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Custom Title Block Blues


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I am trying to follow this video (http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/457/Custom+Title+Block) about creating a custom title block. No date on it. Wow, that's frustrating. I don't know if the video is current or from 4 years ago. I don't even know what version of VW it is. Whatever it is, the procedure is not working for me.

I have done the following steps:

1. Draw and format the title block

2. Create record

3. Create fields in the record

4. Create symbol

5. Reposition to 0,0

6. Link text to record

After this, it breaks down. The instructions in the video are:

7. Open the Standard Title Blocks drawing

--A) THIS IS NOT IN MY USER FILES

--B) I find it in the VW program files

--C) I GET A READ ONLY PROBLEM AND AN OPTION TO CREATE A NEW FILE

8. Add the symbol to the new Title Blocks drawing

9. Save the new Title Blocks drawing

10. Open a new drawing and add a sheet border

11. With the Sheet Border active, click Title Block in the Resource Browser

12. Look for the new Title Block (IT'S NOWHERE TO BE FOUND)

I hope I'm being clear.

1. Am I doing something wrong?

2. Is there a different procedure with the 2015 version?

3. Once this is working, is there a way to use the Symbol in reverse to create another Title Block

Thanks,

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4: Assume you've created your title block and saved it in a separate file? Or are you adding it to the Standard Title Block file?

7b:

In my setup, my title block files are located in the Sheet Border-Title Blocks folder in my user library. I have separate files for my title blocks (i.e. not added into the standard title block file)

I've created versions of my title block by editing the original title block symbol

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4) I saved the title block as a drawing file as well as have tried to add it to the Standard Title Block file.

7b) I can find the various Title Block drawings in the User Library as well as the Software Library.

I try to import the Title Block from the "Default" folder in the "Import Title Block" pop-up after clicking "Title Block" from the Object Info Browser. My Title Block is not there, and there is a large collection of Title Blocks that I cannot find anywhere in the files. None of the "Standard Title Blocks" drawings that I can find contain very many Title Blocks.

Any ideas?

Thank you for your reply,

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The Vectorworks Title Blocks drawing contains, I think, 9 Title Blocks, and in the User Title Blocks drawing, there are now 2, including my custom Title Block. When I use the sheet border tool, and choose a Title Block, there are 18 choices. I don't know where these come from or how to change the source.

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You could try placing your title block drawing file in the Sheet Border-Title Block folder in your user library (I use the User library in order to avoid losing any files when updating VW)

And in case you didn't know, VW needs to be restarted so that your Title Block library file can load properly.

Then you should be able to add your title block to a drawing sheet using the Sheet Border tool in the Annotation toolset.

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I don't know where these come from or how to change the source.

These come from the Sheet Border-Title Block folder in your VW libraries.

Navigate to the Sheet Border-Title Block folder and you can either edit an existing or place your own file in the folder.

Title Blocks are simply symbols saved within a file/files with text records attached.

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I'll see if I'm any help here.

Possible locations of files.

c:/program files/vectorworks 2015/libraries/defaults/sheet border-titlblocks

or for versions 2014 and older:

c:/program files (x86)/vectorworks 2010/libraries/default/sheet border-titleblocks

Now in your initial thread Mark, it looks like you put your title block together correctly. At this point you want to make it a symbol. Where you put it and access it is up to you. I have a company *.vwx file that I keep many symbols in that I use everyday and titleblocks is a folder I have my titleblocks in. I placed this file in the favourites folder so when I go to the resource browser the *.vwx file shows up under favourites and I simply select this file and cycle through my folders to get what I'm looking for.

You can also keep your titleblock symbols in a separate *.vwx file and store it in the sheet border-titleblocks folder I mentioned above so when you put in sheet border and select the titleblock button it will reference the said *.vwx file and show all your titleblocks. From there you simply select the titleblock you want.

Cheers,

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"And in case you didn't know, VW needs to be restarted so that your Title Block library file can load properly."

Ah... I didn't know this. That seems to be yet another example of programmers putting the remainder of the programming on the end user. That's kind of like doing a hand sketch and putting it in a folder in a filing cabinet. And then, I can't use it until I close the drawer. At least I can find it now.

Thanks,

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A new problem: I can now use the custom Title Block that I created. However, the text is all wrong. The Font is different, the weight is different, and the size is different for all of my text labels and fields. The text doesn't fit anymore and looks bad.

Any ideas about what happened? Is there a resource problem here?

Thanks,

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Is your title block in a class which has text attributes assigned to the class? (i think text attributes assignable to a class is a new feature of 2015?)

Have you used a new font? TTF are best. OTF fonts are dicey.

Other than these, I don't know...

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Kizza, thanks!

No, all the text items are in one class without any text attributes. However, I think I found part of the problem. I was trying to fix the editing problems in the symbol editor, which didn't work. Then, I pasted another instance of the symbol in the drawing, converted it to a group, then ungrouped the elements. I noticed that the text items that were not settable were never assigned a text style in the first place. Another software glitch.

I'm almost ready to ditch the automated title blocks in favor of a manual system that I can control with fewer days lost. However, I like the idea of it. The execution is still developing, in my opinion. I want to get back to design. Pencil and paper looks pretty good again! I'm going to work with it some more because I am stubborn.

Thanks again,

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We can't see what's going on if we don't have your fonts installed (on my system they're all being font mapped to Arial so both title blocks look the same). It might help to attach a screen shot.

I think its the way you've set the attributes of the elements within the title block that's getting you into trouble. If you want them to always look the way you've set them up, make sure none of the objects in the Title Block have their attributes set to "By Class". If they're set to "By Class" they will inherit the styles from the Sheet Border element used to insert the title block.

Its the most confusing part of the documentation and it took me a long time to understand it when I made my custom title blocks....

Kevin

ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=12104&filename=Screen%20Shot%202015-04-15%20at%207.13.17%20AM.png

Edited by Kevin McAllister
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That seems to be the last piece of information I needed. I have attached an image of the Title Block.

1. The top set is the design

2. The 2nd row is the symbol

3. And the last is the functioning Sheet Border with the Custom Title Block

I tried going to the other extreme first where every part was based on a class style. That didn't work. Then I tried your suggestion and eliminated all forced class styles and then I finally got synchronicity.

It took awhile to get here. Days. So frustrating. I think it's overly complicated but I seem to be moving to new steps now.

A huge thank you to all who encouraged, helped, and informed!

I'll let you all know if the automated parts work as expected.

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Automation with the Sheet Number and Sheet Title seems to be working. In the video, which seems outdated, the presenter explains that this is a feature of Designer only. However, I have Landmark 2015 and I was able to choose "Use Automatic Drawing Coordination" in the Document Preferences and use the _SN and _SD record field suffixes. So far, so good.

I do have a question about it. Take a look at the screenshot. The Edit Title Block popup has 3 tabs: Project, Sheet, and General. The General tab contains the specific sheet data for the Sheet Title (which I have named View) and Sheet Number (which I have named Sheet). Does anyone know why this sheet specific data is in the General tab and not the Sheet tab?

Edited by Mark Taylor
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