PeterT

quote: Originally posted by Snowturtle: Do you have any problems printing 3-D renderings with your setup? Unfortunately, we do not do much 3D work here, and our output is monochrome, not color, but I will say that the raster driver produces great results on both lines and fills, and we use all shades of grey for our fills and they are very smooth. But the processing time of a plot is based on the number of objects in the drawing that need to be rasterized. I imagine 3D drawings would take longer to process simply because of the greater number of objects, but I don't know if a PostScript plotter would speed this up.

In our office, we use MicroSpot's Ultra GraphicPak version 5.0 and we plot to an HP DesignJet 230 (non-Postscript) plotter with great results. We use the Raster driver however, not the HPGL2 driver. To get the plotter on our Ethernet network we are using an HP JetDirect EX Plus printer adapter. With this setup, each workstation plots direct to the plotter across the 10 Base T network. If you use Microspot's direct connection rather than the HP network adapter, you are limited to the speed of the serial connection (or parallel, I think). Also, all plots must pass through the plotter server workstation to get to the plotter. The only issue we have is with fonts. We are using Adobe Type Manager version 4.5.2, and we are forced to use the ATM preference setting "Preserve character shapes". If ATM is set to "Preserve line spacing", all the descenders are clipped from our plotted text. This is because our output is to a non PostScript device, which is briefly covered in the ATM documentation. Hope this helps, PeterT

Since grabbing a dimension by the dimension line allows you to modify the offset of the dimension from the object (i.e. the witness line length) and not move the dimension, VectorWorks must assume you intend to modify the object when you select it by the dimension line (shown by the fact that you only see the resize cursor, not the selection cursor). I agree though, this is bad. You might just want to select a locked dimension without modifying it to get info about it, or to copy it to the clipboard. You shouldn't have to respond to the "locked" dialog unless you try to move the dimension after selecting it. There is a work-around though. Just select the dimension by "option dragging" across the dimension line and you won't get the "locked" message.

I just discovered a work-around for the alias problem. It seems that if you make an alias of an entire folder of templates, name this alias "Templates" and place this in the VectorWorks application folder, all of the templates contained within the original item are accessable when you choose a template from the pull down menu. It seems a bit odd that the "create new document" routine will not recognize individual aliases placed in the templates folder, but if the templates folder itself is an alias, the routine works just fine!

It would be nice if aliases placed in the Templates folder in the VectorWorks folder could be used in the "Create Document" dialog when making a new file Currently if you try to open an alias from the "Use Document Template" pull down menu, VectorWorks tells you the file is unrecognizable. If aliases could be used as templates, it would allow you to keep templates in a common location, like a server, so that if templates are revised (we are always updating our templates), they could be revised in one location rather than having to copy the revised template to the application folder on each workstation. Also, if the templates pull down menu could show folders with sub-menus, it would allow the user to to keep various sets of templates in other folders to reduce the length of the pull down menu when choosing a template.

There are times when you do not want to save your file (when you intend to revert to saved for example). Perhaps the default is set to no as a safety measure for those who automatically hit the "return" key anytime a dialog comes up (a bad habit). You can always follow the "return" with a "command -s" anyway. More bothersome to me is the fact that the save dialog still comes up even if you have just saved! It seems the dialog routine is called up the specified time after the dialog box was last closed, not after the document was last saved, as suggested. It would be great if the routine could recognize a recent save. Otherwise, maybe the dialog should read:

quote: Originally posted by Caleb Strockbine: The bug was that if you deleted the shortcut for an item in the Misc. Keys pane of the editor (by pressing the Delete key), the delete key became the shortcut for that item. Thanks very much, problem gone! You described my situation to the letter. I had indeed re-assigned the third button of the mode bar to something other than "o" (I use "o" to call the offset tool). I did as you suggested, and bingo, my workspace is all better now. FYI: I am using VW 8.5.2 on Mac OS 9.0.4, but I may well have been using VW 8.0 at the time I modified the workspace originally. We, "the users", do really appreciate when you guys monitor our issues and provide responses. Thanks again, Peter Thayer

