Kizza Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 I'm curious to know if I'm the only one who feels that they spend an inordinate amount of time controlling classes? 1 Quote Link to comment
Kevin McAllister Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 I often feel that way. KM 1 Quote Link to comment
Hippocode Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 Well we've got our template set with all the defaults we need, also with a little scripting the correct class is active on changing each saved view... a timesaver 1 Quote Link to comment
VincentCuclair Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 (edited) Well considering that VWs has lost the initiative when it comes to intuitive architectural drafting this is probably the single most time consuming work around to solve when working on a project. The disturbing thing is that the way VWs is set up at the moment, it seems the best way to control all (3D/2D/Render) output is to have each and every object and all the subsequent sub-objects in their own class and then work with overrides, on overrides, combined with overrides, which obviously is so time consuming and hard to oversee it's ridiculous. The root of the problem as far as I can see is the great lack of architectural knowledge in the development department. Edited July 5, 2013 by Vincent C 1 Quote Link to comment
Diamond Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 (edited) Hi Gents, They are called 'Saved Views'. I use working saved views for design layer presets. To really quickly switch between working plans I un-tick 'Save Zoom and Pan'. This means you can very quickly switch between levels or different plans types on levels. Eg. General arrangement plans to RCP's to Electrical etc. Also this gives others working on the same project an idea of how the drawings have been worked on, or set up. For sheet/presentation drawings, I create saved views for each drawing. This works very well when issuing large numbers of drawings with the 'Export PDF (Batch)' command. The only letter that needs to be changed in the export is the revision letter (the 'X' in the PDF number below). Eg. Job No, Drawing No, Revision Letter, and drawing Description. 1234-A102X [Plan-Level 1] Hope that helps. Edited July 9, 2013 by Diamond Quote Link to comment
Kizza Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 I use working saved views for design layer presets. This setup seems to be the most effective workflow for me also. Caveat is that you need to be disciplined in the way you setup and manage your project in respect to classes. Something I've learned the hard way. How on earth though do you hide a single object - when you don't want to hide the whole class - without creating another class? Quote Link to comment
Christiaan Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 We used Saved Views but we also tend to double-click through Viewports to as well. Quote Link to comment
bcd Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 How on earth though do you hide a single object - when you don't want to hide the whole class - without creating another class? There are only 4 options I know for this: Create a new class Create a new layer Mask the object Change Pen&Fill styles to None (switching back to by Class when you want it to reappear) If you have a selection of objects that need to be alternatively hidden you can create groups/symbols so - Group 1 (Class-Scenario 1) contains Class-Furniture objects Group 2 (Class-Scenario 2) contains Class-Furniture objects Scenario 1 & 2 Furniture objects are ungrouped Quote Link to comment
CipesDesign Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 bcd, My opinion: if a single object is unique or different enough to require being hidden all by itself, then it is unique and different enough to warrant a new class. Planning and thinking ahead is certainly required, however, creation or duplication of a class is actually pretty easy and fast. The main problem arises when you need to consider in which VP's, Saved Views, etc the new class needs to be on or off. This can be time consuming. But it's still a lot faster and more functional than tracing paper and erasers... I consider myself fortunate that I generally work alone. In a team setting this can get messy and requires more discipline than most are willing (or able) to muster. Quote Link to comment
bcd Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Agreed Peter, for instances of singular objects which should be singularly classed. But, when folks speak of hiding an object I see it as a temporary event that's happening on the fly - and will be undone on the fly. Having a Hide class or a Scenario Class is very useful for these instances. So - Group your object Change the class of the Group to Hide (etc) leaving the Class Assignments of the subobjects of the group intact. Retrieve your object by making the Hide class visible and ungrouping. Quote Link to comment
Kizza Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 I've wishlisted this. Quote Link to comment
Kizza Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 I remember when I did my first project, I had a new roof layer, an existing roof layer and a new roof class and an existing roof class for the same objects. Needless to say, almost impossible to manage (back then, no saved views used, visibility controlled via viewport only) :crazy: Now I use layers to define the location of the building element and classes to control the visibility of the building elements. Sometimes though, I want one object to show in one viewport and the same object to be invisible in another. Usually it involves the none class - and because my viewports are in the None class you can't turn that off. Quote Link to comment
