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SVA Architects

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Posts posted by SVA Architects

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted

    29 minutes ago, hh_berlin said:

    i've had fabulous experiences with switching from mac AFP to the (reworked, new) SMB: mounting the server and accessing files is much faster. on my synology station, just setting to only offer SMB and the same in vectorworks. 

    Intriguing post but can you please explain what you are running, on what and how???...

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted · Edited by SVA Architects

    VW 2019 and Mojave need better graphics and CPU.  Beach ball is mainly graphics card related.  Close all other windows including Safari, Preview and Mail. Try running no other apps at all apart from VW and it will be somewhat better until you upgrade the Mac

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted

    I had a look at your website  - www.cad.ch.  Truly excellent.  Well done indeed!!

     

    I must admit - Using OSX Mojave took me to the edge of tolerance with Vectorworks and caused me weeks of lost production time.  However, whenever I dip into Windows, as I have on and off for 30 years, it takes me over the edge within an hour.  So... as long as VW supports Mac, I will stick with what I have used for over 25 years.  

    I have tested Autocad and Revit often and run out of patience in a short time.   I just love the option of a 'drawing board' feel in Vectorworks when a quick 2d plan is needed and then working up into 3d with ease not far short of Sketchup for usability.  From day one the choice was Archicad or VW on Mac and the vote went for VW.  As for Revit, I remember the day when Autodesk bought out the developers and then gradually persuaded architects to wean away from Autocad.  Just like DWG, they have tried to make RVT a file standard to squeeze out opposition.  They would have succeeded but have not, which says a lot for the quality of alternatives that have so far prevented them from doing so.  As for BIM.  Well MiniCad had very good 3d and object modelling from early on.  Then Sketchup arrived with its outstanding ease of use.  Autocad bought Revit as they could see strong opposition from easier 3d modellers.  BIM is very late compared to auto manufacturers adoption of object modelling.  Vectorworks have gradually added BIM capability but these additions have added power while reducing usability to some degree.  However the basic ease of MiniCad is still buried in there when needed.

    • Like 2

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted · Edited by SVA Architects

    12 minutes ago, brentf said:

    i restarted my computer, opened only VW and tried again.  drew 1 wall and added a door.  select door and rainbow wheel for 20+ sec.  my partner's MacBook is a few years newer but mine is a 2.5 i7 hers is a 2.6i7.  we both have 16GB ram and similar video cards.

    Reduced from 90 to 20 secs?  Similar to my experience.  I am still reviewing my options with hardware and CAD software for serious work as my ‘solution’ is only a way to get some work done temporarily. The long term solution rests with the software/hardware providers.  So far I have heard no real admission that there is a serious issue or timeframe to deal with Apple’s new direction with Metal over OpenGL.  There will be more technical rebuttals here but my view of Operating systems and productivity software is that they should quietly serve the brain in the background with few if any glitches not occupy the brain.  I am an architect not a programmer. That is why I chose Mac and Vectorworks years ago over windows and Autocad etc.  

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted · Edited by SVA Architects

    38 minutes ago, brentf said:

    i have only one issue, and have been using VW2019 since the day it came out and mojave since the day after it came out.  i know, bleeding edge and all.

     

    if i have the object info palette open and [shape] button clicked, and select ANY object with any complex info, door, window, etc, i get a rainbow wheel for about 90sec.  if have the [data] or [render] button clicked, no issues whatsoever.  but if i need to adjust anything and click the [shape] option, it all comes to a halt.  clearly not as bad as some of you, but none the less annoying.  and NO FIX whatsoever with mojave.2, mojave.3, VW SP1, or SP2.  

     

    to add insult to injury, my partner sitting next to me with a slightly newer MacBook pro has had ZERO issues since day1 with the same setup.  

     

    any ideas welcomed.

    Have you tried turning off every other app - mail, preview, safari, photo, one drive, dropbox etc?  For me it reduced the spinning ball times. Mojave seems more CPU/ GPU/RAM hungry.  Yes it is a pain to reopen and close  other apps but at least you can some drawing done.  Is you partner’s Mac faster/more RAM/more graphics RAM?

