EZ Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 Is there an easy way to synchronize class attributes from file to file? For example, I have wall sections drawn in six different VectorWorks files. All of the objects in each file are drawn using a different class for each material; concrete walls in a concrete class, steel members in a steel class, etc. (The graphic attributes for each item are assigned by class.) I've now decided I want to change how the concrete objects are hatched in all of the files. Do I have to manually edit the class attributes in each file to get them all the same? I know copying objects from file to file is an easy way to import classes and their attributes, but in this case all of the classes I want to edit already exist. I'm looking for the VW equivalent to the "Load Styles" function in Adobe InDesign... Eric Quote Link to comment
jfmarch Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 you can use the eyedropper tool for each file. or, gather them up using the WG Reference tool and control all the classes through the target file. hope this helps... Quote Link to comment
Petri Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 Is there an easy way to synchronize class attributes from file to file? Yes, but it is not part of any official VectorWorks issue. Since there was no commercial demand for such functionality, the add-on was never developed to handle hatches or textures. (No, now I'm not telling the truth: of course it was! I use it every so often to do these things!) However, there may be a way even in official VectorWorks. You can "load" classes from Stationary files. Never used it, so I don't know how it actually works (or is used) but might be worth investigating. May even be easy, who knows! Quote Link to comment
P Retondo Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 Jim, are you saying one can use the eyedropper tool to modify class attributes? How is that done? Quote Link to comment
EZ Posted August 21, 2007 Author Share Posted August 21, 2007 Thanks for the ideas everyone. We use the eyedropper tool fairly often, but generally from object to object within a file rather from file to file. We also always set up our class attributes from an external standards file as Petri suggests. Creating a class from scratch is the easy part; globally changing the attributes once they already exist is harder. I'm going to try the workgroup referencing as Jim suggests and see if that works. I'll report any success. Eric Quote Link to comment
Charles Chandler Posted August 22, 2007 Share Posted August 22, 2007 Here's the documentation on the plug-in that I did for this purpose: http://softwarecustomizationservices.com/default.php?page=products&subPage=products/merge%20organizations/Default But you'll find that it stops one step short of what you want -- it does not handle hatches or textures, so you'll have to import those into the document yourself. Quote Link to comment
EZ Posted August 22, 2007 Author Share Posted August 22, 2007 I've downloaded the Merge Organizations plug-in and it has solved my issues as best I can tell. (I'll need to work with it for a while.) I really appreciate everyone's help! Eric Quote Link to comment
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