Chris D

The Service Select, which sounds like a subscriber model, isn't available in the UK...

I guess they're still in bed over there. 2pm here...

Crikey...how would you find ANY tool amongst the clutter of that ArchiCAD interface...?

I believe this is a Firefox problem. Quit Firefox and try again. Somebody in our office had the problem and Bugsubmit techies advised quitting Firefox....it works, unbelievably..

One flaw with this plan...when interchange of drawings goes wrong, everybody blames the firm who isn't using AutoCAD ("they use this bloody VectorThingy..."). At least if you can prove that it opens in a genuine version of AutoCAD, or is actually re-saved out of AutoCAD...then the ball is firmly in their court..

Looks like the interface hasn't seen any change at all from what I can see...which will please many on these boards. I'd rather they were more radical and introduced a dynamic workspace that adapted to the operations you were performing. We're gonna be scrolling through that unwieldy Object Info palette for a few more years yet...

Can we PLEASE have a timely release of the demo disks in the UK this year! I need to review the new version and persuade the partners that the upgrade is worthwhile. With a 12 month cycle I don't want to wait 6 weeks for the disk, take 2 weeks to review it, wait 2 weeks for the partners to meet...you get the idea. It took so long for the demo disk of 2010 to arrive we thought we'd wait for this year's release!

We currently use AutoDesk TrueView on 'The Old Beige PC' we keep for non-Mac software, for checking DWG exports. It would be nice to have TrueView installed across the Macs in the office but we're hoping we can get a network licence for AutoCAD itself now it's coming back to Mac, as it would allow us to re-save our DWG exports natively. Not sure the iPad app will be of much use. I find that A1 size PDFs are rather slow to load on the iPad and a DWG would likely be just as slow. Nice to see them exploring this area though, for when the future hardware can live up to the concept...

They're not real objects, but there is no reason this data couldn't be copied to another file....especially if the target of the DLVP is an external reference anyway. Ok maybe it can't go via the system clipboard, but VW could do this....I don't see a technical bar on this....it just requires the right engineering.

I'm not sure if you can do this with VW2010, but I'm stuck on VW2008... I'd like to be able to copy and paste Design Layer ViewPorts between files. Say for instance I had set up an elaborate key plan as a DLVP, with externally referenced source files, with complex layer/class visibilities and perhaps some class overrides too. Why can't I copy and paste that onto several drawing files? One for the wish list?

I think the fumes from the glue are making you screwy, islandmon ;-)

You can use Velfac or Rationel windows with checked reveals, but you need to get them to supply a packer which is glued and screwed to the frame, to sit behind the reveal check. Not sure about the modular window-walls, where you join the frames together to make a glazed wall, but once you are clear of the reveal, it shouldn't be a problem to fix the frames from the outside in that arrangement.

By the way, sitting the window frame behind the face of the reveal brick, as you have shown (so that the window frame must be fitted from the inside of the building), is called a "checked reveal" in the UK, and is compulsory in Scotland due to its better weathering resistance. Standard practice in England is to fit the frame from the outside and rely on sealant for the weatherproofing.

The plane from the corner of the brick face, to the window frame, is called a "reveal" in british english. I'm not sure that there is a specific name for the brick which has been turned around. I would simply call that detail a "full brick reveal".

-Vectorworks 2008- We're finding design layer viewports which use external references to be really unreliable with big files. We'll often get files on which we have to simply abandon DLVPs in favour of good old copy-and-paste, as when we try to update the references, they simply fail to re-appear. Sometimes if you leave your machine idle for 15 minutes after refreshing (literally...don't touch it), then they will re-appear, but it's a black art. Anyone find they are more reliable on 2009/2010?

I've never understood why you say 'English' for Imperial measurements. We English use metric, thank you very much. ;-)

The trouble with being successful with an innovative approach to CAD is that you just get bought up by the big guys. Revit bought by Autodesk, SketchUp bought by Google.. As someone said above though, the push-me pull-me nature of SketchUp is well suited to a touch screen..

