Bob Holtzmann
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Posts posted by Bob Holtzmann
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If you're using MacOSX, you can open a PDF in Preview, and save it as a PNG or JPG file - those files import into Vw Fundamentals.
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There is a thread here that covers Vw's curtain walls or storefronts.
Jeffrey and Wes recommend the glass wall method (using the thickness of glass as a wall style), and to add mullions, doors and operable windows as needed. The example file shows how to do this.
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It's also possible to have the PDF on a scaled layer, and draw on a different layer set at the same scale. Just set the Layer Options to Show/Snap Others. This will prevent selecting the PDF image.
I've also done this with Classes, but I like Layers better, because the PDF layer can then be put on the bottom of the layer stack.
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I agree -- it would save time if the doors' and windows' ID labels automatically appear on the exterior elevations. As it is, they have to be annotated individually on the viewports.
I usually get by with a Window Schedule (providing sizes, model and quantity of each) on the elevation sheets.
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MiniCad 5 dates back to Windows 95 -- perhaps you need an earlier system to run VectorWorks 8, either Win 95 or 98.
I said VectorWorks 8 because the last MiniCad I have is version 7.
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There are also template files (.sta) with classes set up, in the Libraries > Defaults > Standards folder. Vectorworks lists the template file's contents in the New Class dialog. You can make a new template with your own classes saved to the Standards folder, where you can always access it.
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Yes, there is no picking or choosing on what plug-in parameters to change -- the eyedropper does them all.
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For plug-in windows, I've always used the eyedropper tool to pick up parameters and drop them on multiple windows -- with the eyedropper's plug-in parameter checked. This is the best (and perhaps only) way to change multiple plug-in window sizes and configurations.
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The class and layer visibilities are worth checking out first. And then see what layer and class is current, and if it's on. Then finally, look for the View menu setting for class / layer options (Show/Modify Others is the usual choice for classes, Active Only is the usual choice for layers).
Another thing: dimensions are set to automatically place themselves on the Dimensions class, so it helps to keep that on.
Some research into the book or pdf manual would also be a good start, if you have one.
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This has roused my curiosity, Petri. When you type Shift-Option-8 what does your computer produce, if anything?{
That explains a recent text message conversation I had with Petri:
VectorGeek: What's the temperature in Helsinki?
Petri: About -10{
VectorGeek: You mean -10?
Petri: Yes
VectorGeek: Brrrrrr
That would be outdoors. The temperature inside a petrisphere, though, would be much warmer.
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No, I'm sure the Mac's degree symbol is option-shift-8. As in:
90?
Windows, I heard, requires typing 4 keys at once (yikes).
p.s., I tried the option-0 (? instead of ? -- one's slightly bigger than the other), and that seems to work, too! Gee, learn something new each day.
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If you select the lines defining the surface, and do the menu "Combine Into Surface", and put the paint bucket in the surface area, it will make a closed polygon there. This command works for intersecting lines without connected vertices, too. The duplicate lines in your file and gaps between arcs, though, would make it difficult. Also, there was something wrong with the arc on the far left. When I deleted it and mirrored the one on the right, "Combine Into Surface" worked fine.
Also, When laying out a design like this, I would lengthen and overlap the lines and arc ends, and then use the Connect/Combine tool to make ends meet.
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I tried this when they had a limited free trial going. I downloaded the PDF of the character grid, hand lettered it, made a scan, uploaded it and almost immediately received a TT font file.
The font, like my handwriting, isn't perfect, so neatness counts. More importantly, when hand lettering the printed PDF grid, the placement of each character is critical. I learned that the slightest variation of each character from the vertical center of the grid square will amplify the spacing of the font. So if the tail of the 'y' does not balance symmetrically as a whole, the character will appear too close or too far from the other characters. So then the font will differ from your actual handwriting.
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If your friend designs and builds with little collaboration, he can use what he wants, and the simpler, the better. I take it he never took to using Autocad before, and would rather be board drafting.
I'm preparing for the day when general contractors will require IFC models to do their estimating and schedulting (i.e., using Navisworks, Solibri or other software tools), and Vw can do that and more, with its many export options. Engineers need exported files, too, and I don't know how CA rates on that ability.
