dash styles import/export?

[thinkbuild]

Greetings. I am a newbie and am having problems with dash styles.

I've got a drawing I was working with and all of the sudden all the dash styles dissapeared. ;( not sure where they went or how that happened.

BUT I am trying to fix it by re-importing the regular (default) dash styles from another drawing.

OR - is there a way to reset the dash styles to the default styles without messing about with imports....?

Hoping someone can help me out!

best wishes to all from Berlin, Germany...

thinkbuild

[thinkbuild]

anybody out there? really need some help ... ! ;(

main question: how can i import and/or reset the dash styles?

[Ray Libby]

Welcome to the list.

Please create a signature (My Stuff link at the top, My profile) with you VectorWorks version, system specs including OS version.

This will make it possible for people to help.

[thinkbuild]

Dear Ray,

Thanks for thinking of me! I made a signature as suggested.

In the meantime, I made a few dash styles. It didn't take long.

But still it would be nice if one could import them...

Hope all is well in FL!

best

Jason

[Ray Libby]

When you create a new document the dash styles are not there?

If you copy and paste lines with dash styles they are imported into the file.

[thinkbuild]

Dear Ray,

Thanks very much.

q1 // new documents are fine - ie., the default template does not seem damaged.

(That seems to work fine.)

q2 // copy paste does NOT work ;( - in fact, I had already tried that. This is what is strange. The dash style on the pasted line seems to re-set itself to a solid, regular line. ...

any ideas?

[Ray Libby]

Sounds like you may have a corrupted file. What were you doing when the dash styles dissapeared? Have you imported .dwg into this file?

[thinkbuild]

Interesting. You might be right - maybe it is corrupted? How else can I tell?

Does VW have any repair/check routines available?....hmmm...

to your questions:

q1 // I am not certain exactly what I was doing when the styles disappeared. (sorry!)

q2 // I started the drawing by building off a base made in sketchup. Since I don't have "architect" I exported the SketchUP as a .dwg and then imported it ... so, I think, in fact, the answer is "yes". (corrected after I confirmed this was the route...)

Edited May 13, 2008 by thinkbuild

[Ray Libby]

This may not be a solution to your problem, but you should always import .dwg into a blank file then copy and paste into your working file.

You may need to copy and paste your existing drawing into a new file to get your dash styles back.

You should also send your buggy file to bugsubmit@nemetschek.net with a description of the problem.

[Jonathan Pickup]

I always tell people, never, never, never import a dxf/dwg file into an existing document. it will over write the dash styles.

you could start a new file and copy and past your information into that. and see if your dash styles work.

[Jonathan Pickup]

you could also try a Workgroup Reference

[thinkbuild]

Greetings all.

Based on your suggestions, I made a few tests. Here are some details:

1 / the original .dwg was created with sketchup, as I do not own Architect.

2/ I opened a new file, then imported the dwg, then started drawing.

Apparently, this was my mistake. As I am a newbie, I didn't think to check nor could I imagine that this single action would trash my dash styles!

3/ after all this discussion, I did try what Ray suggested above - namely, I imported the file, then copied everything to yet another new file, which of course worked fine.

Therefore, I made the following conclusions:

a) the VW .dwg import module has some kind of bug if it always creates this problem (as evidenced by both my experience and the comment of Master Pickup, above;

b) maybe we should suggest to Nemetschek to add another routine which automatically copies everything into another document (?) or whatever, which would then assure that no dash styles are damaged?

c) (sadly) i have no idea (yet) what a Workgroup Reference is but I imagine it is something like an XREF? In any event, it sounds like a good idea...

Finally, if anyone is interested in testing the "broken" .dwg file, I am happy to send it. Just send me a pm and I will email it to you. Its very small.

I've also decided to upgrade to Architect now and will test what happens with the same file if I go direct from SU to VW...

best to all from Berlin,

Jason

PS to Ray: I've sent the buggy .vwx directly to the Tech people at Nemetschek. It seems that it has been submitted as a bug ... if I hear anything else I will post here.