Kevin

Jon; I have done this with VW9.5.3 on OS10.2.8 with Acrobat 5. I recently upgraded to VW11 and OS10.3.4 and have not printed to PDF with the new setup. I am not sure what you mean by registration and edges not working out. I print my file to actual size and the reprographics house has no problem. I use "D" size so my Acrobat files are 24" x36". I can also print these to a letter size printer by selecting shrink to fit.

Have you tried to print to PDF and then give the print shop the PDF to print? I can email a PDF file to my reprographics house and have a full set of 24"x36" plans delivered back on my door within a few hours. Your idea of printing twice seems like a huge hassle. There should be more than enough reprographics firms in the Berkely area that can easily handle printing a PDF file.

I have had this problem too in VW9 and perhaps VW8 under OS9 and OS10. I would put an arrowhead on the end of an arc and it would disappear or would show on screen but would not print. I have also had times when most all of my lines suddenly had arrowheads on them. I am talking about perhaps 100 lines! I don't know what could have caused this, but what a pain!

I am using VWA 11.0.0. The roof face command is under the AEC menu.

As a Mac user, VW seems to be the natural choice. But if I were on the PC I would be using some other program that provides the ease of use as described by cmuraglia. It is frustrating to have this topic as a VW wish list while another program already has these functions as part of their operating program.

Can anyone explain Chris D's findings. This seems to be a rather large performance difference for such similar machines. If you do a search on this forum you will find many topics regarding video cards. The consensus seems to be that rendering requires CPU and Open GL requires video card.

Peter; Unless things have changed since I was in school, the data that you are looking for is listed in tables. If you are using steel, then you can find the data in a Steel Manual. This has always been a trial and error process. There are so many variables such as beam type: steel, sawn wood, engineered wood; depth of beam and width of beam, not to mention what the desired deflection is. While I have not used the calculator yet, I would imagine that it would allow me to "rough size" a beam to test my design. It can give you an idea of whether a wood beam can span the distance or if you must go to steel. I will have to take a closer look at this new feature of VW. I would say though that with beam tables you should be able to size a beam just fine. The math is still the same whether you use a slide rule, pocket calculatior, or this "new fangled" beam calculator.

VW11 just crashed. Upon restart the "Zoom Line Thickness" is now turned on where it was off prior to crash. I do not have an answer regarding changes after DWG import.

Thank you Katie, but this is not the problem. I have done just what you describe. The glazing is NOT set to none. It is set to Style-Glazing-1, etc, etc. As far as I can see, the progam is not reseting when the pull down menu in the PIO is changed. Even though the PIO says Style-Glazing-1, the program is not recognizing it. It takes a change in the PIO Class Settings checkbox to trigger the change.

Hi Katie; This is VW11 under OS10.2.8. Error message is "The application Vectorworks quit unexpectedly" (This quote is from memory and may vary slightly). It is possible that I changed zoom line during the session, but the crash caused the preference to change. I normally have zoom line off as I normally only use it to preview drawings prior to printing. So if I changed Zoom Line during a session it was to turn it off after it turned itself on after the previous crash. There is something else that I cannot prove but suspect was also a result of the crash. I had a roof of 4 separate roof faces that reverted to a polygon. Prior to crash it was a 3d roof. After the crash it went back to a 2d polygon. I had to reselect each of the 4 polygons and use the "Roof Face" command to restore the roof to 3d. I did not knowingly change this roof. So I must assume that the crash did it. Thanks for your help.

When I set my doors and windows to render glass, they do not all render. The "fix" is to check or uncheck the "Class Settings" checkbox in the PIO. Doing this causes the model to re-render and the chosen door or window now renders with glass texture. This is most annoying. I hope that NNA can replicate this and fix it. 1. I have my doors and windows glazing set to "Style-Glazing-1 in the PIO. 2. The class "Style-Glazing-1" is assigned a glass texture. 3. I choose Fast or Final Renderworks and the doors and windows render without the glass texture. 4. I select one door or window and in it's PIO check or uncheck the Class Settings checkbox. Model re-renders and the one chosen door or window is now rendering with the assigned texture. 5. Go to all of the other door and windows one by one and do this all over again. (All the while waiting for the model to re-render each time.). This takes the "fun" out of rendering. Please fix.

