mpkeane

That was it. Thank you gmm18. Why would a title block be set in a Design Layer Class? No need to answer..... Marc

I am working on a Mac PowerBook, using OS 10.4.11, with VW Designer (Educational Version) 12.5.3. I have five sheet layers already set up. Everything was fine. Then suddenly the title block on each sheet went gray and transparent -- they used to be black and with a white background so the underlying drawing didn't show through. The title blocks are also unresponsive to clicking -- I need to force select them to access them What could have gone wrong? How can this be corrected? Marc

And one more clue..... With the plant symbols that can still be seen in a corrupt file (the ones I inserted before the corruption began), if I set the Class to Active Only, the outer line of the trees can be seen but all the internal branching patterns disappear. Is this supposed to happen normally? Marc

To add to the list of possible clues: I find that the problem seems to be associated with plant symbols that I have edited, specifically those that I have changed under Attributes to have a Custom Fill of "None." If I change that Custom Fill again to something else (i.e., Solid or Symbol Fill) the symbols in the drawing that had disappeared then reappear, and the plant tool begins to work for that symbol again. I can then change them back to "None" and they work (but will they corrupt again sometime down the line??) Marc

I am revisiting this problem -- I haven't been able to solve it and it has become a terrible time drain. I am working on a Mac PowerBook, using OS 10.4.11, with VW Designer (Educational Version) 12.5.1. I have a problem with plant symbols ?disappearing? as I use a file. When I work in a newly created file there is no problem, but as I work on files, anything related to plant symbols seems to corrupt. For instance, plant symbols disappear from the Plant Symbol palette as I use them. You can see a screen shot of a corrupted Plant Symbol palette at the following link. The symbols for CTG, G4, and OTD have gone blank. Can this file be restored somehow? http://mpkeane.com/uploads/Plant%20Symbols.png Is there a way to clean up this file or somehow rebuild the plant symbol resources for this one file? Additonal Clues: 1) I got this error message when I tried to use the Place Plant tool. Error: _4702 _144 - You must ALLOCATE the dynarray before using it. 2) Another strange thing: regarding the plant symbols that "disappeared" but now have "come back" -- when I apply them, they show up fine if all Gray Other or Show Others is chosen under Class , but when I choose "Active Only" for the class, they appear under NO class at all. 3) Once the problem develops in a file, if I change anything about the plant symbol (i.e., add a tag, change its class, Change Plant Grouping under AEC) the symbols disappear from the screen. 4) The problem may be associated with plants that were inserted as groups rather than as single plants. 5) Once the file is corrupted, if I copy and paste the plant symbols into a new file, they don't show up at all. 6) The following link shows an error message. I exported the problem file as a .dwg and re-imported into Vectorworks. When I tried to use the Plant Tool in that new file, I got this error message. http://mpkeane.com/uploads/Plant%20Symbol%20Error.png Any help would be greatly appreciated. Marc ____________________

Thank you Ray and Pat That helps Marc

Thank you Ray

I am working on a Mac PowerBook, using OS 10.4.11, with VW Designer (Educational Version) 12.5.1. When drawing dimensions with the dimension tool, how can one set the default text size? It's all wrong right now and I need to reset each one manually. Can the text size be preset? Marc

I am working on a Mac PowerBook, using OS 10.4.11, with VW Designer (Educational Version) 12.5.1. If I draw in a design layer set at a scale of 1:1 and make dimensions using the dimensioning tool, and then create a viewport, the sheet layer view is fine at scales near 1:1, but as I change scales, the slash marks of the dimensioning lines (or arrow heads) get ridiculously out of scale. At 1:200 or higher, the drawing becomes all slashes. What am I doing wrong? How can the slashes be brought in scale with everything else? Marc

Thank you Peter. How does one "request" that a dimension be associated or not be associated? Is this modifiable after the fact? Marc

I am working on a Mac PowerBook, using OS 10.4.11, with VW Designer (Educational Version) 12.5.1. When I use the dimension tool, sometimes I get a small red square around the points being dimensioned and sometimes I don't. Can anyone explain what this is, why it happend only at certain times, and how to get rid of it if you don't want it? Also, when chain dimensioning, is it possible to modify individual sections of the chain after finishing the chain? Thank you. Marc

