P Retondo

VW 9.5.2 has a bug that was never corrected which causes problems with OpenGL and the walkthrough tool (begins to display the kinds of artificats you describe, then crashes afer a minute or two of use). This problem was fixed in version 10.0. I would suspect that the pan tool is another victim of this bug.

I've experienced a similar problem. Oddly, after docking and re-docking, using different orders of insertion, I was once able to get all of my toolbars into two columns on the left. Don't know what magic made that happen. You can minimize the problem by making your 2-column tool palettes into a single-column by using the mouse/resize cursor. Then, when side-by-side, they will occupy some of that unused space below. NNA: this appears to be a bug of some kind. WinXP VW 10.0.1 P4 2.2G, 768MB RAM [ 12-27-2002, 04:20 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

Robert, Thanks, that is helpful. I think the job isn't completely done - e.g., with the Door tool you can't have a 3 or 4 panel sliding glass door, which is available with the Sliding Glass Door 2 tool. Hopefully this interface will be simplified - perhaps in version 10.5.

This is all great advice. Could we also have the ability to use the "Align" tool with windows and doors in walls? That is often a faster and more efficient method.

Is there a reason we now have so many window and door tools, with overlapping functions? I just upgraded from 9.5.2 to 10.0.1. I now have the following window tools: Simple Window 2, Complex Window, and Window. Window seems to be the same as Complex Window? I also have the following door tools: Simple Door 2, Door, Door and Sidelights, French Door 2, Sliding Glass Door 2, Overhead Door 2. What are all of these different options there for, and what does NNA recommend with regard to their use, particularly with regard to the use of Simple Window 2 vs. Complex Window 2 vs. Window, and Simple Door 2 vs. Door? It appears to me that these tools could be easily consolidated, and that the pull-down menu which allows you to choose between, say, "Swing Simple" and "Double Acting" could also allow you to choose "Overhead," for example. In other words, some of VW's famous simplification of the user interface would be in order! By the way,I brought my old workspace into the new version - went through everything, deleted crossed-out tools, added new tools, etc. This process seemed to work well. When I upgraded my 9.5.2 file to v2 objects, all of my windows and doors were changed to "new" PIO versions. Without doing the upgrade of objects, I was unable to edit them in the info window. However, unfortunately, things are not going smoothly at all - see my topic on window tool corruption on this board.

Peter, Thanks for your reply! Hopefully tech support will weigh in here. I checked, no issue with classes. It seems like a bug to me. The manual tells me to update to v2 objects, and when I did that all of my windows and doors were changed to the new PIO's, or what I assume are the new PIO's, with the new "collapsable" interface. That interface is also buggy, in that it sometimes collapses and sometimes doesn't. VW9.5.2 -> 10.0.1 Win2000 P4 2.2G, 768K RAM

I just installed v 10.0 and upgraded to 10.0.1. I converted a v9.5.2 project using the "Update to v2 objects" tool. First of all, some of my smaller windows came in at the wrong size (way big). Also, some of the shorter walls failed to join correctly. Most distressingly, the window creation tools fail to work. When I place a Simple Window 2 or a Window object, it may work the first or second time. But if I attempt to edit the window, suddenly it disappears. On subsequent attempts to place a window, the "ghost" image of the window does not come up, and after placing the window, nothing appears in the wall - but the info palette shows that a window is selected, and all the correct information appears! This behavior persists until I restart VW, then it goes through the same corruption all over again. This behavior occurred when I first installed 10.0, and continues after installing the 10.0.1 upgrade. I can't believe I'm the first person to experience this . . . maybe I'm doing something stupid or something strange is going on. This behavior seems inconsistent in its details; i.e., I can't pin down exactly what is causing this corruption. I even experienced window tool corruption in a virgin v 10.0 file.

Robert, While you're here, it would be terrific if we could align a door or window with a locus, the way other objects align. Fussing with the "position" information box is difficult, since you have to get out your calculator to figure out what numbers to enter. Also, I find that you can't use "Duplicate Symbol in Wall" with objects created using a PIO. The tool returns a "No symbol selected" message, if I remember correctly. [ 12-13-2002, 08:45 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

Kristen is most likely right. The best way to control what you see in a perspective view is to start with the "Set 3D View" command (View->Set 3D View).

Bruce, et al, You can manage class visibility for any set of objects, including layer links, by using "Save sheet" options. Is it your complaint that this utility doesn't work the way you want it to? I find that "viewport" cropping is the only ACAD capability lacking in VW. But I don't work with Workgroups, so no insight into that problem.

Archken, Glad to see you are back! By the way, at least one of your suggestions has made its way into version 10 - the ability to elevate a curved surface without all the extraneous lines. At least, this is what is being advertised. Still using version 9.5.3 until next week or so. Automated/live generation of sections and elevations is the future of CAD. If VW can't lead the way, the program won't survive. How about one small step in that direction?

