Art V

Just found out (again perhaps) that the text size in Vectorworks is not about capital X-height as in AutoCAD but about line height (incl. ascenders/descenders etc) which is correct by itself. This means that a text size specified as 2mm height ends up as 1.4mm in a dwg file for e.g. a capital X in Arial, i.e. as 70% of what you thought it would be. Can the text size setting for Vectorworks be updated to have an option to make it match the way it works in AutoCAD, i.e. apply to capital X-height and not line height? As it is now it's tricky to conform to text sizes specified for dwg based drawings as Vectorworks uses line hight. Importing text from a dwg gives the correct point size, so theoretically it should be possible to define it in a similar way from "AutoCAD mm" to points. Edit: corrected for initial mistake re text size based on x-height vs line height and updated request for matching the AutoCAD way of specifying text height

Maybe they tried to avoid file name issues across multiple platforms? Because of differences in what was allowed in file names in the past I've made it a habit to never use punctuation in file names other than the full stop before an extension if possible. Only spaces, dashes and underscores. Macs have always been more lenient than windows in this aspect. Maybe JimW knows the definitive answer.

Did you check the advanced properties option in the object info palette (OIP)? There you can set the section viewport properties such as merging the items into a single section, fills etc.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. You need to click twice, the first click sets the origin of rotation and the second click sets the angle you want to turn to a horizontal or vertical. The cursor can snap to a line you want to use as the basis for your rotation. If you do this correctly there should be a line and an arrow after the fist click indicating which direction the rotation will happen (usually the nearest horizontal or vertical). Moving the mouse will change the direction and angle of the rotation and upon the second click the desired rotation should be applied. If you already know the rotation angle you can type this in the box and it will rotate around the origin of the document. In that case there is no need to click in the drawings.

The transparent yellow marked part is the rotate plan. You have to click on the two arrows icon just ahead of the box with the number of degrees to select the edge/line you wish to use as basis of your rotation or type a rotation angle in the box.

Rotate plan applies to the entire drawing, i.e. all design layers. If you want to rotate only one design layer you will have to do this manually on the layer to which the rotation should apply. The rotate plan feature is right behind the drop down menu of the 3D views, if it does not show there then it is probably not available in Fundamentals. However it does show in my Fundamentals workspace so for now I assume it may be available.

From time to time I have to make drawings where text size is specified in mm instead of points in the drawing/project specs. It would be nice if it would be possible to set the default text unit to mm (or inches) instead of only points as it is now. Even when a text style is specified in mm, the OIP always shows it in points, which is somewhat illogical. It should preferably show text sizes defined in mm through a text style as mm in the OIP.

Did you try "run as administrator" for the install file? When I was using XP and had to reinstall sometimes it worked by running the installer the normal way and sometimes I had to use "run as administrator" for the installer to even get it working at all.

Not sure if there would be interest in this but another program I use has the vast majority of options/settings etc. consolidated in a searchable dialog window in addition to some of the command line and tool options dialogs. Given that some settings are "well hidden" in the Vectorworks interface this might be of some use in Vectorworks too?

Perhaps put it in the fly-out menu of the OIP, similar to the navigation palette? It's more a matter of user interface consistency for those of us who do switch between the two display options from time to time. The non-hierarchical display in the navigation palette is really useful to get a quick overview of subclasses to see if another (sub-)class needs to be added for new items or to be moved items or not. There are times where this would apply to the OIP as well instead of having to scout each dwgx-yyyy-zzzz subclass from every dwgx imported class. Even though I do prefer the hierarchical display in the OIP, it would be helpful to be able to switch more easily than it is now. Or could it be scripted, and if yes, how?

Jim, thanks for letting know where to find this. I've seen it multiple times but it never registered somehow it's there. Maybe add this option to the OIP, since it is already possible to select hierarchical/non-hierarchical on the nav and organizer palettes? Or have this option to be a selectable menu item at the top in all drop-down menus that can show hierarchical classes? That way it would be somewhat consistent across the various palettes/dialogs

I came across an offset glitch too recently, when offsetting a combination of separate touching lines and arcs some would go outward and some inward. Regardless of whether I would click on the outside or inside direction. Which objects go which way does differs by outside or inside click (i.e. they tend to go the opposite way of what is intended), this is in 2015. Not sure if it also happens in 2016.

