Neil Ironside

Thanks....I add my name to the list of users anxious to get a hold of 9.5.

I am trying to import brick textures into a document to apply to a wall..I previously had successfully imported some textures, but now I can't. I get the message: "The record format for Plug-in Objects named "NNAPhong" cannot replace the regular format with that name, and cannot be renamed. The entire operation is cancelled" This is a lovely message but totally meaningless to me. What are the programmers trying to tell me, and what can i do to get the texture into my document?

This has been an interesting discussion to follow. New users are often the best indicater of an apps limitations and/or confusing procedures. Us old users don't even bother dreaming anymore of effortless and flexible software, we just live with the limitations My "work-around" on dealing with the location of the stair break is to duplicate the 3-d stair, and place that copy on top of the original stair. I then deselect "show 3-d", then select "show 2-d stair break", and then ungroup this second symbol. I am now able to use the polygon re-shape tool to adjust the location of the break line. By giving it a new class, you will be able to control its visibility with the various sheet views. I find this much more simple than using a "blocking" polygon, which sometimes block other info as well.

VWA 9.0.1

I just tried it on a similiar drwg file that was started in VWA 9.0.1, and the same problem exist. In that project, the class Attribute was set to N and it would not allow me to switch it to Y. If I start a new drawing, I can switch the Attribute at creation option on and off, until I insert a stair, so your suspicion that it has to do with the stair tool seems correct. Do I still need to send a drawing?

VWA on a Mac....I can not switch off the "use class attributes at creation" in the class setings for the "none" class....I close the dialogue box, the chart shows "N" beside the class, I return to the drawing window, VWA spends about 15 seconds doing a massive recalculation, but the none class still takes the class attributes, and when I return to the class chart, there is a Y instead of the N. Solutions? A bug? i think I started this drawing in VW8

An addendum to my posted message....the easy work-around on this is to ungroup the steel object, losing its class object attributes, and then do an extrude. This is method is clunky, and eliminates the possibility of changing the profile via the dialogue box. So I can do it, but it isn't elegant

I have tried using the object palette - wide flange tool to create a beam in 3D, but the tool will not allow me to input any # in the z dimension box other than 0. Is this a bug?

I just want to add my "problem " to your list...it seems very similiar. I did a set of drawings with a room finish schedule, and the chart had about 14 blank rows at the start of it. I never did find out where the ghost rooms were, despite using the custom selection tool to hunt down every instance of the room name symbol.

It would be great if the smartcurser would ignore the end points of dimension lines. A typical error in my drawings has been a vertical dimension line snapping to a horizontal dimension line endpoint rather than a wall corner. Because the dimension line is offset only a few pixels from the corner, the error is sometimes difficult to notice.

I often draw in 3/16" and 3/8" scales, but I need to enter them manually in the dialogue box. Couldn't there be more preset scales? Incidentally, those scale ratios were published in the manual for MiniCad, but I havn't seen them in VectorWorks. How come?

Thanks, its good to know its not just me.

Have you found the render bitmap tool? This allows you to draw any size marque around any part of the wire frame you want, and it will render just that area as a bitmap. It is great for checking colours before you go to the full render. It is the only specialized tool in the Renderworks Workspace, which is mis-filed in the software and does not appear in the Workspace folder. I think I found the workspace by using the Mac Menu Find, typing in RenderWorks Workspace. Once I found it, I moved it to the Workspace folder nested in the Vectorworks folder, so that it is now available in the Workspace Menu.

I want to save various text configurations that I use as a "custom tool". I use about five different combinations of text size and style, and it would be efficient to have them on a palette. I tried it in much the same way that you would save a custom wall as a tool...with everything deselected, I set the text preferences I wanted (12pt helvetica bold), selected the text tool, and then in the menu selected custom tool with everything deselected except the save text box. (The save "save tool" check box is greyed, i.e not available. I then name the script and it shows up as a tool on the command palette, so far so good. Having done all this, it does not work when I double click on the item in the palette. Any suggestions?

I have been asked how to draw a rectangular domed skylight in 3D and to render it...I have no idea how to generate the form. Can anyone suggest a method? Perhaps a mesh? I also need to write a parametric with Vectorscript to draw various skylights. I assume this is possible, though it seems highly ambitious. Perhaps there is something on the market already?