skoorbb

P- 1) Class/layer management does not allow presentation of some multiple differing views per sheet. I've posed this problem to NNA (on-site no less) and they were unable to provide the solution. And saved "sheets", WGR, or layer links do not provide a complete solution. This issue is somewhat related to the ongoing discussions about viewports. 2) Class mangement dialog boxes are inadequate; weird, when you consider that classes are the backbone of the vw cad product. Class dialog boxes don't allow complete and/or accurate selection of available attributes; i.e., some class dialog boxes present different options. 3) Within a given class dialog box, selecting an attribute via the "color wheel", or by counting from 0-71 across the fill pattern box, or looking up line types in the book, is absurd. This contributes to making it difficult to develop standards which can be applied by a novice user. Should we tell our learning techs to "count from left to right, starting from 0, until you get to #37, pick that as the fill for class type X, and then...."? 4) Class/Saved Sheets - and this is a topic for a new rant - we have successfully adopted VWA10 (after 9 - a relief). HOWEVER, the class/layer structure developed via the "Setup Assistant", is completely and totally unusable, as it requires a level of management far above our level of commitment to any CAD program; e.g., we used the setup assistant on a 3-story office building, going throught the steps by selecting model setup, sheets, etc., and we were rewarded with a "matrix" of 50+ classes and 60+ layers (a matrix of 3000 possibliites....or something). We tried for a few days, and returned to our regular class structure. I've got more stuff on this topic, but maybe our office needs to find a user group somewhere..... We like VWA10, but we really like Macs; hence the cad platform. We'd like to stay with VW, and it would be good for us to know the next version won't only contain updated 3D tools or class tools spread around like dialog boxes in Windows 2000.....VW is becoming more of a windows program. We produce construction documents in 2D.

Echoing iboymatt's sentiments, we don't necessarily want (AC) Viewports, and we definitely don't want "Viewport Support" (viewport support implying yet another translator/mapping technique to learn....) What we do want is a way to represent multiple differing views of the same WorkGroup Reference, at different scales if necessary, on the same or multiple pages. There is currently no way to use WGRs effectively, even with Layer Links, without drawing some information twice, based on certain page layouts. Coupled with this possible future VW improvement, Class management tools would need to be improved. If "VW views" could be controlled by class structure relative to that view, it would allow tremendous flexibility per sheet or page. This is what makes AC viewports so powerful - viewports can be managed individually via the layer structure. Class management tools are spread out thru the menus, and selecting a fill pattern by counting to 71 or a color from the color wheel, makes it difficult to develop standards and easily manipulate custom files. Looking forward to VW 11......(?).

In the VWA10 "Standard Naming" dialog box, the Class Attributes section allows defintion of various parameters. What, for example, is Line Style 2? Fill Pattern 1? Is there a menu somewhere for 1-to-1 visual selection? Fill Patterns use numbers 0 thru 71 - is there a list somewhere of 0 thru 71 with the corresponding Fill? This dialog box serves essentially same fucntion as the "Edit Class" box - is there any real difference? other than the "Standard Naming" box is used for cross-referencing various class/layer structures... BTW, it would be nice to be able to pick colors in this dialog box via numbers, or some other definitive method than crayon colors.

broesler, you make my point exactly, but a .15mm line in VW is a .15mm line in any other drafting program. The skill of the drafts"person" determines the "look" of any drawing from any cad program, it is not some inherent quality in a piece of software. Katie, I agree that was his intent, but it could go either way...

Any luck with this post? We are experiencing difficulty editing benchmarks in the OIP. Some data fields are grayed, not allowing that information to be customized....

Just for the sake of argument... "The transition to VW10 from Acad is not really any different than VW9. The concepts of layers and 3d/2d are still the same." The concepts of layers are definitely NOT the same - VW develops a "matrix" of layers and classes; everything in AC is drawn at 1:1, with scale "changed" using viewports. "It's working pretty well really, and the standard of presentaion coming out the office is SO MUCH better than what we could squeeze out of ACAD2000." I've never understood that argument, or the marketting position of VW, that VW drawings "look" so much better than drawings from any other program....a line is a line is a line, and a computer is a computer..... Good people make good drawings on any workable system, so which system is the most workable?

Using the VWA10 Set Up creates so many layers and classes, with confusing names (and more stuff for each level), that it takes a while to adapt the VW way. The class structure we had previously established with 9.5 is almost unusable with 10.....and just wait to you export to .dwg, coverting all those layers and classes into layers, and now your consulant has to figure it out..... The VW idea of the "matrix" of layers and classes, supposedly making things easier (versus having everything on one system; i.e., layers), doesn't work well, and the management effort for sheets/layers/classes exceeds our desire to make drawings. We're slowly implementing VWA10, but not the setup assitant.

Where is the font mapping selection? I don't see it in any tab under Vectorworks or Document Preferences. Is this jumbled text problem a known issue? Could NNA review a few of our VW files? Even if you don't have our specific font, the problem is occuring with Geneva, which you should have in your system.

The checkbox doesn't help. The same plot with jumbled text and substituted fonts is created, with or without the PS (for "faster printing") checkbox selected. We have new printer drivers from HP for OSX. PDF is a mess - WGR don't plot or print. Including to a reliable, stable HP5000N for a test print, to which PDF files from all other sources work fine. VW continues to substitute Geneva for fonts it can't recognize. And it jumbles Geneva in a Worksheet. We change the font from Geneva to C Univers Condensed 57 (or whatever) everytime on opening a file, and the font then appears Ok on screen. Then VW applies it's own whammy to the file and walla! - substituted fonts and jumbled worksheets. The same thing happens when we leave the fonts alone, as substituted by VW. We are experiencing these same problems with VWA10 from OSX. We have have yet to implement VWA10, and until we can understand these issues, and others, to lessen the learning curve with the new software, we probably won't.