taoist Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 How about object visibility independent of class or layers for this purpose? Quote Link to comment
Kizza Posted July 9, 2013 Author Share Posted July 9, 2013 Is this what you mean? Wishlisted Quote Link to comment
taoist Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Close, I mean to be able to select an object and have the ability to make visible or not independent of class or layer. Quote Link to comment
Diamond Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 I have reservations. How would this not confuse others who may need to work on the file? Do you have any examples from other apps using a similar workflow? Almost anything is possible with an intuitive implementation. As stated by BCD, I use groups and turning on and off object visibility outside the group to manage this. Especially helpful when building up 2D elevations. Make sure those preference short cuts are up in your mode bar. Quote Link to comment
Kizza Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 Do you have any examples from other apps using a similar workflow? Something similar to This Quote Link to comment
taoist Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 Kizza, Yes, that sounds like it. It is meant as a quick override when needed. The grouping method is another way although more steps involved. Quote Link to comment
Diamond Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 In workgroups, how are drawings prevented from hiding objects from other team members? If I open up that drawing, what tells me that objects are hidden? Quote Link to comment
Monadnoc Posted July 10, 2013 Share Posted July 10, 2013 It is meant to only be a temporary condition. I've used this feature in another program (but can't remember which one), and when you hide anything, the next time you open the file everything that was hidden is unhidden/visible. It was either in AutoCAD or some Adobe program. It is very handy. Quote Link to comment
Kizza Posted July 10, 2013 Author Share Posted July 10, 2013 (edited) In workgroups, how are drawings prevented from hiding objects from other team members? I'm solo so I don't require worksharing either from VW or any other program, so I can't answer your question directly. But as shown in my previous link, there is a toggle switch so you can temporarily view hidden objects. If you toggle on to show hidden elements, R___t enters into a mode similar to the edit Group mode in VW. In this mode you can see and unhide these elements easily. It is extremely efficient. Edit: The attached pic should clarify my comments a bit more Edited July 10, 2013 by Kizza Quote Link to comment
bcd Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 OP notwithstanding, my feeling is that VW has this covered through classes. A tool/shortcut to group and assign an object to a Hide Class would get this done. Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 Make two vectorscripts each with one simple line. The first is: Show(All); When you run this, all objects that have had their individual visibility set to hidden will reappear. The second is: Hide(SEL=True); This one will set the visibility state of all the selected objects to hidden. If you really want to get fancy you could make into menu commands and then add them to your workspace and given the keyboard shortcuts. I find this useful to get objects out of the way, especially when working in 3d. This is a global setting, so there is no way to do this for a single viewport. Quote Link to comment
Bob Holtzmann Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 It seems no one mentioned the Hide script in Vectorworks. I have an old one written by Julian Carr, and I still keep it handy as a Menu Command. Here's the Hide Selected Object one: ___________________________________ {Developed by Julian Carr - 1997 Hide Selected will hide all objects that are selected. To return to the previous visibility status, deselect everything then go to the Class menu and choose the active class (the one with a tick).} Procedure HideSelected; VAR hn2Obj : HANDLE; BEGIN IF (NumSObj(ActLayer)=1)&(GetType(FSActLayer)=11) THEN BEGIN hn2Obj:=FInGroup(FSActLayer); REPEAT IF Selected(hn2Obj) THEN Hide((Sel=True)& V); hn2Obj:=NextObj(hn2Obj); UNTIL hn2Obj=Nil; END ELSE Hide((Sel=True)); END; Run(HideSelected); ______________________ --- and then to Show All Objects, I use a simple script: _______________________ Show((ALL)); ______________________ 1 Quote Link to comment
Bob Holtzmann Posted July 12, 2013 Share Posted July 12, 2013 (edited) -- Another take on the Hide Objects script -- Hide Unselected Objects: ___________________________________________ {Developed by Julian Carr - 1997 Hide Unselected will hide unselected objects. To return to the previous visibility status, deselect everything then go to the Class menu and choose the active class (the one with a tick).} Procedure HideUnselected; Procedure FEO1(hn2Obj:HANDLE); BEGIN hn2Obj:=FIn3D(hn2Obj); REPEAT SetSelect(hn2Obj); hn2Obj:=NextObj(hn2Obj); UNTIL hn2Obj=Nil; END; Procedure FEO2(hn2Obj:HANDLE); BEGIN SetDSelect(hn2Obj); END; BEGIN ForEachObject(FEO1,(T=Wall)&(Sel=True)); Hide((Sel=False)); ForEachObject(FEO2,(Sel=True)&(T=Symbol)); END; Run(HideUnselected); ________________________________________ I tried Julian's original tip of selecting the active class to show all objects, and it doesn't seem to work. What does work, though, is simply hitting the Previous View button on the window bar. Edited July 12, 2013 by Bob-H Quote Link to comment
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