is there an area dimension tool?

[grant_PD 245]

Is there some tool that I can use to click on an object have it place the square footage like a dimension?  Right now I'm just creating a polygon in the annotations, getting the square footage from the OIP, and writing it down.  Seems pretty Fred Flintstone to me...

[Gadzooks 108]

51 minutes ago, grant_PD said:

Seems pretty Fred Flintstone to me...

 

Well its a bit clunky, but this does the job for both area and volume (obviously volume highlighted)....

 

 

Select 2d or 3d  shapes and choose engineering/volumetric properties. Have a look and see how it works out for you.

 

You can also 'call' the information into worksheets, but I believe this is more like what you seemed to be wanting.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2018 by Gadzooks

[Hans-Olav 183]

We use spaces as a area tool.

You can draw a rectangle or polygon, right click and choose “create object from shape”   -> space. 

Edited March 8, 2018 by Hans-Olav

[Matt Overton 313]

Yes space tool is, sort of, your friend here.

[Gadzooks 108]

9 hours ago, Hans-Olav said:

 

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Matt Overton said:

Yes space tool is, sort of, your friend here.

 

Yes. Good call. 

 

@grant_PDI see you're on 2017 Spotlight. You'll probably have to add the space tool to your workspace. 

[grant_PD 245]

Wish it were helpful, but it's not.  The space tool requires there be walls when I am trying to calculate square footage of flooring that has no wall boundaries.  It is very common in set design, to cover the existing stage floor with flooring product for different looks.  I'm actually quite surprised that there is no tool for this.  Even in "event design," which is a reduced form of set design, flooring plays a big part.

[Hans-Olav 183]

You can have it manually bound and not connected to walls at all. Sometimes it is somme fiddling with the settings to choose the right symbol for the space label . I usually start with "Simple with area" and edit it later to suit my graphic style and  include the info i need. 

[Tom Klaber 735]

I never use the auto bound.  Breaks too easily.  Use polygon or rectangle mode.

[grant_PD 245]

It seems odd to me, that I can create a floor object, but I can't get the square footage of said floor.  OIP gives me no "I" at all.  

[Gadzooks 108]

1 hour ago, grant_PD said:

I can create a floor object, but I can't get the square footage of said floor.

 

The Space Tool is pretty simple if you set the parameters accordingly (otherwise it can be very powerful and therefore somewhat complex.)

 

Keep it simple - have a look at this video and you'll see you can use it to provide exactly what (I think we understand) you're trying to do. Quickly and efficiently.

 

https://youtu.be/8wfZP9KIOzo

 

Drawing shapes is dealt with later on, but its very worthwhile having a look at the whole thing.

[grant_PD 245]

Yes, but not really workable for what I am trying to do.  I instead assigned a name to each floor object, and then was able to pull area from them via a worksheet.  But thanks for all the tips on the space tool!

[Mik 11]

grant_PD: I'm with you.

 

Its a completely simple thing for Vectorworks to just show the area in the OIP but it is bereft of a lot of data. The Vectorworks help shows a lot of data including area for slabs in the OIP but that is not true for floors.

And the Volumetric properties as someone suggested gives the area all around the slab (top, bottom, sides) so that is useless when trying to get floor square footages for various purposes.

Consequently, to reference the size of a floor, we have to go back and draw another polygon over it to find out. 

 

It is this kind of thing that makes Vectorworks so frustrating to use.

[Hans-Olav 183]

HI @grant_PD 

 

I made a custom tag that reports area of objects. For floors I had to make a record format and attach to the floor to get access to the area. It sounds complicated but when it was set up it worked very well.

[Mik 11]

Hats off to you for creative workarounds but Vectorworks should just show it in the OIP like they do for other things.

Basic functionality and usability is really lacking in this app.

[Wes Gardner 314]

Hi All,

Here's a Data Tag that gives you area of a Floor object.

Wes

 

 

Floor sq ft Tag.vwx

[Mik 11]

Thanks Wes but my VW 2019 said this was from a previous version and would convert it but then could not do it.

[rDesign 461]

2 hours ago, Mik said:

Thanks Wes but my VW 2019 said this was from a previous version and would convert it but then could not do it.

I'm almost 100% certain that the file @Wes Gardner posted is the Vw2020 version. When you get that error message and the file refuses to open, it means that the file is newer than your version of Vw. That error message is completely confusing / unhelpful.

 

It would also be very helpful if the person uploading the original file to the Vw User Forum would always include the Vw file version at the end of the filename, like 'Floor sq ft Tag_v2020.vwx'. Especially when it is being uploaded by Vectorworks employees. My 2 cents.

Edited April 23, 2020 by rDesign

[Wes Gardner 314]

@Mik, Here's a tag back saved to 2019.  I typically upload files in the shipping version or if it's clear from your sig I can back save it.

 

Wes

Floor sq ft Tag v2019.vwx

[Mik 11]

Thanks Wes. 

What is the proper way to use this? When I place it on my floors it shows a caution symbol. When the point is dragged, it shows 0 sq. ft.

[Wes Gardner 314]

@Mik...make sure you have the correct mode for the Data Tag selected...the first one is for some sort of dummy tag (and of course, nothing happens)...the second one, for setting a SINGLE instance seems to work . See attached screen shot.. The tag will then be interactive - as you change the shape/size of the floor, it'll update..

 

Another distinct possibility is that it doesn't work in versions older than 2020???

 

Wes

 

 

[BDM 0]

Hi

Does Vectorworks fundamentals 2015 have the "space tool"?

 

Bruce

 

 

[rDesign 461]

6 hours ago, BDM said:

Hi

Does Vectorworks fundamentals 2015 have the "space tool"?

 

Bruce

 

 

No, you need Vw Architect to get the Space Tool. It was not included as part of Vw Fundamentals 2015.

Vw2015 Help — Creating Spaces with the Space Tool

Edited May 1, 2020 by rDesign