JohnAthayde

Juan — I'm seeing this as well and I did not run the beta. I've got 2021 installed as well. I've quit and restarted the app (no change), ensured focus of the app (no change). The close and open the clamshell does restore menu functionality (as noted by @Jrr)

Mojave and 2019 are probably as stable as it gets right now. There may be some additional tweaks and security patches, but it's moving to LTS (long term support) and we won't see new features on the platform, except in Catalina and VW2020 I'm running on Mojave with 19 SP5 and 20. No problems yet, but I'm also not pushing VW to its limits. If you have ane extra mac sitting around, give it a whirl and really kick the tires. Get an external drive and install the OS there if need be. There will be some performance lag, but better than finding out something critical to your business is hosed.

I agree with @Christiaan on this. Different versions are going to launch with more or less compatibility. Now throw a non-gold-master OS update into the mix and the number of variables starts to go up dramatically fast. With ANY software, you shouldn't upgrade without testing. You shouldn't switch in the middle of a project unless you've tested it. You can also run in parallel with older versions. 2019 sp5 working great? Awesome. Install 2020 next to it and try things out. This is standard practice in post-production. The new version of Nuke came out? Too bad. Stick with the version we started with until it's been tested out. Similarly with the entire AVID software line... updating on day one is not recommended (mostly about updating to the new OS). There are so many permutations of hardware, software, and plugins that it's de facto impossible for the company to test every single configuration.

VW2019 is 64 bit except for two components: /Contents/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.5/bin/python3.5-32 /Contents/Frameworks/AFDP.bin Python shouldn't be that hard. Not sure what AFDP is, however. Vectorworks Plants is a Filemaker db and is 64 bit except for: /Contents/Frameworks/libxerces-c-3.0.dylib /Contents/Frameworks/libxalan-c.111.0.dylib /Contents/Frameworks/libxalanMsg.111.0.dylib That's not insurmountable, especially in an annual release. Pretty much all professional-grade apps I use (e.g. ProTools HD, parts of the Adobe Suite) throw this error as well. A lot of developers will have to clean out the 32-bit dependencies for Catalina support. I expect to see this resolved for most companies by Catalina's release. There will be some that drag on (Avid is often 6-12 months behind in officially supporting Apple releases). To find out what apps are not Catalina ready on your machine, you can use Go64: https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/index.html

Two things here: 1 New OS: Yes. I'm running it on a 2013 MacPro and an almost brand new (January 2019) MacBook Pro. I haven't hit any of the serious bugs that some have documented with the newest service pack. I think the consensus has been "wait until SP3 for critical projects" for the last few years of VW releases. hardware wise, the new MacPro is really meant for high end work. If you're doing serious animation and post processing, maybe even integrating into video with Nuke or other film-industry standard SW, then it might be for you. I'd see about upgrading your MacPro first. You can take the processor up to a 10-core 3gHz and the RAM up to 128G. I specifically picked the MacPro with the dual 7G video cards originally so that I can't really upgrade. If you need an eGPU, there's some research online looking at various software performance with those. I have a Magma external card case for our HDX ProTools card (we do a lot of post work). The iMac Pro will cover almost anyone at this point. The only down side is lack of upgradability compared to the old (and now newest) towers.

Maybe it's just because I've spent years in the post-production world, but Avid/DigiDesign has had this issue with ProTools for decades now. They're easily 6-12 months behind Apple on getting their app guaranteed for the OS. Granted, they're dealing with tons of drivers and external hardware, but if your platform works, don't switch, especially in the middle of production work. You're not losing security updates until you're a few versions out of bounds anyway. When you have some downtime, run a test. You can now run Mac VMs in VMWare Fusion and Parallels, and while it will be slower, you'll at least find these hiccups without losing everything. Or wait the six months until people who like living on the edge of the danger zone say the issues with that annual release are mostly fixed. I've lost countless hours to NOT listening to my own advice, so I'm speaking from painfully gained experience here 😉

I am running on a similar machine but with the dual d700s. I ran my 2008 Mac Pro until I got a used 2013 one earlier this year. They are tanks. If you need to you can take it up to 128g ram and there’s a 10 core processor upgrade. Sure a maxed out iMac pro might do better but unless you’re pushing the boundaries of 3D biz you’ll likely be fine for a year or two. Just doing basic BIM I’d say you’re likely good until 2022.

