Object display options

[HOUCAD]

Is there a way to display the same objects, like walls, differently in different layers or view ports?

This kind of display control by object is very useful. I see there are render settings for viewports but the options available are not what I am looking for. For example I like to have my walls hatched solid in a floor plan but I also want to show the same walls in another sheet without any hatching or wall components and I want them all dashed. It seems that the only option is to have the walls grayed and turn off component layers. I am used to having a display configuration I can activate in a viewport and object settings that can be set to display differently in the different display configurations.

Is there anything like that in VectorWorks?

[Pat Stanford]

If you set your attributes by class, you can apply Class Overrides in viewports and get the effect you are looking for.

Select the viewport. In the Object Info Palette click the Classes button.

Double click the class you want to change. The Edit Class(es) dialog box will open and you can set the attributes you want for that class in that viewport.

The fourth column (before the class name) will have a check for classes that are overridden in the viewport.

[HOUCAD]

Hmm, this sort of gets the effect I am looking for in a round about way but it is rather tedious and there doesn't appear to be a way to save a display configuration. I can use this to do what I want though.

ADT/ACA allows you to set the display properties of any component in any object rather than by class and save those settings so you can activate a display mode in a viewport. Will VW copy a viewport to a different layer and keep the class settings?

[panta rhei]

Maybe it is "tedious", but it also means that one can have as many representations as one needs. In one of my templates I have five. Yes, they are saved.

[Ozzie]

Very powerful when you do it like that - I do the same - I think though this area of VW could be improved enormously - fingers crossed for the future - we need greater portabilty across files

[panta rhei]

That - portability - we definitely need! In fact I probably need to explore this issue in near future for a new user who needs to have templates for any number of clients who have (Auto)CAD layer standards.

[HOUCAD]

If you set your attributes by class, you can apply Class Overrides in viewports and get the effect you are looking for.

Do extruded objects function differently? I can't seem to be able to change the appearance of any extruded object either in a viewport or by modifying the extrusion itself.

Maybe I am going about this the wrong way. I have extruded a concrete beam below a floor slab. I want the beam to appear with a dashed line. I can't seem to make that happen. Is there some kind of linetype scale that just isn't showing the dashed line properly? How would you normally make a slab and beam foundation with VectorWorks?

[Stan Rostas]

3d objects do not use 2d line or fill attributes, you should have used either the Floor, Pillar or some other hybrid object that gets you 2d and 3d in one object.

Hybrid objects are one of the foundations of Vectorworks and you should tone up on usage.

[Ray Libby]

You could draw a rectangle or polygon on top of your beam, give it your dash style, select both the original beam and the new object, and create a symbol. You will now have a hybrid symbol that will only show the 2D object when in top/plan view and only show the 3D beam when in 3D views.

[mike m oz]

For simple rectangular beams you could also use the Beam Above plug in by Patrick McConnell available from Vector Depot. http://www.vectordepot.com/plug-ins/