Hi Katie: To answer your question, I use undo frequently but I could not tell you if the change in preferences is linked to that. I do know that it often happens after VW11 quits unexpectedly. I do not believe it is limited to VW quitting. I hope you know that I appreciate all the time (especially after hours) that you devote to this board. I, (we), look to you for help like a person adrift at sea looks for that lone Coast Guard plane. If you would just "tip your wings" for us to know that you see us and that you will return when you can. Just letting us know that you heard us and that someone will look into it is all I need. Thanks again and have a great 4th of July. [ 07-02-2004, 04:48 PM: Message edited by: Kevin ]

Thanks Katie; I just tried to replicate my own example and it rendered properly the first time without using step 2.6. I guess it is another of those gremlins like the ones that reset my preferences when I am not looking. So for now this was a false alarm. Thanks again for looking at this so quickly.

I see the problem that ErichR is having. (I am using VW11 on OS10.2.8). 1. As Katie described there are two class settings, one for sidelights and one for the door. You have to scroll all the way down in the dialog box to see them. Once you set your door classes you have to be sure that your Glazing Class has a texture selected for it. This is not a default. You have to create a texture and assign it. 2. Katie; I do believe that there is a bug in this PIO. Here is what I did. 2.1 Create new document. 2.2 Draw a box of four walls and insert a door. Select Style Glazing 1 for both sidelight and door. 2.3 Create a new texture for glass and assign it to the Style Glazing 1 class. 2.4 Set sun position and render in Final Renderworks. 2.5 Result: No glass texture. 2.6 Select door and in the PIO check the box Class Settings. (No other action taken). 2.7 The image re-renders with the new and proper glass texture. Katie: Can you address this and let us know if we are doing something wrong, Thanks!

Thanks Katie. I will be sitting here at my computer waiting for the answer.

Thanks Katie. Am I to assume from your answer that the scenario that I described is not built into the program? When I use the Set Up assistant and choose a demolition sheet, I get a demolition class. But I still need an "Existing to Remain" and "New" class. As I said, I am trying this time to use the program as the programmers set it up and not fiddle with it too much. I still would like to hear from other architects as to how they set up their files for this scenario.

Now that I have upgraded to VW11, I decided to use the program "by the book". So I am setting up my drawing with the Set Up commands. How are we supposed to set up a drawing for a remodel or addition? I need to have a class for new walls, existing walls to remain, and existing walls to be removed. I do not see how to do this with the Set Up command. To date, I have always created my own classes. Am I missing something? How have you other architects handled this? [ 07-01-2004, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: Kevin ]

Sorry Ion, Katie skipped right over this post. I too would like to know if there is a solution.

There is a way to do this. Print your VW file to PDF. In the Acrobat print window is a selection "Shrink oversized pages to paper size". Doing this I can print a "D" size sheet to letter size easily. This is using Acrobat. I do not know if you can do this with Acrobat Reader.

I have an HP 455 and use it on both OS9 and OS10. It connects to the computers via Ethernet through the JetDirect Card. Under OS9 I use the HP RIP software that came with the plotter. Under OS10 I use GimpPrint. On OS10.2 I download it and install. On OS10.3 it is already a part of the system software. If you have the JetDirect already, then the cost is free plus the cost of any Ethernet cables or routers. The software is free.

BTW I still have my old Power PC G3 running OS9. I use it to access my non-OS10 programs. I was hesitant to change to OS10 and procrastinated. When I did change I did not want to go back. I love OS10. The difference between OS9 on a Power PC and OS10 on a Dual G5 is amazing. Also Apple just came out with new monitors.

That is such a considerate idea. You pose many questions and I can offer but two answers: My kids offer to clean my office because it is a "mess" to them. But for me, I know where everything is. If my kids "surprised" me by cleaning my office I would not be happy. I am used to the way that I do things. Your dad would probably benefit from the increased versatility of VW11. But he has to be willing to adjust. He may love it or may say thank you and put it up on the shelf. If he is used to using a Mac, then why force him to change. Does not make sense to try and conform him to your world. I switched from OS9 to OS10 and it was painless. As far as system administrator duties, I do not have a "sysadmin" and don't need one. My advice is to let him continue with what he knows. Upgrade him to a new Mac and give him VW11 architect if your wallet allows. And then let him switch over at his own pace. A new G4 or G5 Mac will make a world of difference to him over his old computer. It will run OS9 in Classic mode and I assume will still be faster than his old Power PC.

I downloaded the Skydome from Vectordepot but have no idea of how to install and use it. It is for VW10 and I am on 11. Does anyone know where to put this and how to use it?