Why Annotate in Viewports

[grant_PD]

I'm working on a project for a cruise line, where the scenery shop wants the plates in autocad. After some experimentation I discovered that I needed to do all of my dimensioning and annotations on the layer, and merely use the viewport as a "crop" to fit to the right page layout. Once I had done that, I could export the .dwg file no problem to autocad, and have the sheet layer open with the correct reference to the layer.

[DDDesign]

Grant,

"Conversly though, I'd be interested to know how others get along without viewports in 3D drafting. "

I've been using VW for 7 years - for designing furniture (all 3D modelling). I'm completely self taught and work on my own - so I'd say I have a few "non-standard" methods of using VW. I use my own templates which have taken a long time to develop, so it is taking me a while to change everything over to using Viewports- although I can see the benefits. In the meantime I use symbols extensively, with many components, sub-assemblies and sometimes the whole model being represented as symbols. I then have several copies of these symbols spread over several layers or pages, with the appropriate annotation, dimensioning, view and sheet applied to each. I can of course edit a symbol and all copies will immediately update. This may be a weird way of working, but it has worked for me pretty well so far.

[grant_PD]

David,

I think what we're all seeing is that because of our varied jobs and industries, we're adapting VW to suit our needs. Personally, I love the fact that VW is so plastic, but I wish that they would make an effort to emphasize that fact.

Currently I'm teaching a bunch of young MFA students the ins and outs of VW, and they are desperate for me to show them "THE WAY" to go about using layers, classes, views, etc. I emphasize over and over to them that if they understand the principles behind each aspect of the program, they'll be empowered to use those aspects to suit their needs.

VW would do well to ask for submissions of files from various people who use their product and post examples of how file structures are created and maintained. I think they'd be suprised at how inventive we all are with their program.

[matto]

Grant,

I think your rigth about there not being "The Way", the flexiblity is sort of a double edged sword in that respect. Its always good to have, but it does mean there are ways of doing things that will mean you can't archive the result you want or you start using some convoluted work arround to get the job done.

So the idea of NNA bundling a couple of set ups used in real practice as a guide is really good. It might also be good if NNA could document "the way" they base the design of the programme on, as a starting point. I know there is set up functions in the programme, but a complete sample document would be a realy bonus.

Hey sounds like a good book title...

"seven ways of sucessful vectorworkers" ;-)

[bobo newton]

i keep seeing recommendations for the archoncad tutorials. for an architect user, would the architect tutorial be enough, or is it a sequel to the general vw tutorial? do you recommend one or both?

[Travis]

If you're new to VW, you'll want both Archoncad tutorials. They build on each other. It was money well-spent for us.

Good luck,