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Architect's Sign Seal on Sheets - Easiest Method?


Shortnort

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Thank you. 

This is a little tricky once the drawings are released. Some sheets may be revised and require a new date on the seal while others keep the original date.  I guess linking the seal date with the revision date is what makes the most sense. 

I use the drawing sheet Stamp Text link for "PRELIMINARY", etc.  

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Your vector graphic of the seal must be on the same "layer" as the titleblock. It is not possible for it to be on a different layer and in the same symbol. You will need to edit the layout of the titleblock and place it, best practice is to place it on a independent class, so that you can control whether or not it is visible/prints. Let me know if you need more detail.

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It sounds like you need a little bit of background on visibilities and "container objects"

 

If you have nested objects, then the higher level objects are "containers" for the objects inside them.  The main container objects are things like Groups and Symbols, but PlugIn Objects (PIOs) can also be containers.

 

For a contained object to be visible then every container object above it (ie every group if you have multiple levels of nested groups) has to be visible as well as the object itself.

 

So if you have three Classes, A, B, C. And you have a Title Block Boarder (TBB) in Class A, the Symbol that is the title block geometry (Edit Title Block Layout from the Edit Style dialog box) in class B and your stamp object in class C then you will have to have all three turned on to be able to see the stamp.

 

Take a look at this very simple file.  If you turn off the Stamp class the stamp disappears while the TBB remains.

 

Select the TBB and from the Style pull down choose Edit Style. 

Select Title Block from the left hand column and then click the Edit Title Block Layout button.  Look at how the rounded rectangle is in the Stamp class while the rest of the TBB is in the None class.

 

Hopefully this will help you to understand how to edit your title block.

 

Or by any chance do you have your Class Options set to Active Only? That would make only objects in the active class visible. If those objects are inside container objects then they will not show.

 

HTH

 

TBB with Stamp Class.vwx

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You are correct that it should be easier.

 

But there is another segment of the population who would never put their stamp into the VW file. They want to print to PDF and then review that the output is correct and then add the stamp onto the PDF.  That is really the only way to be certain that what you are issuing is what you want your stamp on. For them the possibility of having a wrong class or layer turned on or off or just a glitch in the creation of the PDF could result in a drawing that is wrong but stamped and issued.

 

It all depends on your personal level of bravery and what you are comfortable with.

 

And if you end up having to share the VWX file with someone else you may not want to have your stamp embedded either. Even if it is just within your own firm.

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I understand the logic of that.  But with today's technology, if someone wants to"steal" your stamp it is a very simple process of scanning and pasting... Even years ago people would copy and sticky back onto documents.  

 

As a small business and time being a premium, it just seems that there should be a much simpler way to turn on and off the seal

 

I am still having problems importing the seal into the titleblock on another layer.  I have spent hours now trying to get this to work and the image I import is huge with a stamp attached even though the graphics I used does have that stamp.  I will just find a work around.

 

Thank you for your time and patience.

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13 hours ago, Shortnort said:

I understand the logic of that.  But with today's technology, if someone wants to"steal" your stamp it is a very simple process of scanning and pasting... Even years ago people would copy and sticky back onto documents.  

 

As a small business and time being a premium, it just seems that there should be a much simpler way to turn on and off the seal

 

I am still having problems importing the seal into the titleblock on another layer.  I have spent hours now trying to get this to work and the image I import is huge with a stamp attached even though the graphics I used does have that stamp.  I will just find a work around.

 

Thank you for your time and patience.


its really not that hard if you build the graphics correctly.  Personally, I drew my seal and signature years ago in autocad, prior to using vectorworks. A scan of your seal may be more trouble than its apparent simplicity may lead you to believe.  You say “layer” but I’m guessing you mean “class”.

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Here in Victoria BC where I live.  The electronic seal has to be placed on the PDF document and is connected to a verification program.  So if you submit your documents to the city electronically they can verify it is actually your seal.

If you submit hard copies they will only accept signed originals, no copies or printed seals.

