RGyori

I couldn't find an alternative. Certainly irritating when a simple, useful graphic operation has apparently been needlessly eliminated.

OK, I surrender. I have submitted it as a bug.

I have been working with Keynotes lately and have come across a graphic behavior that I don't know how to deal with. First, I am placing a series of keynotes on a detail sheet. The details are SLVP's in a variety of scales with the keynotes, misc. notes and dimensions placed as annotations. The problem is that the key note bubble sizes vary according to the scale of the view ports when I want them to be the same size, regardless of scale. Furthermore the bubbles attached to the Keynote legend are of yet another, much too small size. Placing the Keynotes directly on the sheet layer "on top" of the respective detail viewports doesn't work since the bubbles appear wildly oversized. Am I missing something here that I should otherwise be doing? Thanks in advance for any help.

I just upgraded VW 2009 Architect to 2010 and it cost US$480 + shipping.

Here's the link: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=128018#Post128018

At this time even VW2009 SP4 is not stable using Snow Leopard. Expect a free service pack for VW2009 users in early November. Users of any earlier version of VW are out of luck since Nemetschek will not be supporting those versions in Snow Leopard.

Shame indeed. I for one don't have the luxury of a dedicated drafter to figure these things out and the prospect of having to delve into programming basic functions is daunting and... irritating. I understand that a full fledged CAD program can't be all things to all users but I frankly believe that a complex tool such as Vectorworks should not require that working design professionals should wrestle with programing functions that could be better implemented by working professional programmers. I have always found the overall schedule structure in Vectorworks to be, how shall I put it... incredibly lame. OK, I'm off my soap box now.

None here as well. One should be rigorous when applying OS updates: Download the OS update form Apple's site, preferably a combo update (don't use the OS's automatic Software Update function) > Restart from the Apple startup disk, repair permissions and hard drive using Disk Utility > restart in safe mode (shift key on startup) > apply combo update > restart and repair permissions again. My wife has never accused me of being anal either. Honest.

The detail bubble is part of the generic "reference marker" tool in the Dim/Notes tool set. The graphic shows it as an elevation marker but this can be changed by using preferences in the Mode Bar or via the OIP after insertion.

Sorry folks, I should have read the last reply before mine. Oh well, back to work. Bob

As described earlier an object that has a fill can be selected by clicking anywhere in the object. If however, as I think it to be in this case, the objects to be selected are located within the bounds of a larger filled object then start your rectangular selection operation with the shift key depressed. This way the larger filled object will not be included in your selection. Be sure that no objects are selected before starting this operation. I hope this helps. Bob

I haven't yet used the camera tool much at all but if it is designed to mimic a true camera then it should behave as follows: Set the angle of view in the OIP to 45? (approximate field of view for human vision) and select 35mm as the film, the focal length is automatically set to 51mm which you may notice is very close to the standard lens for a 35mm camera. Now change the film to say 4" X 5" and notice that the focal length changes to 153mm. Thus preserving the camera's field of view. Same for all the other "film" sizes. To risk vastly oversimplifying the matter, in the real world the advantage of larger film is greater resolution and perhaps the camera tool offers more pixels/inch with the larger film size. I hope this helps. Bob

Thanks Ray. What you say makes perfect sense thought VW's behavior seems to be less clear. Based on limited investigation the radial dimension tool will work on composed objects and on primitives in viewports, AND upon occasion, on composed objects in viewports. I guess it's the inconsistency that bothers me. Oh well, back to work.

Sorry I forgot to update my signature... the above post is with VW2009 and OS 10.5.6.

I just came across this today and have been unable to find reference to it in previous posts: Draw to an arc on a design layer. Now create a sheet layer viewport containing the arc. The radial dimension tool will work on both the design and sheet layers (viewport annotation mode of course). Return to the design layer and draw a straight line from one of the arc end points and extend it an arbitrary distance. Select both objects and compose to form a polyline. The radial dimension tool works on the design layer but now fails in the viewport. Am I being unusually dense this morning or is this a bug? Bob

Thanks HTH. That indeed does work, though I think it would be easier to accomplish with a properly functioning 2D selection tool. I will submit it as a bug.

I tried a forum search but couldn't find reference to this problem: Draw 2 parallel walls of the same length then use the 2D selection tool (in "unrestricted interactive scaling mode"), shift-click both walls and extend them some arbitrary distance. Screen hints indicate that both walls are being extended but in reality only one wall has been extended. Selecting/unselecting "enable connected walls mode" makes no difference. Is this normal behavior or am I missing something really, really obvious?

If its as old as MC6 I assume they are Mac based files. The conversion method I use (on my one non-Intel, hence OS9 compatible Mac) is simply to open the document in VW 8, save it, then open with VW2008 and save again. If it's not too many files, send them to me me via email and I'll translate for you. Regards, Bob

Blink, in the spirit of covering all the bases, be sure you are not selecting the one interior triangular shape located in the lower center of your composition.

My first step in orienting a plan on the sheet is to align, as closely as possible, plan north with sheet north (top). This allows more consistency when labeling elevations north, south, etc., though it can conflict with Mike's emphasis on the front (I assume entry) wall. Or one could follow Hopi or Navajo Indian tradition and have the hogan entrance always face east (right side of plan)and be done with it. In any case keeping with any consistent, logical approach should work.

I don't have full the technical understanding of all of the issues involved but I am in the process of calibrating my monitor and printer in order to control and make consistent the color prints for my photography. I use a Datacolor Studio system (not too expensive and there are several competing products available) comprising software, a spectrocolorimeter to calibrate the monitor and a colorimeter to read and calibrate printer output. The former produces a custom ColorSync profile for your monitor and the latter a custom ICC printer profile for the particular paper you intend to use. Straightforward processes in principal but very much an iterative ones in execution. I have achieved the beginnings of some consistency but more time and experience will be required before I am satisfied. I print my results with an Epson 2400 via Photoshop CS3 that plays well with custom ICC profiles though I have not yet tried the same printing from Vectorworks. I hope this may shed some light on the subject. Bob

Sketcher, should you decide to move up to VW 2008 (and you most definitely should!) make sure all your archive files are MC7 or newer so VW 2008 and can one-step convert them into the latest format. For a while I kept a pre-Intel Mac around running MC7 so I could convert my oldest files (ClarisCAD) into a format readable by VW2008. Good luck. Bob

Eric and mw, do you have SP2 (build 83388) installed? I too encountered the same problems with rotated plans until installing the latest build. I have not been able to duplicate the problems since then. Bob

Andrew, I have 2008 (SP2) build 82613 and, as stated in my earlier post have not experienced the problem. Different builds for Mac and PC? Bob

Thanks Katie, I will. Bob