How do I keep the green squares on dimensions from printing?

[rlb]

The small green squares at the ends of witness lines are present when I export a file to JPG. How do I avoid or get rid of them?

 

Many thanks,

 

RLB in NYC

[Eliot Hartzler]

Hey RLB,

 

Interesting, they don't appear for me when I do an Export>Image File>JPEG...

 

Anyhow, the green squares seem to have to do with associative dimensioning. Associative Dimensioning basically means that if the object the dimension is tied to changes, the dimension will adjust itself to the new object so you don't have to edit the dimension object manually. If a dimension is associated with an object it will have those green squares. You can right click on a dimension and select "Disassociate" to disassociate the dimension from the object and lose the green squares. If you want to turn Associative Dimensioning off, the preferences are found under File>Document Settings>Document Preferences>Dimensions tab, though you may find yourself manually updating dimensions 🙂 

 

HTH.

[rlb]

Thanks!

 

Solves it.

[Andy Broomell]

You can retain associative functionality but hide the green squares by going to View > Show/Hide > Constraints. 

[rlb]

Excellent! 

 

Thanks. The VW Community is remarkable. As a teacher I really appreciate how much and how quickly I learn from other VW users willing and able to share.

Edited March 22, 2021 by rlb

[Pat Stanford]

At least for me, the Association squares do no show in image exports. Are you using the actual Export Image File function? Or are you taking screen shots? In an export I would not expect them to show. In a screen shot I would.

[KenD]

On 3/21/2021 at 5:30 PM, Andy Broomell said:

You can retain associative functionality but hide the green squares by going to View > Show/Hide > Constraints. 

This is what Vectorworks help says too but when I click "View" there is no selection to "show" or hide anything there. Unfortunately I cant show a screenshot because if I try to snip, the view dialog disappears the instant I click out of VW. If I do a print screen is prints all three of my screens and by the time I zoom in to crop or snip that, its too fuzzy to read.

 

However the other method Help describes does work for me. "To hide indicators, deselect Show parametric constraints in the Display pane of the Vectorworks preferences". You have to know, in order to do that, you have to select "tools+options+Vectorworks Preferences".

 

Although rlb didn't come back and confirm, I encountered this issue when using Snip and Sketch on a PC. This does not show when printing to a .pdf for instance. Does vectorworks have a marquee select area type image export? Or is it the whole page or nothing?

Edited August 14, 2023 by KenD

[Tom W.]

2 minutes ago, KenD said:

when I click "View" there is no selection to "show" or hide anything there.

 

Are you using a custom workspace? This is what I have:

 

Perhaps it got edited out of your workspace somehow?

[KenD]

Thanks Tom. I was wrong, I was just not  seeing it. It's up on the upper right and my brain wasn't picking it up, up there.

 

 

How did you snip yours? As I wrote above I couldn't. I had to use my phone to take a picture.

 

Also, is there a way to marquee select an area to "export" to an image file or print just an area rather than the whole defined page? Or should I start a new topic on that?

 

Thanks again.

[Tom W.]

Ok cool. 

 

You mean screenshots? On Mac it is Shift-Cmd-4 to screenshot a selected area but on Windows I can never remember what it is + have to google it every time (with much swearing)

[KenD]

No I mean screenshot a portion of the screen. As I mentioned above I cant use the snip or snapshot tool to grab a shot of that "view" drop-down because the drop down disappears as soon as I click away to grab the snip tool.

 

With Windows, there is a print screen key right on the keyboard, but that doesn't allow a partial portion of the screen, only the whole thing, then you have to crop away what you dont want to share. In my case, I have three monitors and it prints all three screens side by side. Zooming in to crop a part of it, the resolution is to blurry.

 

It would be nice if VW had a snip tool built-in to print or export just what you drag a marquee select around within the program/page. I haven't found such a tool.

 

Thanks

[Tom W.]

18 minutes ago, KenD said:

No I mean screenshot a portion of the screen. As I mentioned above I cant use the snip or snapshot tool to grab a shot of that "view" drop-down because the drop down disappears as soon as I click away to grab the snip tool.

 

With Windows, there is a print screen key right on the keyboard, but that doesn't allow a partial portion of the screen, only the whole thing, then you have to crop away what you dont want to share. In my case, I have three monitors and it prints all three screens side by side. Zooming in to crop a part of it, the resolution is to blurry.