NNA?....little help here, please. Katie? Robert? Is this a font mapping problem within VW? These same fonts work fine in other programs in OS9 & 10. We are unable to use the fonts we want to customize the look of our drawings; the "look" of the drawings is a marketting strategy for NNA.

9 vs 10: IF you upgrade, the price paid is the fair value; presumably, the purchase was made with that in mind. The upgrade should work reasonably well, and VW9 did NOT - bad NNA. It didn't work, still doesn't work, and VW10 appears to be the "fix". Misc: Friend of mine still sucessfully uses PowerCad on OS6. Other CAD versions: WE STILL NEED POWERFUL 2D DRAFTING TOOLS. VIEWPORTS WORK GREAT AND INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY.

HP DJ800PS. It plots jumbled text consistently from OS10, and fine from OS9. Since "switching" to 10 (6 months ago), this has been an consistent issue from my laptop, and I'm having to work from other machines to get a decent plot.

Worksheets on drawings plot with jumbled text, making the Door Schedule (or whatever) unreadable. The same font utilized in the worksheet plots fine in the drawing as plain text, or part of a group or symbol. All fonts appear correctly on screen. This occurs from (2) computers - (1) running 10.1.5/9.5.2, and (1) running 10.1.5/9.5.3. This does NOT occur from a computer running 9.2.1/9.5.2 - the drawing plots as intended. All are ps fonts, recently updated. We're ready for this non-working font stuff to end.....

We intend to buy new and updated fonts from Adobe. Does VW have a preference for font format? i.e., Post Script or Open Type. Can VW handle all Post Script fonts? Can VW handle all Open Type fonts? If not, does NNA have a list of unacceptable font types and styles? We will not use True Type fonts. Thanks.

Recently, some larger A/E firms have started using AC scritping functions which establish multiple security levels for drawings distribututed electronically outside the office; i.e., the new user (your client) receives an .exe file, and upon opening, is required to "accept" or "decline" permission sets or copyright acceptance (similar to installing new software), and may be required to enter a password in order to open the file. Keep in mind that these large firms are run by lawyers and accountants......do you really want to work for/like them? This is not a wish list item for our office; we still need VW 2D drafting tools.

No, we have not "upgraded" to 10.2 yet.....between operating systems and VW upgrades in the year past, we've become software junkies, unable to produce a consistent product. Hopefully, some combination of an OS and VW will be stable and productive enough to let us sette down for a while. Just wanted to confirm that VW didn't access fonts some unknown way. Thanks.

We will and have updated our fonts, but that doesn't appear to be the whole solution, as some machines work Ok with a font and some don't. Fonts for both were originially copied from the same Admin folder. One difference appears to be between OS9 and OS10, with the OS10 having most of the trouble. OS10 keeps fonts in (3) places: System/Library/Fonts Library/Fonts Users/"User Name"/Library/Fonts Back to one of the original questions in this thread - How does VW access fonts in OS10? and that answer may inform us where fonts utilized by VW should be placed....or, maybe it doesn't matter.

Any conclusion? does NNA publish a list of "approved" fonts? PS or otherwise? Thanks.

We use post script fonts almost exclusively on drawings. Frutiger 57 Cn is also subject to this problem. Worksheets are unreadable.

Problem is occuring most frequently with: C Univers 57 Condensed & Stencil.

Fonts are pixellated on screen, and print as some kind of new jumbled ai font that gives our graphic designer pause.....

VW9.5/OS10.1.4 How does VW access fonts in OS10? Intermittently, when opening a file, some fonts appear pixellated, but identify correctly (as-drawn) in the pull-down font menu when selected. They print erratically. Fonts are in the correct folders in OS10. Solution below posted by MattG way back appears to be the closest related issue: "The solution for this is to remove all fonts that begin with the same name from the font folder. Then add back the missing font, and then add back the rest of the font family. So in the case of Arial, you would remove all of the Arial fonts. Add Arial back to your font folder, then add the other Arial based fonts back in." The answer above does not appear to be the solution in this case.

The NNA Tech Board and Tech Support is the best in the business. It needs to be the best, since in the previous year, our office has upgraded from VW8.5 to VW9.5 to VW10 all in the effort to stay current and fix the bugs/limitations which were having a negative impact on our production. We may have upgraded too early, and maybe we should have skipped 9 altogether....we'll know once we get into 10. (These difficulties, coupled with Apple's, have turned us into software junkies....) We still need simple & powerful 2D production tools available with other software packages; i.e., more advanced class/layer management, workgroup referencing tools, etc. 3D stuff may tally higher on voter wish lists (VectorWorker), but we have yet to issue Construction Documents in 3D.

jnr, Thanks..... But, not knowing what those sheets look like, we're hesitant to count on that as a time saving measure. We have templates established for flr plans, rcp, elevs, etc. with classes/layers defined and don't really need a set-up assitant, unless it's really different.....? We dislike not being able to customize some features, like reference markers, so we use our own.

How does VWA fare versus regular VW for 2D construction document production work? The VWA product literature showcases items (like WGR) which are available in VW9.5.