Radio J

I have actually used Vectorworks briefly with an earlier beta of Vista and it installed and worked well. I didn't use it extensively so I have no idea how stable it really is for longer periods of time.

I had been using a Evga 7800 GTX for awhile but the 3D labs card still feels smoother and looks a little nicer in my opinion. The amount of texture memory doesn't really matter unless you do alot of rendering. If you plan on doing any sort of gaming stick with the nvidia or ati solutions as the 3d labs cards are horrible for that.

I'm currently using a 3d Labs Realizm 100 with great success with vectorworks. I've used a quadro as well but am more impressed with the 3d labs card. In general I believe ATI has better drivers for their cards than does Nvidia. The 3d Labs card is very stable and quick, I would buy another.

We are using Avant Garde just fine with v12. Make sure the font is installed in your system, I don't think Vectorworks comes with fonts. An alternative is to use Century Gothic, its very close to Avant Garde.

I too have posted the same query here: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=005471

What OS version are you using? Windows XP - Service Pack 2 (same as my coworkers, none of whom are experiencing this problem) What version of the driver do you have installed? Currently I have downgraded to NVidia Quadro4 750 XGL 3.0.8.2, but I first experienced the problem with 6.7.2.2 and rolled back down to see if that would fix it. (Again, none of my coworkers with similar settings are experiencing this problem; they're running 6.7.2.2.) ETA--I went to the NVidia Website and installed version 7.1.8.4 b/c it was Nemetschek certified for Allplan...still getting the same problem!!! What happens when you try to do the tasks? Do you get an error message? No error message, the tasks simply won't happen. I could go to the Window Menu all day long and try to switch to a different open document, try to open a worksheet, or try to open/close a palette and nothing will happen at all. Could it be memory-related? My computer has older memory than my coworkers. Do you think it's a hardware or software problem? I can't replicate it on the other officee machines. I can take my workspace to any other computer and it works fine. [ 11-07-2005, 09:16 AM: Message edited by: JX1BR59 ]

Yes, this problem occurs in the Standard, Landmark, and my own customized workspace. If you have any idea what may be causing this--is it memory-related, video-related, etc--I would be extremely grateful. My firm is about to buy 12, but we would like to have problems like this fixed before we upgrade.

PS...This problem occurs only with Vectorworks. Any other software (Illustrator, Photoshop, Etc) works fine, even with very, very large files.

I am currently running VW 11.5.1 with a Nvidia Quadro 4 750 XGL Video Card (I have encountered this problem with all versions of the video driver); this problem occurs in all files that I open. I am now unable to do the following tasks in any workspace: Open/Close Additional Palettes (Specifically troublesome when dealing with the 3D Tools Palette), Switch between Multiple Drawings from the Window Menu (can still do it from the File Menu), Open a worksheet from the Window Menu (can still navigate to the appropriate layer & double click to open a worksheet). I now have 2 workspaces that I switch between when I work in 3D vs. non-3D because I cannot open additional palettes. I was only able to make the workspace with the 3D tools by opening a coworker's copy of the program with my workspace and saving a copy of the workspace after opening the palette... I've reinstalled VW & my Display Drivers, but nothing remedies the problem. Is there any other solution I can try? Does anyone even have a clue as to what the issue might be? Please let me know ASAP!

Windows xp 64 bit edition just became available this week, free if you trade in your existing copy of xp. Vectorworks will probably not benefit the slightest bit from this but you may get better overall system performance which could indirectly make vectorworks run better, except than some 32 bit programs run a little slower on the new 64bit os until the drivers get a little more mature. Either the xeon or the opteron is a better option than a regular p4 and a processor capable of doing 32 and 64 bit is definitely the way to go.

I'd like to see the added option of being able duplicate an object with the rotate tool.Kind of like the offset tool except rotating. an example of this being useful would be drawing parking lines on a radius. Click once in the center, then click wherever you want a new line. This would work better than the duplicate array command.

Anybody looking for a good alternative that is 2D only should try Smartsketch by intergraph.Dont let the name fool you its a wonderfully streamlined piece of software that does alot, and it works. From what I understand it is the 2D conponent of SolidEdge.It has viewports, it supports interactive excel worksheets, symbols, everything. I can do everything I do with vectorworks with this program.Pay attention to the constraints, that is how they are supposed to work, same goes for the detail blowup tool, that is a viewport.I can't say enough good things about this program.Free download to try at the intergraph website,same price range as vectorworks.Vectorworks programming people should all go and download this program immediately.Sorry, no mac version.

Although I haven't tried the experiment, I've had to endure using vectorworks for 6 years now and can confirm that it is a very poorly written piece of software that is at best buggy,I've experienced the problems in the experiment in actual practice, daily.I use only the most basic tools in the package because I find most of those "cool new tools" in every release work only part of the time if at all.Its not my video driver, its just crappy software. Why would you keep adding new features when the core features that are basic to any 2d cad package are totally unreliable, specifically the trim commands and the filet tool, those are the worst but the others freak out for no apparent reason on occasion too.(I can say the line tool has been pretty reliable).Fix the basic stuff, then add new cool features, thats how I would do it.Forget about the 3d, make the 2d work flawlessly,Cinema 4D is a wonderful piece of software, just use that for making 3D models, isn't there a plugin for that? Wait, that broke when 11.5 came out, my bad. (Sorry, I started to rant here, very cathartic) The term "polishing a turd" comes to mind when I think of vectorworks.I use it because thats what my employer has chosen for us to use.I currently use vectorworks on a windows machine but also used it on the mac platform for 3 years as well,I find it to be less of a problem with windows.I could go on for hours but I'm tired.Read my follow up for a wonderful alternative.

To add to my last post I also had a spontaneous reboot while working in vectorworks 11.5 too.That is very unusual behavior, as in never before.Don't know if that's related but chances are good.

I have noticed most if not all of the crashing I am experiencing is while I try to edit text in any form.Doesn't matter if I'm in a symbol or worksheet or just placing text.I can select the text tool and pick a point to begin a text line but everything then slows to a crawl and vectorworks just dies, I get the microsoft error window. It happens pretty quick.There are two others in the office that have experienced the same problem.We are using quicktime 6.5.1 as recommended, sp2 is installed which hadn't been a problem at all before the 11.5 update.My system has 2GB RAM and the others have just 1GB.Oh, and of course, we have the latest video drivers,Which I might add sometimes cause more problems than they solve.All systems are amd64.