eric.rktek
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Posts posted by eric.rktek
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Thanks again. We'll give the break line tool a shot in the meantime.
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It would be great if the eyedropper tool could have a little more control in selecting plug-in controls to copy and paste onto objects (such as doors and windows). Case in point- I am updating a several files to V12 from V11. All the doors that had their 2D Views settings (in V11) set to a thickness % of the wall line weight are coming in with all their parts set to a zero line weight. It would be great if the plug in parameters could be divided into a portion of size, width, height type stuff, and another for class and view attributes. That way, I could eyedrop just the lineweight updates without affecting the door type, size, etc. Thanks.
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G Pang,
Very interesting. I still like having a tape measure tool that can give me X,Y, and length when I am trying to measure, but I can see how nice your suggestion works too.
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Hats off to the new and improved stair tool. However, I have one question/problem with the new tool. I have found the stair break controls for upper and lower levels (which is great). I can't figure out how to make the stair break show the angled 'cut' line like it used to. Is this feature still available, or did it get eliminated in the improvements?
Thanks.
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Robert,
Thanks. That fixed the problem.
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I'm working in V12 now, and I have a graphic question regarding Cased Openings. When I put a cased opening in a wall, there is a centerine that appears across the length of the opening. I've gone through the various options in the Settings button in the OIP, but can't seem to find a way to turn this line off. It also shows up when I print.
Also, when I pull the opening out of the wall, it disappears. (I do have my jambs set to 0" thickness). In the past, the opening used to show as two lines so you could see it in the drawing.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
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I agree with John CPR. The two biggest things that I liked about Microstation were the robust reference file controls and the ability to easily rotate your view. I used Microstation for some 3D work and it seemed fine. I enjoyed using Microstation much more than AutoCad, but chose Vectorworks when I opened up my own office. I felt that Microstation was a good CAD program if you do skyscrapers or other really large scale projects where many people are going to be collaborating on the project, in a large office environment. This is not the kind of projects I work on now that I've opened my own shop. Also, I wasn't about to pay the price for a full version of Microstation when comparing it to the features and costs of Vectorworks. Vectorworks really shines with its graphical abilities for 2D and 3D work. It is making strides with its reference file capabilities with V12 as well, but still has plenty of ways to go.
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I've been very happy using the Vector Bits enhanced tape measure in VW11. It looks like the plug in for 11 doesn't work with 12. It would be great if VW could include a more robust tape measure tool (or if someone could point out one in 12 that I missed).
Thanks.
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I'm still waiting to get started on my new copy of 12, but this sounds like a good idea to me.
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We often use a callout with two or more pointer lines coming off of it to indicate similar items. We always throw an extra line with an arrowhead next to the callout. This isn't a major flaw or problem, but it would be nice to have the option as a control in the OIP to select a number of leaders for the callout tool. 2-4 would probably be all I ever need.
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I think Acad has the ability to select how a file is pathed- either relative or absolute. There are times when each option is the better choice. It would be great if VW could give us that option.
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I have been scared and cautious of classes for years, and used to stick to layers exclusively to organize my drawings. We are working on a few townhouse projects, and finally made the jump to use classes on a project we are working on now. We had to do this to use symbols for unit plans in order to duplicate them across a building file and update automatically. Two things that really have helped make using classes easier (compared to older versions of VW that caused me to be scared of classes) are the different snapping/visibility options for classes in the organize menu, and the ability to toggle the cursor command to prevent symbols from jumping into walls when not wanted. The new project organization is working well, but we are also keeping our classes to a minimum- just 'Floor', 'Ceiling', and 'RCP' classes at this point. These have been all we have needed to coordinate with the different drawings and viewports we use in paper space.
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It's been a while since I chimed in on this wish list item, but my desire for this feature is still strong as ever.
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Ed,
The symbol does contain groups, as well as a few nested symbols. Views are aligned (Plan/Top View). Created scale may not be the same as referenced scale. Created scale was probably 1/8" or 1/4"=1'-0", and it is shown aat both scales in different viewports on different pages.
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I just added a couple rectangles to a symbol in a plan file that I need to dimension. I can snap to them in the base file, but I can't snap to it at all in a referenced file. I have determined that I can't snap to any shapes outside the limits of the exterior walls that make up my unit plan in the symbol when the symbol is referenced into other files. If I add a piece of wall further out from the locus of the symbol past the unsappable shapes, they become snappable in the said referenced file. As far as I can tell, the snapping is class independent. I have tried several different classes and settings to verify this part. Is this a bug, or is there some better workaround beside throwings some etc wall pieces in my symbols?
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I had all classes on and active including the 'none' class. I went into the referenced design layer (where I was able to snap) and drew a new line from locus points that I wanted to dimension. When I went back into the viewport, I was able to snap to the locus and the corners of the rectangle that I was trying to snap to originally. I did an Workgroup Update and had the temporary guide lines erased. When I went back into the viewport after that, I couldn't snap to things again.....
