Property line tool

[Landartma]

I have on old hand drawn survey that's way off.  I attempted to use the property line tool to dial it in.  It creates the line but as soon as I click done the line disappears/deletes.  What am I missing. 

[E|FA]

The property line tool is a real pain to use.  A better workflow is to draw the property shape using the polygon tool (or whatever set of tools works best for you to create the polygon), and then use the Create Object from Shapes... command to turn it into a Property Line object.  

 

If I've had to work from a metes & bounds description, I've found it easier to use an online tool (courtesy of Google - which I haven't bookmarked) to help translate the segments, rather than the VW Property Line tool.

Edited February 9, 2023 by E|FA

[Kevin K]

Just a thought...

Sometimes.....as an alternative to the property line tool and which is also a bit less confusing, is to simply use the line tool and input the length and the bearings, etc. Then just move all the lines so they connect. You may need to click on the images to get better resolution.

For example....

This.......

 

 

Will produce this line with the correct bearings.

I did type in the text for the line, but the line was created from filling in the data into the object info palette.

 

 

 

[E|FA]

@Kevin K That would have saved me time...  I assume this works with curves.  Per my previous post, you could generate the geometry this way, combine these into a polygon, then Create Object from Shapes... to end up with a Property Line object (if needed).

[Kevin K]

Bingo!! 🙂

Yes, you can input curve data with radii, length of curve etc and just add it to the mix.

I have found it works well and is pretty quick everything considered.  I too have trouble using the pesky property line tool…you ain’t alone!

[michaelk]

4 hours ago, Kevin K said:

Then just move all the lines so they connect.

 

🙂

I'm not familiar with property lines where all the endpoints meet…

[Kevin K]

Uh….Michaelk…how many martinis have you had 🙂

You are scaring me..:-)

I wasn’t implying they all connect in one location..I just meant if you had for example, 4 lines that would enclose an area you would drag each of the endpoints of the lines to each other so they created an enclosed space…wait…I DID have two martinis! Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough in my explanation

[michaelk]

No martinis 🥹 still working.
 

I have had received so many surveys where the property lines have gaps between the lines and metes and bounds that don’t close …

 

I’m surprised when they do close. 

 

(And I use your method too)

[Kevin K]

Ok…..I feel better now….I was worried 🙂

[Landartma]

Don't worry Kevin.  Everything here is a bit confusing to me.  The thing is so far off I think I must have been a snap shot or a scanner with warped glass.  Maybe too many martini's were involved.  Some of the best times involve cocktails though.  The subdivision I'm working ended up getting built so that's a plus for 10 families.

 

Thanks for the advice I'll give it a shot.

[Landartma]

Get the error One of more of the selected objects could not be converted into the target subject type.  This is both trying to convert a Line and a Poly Line.  

[Tom W.]

Run 'Compose' to join the Lines/Polylines together then run the command

[Kevin K]

Perhaps, if you are still having issues, you should upload the basic file (VW 2022 in my case) with just the basic data pertaining to the overall survey data and I (we) can sort it out for you?

Only if you have not been successful on your end.

Just a thought.

[Landartma]

I will screw with it for a while longer.  As with all software I have used there is a ton of instruction that's lacking in the instructions.  For instance how to go back once you've made an error.  There is a 5 minute video on it but does not explain things like.  "you made a line you don't want...this is how to fix it".  If I go at it for a while I may actually figure it out.  Thanks for the help.

[Kevin K]

Well...two quick answers to your issue regarding 'once you have made an error'...

1) just click on "undo"in the edit menu, as many times as you need to to get back to before you messed up 🙂

The caveat here is that if you waited to long to catch your error, there is a limit to how many "undos" you will have available...

You can adjust this in the Prefs area as noted in the screenshot below. Seems to me if you set that number too high it will tax the system a bit and may slow things down, in general.

 

2) IF you really mess up and wait too long to fix your mistake, you can resort to using 'Time Machine' if you are a Mac person and just go back in time an hour so and resurrect that file..

