D Wood

Peter This one's for you

Bruce You might consider keeping your PB G4 for archives. OS10.4 could also run OS9, so if you have files going back that far (and it's not that long in any other terms than computing!), the PB may be useful if you still have access to OS10.4. It's a bit ironic - I remember when computers first came on the scene and we were told that we could keep digitised records forever, we wouldn't need that mountain of paper in stacks of plan drawers, now of course I can still read those old drawings, but not the electronic files - there are no readers for floppy disks, and the OS they're written in is obsolete anyway. Sono An Intel Mac jet - now there's a thought. Mine's fast, but not that fast ..................

Great link, Peter, thanks. Should have done homework before opening mouth. The case looks promising, answers most of my concerns, but I agree about it not being a must-have at this stage. I think a laptop will still be better for taking to meetings and site. I wonder if someone will develop an app to allow sketching on the screen (using a nail(!!), pencil, pen, etc) Oh, don't tell me, someone already has? If they haven't, remember you read it here first ...............

It needs a hinged (180?) and detachable cover, with a Bluetooth touch keyboard on the inside. Then the glass would be protected while travelling, you could use it as a laptop, or you could have the keyboard completely separated. There is a keyboard/dock accessory coming - it will be interesting to see what form it takes. At the moment, you have to ask who really really needs an iPad, but I think once apps and accessory developers get on to it, it's usefulness and appeal will take off.

Sarah, more questions: How much RAM have you got in your iMac? What size is the hard drive, and how full is it? Are the 3 files all on your iMac or are they on a server? Is anyone else accessing the files you are working on?

Repaired permissions lately? HD>Utilities>Disk Utility>Repair Disk Permissions. Emptied the Trash? DiskWarrior is worth buying and running weekly IMHO. Any other non Apple, non VW programs running in the background? Were the files started in VW2010, or in 12.5 and upgraded? Why do you have 3 separate files for a small house extension?

No, you are not going mad, and VW is not trying to ruin your drawing. Others more expert than me may chip in, but I'm pretty sure the answer lies in "the topographical survey import from DWG". This is notorious for messing up lineweights and dashed lines and introducing a zillion or so extra classes. I was taught to never import a survey file directly into a work file - import it into a stand alone file, clean it out, then copy it over. Also make sure your default class is None, and without having anything selected on the drawing, set everything in your Attributes palette to Class colour, Class thickness, etc. Maybe you default class is set to one of the imported classes with the odd lineweight.

It does look as though you might have duplicated faces, and negative roof thickness sounds like a no-no.

Lower floor plan: I make the wall the height/shape required, with symbol, just as you have drawn it. This avoids a junction line between walls in elevation. Upper floor plan: I draw the wall and symbol in 2D.

And a descriptive signature would be useful as well. Go to My Stuff at the top of this screen, >Edit Profile.

Getting back to the topic: The only times I have tried to create a particular colour (by duplicating a standard one and changing the RGB sliders) using the palette that Kool Aid shows, the values I entered didn't "stick". I would exit the colour, and when I opened it again the values were different to what I entered and thought I had saved, so I wound up with a colour different to both the one I started with and the one I wanted. I'm on v12.5 - has this been fixed in later versions?

Peter Won't turning the class off effectively turn the site modifiers off? Won't the site model then revert back to the original contours?

Bruce Well done, you put the Dock on the right side of the screen, as all sensible people do (it's an Apple thing, PC users can move on to the next topic - although perhaps not, hasn't Micro$oft pinched the Dock idea for W7?) You can also hide the Dock, so it resides just beyond the screen, and it reappears when you mouse over the edge (System Preferences>Dock>Automatically hide and show the Dock). This frees up a bit more screen real estate for VW.

Have you: ? repaired permissions? ? restarted? ? run Diskwarrior? Have you at least 10% (15% better) free HD spare?

Thank you, Peter, I think you're right. I've turned off the site model class, converted the HL viewport to lines, then edited out everything below ground. This actually gives more control over all the lines, but it means that if the design changes, I have to re-edit the lines.

Gideon Thank you for your response - indeed, as you suspected some of the WinDoor classes were N for Use at Creation (I must say, I've never understood what this option was for, when you should choose No and when Yes). Anyway, just changing them all to Y did not make a difference in itself, but clicking on each door, window and symbol in turn, then Class Settings, then threatening to Reset (click Reset, then No) did work - all the Hidden Line Renders now draw with dark grey lines. Thanks for your help!

I am trying to show a perspective view of my house model on the site model. I'm still on VW12.5, so I have made one viewport with Final Quality rendering at the back, and one in Hidden Line in front. I want to soften the impact of the Hidden Line render, so I have changed the line colours in all the Viewport classes to a dark grey. However some lines, particularly around windows, still show up as black. Is the colour of these lines determined by something other than class?

I am trying to show a perspective view of my house model on the site model. I'm still on VW12.5, so I have made one viewport with Final Quality rendering at the back, and one in Hidden Line in front. The problem is that the site model in Hidden Line render generates lines between contours (either 3d triangles or grid) when I just want to see smooth ground with contour lines. If I apply a class to the site model and turn it off in Hidden Line, the house model basement shows. Is there any other way to have Hidden Line without the lines on the site model?

Bertandmax Ray & Pat are saying there may be something else on your drawing called window that is blocking you using the window tool. You say "I have the plans of the house, which I have extruded as walls, and I also used the 'walls' tool to create some walls". Sorry if I am misreading this but you should use the wall tool not the extrude tool to create all walls, because doors and windows won't "stick" into extrudes the way they do into proper walls. You can also create components within walls (linings, framing/bricks, cavities, veneers, etc), and walls can join automatically. Kool Aid frequently (& deliberately) spells things back to front ..........

Francois That must be a record for the interval between asking a question and getting a response - 15 months! I can't even remember asking, must have stumbled on the answer eventually. Thanks for your perseverance ...........

So, after all the fanfare of launching v2010 (& 2009, and 2008), it turns out that "You (still) can't install a door into a curtain wall in VW". In spite of all the pleas in these forums, numerous listings in the wishlist over several versions now, assurances by Those Who Are In The Know that the wishlist is taken seriously, the tool is unchanged and you can't install a door in a curtain wall - unbelievable. It reminds me of a decades old Jacques Tati movie, where he was trying to enter a modern glass walled skyscraper to meet the love of his life, but in spite of tearing round and round the building, he just couldn't find the door - the building must have been designed using Vectorworks.

Luis Is that what you did on the model in the movie?

Bob-H It's interesting that your upgrade from v12.5 to 2010 cost you $US800 in total, yet the price here is $US1950. Even allowing extra for Renderworks and for the local add-ons (including WinDoor, which I already have), the price required by the NZ distributor seems exorbitant by comparison. I wonder if NNA places any constraints on distributors, especially those in a monopolistic situation. Both our distributor and the Australian distributor do not put pricing information on their websites, so it is difficult to see how the pricing is made up or justified, and they will only respond to a request for a specific quote, not for pricing information in general. Do US users have a choice in dealers, or are you forced to use your local distributor?

A little Islandmon joke, Bohdan.

I have received the "upgrade to v2009 and you get 2010 for free" offer from our local (& sole) VW supplier. I am on v12.5, and the price quoted to go from v12.5 to 2010 via 2009 is $NZ2800, about $US1950, or ?1200. I have until tomorrow night to decide, because the price goes up by several hundred dollars more when it's a straight v12.5 to v2010 upgrade. I am being offered the Australasian version which has a extra package of localised goodies, so I don't know what the basic upgrade price is. I am curious however to see how the price compares to what is demanded in other parts of the world - has anyone else had a price offered for this upgrade?