[polylines and patterns]

Another option is to use the Add Surface. The sections you want to combine need to be filled or changed into a polygon for this to work. The combine into surface is much easier to use, but I have had times when this also would not work (probably a line not touching or something).

[coordinating with Autocad]

This is a bit late, but I have found that sometimes polylines do not convert well into Autcocad while polgons do. You can try to convert polylines to polygons and see if that helps. Sometimes when doing this, the new polygons split inot two or three instead of 1 polyline. It is worth a try if you have curves that you do not want to change to lines.

[Plant ID keying & Plant List]

When using VW10.5.1B on a Mac, the automatic plant keying places the ID way off the page. Is there a way to change the length of the line so that every time you choose 'Tag Display' in the Object Info box, the ID key isn't way off in the distance? I have noticed that this does not happen on a PC.

Also, is there a way to organize the plant list so that it lists plants according to groupings such as deciduous trees, coniferous trees, shrubs, perennials, etc.? The plants would be in alphabetical order (botanical name) within these groupings. Can you then place the group heading in a line separating the groups (such as Deciduous Trees)? I am used to arranging my plant lists in this way and it makes it easier to find the type of plants you are looking for, especially for the Contractor.

[Tangent tool]

Just to make sure, I also like the tangent tool to move around the arc so that you can make a line tangent to any point along the arc while starting at the arc. This way you can join a line tangent to the arc to a line that is already drawn or given.

[Tangent tool]

I am still getting problems using the tangent tool when I try to draw a line tangent from an arc. The tangent tool works fine when I draw a line to an arc - the smart cursors let me know when I am tangent. But going the other way, the line just starts where I point to an arc and does not travel along the arc at a tangent to where you want to draw the line. For me the tangent tool only works properly about 25% of the time.

[want to update to 10.5]

Thanks. That worked.

[want to update to 10.5]

I downloaded the update to 10.1.2 some time ago and it said that the new version was installed properly but the application still calls it 10.1.0. I downloaded 10.2.0 again with still the same problem, so that when I try to update to 10.5, the update says that I do not have 10.1.2. I have a 400MHz G4 with 704 MB and am running on MACOS 10.2.6. Any ideas?

[Acrobat 6]

I have had problems with creating pdf files native to the MACOSX system and printing them at our printers (white polygons print out greyed). I am thinking of trying the process that Donald has mentioned and have downloaded the HP driver. How do you use the driver in MACOSX without being hooked up to the actual printer to create the postscript files?

[MAC OS 10.2.8]

THANKS

HOPEFULLY APPLE WILL HAVE SOME ANSWERS SOON. USING DISK UTILITY AND DISK WARRIOR HAS HELPED SOMEWHAT, BUT THE PROGRAM IS STILL NOT UP TO SPEED.

MARIETTA

[MAC OS 10.2.8]

We have been one of the unlucky ones who downloaded system 10.2.8. Vectorworks seems to run "really" slow in this system. Have you heard anything about this? I am hoping not to hhave to reinstall the system and all that entails.

Marietta

[DIMENSION PRECISION & TANGENT LINES]

Thanks, I didn't see the extra tab in the page unit display box. That really helps for dimensioning.

The tangent is stil not working for me. This happens when I have the arc drawn first. Then I want to draw a line starting at some point along the arc that is tangent to that arc. Before, when using the tangent constraint, the start of your line will automatically be tangent as you move the direction of the line. When you use the option key, the line would become tangent in the opposite direction. This has not been working for me in VW10.

[DIMENSION PRECISION & TANGENT LINES]

When dimensioning, I can't find a way to set up the dimension tool so that it will automatically dimension to a precision greater than .1. Now I am selecting each dimension and changing the precision manually. I didn't come across this problem in earlier version of Vectorworks. Changing the unit precision on the drawing doesn't help and there doesn't seem to be a way to create this as a default in the dimension box.