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted · Edited by SVA Architects

    I have found a way to get jobs out with Mojave and Vectorworks Architect.  Turn off all other apps, especially Onedrive, Mail, Photos, Preview that I used to dip in and out if for reference to current projects (client instructions, site photos, permit PDFs etc).  That way all CPU, RAM and Video is used exclusivley by the Finder and VW.  I have had no crashes or spinning balls for two days. Not a scientific study but it has worked for me for the first time in two months so worth a try for busy architects

    • Like 1

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted · Edited by SVA Architects

    4 hours ago, rjtiedeman said:

    I updated my drivers to the latest 3Dconnection drivers (10.6.1) it didn't help. The paring still fails on restart. I have plugged the receiver into every USB socket on the Imac Pro and also the connected to the USB3 ports on the Caldigit TS3Plus-US20-SG Thunderbolt 3 docking station. The problem is the same. However my 2010 Mac Pro USB-2 connection works fine. I was wondering if the problem is that the new USB 3 ports and the 3DConnection Universal Receiver has a problem with USB 3 ports in general.

     

    I have even removed and re-installed the software twice after found that the 3Dconnection Helper was listed 3 times in login items/users & groups.  I have also been on the phone with 3Dconection tech 3 time on Friday with no solution. Since my new IMac Pro is only 1 week old I am going to call Apple tech support in the morning to see if they can shed some light on the (nuisance) problem since it is only on my new Imac not the old one.

    As I said before, Mojave has put many developers in a ‘spin’. It is a ‘fundamentally’ different OS.  I desperately need a new Mac but dont want to downgrade the OS it will come with.  

    Much as I hate MS Windows, I am trialling VW on an old i7/Quadro Dell Precision laptop I keep for certain Windows tasks. It takes ages to start up but once running at least it does not spin and crash. 

    At this time I no longer know what else to do for the first time in 20 years. I would say the the Mojave/Mac situation is in crisis for CAD users. 

    I hope someone at Apple is listening and working very hard.  Dell, HP and Autodesk must be feeling very happy right now and waiting for switchers to call. 

    I started with Minicad over 20 years ago due to the Apple option. If I switch I may not stay with VW.  The stats show there still more VW Windows crashes than OSX ones.  I may be small fry but so are the other 50% of Apple VW users.  It all adds up. I will give it three more months...

    • Like 1

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Michel S said:

    Currently i am working in MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6 and VW 2018.

    I want to upgrade to Mojave. Are there still problems when still using VW 2018?

    I would say wait if VW is working OK on your current set up. I have lost so many hours of work so far on spinning balls and crashes.  Mojave should be renamed NoHave.  It is a fundamentally different environment and has caught several developers with their pants down. 

    • Like 3

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted

    14 hours ago, SVA Architects said:

    Superb advice. Thanks for taking the time out 🙂

    Ps

    if we all waited for patch version 3 of OSX and VW before updating, ‘the revelation of the bugs’ would merely be postponed to Spring from Fall.  Sounds like a horror film title 🙂

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted

    20 minutes ago, Mark Aceto said:

    Back around 2012, a very wise lighting designer friend advised me to wait until SP3 of both VW and Mac OS to upgrade. As a rule of thumb, I stick to that as much as possible for all software/firmware/hardware... especially when my paycheck depends on it. I almost always wait until VW SP3 but made an exception this year (SP2.1) and have not regretted it. However, I also made an exception in 2016 and hugely regretted the time and work lost. To support this claim, look up the old SP release notes for past versions, and search for "crash". Notice how many instances are found in SP1-3 of each version/year, and then how it tapers off in SP4 and is pretty much gone by SP5. That's common sense, and to be expected every year.

     

    I always update Mac OS at v3 or v4 which usually works out to be around the same time as VW SP3 (typically the first day of Spring for some reason).

     

    Whenever possible, I wait to purchase a Mac until it ships with OS 10.X.3. That will definitely be the case this year with Apple (Mac Pro?). However, when I bought an iMac Pro last year, I wasn't comfortable downgrading from 10.13 to 10.12 as that machine was not built for 10.12. Consequently, the iMac Pro was buggier than the MacBook Pro until 10.13.4 (at which point I upgraded the MBP,  and both machines have been humming along with no issues every since).