Yes, on Windows it is not possible to toggle the hierarchical display of classes in the OIP either, it is possible in the Navigation palette and the Organization dialog though. So it is behaving the same as on a Mac.

Vincent, I do get hierarchical menus in the OIP for classes, though I am in Windows 10 now had them too on Win 8/8.1 and 7 as well. (I erased some identifying stuff from the project)

Jim, "On" would make sense if "Grey" would be an option as well. If it is not, then "On" would indeed not make sense.

Yes, that would work, but only off would be sufficient too. If you do include the grey option then you would need all three submenu items. The main purpose of this request is to hide the class that is getting in the way for whatever reason during editing or viewing. If a class is made grey it may still be getting in the way, so I'm not so sure if the grey option would be that useful within this context, and then the on option could be left out as well. Just thinking out loud from my perspective why I would like to hide classes (or layers) in an easy way. There is always the option to turn on a class/layer relatively quickly through the navigation palette. But hiding through right-clicking an object in a class or layer is more efficient than using the navigation palette.

+1 from me to increase the number of requests, this is a useful one. Maybe also have an option in the VW or document preferences to automatically make the last new created class/layer active?

Unless it's different in 2016 from 2015, classes show hierarchical in the OIP in 2015 on Windows on my computer and it cannot be changed as far as I can tell.

Are the wall styles the same? i.e. could it be that in some objects the components are not by class and in some they are not? At the moment I'm inclined to think that the classes of the object components (assuming they have classes of their own) have different settings between different objects and therefore behave differently. It is one of the reasons why I would like to have a class and auto-class override for all the subcomponents of symbols and other objects.

Didn't you mean objects that use class settings (i.e. object attributes set to by class) instead of classes using class settings?

This works reasonably well if you you exchange drawings via dwg/dxf as they often do not hold projection information so the drawings will basically be flat cartesian coordinates drawings. The "burden" of getting the drawing properly put into a projected coordinate system will then lie on the other party, if a projected CRS is used. However, if you are using data which comes from a projected coordinate system then it will require a bit more attention, but we don't know if that is the case with the original poster.

Peter, I do agree with you regarding sensible naming. However... I've seen quite a few standards (project or otherwise) use awfully long or non-descript (or sometimes both) layer (AutoCAD) or class names which make it nearly impossible to remember what needs to be put in which class, especially if you are dealing with multiple disciplines which are each using their own subsets with some overlap. Having a layer/class description would at least make it easier to check whether you are using the correct layer/class. If that would be part of a project/standards template then it will be a one time only excercise. Anyway... currently we need to open the organizer every time to look at the class description, so it would be nice to have the option to make it visible in the navigation palette as well.

A wish list item for this has already been made and submitted by JimW.

If possible I'd file a bug report and include both files so that they can have a look at what may cause this issue. It looks like something is not working properly inside Vectorworks, but it could be the geometry of the objects too which may be interpreted slightly differently in VW2016 given all the new 3D stuff they have added.

Vectorworks is listed as supported by the CadMouse, but given your and other's comments I was wondering how many of the CadMouse features would actually work. Regarding the DPI settings, that was my initial thought also, until I read somewhere it is about screen travel more than scanning accuracy, which matches your experience. The CadMouse info on the 3Dconnexion website is not really clear whether their DPI is the max of the DPI range as in gaming mice or an actual scanning resolution. If the former then a good gaming mouse with enough user definable buttons might be a better option from a cost perspective. Regarding the Logitech G502 mouse, it can store three user profiles in its memory so you could use bootcamp to set up the mouse and then use it on the mac. A profile contains settings for not just the various DPI settings but also the button actions. I don't know if the same applies to the Mad Catz mice, but this could be a reason to go for the Logitech G502 if you have access to a windows (virtual) machine to set up the mouse. (Assuming the button commands would work the same on a Mac)