Keith W

jimW, I might not be the only one that looks forward to your report-backs on how this goes. I'll be particularly interested if you succeed Keith

Bump: these are the scripts for the webinar today

Thanks for a helpful thread. I'm just looking at stories for the first time, after not even looking at VW for more than 6 mo. Yikes. My head is exploding. What I seem to already be tripping over is essentially split-level stuff. That is, I've got a project with an old basement, a new basement (18" deeper) and a crawlspace (5' shallower). I THINK I should create stories for each of those, since I can't create more than one "Foundation" (say) level type per story... but then the layers' that I try to create on the various stories overlap, which is apparently not allowed. I suppose I could create more level types, but that seems like a broken approach to the stories paradigm. Is there an obvious approach I'm missing here?

Getting Started Fundamentals, etc: is there an errata somewhere? Seems useful. I notice, for example, on p.19 it lists Alt as the key for move/copy on Windows, but I do believe it's Ctl.

For the record, I asked tech support about this. Pretty simple: I had the sheet layer page resolution set at 72 dpi. I can go to tools/organization/sheet layers/edit, and change the dpi (300 is probably fine, though I played with 1200 and it does matter on zooms, as far as I can tell, but that's probably just a screen thing, not a print thing, assuming you've got your scales right). Anyway, just wanted to set the record straight. This is painfully obvious once I actually look at it.

So for the record: I just talked with tech support. Apparently, some video cards have some kind of problem with GDI+ functions, if I understand correctly. I had to turn off GDI+ features on tools/options/vw preferences/display. The sheet layer page boundaries showed up immediately. The support guy said I might have some problems with transparent objects on printing, which I might or might not ever notice (or remember this relationship), and that it's all due to my video driver/card. This is a little unfortunate because this is my new(ish) desktop with ATI Radeon HD 5770 video card, and he seemed to indicate that the only thorough fix would be a different video card, but since I may never have any problem, I'm not going to worry about it. I haven't played with card drivers or anything yet. He also said that I could just turn on GDI+ when printing, and then problematic screen effects would be unimportant. Why am I adding all this detail to a solved problem? So I can search for it here when I forget how I solved it the first time! Oh, and maybe it will help someone else. Keith

Thanks! I never would have thought to look there. Honestly I can't imagine why it would be there. That machine is off so I'll have to check later, but I know Unified View was on, so that makes sense. k

In 2011 on my desktop, I can't see the page boundaries, and the option is greyed on the Page Setup dialogue. Obviously it makes printing sort of a PITA. I can add a sheet border, but I don't always need one (for quick sketches, for example). In any case, I ought to be able to have the page boundary on. Any thoughts? Keith

I'm just doing some 3-d object editing, and finding the same problem but MUCH worse: I've added/subtracted extrusions several times, and the jaggedness is severe, pretty much making the sheet layers useless. Maybe I've missed some other setting, but I think I've set everything to high, etc. Fast machine with good graphics. The problem crops up even on-screen in sheet layers, so it's not about pdf output or anything. It may be that it "recorded" the quality settings while the objects were being added/subtracted, so subsequent improvements to quality don't matter. I don't know: did anyone else figure anything out about this? Keith

Well, this is probably something simple, but... Open new file, create new sheet layer, and try to EITHER Page Setup OR Doc Settings/Doc Area (which takes me to the same place I think) and "Show Page Boundary" is grey, which means I can't easily place items on the sheet view (though I can add a border as a workaround). I tried adding a new printer in case it had something to do with that, but it doesn't seem to. It's probably something painfully obvious, my mind has been on other things and I've probably forgotten something basic. Thanks for any help.

I may be about to get a new system. I'm surprised I don't see more about system compatibility/advantages here, so.... Does VW2011 play well with Windows 7 64 bit? I THINK I know that it doesn't particularly utilize multi-core processors, or do I misunderstand that? I assume memory size is one of the most important issues, though I don't work on huge files... any recommendations? Finally, graphic cards: any thoughts? Memory issues? Thanks for help, sorry I can't frame more coherent questions, I'm still sorting things out. I'm considering an Intel Core i7 machine, probably between 4 and 8Gb of memory. I might be a moving from a laptop (all I've ever used VW on) to a desktop... Keith

I'm no expert, but... That seems like a tragic waste of the abilities of Vectorworks... Even if you don't model in 3d (which someone at your office should perhaps develop skills in, just to determine how useful it would be in your context), there's simpler integration when everything is in one file, I think. I don't know if you're using referenced viewports or what, now, but I don't really see the value of the separate documents. Design & Sheet layer viewports are simpler to use in a single document, it seems to me. I might be missing something, though. Things have changed a lot since VW12, and it was already pretty different than AutoCad (of that generation), though I didn't use either back in those days... Keith

So I assume that you don't use it, then... is that because it doesn't work well, or because you decided it wasn't useful even though it does what it's supposed to? Is there any way to fine-tune it's features? I can't tell if it's broken, or if I need to reinstall the driver or something.

