grant_PD Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 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... Quote Link to comment
Gadzooks Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) 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 Quote Link to comment
Hans-Olav Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 (edited) 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 Quote Link to comment
Matt Overton Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 Yes space tool is, sort of, your friend here. Quote Link to comment
Gadzooks Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 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. Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 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. Quote Link to comment
Hans-Olav Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 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. Quote Link to comment
Tom Klaber Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 I never use the auto bound. Breaks too easily. Use polygon or rectangle mode. Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 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. Quote Link to comment
Gadzooks Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 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. Quote Link to comment
grant_PD Posted March 9, 2018 Author Share Posted March 9, 2018 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! Quote Link to comment
Mik Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 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. Quote Link to comment
Hans-Olav Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 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. 1 Quote Link to comment
Mik Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 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. 1 Quote Link to comment
Guest Wes Gardner Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 Hi All, Here's a Data Tag that gives you area of a Floor object. Wes Floor sq ft Tag.vwx Quote Link to comment
Mik Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 Thanks Wes but my VW 2019 said this was from a previous version and would convert it but then could not do it. Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 (edited) 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 Quote Link to comment
Guest Wes Gardner Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 @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 Quote Link to comment
Mik Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 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. Quote Link to comment
Guest Wes Gardner Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 @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 Quote Link to comment
BDM Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 Hi Does Vectorworks fundamentals 2015 have the "space tool"? Bruce Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted May 1, 2020 Share Posted May 1, 2020 (edited) 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 Quote Link to comment
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