Ed Wachter

When I need a sloped slab of constant thickness I use the roof face tool.

Thank you. I also did not know about the Structural Member Tool. Ed

That bit of history helps. So it sounds like it's actually safer to use the Framing Member tool. I used it after you suggested it yesterday. That seems much better for placing a horizontal member although it appears that it will only place a horizontal member. And it appears that I still need the Wide Flange 3D tool to place columns. Thanks all! Ed

@cberg Thanks for reminding me of the Framing Member tool. I'll add that back to my current workspace. Yes, if the "Wide Flange-3D" tool cannot place a horizontal WF beam, that would be kinda sad. But I think I'll survive, even if I have to rotate them after inserting them. Ed

Oh, I thought there was only one. The "Wide Flange-3D" tool. Ed

Whenever I place a wide flange, it defaults to a vertical orientation (a column). So when I want to place it as a beam (horizontally) I need to change to a 3D view and rotate it. Is it possible to place them horizontally to begin with in Top Plan View? Thanks, Ed

Thanks @shorter. I wasn't aware that we could do that. I've never applied any geo-referencing. You mentioned that my old approach is not a good workflow. I think I've also heard that having geometry far away from the origin can cause problems. Is that what you're referring to? Thanks, Ed

When we include a survey as a background behind our site plans we use a design layer VP and reference an VW external file that has the surveyor's DWG imported. Usually the resulting VP is far away from the origin of the active file. Today the VP I just created is over a million feet away. I just moved so it's roughly centered on the origin. Is there a way to force the external file to be centered on the origin? Am I missing some setting for this? Thanks, Ed

Thanks for the comments. I've been mostly offline for the last week as I struggled to recover from the disastrous "upgrade" from Monterey to Sonoma. I was completely unable to use any version of VW in Sonoma (with the external monitor). Apple Support says it's not possible to go backwards to a previous OS. Fortunately, our Mac consultant was willing to visit the office with a thumb drive that contained Monterey. So I am up and running again in Monterey again. VW2023, 24 & 25 are all working normally. @E|FA I assume you're on the latest OS. Our consultant advised that we upgrade only as far as Sonoma. We're using M1 chip Macs from December 2021. If I ever need a new monitor, I'll look for that BenQ model. @zoomer thanks for explanation of scaling / resolution. I did not see the button for "default" scaling, so I don't think I tried that during my time in Sonoma. But looking at it now, I think that default is a deal breaker since it scales the image larger than I want. I am happy to be getting back to my old job. It's way more fun than troubleshooting OS conflicts. We will stay on on Monterey until we need new computers. Thanks, Ed

With the build-in Retina display the System Settings show you which resolution / scaling is the default; presumably the others would be "scaled". But the System Settings do not show me if there is a default scaling for my external monitor that might be easier on the graphics processing. If anyone knows more about this, please let me know. Just in case it matters, my monitor is an 27-inch LG 4k model. I don't see any drivers that can be updated. Thanks all! Ed

Changing the monitor scaling /resolution setting (within the Mac OS System Setting) seems to have resolved the problem. However, I changed the setting back and the problem has not returned. Bizarre! The System Settings has a warning: "Using a scaled resolution may affect performance". But I can't tell which is the default setting and which ones would be considered "scaled". I'll see if everything still works tomorrow morning. Ed

I'm just now moving to Mac OS 14 (Sonoma). I was completely unable to work in any version of VW until I noticed Pat's comment about 4K monitors. Everything seems to work normally when I unplug my 4K external monitor. Do I have to get a new monitor now? Ed

@P Retondo Thanks for your comment. If the problem persists, I may try using a mouse or trackball instead, although I dread the thought, since the Space Navigator makes movement SO much easier. Meanwhile, I asked our Mac support person to comment. Ed

Some of my co-workers and I find that we frequently need to restart VW (2023 and 2024) to remedy excessive slowness of 3D navigation. We all use the 3D Connexion Space Navigator. Restating VW consistently fixes the problem. Does this indicate a shortage of VRAM or some other hardware deficiency? We're all using MacBook Pros from 2021 with Apple M1 Max, and OS Monterey 12.7.5. We have 32GB ram. I can't tell how much VRAM we have. Attached is a screen shot of some of our system specs. Any suggestions? Thank you! Ed

I still frequently find that geometry that I am placing goes somewhere else besides the Working Plane. What are the variables that affect when the Working Plane is active? I assumed that if the Working Plane is visible then that's where new shapes would be placed. I'm currently working in 2023. Maybe it will get better in later versions. Ed