New Landscape Area interface not working with 2D graphics

[Jonk]

What's the deal with the new Landscape Area tool? I have tried to set some 2D graphics for it but even when it's unstyled, the attributes window is greyed out. 

 

Then if I go into the style and try to edit it, no matter whether I make i t by style or by instance, or try and change the attributes in the tool it doesn't show up with any fills. I've also tried making the 2D attributes by class and setting the graphic qualities by class but that doesn't work either. 

[Tom W.]

Are you talking about VW2024 or VW2025? When you say 'attributes window' do you mean the Attributes pane of the Landscape Area Style or the Attributes Palette?

 

My LAs are working fine in both versions. Do you want to post a file for us to look at?

[Jonk]

@Tom W. In 2025 is where I'm having the issue. You used to be able to very easily control the 2D graphics with the attributes palette but now that is greyed out and when I go into the Landscape area itself, I try and change the fills and linetypes in the attribute pane of the Landscape Area Style, it has no effect on the landscape area I've tried to create. 

 

I attached a sample file. You can see in the attributes pane I've assigned a fill for the style but it doesn't affect anything. Also, I have no way of changing anything from instance to style. Everything is greyed out. 

 

I guess it just seems different than the version of the tool in 2024. Maybe I'm crazy. 

 

 

LA Test.vwx

[Jonk]

@Tom W. Even when I select a pre-formatted style from vectorworks it comes in with no graphic qualities. I have to go to "landscape area settings" and then back to the work area and only then does a fill become visible. 

 

Also is there any way to show the landscape area as brown for the plant bed and then have a plant line above it that is an opaque filled green? Or is that not possible? 

Edited October 15 by Jonk

[Tom W.]

Yes there have been some changes to LAs + Hardscapes in VW2025 but I think for the better. You now have a lot more control over the appearance. In VW2024 I had to place LAs in different container classes if I wanted them to have different Top/Plan attributes. In VW2025 the appearance can be controlled by style using different sub-classes (separate to the container classes) so for me is a far better arrangement.

[Jonk]

1 minute ago, Tom W. said:

Yes there have been some changes to LAs + Hardscapes in VW2025 but I think for the better. You now have a lot more control over the appearance. In VW2024 I had to place LAs in different container classes if I wanted them to have different Top/Plan attributes. In VW2025 the appearance can be controlled by style using different sub-classes (separate to the container classes) so for me is a far better arrangement.

Ok, I assumed there was more control, I'm just having a hard time getting all of the settings to work to get them to look how I'd like it. I think the classing of everything is confusing me a little bit so I'm not sure how to navigate that in the attributes pane of the landscape area tool. 

[Tom W.]

It's similar to other tools. It's the 2D > Bed Area part you need to be looking at. Double click on that row to open the 'Attributes 2D Bed Area' dialog + the simplest thing is to set the attributes there + then (by object). Alternatively you can assign them by class, in which case you need to choose a class (create one) then click on the 'Make All Attributes by Class' button.

[Jonk]

11 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

Yes there have been some changes to LAs + Hardscapes in VW2025 but I think for the better. You now have a lot more control over the appearance. In VW2024 I had to place LAs in different container classes if I wanted them to have different Top/Plan attributes. In VW2025 the appearance can be controlled by style using different sub-classes (separate to the container classes) so for me is a far better arrangement.

So you can see in this file, I created a landscape area, went to the attributes pan in the tool and created classes and graphic attributes for those classes and then set the attributes to "by class" . It seems to pick up linetypes but not the fill. I have no idea why. 

Test w.vwx

Edited October 15 by Jonk

[Tom W.]

36 minutes ago, Jonk said:

So you can see in this file, I created a landscape area, went to the attributes pan in the tool and created classes and graphic attributes for those classes and then set the attributes to "by class" . It seems to pick up linetypes but not the fill. I have no idea why. 

 

It's displaying correctly at my end:

 

 

 

BTW just to be clear, you are assigning the attributes by object in this example, not by class. No classes have been set up for this LA + nothing has been assigned by class. In its current state if you were to assign one or more of the LA parts to a class + make the attributes by class, those parts would take on the attributes of None class since that's the class the LA object is in.

[Jonk]

@Tom W. Yeah, I'm struggling with the same thing on the hardscapes. I feel like it used to be so much more simple to control the way things looked. For instance if I had a custom paving pattern I could manually draw that in my drawing but I could show at least a tile that was close to it for a graphic legend, but I am getting some very strange results with this new way of assigning graphic attributes. I'm signed up for the coffee break on this stuff for Thursday night but this has been a struggle to pick up. It just seems way  more complicated. 

 

Also, I wasn't able to get the plant line to show up with a fill over the bed area. When I want to display the plants in 2D as a plant line, it just converts the whole thing to a black plant line with no fill. 

[Tom W.]

9 minutes ago, Jonk said:

When I want to display the plants in 2D as a plant line, it just converts the whole thing to a black plant line with no fill. 

 

It did the same for me initially - no idea why - but when I edited the fill colour it started displaying correctly:

 

 

11 minutes ago, Jonk said:

I'm struggling with the same thing on the hardscapes. I feel like it used to be so much more simple to control the way things looked.

 

Stick with it, it really is better than before + no different to most other PIOs.

[Jonk]

10 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

 

It did the same for me initially - no idea why - but when I edited the fill colour it started displaying correctly:

 

 

 

Stick with it, it really is better than before + no different to most other PIOs.

Yeah I think it'll just take a little time and trial and error. You know how it is when you get so used to something and then one little thing throws you off. 