I thought I'd seen people talking about use of some of 3DConnexion's products with VW: either SpaceNavigator or SpacePilot, for example. Anyone out there have any such experience? Is there any kind of interface/hook to enable? Keith

Wouldn't it be slick if the Viewer was available as a Google Wave extension? Realtime interactive online document review. I just wanted to float that idea out there. I think Wave is pretty interesting, haven't had a chance to use it yet, but it seems like there's a lot of potential there. However, that potential is basically dependent on the extensions available. Just sayin'.

Google docs is another possibility. I don't think this is such a great fit for Facebook. It is, however, sort of exactly what Google Wave is for, when that starts getting real use. At least real-time collaboration. The other part is just online file storage, and there are a zillion options. Another is to create a google or yahoo group for a given project: saves your archives, allows threaded conversations, includes a file storage area, photo area, real-time chat, etc. Keith

I have a problem and a probable bug that I haven't seen before. I've created several custom-projection sheet-layer viewports of a fairly simple 3-D model of extruded solids. 1) When I "background render" the viewports in Open GL, they come out bitmapped at fairly rough resolution. No changes in resolution settings that I can find improves that: not those accessed through the OIP, or Prefs. The viewports are fairly small scale, 1/16", but I can't imagine that makes a difference? 2) The apparent bug occured when I decided to foreground render hidden line on top of the Open GL. It came out with a black background, which I could not figure out any way to get rid of. When I returned to just Open GL, the black background remained, and all my efforts have not gotten rid of it. Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks.

I guess with VW 2010 you could use a mural or whatever they call that feature... though I'm not sure it'd be simpler. Ah, decal texturing, yeah that's the ticket.

As far as I see, I can't edit a piping run path in 3d: if I convert it (i.e. 3D poly), it's broken. I can't do an AEC/electrical/convert to piping run on anything but a 2d polyline or polygon, I believe. Am I missing anything? Perhaps there's no value to the piping runs tool, I was assuming it would give me some database info that would be helpful... Have I missed anything?

Oops. Thanks.

I lost my SL button from my menu bar, or whatever that's called (top of drawing, next to class/layer/view info). I haven't been able to figure out how to get it back: it's not the workspace editor, or preferences, as far as I see. Where oh where did it go?

Stupid question by residential design/builder: Why would one use the "glass wall" tool over simply using the wall tool, creating a 2" deep aluminum wall (or whatever), and inserting windows and doors? I would assume in the average curtain wall there are only a few standardized window/glass sizes, so it wouldn't be hard to mock them up... or am I missing something? Just curious, I don't really do curtain walls: though occasional greenhouses/sunspaces/conservatories might get the same treatment. Keith

Ah, the bent wire tutorial was very helpful. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, but I definitely have some clue how the vertex editor section for path objects in the OIP work. However, I still don't understand one thing: If I start creating a 3D polygon, and enter all the values manually using non-planar values, I somehow end up with a projection of the specified object onto the working plane. Do I have something turned off, or otherwise limited? Seems very clear that if you enter i,j,k values in as vertices, I should get a non-planar shape... I do note that the manual says it creates polygons "without height", in which case I don't really understand what the i,j,k entry process is for... I'd actually really like the "change from the last point" approach, but that's not what I'm getting. Keith

I'm a little mystified about 3d polygons. When creating them, you are invited to enter their loci in 3D: you can enter the i, j, and k values. But they are always planar, on the current working plane, as far as I can tell. Is VW just ignoring one field? When I read the description, it appears that their difference with 2d polygons is that they can be rotated, etc. I would like to detail complicated piping runs, which make twists and turns through 3-space. Is there any tool/trick that will help me do that? Keith

I don't think it could be the class, since I can change the fill to non-class-related fills... And I can change the class of the callout to no effect. I've since rebooted to no effect. I've tried different line styles and weights for the pen, but since I can change the text to white and see it against the black background as expected, I didn't expect that would do anything. It is an "old file" problem", this file was started in 2009 (ooops: 2008). I don't see it happening in newly started files. Keith