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Henry Finch

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Posts posted by Henry Finch

  1. I have a very basic question which I'm sure I missed in the VW9 manual or earlier discussions. To select many objects in VW8 you held down SHIFT as you selected objects. You could use a number of selection marquees of selecting to get all the objects you wanted selected. In VW9 as you select objects with shift down any objects previously selected get DEselected when within the selection marquee! I can't find the combination of keys or method to only add to selected objects. The present VW9 method only allows you to selectively deselect objects. (Using option-select selects too many objects in many cases)

    HenryIt took VW9.5.1 before I would use VW9 because of speed issues; now I'm adapting to the changes.

  2. Irving,

    As CEA said, the HP printers are all software postscript meaning the postscript is calculated by a software program in the host computer and then sent to the printer. This is slower and in the case of MACs has bugs in this software program - according to other posters.

    The GCC laserwriters have hardware postscript meaning the postscript file is sent to the printer and the printer figures out the postscript. It's faster and I guess less likely to have problems.

    Please correct me if I'm wrong with this assessment.

    The GCC paper size of 13" wide is also very attractive.

    Henry

  3. The HP 4MV 11 x 17 hardware postscript machine has been wonderful for us at 600dpi. Prints complex 1/2 size architectural drawings exceptionally sharp in just a few seconds and beautiful grey scale and black and white photo for graphics proofs from photoshop and Quark. Used machines are often available at ?$500?. It was $3000 new quite a few years ago. We have printed tens of thousands of 11 x 17s with minimum service. You probably really want info on new machines?I see that the HP5000, 11 x 17 B&W, fast, $1400., is software postscript RIP so probably not good for MAC. It looks like the new machine after HP4MV but without hardware RIP. Oh well. I just checked the 8000 and 9000 series from HP - all emulation postscript. They must have stopped making hardware postscript laserwriters!

    GCC looks very good. The company has been around quite a while. Their Elite XL20 series starts at $1600. 600+dpi, 20ppm, builtin postscript and 13" x 35" max paper size. Check out:http://www.gcctech.com/products/20ppm.html

    Henry

  4. Fred,

    My problem now is getting the 350C to work. It wasn't used for a month and since (10 months) it constantly gives bad cartridge errors. There are only so many new cartridges you want to stick in the thing at $34 each x 4. A repair place says it isn't supported by HP any more? And it's print head needs replacing?? I have found a page on HP tech help on cleaning more than just the cartridge heads.

    The secret to the machine as I've heard is printing at least one sheet a week. (Or take out and store cartridges in ziplock baggies with a drop of water.)

    People do complain about the lack of drivers for the Mac, and NNA not addressing the issue. But as you say, Micrpspot takes care of it. A friend with Archicad uses an Encad cadjet 2 with the driver from Archicad but he had to pay $4000 or so for archicad and much more for upgrades than VW.

    I guess the low cost option for sole practitioners is an HP 430, D size, black only, (I just saw it new for $1283, usually $1495.) and Macplot. That's less than 2 grand. Or the HP500 ($2500.?), (black, red, yellow, blue cartridges make for lots of color), used with Macplot?? or Encad cadjet 2 (black and one combo color cartridge) with Macplot. Most of the other printers are much more money for workgroups. The other HPs are 4 grand and up.

    We use the Epson 3000 which comes with good postscript rip, 17" wide x long which was $850 refurb and now $900 or so new, with giant color cartridges, poor sheet feeding, but prints most of 17" wide as compared to Epson 1520.

    Henry

  5. Katie, It looked like it was working but when I went to post a topic it wasn't allowed. Could you post a topic? Like:

    What choices are there for a sole practitioner architect to get a $2000 D (24" x 36") size low volume printer that works for VW9.5 on a Mac. Fancy color quality unecessary. Accurate line work and fills mostly in black and white. And not too slow.. Maybe 1 - 4 minutes per print. What companies besides HP fit the above specs? What about getting a cheap wintel machine ($450) that for a print server? Would postscript then not be needed?

    Henry

  6. I'd like to hear suggestions for a D size (24" x 36") printer for MAC; VWA9.5, for one person or very small network. Black and white; some spot color would be good. This is a setup needed by many sole practitioner architects who use VWA. The printer is for construction documents and NOT fancy color output.

    (I have an HP350C on powerplot that doesn't work anymore. Powerplot is discontinued and doesn't work with Mac sys9 I'm told.)

    Many have said that the HP software postscript RIP is very flawed. I think that is what goes with the HP500ps. I see Macplot with a printer is an option. Or should I get a $450 wintel machine to output to an HP printer? Then would I get the nonpostscript HP500?

    Is there an Epson or other company equivalent to the HP printers which is very low cost, say $2000, D size and works with MAC? ... and is reasonably fast? (1 to 4 minutes/print, line work mostly)

    Henry Finch, ArchitectNewton MA USA CW

  7. I have a Mac G3/266 416MB ram, OS9.0.4, VWA9.5.

    VWA 8.5.2 works very fast No hesitation.

    VWA9.0.1 was way too slow to be productive on my machine. Long (seconds) hesitation between most operations.

    VWA9.5 is very nice and much faster than VWA9.0.1. However, it still has a 1/2 to 1 second hesitation between many commands and operations. I am noticeably slowed down in production. I'm pretty sure I have enough ram and the proper amount assigned to VWA. The question is; How much faster would be a G4 733mhz for normal production. I understand that rendering would be much faster, but I am most interested in knowing whether the hesitation associated with basic tool use is decreased? (I have also heard the word that somewhat speed bumped Macs probably will be introduced in the next few weeks. 800Mhz, 900Mhz, 1Ghz)

  8. I'm having trouble with Option Drag Duplicate. It often doesn't work in VW9.5. Sometimes it duplicates the object sometimes not. It never works to option drag and then push shift to constrain the duplicated item. (It worked in VW8.5.2) Is this a bug or are there new rules?

