Matthew Giampapa

Our VRML support is limited to the VRML 1.0 spec at this time. Our VRML support is tied into LightWorks, so while we would like to support latter iterations of the VRML standard, at this point it is unlikely to happen in the near future unless LightWorks plans to do so. It is my understanding that for all intensive purposes VRML is a dead system. While it was very cool in 1995, It never reached the critical mass of support needed for it to catch on. Archken, Chris Manus, and MikeB. Not everyone uses our product in the same way. Sometime it just comes down to differing opinions as to what is the best direction to move in. NNA maintains this forum to gain your feedback and assist customers. We consider it a valuable resource. When I feel that I am not fully grasping the nuances of issue at hand I do everything in my power to do so, and bring them to the attention of others here at NNA who are in a position to act. My role is to provide technical assistance and information about the capabilities of our software, not to make policy decisions. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by Chris Manus: ArchKen I suggest you buy VW9 try the viewer and VRML I?m talking about one applet That allows printing and allows 3D interactive presentations. The fact that you can edit E.g. move walls in the viewer I agree is ridiculous also drawing security is an issue (But for now I can Re-edit and combine and lock layers on my drawing before I distribute it) Saving Predefined Presentations only on sheets (Eg textures) has one major limitation for me. WHAT ABOUT COMBINATIONS? AND VARIATIONS? for eg brick Text.types, roof tile Text.types ,trim Text. etc. How many Sheets?(Hang on, you don't want your clients to be able to do any of that-OK WELL I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM HERE,YOU CAN DO WHAT YOU WANT,I'LL DO WHAT MY CLIENTS WANT! NNA-Class textures are a very powerful feature Why not let the client select them in the viewer on static views,3D rotate and Viewer user defined Walk through, to make changes to textures or presentations. I now see Manufacturers giving clients interactive Selections on Bricks and Roof tile textures why can?t I do this for my clients with the viewer using (client as opposed to predefined) class selection with veiws in sheets. As more VW users explore the use of the viewer and client presentations I?m sure this topic will heat up. Matthew can you please advise me On VRML why support it, if it doesn?t work in VWA? The viewer which allows my clients to interact 3D with The model doesn?t support textures but it does work (albeit, very slow when rendering walk through, a software issue?) , Then on the other hand we have VRML which supports textures? but doesn?t work, on large Models in VWA, using 3rdParty VRML Viewer,Where are NNA going, see if you can get an answer for me. [This message has been edited by Chris Manus (edited 09-25-2001).]

I see the problem with this. There may be something else we can do in the driver window similar to the disable driver text rotation and special processing checkboxes. I will enter a wish list item for it and ask if it is technically feasible. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by Archken: Just some commentary from me: I plot 180d using the printer driver whenever I can because it pushes the printable image towards the right, leaving natural space for the binding strip. My setup, however, is an ol' reliable MacPlot HPGL v5.0/ VW8.5.2/ MacOS8.6. For prints with greyscale graphics I find that only MacPlot Raster works (not MacPlot HPGL), but unfortunately it does not have 180 degrees, as mentioned. This is entirely within Page Setup, and since rotated text gets screwed up, among other things, and the same drawings need to go to other printers/drivers, rotating the entire VW drawing is out of the question. I suppose the hope is for the latest version of MacPlot HPGL (or its equivalent) to have the same 180d feature, remain fully compatible with the latest version of VW and the latest Mac operating system, as well as support the appropriate plotters. Four parties involved.

This entire thread has certainly generated some ideas both good and bad. Along with a lot of subjective opinions about how things should be. I will make a note of this and bring it to the attention of higher ups here at NNA to make use of your comments to the fullest. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support

This sounds quite likely, if you can narrow down the steps to cause the error after it has been fixed we can try to convert the file here and see how it behaves in version 9. We can also try to fix the root cause of the problem in the version 8 file as well. This sounds like the kind of problem which upgrading will fix, however I don't have sufficient knowledge of changes made in this area of the program to be sure. If you can email the file to tech@nemetshek.net I will have someone who specialized in worksheet issues look into the problem. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by StarGate: Hi, We are using VectorWorks 8.5.2 NL. We are experiencing a very nasty problem with worksheets inside a VectorWorks document. We developed a calculation document which calculate the prices of houses. So our designers draw the houses and the price is calculated in several worksheets. We receive a lot of #CELVALUE errors randomly. Regretfully it is no human error or wrong code which is the cause of this error. One time all worksheets are working fine and another time those same worksheets get error #CELLVALUE. We can fix the error by taking a new worksheet and copy the contents of the faulty one into the new one. Without any alterations the #CELVALUE error disappears in the copied version while remaining in the original one. Early this year someone removed or renamed the document in the Macintosh finder while it was open and afterwards saved it. Since then we got those errors. We made a completely new document ("Nieuw") and copied everything into it. But we still get those errors. Does anybody know how we can solve this nasty problem forever. Within a few weeks we will upgrade to 9.1, would this automatically solve our present problems? We would appreciate your help very much because those errors cost us time and money. Can we contact someone from Nemetschek technical department? We thank you very much in advance and wish you a nice day. Friendly greetings, StarGate System-administrator Woods Email : kristiaan.verberne@skynet.be Dessel Belgium