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On 2/4/2022 at 8:17 AM, Shortnort said:

I understand the logic of that.  But with today's technology, if someone wants to"steal" your stamp it is a very simple process of scanning and pasting... Even years ago people would copy and sticky back onto documents.  

 

As a small business and time being a premium, it just seems that there should be a much simpler way to turn on and off the seal

 

I am still having problems importing the seal into the titleblock on another layer.  I have spent hours now trying to get this to work and the image I import is huge with a stamp attached even though the graphics I used does have that stamp.  I will just find a work around.

 

Thank you for your time and patience.

I have my signature and stamp on their own class within the title block layout.

I then have written a quick script that I run before printing to PDF that will either turn the signature and stamp on, or, turn it off.  When it is turned off, a 'NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION' label turns on in place of the stamp.  One mouse click before printing gives me peace of mind that the drawing set is either issued or not.

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  • 2 years later...

Presumably your engineering consultants are printing / creating PDFs of their own discipline sheets using your Title Block border (that you have sent them as a DWG or something else).
 

Then — as the architect — all you have to do is add their PDF sheets into your master set. Each design consultant takes care / is responsible for of their own stamp. 

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3 hours ago, Jeremiah Russell said:

Is there a way to have more than one stamp on the title block? I.e. we have engineers that we want to show their stamp on the MEP sheets but not our architectural stamp. They are in the same location. Is there a way to control visibility on an individual sheet?

You would need to class the stamps and signatures separately by discipline.  I do the same depending on the state I am working in.  You can then either manually turn the classes on or off; or, create a script to do it for you.  As mentioned in my previous post, I created a script to turn my stamp(s) and signature(s) off and then turn a 'not for construction' label on in its place.

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6 minutes ago, Ron Kwaske said:

You would need to class the stamps and signatures separately by discipline.  I do the same depending on the state I am working in.  You can then either manually turn the classes on or off; or, create a script to do it for you.  As mentioned in my previous post, I created a script to turn my stamp(s) and signature(s) off and then turn a 'not for construction' label on in its place.

Except that if I turn off the class with my stamp it universally turns off my stamp on all pages, not just the engineering pages. I was hoping there was a way to do this so I could print the entire set with my title block, my seal, and their seal. then send out for digital signature. 

Creating a separate title block doesn't necessarily solve the problem of duplicate seals being visible, but could be a workaround. I just want to avoid that as it creates confusion in the office when working with multiple people.

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21 minutes ago, Jeremiah Russell said:

Except that if I turn off the class with my stamp it universally turns off my stamp on all pages, not just the engineering pages. I was hoping there was a way to do this so I could print the entire set with my title block, my seal, and their seal. then send out for digital signature. 

Creating a separate title block doesn't necessarily solve the problem of duplicate seals being visible, but could be a workaround. I just want to avoid that as it creates confusion in the office when working with multiple people.

I would manually class all the stamps separately: eg: Stamps-Arch, Stamps-SE, Stamps-PE, Stamps-CE.  And then have only the respective stamp class  turned on, on its coordinating  title block.  To make life easier, you could then create a script to turn them on or off as needed.

Edited by Ron Kwaske
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I know this is not the Title Block centric solution you are looking for, but how about — 

  1. Create separate 2D symbols for each of the discipline’s stamps, all placed in the same dedicated ‘Professional Stamp’ Class.
  2. Manually place each respective Symbol stamp on all of the Sheets as needed… Copy & Paste in Place… repeat.
  3. Then when it is time to Print the Set and send out for Digital signatures, just make sure that ‘Professional Stamp’ Class is turned on.

In my opinion, this would be easier than managing two (or three, or four) separate Title Blocks.

 

Edited by rDesign
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One of my clients puts the seals on the Sheet Layer instead of within the title block.  It’s a brilliant solution for a number of issues.  Scripts automate the removal of the seals when needed.

 

Another client doesn’t add electronic seals to the CAD/BIM and uses Acrobat instead, which forces the responsible party to seal them like we used to do with wet seals.  There’s something to be said for that approach too.

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