    Henry Finch, ArchitectNewton MA USA CW

  9. Perhaps I'll jump in on the complex roof creation discussion. It looks like no one has answered your list of roof questions.

    1. True. Create roof from polygons or walls is for very basic roofs. I have to say that I never use it. Create roof face does just that, create a face at a time. A third thing to remember is that you can use any solid as a roof for a model. I have created many barrel solids to be used as roof elements.What you also seem unaware of is the EDIT GROUP command. You can always edit slope and other variables of a roof face in the OBJECT INFO pallette. But to change the face plan shape, select it and EDIT GROUP. Make changes and EXIT GROUP. I have keyboard shortcuts for these since they are so helpful. They are under ORGANIZE. The other command you should be famuliar with to work with complex roofs is PASTE IN PLACE. You use this to paste registered guide lines on the roof face to guide in editing the face.

    2. T&F. Probably more F.You can't use extend and trim on roof faces. You can however still edit the 2D polygon of a roof face in EDIT GROUP described above. For simple roofs of the same pitch it is fairly easy to know the intersection lines for the roof faces. The challenge is to do this with roof faces of different slopes and base creation heights. I sometimes create oversize faces and view the roof layer in PLAN 3D orthogonal (not perspective) in Quickdraw 3D interactive (VW8.5.2) or OPEN GL VW9.5. Make sure to throw in a LIGHT so the roof faces will show the insection of the oversize faces. Now draw a line along this intersection. You cannot snap but can get very close to the exact location. CUT this line out. Select one of the oversize roof faces. EDIT GROUP. You now have the polygon used to make the face. PASTE IN PLACE. The line will be placed on the polygon at the correct intesection. Cut away the extra roof with CLIP SURFACE or just edit the polygon the usual way. Remember to delete the guide line before EXIT GROUP. Do the same to the other roof face. Now these roof faces are cut at the correct intersection. Once you get good at this it becomes quite fast. I remember struggling with it when I first got the program. The first day I got the program I started with 3D and spent 10 hours creating a complex roof I could do in 20 mintes now. Complex roofs of different slopes and heights are custom work. All custom work takes more time. At least it can be done in VW.

    3. I have just started using VW9.5 and have to answer for VW8.5.2. A roof object is a grouped collection of locked roof faces which can be minimally edited. UNGROUP the roof object and UNLOCK the resulting roof faces to be able to edit them.

    4. see above

    5. I don't understand the question. Perhaps they are just working with many roof faces on one layer and not combining.

    I hope this helps. We all do things different ways. VW offers so many different ways to do the same thing that it is overwhelming at first. VWA tries to standardize some of the methods.

    Henry

  10. could you please update the Printing Read Only area in the Support Bulletins.

    I'd like to hear about the pros and cons to the HP 500ps for MacOS. How long would a 24" x 36" with mostly black lines take to print from a G3 or G4 machine? Is MacPlot needed or suggested with the 500ps? Should hookup be through Ethernet?

    And what about Encad plotters? Can they work well with MacOS and VW 9.5? What are some ways to hook up?

    What are your suggestions on MacPlot software. What configurations work.

  11. While we are talking about PLOTTING/PRINTING, it is about time the READ ONLY area of this message board update the PRINTING/PLOTTING information area. The last Nemetschek post is almost one and a half years old.

    We need printing SOLUTIONS. My HP350C (24"x 36") hasn't worked for a while and I want to get a new large format plotter. I used powerplot which is now defunct.

    I would like to see a list of particular solutions for different machines, printers and operating systems. This list would grow over time. Advantages and disadvantages of each solution would be given. Each solution could be put in a chart giving information on everything from hardware and software setup to printing speed and network capabilities.

    Thanks

  12. I have had the HP4MV for many years (which is similar to the HP4V except with postscript). I have gotten in the habit of drawing in a 22 x 34 box on 24 x 36 sheets setup. Then when I print out to the 4MV I use a 50% reduction to get 11 x 17. Then the reduced sheets have a standard scale and are great checkprints and often great field prints. To enlarge just use 200%. A 1/4" = 1'-0" becomes 1/8" = 1'-0". Printing out a sheet at 50% at 600dpi is very sharp and at a few seconds a sheet is very fast. The slightly larger border used is worth the standard scale print.

  13. Whenever I get new software or software updates I am very careful on changing over everything right away. My approach is to put the update on an extra machine to test drive until I feel it works as advertised. I am still testing VWA 9. For the time being I will keep working very productively in VW8.5.2. When I do switch over to 9 it will be for new files only. I will still work in 8.5.2 for all files started in 8.5.2. until I completely fill comfortable that I can import 8.5.2 to 9. I am amazed that some companies take the incredible chance of changing over all at once. This system has worked great since MC5. NO down time. VW9 should be an improvement but what's the rush? It's not that big an improvement over 8.5.2.

    On another note. Nemetschek should immediately extend the warranty period on VW9 to promote confidence. I think it highly unlikely they have these problems to promote allplan. The VW programmers are probably working many allnighters to repair the bugs ASAP. They want to keep their jobs and if bugs continue it's bye-bye.

    Henry

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