Hi Caleb, Thanks for your response. I am all for streamlining the open and close operations, but how can you streamline the "close" operation any more than you could the "save" operation if the document saves everytime you close it? On another note, when working in VectorWorks using the custom workspace I have created, I have lost the use of the "delete" key on my Macintosh keyboard. The key command still deletes text characters from within a text string, but it will not delete selected graphic objects as it should. The "clear" command works fine and so does the "cut" command or the keyboard shortcut "command-x", but "delete" does nothing. If I switch my workspace to any of the default workspaces (AEC for example), the "delete" key works fine. I can find no way to assign or de-assign any tool or command to the "delete" key in the workspace editor or I would assign the "clear" command to it. How have I lost this function, and how can I get it back without redoing my entire workspace?

De-select all, switch to top view, select the wall you want to reshape in this view, then switch back to front view. The wall you selected will still be selected, and now you can reshape it.

It sounds like you might have inadvertently moved one of the selection handles of your objects when they were all selected at once. This will cause what you have described. If this is the case, and the drawing was saved this way, there isn't really any way to spread the objects back out. If the objects were grouped, you could try pulling one of the group handles back outward, but there will be no way to snap to the exact point it started from. Unfortunately, only advice for this sort of thing may not help you after the fact: back up your files regularly with backup software.

It would be very helpful if there would be a way to view a list of all keyboard shortcut keys assigned to a given workspace, or better yet, a way to print it out for reference. Although the keys are displayed in the workspace editor, the window is not re- sizable, and tools or menu commands are nested in folders and subfolders, or shown only by clicking the "option" button, etc. It is almost easier to assign keys by just randomly clicking keys until you find one of them that does not give the message "that key is already used by..." Also, it would be great if there was a way to save changes made to your workspace as you go, while the editor is open. Currently you must click "O.K." to close and save your changes, then open the editor again to continue.

"Perhaps even better would be a pull down in the edit sheets dialog that listed all the saved sheets." Agreed, this would be a great improvement!

It would be extremely useful to have the value of a dimension display in the info palette when the dimension is selected on the drawing. Sometimes when zoomed way in on a drawing, I may only see the dimension line and the dimension itself may be off screen, but I still would like to select the dimension to verify it without zooming back out. Also, dimensions may be overwritten in the info palette by unchecking the "show dimension value" checkbox, and entering a new value in the leader or trailer field. But once you have done this, there is no way to visually check what the "true" dimension value is that has been overwritten. The main purpose of the info palette is to display useful infomation about selected objects. What info could be more useful about a dimension than its true value?

Is it possible to add the live scrolling function to VectorWorks which is now standard in most Macintosh applications? It seems you have "live panning", in that when you move your image with the pan tool, the scroll bars move in real time, why can you not add the inverse capability?

Aaron, The 8.5.1 Mac Updater that I downloaded only updates from 8.5 to 8.5.1, but if you have one for 8.0.x to 8.5.1 try reading the tech info message posted by Brian O in the VectorWorks 8.5.1 Important Information section of this message board. The Message is named "What to do when installing 8.5.1 upgrade on a Mac" and was posted on 1-3-00. It seems you must first trash some items before installing. Hope this helps, Peter Thayer [This message has been edited by PeterT (edited 09-25-2000).]

When a basic wall is drawn in VectorWorks using the wall tool, and then, the wall is ungrouped, the resulting objects are two lines, and a filled polygon (if a fill was selected when the wall was drawn). But there is another object, a zero thickness polyline, which occurs along the centerline of the wall as well. What is this polyline doing there, or is this a bug? How can any object have zero thickness anyway! This polyline started appearing in the wall tool as of VectorWorks 8.0, it did not exist in MiniCad. What's up with this?