Markus Barrera-Kolb

The Notes Manager really should display the keynote numbers along with the descriptions for much more user-friendly keynote editing...

We typically place keynotes by copying existing keynote callouts and then entering new text. We rarely, if ever, title individual notes – rather we check the 'Use the first 42 characters of the note for the description' checkbox in the Edit Note dialog box. However, when you generate a new note by copying an existing one, VW unchecks this box, so that after a good session of placing keynotes, you end up with a nice long list of identically titled notes in your Notes Manager – not very user friendly! Then you have to edit each of the new notes manually and re-check that option. VW should keep the setting when notes are copied and updated, and it'd also be handy to have a general setting for the whole legend...

When using a field value as criteria for a database row, it's very painstaking to scroll through the necessarily insanely long list of record fields to find the one you want – there should be a way to find the field you're looking for much more quickly. Either through hierarchical display, where the formats are displayed and the fields can be expanded by clicking on the desired format, or by including a search function, or both. As a side note, the list is not even in any discernible order (e.g. alphabetic), which would at least be a start in making it easier to navigate...

yes please – being able to work with two or more windows for the same project would be a huge help & efficiency booster!

It would make using worksheets – larger ones in particular – so much easier if the row and column markers at the left and top of the worksheet would be highlighted when one or more cells are selected! Seems like a simple addition that would enhance usability significantly... please!

Thanks! Downloaded the SDK – looks like it'll be great to have this as a comprehensive reference! However, the code that I'd used to toggle other pref codes, e.g. pref 95 for toggling to create screen layer objects vs. layer plan objects (see uploaded screen shot), does not seem to work for these pref codes. Does anyone know what code might work to control prefs 594 & 595? Thanks again!

Hello, Does any of you good folks know what the pref code for the OpenGL Option 'Draw Edges' is? I'd like to make a toggle that allows me to show & hide the edges in OpenGL with one keystroke... Thanks! Cheers, Markus

second that one!

...just editing a larger worksheet and am yet again reminded how greatly this simple, basic feature would ease the work. Please!

Yes, the print to PDF and export to PDF both result in the window & door ID tags showing through from the back side of the building when viewed with Mac Preview. However, now that you mention it, the errant ID tags do disappear when viewed with Adobe Reader. Most significantly, however, they show up when the sheets are printed directly from VW on our HP Designjet T1100ps.

...to bring this thread alive again: I'm now running into the same issue with VW2014 SP4 Arch ??looks fine in VW in the viewport, but when I send a print to the plotter or to PDF, the window & door ID numbers show through from the other side of the building. Anyone else still running into this? Cheers, Markus

For our Passive House projects, I'm trying to add up DHW pipe lengths. I can simply draw 3D polygons for each pipe, convert them to NURBS, and then get their full lengths in a worksheet using the LENGTH function (does anyone know if there's a way to get the length of 3D polys too?). However, it would also be nice to show the total horizontal and vertical run of each pipe, and I can't figure out how to do this. By all appearances, the WIDTH, HEIGHT, BOTBOUND, TOPBOUND, LEFTBOUND, and RIGHTBOUND functions are all dependent on the current view, rather than automatically aligning with the global X, Y, and Z axes. In other words, if I shift my 3D view and regenerate the worksheet, the values change. Seems like there ought to be an easy way to do this, but it's eluding me. Anyone have any pointers? Thanks! Cheers, Markus

...what I'm saying is, VW is not allowing me to select the plotter for the patch printing if I've selected another printer as the default in the OS. Is that not the case for you?

On the mac (OS 10.9.2), with my default printer in the OS set to our small laser printer, I find that I cannot select our plotter when publishing (batch printing) from VW2014 ? it keeps reverting to the laser, no matter what I do. However, when I set my OS default printer to 'Last Printer Used', it works just fine. Anyone else encountering this, and is there a way to fix it? I'd really like to still be able to set a default printer in my OS. Thanks! Cheers, Markus

On larger worksheets it would be great to see the row & column numbers/letters highlighted when a cell is selected. This seems like a simple, standard spreadsheet / worksheet function and would make the VW worksheets more user friendly!

