placing symbols & switching to sheet layer

[doberman69]

I think I've asked these questions before but the answer was not clear before. So I'm asking again in hopes that maybe things have progressed.

 

When placing a symbol or imported drawing it always ends up somewhere in space seemingly not at a point of origin. I always have to chase it down. Sometimes those objects are so small that it can take a while to find them.

 

Similarly, When I switch back to a sheet layer from a design layer I have to find the page. I know hitting "command 4" can do this but why doesn't the sheet just come into view centered and full screen automatically?

[markdd]

Sounds like there might be a scale issue as well as a setting you can use for sheet layers.

1. What scale are your design layers? Are you using a Design Layer scale that is unusual like say 1:1000? Also, when you are inserting a symbol are you using the Insertion point mode from the Symbol insertion mode bar?
2. Try the Vectorworks Preference setting: Edit Tab > Seperate Sheet Views. If you enable it, then each sheet will remember the view they were in when you left them.

Finally, is this drawing from a DWG? Sometimes blocks (symbols) have an insertion point that is totally random and based on another drawing or user Origin. This could also be the problem.

 

 

[Pat Stanford]

Similar to @markdd comment, if this is an imported file it is quite possible that there are object far out in space away from the drawing. When the file is imported it may be coming in centered on all of the objects in the drawing, not the part you are interested in.

 

On the imported layer Select All and then do View menu:Zoom:Fit to Objects. This will zoom out show you everything on the layer. If I am correct it is likely that you will see a kind of dark blob somewhere that is the drawing you are interested in surrounded by a lot of white space. Using the Selection tool drag a marquee around each corner to select anything that is near the corner. If you are brave, just delete those objects. If you are careful, zoom in until you can see the object and figure out what they are before you delete them.  Repeat this procedure until you only have the real part of the drawing. Then either group or select all and drag this onto the page (adjusting the layer scale as necessary). Now when you Fit to Page you should easily get to the drawing.

 

Warning: If you have already created viewports and you move where the drawing is you will have to adjust the viewports also. Edit the Crop and delete or move the crop object to show the part of the drawing you are interested in.

 

 

[doberman69]

My design layer scale is always set to 1:1.

[Pat Stanford]

Well then Fit to Page might not be useful to you.

 

Any particular reason you insist on 1:1?  In Vectorworks the Layer Scale is simply a preset zoom. It lets you work in closer to a WYSIWYG form and use line weights that are appropiate for the expected output scale.

 

1:1 is fine as long as you are not working on something that is kilometers in scale, but I think Layer Scale has too many advantages to ignore.

 

The rest of my comments above about finding things in the corners still stands even at 1:1.

[doberman69]

I just tried to insert one of the 3D fastner bolts from the Tool sets and again it places the bolt NOT where I set the insertion point. I set my user origin to the point I want to place the 3D bolt and still it places it somewhere else. When placing those fasteners I don't see a setting to set the insertion point either. When placing a symbol I see the insertion point preference.

[doberman69]

Yeah I use fit to page for the sheet pages. I also use it in the design layers but again why isn't this a default. Meaning why doesn't Vwx just open a sheet page or design layer to show everything (that is visible or on) in that layer centered. Instead the default is somewhere in space where nothing is.

 

As for 1:1 scale. I've always thought of drawing 1 to 1 is the best. The moment one gets into scales then you have to keep track of the scale being drawn at. Then you're hoping back and forth just chasing the scales.

[Pat Stanford]

VW is not smart enough to know that a line off in space by a mile is not supposed to be there and be part of the drawing. You have to clean up drawings when you import them if the person who made them did a bad job.

 

VW could probably be smarter about where the view is centered on import, but that might actually be worse. VW does not like having objects a long distance from the origin. Even if it is just a stray line, it still can effect VW, especially rendering. If it centered but left an object out in space that you did not know was there it would be much harder to track down the cause of any glitches.

 

In VW you don't have to think about working in scale. The Layer Scale is just a pre-set zoom. No matter what the Layer Scale is, if you. want to draw a 10-foot wall, you draw a 10-foot wall. If you later change the layer scale the wall will still be 10-feet. If you copy/paste it to a layer with a different scale it will still be 10-feet. All of the tools automatically work with the layer scale. All you have to do is set the Layer Scale so things "fit" onto your typical/expected output size. Then you can see line weights as they will look in the final output.

 

[doberman69]

OK so my response about centering the view was not specific to imported drawings. In fact, the imported drawings issue is not frequent enough to be a real issue but does still point at the real problem. I'm constantly chasing where my drawing is on the screen. Or I'm chasing where blocks/symbols are placed. Sometimes VWX will lock up with nothing on the screen and I think it's permanently locked so I quit vectorworks and loose what I just did. Then I think, well...I'll just wait until it starts up again and then I'm not sure because I see nothing on the screen outside of the menus and tool pallets. So is it locked or not? At least if it's default showed me something then I would know something. That and chasing stuff down wastes time.

 

Good to know about layer scale. I'll give it a try and see if it helps.