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VW 12 impressions


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I bought VW 12 last year, but just got around to implementing the upgrade from 10.5. After a couple of days' work, and poking around with the new features, I have to compliment VW engineers and developers for paying attention to users' suggestions! There are so many improvements it would be tedious to list them. As a user since MiniCAD 4.0, I would recommend the upgrade. One of the things I tried immediately was to offset a polyline containing arcs - the new polyline also contained the appropriately scaled arcs instead of a thousand corner vertices! Great!

I've also noted that adding 2D surfaces has implemented the deletion of unnecessary vertices more reliably (if only this algorithm could be added to the clip tool to eliminate co-linear vertices!). I'm sure there are a multitude of other subtle but important improvements. It's great to see that this company cares and puts time into things that don't necessarily create marketing bling.

I'm adding a couple of questions to this post in the hopes that someone could help me understand a couple of things that have changed:

1) I skipped VW11 - can anyone give me a concise explanation of what Sheet Layers will do for me?

2) Layer Z setting - I've tried this feature in the past, but I found that it was ultimately disappointing, so I continue to construct layers at different heights using the true height from zero. Why - because Layer Z was only operative when layers were displayed as layer links. So if I copied a few elements from floor 2 onto floor 1, they didn't carry their intended Z position with them. In a complex model, it's sometimes necessary to resort to this because the whole layer, displayed via layer link, gets too confusing to navigate. Does anyone have a perspective on the new "Stack Layers" mode? Is this any different from the old "Align Layer Views", and does it resolve my lingering aversion to using the Z variable when setting up layers?

[ 04-02-2006, 06:07 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

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1) (as explained to me by a NNA engineer) Think of a sheet layer as if it were a blank piece of paper onto which you place various objects. Also, you didn't ask about viewports (VP's), which can ONLY exist on sheet layers. I won't into this more unless asked, but suffice it to say that I have no idea how I functioned without VP's...

2) Not sure exactly what you are saying (asking). Are you saying that you have all your design layers set to z=o, and then you move the objects in those layers up or down according to need? If so I would partially agree, and further, stack layers will work either way, and is NOT the same as "align layer views" (which will align layers in 2d but not in 3d space).

I hope that helps a bit. Please post back if you need more clarification. I would happy to further refine...

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Peter, thanks, yes you understood my question 2) correctly. I guess I'll have to fool around with "Stack Layers" to find out what is going on there, since I've used the old "align layer views" to get several 3d layers to be viewed from the same 3d standpoint - but not to be rendered the same, which seems to be a feature of Stack Layers. I also understand how Stack Layer views uses the Z value to line things up as layer links did, even though, as I've explained, mine always lined up anyway. (ArchiCAD's system seems better to me - having things at an absolute Z value on different layers, but being able to activate a separate "relative" Z coordinate system, allowing each level to define finish floor as Z'=0 as an alternative system, while not losing the fact that the floor may actually be 20 feet above ground level.)

The thing I don't understand about Sheet Layers is why there has to be a special type of layer. Why couldn't we have viewports without Sheet Layers? In previous versions, you could put different views and scales on a sheet by activating several layers, but the thing lacking was the ability to crop or clip a layer link. This is something new and important with viewports, and it's a plus to be able to set a viewport scale and get rid of multiple layers with different scales. The rest I don't quite get.

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Further on Sheet Layers: Since they are ALWAYS in 1:1 scale, they are a special type of layer onto which you can place VP's. I'm no engineer so I have no idea *why* this is necessary, but I would guess that it is, for some reason.

In version 12 you can choose whether to use VP's & Sheet Layers, or stay with the older system of, which is now called "saved views".

If you choose to use VP's & SL's, there will be a period of adjustment (read: frustration), but IMO it is worthwhile. Here are a couple reasons:

1) With VP's it is no longer necessary to keep the actual drawings - which are in design layers - within the confines of a "page". So when a job morphs and is all of a sudden much larger than the paper size it doesn't much matter: all you need to do is create a VP (from the design layers), place that VP onto a sheet layer, and then you can adjust the scale to fit the sheet, AND, you can move the VP around on the sheet, etc.

2) With VP's, the intended workflow is that all of the notes, dimensions, etc. should be created in the "annotations" of a particular VP. That way, when you move the VP all of the annotations stay "attached" or "anchored" to the VP. (Re-scaling is a slightly different issue due to text scaling etc.)

3) Since a VP is just another type of object it can be duplicated and then cut & pasted to the same, or to another sheet layer. This is useful in (at least) two ways: first, you can create one VP for the MAIN FLOOR PLAN (it will have certain discreet layers & classes active) and then copy it and paste it in place onto the ROOF PLAN sheet. Once there you can modify the active layers and/or classes in the duplicate to show what is appropriate for a roof plan. The same can be done for most, if not all, of the plan view sheets in a set. Second, if you need to pull a detail out of floor plan, let's say a larger scale kitchen plan, you can duplicate the original plan VP then chenge the scale and re-crop it to show only the kitchen area. This new VP can be moved anywhere you like.

Hopefully that will get you up & running with the newer system. Let me know how it works for you :-)

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quote:

viewports (VP's), which can ONLY exist on sheet layers

Peter, thanks for your help. Like you, I suspect there is some reason viewports couldn't easily be implemented in ordinary layers, so NNA engineers invented a different "type" of layer. I definitely intend to try them out on my first v12 project.

[ 04-02-2006, 06:21 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

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Another feature of Sheet layers is that each each sheet can has its own page set-up parameters, orientation and print area.

Want to fax a client some details? Easy - just set up a new sheet layer at A4, add more pages if you need, and duplicate the relevant VP's over to the new layer.

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