VectorScript is the solution here... Unfortunately I know next to nothing about it. I would suggest going to our website's VectorScript section, http://www.nemetschek.net/support/custom/vscript/vsdex.html or writing to vs_support@nemetschek.net Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by etweed: I have a drawing with a symbol that is repeated many times throughout the drawing. I have made a database that shows all the symbols with their x and y coordinates. Eventually I will need to export the data into another program, but now I realized I need to go back and have each symbol exported with an individual name. While the symbol can keep its identity, I want to make a field in the symbol's record format that will give each symbol another name. Question: Is there a way to do this for all of the symbols at once and avoid having to go one by one naming them? I had thought maybe something like "count +1" might work if I knew where to go to do it. Also, I know how to get the center of an object (xcenter, ycenter), but if I were to want to have the data for the ends of an open polygon or line, is there such a command? Eric Tweed Thanks in advance.

Well I can't speak with any authority on MacPlot, but I would think that it would be a simple operation to simply rotate the entire VectorWorks drawing 180 degrees. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by etweed: From time to time I use MicroSpot as well but I have never tried to plot upside down. I am responding to see why you wish to do so, and maybe there is some workaround we can figure out. Many moons ago I was having to plot using something else and I had to flip my drawings over to get it to print w/ the borders coming out right. It was a pain with multi layered drawings so I don't suggest that. Eric Tweed

Can you email a copy of the data you are using to me at Tech@nemetschek.net? I can take a look at it and see where the DTM is failing and if need be sent if off to Frank in the event I can't get it to run. Matthew Giampapa Technical Supoort quote: Originally posted by compusam: As a reply to my own post, I have exported my topography file (no DTM, just the polygons) to 8.52. For some reason, the DTM function worked this time whereas it would not work before. This same file will not work in VWA 9.01. When I open the VW 8.52 file in VWA 9.0.1, there is an automatic translation process to convert the file to the new version, and it works. In other words, as many have posted, VWA 9.0.1 has some problems. Personally, I am working in both versions. When something does not work in 9.0.1, I try it in 8.52. This is a pain in the a__, but what ever. Meanwhile I have spent over $500 in (non) billable time to isolate this problem. [This message has been edited by compusam (edited 09-22-2001).]

The Truss tool can generate some very complicated objects to render because of all the small components. When you print, the computer actually re-renders the image at the resolution of the printer. (Usually 300 dpi or more opposed to the screen resolution of 72 dpi) There are three things I think you can do. One would be to turn down the 3D conversion resolution in the 3D preferences panel under VectorWorks Preferences. The other suggestion I have is to turn down the printing resolution via the VectorWorks Options in the page setup dialog. However, the best solution in this case I would try first would be to use the Render Bitmap tool to create a static rendering of the document. This is like a snapshot of the rendering which uses your custom RenderWorks settings and creates a picture object on your document. This will not require you re-render when you print and also give finer control over the area that needs to be rendered. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by Ohran: I upped my virtual memory by quite a bit and haven't had the error message today. I have been having problems with render Truss. I have created a drawing using the VW Spotlight 9.0.1 truss tool. I want to give the truss a texture but it would take it. I then did a ctrl+k Convert to Group. And was able to get the truss to then take a texture but VW would lock up when I tried to render. So its been a little frustrating. I am also can't get my drawing to print once it is rendered. I go to print it goes through the whole printing process (I see a little flash on my plotter) then I get a dialogue box that says this action will need to either rerender or go wireframe. At which point my plotter stops thinking.

Andy, Yes, the 9.5 release of Spotlight will be compatible with Mac OS X. A free update will be available to anyone with a valid license for Spotlight version 9. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by Andy Voller: Will Vectorworks Spotlight be Mac OS X compatible when the standard Vectorworks is released ? Will the Carbonised release be a free upgrade to Vectorworks 9 ( and Spotlight ) users ? Thanks, Andy

If you are using windows or can get to a windows machine, there is a dos freeware program at http://users.visi.net/~ddbunch/dlglx.htm which can convert a DLG file to a DXF which can then be imported into VectorWorks. I have not tested this, so I do not know if it generates a DXF with any odd properties that VectorWorks can not handle. However, I have been told that we are looking into native support for these file formats in future versions of VectorWorks, most likely a future version of Landmark. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by Paul Smith: Anyone know of a translator that will convert ARC/INFO, MapInfo or USGS Digital Line Graph (DLG) Firm maps into a useable format in VW? Preferably something that fits a small town budget!