Katie, I did use the "Print patterns at on-screen resolution" in the Export PDF dialog but still got the bad results. My HP inkjet prints just fine (up to 8.5 x 11!) but on the large format Oc? plotter, patterns were awful. Islandmon, I take it vectorize-able Hatches are those put in through the Modify>Hatch menu rather than through the Attributes palette. I noticed that Attributes palette hatches do not rescale when the drawing is rescaled and get all blown out in detail drawings. Modify>Hatch seems to rescale. Using Modify>Hatch is slower than using the Attributes palette but the way to go I guess. Marc

Thank you Ray; I will watch out for that "5" key! Marc

I am working on a Mac PowerBook, using OS 10.4.11, with VW Designer (Educational Version) 12.5.1. I made a drawing of a garden that includes many areas of different patterns (groundcovers, lawn, gravel paths, etc). The patterns were filled into various polygon/polyline areas. They all look fine on my monitor. I made a Batch PDF of different viewports (3 different scales from 1" = 20' to 1/4" = 1' 0") and the PDFs all look fine on my monitor. So far so good. I took the PDFs to my local Kinkos and printed them out on their large plotter (Os? TDS450). None of the patterns printed as patterns. Some became solid fields of light gray (3 different shades). Other patterns turned in heavy black bars (stripes). Is this a known problem? Is this the particular plotter, or PDFs? (would JPEGs be better?) Marc

Thank you everyone. I don't know how I did it, but I had a couple layers set in Top instead of Top/Plan. I used the Align Layer Views tool to adjust that and I think all is fixed. Marc

Yes to both C W. Everything is the same. As I mentioned, I had no problem clicking through to various layers earlier. This problem developed as I worked on this file over time. Marc

I am working on a Mac PowerBook, using OS 10.4.11, with VW Designer (Educational Version) 12.5.1. I have Show/Snap/Modify Others selected for both Layers and Classes, and yet some layers will not respond to selection. If I activate a layer all layers can be selected in turn. When I switch to another layer, the last layer used is also responsive but the other layers cannot be selected. I have been working with this file for some time and this problem did not exist in the past. Is there a way to "reboot" a file. All for now. Marc

Thank you all for your help marc

Thanks a million Ray. That works! It was driving me crazy having to to reset each piece as I drew it. Marc

Thanks for the hint Ray. I tried saving the file as a template (File>Save as Template) but was surprised with the result. I thought that I would end up with just the skeleton without data, but found an exact copy of the original. So, I have to go into each layer and erase everything? If that's the case, what's the difference between saving as a template and just saving a copy? Marc

I am working on a Mac PowerBook, using OS 10.4.11, with VW Designer (Educational Version) 12.5.1. Regarding the Attributes Palette, how do I get it to "remember" my last move? For instance, if draw a polygon and fill it with a certain pattern and make the outer line a certain thickness or color, the next time I draw a polygon, the settings snap back to some other preset condition. I need to reset the Fill and Pen Style each time. How can I get the Attributes to remain as I set them for as long as I want them that way? The Attributes that the setting snap back to are not, by the way, the class attributes. They are some other settings that I used when I first opened the file and the Attributes Palette has "gotten stuck on." Marc

I am working on a Mac PowerBook, using OS 10.4.11, with VW Designer (Educational Version) 12.5.1. I have made a number of custom adjustments to one file: 1) I have added custom IDs and various specifications to plant symbols, 2) made a custom Title Block, 3) made a custom Hatch design. How can I transfer these customizations to another file so I don't need to redo the whole process with each new file? Marc

Thanks for your help Pat. 1) I think, if I am not mistaken, that I need to select the Symbol and right click it in the Resource Browser, not the Object Information Palette (at least I couldn't find any way to access the symbol in the OIP but I did in the Resource Browser). In any case, you put me on the right track and I was able to change the symbol name. 2) I was able to rename the Viewport in the OIP Data Pane. Thank you. Marc

I am working on a Mac PowerBook, using OS 10.4.11, with VW Designer (Educational Version) 12.5.1. I cannot see how to change the names of things in two cases. 1) Symbols. I created a new Custom Title Block, which I believe is a symbol. Now that I have this nice new title block, I want to put a more appropriate name on it. Can a symbol's name be modified? 2) Viewports. I have made several viewports. Unlike Layers and Classes, I cannot see how to change the name of an existing viewport. Is it possible? Marc

Hi Matt; Are you suggesting to right click the plant symbol in the plan? I get a choice saying "Edit" when i do that (not Edit 2D) but it doesn't seem to bring an edit window up. And yet, after I did that, the "blanked" symbols start rebuilding themselves as I use them. Strange. But helpful. Thank you. Marc