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Need a little help with a snapping problem that just came up in a viewport. I just added a rectangle to a symbol in a plan file that I need to dimension. I can snap to it in the base file, and in the referenced design layer in my sheet file, but I can't snap to it at all in the paper layer viewport (in the annotations window). The rectangle is in the 'None' class, and I have my classes to 'Show, Snap, Modify', viewport is in plan view, I have restarted Vectorworks twice, and I even went in and put locus at the center of the rectangle in the symbol to see if that would provide a snap point, and still no luck. Any suggestions what might be tripping me up?
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One way to simplify part of this process is to request that your engineers 'Bind' their xrefs before exporting. This pulls a copy of all the referenced files into the base file, and takes the burden of xrefing off of you. I often ask this whether I'm working on VW or Autocad because you often have to repath all the xrefs once they are on a different computer/server.
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You can do this by editing your workspace to give the tool a keyboard shortcut. (File->Workspaces->Workspace Editor)
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I'd really appreciate it if there were a way to improve the 'robustness' of polylines and the fillet tool.
When doing a site plan, I use a series of polygons and rectangles that I combine into one shape for my parking. I then come back with the fillet tool for my radiused corners, etc.
There are two areas where I freaquently run into problems. One area is when I am trying to fillet a radius into part of the polyline that already has a curve. I know I can fillet an arc in other programs, and it would be great to be able to do that in a polyline. The second problem area is when I come back through and need to subtract surfaces to remove part of a paved area. As polylines get more complex with more fillets, they tend to freak out more often during a subtraction. Converting things to polygons helps matters, but then I lose the radius and control point within the polyline, making it far less alterable for future changes.
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Jim,
I just tried taking a new file and making a viewport with a benchmark in it. The text scale jumped to the super size as soon as I moved it. I'm on VW 11.5.0 on a Mac (in case my updated profile doesn't show up). I don't think sticking to new files is a solution, at least on a mac. I have started using the suggestion of grouping all my benchmarks together to speed up fixing the font size when it jumps- per a suggestion in a post I found last night.
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Any word from NNA on resolving this issue anytime soon?
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I do get frustrated when I'm drafting or checking over other's drawings and I can't tell the lineweight without going into the Zoom Lineweights Mode (ZLM?). I find it reasonably cumbersome to draft with this mode activated, and struggle with the fact that there is no way to tell what lineweights are with it off, short of selecting every line or shape one at a time and checking the attributes palette. Microstation did (does?) a better job than both Acad & VW in this area. It would show a relative thickness for all linework that was representative to the actual lineweight. I don't think the thickness was relative to the zoom scale. Something like this would be a get drafting improvement to the current VW setup. VW does this somewhat now for by differentiating the shown thickness for lines over .70 mils thick versus those under. It would be really helpful if VW could even expand that capability to show different thicknesses to say 4-5 relative lineweight ranges on the screen. .03-.15 could be the thinnest shown lineweight, .16-.30 could be the next, .31-.45, .46-.69, and .70+ . This could be a nice blend of WYSIWYG with ZLM and provide a efficent way to draft with it off.
As usual, just my two cents.
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Peter,
You summed it up in a nutshell. We take the time (a lot of time) to set up a bunch of copies of layer linked plans in the elevation file to use as references when we draft. I am with you regarding the lack of graphic control that models can give you for elevations in working drawings. The clunkiness of dealing with this as a workaround has been a primary reason I chime in so much about improving WGR. It is on the top of my list for improvements needed in VW. We are a small office and I am the main proponent of VW. My partner and our employee are new to the program and formerly used Autocad. They have really warmed up to VW, but their primary gripe is always lack of power with referencing. We are colloborting on a townhome project right now that requires us to do the project in Acad. It is a pain to draft and deal with Acad's issues. That said, Acad's xref capabilities are crucial to the efficient layout and drafting of the project. We would probably be able to cobble together some lengthy workarounds in VW if that program were an option, but it truly is easier for us to do the project in Acad (I hate to say that).
After all that, being able to rotate the drawing plane would greatly speed up layouts for plans, siteplans, etc. This would be a nicety, but definitely a few notches down on my list from the upgrade of WGR powers.
Line Thickness Visibility
in Wishlist - Feature and Content Requests
Posted
First of all, the extra line thickness options in V12 are nice. I have a line thinkness screen visibility from way back. I have wondered in the past if VW could provide a couple different shown line thicknesses for the lineweights between .003-.50 I'm not talking about using zoom line thickness. Instead it would be more of a graphical thing so that you would be able to tell the approximate thickness of a line on the screen. I don't think every line thickness needs a different view weight. Maybe it could be really thin, regular, thick for line weights? Say 0.03-.35 as thin, .36-.69 as regular, and .70+ as the darker line it already does? Right now you can really only tell if a line is more than or less than .70 without using zoom line thickness. The reason I am asking for this is that I find it pretty cumbersome to draft with the ZLT on, and prefer to use it as a check after drafting to make sure everything came out right. Thanks.