 

[E|FA]

Looks like Kevin & I both have settled on 30 Undos as a good setting.  I then set the Autosave backup to every 30 operations, so I stay fully covered.  I changed the save location to an external drive where I don't care about wasting space, and occasionally manually clean out old files.

 

[P Retondo]

Sounds like the property line tool is still an embarrassment in VectorWorks.  Just plain don't understand how a relatively simple geometric task can't be fixed.  I think it's that software engineers don't consult with surveyors, engineers & architects to understand what is needed.

[Pat Stanford]

More likely is that it got to be working "good enough" in Minicad 3 and has never gotten to the top of the pile for improvement since then.

[E|FA]

At least for the Property Line tool there is an easy workaround once you figure it out.  Some of the other tools, not so much.

[Kevin K]

Pat…wow… MiniCad 3 ! Man you have been around for awhile! 🙂

If I recall…Miniad 3….that was around about the same time as the poor dinosaurs left the building…

 

[Pat Stanford]

Actually MiniCad 3+,  Either 1991 or 1992. Purchased to replace DesignCAD 3D (which was purchased because it was cheaper) after it repeatedly blew up my drawing and the answer from tech support (DesignCad, not Diehl Graphsoft/Vectorworks) was we aren't going to fix it. Just don't do that.  🤦‍♂️

 

The right decision and I have never looked back.

[Landartma]

It appears as if you have to have a closed object to convert to a property line or create an object from a shape in general.  I was able to convert a simple square as expected.  My intuition said since its a line I should be able to convert any line to a property line.  Can Lines not be converted into Objects?  I'm guessing that a line can not be defined as a shape and is unidimensional in the VW world.  So I just figured out the tool...sort of.  Its pretty easy to go back...I think.  Anyhow I got it done but had to hack in my curves close the property then I was able to convert the rest of the lines.  That's another learning moment.     

[Tom W.]

That's why I said to Modify > Compose the lines 

[Kevin K]

@LandartmaWhat Tom mentioned is a great way to take various lines, polygons, etc and combine them into one closed object. It is a great tool. Keep in mind to use it you need to make sure that all your objects need to have their endpoints connected/touching, or it won't work.

Another thought...many of us here have been using VW for years and years and years and are happy to give newer users a leg up and a heads-up on how best to approach any task....mainly because we have all been where you are and have felt the pain and frustration that comes with learning any new software.

So, for example, in this case, had you posted something with the big picture of your dilemma, rather than slog through attempting to do something on your own, we could have shown you, in this specific case, in less than 3 minutes not only how solve your issue, but the steps required to do so.

So, keep that in mind in the future 🙂

 

[Landartma]

Yup I use that function frequently it is a time saver.  And thank you for offering the help.  So here's a question.  When I went to use the line tool, set coordinates and it snapped to 0.  I drew the line entered the coordinates ex n4 15 33w and it just snaps to 0 or does nothing.  My guess is that I'm missing something simple.

[Kevin K]

Ok, first, there are two basic ways to create a line...

1) double click the shortcut key on the keyboard  (2) for the line tool, and you will get this dialogue box.

Fill in the data ( I used 50' for the length in this example)then input the bearings and make sure to use the degree and minute symbols for that data and click the mouse or input device you use. and it should place a line in the drawing. Then as I mentioned in a previous post, do this for each property line. And honestly, you do not need to use the 'compose' tool unless you need a closed solid object fore whatever reason.

 

Perhaps that was why it was not working for you because you didn't use the degree and minute symbols?

 

The other way to create the line is to do it on the fly using the tab key as you draw to cycle through all the fields .

I should probably make a short video of this, but see if you can do it.

 

-using the line tool, click once to start to draw a line, THEN you should see a pop up allowing you to infill the data by using the tab key to cycle through the various fields and when you have filled in the length and the angle fields hit enter or return and its should place that line in the drawing. Do make sure that your prefs are set to show all the options relating to the various fields. In the screenshot the angle shows 30° but just ignore that.  This is where you would input the actual bearings N15°33'W

And again. you will need to do this for each property line, then just drag each line to the endpoints of the other lines.

See if this works for you.