     

    If I owned a Mac Pro 5,1 since 2012, I would maintain it until the new one is released. However, I would advise against purchasing a cheese grater in 2019 because a Hackintosh or Mac Mini with an eGPU are better options (all things considered). Speaking from experiences,  I briefly owned a cheese grater at the end of 2017. It was just as fast as this iMac Pro (and one third the price) but I spent more time trying to get basic stuff to work because it wasn't designed for modern GPU power requirements, and lots of little things we take for granted (Bluetooth, Handoff, WiFi) were just a giant time-suck of troubleshooting. Plus Apple is scheduled to deprecate support to "legacy product" this year (read: not supported anymore). This is a very transitional year for Apple hardware, so there are a lot of unfortunate considerations to weigh (without going down the rabbit hole of personal recommendations).

     

    The silver lining of VW and Mac OS annual upgrades in sync with each other is that they'll both be buggy at the same time, so Sep-Feb is a great time to sit back, and let everyone else beta test the bugs. It's all relative, so I just look at it as a Spring upgrade for both every year, and I'm not upset or frustrated anymore. I choose the path of least resistance.

    Superb advice. Thanks for taking the time out 🙂

    • Like 1

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted

    10 minutes ago, Mark Aceto said:

    There's a really simple solution to all of this every year: don't upgrade the new Mac OS until the v3 update (or v4 is even more stable). That will make life easier not just with VW but every other app, and the OS itself.

    Yes indeed. For me it all started with OSX auto update not turned off.  Then emails to renew VSS but no mention of incompatibility in those emails. Yes it was on the website but why would I check when my supplier never flagged it with the upgrade notification?

    Which comes first in your scenario?  App upgrade or OS upgrade?  Also any new Mac will have the latest OS installed by default. Also any new software license will be the latest version regardless of ‘bug patch cycle’. I have also noticed when considering new hardware to solve the problem that low to mid macs use integrated GPUs (not recommended by VW). Even if I bought a brand new high level Mac, eg iMac Pro or Mac Pro Mojave would still be a problem. 

    What has absorbed me over the last few weeks is possibly to get a used Mac Pro 2012 with High Sierra installed and put in a Nvidia Quadro 5000 card. Quad to 6 core Xeon should be OK.

    Comments welcome 🙂

    macOS Mojave (10.14) Compatibility

    in News You Need

    Posted

    Good one.  I was persuaded to pay for the VSS renewal in November 2018 to upgrade to 2019 from 2018 for greater support and compatibility.  I have spent more time since then searching for other BIM app options and hardware than actual drawing.  I have come to tolerate looking at beachballs though...

    That research has made me realize after 20 years of Mac use that the HP Z series gives stunning power and value compared to an equivalent Mac solution.  Can I yet face going back to windows though? The thought makes me feel ill. Can i face relearning workflows with Revit, Microstation, Archicad etc?  Not at my age I think. The VW crash stats on this site for windows are even higher than those for Mac too!!! Should I downgrade from Mojave? Dangerous and potentially very painful.   Should I buy a new Mac?  They all come with Mojave. Please Nemetschek keep working on compatibility. I am a loyal and patient person by nature but boy have I been stretched. My wife says I have become very intolerant in recent months. I am also very behind with my clients drawings.  Crash spin crash, draw an arc...beachball again for half an hour. 

    My current solution is to put autosave on to create a backup every 5 operations.  That way  I can force quit rather than wait for the ball to stop spinning and only lose a few minutes time each case. 

    • Like 2

    Service Pack 1 for Vectorworks 2019 Released

    in News You Need

    Posted

    For the time being I have downloaded VW Architect for Windows and synced files to Dropbox. That way, when I get the spinning ball on Mac Mojave, I switch to my windows laptop, open the same file, carry on and save regularly until the ball stops spinning ( (up to half an hour for arcs).  Then when the ball stops, I close the Mac version without saving, reopen the later windows edited file from Dropbox and carry on with the Mac until the next freeze. Not exactly efficient but at least I am not losing 1/2 hour blocks each time.  I may change to windows full time for CAD only,  if the issue goes on much longer but then will review the wider range of CAD software in that environment. For now,  I so much prefer OSX I will battle on, hoping the software engineers at VW are doing the same which no doubt they are. 

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