 

It would be nice if VW had a snip tool built-in to print or export just what you drag a marquee select around within the program/page. I haven't found such a tool.

 

Thanks

 

That's what I'm saying: on Mac Shift-Cmd-4 captures a portion of the screen + it's very quick + easy. On Windows it's a faff.

[Kevin K]

Tom

we talked about this….you can’t use those Brit words on Americans,,,they are forced to immediately go to a dictionary or the internet to translate…:-)

[Tom W.]

Faff wasn't the word I wanted to use believe me 🙂

[mjm]

8 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

Faff wasn't the word I wanted to use believe me 🙂

O, I think you could hardly have picked a better word for the context…

[KenD]

There was nothing not understandable to me. I assumed faff was an acronym but I got the gist of what Tom was saying. I love learning new words for picturesque speech. I'll have to work that one in. I had a British girlfriend many moons ago. Without a doubt we dont speak the same language sometimes!

 

I get it. Mac=Awesome, PC=sucks. I've heard it from every Mac user.

 

I appreciate the help and attempt to answer my questions.

[Tom W.]

I'm sure PCs don't suck! It is lack of familiarity. Plus the PC I occasionally use is a complete rust bucket...

[Kevin K]

Ok...rust bucket...now that is something I totally understand....

also...KenD....Tom is a great guy...but never make direct eye contact with him....you will turn to stone 🙂

[Tom W.]

Remind me how much longer before you're allowed back into the US? 😁

[Kevin K]

hahahahahahahah....I think that ship has sailed 🙂

I am quite content on my little island here in French Poly.

[zoomer]

2 hours ago, KenD said:

I get it. Mac=Awesome, PC=sucks. I've heard it from every Mac user.

 

I have a Windows 11 PC too.

But also do not really know how to make a screenshot on Windows.

 

On Mac there are the mentioned short cuts, I read about them everywhere

but can't remember them. For Mac I bought a nice App that allows me to

set Projects that I can use from a list from Macs top Menu Bar.

Each has its own custom file type, file path, screenshot type and auto naming

options setup ....

 

So on Windows, I would look for something similar in Windows Store.

 

EDIT,

Now that you said,

AFAIR I use a Windows built in App for Screen Shots (and similar task options ?)

but I can't remember its name and do not want to boot into Windows now.

(something like "Ausschneiden" in my German language setting ?)

 

It also does most basic screenshot things.

At least the marque frame option, which I use 99% only.

Edited August 14, 2023 by zoomer

[KenD]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the jest. 🙂

 

Zoomer,

 

I didn't mean to hijack this thread subject with this topic. Windows (I'm still on 10, not a fan of change! It usually brings aggravation...) has snip and sketch built in. It works fine though it relies on screen pixels and some snips can be a bit fuzzy. You have to zoom in as close as possible for best resolution. The problem I was having was trying to get a shot of the cascade or drop down window when I click on the View tab. The instant you click anywhere else but that drop-down, it disappears, there is no way to drag a box or marquee around it with snip and sketch or similar app. Print screen is easy on the PC, one keystroke, but it prints all three of my screens as one image file and by the time I zoom in to crop what I want to share, its too fuzzy.

 

I dont think I could stand less than three monitors any more, now that I have them. I usually have many .pdfs open from the architectural drawings of the job I'm working on, plus vectorworks, plus image files, plus a web browser, plus Outlook, etc.. I need the real estate! The print screen issue is a small price to pay relatively.

[zoomer]

21 hours ago, KenD said:

The problem I was having was trying to get a shot of the cascade or drop down window when I click on the View tab. The instant you click anywhere else but that drop-down, it disappears, there is no way to drag a box or marquee around it with snip and sketch or similar app.

 

Ah, got it.

 

I have that too here on Mac.

AFAIK my special App makes it a bit better as I just leave the current App Window's

border to the Menu Bar, which looks a bit saver that switching to another App.

But there are still many drop-downs or other small menus in Apps that disappear

anyway as soon as you leave them with your cursor.

 

That is where I would search for these short cuts that I can't remember ...

(I just can remember that there was one for screenshots in frame mode too on Mac)

 

 

So I think you should look for something like that on Windows too.

I am sure there will also be a small App, Power Toy, Registry Hack or what ever

to bring you a frame selection, control over which monitor, or such things.