JasonMichael

I've been having this same issue with working planes as described above by @ajpen. Been having this issue for a few years now, and just been ignoring it. I've been working much heavier in 3d now, doing more sophisticated interior renderings, and this is getting to be quite the nuisance given how vectorworks generates 3d through 2d surfaces. Has there been any solution to this? Just don't use the shortcuts?

This is for sure a workaround, but I feel it may be redundant to do this when I have files with dozens of sheets and multiple viewports on each sheet. Managing and updating 50+ sheet viewports is enough work, adding another 50+ named views to coordinate with each sheet layer viewport seems like something I don't want to do entirely lol. If there is no way to reset the default settings when navigating to a design layer, I shall continue hitting Ctrl+Alt+5 every time I navigate in--maybe the calories I burn with my fingers will do me some good. You are correct in that I had this setting toggled on. I have toggled it off just now, going to see if it effects any behaviours. I do feel like I never used to have this problem, and that the default in the file would eventually reflect the behavior I desired, however I'm not sure exactly what triggered the change in preferences. Maybe saving and closing a file with my desired layer options, and then reopening a new session?

In my typical workflow, I navigate to design layers through Sheet Layer Viewports, i.e. context clicking on the viewports, and selecting "Edit Design Layer." Over the years, I've found this is the path of least resistance in keeping mentally organized through my files. In my current document in VW 2025 Update 2 on Windows, when I enter a design layer this way, the default "Layer Options" are "Show/Snap Others" and I prefer to work in "Gray/Snap Others." It is getting annoying hitting CTRL+ALT+5 every time I navigate to a design layer from an SLVP. Is it possible to change the default settings when navigating to Design Layers so it is Gray/Snap Others instead?

@Dave Donley, you sir are a genius! Thanks, I believe the issue was in having the Default Compression in Vwork Prefs set to JPEG on one machine. Changing to PNG resolved the issue. Thanks a bunch!

I am working on some rendered viewport elevations, with my work split between two different computers with two different CPU/GPU's. On my work machine with a i7-10700 and Quadro P2200 cards, I get clean renders; on my home computer with a i7 13700K and GeForce 3090 cards I am getting a white ghosting around the perimeter of my rendering, as shown in the first image below. (Both images are screenshots of published pdfs. The halo artifact is also visible in Vectorworks on the sheet layer view after updating the viewport.) The background trees and foliage are viewport annotations, just jpegs underlayed behind the viewport; the foreground trees are annotated vector art; and the building is rendered without a background. I am not sure why I am getting a clean result on my work machine and a messy result on my home machine (that is significantly more powerful than my work machine, although not a Quadro card, which I suspect has little to do with it.) Any ideas? I would prefer not to upload my file publicly.

I have solved it, I had an issue with an illegal character from using ALT Codes for special characters, i.e ² Ø ▼ → . To troubleshoot I exported the pdf with rasterized text, and found their was no error on printing having done that. I "Selected All" on the design layer that was giving me the error, and changed all objects to "Arial" font in the "Text" menu bar. Then I scoured the text for any funky characters, and found a few empty squares and error characters. Deleting them and switching my file back to my firm's preferred font produced no more errors.

I am having this same issue in 2024. Any solutions?

This is still an issue for me in VW 2024 3.1, however it is hard to recreate the issue after it happens. I rarely use the "add leader" function as it just isn't something I need to use often drafting, but frequently when I do use it, VW crashes, typically after long multi-hour sessions. VW shuts itself down after the freeze, and when I re-open, sometimes it will crash again, other times it will work successfully, repeating the exact same function on the same callout object. It happens frequently enough that I know to save before adding multiple leaders to a callout object.

Discovered a bit of a window bug with the custom window configuration. When switching between "interior right side" and "interior left side," the sash component seems to not switch in the 2d representation. See image below for extra long sash and two equal panes of glass; it should be two unequal panes with default sashes. When I switch back to "interior left-side", everything displays normally (second image.) I think one of the reference points is not switching over, giving two equal panes of glass set to the size i specified for the custom casement. As a work-around, I am setting the "interior side of wall" to the exterior for windows where I need the 2d plan display to show the casement vent in the right location. Consequently generated elevations for window schedules will be incorrect, however that is not an issue for me as I draw them manually. window bug.vwx

I upgraded my laptop to Windows 10 and i was able to activate. Best of luck with the social isolation. I wasn't able to get any help with it, but i figured I had to update Windows from Windows 7. Most of what I saw online was to continue trying, and to make sure that Vectorworks isn't blocked by your firewall. Also you could try running vectoroworks as administrator by right clicking on it.

Thanks for the reply. Just to be clear, you mean upgrade my computer? or upgrade Vectorworks? In my case I can use VW 2017 fine on my Windows 7 machine, which is a 2013 laptop (a bit old but is a powerhouse and can still run every other 3d modeling, rendering, or gaming software I use with ease.) I am trying to install VW 2020. My options are to continue using my 2017 license, upgrade my operating system to windows 10 (which I have to do soon anyways) or start using software that works better.

did you ever find a solution?

@JuanP I have tried connecting on multiple wifi networks with firewall off, with no luck. I've tried selective boot and that didn't work either.

Also to add to this, I will take a window that is close to what I want that matches my other windows, and Command+K it to a group to pull its 3D objects, and begin modeling and editing that 3D data until I get what I want in 3d. Then I convert it back into a wall-insertable symbol at world scale. Then copy a windows 2D data and edit it to match, paste into my 3d symbol in plan view, and it will convert to a hybrid symbol, essentially a custom window. I find this the fastest workflow.

I've just recently installed Vectorworks 2020 on my Lenovo W530 running Windows 7. When I boot up VW, I am prompted to activate over the internet, and when I do it fails and I get an error "An attempt to activate over the internet has failed because of communication problems. Do you want to try again? Make sure you have unrestricted internet access and that you are connected." "Try Again" or "Quit." I have VW2017 on the same laptop and it is working fine, all the same firewall permissions, and I just booted it up for the first time in months, so I expect it would have had to re-activate. Would a re-install have any effect? This is obviously frustrating as I have projects that are stalling because of this.