They were included because it is a Viewing program as well as a Printing solution for print shops with out the need for the rest of VectorWorks. The edit menu must at least contain the Undo command simply to navigation purposes. Other wise changing zooms and moving the page would require they revert to the saved copy or re-open the document. The layer and class features are also included for just this reason, They are tied to the sheets which are not always defined by all out users. Rather than have to save separate copies for each printed sheet, you can send the actual file with minimal instructions. To learn how to use the viewer to print takes all of a few minutes, where The functionality you are looking for is closer to a presentation mode. Personally, I think the ability to save a document as a self executing presentation would be a great feature, but as I understand it that is not the main goal of the Viewer. I will however enter a feature request for just such a thing. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by Archken: Chris, are you trying to provoke my reply? I truly think stripping Viewer down is the correct direction. How does keeping the Edit menu help? It needs to show fewer commands, menus and editing tools. Not more of them! It needs to be smaller as a free app, not larger. It needs to function merely as a viewer and not being suggestive as a potential CAD tool. The other direction would be expanding it with more features and more power and more size, which is absolutely the wrong direction. Stripping Viewer down so that it does not suggest great things to come (once the full application is purchased) may seem, at first, anti-marketing for NNA. However, in the longer term and for its singular purpose, it will absolutely benefit NNA. As a professional VW user, I do not want to distribute Viewer or tell anybody how to download it -- in its current form (now that I've carefully thought about it). There are too many "lack of control" issues. Instead of the current version, I think a smaller, simpler Viewer would be more widely used and welcomed, which will help registered VW users advance in their profession, thus solidifying the VW market share as well as expanding it at the grass roots level. A half-powerful, suggestive Viewer weakens the VW market share by eroding the registered VW user's control, thus alienating its usage by the very people who may otherwise want to globally broadcast it, in a sense shouting to the world, "look at my wonderful drawings!" VRML seems very promising. It's different. The more immediate solution, in my opinion, would simply be to allow a registered VW user to create his/her own version of Viewer. Workspace Editor is a good example. I suggest making it possible for the distributing professional to strip down (or change) Viewer's menus according to his/her audience. For textured interactive models, I would strip off everything relating to layers, classes, symbol palettes, worksheets, etc. For building contractors, I would strip off layers, classes, leaving just the Saved Sheets pop-up menu. For engineering consultants, I would strip off the entire Edit menu, layers, classes, leaving only the Saved Sheets and zooming tools. In fact, for everybody I would strip off the Edit and Organize menus and layers and classes. And the Palettes menu, too. Why show them?

We have actually found two bugs in this process and will update you further when we have a resolution. For future reference inquire about bug #23677 and #23678. Matthew Giampapa quote: Originally posted by Matthew Giampapa: Doug, I have tried this in both 8.5.2 and 9.0.1 and I am seeing the exact same results. Select the wall tool. Click to place the starting point. Tab to the Length and enter 3', press enter Tab to the angle and enter 0 or press the sift key to constrain to a common angle. Click to place the end of that segment Tab to the Length and enter 5', press enter Tab to the angle and enter 90 or press shift to constrain and use the mouse Click to start a new segment or double click to end the wall As far as I can tell this procedure is identical in both versions. Upon stepping through what you describe exactly, I see what you are talking about. There is a condition that if you do not actually move the mouse it does not accept that point. It is similar to when drawing a dimension line, if you want the line to be on top of the object rather than a distance perpendicularly away it will abort the dimension unless you move it out and then back again. I will document this in our bug list and see what other information I can find. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support

I'm told that right now we are selling new copies at about 50-50. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by MikeB: I'd like to know the ratio too. I use VW on both platforms. Mac at work and PC at home so I tend to notice these little differences. To be honest its a fairly easy transition with one glaring exception. The command key on a Mac is directly next to the space bar. The command key on a PC is the third key from the space bar. I know this has nothing to do with NNA but, I don't know how many time Ive gone home to draw and can't figure out why my short cuts won't work, only to suddely realize with considerable embarassment that it's user error. Again!! ;^)

Yes this has been fixed in the 9.5 release. Matt quote: Originally posted by Matthew Giampapa: I suspect this is a problem which has been fixed in 9.5, assuming its the large image size texture problem. If changing your texture size to something smaller than 12 inches does not resolve this please let us know at Tech@nemetschek.net and well will research this further. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support