In application, it helps VW ensure that the bug is in their software and not a conflict between multiple softwares, old versions, malformed preferences files, etc. Your user folder has a hidden folder called "Library" where most of this is stored in either Application Support or in the newer construct of a "container". Over years these can build up and cause slow downs. A new user account doesn't load this stuff, so it's a quick way to narrow down potential causes.

This message is simply stating that the installed Vectorworks 2019 is not a pure 64-bit app. More detail when you click the "Learn More" button, which takes you to: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208436

Not experiencing any issues as described on my MacPro6,1 (2013 cylinder) or 2013 MacBookPro with newest SP and Mojave. Happy to test a file if someone wants to see if we can narrow it down (sounds like it may be related to newer chipsets or the T2 chip itself in the newer machines). Also running Intous pen tablets on both of them, but that shouldn't matter much.

I had many lockups (outside of VW) with Mojave on my 2013 MBP until I did a reformat and restore from time machine. The machine would simply stop responding (but the mouse would continue to move). After 30-60s (sometimes longer) it would process all the keyboard and click buffers and go back to normal. This got progressively worse and worse until I couldn't use the machine for much at all, and I did the reformat. This only happened on my laptop. The MacPro tower has been fine. I have experienced a few crashes with VW, but nothing consistent or identifiable as to source. YMMV.

@J. Wallace Yes. Goal is a site model (existing GIS contours are 5' intervals and missing a lot of the weird spots). This is for my own property. In the midst of designing an addition as well as revising my initial site plans that are low-res/high level concepts. Half of the property is wooded deciduous (Virginia Piedmont) with some cedars, so winter seems like a better time to get good ground reflections. I have a laser level so I could shoot a lot of this by hand, but if the LIDAR solution saves me a lot of time, I could spend that on billable work instead and net even.

Anyone have any experience hiring firms for LIDAR and know what questions to ask/red flags to look for? We have a base survey of 15 acres but there's a lot of odd elevation changes and hoping to capture something a big better and faster while the trees are bare this winter. Focus would be for a permaculture installation, so close to accurate ground plane is important for earthworks concerns.

This is why they've setup their "pipeline" to be Cinema 4D for taking things to the next level. I'd prefer Maya, but that's a personal preference at 15 years of experience doing more VFX work. BIM systems, while generally light years ahead of the manual process we did at RTKL in the early 00s for 3d renderings (Microstation => Autocad => 3ds Max), are still not meant to be a final 3d modeling solution similar to Maya, Max, or Modo, not to even touch upon procedural systems like Houdini. While I'd love to see support for Arnold or Renderman in Vectorworks, I think I'm kley to get a Maya export that works well enough where I can do that final push, render layers, take it into Nuke, and composite forth. But I'm a bit nutty 🙂

I'm having similar frustrations, even on a small (24MB) Revit file. Part of me feels it's a good start to trace over, but that's about it. Sheet layers have the title blocks, but none of the cameras/planes from Revit. Roofs are a disaster (walls punching through, etc). It's a lot better than 2017, especially around converting objects (e.g. making a Revit window in wall and VW window in wall), but there's a ways to go to say that it's really working.

I picked up a used mid-level cylinder Mac Pro (6,1) to tide me over until the Pro machines are announced later this year. At that point I'll revisit my use case. Does fine for me with VW, Maya, MochaPro, After Effects, Final Cut, and Nuke. Sure it's not as fast as the maxed out iMac Pro, but It's also not $20,000 🙂 This also lets me use my old 30" matte Apple monitor as well (gotta have a special dongle thingy tho, so be aware) I do typically run Mac desktops as a primary for 6+ years and then they move to secondary functions with some upgrades (ram, HD typically)

It's almost something along the lines of a photoshop adjustment layer where you could brush on that layer and affect the underneath color. Or just a paint layer with bounds of the shape being painted. Trying to build gradients to achieve the style from the instagram post would be difficult I feel.

Even if you et a thunderbolt card, it won't act as a thunderbolt does on the older MacPros. It's a motherboard capability issue (at least with my 3,1). There's a lot of stuff people have done on getting 6G+ video cards in the older Macs, which is probably a better bet if that's where you're hitting a pain point.