The iPad is doomed! :grin: App Store developer interest nearly triples from Apple iPad hype http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/12/app_store_developer_interest_nearly_triples_from_apple_ipad_hype.html

@Richard I saw a lot of knee-jerk reaction like this when the iPad was announced, but frankly, as people have realised the enormous potential of this device, the only people still saying this are Apple haters or those who simply fail to understand the product. As availability of the iPad approaches I've been looking into the apps that are currently on the app store to see what we might expect from developers. I mentioned Autodesk earlier in this thread and they already have a powerful iPhone app called SketchBook Mobile - have a look at: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=13872203 Now imagine this product on a 10 inch screen, with a capacitive stylus like the Pogo stylus (http://www.tenonedesign.com/sketch.php). Or imagine a similar app where in a meeting you bring up a PDF building detail and sketch right over it, then email it off there and then. A tablet is so much more collaborative than a laptop. This is just one example. A cheap, light, multi-touch tablet has so many uses it will sell in the millions.

If you think the iPad is a second class computing device I urge you to have a look at iWork for the iPad. This is no compromised piece of software - this is BETTER than the mac version. (Watch the full keynote of the iPad introduction on Apple's website) Multi-Touch input is one of many ways we will interact with our devices in coming years and the iPad is the first product with a large and very accurate multi-touch screen and its potential is huge. It is a better site tool than a laptop and also better in meetings than hiding behind a laptop screen. Sure, the first gen iPad lacks the horsepower to run Vectorworks at this point, but consider this - I regularly do a bit of VW on my old eMac 1.25GHz at home in the evenings, and it won't be long before the iPad matches that for computing power. What I think is needed at this point is a Vectorworks Viewer for iPad, with the ability to view, zoom, print, share, mark-up and annotate files while out of the office. This wouldn't be difficult to program. You bet your life that Autodesk are looking at the potential for this device as we speak.

Cheers Jonathan

I need to know if Vectorworks 2010 still supports the old style layer-import method of workgroup referencing. Can someone check for me? (In VW2008 this option is found under the 'settings' button of the 'references' tab in the organization palette) Thanks

Yes, the Viewport override hatch retains the hatch rotation and location as set for the objects hatch on the Design Layer if it is set to by Class Attributes. Are you saying you can override the hatch pattern by editing the class in the viewport, but that the scale and rotation of the new hatch are fixed by whatever you did in the design layer?

Can we PLEASE have a better origin/coordinates system, or at least get rid of the half-assed 'Set Origin' command that does more harm than good. We recently had a user issue incorrect setting-out coordinates for a building thanks to an accidental moving of the origin. Concrete foundations are being grubbed up as I speak! The current 'Set Origin' command serves no purpose other than to defeat the unwary. It is ignored by the system in favour of the internal system origin. Elevation Benchmarks, Eastings and Northings tools (third party) and hatches all ignore the user origin. The origin of a drawing is also far too important to be set by a click on the screen rulers or the accidental entry of Apple-9 on the keyboard. My wishes: 1. Remove the Set Origin button from the screen rulers by default. (Allow it to be re-enabled in Preferences for those that use it) 2. Remove the Set Origin keyboard shortcut by default. Seriously, if you need to change your origin frequently enough to need a shortcut, you're doing something wrong. 3. Rename the Set Origin option of 'Set Origin to Drawing Center' to 'Reset Origin to System Default'. This more precisely describes the action and is easier to find when a user has accidentally moved the origin. 4. The Set Origin should by default apply the new origin to all hatches and plug-in objects, or allow it be toggled to do so. 5. An Eastings and Northings plug-in (such as the one produced by Manuel Garcia de Paredes of Vectorbits, or the one by OzCad) should be included in Vectorworks (can't believe it's still missing), and it should have the option to toggle between the system origin and the user origin.

When 2010 does come out later this month, can we finally have trial copies in the UK please. To this day I've never been able to get my hands on 2009 to see what I've been missing...