You're right, AndiACD, and that would make 12'-3" mean: 12 degree minutes minus 3 degree seconds. That doesn't make an ounce of sense, does it? Wait, is that a unit of mass or volume? Let's hear it for British Imperial units... Anway, Nemetschek, you could make us both (and likely lots of other folks) happy by giving us the option to either use the dash or not, consistently throughout the app! Please?

AndiACD - so does the UK version display feet and inches as 15'6" for dimension objects as well? The US version uses 15'-6" for dimensions. Again, it doesn't seem like it would take very exotic programming to add a dash, or even, gasp!, to give us the option of either using a dash (everywhere, consistently) or not. And wait, are you saying that the UK is still not fully on SI either? So do we get to blame you guys for our backward ways, dash or no dash? I think most of 'the rest of the world' is using just one unit to measure distance (and it ain't a digit, hand, inch, foot, yard, cubit, ell, rod, fathom, furlong, statute mile, nautical mile, or league). ...typed while wearing my glasses. Cheers, Markus

Please, please, please make the feet & inches display in worksheets look like 12'-3" instead of 12'3" Feet and inches are displayed this way in dimension objects, it's the way feet and inches have been shown in the U.S. for as long as I'm aware of, certainly in architecture, and it's just plain easier to read! Yes, I wish Jimmy Carter had managed to make us switch to SI, but I think we're just too stubborn and/or dumb as a nation, but don't get me started... Adding the dash just doesn't seem like it would require a giant programming effort.

I'm using 3D polygons to get specific surface areas of my building envelope ??in this case, the thermal envelope, which doesn't always coincide with the outer surfaces of my wall, floor, & roof objects (for Passive House energy modeling). Does anyone know how to get the surface area of a an extruded arc (which I'd use to get the surface area at a curved building element) within a worksheet? I don't see a function that would return this value, but I did notice that Model>Volumetric Properties... allows me to view the correct surface area value. Thanks in advance for any responses! Cheers, Markus

Hi Pat ??thanks for checking! Ok, it does seem to remove additional control points (peaks); what I guess it doesn't do is level the wall if it's sloped or fix it if it's been goofed up by, say, one of the top end control points being dragged below the end of the wall (a wall that's been tied into a knot?). Once something like that happens, it seems to be quite difficult to get it straightened out again (see the screen shot of the wall with the top middle handle floating somewhere near the center of the wall)... NNA should really implement a full wall reset function! Cheers, Markus

Looks like this thread pre-dates the VW2013 release; I just installed the script and tried it, but it doesn't seem to do anything under 13. Has anyone been able to modify it to work with VW2013 or come up with an alternative? Not being able to reset / level walls is very frustrating! Thanks in advance for any help! Cheers, Markus

VW needs a command that removes extra control points from walls, fixes it if it's 'upside down' or otherwise funky, and simply resets the whole thing, either to the layer delta-Z or some specified height!

...that's exactly what the tech folks at NNA suggested. Certainly a plausible workaround for the time being, but definitely hoping that this gets fixed soon. BIM is supposed to make your workflow more efficient, right?

Anyone else encountering this behavior? Oddly enough, this only happens when printing or exporting to PDF: I've got 3D window tags turned on, with Hidden Line rendering (the Final Quality RW is happening in a separate VP behind that one, so that I can avoid having the tag text show up as a pixellated mess), and the ID text from the windows on the other side of the building is showing through, in spite of the Hidden Line rendering. (Perhaps VW takes 'hidden line' too literally, hiding only lines in the background but not text?) Needless to say, as if having to use two separate, stacked viewports wasn't already cumbersome enough, this makes the 3D tags even less useful! Might as well go back to using our own 2D tags manually in the VP Anno (even though we really want 3D tags!). Makes me wish Nemetschek wasn't insisting on a 12-month release cycle and would instead bug-check their releases more thoroughly! Cheers, Markus

It sure seems like you SHOULD be able to limit the width of a text object and have the text auto wrap once it gets too long for the specified width ? specifically for the sheet title in our title blocks ??but it doesn't work! Not only does this mean that you have to enter the carriage returns manually in order to prevent the sheet titles from spilling off the page, but it makes Automatic Drawing Coordination less useful, because it makes it impossible to enter longer sheet titles through the Sheet Layer Navigation palette. Furthermore, any sheet title text after the first carriage return doesn't display in the Navigation palette, which is very silly indeed... Seems like this one should be an easy fix! Cheers, Markus