I'm running VW 2017 Designer on the two machines in my office: MacBook Pro Late 2013 (2.6 GHz Intel Core i7, 16G Ram) - I run this on a thunderbolt monitor with pen tablet, etc. MacPro (2013, trashcan, 32G ram, 3G vram) that just replaced my aging out 2008 MacPro 3,1 My desktop is only one generation later than yours, so I'm not sure of the bounce you'd see. Both on High Sierra. The latter is much faster in general, and it's not even near the maxed out that the models could have. The newer laptops might be holding their own, but for me, whenever I need to do post production work (Final Cut, ProTools, Nuke, Maya, Mari) it's moving over to the desktop. I can run VW fine on the laptop for drawing/BIM work. It did grind to a halt when I tried to feed in two grid squares of DTM stuff for building an area site model. It'll get it done eventually, but if this is a lot of your work, you might want to see if you can run some tests on the newer hardware before committing. From a purely interaction perspective, a laptop plugged into an external monitor is awesome, and feels very "desktop" like. Biggest benefit is you can take it with you for field work, coffee shops, etc. I have a Thunderbolt Display, which is the glossy finish IIRC, but you can drive many external monitors that cost far less with both the mini display or HDMI out (with the new USB-C MBPs, get a thunder dock from Macsales.com for all your conversion to older cables). With rendering, the processor helps, but the Ram and VRAM make all the difference in dealing with complex texture maps, ray tracing, sub surface scattering, etc. The MacPro 2013 you can take up to 128G RAM and there are some that come with dual 7G video cards. Not as easily expandable as the older silver towers, but you can make it work. You can also look at external graphics cards now via a thunderbolt chasis (I have my Avid HDX card [audio] in a Magma chasis) if you have specific needs.

I've had no issues so far with a MBP late 2013 on VW2017 Designer SP5, but I am not pushing the limits by any means.

@rowbear97 Wow. thank you so much. I'll pull those files (the site borders a boundary of one DTM square) and run it. I've got a 2008 MacPro 8 core with 32G of ram, so I'd expect similar, if not slightly slower, results. Will report back with success or failures Thank you again!

Robert — Albemarle publishes their GIS online. Here's the Elevation options: https://www.albemarle.org/department.asp?department=gds&relpage=3914#Elevation There's variosu things there (Shapefiles, DEM, etc) that I'm quite unfamiliar with. I'll see if I can import the shapefile for the DTM and if that gives me a better result when running a site model. J. — Thanks! I am familiar with LIDAR from the vfx world, but that's typically used scanning elevations, didn't think about it from drone! I seem to have hit some of the similar issues you discussed there. Benson — I don't know if they're correct. I'm doing a 3d import of the DWGs, but lines and loci are from different files. they line up correct in the X and Y, however. There's another DWG of 4' contours and those are exploded lines that I've been slowly selecting and doing Modify > Compose to try and build something that way.

I'm in a similar pickle. My 2008 MacPro 3,1 (almost maxed out). I could take it up to 64G of RAM, but the processor is starting to be the pain point (e.g. processing video, Nuke scripts, Maya work etc). I'm looking forward to the MacPro modular announcement in 2018, but I would seriously consider one of these if I had the job that justified the price.

I have four DWGs from Albemarle County's (VA) extensive GIS system. Two different grid blocks, mass points and breaklines for each. I can bring them into a file and they show at elevation when the view is rotated. I can get them all onto the same design layer, but how does one use these together in creating a site model? I could generate something with just masspoints but I'm betting the breaklines are there for a reason. In trying a test, it didn't seem to comprehend the data by default. I also have the 4' topos and a site survey of a much smaller area with stakes for elevation points that were measured by the survey crew. They didn't do a lot of the paddocks which is our focus in this project, so trying to get better than 4' data before I just go shoot it myself. Screenshot of area in question attached before I merged them to one design layer (hence the left being grayed out) VW Designer 2017 if it matters.

Yeah, that's what I figured I might have to do. Just was hoping I could get this as part of a wall assembly. Chain extrude will probably get me there fastest, no? I've not used that tool yet, so I'll give it a whirl. Theoretically, I would think so. Does the mullion become the batten?