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"Framing member" vs "structural member" tools


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I can see how using symbols in that way might be useful for some.

 

However - most of the stuff I do doesn't involve huge numbers of repeating elements but does often involve awkwardly shaped roofs, where structure may be exposed and therefore I want to draw it in some detail, partly to make sure everything works technically/geometrically and partly to check what it looks like and visualise it.

 

So drawing time is not used up by having to repeat a rafter 100 times, but it is used up drawing all sorts of special conditions where structural members meet at angles or are trimmed around window openings, that kind of thing.

 

This is why the "structural member" tool looks appealing in theory ... I can tell it that member A meets member B at this point, give it the basic reference or setting-out geometry, and have it calculate things rather than me having to manually trim beams on the diagonal and this sort of thing. And then it's all editable parametrically and non-destructively, right?

 

That's certainly what this video suggests

 

And in particular look what happens from around 3:15 to applause from the audience!

 

But it turns out when you try and use it in some kind of real world application it's hopeless, because of a bunch of limitations and mainly because - at least as far as I can see - it's virtually impossible to edit anything accurately - simply resizing the length of a beam causes horrible unpredictable behaviour and I can't even see a way of connecting two already-extant members.

 

This perhaps explains why I can't really find any video tutorials anywhere going into any depth about using this tool in practice.

 

That video is from 6 years ago and improvements since then seem fairly minor.

 

This thread from last year lists just a few things that need fixing:

 

https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/90654-structural-member-usability-improvements/#comment-414503

 

(Can @Matt Panzer tell us whether the "enhancement request" mentioned in that thread went anywhere?)

 

So unfortunately, for me at least, for now the Structural Member tool goes back in the (overflowing) bin I last threw it in 5 years ago - the one for Vectorworks tools that would be really great if they actually worked and were actively developed, but which in practice are not usable.

 

 

 

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47 minutes ago, Matt Panzer said:

 

The following features have been added to the Structural Member in Vectorworks 2023 (some of these are included in that VE):

1.     Ability to be styled.

2.     New Span, Pitch, Length, and Height Parameters.

3.     Improved insertion and reshaping by additional fields in the floating data bar and modifier key.

4.     Worksheet functions to return the Member’s or Cover’s Top Bounds, Bottom Bounds, and Physical Length.

Thanks for the reply.

 

I'm waiting for SP3 to arrive before I'm able to start using 2023.

Once I do, I'll see if I find the tool any more usable than it is now.

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