Invisible symbols

[Squiidly]

I've spent the past few hours trying to get some plumbing fixture symbols to show up on my drawing. Earlier today I was able to place these varmits, but then they vanished. It seems that I can place some symbols, but others show only the 4 corner dots, and then vanish when placed. The class visibility is on. The classes are set to show/snap/modify others. I know this sounds like oe...

Also, is there an easy way to move symbols once they have been placed? The symbols I was working with only showed the "pullies", which I thought were only for streching, but were able to move the symbol, though crudly. The "arrow" wasn't showing up at all. One symbol wouldn't let me select it at all. I'm sure there's a better way. I feel like I'm still eating out of tennis shoes...

[Delmer]

That can leave a bad taste in your mouth for sure. I know you said the class is turned on, but check one time with all classes on just to make sure. If it shows up, edit the symbol to make sure all component parts are on the classes you want. Typically symbol components are in the same class as the symbol or in the none class. Same with groups.

I've also had similar disappearances if grouping two or more levels deep. If perchance your symbols are themselves within a group or have groups inside them you might want to see if eliminating this helps.

'Stretching' the symbol will indeed move it but that is a VW attempt to treat it like a group, when it can't be resized it ends up moving. I've never checked but it would make sense that that distance is half of what you stretched. The summary is that you should in fact be able to select it with the pointer or crosshairs and easily move it wherever you like.

[Robert Anderson]

Symbols are "containers" in Vectorworks. This means that they can contain other objects (the graphics that make up the symbol definition), and these object can have their own classes. What is in all likelihood going on here is that your symbols are placed in a visible class, but the objects inside the symbol are in an invisible class.

So try this:

1. Make all classes visible, and have class options set to "show-snap-modify".

2. Your symbols should now be visible.

3. Double-click an instance of your symbol. This will put you in "edit symbol" mode. Select the graphics and look at what classes they are using the Object Info palette. Make sure these classes are visible, or change the classes of the graphics to something that will be visible.

HTH, Robert

[Robert Anderson]

None is the default class. (It's like layer 0 in ACAD, if you're familiar with that). It's probably best to always have None class visible.

[Squiidly]

Thanks to both of you. You were correct that the symbol contained groups on another class. I'm surprised that these symbols, which came with the software, were created with lines and groups in a class called "none".