BenG

Kevin, MY MBP has NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB So, the NVIDIA is a dedicated graphics chip and the Iris Pro is the built-in chip. Let me add another bug to my VW18 list. Frequently, the Object Info Pallet is blank and will not show my object’s specs. Everything else works, but the Info pallet is useless. Opening and closing the pallette doesn’t help. It may come back later.

UPDATE: I now have VW2018 and see many of the same problems, with new ones thrown in. Let me review. When a part becomes “complicated” with many edits, VW refuses to do a lot of things, such as add, subtract, fillet, chamfer, PPT, even highlight a selected object. ALL my parts are complicated. They are the components of a microscope stage, with multiple parts, holes, curves, etc. I can’t do design any other way - I have to fit them together, look at views for conflicts, then modify. The conflicts sometimes require adding a hole, or extending a surface, or moving something to a different location. I may move/create parts in separate dwgs, then bring them back to the assembly file for “testing”. For example, sometimes the PPT will highlight an object, show the extension menu in or out, accept a typed distance, then do nothing when asked to execute. The same surface may pull/push if I use a large number, then p/p back to the original desired location. Sometimes it will pull out and not go back. Sometimes fillet will accept all the inputs, but refuse to execute (no messages), but chamfer will work on the same edge. The best workarounds I have found so far are generic solids, which works about 30% of the time. Intersect solids seems to work better and do about the same thing. In VW 18 I am having slowdowns/freezes that can last 20 minutes. For example, I highlighted an object to change the line width and color. It froze for ~15 minutes. The same can happen when I cut and paste an object from an assembly dwg to a new file with only one simple part in it. 5-20 minute waits have happened for it to paste the object in the new file. Dosen’t seem to be related to the object size. I have begun monitoring the Activity Monitor on my MBP to see if I can tell what the prcessor is doing, or the memory, etc. My computer is a 2013 MBP with retina screen,16GB RAM, i7 @ 2.6 GHz, 1TB SSD drive, so it shouldn’t be underpowered. I am also powering a 28” 4k monitor and a 28” 1080 monitor. I know that is a lot of monitor, and I heard from VW that they are having problems with 4k external monitors (back in vw17). So, I have tested using no external monitors ( a little better) and using one 1080 monitor only. Still have problems. My Vectorworks/ %CPU register frequently shows 150-180% when the program is hung up on the simplest tasks. It must be running around in never-never land, but there is no “not responding” message. My memory usage shows 8GB when I first start VW (all other pgms shut down - browser, mail, etc.). The first file below is 4.65GB, and the total RAM used jumps to 12-13GB. Note that the file of just the right side of the assembly (2nd pic) is 4.32GB. This can’t be true. When both files are active, the RAM still shows ~13GB. The total memory usage by VW is 40GB. RAM and SSD. I have tried rebooting (warm and cold) and things improve in the short term, then go downhill. Ideas?

Thanks for all the comments. I have been using Vectorworks since the first MiniCAD and agree that some problems never get fixed. As to design methodology, I am probably a very messy designer. For example, I may design a part, finish it off with fillets, etc, then 6 months later find I need to change something. Add a part, change a dimension, etc. I have parts that fit together, so if I change one, the other has to change. That is why my parts are convoluted, they are works in progress. I try to clean them up as I go, but get into trouble along the way. VW is unpredicatable as to when and where a problem will occur. I frequently get long delays while it is thinking. It will do an operation on one component and not do it on an identical feature nearby. I spent hours redrawing the part I sent in the post. Had to redo fitting parts also. Converting to generic solids doesn’t seem to help. I don’t see or hear of this behavior in other CADs.

I am having a real problem with VW not being able to do “simple” things, like adding, subtracting, intersecting two objects, Push/Pull….. The error message is either a blip at the bottom of the screen saying the process has failed, or a pop up window with "You have tried to create a solid object which cannot be computed. Edit the geometry to resolve this condition and try again.” Of course, both these error messages are meaningless. They don’t tell you what is wrong, or how to fix it (edit the geometry?????). This has happened over many years and versions, so it is not particular to VW17 (my current). I may draw all day on an object (medical devices) to print on a 3D printer, and get this message several times a day. The object will have many edits and changes - additions and subtractions - as I fit things together or try a new approach. Somewhere in the process I will run into the dreaded message below. I can waste many hours redrawing a complicated object. I have sent files off to VW and they have explained some internal conflict, which I cannot see, or know what it means. I know CAD software is extremely complex but it seems VW is behind the curve on trouble free drawing. So, my question is what workarounds do forum members have when: 1. Add/subtact/intersect/section solids doesn’t work. 2. Push/Pull doesn’t work. All the construction lines appear, but will not execute. Sometimes I can use ADD or Subtract to do what P/P is supposed to, and it works. 3. I have tried to convert to generic solids, thinking that will wipe out all internal conflicts, but it doesn’t help. 4. Above is flakey. May have three screw holes in a object. Two work (subtract) and the third doesn’t. VW_error_can't_add.vwx

Suggstion to VW. This process is extremely tedious. I am drawing small things in one dwg and large things in another (engineering). I suggest adding a section in the Obj Info pallette to allow changing the arrow size immediately for each object. I might want to change them 3 times in one dwg. BTW, changing the line arrow size in Attributes won’t work (it disappears for dimns), and it won’t work for going to Organization/Classes/Markers.

Why does VW only use one CPU core? We should be long past that in modern CAD. I have 8 cores waiting to be used, but VW hangs up frequently using only one.