Hopefully this is not flogging a dead horse. I agree that the layer link system is superior to viewports, which have all kinds of fussy difficulties. What we want, which is something it would seem NNA programmers would not have too much trouble implementing, is the ability to crop a layer link in the same way ACAD viewports can be cropped. Instead of creating an image of the entire layer being linked, make it possible to create a bounded image of that layer. This is the kind of extra feature that is simple, useful, and would sell a lot of ACAD users on VW! Don't change anything else about layer links (except maybe some improved snapping and cursor cues).

Please make it possible to disable the generic "object" snap mode, while still allowing us to snap to specific object points, such as corners and centers. "Object" snap can lead to inadvertant errors when you think you are snapping to a particular point, but a little mouse move while clicking actually snaps you to some random "object" point. It slows down the pace of my work to have to double-check my cursor cues every time I click. I understand from Katie that "object" snap points are disabled when smart cursor cues are turned off, so this should be a fairly easy thing to implement by allowing that mode to operate with smart cursor cues on.

If they export their drawings in .dxf or .dwg format, you can import them into VW. Any further detail about how to do this is beyond me since I don't use Archicad much, and since the particulars are going to vary from project to project and with different working styles.

Katie, Yess!! that is what I was getting at. Sorry that I can't have what I want! I'll put this on the wish list, since it seems the code to exclude "Object" already exists, it just doesn't operate when smart cursor cues are on. My current work-around, which has alleviated the problem somewhat, is to increase the snap radius. [ 12-05-2002, 09:32 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

Katie, I always work with snap to grid off. The program still snaps to "object" at just about any point on any entity. This is true with several snap modes: object, intersect, etc.

Is there a way to disable the "object" snap without disabling snap to corners and other particular object points? I'm getting a lot of inaccuracy using 9.5 when I intend to snap to a corner but inadvertantly snap to some random "object" point. Can this mode be customized (VW 8.5.3, VW 9.5.2, VW 10.0.1)? P4 2.2 WinXP

It is really a problem to work between VW and Archicad. The best you can do is to export a .dxf or .dwg file from each program to bring changes into the other platform, then edit your drawing based on the geometry of the changes. Solids go back and forth as 3D polygons only. Note that the color of a 3D shape will not be the color you selected for the surface when translated into .dxf - it will be the color of the lines.

Katie, For the benefit of the rest of us, could you please give specifics on the upgrades and fixes involved? Thanks!

I use the GeForce 4 Ti card, and it works just fine (P4, WinXP, VW 9.5.2). Actually speeded up some operations that demand fast screen redraw.

Katie, Our plotter 650C is identified as C2858B. There is some confusion about exactly which driver is being used. The test sheet indicates version 4.00, but I have version 2.0.0 on my local hard drive.

Katie, You may have hit upon the problem - there is no choice of D sheets, just the one option "D size sheet." I find it odd that a plotter wouldn't print an Architectural D sheet. There is no custom size available either. AutoCAD doesn't give us a problem with this plotter - I guess it's their plotter interface software coming into play.

Our HP DesignJet 650C will not plot correctly using VW 9.5.2. We have recently updated the driver, and it plots correctly with AutoCAD. The problem is this: When you select a D size sheet in print setup, then go to Page->Set Print Area -> One Page, you get a printable area of 32.58 x 21.51 inches. This is way smaller than the printable area the machine is capable of: 35 x 23. Moreover, the image is set on the sheet so that the top margin is 1/2 inch, and the bottom margin is 2" or so. With roll feeding, it cuts off the sheet at around 33" instead of 36". Apparently the driver for this machine is not interacting correctly with VW. Please advise about how to solve this problem! System: Printer is shared from our server, operating with NT4.0. Server has driver version 4.00 installed. My station: WinXP, VW 9.5.2, P4 2.2G, 512MB RAM

Whitecap, This is a geometry question. "Pitch in 2 directions" means that it is pitched from a line that is angled with respect to the orthogonal roof. Find the angle of that line in plan, the slope that you want, and just rotate the desired roof plane (in the XY plane) to the desired plan angle. Then you have to figure out exactly where the valleys lie . . .

Alexandre, You are right, this is the reason some at NNA have a mental block about making this change. You are also right that with many of the specialized 3D tools, such as roofs, the source object in edit space moves with the 3D object the way we would like it to. Complications arise when the 3D object can be tilted with respect to the Z axis. What transformation should be applied to the 2D edit space then? As I have argued, the same transformation which would allow the edit space origin to coincide when using a working plane in the new tilted orientation. The point is to make coordinate systems consistent between the ordinary 2D working space and the object edit 2D space.