Break Lines

[Kizza]

How do you guys handle breaklines? Is there a simple way of being able to incorporate these into a drawing?

[QfanatiQ]

There is the ability to draw these from the Dims/Notes menu (see attached, Third down on the right.

There is then the ability to change the appliance of the angle, size etc in the object properties when drawn (see attached).

You can change this further after the event in the main object browser under the Shape tab (see attached).

Now, for me, as the solid fill does not work very well, I chart by tracing the item and making the trace line 0 weight and set to behind. Usually on a class of its own that makes sense (for our office MASK seems to work)

I can then get the desired effect on Stairs, detail cut lines etc etc.

Does that help, or have I misunderstood your question?

Q

[Kizza]

QfanatiQ, I should elaborate a bit more, is there a breakline available which hides whats behind the breakline.

I seem to remember there was a plug-in available which allowed you to draw the breakline and you could then adjust a rectangle (which is just a rectangle with a white fill and no lines) to cover over what you didn't want to see.

[J Lucas]

Break Polly from Panzer Cad

[bc]

Indeed, Break Poly is a beautiful thing.

http://www.panzercad.com/VW%20Freebies/plug-in_objects/break_poly_pio_2011/

[Benson Shaw]

One can also make a pair (or more) of viewports with matching jaggy edged crops.

-B

[Kizza]

OK, I've downloaded it, but how to install it?

I believe you would use the workspace editor, but the editor doesn't seem to allow you to create a tool from scratch, rather just to edit the existing workspace.

Does the .vso file need to be copied to a folder perhaps and then use the workspace editor?

[bc]

Navigate to and drop the .vso into your plugins folder within the Vectorworks folder. Then use the workspace editor to put it into a palette.

[Matt Panzer]

Hi Kizza,

While bc's instructions will work, it's best to copy the .vso file into the Plug-ins folder within the Vectorworks "User folder". Probably the easiest way to get to this folder is from the Vectorworks Preferences:

Go to the Vectorworks Preferences and click on the "User Folders" tab at the top.

Click the "Reveal in Finder" button (on Mac) or "Explore" (on Windows).

This will bring you to the user folder for the currently running Vectorworks version.

In this folder you will find the "Plug-ins" folder.

Copy the .vso file to the "Plug-ins" folder.

You must restart Vectorworks in order to see the new plug-in in the Workspace Editor.

The advantage of placing the files in the user folder is that reinstalling or updating Vectorworks should never overwrite any files in the user folder. IOW, if you reinstall or update VW, you plug-ins will be safe from being wiped out.

I hope you enjoy it!

[Kizza]

Matt, works a treat, thanks.

Thanks to everyone who replied.

SOLVED!

[Katrin]

I was digging into the same & found another solution. This works for me as I've inherited from hand drafting a habit of having tilted break lines.

Let's say you have a viewport with rectangular crop and want to have a break line instead of the bottom border of the crop.

Right-click viewport-> Edit Crop-> Place a Break line symbol(at whichever angle you like) in the crop-> Select your original rectangular crop -> click on Clip tool -> create a polygon that follows a break line contour and a bottom of your rectangular crop -> Clip.

This will Clip the breakline shape from the original rectangular crop leaving nothing below the break line.

You can also try creating the crop in the same way from the every beginning(upon the viewport creation).

[bc]

Indeed, one might even use PanzerCAD's Break Poly for the crop object.

Nice one Katrin.

[Kizza]

Then you will have the whole crop showing as a line.

What if you only wanted to see the breakline, but the rest of the crop you wanted to be invisible?

[bc]

I was just suggesting another the potential for other graphic options.

One thing to maybe play with would be to toggle through the poly edges and show or hide as desired...thus changing the cropped appearance.

[Kizza]

Then you will have the whole crop showing as a line.

What if you only wanted to see the breakline, but the rest of the crop you wanted to be invisible?

Hi BC,

This post (quoted above) was specifically related to Katrin's technique.

I should have quoted Katrin in my post above - sorry.

I'm currently using PanzerCads breakline solution, but I can't get Katrin's viewport crop solution to graphically work the way I want it to.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Kizza

[bc]

Kizza,

Not sure I can help or otherwise make you graphic objective any easier but here are a couple of screen shots.

First is the design layer.

Second is the sheet layer with a cropped viewport using an ungrouped BreakPoly as a crop.

May be not so different from your technique and a bit tedius having to hide all the other edges of the polyline.

It is a lot easier if what you want is to show what is inside the breaklines as shown in the third example.

I am probably over my head on this anyway but perhaps you could post a shot of what you are needing?

Seems like Matt would know how to do this.

[Kizza]

bc,

Not needing anything specific, just tried to get Katrin's option a shot.

What I did was:

->Create VP

->Edit annotation crop

->Insert a VW break Line (on a angle)

->Drew a polygon following the breakline

->Delete breakline

->Exit viewport crop

What I would like is for the breakline to be an actual visible line and the rest of the crop invisible, using Katrin's method.

BTW, no negative reflection on Matt's tool - it's great.

Edited May 19, 2012 by Kizza

[bc]

Using the Breakpoly will get you there...and maybe save a step or two.

Edited May 19, 2012 by bc

[Dieter @ DWorks]

What I would like is for the breakline to be an actual visible line and the rest of the crop invisible, using Katrin's method.

Make sure the option to show the crop is on and hide the edges of the poly that you don't want to show.

[bc]

Nicely succinct DWorks.

[Matt Panzer]

Wow! I never knew my Break Poly object was such a hit! :-)

BTW: For those who do not know, you can also replace the breaks with text along the line segments...