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eas

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Posts posted by eas

  1. By the way--I agree that referenced symbols could lead to unanticipated changes and might not always be a good thing.

    We handle this in a couple of different ways. The most extreme is to set the referenced symbols to be placed as groups. This prevents mass changes while still making a standard useful object. Also a lot of communication within the team is critical. Before changing symbols we talk. If one instance needs to change it gets converted into a group and changed.

    So far the system is working pretty well even on teams of 6 people.

    But I think it is always well worth discussing!

  2. Okay I think I am not understanding.

    The options of automatic and manual updating make sense to me in terms of Workgroup Referencing or referencing entire files. We do a lot of this also and it is a very useful tool. And one that I think I understand well.

    The problem I am having is with individual instances of symbols.

    So for example:

    In a multi-story building project we organized so that each story is in a file--to facilitate many people working on the project at the same time. (All of those files are workgroup referenced into each other to make coordination easy.)

    We might reference into all these floorplans a symbol for a door. At some point that door might change throughout the project. The idea was that we could update the symbol in the base file and then it would update throughout the set.

    Is this possible?

  3. We are using a lot of referenced symbols in our projects--the idea being that there is a file with all of the symbols for the project from which we grab symbols for the individual drawings using the resource browser.

    So far this is working well for us.

    However, I have noticed that if a change is made to the symbol in the base file it does not automatically update in the files into which it is referenced.

    I feel confident that I am missing something-can someone help me out? Is there a way to make these references active?

    thanks much.

  4. As far as I can tell, it wasn't a basic class or misunderstanding problem (although I still have plenty of those).

    The odd thing in the case I originally posted about was that the class in question is a standard class we use for all labels in the office.

    For some reason it was interacting with the room name simple tool to make filled room number boxes. Nothing else on that class was ever filled. The definition of the class was none for fill and use at creation. All of our classes are use at creation (which is an issue for another time). So the strange interaction was just that--a fluke.

    Really annoying at the time (see my rant above) but now that I know what was happening, interesting.

    VW has depths unsuspected by us newbies!

  5. Pete--I don't know if you (or anyone else) is still reading this thread but a final follow up:

    I mentioned the problem to a colleague yesterday. He experimented and discovered that the class seemed to have a memory of having a fill assigned to it.

    By sequentially assigning a fill to the class, closing out of the classes window, reopening it and removing the fill he managed to fix the class. He seems to have an intuitive understanding of how VW thinks that I cannot hope to match.

  6. Pete,

    I give up--it seems to work fine (no fill) on some classes and not on others. I can't figure out the relationship between how the class is set up and getting this roque fill. But I guess I am convinced it is rogue.

    So I will set up a new class for labels and chalk it up to experience!

    thanks for your help.

  7. Thanks Pete

    but, have you tried this? I get the sense that the room name simple has one of those overly controlling VW auto formats.

    When I turn on the room number box it is filled. period.

    I have tried selecting it and turning off the fill, changing attributes to none and then selecting. The class they are on has no fill at its definition.

    So it seems that this tool is supposed to work this way? Printing black blobs? There doesn't seem to be any documentation on it in the manuals or the online help.

    This should be a great simple tool to use, instead it is really frustrating.

  8. Okay, so I have set up my project with design layers, sheet layers and a nicely referenced symbol for the title block. Very nice.

    But, I tried exporting to dwg and opening it in AutoCad to make sure it would work. (Most of our clients require as builts in dwg format so this conversion is important).

    Everything seems fine _except_ that my titleblock does not seem to come along for the ride. The dwg has model space and a nice sheet layer with the viewport but somehow the titleblock symbol has gone. I did a search for similar problems in the forums and didn't find anything.

    Any thoughts on what might be causing this?

  9. Thanks for the suggestions.

    My new office has just moved to 12.5 from 10.5, which has been used as a basic 2D drafting program. There are essentially no standards and every project has been structured by the particular project architect. This has resulted in some very messy/confused/inconsistent drawing sets. We are working to get a better system set up in 12.5 taking more advantage of the new tools. (When I read Petri's message I am reminded how much of the VW capability we are just not using in this office.) It would be nice if there were someone in charge of this but we are all muddling along together.

    All a long way of saying I don't know how VW works best but am determined to learn.

    What Jonathan is warning of is exactly what I am trying to avoid.

    It will be a balancing act between setting up a simple system that anyone new to VW can work in while using the special characteristics that make VW a good tool. I will read through the manual on symbols and see if we can make that work.

    Luckily there is a long weekend coming. wink.gif

    I may have more questions next week . . .

  10. Thanks for the suggestion.

    This may be where my unfamiliarity with VW is a problem. Will a symbol update? I would not expect it to and that is probably the most important reason we use referenced files--if one thing changes on the title block we can change it one time not fifty or more, depending on how many sheets there are in a set. Likewise, using a template file with the title block in it would seem to have the same problem.

    The goal is to make this idiot proof. And what your response tells me is that to use referenced title blocks we are not going to be able to take advantage of the sheet layers. Is that right?

    Advice much appreciated.

  11. Newish to VW and really new to sheet layers.

    Initially as I organized a new set of drawings I planned to reference in a title block drawing on to my new sheet layer. (In the past this office has referenced title blocks into a drawing layer for a WYSIWYG layout.)

    It does not seem to work, references always go to design layers. I did a couple of searches in the forum and haven't found anything.

    How to people like to organize their 12.5 drawing sets? Is there another approach that might work better? Or is it possible to do a workgroup reference into a sheet layer?

    thanks

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