johnharley

How do you adjust the size of the font used in the property line tool annotations? The font size for the bearings and distances are microscopic. Using VX 2013, Landmark (win).

I have a site model I have created. The site model is showing a slope analysis. I'm trying to export to a .dwg file, when I do everything is all grouped together on one layer. Is there a way to export the model so the slopes are on separate layers? VW2012 Landmark

I have also noticed this problem. I recently upgraded my motherboard and OS. I installed Windows 7 64bit, I own v2008 and v2010. I had the same "halo" effect in both when bringing in a TIF file. The image is black and white, I set the background to "none". This previously made the background transparent with crisp black lines. Now there are white pixels surrounding the black pixels. I also recently downloaded v2012 to demo, same thing. This is a real problem for us. I have an Nvidia Quatro 600 with 1GB of RAM, I have 8 GIGs of RAM in the machine. A couple of thoughts were possibly the video card or maybe a Quicktime issue. Any help would be appreciated.

Yes, you can. We do this all the time, in Windows. You can use one drawing stretched across two monitors (manually stretch the frame). Or you can open two sessions of VW, one on each screen. It is also possible to copy from one and paste to the other.

It is not located in the Edit Dialog. I did some searching through the VW help files, if I understand this correctly, this option (to unlock reserved colors) is only available on the MAC version. I'm not sure why, maybe someone from Nemetschek could verify this. If this is the case is it possible for me to email this file to a MAC user out there so the color pallette could be unlocked saved and sent back to me? I have over three hours work into this one. My only alternative is to start over on one of the palettes I download from the net. ugh!

Where is this option located? I should add, I am using the windows version.

I am in the process of doing just that. I have been creating a new color palette but I have hit a snag. The top three rows and part of row four seems to be "locked" If you look carefully there is a black line around these colors on the palette editing dialog. It won't let me change they (or even pick them). I know there must be a way to unlock these, I have downloaded two palettes from the net and these rows were changed. Any idea on how to accomplish this?

We have an HP 500 and have used it for several years with VW. It is a great plotter, but there are some limitations. First, I would recommend buying the HPGL card and maxing-out the memory. Second I would recommend adding the Jet-Direct card. This plotter is very slow on a USB connection.. It is MUCH faster on an ethernet connection. VW color files and raster plot can take a long to spool before printing. One thing that helps with images is check the "optimize for images" in the print properties dialog. When we print full color presentation work we use a RIP (see HP 90 posting, it is described there). You may need to consider this option. In general I have been very happy with the 500, the print quality is great, it could be a little faster, but it's not terrible with the add-ons. I know these add to the cost, but to move to the next level printer is A LOT more money. PS: The HP 500 and 800 are identical except the installed hard drive and jet direct card. The print engine is the same and does not print faster.

I have two questions regarding color palettes. First, is there an easy way to import an entire color palette which might be generated in another program such as Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW? I have manipulated individual colors with the editing feature, however, it is very tedious to generate an entire palette this way. I have tried importing the color swatches as an enhanced metafile. The swatches will come into Vectorworks as vector objects but the program seems to automatically change the colors to the closest matching colors in the default Vectorworks color palette. Bring the metafile in "as a picture" retains the color accuracy, but then are not editable. Second question. I have downloaded two Vectorworks color palettes off the Internet and imported them into a drawing. Is it possible to easily switch back and forth using multiple palettes in a single drawing session? VW 12.5 Win XP, 3.4 Ghz, Nvidia Quattro 3500 256 mb vid card, 4 GB RAM

We do not have the 90, but we do have the DesignJet 30 & 500. We use RIP software with both (PosterJet), but not with CAD drawings. RIP software is a waste with CAD files (even with images imported). We do a ton of "hybrid" drawings (CAD+raster images) I will do test plots directly from VectorWorks. When we do presentation plots we generate a tif or jpeg, then print that file using PosterJet. The quality is SUPERB. Also with PosterJet the plot will start in 6-7 seconds (no 15-20 min. spooling). Vector images (of any kind really do not need a RIP). My only other comment would be; HP Postscript is a mediocre RIP, you can do far better with third party RIP's. VW 12.5, WIN XP, 3.2 ghz, Nvidia Quattro 3500, 256 mb, 4 GB RAM

The HP 800 is an excellant plotter and works very with VW (we have 12.5 installed). The quality is fantasic. My only complaint might be speed. It's not the fastest plotter (but it's not the slowest) If fast speed is not critical I would highly recommend the 800. Also The 500 is very good too, the two machines are identical except the 800 has a hard drive built in, and comes with the jet direct card installed (the jet direct is an add-on for the 500). J. Kennedy VW 12.2 Win Pro 3.2ghz double Xeon's w/ 4 gb RAM and Nvida Quadro FX 3500 vid card

Thanks everyone. These suggestions sound promising. I will try them out. We have been using our own layering/class system from the start. I never really got into the VW drawing organization. We really have not had a big problem with corruption in the past. This particular plan is a bit more complicated. One difference I did notice, this plan has LOTS of plant lines, Many ojects have been "plant lined",(including applying plant lines to plant lines - they look neat but the give the cpu a real workout) In earlier versions of VW we used to have issues with them. It seemed to settle down, but I think we are probabley pushing the number even higher with this drawing.

Is there any utility to analyse and fix a corrupt drawing file? We have a site plan that can only be worked on for a few minutes and then the drawing crashes. We get the Mircosoft error: "VectorWorks has encountered a problem and needs to shut down..yada, yada". We literally need to save after every drawing/editing opperation. This makes for a very long day. We have tried the drawing on different machines, same problem. We have tested other drawings on these machines, and have no problems. Using: VW12 Windows On a Dell Dimension 3.0 Ghz, 4mb Ram, Nvidia 3450 Quadro 256 mb vid card

If you want a very quick and accurate way to convert PDF's to tiffs (especially full sized drawings)try checking out this site: http://www.informatik.com/. Then have a product called P2T that is incredible. It's not free, but it pays for itself several times a month in our office. Also, try the "tiff driver" if you want generate SUPERIOR quality tiffs/jpegs. Way better than the built-in "image-export" in VW.

Is there an easy way to convert layers into clasess? Also, I'd like to keep all other settings ther same (color, lines, scale, etc.)