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Datum point


BGD

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Hi,

I have different levels in a garden design (for eg decking is slightly higher) in reference to house floor i.e. datum = 0:00

Is there a way to show level height at different places in garden, w.r.t to the reference level i.e. 0:00

Can't understand what is this data tag for datum feature? That seems to return an alphabetical value.

Thanks

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The stake tool can show several kinds of values, one of them being the elevation. That way it should be possible to show level heights relative to the datum provided the level of the origin aligns with the datum point.

 

The Elevation benchmark tool can also show the elevation relative to the ground level.

 

Another option is to create a symbol with a record that shows the Z-value and place it at the appropriate elevation.

 

The stake and benchmark tools are available in VW Landmark and probably at least one or maybe both also in VW Architect.

The symbol option mentioned above is something that should work in every VW version.

 

Please add your VW version (.e.g. Landmark 2020) into your signature line, that makes it a bit easier to answer your question.

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Thanks for replying. But still I dont get how to go about it. Please find attached the plan.

So, I am trying to datum point data on Wooden deck (which is the reference point 0.00), Flagstone paving, Gravel area, height of all the raised beds, heights of steps on the stairs,  height of the boundaries (in site survey vertical layer), height of brick wall etc.

Pls let me know how to go about it.

Thanks

Plan.vwx

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This same stake tool is also useful for showing boundary coordinates of areas if you have too, e.g. at corner points of fences. It is just too bad that it can't show coordinates and elevation at the same time. For that you would still need to create a symbol with records that show all three bits of information.

 

If you have a lot of points and relatively large numbers to show in a small area then the symbol route is the way to go and then use the worksheet to list the coordinates and/or elevation and put that as a table on your sheet layer. Do make sure that you give the symbol an (automatic) ID number for reference which can be displayed.

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4 hours ago, BGD said:

@jeff prince Thank you for to-the-point solution. There is only one problem though. If I change elevation of the floor, the data on the stake doesn't update automatically. Is there any solution for that? thanks

There could be a solution for that depending on what the stake tool is supposed to give the elevation of, e.g. ground or a slab. In the latter case you could tie the stake tool to the slab object with a 3D constraint (not sure a 2D constraint would work, as I never tried that). The problem is that VW does not (yet?) support 3D constraints.

 

The alternative is to use a symbol for the objects that has a field holding the 3D data, then it would would automatically update the elevation.

Otherwise you will need to move the stake object along with the part that you are changing the elevation of, i.e. move the slab and associated stake tool simultaneously if possible.

 

With e.g. indicating a ground level with the stake tool you can't do this and will have to move the stake tool to the proper position/elevation after adjusting the ground level.

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4 hours ago, BGD said:

@Art V For this, I need to learn to create symbol linked to a data. Going back to my earlier comments, will this way of inserting elevation data, resolve data updation problem when I change elevation of a floor?  Thanks

As more or less indicated above, the same applies to separate symbols for indicating elevation etc. as with the stake tool, unless you put the field reading the elevation into the object itself and have it displayed.

 

3D constraints that could be used to link the stake tool/symbol to its associated object are unfortunately not available. 2D constraint is something you could try to see if it would work.

 

While writing this, maybe you could try grouping the floor and the stake tool object to see what happens if you move the group and if it doesn't interfere too much with other functionality you may need. E.g. volume calculation could be affected if you group a floor or slab with the stake tool because a floor/slab that is part of a group with a different object might get omitted. I never grouped such objects with stake tool so don't know for sure if and/or how it will affect things like this

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@jeff prince The only thing with elevation tag is that it can only be applied to hardscape as the data field is linked to hardscape object. Only if there was some solution to just link z-axis data field of any object, the data tag will work absolutely fine.

Suggestion for vectorworks - Can we have the flexibility to have a data tag, that just shows the x,y,z coordinate of any selected object or is it possible to make a symbol that returns z coordinate of any object by making a symbol, as suggested by @Art V . Thanks

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@BGD Your presumption is incorrect about the elevation tag I posted being limited to hardscape objects, it reports the insertion point z value of of all kinds of things 🙂 That being said, it would be nice if Vectorworks had a proper and easy to use spot elevation tool to indicate the absolute top of whatever object it touches, including extrudes and other modeled geometry.  You can get there using math expressions, but I don't trust Vectorworks enough to stake my professional reputation on its outputs in this regard.  I really have to laugh at these marketing promises that developing projects and using BIM saves time and reduces errors when you see how poorly these critical dimensioning tools work in the real world, especially in a dynamic workflow were things are changing.

 

Here's an example of how to use math to get the absolute elevation of the top of some walls.  The wall is 3' tall relative to the adjacent hardscape, but I set the tag to report the height as a sum of the insertion Z and overall wall height.  The tags will update if the wall height is changed or if the wall is moved in elevation.  Note, this is not how I typically describe a top of wall and just provide this as an example of math in data tag.  I wonder if logic operations  could be placed in a tag definition to handle IF/THEN situations when encountering objects of different types...

932995528_ScreenShot2020-09-24at6_59_45PM.thumb.png.6a7151e182719808319752c48b24c5d7.png

 

All of this being said, I think it is wise to redo all spot elevations if there have been significant changes to a site model... you just can't trust the software to do the right thing if you are the one on the hook financially for any errors or omissions 😞

more tags with math.vwx

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@jeff prince Sorry for my assumptions. I just assumed looking at the data tag in VW2020 viewer that it is probably extracting elevation value of a slab, so wont work for other objectss. I only have VW2019 s/w. So, I cant see the underlying detail of data tag. Do you mind sending me these two files by saving it in 2019 version? Thanks for your help.

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@jeff prince Thanks for this. It's strange the insertion Pt z value throws different values for different kind of objects. For hardscapes it shows the elevation, for extruded solid objects it shows the mid point on z axis etc. Maybe, Vectorworks can standardise its approach to this data for various types of objects.

Thanks for your help & time. Sticking with stakes option for now as the site is not too big. But, I take your point for large projects a basic info like this can be an issue.

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