Happy New Year's Eve and Day!
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The space object I use is quite advanced compared with products of other software suppliers, offering various calculators, a local nomenclature and links to the building code and a full implementation of a BIM workflow.
Having written articles on the subject for eight years now, I have studied the matter in depth and understand the difficulties and what is reasonable to expect, but VW is not there yet. One of the sample files provided by NNA and exported as IFC from VW 2009 was able to be imported into NavisWorks, but collapsed beyond recognition in Tekla Structures. I tested this at the Helsinki University of Technology with an expert who has shown some interest in VectorWorks.
I was really pleased to learn tonight that IFC models can be easily imported into Navisworks. This does not seem to be common knowledge, and Autodesk seems to imply that Revit has the only compatible BIM files that Navisworks can read.
I attended a BIM interest group meeting tonight, presented by a senior estimator for a general contractor. He does very accurate estimating using Navisworks, and is heavily involved with the Association of General Contractors (AGC). Although he is very bedded down with Autodesk (using Revit, attending Autodesk University, etc.), he did say that he works with many file types using Navisworks. So it is very encouraging to know that Vectorworks' IFC export and import into Navisworks is a viable BIM workflow. And Vw is getting better at attaching IFC data to objects, including spaces. Navisworks can display IFC space objects, with the option of turning them off. It's beginning to be clear to me that more general contractors will be using Navisworks as a BIM coordination tool, as a way to collect all models from architects and engineers (even in different file formats), and generate an overview of everything for coordination of system layouts, sequencing of trades, and precise site control.
With the "use Revit or die" mentality being promoted by the Revit instructors at the local community colleges and Autodesk resellers, I hope to better educate the locals that Revit, Archicad, Bentley and even Vectorworks are not BIM collaboration tools by themselves, but they are all different methods toward a common end.
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It looks like the site fell into disrepair. You can try this:
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Gerrit's Golden Rectangle plug-in tool is very useful (you can snap dimensions off of it):
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I always do workgrooup referencing path "relative to" the open file -- and it's best to keep them all together in the same folder. The simpler the path, the better. The reason is to avoid the root drive referencing, which can break when the files are moved to a different computer.
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Didn't know that .. :crazy:
Thanks for the link, although it does not explain why Revit does NOT save down. The best explanation I could find for this is the assurance that Revit objects would not be corrupted if they are saved down to previous versions. It's a kind of pre-emptive quality assurance strike on the user - and unprecedented, as far as I know.
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My Vw User Group has a few theater design professionals, and a couple of landscape designers. They can testify that Vw Spotlight and Vw Landmark are market leaders in their categories. No Autodesk threat there.
My worry would be the way Revit is being developed -- a closed, non-interoperable platform, with no backward compatibility.
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I've had a similar problem. I was trying to get the PDF to stand up in 3D space for model referencing -- sudden crash results.
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I mainly use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. The Zoom In tool on the Basic Palette can have a key assigned to it. And you can add the Zoom Out tool from the Workspace Editor's list to the left (it's not installed as standard).
I guess you know the Zoom In tool can also zoom out, with the up and down mode.
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Very interesting. I'm wondering if the rest of South America is using Vectorworks as much as Bolivia. No surprise about Japan.
.. and where are United States?
It's a given on who's the overall leader, but I'd say Vw is running a respectable second in San Francisco, New York, Boston, and the Eastern Seaboard.
I can't say as much about my region, because the Autodesk sellers are dug into the pockets of most of the architects here. The same sellers who sold them Autocad, and offered them all of those package deals of Revit. But despite the coat tail effect, Autocad still outsells Revit by far.
Just for fun, Here is the U.S. Trend Chart comparing CAD to BIM products.
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Very interesting. I'm wondering if the rest of South America is using Vectorworks as much as Bolivia. No surprise about Japan.
revit
in Wishes Granted / Issues Resolved
Posted
If Autodesk ever registers a trademark for the phrase ".dwg" used in file extensions, we'll all be in lots of trouble. I hear the court decision is this coming Thursday, and Sean Flaherty / NVW have taken an active role in this..
It's these kind of legal shenanigans that keep me and Autodesk on separate terms.