Design Vectorworks Dash Styles

[SPNicholl]

Hey everyone,

I'm finding that while I have loved using VectorWorks for the last ten years(?) or so, I find it annoying when I have to constantly change the Dash Styles everytime I work in a new document. Label Legends and Symbols I usually import from a Library file I've created so there isn't an issue there. I've set my line thickness to a default that I like working with. It's just the silly Dash Styles! Is there a way to set a default for these or a way to import them? I'm about to make a template file for when I need to start a new drawing, but that's not always practical if I'm working from a set of drawings from another designer or venue. There's gotta be a simple fix for this right???

-SN

 

[RickR]

I've been using VW for a bit less time but have used many other programs as well. As you know the best methods aren't always simple.

I suspect you aren't on v2013 as they have made line types a resource like symbols and textures. Before the change I made a symbol of some lines of each type. Import that into any file and you'll have your line types available. Keep in mind VW abhorrence of things with the same name when naming your types.

I strongly recommend a template file. I also use many of my own favorite files that hold the things I want to keep. That's the whole point of the Resources method. You can get almost anything from some other file.

I do two things to merge other files into my template. Reference the other file if it's a venue or set that I don't want to change. Or import the layers of the other file with the copy objects selected. That way you get everything but the sheet layers. If you want you can then change everything to your normal layers

 

[SPNicholl]

AH Thanks! I guess I should upgrade! I dug around a bit and found the Default.xml file for dash styles and figured I could manually add the styles I want and name them accordingly so that they're always there when i open vectorworks until then. But 2013 could certainly save me the trouble. I wish Nemeschenk had better compatibility from version to version, or at least used the same file extensions like Adobe does, it'd make everyone's lives easier...
-SN

 

[LandruDesign]

AH Thanks! I guess I should upgrade!...

While you'll still want to follow the "Template" advice, the new Line Types are one of the really nice additions in VW2013. You can now create types that contain geometry other than lines - like shapes or text:



Pretty nice...