J Lucas

I have wondered that as well. HEED, a free program, is good for very rough analysis of schematic design schemes. The great thing about it is you can roughly model passive solar concepts.

I did an export of DOE2 data from VW, on the Fire Station Project, looked at the data and concluded that I would have to completely redo my building model to anticipate issues like the one I described above. Instead, I used the space tool to do a takeoff from both horizontal and vertical surfaces and then described the related construction assemblies for input by the engineer into Equest. This was WAY quicker than redoing my building model or even perhaps of adapting the building model to the DOE2 export data takeoff needs from the beginning. Adapting the building model for DOE2 export, would have been largely trial and error; there are no VW best practice guidelines for this. The VW help section on DOE2 export is terse and misleading at best. My need is for ongoing smart feedback on energy efficiency from schematic design on. I design in 3D.

I have not seen anyone on this forum post a success story using DOE2 output from VW. (Please prove me wrong.) I (together with a mechanical engineer) recently did a DOE2 energy analysis for a fire station using Equest. The DOE2 data files from VW would not have worked for simple reasons like: If the insulated exterior walls extend above the insulated drop ceiling the data output is not smart enough to takeoff only the area of exterior walls below the drop ceiling. Perhaps the building model could be created to anticipate this, but it would be better to have a "smart" building modeling program working with a "smart" energy modeling program. I need easy to use energy modeling on most of my projects. As I have said before, this is currently perhaps the most relevant and important use of "BIM" for an architectural practice.

That would be "Intuitive". That is what I intuitively expected the first time I used the Elevation Benchmarks.

Currently in VW the 3d way to show b&b on walls is to add a b&b texture to the exterior wall and render (background) with hidden line (foreground) in a viewport. It is actually very fast and graphically effective. You can also add a sun light source for a particular day and time and render with shade and shadow. Robert Anderson of NNA answered your question above.

Try setting the insertion points of the dimensions to the end points of the walls and then change the dimension.

If the elevation above is a viewport, use viewport settings for Hidden Line rendering and smoothing angle.

In a design layer use Hidden Line with the smoothing angle set to say 30 degrees. To set the smoothing angle see the drop down menu: View-Rendering-Line Render Options.

Check out the Logitech TrackMan Wheel. Has a thumb operated ball, a scroll/zoom wheel and buttons. It saved my hand and wrist and increased my productivity when I switched to this from a mouse. It is Windows 7, 64 bit compatible.

Are you saying that you do not think that there are firms already doing this? Look at the project examples on the NNA website. Sorry, Christiaan, but what you describe has not been my experience of a VW 3D work flow. Have you personally designed, modeled, presented, and documented even a small project with a 3D work flow in VW?

I find the 3D design and modeling the easiest route to producing the most detailed 2D drawings (plans, elevations and sections) and 3D presentation drawings. The productivity and results of a VW 3D work flow, from design trough CD's, are vastly superior to a 2D work flow. When I see folks on this forum say otherwise, it makes me suspect that they have not mastered the skills to do it. Once the flow of working in 3D is achieved, it is like riding a bike, you no longer think about balancing, you just think about where you are going and enjoy the ride. In this way, I generally find VW 3D design and modeling a pleasure to use.

As a design oriented architect, who also produces construction drawings, my experience, with VW Architect, jibes with what Mr Laiserin has to say.

One, me. But (given what I know of VW now) if I was still in charge of the Civic/Educational division at the 40 person firm where I used to work, I would strongly advocate switching to a VectorWorks 3D work flow.

When I started using VW, three years ago, I committed to a 3D work flow. The learning curve was steep but the results and efficiency gained have been great. Plus, now I fluidly go back and forth from 3D to 2D when 2D is more efficient. You just have to make the commitment to designing and modeling in 3D from the start of each project. What is "pie in the sky" about this?

Note the lines in the counter tops in the second Revit image. That would be very annoying after paying so much. I think the rendering quality shown in the last image would be fairly easily achieved with Renderworks.

There are very limited prescriptive requirements for cantilevered floors and decks in the IBC. If you don't have this reference, most public libraries do.

Have you looked at the "Massing Model" PIO? I seems to do what you are looking for.

Search help for the type of PIO you want to start with, say a window. Carefully review and set all the PIO parameters to create a window as you want it. Search help for symbols and carefully review the attributes and parameters for creating the different types of symbols. You will see that you can create a symbol from a window PIO that, when placed in the drawing, will have the same attributes as the original PIO. In the create symbol dialog choose "Options" then "Convert to Plug-in Object". PS I have to say I do not remember what you can and cannot do in 12.5. Is it Fundamentals?

Even Sketchup tries to make this easy for users. Check here. Has anyone tried exporting a VW building model to Sketchup and using Energyplus Open Studio? The apparent silence from NNA in this regard is very frustrating to me. Given the current and future importance of this type of functionality, perhaps NNA could research and share info regarding the best solutions that currently work starting with a VW BIM. In my view, being able to model solar and energy efficiency is the most valuable potential for using BIM. Where is the support from NNA for this?

In VW you can create a variety of types of symbols. One type places a preset standard PIO "plug in object" in your drawing. In other words, you can create a symbol based on a door or window PIO that is placed in the drawing as a PIO. You could create one of these symbols for each of your standard window and door sizes. Through the PIO settings in each symbol, you could control visibility via loading different elements of the PIO to different classes. Classes in VW are most like AC layers. In VW you place objects in classes on layers.

Info on OpenGL

Jeffery, what is being discussed here is sorely needed. Do you have and input or suggestions in this regard?

I agree with Islandmon and would add that NNA provides outstanding tech support for VectorWorks.

In Stair Settings change the graphic attributes for the 2D line to invisible, ie. no thickness.

There are long and informative discussions re. the pros and cons of various 2D detail creation methods on this forum. Try searching "details" or something like that from as far back as three to four years. I generally extract information, in the from of basic line work, from VP sections of the 3D building model. Based on this I create individual details on a sheet grid on a design layer in a separate file for each anticipated scale. Then I reference, via VP, these detail groups to a design layer in the construction document file. From there the detail group is viewported and laid up on the appropriate sheet layer. This method is very flexible as you can mix and match sheet layer viewports using crops. I have this down to a very efficient process.