gScott

robert, 12.5.3, i've just done a fresh install to see if my custom plug-ins i've been dragging with me since VW8 were affecting it, but it is still the same problem... however, with more fiddling i find that most of the settings ARE sticking correctly, it's just the 'additional data' that doesn't display the 'space preferences' settings when i add a space. in my case i want floor finish + floor level fields to appear, they are set in 'space preferences' + the check box is ticked. after drawing the space the OIP 'show additional data' box is ticked, but 'set additional data' reveals that nothing has been added...

i am trying to set the defaults for the space object in 12.5.3 i use the [...] button at the top right when first using the tool, set the 'additional fields', set the default finishes, etc etc... then i draw a space, and the info it applies doesn't have any of the defaults i just set. try it again, check the defaults [...], everything is as i set it the first time, draw the space, same problem, the info isn't as per the defaults... any ideas, please?

petri, if you tried using the 'drawing border', you might find that it actually works fine. the 'border' can include a title block customised to suit your graphic standard, containing the record strings for project/ drawing/revision/issue data you can toggle the display of the border itself on + off, define the border width in from the physical paper size, mask outside the border etc... look at the examples in VW \ libraries \ defaults \ drawing border - title blocks\ i'm beginning to sound like a mac fan boy so i'll start stopping here... when getting pissed off with VW one thing i always try to remember is that i chose it for its flexibility, graphic capabilities, and importantly, cost... they are flogging revit here on a never-never basis, pay for it for 2 years, after which you 'own' it, but no more 'free upgrades'. about 4 months of revit payments would pay for VW/A. ie 1/6th of the cost... i'll cope with a few irritations for that

jwlyon it doesn't work on VW 12.x. "User Folders" described by katie must be a new feature with VW 13

thanks for confirming that, any chance of it being fixed in 12.5.x? or do the old bugs get carried forward to the new version?

robert i think i haven't explained well enough, ONLY the NONE class renders properly!! regardless of NONE's 'use at creation' setting. any other class fails...

i find that unless i put stairs on the 'none' class they render with no fill in 3D. any combination of default fills on other classes, including 'use at creation' seems to have no effect. this happens when the tread/riser/stringer classes are set to 'none' in the PIO 'construction' tab. if you assign the 'style-x' classes to the parts the stair renders fine, but if the parts are set to 'none', the default, and the stair's class is not 'none' then the render goes transparent anyone have any ideas?

agreed, it would be useful. it's not possible on windows xp using 'shortcuts' which do work on other features of VW...

robert i run as the administrator but it makes for less hassles> and i am also running XP "simple file sharing" so ownership + rights shouldn't come into it... unless NNA installer buggers around in the background?? i have turned off "simple file sharing" to check the rights, given everyone full rights for everything; no luck. copy the prefs folder out of 'plugins' to the main VW folder; no luck copy the prefs folder out of 'plugins' to the 'program files' folder; success copy the prefs folder out of 'plugins' to anywhere else other than the VW folder including other drives + network drives; success so what is so special about the VW folder that it's not interested? i have reset the owner to me, to administrators group, given lavish rights all round, no dice... for now i'm sticking the prefs in "my documents" but i'd rather have them in the right place... any advice welcome thanks

have you got grid lock ON?

i'm trying to use the new 12.5.3 space tool to indicate room finishes, but find that i can only use the "VA defaults" preference set's finishes. using any other preference set gives a blank "assign room finishes" palette, and then if i revert to the "VA defaults" preference set the same thing happens, even checking what the current setting is via "VA set project prefs" results in the blank palette... the only way out of this is to restart VW and let it reset back to "VA defaults" saving a new default template with a different "project prefs" + restarting also results in the blank palette. the only way i can use my room finishes is to paste them into the "VA defaults"'s "Prefs_Def" folder. isn't this defeating the point of being able to have different preference sets? or am i doing something dumb? help please?

instead of using autoclassing i change the default class of the PIO's in the plug-in editor, it's much less hassle than fiddling with the matrix, although you have to remember to redo it if you re-install or upgrade...

to clarify/confirm petri's solution, use the HATCH command, normally in MODIFY menu, not the fill attribute hatch. you can also use this method on roof faces. you have to ungroup roof objects to be able to do this.

http://www.vectordepot.com/downloads/Picch.zip

tguy i have to agree with you. to hear that katie doesn't use it makes me think i should pack it in, although i keep thinking it could be seriously useful, if only it were better documented, or easier to modify.

pete r are you serious? VW13 doesn't have an automatic uninstall routine?

cruisin/petri thanks for that fabulous 'location' tip! 1 i hoped that LOC might be usable as a column header + thus be able to sort by location as well, but no... 2 i also got all excited that is might even work with 'spaces', but not... it really could be useful to be able to use a space's 'space name' as a location container thanks again

christiaan the nbs perspective looks like a flat-out ripoff or port of Arup's 'columbus' file management system! they used to give it away free, i use the 2.4 version from 2002, but now the free version only works on a local computer, which 'defeats' the cleverness of it... but even if you have to pay for it now i highly recommend it! it allows you flexibility to make up your own job filing system template + then automates future projects being added to the system using templates... windows only.... and when i asked in about 2002-2003 they were not going to support a VW viewer... http://www.oasys-software.com/products/document_management/columbus/

dormer this is has been discussed before, but NNA either can't replicate the problem as described or aren't interested... http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=3&Number=74269&Searchpage=4&Main=16647&Words=gideon+scott&topic=0&Search=true#Post74269 try the 'loft' tool, it fails less good luck

in 12.5.1<?> i went to the effort to figure it out, customised it to suit my workflow, classes, layers sheets etc etc... then when 12.5.2 came out i asked on this board whether the update would affect my customised matrix, got no reply, and have abandoned my attempts with it. if it is a tool that gets wiped out with every patch it seems a useless effort to customise it... i don't know how many people can use it exactly as supplied, maybe it is a significant amount? robert, katie, any views on whether, or how, we should try to use this tool?

christiaan MSoffice macros don't make the jump into Openoffice, if they did i'd be using it in a flash. i have too many excel + word documents with macros that automate faxes, payment certificates etc, and i'm not sure i could remember how they work in order to translate them into Ooffice format. i think i'll remain stuck in office 97 until something compelling forces me to do otherwise..

bill the only thing i still use the VW door tool for is the over-head garage door. windoor is very flexible so you can make things look exactly the same as the VW tool, and it allows you to save up to 10 default styles. what it also doesn't do: splayed reveals, closed cavities, to achieve these i make symbols + tack them either side of the opening

propstuff if you read my mail further you will see i describe turning the hatch into 3d polys, and putting them back into the model in the correct places, so that they WILL render from any angle.

mac b, it's a round about way but here's what i do... 1 make a hidden line viewport of each elevation 2 'annotate' each viewport, making a polygon to cover each shingled wall face, subtracting windows + doors from the polygon. 3 use the 'hatch' TOOL to fill the polygon with your shingle pattern. this gives you the polygon + grouped lines in the shingle pattern. 4 delete the polygon and convert the group to '3d polys' 5 cut the 3d poly group from the viewport annotation and paste back into your model. position it just outside your walls, 10mm <1/2"> will do.... 6 repeat until you have clad the whole building this way, i would stick them on a class that is only visible on the elevation/3d viewport to avoid snapping/dimension weirdness... 7 you obviously could do it directly in the model, but it's easier to see what's going on working on the hidden line viewport.

CM i use windoor + it works very well. the only downside is that if you use a combination of windoor + vw architect doors + windows then "automatic" schedules are either impossible or too much work to be worthwhile. to get around this i put my data manually into door/window markers with attached records. this works ok...