How can I draw with absolute precision?

[Hugo]

In the last months I've working all the week, all day long with VectorWorks 10.5.1 in a new job I got. We are making three houses and we use VW for drawing plans, elevations, sections and some 3D models. This has been my most "intensive" work with VW. I've been using it since the university and now that I'm already an architect it is my main tool.

The thing is now that I'm doing serious work with it I need to draw with absolute precision. There are some issues we are having at the office (my boss and me, we both use VW 10.5.1 under Mac OS X 10.3.2) and I need some advice.

In the university I didn't care too much, I drawed trusting in the smart cursor. When I extended a line and "center" appeared in the screen when getting to the center of a line, I was sure my line was going to join the other on it's center. Or when "point" appeared, the line was going to touch the other exactly in that point.

But now I have found that many times this is not as precise as I want. A line that was supposed to join another in it's center, it's really not touching the other line. They are almost touching themselves, but if I zoom in I can see a noticeable difference. They are just milimeters, and if I print the drawing, it will look good anyway. But it is NOT exact.

Other times I click on the polygon tool and start drawing besides another one. In some places, I want their vertex to be the same. So when "point" appears, I click hoping they will share that vertex. But when finished, if I zoom in I discover the vertex are not the same. The same has happened when dimensioning. Specially when using the chain dimension. I click on both caps of a wall, but the dimension measures slightly different. If I zoom, I can see the "point" where I clicked was not really the begining of the wall. It was just milimeters from it.

Why is this happenning to me? This matches with the fact that I changed my old iMac G3 for an iBook G4 and that I also changed the Apple Pro Mouse for a Microsoft Wheel Optical Mouse. Could the mouse be the problem? I have noticed some odd behaviour in other apps too, like web browsers. Sometimes I click on a link and nothing happens and I have to click again. Or are this some known problems in 10.5.1?

I'd like any opinions on this thing, or suggestions on how to draw more precisely.

Thank you

[Beaster]

It might be that the Snap to Grid is checked. (I might have the exact command name wrong, as I'm new to this platform.) Anyhow, it constrains the snap grid to some predefined (and adjustable) value. This is handy to set to, say, 1/2" if you're drawing 5 1/2" rectangular walls, but if you are trying to find intersections of complex things, those will not always be at those grid spots. If you turn it off it should drop stuff right where the intersection is. I think VW will let you round off the dimensions, so that associative dimensions won't read everything in 64ths (or thousandths) of an inch.

Hope this helps.

[propstuff]

I'm afraid I can't help you, but I've experienced the same type of problem numerous times. Snaps fail to snap exactly, trims fail to trim to precisely coincident points and will not Compose properly etc etc. Very frustrating. :-(

N,

[Hugo]

Beaster,

Thank you for your ideas, I'll have to try them. The thing is actually I'm working in drawings created by another person, so I'm not sure if enabling grid snap may confuse the things more. Maybe if I enable it anytime I move something it will snap to the grid and I will distort the whole thing more... But I'll try your suggestion when I start a brand new drawing from scratch. Thank you.

Propstuff,

Have you had this issue only with version 10.5.x or has it happened to you in earlier versions. This have been the first months for me using VW on a daily and intensive basis, so I've discovered this problem. I didn't notice this with VW 9.x but it may have been present too.

Is there any preference I can adjust in order to gain precision?

Thank you,

Hugo

[ 01-25-2004, 09:27 AM: Message edited by: Hugo ]

[Ray Libby]

I always use snap to grid unless I am drawing the arcs in a molding or something free form like that. You are correct that turning on snap to grid in a drawing that didn't use it from the beginning would not work very well. I use a grid of 1/16", fractional/decimal mix in the set units box and make sure the end points of my first line is right on the grid. As I add more objects I can tell if any thing is off the grid by the data display bar showing decimals (.0001) when drawing or snapping. I think this doubles snap precision because you now have two criteria for the snap. If I have an object that is not going to be on the grid I add locus where I want a snap point (as an example my cabinet door profiles use a 3/32" gap so I add a locus to my symbol or group that will snap to face frame or cabinet). If I need to snap to an object that I know is not on the grid, say the center point of a 1 1/16" line or an object that has been pasted into the drawing, I zoom in far enough to see that I hit the mark. On any of my drawings, no matter how complex, every object is precisely on the grid.

I remember a few versions ago when I was training people, I would tell them no matter what you see with the curser always follow the smartcursor cues, they never lie. This is no longer true.

[MikeN]

Make sure to draw with Zoom Line Thickness turned OFF.

[Bill]

Hugo,

If you can create a new file and create an example of the problem on your Mac, you could send it to me (wfosbury@juno.com) and I'll see if I notice the same thing. I just upgraded to 10.5.0 and am running on a Intel PC with windows 2000 and am using a Kensington Expert Mouse Pro(It has a large track ball).

[Guest]

If you are drawing and not getting a truly precise location when you click, it may be the Snap Radius.

Under VW preferences, there is a snap radius setting.

By default, i think this is set to 5 or 7.

Change this to 1 or two.

This will allow you to snap within 1 pixel of the point. Of course, you won't get the snap cursor cues as easily.

If you are getting a Point cursor cue, this can be a point on another object OR it can be snapping to a point on the grid, depending on the snap radius.