panthony

Noooooo! Pluuuuuoooooeeeaaase don't take Petri out of here. Aaaarrrgh!...and drat! I have been lifted from the depths of depression with the wit of Petri the Great. Sam...Fred....Lisa...it's because of the one thing that I will always need "source code"....Petri has been doing this for a berry..berry long time and we need to respect his input.... Plus I neeeeeeeed a laugh once in a while......Microsoft has made me into the monster I am....help.... Pete A.

Daryl, Yah...I'm a tenor....low, out of key, tone deaf and bald. Here is what I do....I spec Pella windows for all of my projects...nothing else. I have purchased enough variety of window and doors to know that you might spec one and order another based soley on price. For the designer that can mean endless hours of work changing plans and elevations just because some guy saved a couple of bucks....well it can cost me hours of time. So that is why I spec only Pella now after 20 years of doing it their way and I have not heard anyone complain. I've often wondered why the big plan services show generic windows.....well there are too many choices. I digress. What I have done is create symbol folders for all of the variations encountered in design. I've set them up for... Double Hung - Brick Double Hung - Siding Casement - Brick Casement - Siding ...You get the idea... I keep all of my symbols in a favorites file (dedicated) and each time I get a new project I import whatever window and doors from the many symbol folders I need for that project. Sometimes I have to make a new window or door...OK I will save it to a favorites folder and add to my symbol library. The libraries can grow....50...60...100 symbols...and some I will never go back to...but what if...you know. Once I have all of my windows in a project installed and lets say a homeowner changes her mind on the style or manf I can edit the symbols in that project globally making revisions and if I like any of the changes I will save them to my favorites. I have a favorites file called "Crap that I will never use again"....guess what...I go there all of the time and see if I have something close to save myself some time.... After you get a bunch of symbols you will need to find a way to organize them...talk to Islandmon...he has been doing this much longer than me and probably has stuff in his libraries that would curl you toenails. digress again.... That is the cool part about VW symbols....make one...save it...use it on multiple projects...globally edit it within a resident project....if you like what you've done save it as a new symbol and as Petri would so eloquently put it...."Bob's you're Uncle"....except for the fact that Bob is my uncle...really old and lives in NY. OK...so it snowed last night...it's cold right now...and symbols are the schlitz of beer...crank out some. VW is fricken awsome... These doors have gone into my garage door library... Pete A.

Daryl, Thats an issue that I've seen posted before. It never fails that as soon as you put in your very last window you need to make a global change. You could write a script to locate and update the window data but that would require knowing vctorscript. The best way which I know you don't want to hear is the symbol...by far the best way to make a global edit. The best way to organize your symbols is to use symbol folders in the resource browser. Pete A.

There is still a problem with how VW is calculating the wall area....seems that if you have a standard 10' length and 8' height wall your surface should be 80 SF but VW is reporting the wall height to be 8' 3-35/64" using the =WALLAVERAGEHEIGHT... Pete A.

In reference to the area calculations for walls. Here is what I found....documented as a known and confirmed bug as discussed with engineering at VW. When I am working with formulas for surface area in building any estimate calculating system I prefer to use a small wall section which I can calculate in my head the quantites....so I used an 8' high by 10' foot long 2" x 4" wall. When I called for the surface area in a worksheet I was floored to find out that the SF was slightly higher than 80 which lead me down a path of depression in trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. But all of my anxiety was put to rest when I found that if you apply textures to a wall with the selection of "USE LEFT TEXTURE FOR ENTIRE WALL" VW calculates one side edge and one top edge in the overall surface area. Baffled. Check to make sure that you are not applying your texture using the Wall Style Texture Check Box of "Use Left Texture For Entire Wall". Hope this helps someone from throwing thier computer out of a window. Pete A.

I would like to see a two point text entry option.... K You sound like you are looking forward to some shocking text....I think it's Petri's turn. Pete A

Kingfisher, There is a setting in the Tools>Options>VW Preferences that you need to uncheck the box for "Adust Text". Should rotate any way you like. As far as being gentle...well...Ok, but just the first couple of nudges and then we break out the cattle prod. Really....it's pretty harmless here. Pete A.

I have noticed some wierd stuff going on....like I won't be able to all of the sudden select dimensions...wierd...anyway I have found that if I refresh the screen sometimes or align the layers or stack and then unstack I can get my selection back. Another thing is that sometimes when you are in edit mode the selection handles will let you click-then-drag...and then all of the sudden you are in click-and-hold-to-drag...very intermittent behavoir. ..... Islandmon, would it be possible to get your avatar to appear more like one image is morphing into another to give it a smoother transition or are the images completely random and self generated? Pete A