Also, I seem to have a lot of problems drawing a line with a starting point along an arc that is tangent to that arc, but I can draw it the other way around (starting away from the arc and finding the tangent on the arc). Both of these are frustrating.

[Exporting to Image Files]

If you are using MACOS 10 as a platform, you can save the drawing as a pdf file, using the print dialogue box. Or use Adobe software. Most printers will print these out fine. Resize the drawing to fit the page under page setup and set print area, then create the pdf file. We have been able to print these out fine and send them to our clients. The printing company we use have had szome problems this way (they use a HP 750 postscript driver).

[text problems]

In both VW 9 and VW10, I occasionly get problems with the text boxes. No matter what colour the text box is, when I revise the text, it comes out white. I have to highlight the box and reassign the colour to it. I have seen this problem on the Windows platform also. What to do? Also, once in a while, the text formatting would not change (size, style, etc.) in eith using text formatting dialogue box or under the font menu.

[Worksheet to Autocad]

Hi

I sometimes export the worksheets to excel and send that way, but the best is to send pdf files if your client is fine with those.

Marietta

[printing pdf files and using overlay mode]

I wanted to send pdf files to our printers (they charge extra if we send VW files directly). The printers use a HP500 postscript driver to process the pdfs. We have found that any white polygon or rectangle with no lines are printing out as a greyed or toned polygon instead. These do not show up on our printers if printing the same pdf files (Laserwriter pro and Epson 1280 Inkjet). I have created the pdf files in MAC OS 10.2.4 using the pdf option in the print dialogue box. Do I need to use a different method of creating pdf's?

Also, I tried printing a colour rendering using an overlay mode on one of the layers. It would not print out properly (no fills/colours in objects in the overlay mode layer) or would not create a proper pdf file. This was done on MACOS10.2.4 and VW 10.1. But this printed out fine in VW9 using MACOS 9. Is this a problem with the MACOS10?

[DTM modeling]

I have created an existing site model (I was using a workspace that did not have all aspects in it). This existing site model shows some of the lower contours above the higher contours for some reason. Also I want to create a proposed site model with the use of proposed contour lines as this project was originally drawn that way. Is this possible? I have not been successful. Can I e-mail you this file so you can see where I have gone wrong?

[DTM modeling]

I HAVE UPDATED TO 10.1.0 AND AM NOW GETTING ANOTHER ERROR MESSAGE: ERROR: _142 _61 Menu cannot be found. Digital Terrani Modeling. Please help.

[DTM modeling]

In Vectorworks 10, I am trying to create a site model based on existing contours. I have been able to convert the 2d polys to 3D polys, but when creating a site model I get a message saying that ''That menu is not authorized for use in this application' and a vectorscript error ocurs 'Error _139 _58 Error trying to process menu item. Digital terrain modeling.' Am I missing part of the program?

[EXPORTING FROM VW10]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Katie:

When it gets "hung up", how long do you wait before you quit?

I've seen some exports/imports take 15-30 minutes to complete due to complexity and number of objects as well as the type of objects being converted.

---

I have tried for about 30 minutes. The first time I tried took about 2 minutes to perform, then using the same file, it seemed to hang. Also, I tried a very simple file with some colour symbols, and that one hung also.

[EXPORTING FROM VW10]

I am having problems exporting some of my files from VW10 to autocad 2000. In one file, it worked very quickly, but found that I wanted to change one of the export parameters (export layers as layers instead of classes). Now the export tool gets hung up and I gave up exporting. I reinstalled the program thinking that may help, but it does not. I wish to export the 2d fills to autocad and this function may be what is causing the problems. Please help.

[Printers - Laserwriter or Inkjet]

I'm hearing different stories as to what printer would work best with a good quality greyscale and/or color. I've heard that the Epson 1280 would be good for color, but I'm wondering if there is any problems printing to a bloack and white laser printer. Should it be a true Adobe postcript 3 printer? Format we are looking into is up to 13 x 18".