BK

yeah, we had issued a packet of standard fonts that all machines (using vectorworks) have installed and we now use those fonts all across the board. So all drawings and all machines use the same font for the same applications in each file. Besides, how does that explain the text flipping upside down? Any other possible suggestions?

I work in an office that utilizes Vectorworks on about 6 different machines. One of which is a MAC platform (5 PCs and a G5). When we open files to view on our respective machines, there are many small changes and elements seem to be a bit out of wack. For example: I opened a file (on PC) that had been created on another machine (a PC). The callout boxes had text spilling out of them. The callout boxes on one side of the drawing (and only one side), had the text flipped upside down. Now when going to view on the originating machine, it looks perfectly normal. This also becomes a problem for files that were created on PC and being viewed/edited by a MAC and vice versa. These 2 PCs (in question) are comprable in hardware and software. Is there something I can look for that might be causing this? Do file elements change when they are being stored/transferred on a server? Please advise....

yeah it was the polyline function that I was needing. That did the trick. I used the convert to polygon function because I thought when I drew the lines and selected convert to polygon..that it would do just that. The Polyline function tracing over my original object is really what I needed. "If you are fairly new to VW's (and it sounds like you might be) there are a couple things you should know: 1) An extruded object, like the one you just created) will always be created with its bottom at the "zero point" of the layer it is in. 2) So you should always go to a side or front view to check, and 3) In a side or front view you can use the MOVE command(command m) to move the shape up or down by typing the desired number (positive or negative) into the "Y" field in the Move dialog." I've actually been using VW since version 6 but I sometimes struggle with the 3D aspects (and it's relationship with Cinema 4D). Thanks for your help Peter, I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future...

umm..I dunno. That's why I'm here! Once I've created the odd shape, I need to extrude it and I'm not quite sure what command is needed to make this extruded shape a solid object. Don't I need to turn it into a polygon? Please advise..

I am having difficulty creating a surface on top of a polygon made from scratch. Essentially, I'm building a stage that has a custom fit and no one side is the same. So I drew it from a plan view (using the line tool), extruded it, and selected Convert to polygons. When I go to render it with the texture I've assigned to it, only the perimeters show up with the textures. How do I create the top and bottom surfaces to this crazy stage? Can anyone offer any suggestions?

I've just updated to VW 11 recently and I've been having some issues printing to PDF. When I choose to print using a Post Script Driver, all of my symbols will be pushed to the side. All symbols are on different classes and other elements that seem to stay in place are on the same layer. I'm pretty sure it's an issue with the PDF driver. But it only does this with Vectorworks. When I print in Non-Post Script, everything stays the same but my (inserted) worksheet will slowly drift away from the text. Also, I've selected to embed the fonts I'm using and it won't do that either. Can anyone offer any suggestions. This is something that I've been experiencing since my udpate to VW 11. I'm using Adobe Distiller 5.0

There is a plug-in manufactured by Maxon that allows you to export an *.mcd file into a file that has the *.c4d tag on it. You can then open this file in Cinema 4D and edit as needed. It gets very tedious as you have to make sure and seperate everything by class (in VW) according to how you want them textured. For example, if you have 6 doors in a drawing but there are three different designs/textures for the doors, you would have to make three different classes. If you have a chair, you would have to put the metal frame on one class, and the padding/cloth parts on another class. When exporting the mcd files, the classes will go with. VW is good for building the structure and precise measurements of your project. C4D is great for textures and lighting. http://www.maxon.net/index_e.html Good luck! My suggestion is to learn C4D w/tutorials and such to get a feel for the software. It'll make it easier when importing VW drawings.

There was a discussion board on this topic, soon after the release of 10.5 that led me to believe that older versions of VW (i.e. 9,9.5,10,10.1) are able to share the serial numbers but do not have the termination feature that is available in the new 10.5. So if there are two users on a network with 10.5, the first one to open the application will take precedence. If the second user to open the application uses say v9 or v10.1, it will steal your serial number and open with no problems. Your application will lay down and die. Neat feature huh? So I'm not sure if you have any users with older versions but if so, you might want to investigate down that avenue. Check out this discussion: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=003029 ...and watch out, there's alot of hostility on this topic. Hope everything works out!

I'm not sure if it's different for MAC but your stair tool should be located in your Scenic Objects palette. It's shared in a drop down icon with a Circular Stair tool and Ramp tool. Check to make sure your Scenic Objects palette is turned on and also check to make sure it isn't in a position to be clipped off by lack of screen space.

