simbob

REF: Vectorworks 2013 SP4 (build 190383). I am currently working on 4 plans consecutively, almost every time i switch between any VW quits, Initially i thought is was when copying objects, but not the case. I can open two files, do nothing, keep switching and within probably 2-3 switches VW will quit. This is happening on all 3 VW machines in our office, 1 iMac and 2 Mac Book Pro's. Been happening for a while, but only now when i've starting trying to homogenize these drawings for a tender package and am constantly flicking between them is it becoming a real issue and i'm starting to lose work and time. Seems stable enough when only working on one file even if others are open.

I've just 'inherited' 4 floors of an office building with existing furniture on, which i need to use for a major project. The drawings are generally very badly drawn, almost every element is made up of individual lines (most of which don't join up) every door is a different size, but whoever did this has chosen to make every chair (several hundred) a separate symbol all numbered individually! I've seen this done before with certain architectural elements, but not furniture. I am not sure why anyone would want to do this as it defeats the point of using symbols and makes file size big and the drawing slow & clunky. Also the time taken to produce them all would be huge. The worst thing is i can't just swap them out as all the locus points are different and just to make things worse the user created them all on different and often unrelated classes. Before i mention to the supplier of these drawings just how badly drawn they are, i wondered if anyone could shed some light as to why anyone might use this as a process.

Thought i'd post this as it may be useful to some out there. Recently came across some old drawings which had been drawn using only layers, of course we don't work like that anymore, but i needed to convert the Layers to Classes. Thinking the only way to do this was manually (create new class, select the content and change the properties in the OIP, thus moving it to the new class then deleting the old Layer), i began. A few minutes in, whilst constantly thinking "there must be a better way" it suddenly dawned on me i can export this to .dwg and chose to convert either layers or classes to DXF/DWG layers in the process, then all i need to do is create a new document and import the .dwg (make sure 'convert classes to DXF/DWG layers' is selected under the 'graphic attributes' tab) and voila: all converted, works a treat. Sorry if this is old news to some, but was a bit of a eureka moment here!

Does anyone know how to add (frame) stops to the Vectorworks Editable door Symbol or if it's possible to create your own editable symbols? I don't see the point in these editable symbols if they don't include all the components.

I have had this same problem again over and over in the last couple of days. I've also noticed that it happens, when typing, then as you move the cursor (to the tool palette) - not even touching the mouse top surface. There seems to be a lag in RAM when typing. Can't they incorporate a font preload feature or something? so it's all there ready to use on start up and not grabbing at memory on the fly. Does anyone from Nemetschek read these forums and do anything about the issues raised? Would be nice to have some suggestions from the 'experts' rather than the likes of us faffing about wasting time.

Nope, still there. Just ran into again today. Yes, i'm still having this problem, twice this morning and it's only 10:15. Complete crash both times this time.

If i zoom in or out when i'm editing text the program hangs, it usually comes back but can take 2-3 minutes. I use apple's magic mouse, so sometimes 'wipe' it by accident causing the view to zoom dramatically which then causes the program to grind to a halt. I can do the same thing when not editing text and it doesn't hang. Anybody experienced anything similar or got any suggestions as to how to resolve the issue. I like the 'mouse wheel zoom' function so i don't want to turn that off.