RickR

+1 The 14 seat thing is in most USA codes. To make it really useful: allow variation in chair size. Most theaters have 3 seat sizes to create even aisles and offset seating. I think symbol scaling would be ideal for this; +- an inch or a %. Perhaps the aisles can be part of the seating, including front, rear and side aisles. Think polygon with holes.

I know this has been run around for years, at least in titleblocks. I can't seem to make text wrapping work for a record field in a symbol. I've placed the # at the end of the definition. I've tried all forms of "soft return" key strokes to place a manual break. I've tried many ways of forcing the text block to be a certain width. Is this feature still not working or am I missing something?

I often use a free program called CutePDF. It installs as a printer, which is how PDFs were made back in the stone age. As a printer you have very fine control over how to format the output. AND it will work with any form of output. So set it to grayscale only, 300 or 600DPI and print.

One of the most valuable aspects of paper is that it is static. There must be a way to define the construction task of the moment and not get caught up the changes in process. If nothing else the cost implications of every change need to be calculated. Or we can lock the model and declare no changes can happen during construction.

I use the 2 workspace solution and have for many years. I often open VW with the wrong workspace for the moment. If I switch *immediately* then the I don't mess up the palette positions. It may be a factor that I don't open with a new file. It also helps to memorize the keyboard shortcuts to workspaces. My 2 monitor layout will cover the menu bar on a single screen.

Yes I am in 2015. Updated my signature do reflect current system.

Anyone else seeing strange things with the Bridge Line Tool? For me it is showing a 'cover line' under the arc as well as across the bridge.

Symbols only have 2D & 3D parts. The auto-hybrid object has settings to quickly modify 2D views of the 3D source. 3D elements can include lines and 2D parts on the "layer plane" so they are really 3D objects. These would then show up in a side view for elevation work. There are many ways to generate elevations and sections. Perhaps you can explain what you want in more detail.

Jonathan: Are you saying you can have multiple copies of a legend? When I tried that on different sheets they show as different legends. If not; A single legend can show on multiple sheets by placing it on a design layer and making a viewport of it on the sheets. Would that work for you cberg?

I'm sure I don't get it all but; I'm thinking you need a way to reduce the density for each parcel to a single number so you can do the calculation. In other words break the problem into parts and solve each in turn. User fields are usually text formatted and math functions don't recognize numbers without VALUE(). You might need to refine the record format or add one of your own that has your fields. You can also have columns that do math on other columns and then hide them. (width=0) With some IF and >, < logic it can probably be done.

For many years, when I set the shoulder length it will sometimes scale it. I.e. 1/4" shoulder at 1/8" scale gives 2' shoulder. This happens most often when using the eye-dropper or other pick-up method.

As a project moves along updates to a shared file (floor plan) become less frequent. Similarly the need to be more detailed can add a desire to edit some aspect of a shared file, but only for yourself. My solution would be to convert a referenced DWG into a referenced VWX while keeping the link otherwise identical. This new DWG reference feature seems to create an intermediate file and hide it from the user. Lets just have an option to save out the hidden file without needing to recreate all the viewports. In a current project I have 2 references with 2-4 viewports each, but each having different crop, class and layer settings (internal and external.) That is going to be a lot of work to rebuild!

How about graphically dragging the beam? Focus points are useful in some cases but a pain if you want each light at a different spot. Real time sliders in the OIP?

Duh!

Is this new behavior? A light and a mounting are inside another symbol. Usually components of symbols are on None class. In this case the interior symbols are not on None but on their own. So I place the symbol and turn off the light class. It stays visible unless I move it's lines to the class. Shouldn't the interior symbol go off when it's class does? My goal is to show either the light or the mounting in viewports without having to manage them as separate object.

I appreciate the input. I've been a Dell fan for a while, more from service and support than from hardware. My current system is a M4500 w/Nvidia Quadro FX 1800M. I've had some weirdness but has been workable. Apparently it's a few notches slower than VW recommended. Some screen draws can get pretty slow. Any of these systems run in the $2000 neighborhood?. I'm looking at the Dell M4800 as it seems the current version of what I have, but is an i5 w/AMD FirePro M5100 w/2GB GDDR5. For $500 more I get an M6700, i7 w/Nvidia K3000M or something like that...

Once you have the symbol right go in to edit it. With nothing selected you should see the Lighting Fixture record. That has all the defaults for that fixture. Edit freely. After you place the light you can change them again, but only for those specific instances.

Definitely and easier way! I do this all the time, but I am the consultant and so try to fit the Architects form. You want a CBT file from your source. Since 2000 or so AC has been able to just put the info directly into the file, but many don't do that. When a CBT file is in the same directory as the DWG, AND you select the option to "map line weights" it will all come together. I've attached a sample file for you to play with.

I need to spec a laptop to run VW. Maybe 1/4 of my time so performance is big but not the only factor. More regular drafting than rendering. Most work is small files but then comes a big one with lots of references... Windows, but not looking forward to 8. Jim: rumors of a big jump in VW speed are around. Are we talking V2015? Any advance suggestions? (yes I'm looking at the KB articles)

Best to call tech support!

Tech support just solved some oddities for me in DWG refs. If the crop object is in an OFF class then the whole viewport is blank. Also if you keep a reference but change the file name, VW creates a new layer in the virtual VWX file, but it defaults to OFF. Neither of these is major unless you suddenly lose 90% of what should be on screen just before sending data out to the client.

That seems to have made it worse. So I guess referencing isn't the culprit. FWIW file size linked or not is about the same. Ideas?

I have a drawing with a few DWGs as references. The last few months I've notice my system sometimes gets silly slow, as in 3-10 seconds to nudge a symbol or pan. My current file size is 38MB and the 3 DWGs are 5-12MB each. Past versions have reached 115MB which is too much for my 4GB memory. I've been looking at all the usual culprits for speed, background stuff, power settings, RAM function, including reverting to the original OEM video driver. (NVidia Quadro FX 1800M) Can anyone confirm my current theory? That DWG references are slower than doing a VWX "shuttle file."

+1 on default lighting option when all lights are off. I would use it for OpenGL non-rendering work on projects with complex lighting. I suggest Brightness and Contrast controls for the default lighting. Simple and understood by almost everyone. Another thought is to have a command to convert default lighting into a light source(s). This would be a gentle starting point for beginners. "If you want more control over the lighting..."

I have also seen this. It seems to that the end base is aligning with the hidden closing section of the defining polygon. Breaking the polygon into lines will control it, but you get double posts at the corners.