Tamsin Slatter

I'm not able to reproduce this. I created a simple section which looks at some walls, doors and Windows, and I have been able to use the Polygon tool in Inner Boundary Mode without any problem. I had another customer who reported a similar problem. When I examined the file, it turned out that his geometry was a huge distance from the internal origin in the file. Once the geometry was cleaned up (there were plenty of things in the file that were a huge distance from the model itself and were not required in the file at all - we deleted them) and centered (we used TOols > Origin > Center Drawing on Internal Origin), the tool behaved perfectly.

Connect the Grade objects to create a network.

Yes - agreed. I always draw my own grade limit instead of allowing tools to generate theirs. I want control! To achieve the grades you are looking for down to the roadway - you might want to look at the Grade tool too.

And don't forget the Simplify 3D Polygon command which removes many of the vertices from a 3D poly, without compromising its shape.

Nice tip Peter! I'll add that to my kit-bag of top tips.

Internal bug ref number: VB-166080

I have looked at the licence number and crash logs and cannot see anything obvious. My advice is to contact US tech support again and ask them to open a bug report against the crashes.

Is there any chance you could upload both files? You can send them in a private message if you would prefer not to post them publicly?

Are you on a Mac or PC? What is the graphics card?

If you would like to PM the last 6 digits of your serial number, I can see if there is anything obvious - although - I do not write the code so would have to pass this to our engineering team.

Thanks for your thorough clarification James. I will ensure that this is passed to our engineering team.

Hi James Thanks for your feedback. I will certainly ensure that our engineering team see your video. The issue with the crashing script and the NURBS curve is clearly a problem which we need to investigate. In terms of the design of the feature, it sounds like you've given this a thorough workout - but I just wanted to check... do the Speed and View Angle controls (below the Keyframes section on the Object Info palette) not help you with building in the pauses and speed controls that you need? All the best

Alternatively, import the PDF onto its own Design Layer and move that layer below the other geometry. You can drag it on the Navigation palette, if you put the mouse pointer on the Stacking order column number.

Thanks for your feedback.

In Vectorworks Preferences, go to the session tab and make sure your error logging is set to verbose. This will ensure that your crash logs are uploaded automatically to the engineers' server. If you provide the tech support team with the last 6 digits of the serial number, they will be able to look up the crash logs and assist in the diagnosis.

Hi Parker Thanks for sharing the video. I can see the problem, but I guess this is only half the story. Without seeing what's in the reference file, it's hard to be sure what's going wrong. But you mention that your reference file is linked to a viewport, which implies that this is reference to another reference. That won't work. Best practice is to reference everything directly. Hope that helps!

Yes, in haste - use the Title Block Border tool to create the title block style you want and then place an instance on each sheet layer. Then use the Title Block Border Settings button to update the project and sheet data. You can link the sheet number and the sheet title directly to the title block. If you have Vectorworks 2020, there is a template specifically for garden designers. Looking your signature though, I see you are on 2017, in which case you'll be using the Sheet Border tool to create your sheet border, and then within that use the Title Block button to select a title block symbol. Search Vectorworks Help for Title Block for more information. For the individual Viewports, insert a Drawing Label into the annotation space. This will display the scale of the viewport and the drawing title that you've used for the viewport. Good luck.

In haste - rushing to another meeting - will do - just tried to upload examples, but it failed - will investigate later!

Morning all. I have had a chat with our engineer and done some more testing myself. For the British National Grid, if you align the User Origin, with the Easting and Northing Origin within the Geographic Coordinate System (EPSG code 27700 - the default in the UK templates), CAD drawing within that coordinate system will have the correct X and Y coordinates on export to DWG. So, if you are sending stuff back to someone who has no concept of GIS systems and their software does not use it, this will be fine. The issue currently, within SP1, is that there is not easy way to align the User Origin with the Geographic Coordinate System, because you can't see it and there is nothing to snap to. But there is a way to do it (details below). Even better though, from SP2, there WILL be a way to do this within the Tools > Origin > User Origin command (thank you engineering team!) Here's how to do this in SP1: Open a UK template - this will already have the default EPSG 27700 code to set the geographic coordinate system to British National Grid. Set the Document Units to Meters, with an appropriate precision. Import your DWG using the Document Contains Georeferenced Geometry option on the import dialog. This will import the DWG into the geographic coordinate system. Also import any Shapefiles if you are using those. Use the Geolocate tool to move the INTERNAL origin close to your geometry (just click on the drawing). This will not change any coordinates with in the Easting and Northing coordinates - it simply ensures that the geometry is close to the internal origin and avoids the traditional problems with any CAD system of placing a huge calculation burden on the system with every move of the mouse. At this point, the User Coordinate System (User Origin) and the rulers will not show anything relevant. Don't panic! Choose Tools > Origin > User Origin and choose the option to set it by next click. Click on the Internal Origin, to align it with the Internal Origin. (Again, don't panic - this is temporary!) Use the Stake tool and place a Stake on the Internal Origin (and User Origin). Set it to display Coordinate Point (E,N) in Meters with full precision. Make a note of the E and N numbers from the Stake (screenshot, write it down, or ungroup it to get the text - whichever method you prefer). Now change the X and Y coordinates of the Stake to match the E and N, but with a negative. For example: If E is 10000 and N is 5000, set X to -10000 and Y to -5000. This will move the stake to the origin of the Geographic Coordinate System, and give you a valuable snap point. The Stake should still be selected, so click Fit to Objects to find it. Now run Tools > Origin > Internal Origin again and choose again the option to set it by next click. Click on the Insertion point of the Stake. The User Origin is now aligned with the Geographic Coordinate System. The rulers will show relevant values. Using the above method, I was then able to draw new stuff over my DWG, and then export the drawing back to DWG. I then imported it into a blank file WITHOUT using the Document Contains Georeferenced Geometry option, and all was good. The coordinates of the site matched, and the size and position of my new stuff also matched. I do hope this helps clear up confusion and doesn't add to it!

I will get you an answer. Meanwhile, I like your pink workspace. 😂

Yes - that's my understanding too. They won't match while you are working in a Georeferenced file, but when you export back to DWG, the E and N should just unwrap to boring old X and Y. I'm just testing a couple of things... Hold that thought. (We are all going to need a large glass of wine/whisky tonight!)

I am checking this out for you Lisa... I will let you know as soon as I get the answer. 😀

Hi Lisa So, that's correct - and actually answers your other question too. If you import the DWG into the standard X and Y coordinates with no georeferencing, and make a note of the coordinates of a known point, then repeat the test with a georeferenced file, then the coordinates of that point SHOULD match in X and Y and E and N. In the georeferenced version of that import, the X and Y coordinates in the original file have been projected into the georeferenced version of the coordinate system. The benefit of this is that you can combine GIS data (such as Shapefiles) with traditional X and Y CAD data. Before Vectorworks 2020 - it was very difficult to combine the two. Because you could not import the DWG into the Georeferenced coordinate system. So, your X and Y file should definitely match the E and N file. However, once you are working in a georeferenced file, my point is that you should use the E and N only, as these will be the accurate numbers. The X and Y in such a file is no longer relevant. It is my belief that should you then export these E and N coordinates back to DWG, they will give accurate X and Y for the recipient, even if they have no knowledge of or GIS capability - but I do want my genius colleague who developed all this to confirm that. Hope that makes sense!

Thanks for the explanation. Very helpful, and yes, it would be great if it were possible to enhance the Clip Cube in this way.

Enhancement request filed: https://jira.vectorworks.net/browse/VE-100265