CEA

Here is a link with information on the ATI card. http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Apple/6615718/ I've talked with them, and they say it works with most Mac Pro's, but you do need to be using OS X v10.6.4 or later. I was planning on updating the operating system anyway, so that would not be a problem for me. I'd appreciate any other feedback!

I'd like to upgrade the video card on my older Mac Pro- it is one of the early Intel models. Model Identifier: MacPro1,1 Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz The original video card is a NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT with 256 MB VRAM. I could replace it with either a ATI Radeon HD 5770 for $260 or a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 for about $650. Are these both compatible with Vectorworks 2011? If so, does anyone have any suggestions? The lower price of the ATI card is appealing! I recently upgraded from Vectorworks 2008 to 2011, and zooming is no longer smooth on my older computer.

I often use the 0 line weight to draw polygons that contain hatch patters. Its useful for me.

Thank you for the input!

We are having problems with a 2.66 GHz Mac Pro in our office. It will need to be sent out to be repaired. We have an old 1.25 GHz G4 Power Mac with 1 or 2 GB of RAM (its not set up so I can't check). Does anyone know if we run VW 2008 on this machine temporarily until the Mac Pro is repaired? It would be used only for 2D drafting - not for modeling. I'd hate to buy a new computer to use for a week or two while the Mac Pro is being repaired!

MAC OS 10.4 comes with drivers for the HP 488CA. The printer works much better with the apple supplied GIMP drivers than the very poor HP drivers the printer originally shipped with. I have not had any trouble using the 488CA to print black and white and grayscale drawings. I've never used it for color.

You could set the document preferences to "black and white Only." File/Document Settings/Document Prefences

This is very useful!

If you select the arcs and then use the "Convert to Polygons" command the arcs will be converted to polygons. Does this accomplish what you need?

Thanks for the update!

I have set the permissions in the Vectorworks folder, the Plug-ins folder and the Dictionaries Folder to Read and Write, but the spell check still does not "learn" words. Tee UserDictionary.txt file is empty before and after I run a spell check. The modification date and time changes to the last time a spell check was run, but there the file remains empty. Words that I tag as "Learn" seem to work while the spell check is run, but they are not "remembered" on the next spell check. I apologize if this description is unclear. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Dear Katie: Thank you for your prompt reply. I don't believe there are any special permissions for my user account. I have looked for the VW dictionary file as well as a user's custom dictionary file, but have not been able to find it. Can you point me in the right direction to find these files so I can check the permissions? Thank you for your help.

The "Learn" feature of the spell check dictionary does not work on any of our computers. When I initiate a spell check, all works well- except that the dictionary does not "remember" the word when I click the 'Learn" button. This has been a problem for several years, on a number of different Mac computers. MAC OS10.4.8 VW 12.5.1 Architect w/ Renderworks

If you have Adobe Acrobat you can use the "Reduce File Size" command. I use this all the time with pdf files containing photos. It should significantly reduce the file size.

I agree- this would be a very useful feature.

Very handy. I did not know that was there.

Adobe Acrobat Professional has a printing option to reduce a pdf to any page size desired. I use it all the time; it is very useful. The free Acrobat Reader program may have the same option.

I have run into the same issue. Here is a workaround I used. I converted the originals to pdf files and then imported the pdf files into the Vectorworks document. The images then printed properly. I don't know why the imported jpg images would not print.

Try unchecking the "Mouse Wheel Zooms" option under "Vectorworks Preferences."

Use the HP 500 driver that is supplied with OSX. Open the "Printer Setup Utility" program and use it to set up the printer- you can select the Mac supplied Gimp Print driver from here. It should work well- we are using a HP488 with no problems. As I recall, you will need to know the network address of the printer.

Thanks. I'll try that and report back.

Here is an update to my previous post regarding PDF creation. When I open and print the Vectorworks produced PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro v.6.0.2, the text is garbled. When I open and print the same Vectorworks produced PDF using Apple Preview it prints fine. Any thoughts as to what is causing this? VW 12.5 architect+ renderworks Apple OS 10.4.7

I have briefly experimented with the PDF export feature. It did produce a multi-page pdf document- which is great. However, I encountered two significant problems: 1. The fonts did not work properly- in the Vectorworks produced pdf file they were converted to odd symbols and gibberish. The drawing contains several Adobe OpenType fonts. None of the fonts reproduced correctly in the Vecotrworks PDF. When I used Adobe Acrobat 6 to produce pdf files from the same Vectorworks drawing the fonts are reproduced correctly. 2. Line wights in the Vectorworks produced pdf are a courser than in pdf's created using Adobe Acrobat. If it is possible to solve these problems, the export to pdf feature would be a real timesaver!

Here is an old post of mine (from 2003!). It's been quite a while since I used ArchiCad, but these old observations may still be of some use. Re: Vectorworks (VWA) vs. Archicad #36839 - 01/30/03 07:52 AM I used Archicad about 4 years ago before switching to Vectorworks. I only use Vectorworks for 2d DD and CD architectural drawings, and I have not really investigated the 3d capabilities of the program. The theory behind Archicad is appealing. Essentially, you construct a 3d model and then the 2d plans, elevations and sections are extracted from the model. However, I found that in practice, the 2d drawings very crude and of unacceptable quality for our office, and the 3d models took a great deal of time to develop to an acceptable level. I was putting a lot of time into the 3d model, and then ending up breaking the links between the model and the drawings to gain more flexibility for the 2d drawings. If you are interested in constructing a 3d computer model and doing construction drawings, Archicad is probably a good choice. For us, the 3d model was of limited use and the technology was not there yet (with Archicad 5.5) to practically link the 3d model to good quality 2d drawings. Our primary use for the computer is developing construction drawings in a small office, and Vectorworks has been a good program for that task. However, our work is primarily highly individual custom houses; Archicad may work better for buildings with fewer unusual conditions.

Thanks for the good advice. The PowerMacs have always worked well for me too, and have proven remarkably durable and trouble free. I'll probably end up with a PowerMac, and perhaps a new display as well now that the ADC connector on my 21" display is obsolete.