in composing a bubble diagram, converting to polygons, and then to walls when everything is just so. There?s some overlap and alignment problems, but it seems that in theory, it should work very well with the grid snap on. I can practically design and annotate a whole floor plan but potentially spend an equal amount of time fixing the few dimensions that won?t add up. Possibly using your method as a spot treatment maybe?? Perhaps it?s a right brain, left brain thing. Everyone?s suggestions are well-taken. This board is invaluable. Thanks again.

Thanks for the insight, guys. The metric system will not likely be an option for at least the rest of our lifetimes here in the States, so I'm not holding my breath as to that being a solution to the immediate problem. It would be nice to: just be able to lock onto a vertex & have whole dimensions add up, have objects not mysteriously jump off the grid, be able to move entire strings of dimensions at the same time, have associative dimensions to window & door centers, etc...all without doing the time-consuming work-arounds. I'm assuming that some of these troublesome characteristics are mutually exclusive with VW's other very nice features. As much as I dislike it, annotation & dimensioning is paramount in my work. Nothing is a distasteful as having an angry contractor barking about inaccuracies. I'll listen to any and all suggestions and keep practicing, though.

'Started working with VW 12 regularly a couple of months ago. I had to hit the ground running to get into production quickly, since old hardware supporting old software was dying fast. Right now, I?m working on just the mechanics of 2-D basic VW and plan to start into 3-D more gradually. I'm impressed with the features so far and have pleasant revelations every day. My work involves the design & development of large, single-family homes. The thing that is impeding an almost flawless transition is the dimensioning and maybe the grid snap &/or constraints. I?m not sure actually which is causing the problems. I never need fractions for rough framing and have successfully avoided them for 20 years with few errors. Now I?m spending time trying to rid myself of them. I have my grid set to 1? snap w/ reference at 12?. Pixal snap @ 5. I have document setting with ?no fractions?. I keep my grid snap on as I work to avoid problems later. (Maybe that?s what?s wrong). I use simple 4? or 6? walls (with no components.) Anyway, frequently my interior dimensions aren?t adding up to equal the overall. I?ve changed from the ?no fraction? in the OIP and can see my wall and its dimension has somehow shifted into a fraction. This is especially true with most angles. FYI, I use the auto join function continually. So, is this occurring because of something I?m doing wrong in the initial drawing setup, how I?m drawing my walls, the constraint palette selections, point of origin, zooming, copying and pasting or what? In short, how are objects, walls, etc. getting off the grid to begin with. I use the ?align to grid? or ?move? command frequently to remedy fractional dimensions- but why do I need to? I have much to learn, so thanks for any help. Mac OS X 10.4.5 Machine Name: Power Mac G5 Number Of CPUs: 2 Memory: 1.5 GB