rdecelle

Jonathan, That sounds great but.... Has VectorWorks put a limiting factor on how many layers I can or can't use? If so what is that number? Have they limited how many classes? Have they limited the usage of grayed layers? It has been a longtime, advertised feature of VectorWorks to gray layers (or classes) and to be able to print them. It is also a reasonably well documented problem for VectorWorks to print these grayed layers with all hardware. My point is with VectorWorks (and all other software or other products that I spend money on) is that if they advertise it to do something, I expect it to do what they advertise. When the manufacturer comes back to me and says, "yes that is a feature we advertise, but we actually can't do it. You must do it this way, not the way the brochures say" I become a little bothered. I would dance a little jig if the manufacturer would say, "Yep, we screwed up, but we're working on it." At least I would know they were listening. That they are responding to multiple customer's concerns and are addressing it. And I would remain a loyal customer. However, as I have been chasing this problem through the Tech Board, most threads end in "please send me your file." We never see if there was a solution. Was there a solution? Is there a solution? Something beyond waiting an extra 1/2 hour to print a rasterized version? If that is the method, then the print dialog should automatically inform you that printing grayed layers may cause problems. If I'm having to find a work around solution to get what a product says it will give me, I would rather work with a product that actually gives me what it says it will give me. I don't necessarily mind bugs in software. It is part of the process that we consumers have been saddled with. But before I invest in an upgrade to a product, I would like to know that those features they said would work in the previous version were working. I may be naive about this, but I would think if they issue a product that they said would perform a function and it didn't, they would not make me pay for something new until they got everything working with the old version. I am not willing to pour more money out for new features, when the old ones don't work. Randy

This seems to be a consistent problem that in searching through the knowledge bases and tech forums I haven't found a reasonable solution yet. First the system: XP Pro SP2 3GHz/1G Ram 100 G Drive DJ800 (not PS) with latest Drivers (6.11) VW 11.5.1 If a file has a layer grayed out, it only partially prints, dropping out random bits and pieces. If the layer is colored gray (not VW forcing gray) it prints fine. If the layer is not grayed, it prints fine. I do not find the printing Rasterized or at On Screen Resolution is an acceptable solution, as this increases the time to plot dramatically. Furthermore, printing to a PDF or other format and then printing is a telling sign. I can do print outs from various pieces of software at many different shades of gray without a problem. The problem is with VW and the processing it does to Gray a layer for printout. This seems to be a known, re-occuring theme throughout various versions of VW. Has this been addressed in VW 12? Randy

Upon further investigation, it seems to be something with the new 10.5. Once the machine was reverted to the previous version, there have not been any complaints, other than the slow startup time. Randy

And to answer the other question, this is a non-dongled lab use license, not the dongled license. Randy

No, not USB ports. I mean Network Ports. Maybe IP ports. I think the Systems person said port 6000 or so. Basically, as I understand it, the computer, when it goes to say, the internet, opens up a port, more of a virtual thing than a physical thing. Previously, I know that VW used TCP/IP to scan networks to find licenses in a lab situation. This has not been a problem previously, but it seems that something new is going on that is triggering the firewall alarms. Randy

We have recently gone with Version 10 educational, Industrial collection and had someone upgrade to 10.5. (XP Pro/512MB/2.5GHz) Almost instantly we were contacted by our Systems Admin people freaking out about port scans that were coming from the machine. It seems to be coming from VectorWorks. It is problematic for our Systems people since it looks very much like someone trying probe our ports looking for backdoors. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks, Randy

Well, I'm now being punished for having been busy with other things and not following the message boards, I have to ask a question that I am sure has been asked before... We are going to be upgrading from 8.52 to VW 9+ Spotlight. As we do both Lighting and Mechanical (Stage) drafting, some of my users have concerns. Specifically, in 8.52, many of my users have created their own custom workspaces using tools and plugins from the workspaces provided. Will all of these copy over by moving them into the appropriate workspace and plugin folders, or are there compatibility issues? What other issues might we encounter? My apologies again for the repeat of questions and answers. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Randy [ 04-29-2002: Message edited by: rdecelle ]