Well that may actually be the case. The problem we had before is that the program was erroneously reporting "increase partition size" due to a bug in RenderWorks. It is quite possible to have RenderWorks simply run out of available memory. Under the default configuration Windows 2000 will automatically move to use virtual memory and continue to allocate more as RenderWorks requests it. To check your current configuration in Windows 2000, right click the my computer icon and select properties. Then go to the advanced tab. Click on the performance settings button and you will be able to define how large a swap file windows can use and where it is located. If you have a C drive with very little free space, this could be the problem. Windows is unable to have the swap file span volumes. You can either remove some files to free up space or move the swap file to a different volume. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by Ohran: I am using VW Spotlight 9.0.1 on Windows 2000 P3 256 ram. I have also been getting the same error, "Some actions aborted due to the lack of memory......" Any ideas?

Ok, we have confirmed that the only time internally that program will rename a workspace to a .vw2 extension is while the workspace editor is being used. If you are crashing in the workspace editor it could be causing this problem. Also, locking the file (by marking it read only in the properties) as I mentioned previously will prevent this from happening. Since your computer has a propensity for this that we can not duplicate I recommend that you make a backup copy of the Original Architect.vww file and simply replace that when it goes missing. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by Matthew Giampapa: Alright, I'm still waiting for some more answers from out engendering department. What I suspect it is that when the window positions of the pallets are being updated at before the program terminates. Some error condition is holding the program up and it is terminating before it can write the final workspace. I will reply here again as soon as we have a better idea how to fix this. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support

When you have the point prompt, (with a crosshair and dot cursor) you should not be able to resize at all, only move the wall. The important aspect here is the cursor icon. If you have a cross hair it should move, a diagonal arrow it should resize. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by MikeB: I have noticed in 9.0.1 you have to grab the "corner" (smart que) of the wall and not the "point" at the end of the wall. If you grab the "point" at the end of the wall the constrant using the shift key is slightly off 90 degrees. Happens every time. G4 733 384 MB RAM VM on

Doug, I have tried this in both 8.5.2 and 9.0.1 and I am seeing the exact same results. Select the wall tool. Click to place the starting point. Tab to the Length and enter 3', press enter Tab to the angle and enter 0 or press the sift key to constrain to a common angle. Click to place the end of that segment Tab to the Length and enter 5', press enter Tab to the angle and enter 90 or press shift to constrain and use the mouse Click to start a new segment or double click to end the wall As far as I can tell this procedure is identical in both versions. Upon stepping through what you describe exactly, I see what you are talking about. There is a condition that if you do not actually move the mouse it does not accept that point. It is similar to when drawing a dimension line, if you want the line to be on top of the object rather than a distance perpendicularly away it will abort the dimension unless you move it out and then back again. I will document this in our bug list and see what other information I can find. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by doug shaffer: Sean - Does the description above make sense? We do alot of renovation work, and the old (8.5.2) behavior was extremely convenient for drawing existing floor plans. I hope this can be changed for 9.5. thanks -

Alright, I'm still waiting for some more answers from out engendering department. What I suspect it is that when the window positions of the pallets are being updated at before the program terminates. Some error condition is holding the program up and it is terminating before it can write the final workspace. I will reply here again as soon as we have a better idea how to fix this. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by mnelson: Workspace Editor has not been used. We've added, removed and moved the stock pallettes but have not edited any of them nor edited commands, shortcuts etc. Norton Crash Guard, Clean Sweep, or Uninstaller are NOT installed.

As far as I can tell there has not been any kind of change. Holding the shift key down when drawing a wall should keep it constrained to it's previous angle... Try stretching a wall with out it and then toggling the shift key before placing the wall. It should snap back and forth from your mouse position to being in alignment with it?s previous position. If you are more concerned with keeping everything at a right angle, you may want to consider using a parametric constraint. On that pallet of red tools, there is a right angle tool. Use it to click on one object then the next and it will lock them at 90 degrees. (NB, the order which you click will determine which wall moves) Alternatively, you could also place a datum point at the corner (press the g key on the keyboard when over the point). If you have smart points turned on you will get a horizontal/vertical dotted line when within the snap radius of the horizontal or vertical to the datum. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by jnr: Hey Matt: I'm using 9.01 on win98se,lots of RAM. Stretching walls has become a pain that I don't recall in 8.5.2. Trying to maintain orthogonality when stretching any type of wall length now seems to be arbitary. I try stretching holding the shift key down (which is supposed to keep an object straight), sometimes it stays straight, sometimes not. If it doesn't, then I try it without the shift. I can't seem to find a consistent pattern and its starting to take up too much time. Any ideas? Did this change from 8?