[Jonk]

2 hours ago, Tom W. said:

It did the same for me initially - no idea why - but when I edited the fill colour it started displaying correctly:

 

@Tom W. Do you know if it's possible to show the plant line with an opaque green fill and then the bed fill below to show the mulch? Not sure if this is possible. 

[Tom W.]

7 hours ago, Jonk said:

@Tom W. Do you know if it's possible to show the plant line with an opaque green fill and then the bed fill below to show the mulch? Not sure if this is possible. 

 

I can't see that this is possible because you are selecting one display setting or the other, you can't combine them:

 

 

I think it was the same in previous versions.

 

Something to raise during the Coffee Break!

[Jonk]

11 hours ago, Tom W. said:

 

I can't see that this is possible because you are selecting one display setting or the other, you can't combine them:

 

 

I think it was the same in previous versions.

 

Something to raise during the Coffee Break!

I'm not sure @Tom W. even when you download the office park sample file, it's all messed up. Graphics change around, even they have it set by class but nothing takes. The graphic legends don't show the graphics of the landscape areas accurately. Not sure if I've just got a bug going on but this is so clunky and almost unusable for me compared to the 2024 version. 

[Jonk]

On 10/16/2024 at 1:10 AM, Tom W. said:

 

I can't see that this is possible because you are selecting one display setting or the other, you can't combine them:

 

 

I think it was the same in previous versions.

 

Something to raise during the Coffee Break!

SO. Supposedly it IS possible to do this but as has been my experience with this new tool. It doesn't work. Of course in the coffee break everything seemed to work fine but I'm still having the same issues. Very frustrating. 

[Tom W.]

4 hours ago, Jonk said:

SO. Supposedly it IS possible to do this but as has been my experience with this new tool. It doesn't work. Of course in the coffee break everything seemed to work fine but I'm still having the same issues. Very frustrating. 

 

@Jonk I take back my previous comment you're absolutely right it should work! And in fact when I try it with Plant Cloud it does work, it's just with Plant Line that it doesn't. These are all the same LA, just with different 2D display settings:

 

 

I will file a bug on it.

 

VB-207828.

Edited October 18 by Tom W.

[Jonk]

6 hours ago, Tom W. said:

 

@Jonk I take back my previous comment you're absolutely right it should work! And in fact when I try it with Plant Cloud it does work, it's just with Plant Line that it doesn't. These are all the same LA, just with different 2D display settings:

 

 

I will file a bug on it.

 

VB-207828.

@Tom W. That's interesting! I can't even get the plant cloud to work. I think it's very buggy. It could also be a Mac vs. Windows thing? I have always run a mac but am on a windows machine now so I'd be interested to see if anyone else on a PC has the same issues as me. I also submitted a support request with some sample files so we will see what comes back! 

[FiSlik]

We are having the exact same issue - have set up classes for the Bed, Cloud and Line with different coloured attributes for Fill and Pen, but the Landscape Area tool doesn't seem to recognise the Fill, only the line.

 

I've made a video showing what I mean here (apologies for slight waffle - you can tell that I'm not used to where things are in VW25 yet!)

 

 

Is this a bug or something that I'm missing/don't understand? I feel like I've got it right... 

 

All advice appreciated - how are you getting on now @Jonk and @Tom W.?

 

I'm on a Mac Studio M1 Max using Sequoia. 

[Tom W.]

39 minutes ago, FiSlik said:

We are having the exact same issue - have set up classes for the Bed, Cloud and Line with different coloured attributes for Fill and Pen, but the Landscape Area tool doesn't seem to recognise the Fill, only the line.

 

I've made a video showing what I mean here (apologies for slight waffle - you can tell that I'm not used to where things are in VW25 yet!)

 

 

Is this a bug or something that I'm missing/don't understand? I feel like I've got it right... 

 

All advice appreciated - how are you getting on now @Jonk and @Tom W.?

 

I'm on a Mac Studio M1 Max using Sequoia. 

 

The Bed Area, Plant Cloud + Plant Line classes are all working correctly for me. The only thing which isn't working is what I filed a bug about above where I can't display the Plant Line + Bed Area together at the same time but I believe this will be fixed in Update 3. 

 

Maybe post your test file for us to look at?

[FiSlik]

I've attached it and added some annotation. Really hoping it's not something silly on my part! Although my colleague has exactly the same issue.

LA test file.vwx

[Tom W.]

I've had a look + can't get your LAs/classes to work either! But when I import my LAs into the file they work fine! I can't figure out what the difference is between them that might be causing it... 

 

The two on the right are mine + are displaying the class fills as normal:

 

Perhaps your best bet is to get in touch with Tech Support + send them the file...? Weird!

[FiSlik]

I'm so glad it's not just me! Any chance you could upload the file with yours in please? Would like to double check myself! 

[Tom W.]

24 minutes ago, FiSlik said:

I'm so glad it's not just me! Any chance you could upload the file with yours in please? Would like to double check myself! 

 

Sure: LA test file_TW.vwx

 

All I can think is that mine came from styles which were created in an earlier update + something has changed under the hood in the interim... (I mean changed for the worst). When I create a new unstyled LA in a blank file it is the same as yours. But if I use one of my saved styles they work correctly (in the attached file + unstyled them subsequently just to make changing the settings easier).

[Jonk]

@Tom W. @FiSlik

 

The whole tool is still a little buggy. Even when I take a polygon and "create objects from shapes" to a pre-determined LA area that I've already created with all the right settings on "by style" I still have to just go in and edit style, literally change nothing and just back out and then it takes on the right attributes. Kind of an annoying step.