Maintaining Plant Libraries/Resources

[tinshed]

I am new to vecorworks and am trying to figure out an efficient way to manage my plant library and other resources.

The questions I ask myself are...

1. Are these stored in common locations so that they can be accesed from any new or existing project?

2. Do they link to a template?

3. Do they link to a specific file that I should keep open when working to allow access?

I have read the help regarding these items and I guess I am not understanding something.

I wouldnt be surprised if there is a general article that covers this area in the forum.

thanks

jd

[Guest]

jd,

Big question but first; what version of VW are you using as the functionality of the Place Plant Tool has changed in VWL 12

[tinshed]

sorry...version 12

[Guest]

jd,

I hope this helps.

Do a search in this forum for 'Plant Tool' - you will find a discussion dated 12th January 2006 headed 'Plant Tool Set - Up and Work Flow' where Andrew Stanton posted this comment ----

When you initially load up VW12 and click on the Place Plant tool, the plants that you see in popup menu are the plants located in the file "/Libraries/Defaults/Plants/Plant Symbols.mcd".

However if you create a new plant in the current document, it will then create the new plant in the current document. When you close the document out and open a new document, the new plant you had previously created will be gone. In the new document, it will again load the plants from the file in the location above.

If you want to add a new plant so that it will load up every time you open VW12, then you must open the file "/Libraries/Defaults/Plants/Plant Symbols.mcd" and create a new plant in that file, then save it to the same location it was opened from.

For instance, open "/Libraries/Defaults/Plants/Plant Symbols.mcd" and create a new plant named VW12. Save the file and close it. Now create a new document and click on the Place Plant Tool. In the pull down you will now see the VW12 plant in the list, as well as all the other plants located in that default file.

If you are getting the "NOT_A_VALID_PLANT" message when selecting a plant from the pulldown menu, chances are that you did not create an actual plant object, and rather just have a 2D symbol in the default content plant file (located at the directory I stated above).

For a clarification of the different plant default content files I'll clarify which image popup in the plant dialogs refer to which default content file.

Place Plant Image Popup - "/Libraries/Defaults/Plants/Plant Symbols.mcd"

Edit Current Dialog 2D Symbol - "/Libraries/Defaults/Plants - 2D Symbols/2DPlantSymbols.mcd"

Edit Current Dialog 3D Symbol - "/Libraries/Defaults/Plants - 3D Symbols/3DPlantSymbols.mcd"

If you want to use your own 2D symbols you created as a plant's 2D graphical representation, you must put it in a file located at /Libraries/Defaults/Plants - 2D Symbols/. From there you then create a new plant. When picking the 2D symbol from the "New Plant" dialog, simply select your symbol from the 2D symbol area.

It may be a little confusing at first to understand how to set it up, but once its setup it is pretty simple to use. If you are still confused just post your question and I'll try to clarify it even more.

Hope that helps

[Jonathan Pickup]

If you need help than Darrell?s pretty complete answer, then try out my new lansdcape manual, it explains what darell says with exercises and movies

[tinshed]

thankyou...all the answers have been a great help

[Marshall Wright]

What a remarkably helpful and thorough answer by DownUnder. Many thanks.

Marshall