If I'm understanding you correctly, I would have to set my page setup so that my printer thinks it's printing to a large sheet of paper, but when printing to Adobe, it will automatically break it down into 8.5 x 11 sheets ? Well that's how it is already setup. I've made a custom print area and each drawing resides within the 8.5 x 11 page break markers. Printing to a regular printer, no problem. When I go to page setup and change the printer to Adobe PDF, those page break lines change. Adobe generates a page size alright, just not the right one. I could go back and resize, change scales and all that, but it would take far too long; I have to make edits to these drawings and print them (Adobe and paper) on a regular basis. There has to be a way that I can make the Adobe PDF distiller see those page breaks the same as the printer does. I'm just not sure how.

I have all of my drawings saved as individual sheets. I have one sheet labeled "overview" and that is looking at all 12 drawings at the same time. When I print, the page break lines reform and form a print area measuring @ 10" x 13". I'm not sure where in Adobe I need to correct this. Any help is appreciated...

I've read thru some of the previous posts but I've been unable to solve this problem. When printing to PDF, the scale changes. At least it seems that the (grey) page borders decides to change it's proportions. I have a file in which I have expanded the print area to 12 pages. This allows me to have a different drawing on every page, thus when I go to print, it goes in order and it's all nice and neat. When I print to PDF, the lines go out of whack and all my printouts are in pieces. Can anyone help?

Thanks Katie! That did the trick.

Does anyone know how to get rid of the colored lines that attach themselves to the corresponding classes? When I import a DWG file, those lines that reference the class structure (like a grid) are so abundant, I can't see the drawing. BK

I have this issue with the exporting of VW files into Cinema 4D. I've already dropped the correct files into my plug-in folder and it shows up on Vectorworks. When I export the file, it starts okay with the correct prompts and all and is cut short by the following error message: One facet or more in this file contains more than 1000 vertices. Cinema 4D cannot handle such vertices, they were not exported. I figured it was because I had a polygon intensive drawing (which I do a lot of) but I tried making a simpler drawing (consisting of a box) and I get the same message. I'm not sure what it is I'm doing wrong but the manual doesn't offer much in the way of troubleshooting this problem. If anyone could offer any help, it would be greatly appreciated. I've also sent a message to Maxon but I don't yet know if it's a VW issue or a Maxon issue.

I've noticed that it takes considerably longer with more polygons and 3D units. I did a simple set design in 3D and it printed to PDF in about 40 sec. I did a drawing with 1000 3D chairs and it took almost 12 minutes.

Yes. I too have run into this problem. It takes longer to save the file than it does to render. The great thing is that now Acro 6 has a file size reduction feature that allows you to make e-mail happy files.

As strange as it may sound, I just can't render in that file. I copied the images I wanted to use and pasted them into a different file. But that original file still will not render in perspective view. I can't explain it.

I myself have done that a few times but this is not the case. I am not standing in a wall or directly in front of anything. When I render, it stays blank and usually when you render, you see the bars moving at the top left of your screen to show you progress on the render, and that doesn't even show up. It's like the program completely ignores me.

Has anyone ever heard of Renderworks refusing to render in perspective view? My machine will not render in perspective projection. It will do in every other projection (which turns out to be a big dark block. I need to use the walk through tool to get indoors and render but this glitch is keeping me from doing so. Anyone have any suggestions?

I'm having problems with my file sizes. I'm doing a 2D drawing with minimal detail and the drawing is 5MB. How can I fix this?

Did you check your elevation to make sure that they are aligned on the Z axis with the rest of your drawing ?

I am having some difficulties getting my renderings to finish. On some of my drawings, I get a "runtime error" message, essentially telling me that I don't have enough memory to process the drawing. I have no other programs running. I'm running Windows XP with a 2.4GHz processor (pentium), 1GB of RAM, and a 40GB hard drive. Am I wrong in thinking that a MAC (with dual processors) will perform much better.

I had a file of a stage drawing that was built in 2D with nothing but lines and polygons. It had a title block with text and a key. I am using the "print" function to Adobe PDF. The file turned about to be 4MB. The whole purpose of putting these drawings into Adobe formats is that they are readable on almost any computer and that they can be e-mailed with no issues. It becomes difficult to e-mail 4 - 8MB files. I am using version 9.5.2 for PC.

I am having issues with printing to PDF formats. The files are way too large. I don't have a great deal of 3D elements. Does anyone know what could be causing the files to be so huge???