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Section Viewports on Sheet Layers


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So I have many angled walls in my drawing. I create viewports to show elevations of these walls on a sheet layer. However I cannot create section viewports using any of these sheet layer viewports because as the pop up message says "Section viewport could not be created because the viewport you are sectioning must be in one of the following views: top/plan, top, bottom, right, left, front, or back."

So I can't create any section viewports for any of the walls in the building? None of my elevations have the views listed above because they are angled walls to begin with.

Am I missing something here? How do you show detail sections in an object that is not facing North, South, East or West?

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When you say "angled walls" do you mean they are on an angle in plan view or they lean? I'm curious what direction you're trying to look.

I had never seen the warning you're talking about until I experimented a bit. I'm surprised I haven't given how many odd things I draw. It seems that a section viewport needs to be in relation to a standard view (ie. you can't section a view created from a perspective view or a view aligned to an angled working plane).

If you can, post an example. There's probably a workaround... it is VW after all....

Kevin

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So I've attached a VW drawing as well as PDFs of the same. I rotated one wall so its not facing North, South, East, or West. It is impossible to create the same section views as I have for the unrotated wall.

This is a pain, since we have many funky angled walls in our building.

Don't ask why I would need those particular sections. I just created them to make the point.

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Here is one possible work around. I can make the wall into a symbol. Place a copy of the symbol on another design layer and rotate it. Then create the elevation from this design layer instead of the original one.

Kind of weird but it would work and editing the symbol will update both design layers as well as the sections created.

Any thoughts?

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Hi James,

The symbol or component approach is how I draw almost all of my projects. I create a separate layer for each symbol. Symbols are created for individual exhibit areas for exhibits or individual scenic elements for theatre shows. I do this because its much easier for editing if the object is oriented correctly.

( Its the reason for this wish - https://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=190641&Searchpage=3&Main=38540&Words=symbol+viewport&Search=true#Post190641 )

Its the rotation that's causing your challenges. There are other ways around it. For example you could create dummy "front" viewport beyond the borders of your sheet (i.e.. so it doesn't print), section that and then rotate the section viewport for section 2 in your example. Section 1 is a little harder to deal with. I create similar sections to yours so I understand why you need them.

Kevin

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That is "standard" theater/tv practice (at least as far as Kevin and I are concerned, and all of the students I've infected in ten years), and darn useful practice as well.

The architectural method is to have a groundplan, and make all of your sections from there. The trick is to draw rotated rectangles that are just in front of your walls, parallel, on the sheet layer. Then you have something to snap to with the section viewport tool.

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Kevin:

That seems like an awful lot of layers. I haven't had any problems editing weirdly oriented objects. The set working plane tool works well as well as the rotate view tool. And once I have sheet layer viewports set up, I use them as "saved views". I can instantly go back to a useful orientation on the design layer.

My current project has hundreds of walls with various d?cor. It was cumbersome to navigate until I got each wall set up on an elevations sheet layer. Now I can go to any wall in a view perpendicular to the wall.

Love your tips! I use them all the time.

Jim

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That seems like an awful lot of layers. I haven't had any problems editing weirdly oriented objects. The set working plane tool works well as well as the rotate view tool. And once I have sheet layer viewports set up, I use them as "saved views". I can instantly go back to a useful orientation on the design layer.

At times there can be a fair number of layers but as long as they're organized that's not really a problem. It also means its easy to import/export elements to other software (Rhino, C4D) independently. It only works well if the elements are fairly autonomous (ie. I would never draw a house this way). The plus side is I almost never need to set up viewports. I have a template sheet layer that has plan / front / side / rear that I duplicate and add/subtract from as needed for each element. This means a sheet of drafting for an element can take minutes.

My current project has hundreds of walls with various d?cor. It was cumbersome to navigate until I got each wall set up on an elevations sheet layer. Now I can go to any wall in a view perpendicular to the wall.

Makes sense. I am so used to working in 3d and switching between standard views. I almost never navigate back to the design layers from a sheet layer viewport. I can see how that could be a good way to work once things were set up though I would guess the project would need to be fairly big to warrant the custom setup time. The design and drawings part of my process tend to be separated (ie. the drawings come after the design is mostly finished in 3d).

Its always interesting to learn how others work!

Love your tips! I use them all the time.

Thanks Jim. Glad they are helpful.

Cheers,

Kevin

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