Improved Tool Consistency

[Kevin McAllister]

Hello All,

I have been a Vectorworks user since Minicad 5. I really enjoy using the program and have found it quite powerful for 2D work. Recently I started using a lot more of the features, especially full 3D modeling. Vectorworks 2009 was one of the things that encouraged this.

In future versions, one of the things I would like to see is a continued finessing of the tool consistency. Here are a few examples -

1) more consistency between 2D and 3D tools ie. the 2D rectangle tool takes two clicks to make a rectangle. For whatever reason the 3D rectangle tool insists on asking for a extrusion height first, instead of the first two clicks being the same as the 2D tool with the third click being the height.

2) more modifier tools that have select object first functionality (ie. like the Offset tool, which has a mode where the first click selects the object). This would be ideal for the Move Object, Mirror and Rotate tools, among others. Imagine choosing the tool, clicking on the object (or objects with shift selected) and then doing your action.

3) the ability to double click in an empty area of a drawing to choose the green checkmark action box that is used with many of the 3D nurbs tools (ie. shell solids, protrusion/cutout).

4) consistent double click editing across all plugin tools. The Drawing Label tool is a prime example of this. Why doesn't double clicking bring up a basic dialog with the four basic things you input (item number/drawing reference/drawing title/scale). Instead I get the mode bar error. The same is true of the Reference Marker tool. At a minimum double clicking could drop you into the primary field of Object Info Palette This was fixed with some tools (ie. leader notes) but not all.

My two sense for the future....

Kevin

[Pat Stanford]

1) more consistency between 2D and 3D tools ie. the 2D rectangle tool takes two clicks to make a rectangle. For whatever reason the 3D rectangle tool insists on asking for a extrusion height first, instead of the first two clicks being the same as the 2D tool with the third click being the height.

The dialog box is only when you are in a plan view (or perpendicular to the working plane). Since you are drawing on a flat screen there is no way to set a "Z" height into or out of the screen, so it asks with the dialog box. If you draw in an isometic (or other 3D) view, you get the 3-clicks you want.

2) more modifier tools that have select object first functionality (ie. like the Offset tool, which has a mode where the first click selects the object). This would be ideal for the Move Object, Mirror and Rotate tools, among others. Imagine choosing the tool, clicking on the object (or objects with shift selected) and then doing your action.

Maybe an easier "boomerang" function that takes you straight to the 2D selection tool rather than Pan and then pick the 2D selection would provide this option.

3) the ability to double click in an empty area of a drawing to choose the green checkmark action box that is used with many of the 3D nurbs tools (ie. shell solids, protrusion/cutout).

I don't like this idea. One wrong click and you lose a bunch of setup work. I would rather see a keyboard shortcut to activate the checkmark.

4) consistent double click editing across all plugin tools. The Drawing Label tool is a prime example of this. Why doesn't double clicking bring up a basic dialog with the four basic things you input (item number/drawing reference/drawing title/scale). Instead I get the mode bar error. The same is true of the Reference Marker tool. At a minimum double clicking could drop you into the primary field of Object Info Palette This was fixed with some tools (ie. leader notes) but not all.

I am not seeing the errors here. I double click on the Drawing Label or Reference Marker and they do open the dialog box. Are you running a custom workspace that started in a previous version of VW? If so, try editing it and remove the tools and then re-add them. Or try one of the standard workspaces and see if they work there.

[Stan Rostas]

1. When you draw a 3d Rectangular object you should first draw the base rectangle the same as you draw a 2d rectangle that makes up the rectangular extrude then pick the height.

The Circle and the Cylinder work the same way in 2d and 3d where you draw the circle first then select the height.

2. Verb Noun request for tools as opposed to Noun Verb, time will tell on this one.

3.You can just hit the "U" key if you have not remapped it to engage the green check mark.

4.This does occur with some tools namely the "Slope Tool" but there are others.

[mike m oz]

1) more consistency between 2D and 3D tools ie. the 2D rectangle tool takes two clicks to make a rectangle. For whatever reason the 3D rectangle tool insists on asking for a extrusion height first, instead of the first two clicks being the same as the 2D tool with the third click being the height.

I'm with Kevin on this - this is an inconsistency that needs to be fixed.

Most of the 3D tools draw the shape on the Layer Plane and then add the third dimension. The exceptions are the Extruded Rectangle tool and the Extruded Polygon tool. They should work the same as the other 3D tools. Draw the shape on the Layer Plane and then add the height.

[Kevin McAllister]

The dialog box is only when you are in a plan view (or perpendicular to the working plane). Since you are drawing on a flat screen there is no way to set a "Z" height into or out of the screen, so it asks with the dialog box. If you draw in an isometic (or other 3D) view, you get the 3-clicks you want.

As the others have clarified, its the overall sequence of the clicks. I would prefer to define the rectangle on the working plane and then give it a height.

I am not seeing the errors here. I double click on the Drawing Label or Reference Marker and they do open the dialog box. Are you running a custom workspace that started in a previous version of VW? If so, try editing it and remove the tools and then re-add them. Or try one of the standard workspaces and see if they work there.

My apologies with this one as I didn't explain myself very well. My comment is with respect to editing existing Drawing Labels in a drawing by double clicking on them, not double clicking on the tool to create new ones. I am so in the habit of double clicking to edit (it comes from years of using text objects as labels).

KM