Yes, the Windows version of VectorWorks 8 does include an option for OpenGL. At the time of release, there was no device independent OpenGL system available for the Mac. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by MikeB: I think Caleb has his head in the Mac end, which did not take advantage of Open GL until 9. I do believe the windows version of 8.5.2 had Open GL as a rendering option, but I don't think it was intended to be the primary Rendering engine until VW 9. Good Luck

The real problem here is that version 9.0.1 has a different default install location than 9.0.0 did. The RenderWorks installer defaults to c:\program files\vectorworks 9\, it need to be installed to the same location as VectorWorks 9.0.1 is, which now defaults to c:\program files\vectorworks 9.0.1. When you install RenderWorks, at some point you will prompted to tell it where to install to, and there will be a browse button to the right. Click browse and navigate to the 9.0.1 directory. Please note, you must actually navigate to inside the 9.0.1 folder. You will know you are in the right place when you hit ok and the area to the left of the browse button reads the 9.0.1 instead of 9. The other possible cause of the problem you describe is that there is no OpenGL IDC installed by the OS or your graphics card. The only version of windows that this is likely to happen is Windows 95, OEM release 1. The solution to this is to download Microsoft's software OpenGL ICD from microsoft.com, or to install an updated graphics driver from your card's manufacturer. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by Heather Francis: I had a very similar situation when I installed RW. I originally installed VW, and when I put the disk in to install RW it automatically ran to install, but did not ask for my information, so it did not complete installation. The only thing that worked for me was to completely uninstall both from my harddrive (all folders) and reinstall. I think I had to do it twice before it succeeded.

Yes, VectorWorks 9 is required if you want to directly import an AutoCADD 2000 dxf or dwg. The real benefit of the doing it in version 9 rather than saving it in r14 format and bringing it into 8 is that the new format actually stores layer scale in a form that VectorWorks can use. No more measuring an object and calculating a scaling factor by hand. Also if you work with others who use AutoCADD 2000, they will have a more seamless time working with documents you send back to them. I'm sure there are other more technical benefits to this as well, but AutoCADD is not a strong subject of mine. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by Heather Francis: I've spoken to TS about this, and the verdict is, 8.5.2 can only import up to R14, so if you're trying to import newer versions, they probably will not be recognized. Save them as R14, or have whoever is giving you the drawings do the same. Apparently VW9 can take up to 2000 files, but I haven't had a chance to experiment either.

Is this lockup associated with an error message such as "A required resource was ____" or a MFC error? The first thing I would recommend is to start the computer using safe mode (hit f8 while booting before the window logo comes up and you will be given a menu with this option) If this makes the crash go away, then there is some other piece of software or driver on your computer which is causing the crash. This is probably the kind of problem that we can best solve on the phone. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by rw806:

Typically we only have seen this type of error in VectorWorks 8 not in version 9. If you are using version 8, then that error message is actually accurate. The program can not handle inserting some objects at certain scales. I would suggest changing to another scale closer to 1/4 or 1/8 inch to a foot. (Sorry I can't do the metric conversion in my head) Remember, a 1 foot object will always be a 1 foot object in VectorWorks regardless of the scale you are working in. In your case I would find a scale that works and adjust the zoom level so it is comfortable to work. If you are using version 9, you should not be seeing this problem at all. Please go ahead and send both the file you are inserting into and the library file (if it is not one of ours) as an attachment to us in an email. (Tech@nemetshchek.net) If at all possible, please include a description so we can associate the problem with this message board thread. Matthew Giampapa Technical Support Matthew Giampapa Technical Support quote: Originally posted by jules: Hi everyone, i am drawing a floor plan in 1:50cm scale, whenever i try to add doors from the libraries as objects onto walls, i get script errors, such as this one: message window: A plug-in object parameter value is out of range due to inapropriate layer scale. Change scale and try again later. The protocol reads: Line #158: _224(_33,'pDraw3D',PDRAW3D);FPENFORE(_113[1],_113[2],_113[3]);_89 :=FPENSIZE;_88 :=FPENPAT;_87 :=FFILLPAT;_76 :=POFFSET;_116:=PWALLATTRS;_117:=POS(_12,_116);_118:=POS(':',_116);_115:=TRUE;IF (_118 <>0 | { Error: Identifier not declared. } | { Error: Expected a string. } | { Error: Argument is not the expected type. } | { Error: Expected ) } | { Error: Did not expect this after end of statement - missing ;? } Any Ideas? Thanks very much, Jules