Richard T

Would someone please advise how I can rotate my 3D view to align with an existing face/object? Or alternatively, how I can project a Nurbs arc onto a surface without my view being perpendicular to the direction I want the arc to project? I hope I am making myself clear.

Yes, but you can't create more than one of the same viewport type - I can't see the point in having multiple viewport types with exactly the same settings just to be able to have multiple viewports of the same type.

Katie, these are just the advantages I can see in using it, if only it were more flexible, ie if it could be used without having had to run "Create Standard Viewports". Actually the greatest limiting factor is probably there, in that a user can create only one of a particular viewport type. In the majority of projects that we do it would be utterly impossible to use just one planting plan/viewport/sheet layer.

Thanks guys, input much appreciated. I would have to agree with Travis that as it stands, without the ability to completely customize, one would not be able to use one's current workflow. I'm happy with using templates for classes etc, just thinking for a multi-user office how do you get people to use the right classes for object, just a matter of education/practice or what?

Bump ... So noone uses it? Even if you don't has anyone ever considered using it and if not, why?

To be frank, it does my head in to see how this works. As a new user, I am amazed that I can't just go into a 3D view and have my 2D geometry show up in its correct position. So put my vote in for this wishlist item too. And don't get me started on layer scales ...

See that's the funny thing, when I'm in Edit Symbol for the original symbol the plant was made from, it's centred on the cross hairs, and I have never once moved the geometry from that position since creating it. But when I go in and edit the 2d graphics of the plant, the geometry is not centred on the page. And it's like that from exactly the moment I create the plant. It's got me stymied.

I created a new plant from a symbol that I made, which has its origin at the centre of the symbol, but whenever I place it using the Plant tool, the plant symbol ends up offset from where I placed it, as evidenced by the attached screen capture. Can anyone enlighten me as to what's happening?

If so, can someone please enlighten me as to how you fit it into your workflow? Thanks!

As a landscape architect, I have to agree with Nicholas. While there is a case for drawing for class with many things, on many other occasions we need to produce items of the same class with different colours/lineweights/linestyles and it would be totally illogical to create new classes just for those variations. On the original subject, I totally agree with putting the attributes on the OIP, they are as much a part of the object information as anything else. Perhaps to satisfy jan, there could be a "mini" mode for the OIP that just shows attributes, and an "extended" mode for everything else.

Suggestions for improvements to editing of the colour palettes. Enable tooltips when viewing the Colour Grid Enable double clicking of a colour in the Colour Grid to edit Enable creation of blends when two colours selected in Colour Grid In Colour Grid, use Shift/Ctrl for selecting multiple colours, enable click+drag to shift colour position Create new colour after currently selected colour, rather than creating at the end of the list and having to move it (or make that an option) Create blends with new colours inserted between the two currently selected colours, rather than placing at the end Enable direct editing of a colour number to move a colour to a new position

Just wondering, do any of you landscape folks out there use the Model Setup command, so that you can then use te Task Manager? I guess I'm wanting to know if it's worth going through the hassle of setting it all up. If not, how do you manage drawing standards, ie making sure stuff is drawn in the correct classes? Any ideas/info welcome. Thanks.

Yes, and I find that a real pain - if I wanted it to show margins at all, I'd much rather be able to set my own margins that I know will be inside all my printable areas, rather than have it change depending on what printer is selected. But that still doesn't answer the question of why the grey area is not symmetrical top/bottom and left/right.

Yes, windows operating system. Shift and Ctrl are used in windows, Ctrl for adding indivual items to a selection set. Microstation, Picasa, all Microsoft, Adobe products, Mozilla products, plus a host of other utilities and lesser known software. I dare say I'll have to, but 20 years+ of ingrained habit is going to be hard to change.

Actually I just tried another file, to import my colour table from Microstation, and virtually none of the RGB values of the colours have translated exactly as they should be. Why is it so hard to pick up the RGB value of an object?

I agree, VW should be able to interface directly with the Plant Database, then we could also customize/add/remove fields in the database to our hearts content without worrying about whether it might muck up how VW uses it.

Two things. Is there any way to import dwg files and keep the gradient fill that objects have? I can't seem to find any way of doing this, they come in as solid filled objects. Secondly, can someone explain how VW2008 deals with the colour of objects imported from dwg, specifically colour fill (solid or gradient)? I ask this because, if I have a transparency set for the level(class) an object is on, VW appears to take the colour of the object as how it appears on screen, ie colour + transparency, rather than the actual colour of the object. I hope I'm making myself clear enough.

Just wondering why the 2008 Gradient Editor doesn't have access to the new colour palettes? Seems a glaring omission to me.

I very much concur with people's sentiments on snap points - to me I'm not getting enough feedback. I very much like the way Microstation does it as per the attached images. The large white + is the cursor. In the first image, the small white + at the end of the line indicates the closest snap point on the line the cursor is hovering near. The second image shows what I get when the cursor gets within "range" of the snap point. Here you see the yello X indicating the point that will be snapped to, and the magenta highlighting of the element that is being snapped to.

Beginner question ahead! Can someone please tell me how to disable/modify the copy action that occurs when the 2d selection tool is being used? It is troubling to think that I could well end up with a plethora of duplicate objects in my files due to the inadverdent use of this key, as the duplicates end up in exactly the same position. I don't quite understand why this is the case, as every other software package I am familiar with uses the Ctrl modifier to add to a selection set. I understand that in VW that the Shift modifier does this, and eventually I will get used to it - but in the meantime this non-standard usage for Ctrl has me worried.

Does the Shift key not work?

I searched the included Excel index file for xFrog objects and nary a palm to be seen (12.5.2)

Sure. Here's a representative sample of my Microstation XM workspace, one image is my left hand screen, one my right screen.

So does that mean you don't use "Edit Revision data" and "Edit Issue data" from the OIP when the drawing border is selected? I'm still learning here and wanting to find out the best way to set up our title blocks!

Sorry that wasn't the best screen capture, my page size got messed up before I took it. The attached captures should show it better. The first shows the drawing area set to A1, the second to A2. You will note that at A2, the grey shaded area is equal top to bottom and left to right, but at A2 it's not - this is the problem I'm trying to solve.