Blink, Object Data information in a drawing has some information carried as a parameter which can be retrieved with a formula from in a worksheet. That data...for example, roof area, is the surface of the 2D poly which underlies the 3D model. The 3D surface data is not available or held as parameter with the object, however with a formula can be calculated with the formula =1/COS(DEG2RAD(ANGLE))*(AREA/144) to give you total (US)square feet. But just retrieving this info to a worksheet does not provide me with any reasonable data to create an understandable report. So what I do is attach a record format(see below) to each roof plane that provides info to help sort and sum-up the surface data. Now the data makes sense to the real world but most important it is reliable and accountable back to the model. You can see where I have made use of a user defined fields to create an index, catagory and description for sorting the data. With the record format I can also introduce additional numbers to assist in finding data that is not available as a parameter of an object...like the length of a roof hip in order to find the amount of hip cap shingles to order... ...by placing a 2D line to represent the hip...attaching a record format with field data then using a complex formula =SQRT((('013 RHVS'.'C HEIGHT')*('013 RHVS'.'C HEIGHT'))+((HEIGHT)*(HEIGHT))+((WIDTH)*(WIDTH))) the 3D length can be calculated and the line is now identified and accountable in the drawing. I hope that I have explained without boring you on how I use the word INDEX....which if I were to try and sort windows and doors I would do the same....index them by type, catagory, location....and so on with an attaced ID LABEL user fields. Pete A.

I'll say this much... With a worksheet you can calculate the length of a hip or valley with very simple formula. If you really want to get into this worksheet thing it would be nice for some kind of information telling what data parameters are held in objects that can easily be reported in a worksheet. Right now there is only microscopic amounts of info available when you export to script and that info really doesn't give the field data names to try a collect. I think everyones frustration is born from having been exposed to excellent spreadsheet and database programs and then wanting to have VW worksheets do the same. Pete A

eas, You are correct in that the Simple Room Name picks up the attributes of whatever layer you drop it....Fill and Pen Style. The Attribulte Palette does not change the attributes of the object. I did find out though that if you create a class with a white fill then the label drops with that fill style. As far as it printing solid black...I cannont duplicate it. Pete A.

I believe that all you need to have with your user defined label is an index field to identify the specific type lablel. As far as Records go I think Blink may be right as you do not seem to be able to associate any other Record with the ID Label Tool other than the Default Equipment Record which is also applied automatically when to attach an ID Label to a window, wall or door. Now that is not the case for record formats which can still be attached to any object to enhance the data associated with the object. Pete A.

Yes... before you select anything change the attributes to "none" for the fill and that should do the trick. You could also select the room object and change the attributes individually. Pete A

Ruth, Using the Roof Object to build your base roof is a good way to begin a complex roof structure, however you will probably need to move to roof faces to refine the final roof. I guess if you are comfortable with "faking it" you can get by with a roof plan in 2d but if you want to build the 3d model so that it is accurate than you have to get a little more intense with VW....which will let you get as complex as you want. I usually start with the roof object to build my massing models...then once I get close I will destroy them by modifying to hidden lines...then use the hidden lines to rebuild the roof in 2d polys. This will look good for a plan view but then change the polys to roof faces is what builds the roof model in 3d...takes more time but once you get the hang of it roof modeling is easy. You're on the right track if you are taking the handles and moving them to trim the planes together. Practice...trial and error will make you get better. Below you will find a roof (it's not done yet) but it has a total of 98 seperate roof faces...58 are 6/12 and 40 are 12/12....it took around 12 hours to get this far. Took a long time but the contractor will have no problem visualizing the structure. I really like the potential that VW provides to allow a real time 3d model to visualize and communicate to the field. Pete A.

Stack layers turns off when you enter a viewport or sheet area...also if you are in any edit function stack layers will be disabled to thier last selection. Pete A.

Blink, There is very little information available for worksheets...too bad because they are extremely powerful. Go to the VW help... Retrieving Object and Record Information Worksheet Functions Entering Formulas Cell References Operators That's it! Record formats are the way to go as they can be set up with your default data file and picked up with each new project...plus you can pass them between projects and retain the formulas. Right now I have my jobs set up to calculate over 190 materials with less than 20 record formats. I also use formulas in my worksheets that call data from walls windows and doors. The worksheet part of VW is limited in its function but can provide very detailed results if you are patient with it being cranky. Query all of the staff at VW and for that matter the user base and you will find very little...however there are some users out there who have been working with worksheets for a very long time...I have foung these guys to also utilize script to enhance the worksheet functionality. Keep your chin up and plug away...if you are stuck on finding some info post it here and see if anyone has encounterd the animal...but don't hold your breath...you are in sparsly populated territory. Pete A.

Have you tried to use the Modify>Compose command?

The entire collection of Kohler Plumbing fixtures in DWG and DXF 2D and 3D Kohler Fixtures Link

Sheet View Select viewport select OIP select Advanced Properties Select show wall components

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Nigel, Using the 3 point mode draw a circle from the centers of your 3 existing circles. That new circle will give you the center axis from which to draw lines back to the 3 origninal circles where the intersection of the the new lines of axis will determine the tangent points for all three circles. See Below

Dan, Yes you are correct...I forgot all about the number stamp tool. I have gotten so used to depending on records and schedules that the ID label is used for doors and windows and other things. The number stamp is much quicker. Pete A

ID Label tool. You can go to the online help in VW and learn how to use it. Test it first to see what you can do with it. Pete A.

You will need to provide an opening for the stairs. When you edit the 3D floor just clip the plane with a poly to make the hole. Pete A.

Michael, You are correct in finding that the dup along path works only within the screen plane. However, if you plan your 3D duplication within multiple screen planes and connect each object in plan (like a stair railing balluster extrusions) it will work to give you the desired result. Pete A.