VW 2023 Skylight Insertion

[AnneSea]

Anyone have a method or tutorial for inserting a skylight? I have tried inserting a Velux skylight from the Resource Browser into my roof but it always turns into a dormer. I am unable to edit the dormer, only the roof. I feel like it should be easier than this. 🙂

 

[Tom W.]

If your symbol inserts as a dormer, click on the blue handle at the bottom front of the dormer to open the 'Edit Roof Element' dialog + on top RHS select 'Edit skylight' + click OK. This will change it to a skylight configuration. And the next symbol will insert as a skylight by default.

 

I think it's universally acknowledged that skylights need a massive overhaul...

[AnneSea]

Thanks, was so easy once I figured out how to edit the dormer! 

[cberg]

Does anybody have a good trick to move skylights in a roof?  I came across a video which seems to imply that skylights are easily moved in a roof face.  However, whenever I click on an inserted skylight the whole roof moves as one element.  The only way I can move a skylight is using the edit roof element dialogue box, which is difficult/counterintuitive.

 

 

 

[Tom W.]

The video shows a 'Velux Modular Skylight' plug-in object which I'd not heard of until now + which I don't think exists anymore...? @Matt Panzer will be able to shed some light on the matter. Was it only around in VW2017??

 

As for symbols inserted in roofs, yes, you have to resort to the somewhat painful setting-offsets-in-the-'Edit Roof Element'-dialog method to move them around unfortunately.

[cberg]

Thanks Tom.  In the time since I posted, I concluded that it was probably easier not to insert skylights into a roof.  And cut out the holes manually.  Maybe a new version will improve the tools.

 

 

[Tom W.]

I checked the Road Map today actually + couldn't see any references to roof light improvements unfortunately...!

[Matt Panzer]

14 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

The video shows a 'Velux Modular Skylight' plug-in object which I'd not heard of until now + which I don't think exists anymore...? @Matt Panzer will be able to shed some light on the matter. Was it only around in VW2017??

 

Hi tom,

I developed the Modular Skylight PIO for Velux and actually finished the first released version the day before coming to work here at Vectorworks.  It was a lot of work and, as you can see in the video, is quite capable.  I believe it was compatible with VW 2016 and needed a small tweak for VW 2017.  Unfortunately, it seems not many Vectorworks users ever found out about it and, due to the "lack of interest", Velux did not continue to update the Plug-in for later VW versions.  The only thing I can say is to contact Velux and request it.

 

I will say that being able to have inserts like this in roof and slab objects is very important to us and is part of our planned reengineering efforts for those objects.  While the Velux Skylight plug-in could already do a lot of what we want to do, it had to create its own very complex systems for doing it.  This is why we have not tried to create a similar type of plug-in for Vectorworks.  We want to create a proper system so symbols and plug-in objects can all take advantage of it.

[Tom W.]

Thanks for the info Matt. Glad to hear that the fact there's nothing explicit about skylights on the roadmap doesn't mean it's not in the pipeline... Would component wrapping be on the cards? And what about Top/Plan representation? Obviously a fixed 2D component won't work with rotated objects but perhaps something akin to Auto-Hybrid where the appropriate geometry is generated on the spot...? Please 🙂

[Gary Mees]

Interesting topic, lead to me finding this area in the Velux website https://skylightoffers.com/vms, have just downloaded it so still to experiment with it, thought this might be of interest. 

[Tom W.]

5 minutes ago, Gary Mees said:

Interesting topic, lead to me finding this area in the Velux website https://skylightoffers.com/vms, have just downloaded it so still to experiment with it, thought this might be of interest. 

 

Aha well done for finding! But have you tried installing the plug-in? It says suitable for VW2014 + later so like Matt says may no longer be compatible. Unless you're using VW2016...?

[Gary Mees]

Interesting topic, lead to me finding this area in the Velux website https://skylightoffers.com/vms, have just downloaded it so still to experiment with it, thought this might be of interest. 

[Gary Mees]

Tom, Just tried loading it, sadly it is not taking it, could do with some developing of this, is this likely?

[Tom W.]

@Matt Panzer suggested speaking to Velux about it... He will be able to better explain what would be required to update it + who would need to do it.

[Gary Mees]

Just emailed them, the more of us emailing them hopefully gets this done, thanks all for raising this.

[zoomer]

5 hours ago, Matt Panzer said:

it seems not many Vectorworks users ever found out about it and, due to the "lack of interest", Velux did not continue to update the Plug-in for later VW versions.

 

 

Does it need to be a special manufacturer ?

(OK pretty standard here. Are there any other manufacturers ?)

I hope your great work is not lost and could be easily translated

to a VW default "Window" PIO or something simplified/alike.

(Likely not that easy ...)

Edited July 19, 2023 by zoomer

[Matt Panzer]

7 hours ago, Tom W. said:

Thanks for the info Matt. Glad to hear that the fact there's nothing explicit about skylights on the roadmap doesn't mean it's not in the pipeline... Would component wrapping be on the cards? And what about Top/Plan representation? Obviously a fixed 2D component won't work with rotated objects but perhaps something akin to Auto-Hybrid where the appropriate geometry is generated on the spot...? Please 🙂

 

The goal is to eventually get roof and slab objects on par with walls with regards to inserts and closures.  We still need to decide how all the details (like Top/Plan representation) will be handled.  In any case, it is part of the roof and slab improvements on the roadmap.

[Matt Panzer]

5 hours ago, Tom W. said:

@Matt Panzer suggested speaking to Velux about it... He will be able to better explain what would be required to update it + who would need to do it.

 

I cannot get into details but I believe Velux knows what it would take to update the PIO and who to go to.  It's very doable but out of Vectorworks' and my hands.  So, the more requests they get, the better the chances.

 

1 hour ago, zoomer said:

Does it need to be a special manufacturer ?

(OK pretty standard here. Are there any other manufacturers ?)

I hope your great work is not lost and could be easily translated

to a VW default "Window" PIO or something simplified/alike.

(Likely not that easy ...)

 

Of course, the Velux PIO is specific to their products and, if we were to develop one, it would be more generic to allow it to reasonably replicate many different manufacturer products.  Due to the complexities of the Velux PIO object (and its "homemade" joining and associating system), we'd probably be better off starting from scratch rather than porting it over (if that were even an option).