boundnorth

I'm having trouble exporting a pdf from a Sheet Layer. Go through all the usual steps (File>Export>PDF etc.), but the pdf never appears, nor does any error message appear. I can export a jpg with no problem. Any thoughts? I'm on a Mac, VW Landmark 2012.

thanks. I've asked the engineer to send me a file with blocks 'exploded'.

I'm importing a .dwg file to a new blank 2011 VW document. It seems to import fine but then the file freezes. I can't select anything, can't even select the window on the desktop. I'm on a mac, in OS 10.6.5 I know that the engineer sending me the file is working on an older copy of AutoCAD, not sure if that's relevant. any thoughts?

I have the same problem and with multiple plant symbols. Turning off 'random rotation' makes it worse and I've tried going in and making sure that symbol is at 0"x0" in the 2D edit.

Thanks Bob-H, I'll try that. I definitely have a number of groups in the drawing.

I'm having trouble exporting a dwg version of my VW drawing. I think the file may be corrupted as I am able to create a new file in VW and and export that file as a dwg file. I'm using VW 2008. If the file is corrupted, what's the workaround? I need to give a dwg file to a contractor and a pdf won't work. Thanks

Thanks Pat. I've got plenty of free space. Tried re-directing the backups to a new, specific folder but got the same message. Would there be a problem if the file I'm using now is a copy of a file?

I'm using VW 2008, Mac OS 10.4.11 and am backing up directly to the hard drive of the computer I'm working on. I later save a copy to an external hard drive. This is not a problem when I Save the file, just when VW wants to create a back up file.

I have a recurring problem with one of my files when I try to back it up. Everything works fine for a day or so and then, when I'm prompted to back up the file and click yes, I get a VW message "Internal Error - general failure encountered during disk I/O operation (failure on attempt to open file)". I end up going back into the most recent of my saved daily copies of the file, duplicate that saved file and begin using that as a new base file. This works fine for a day or so, and then the same backup problem starts again. Any suggestions? I'm way too far along on this project to start over with a brand new file.

I'm using VW 2008 and have not tried it on other versions.

I import image files to my drawings, scale the images, label them with text, group the image and text and then convert the group to a symbol so it's available in the resource browser for import into another drawing. When I import these symbols through the resource browser into the next drawing they are not at the right scale - the text will be 40pt instead of 10pt, etc. - even if the scale at which I created the symbol and the scale of the layer I'm importing them into is the same. Any thoughts?

Never mind, think I've figured it out.... went in to edit the definition of a number of symbols and found that I had "no outline' checked. Always the simple things that trip me up.

I'm having problems with the various plant symbol components. I'm trying to remove all color from the drawings so I can print them out in B&W. The plant symbol color is controlled by the visibility of each component, not by clicking the B&W only in Document Preferences. Some of the plant symbols seem to combine color fill and outline in the outline component and when I turn off the visibility of all components except outline & plant tag, I'm left with the cross and the plant tag - no outline. I've tried editing the symbol, duplicating the outline component, re-naming it color fill, and emptying the fill color from the outline component, leaving just the pen, but I still end up with just the cross and the tag visible in the drawing, no outline. These are plant symbols that came with VW, not new symbols I've created.

No, I'm in 2D.

When I place a plant in 2008, the plant symbol is frequently offset (or not visible at all) from the plant tag (which lands where I click). Why is this happening and how do I fix it - both how do I fix an instance of it and how do I prevent it from happening in the first place?

I'm having a similar problem with plants disappearing in Top Plan view. I place the plant, usually have to go into 2D graphics to place the plant graphics on top of the plant loci, and then when I enable 2D rendering, everything about the plant graphic disappears except the crosses marking the center points and the line connecting multiples of the same plant. Very frustrating and time consuming. Plants are in Plants Proposed or Plants Existing classes.

Importing & renaming a 2008 plant symbol from the Resource Browser into a drawing file (originally 12.5 converted to 2008 - I know that might be part of the problem). When I go in to edit the definition and change the tick to 'none' (from cross), there is no change in the symbol graphics in the drawing file (it remains a cross). When I try to change it to a dot, there is no change - it continues to appear in the drawing as a cross. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help and quick responses. I quit & restarted; no change. Shut down the computer; no change. Copied contours to new file and for a brief moment, 2Dpolys to 3D contours worked.. and then the same problem began again. Nothing doubles back on itself or crosses, and the polygons (pre-3D contours) are the only objects on that layer.

Tried selecting all, no luck. They are polygons and both the class & layer options are set to active only.

I've drawn (traced) the site contours with the polygon tool, starting with the lowest and moving upslope. Layer options set to Active Only, set the starting elevation and the interval. When the dialog box opens to start to converting the polys to 3D contours, no contours are selected (usually the lowest contour is selected to start the process). I've made several site models in other files at this point so I'm familiar with the basic setup - and that should be right. Any thoughts?

I'm using 12.5

I'm moving on from 2D to 3D graphics. When I try to place a 3D plant symbol in the drawing from the resource browser it is not visible - I can select it, but I can't see it. Also, when I give a plant symbol both 2 &3D graphic attributes in the Plant Definition Dialog box, I can only get it in 3D. I'm sure there's some very simple explanation - maybe the View (though I've tried them all). Thanks.

When I import dwg files, the scale of the drawing is correct when known dimensions are checked with the tape measure tool, but when I try to use the Callout Tool, the text is HUGE, even though in the Text/size window it's set as 12p. This happens repeatedly, with different files and projects. As the survey information is usually only available to me as a dwg file, this import step generally determines the basic configurations and settings for my entire project drawing file. Any suggestions?

On a related topic & problem... when I change the layer scale in an existing file (as I did above) I have problems with the text and with tools like the elevation mark etc. being way out of scale. Is there some way to avoid this problem? Or to fix it once it occurs? Thanks.

Thanks, Benson. I changed the scale in all the layers related to that drawing and can now see the dashed lines. If I kept the layers at 1:1, would the printed version - at whatever scale that sheet layer is in - show the dashed lines?