Chris D

Yeah, I have a palette set up on my right click with scripts from vectordepot. The point is these should be in the main program.

Just installed 11.5 Thanks NNA for the improvements - it makes it seem worthwhile submitting items to the wishlist... I really love the viewport-to-design layer navigation option to keep the layer/class settings, allowing you to see the design layers as they appeared in the viewport. And at last - being able to work without the page-border turned on (guys...if you haven't found it, it's under Set Print Area from the Page menu). The individual zooms for Sheet layers is a real winner. I must get my disappointments in early though... - Viewports still can't have 'black-and-white' as a saved display option - Viewport names are still hidden away on the Data tab of the Info palette. How about displaying them on the Shape tab too. - The main display toggles (View Lineweight, View in Colour/Mono, Edit Groups in Place) are still hidden away in Preferences. These are used constantly and we have to rely on scripts to call them to save constantly having to go to Preferences. Come on NNA - put them on the View menu! - Grips (Selection handles) are still any-color-you-like-as-long-as-it's-black! How much programming would it take to offer us at least one alternative color? Something more clearly visible like red or blue...

Never seen it working with a trackball. If you like the soap-dish style of the mac mouse, there is now a 2 button mouse that looks exactly like it, which I think is available with a scroll wheel.

Alan, Yes - that's how they work, and that's what everyone is suggesting when they ask for wheel-zooming. You don't need to select a tool to use it - it works transparently and doesn't interfere with the command you are using, or the change Undo sequence. Like you suggest, the scroll function is irrelevant - pan is much more usable to CAD users. I love Apple's hardware design by the way, but they can't design a mouse for toffee. I've got fingers, not a paddle at the end of my arm. We've got an office full of gleaming iMacs, eMacs, G5s and Cinema Displays....but with rag bag of Microsoft and Logitech mouses....

Alan, Every time this comes up I have to have my say. The reason it comes up so often is that NNA have got it wrong. Zooming/Panning is what you do all day - so when it's cumbersome, it's infuriating. AutoCAD, ArchiCAD and Revit all work the same. They use the wheel to zoom, and a depressed wheel (with mouse move) to pan. Dead simple, dead good. You don't hear users of these programs moaning - because they've got it right. VW uses (on a Mac) the alt button to copy, so trying to use it to copy, while also using it to zoom to hit on a difficult snap, requires great dexterity. New users complain to me constantly about this NNA could give us the functioanlity we want as an option. If you like it the way it is, fine, stick with it, but don't call us nitpickers for wanting improvements.

Double-Clicking on a Viewport gives the option of editing the Design Layer associated with the Viewport. However, the view defaults back to the previous design layer view, and does NOT present the design layers as they appeared in the viewport. Logically it SHOULD allow you to edit the design layers exactly as you see them in the viewport - otherwise why would you choose this method to switch to the design layers. Can this be fixed, or at least made an option. At the moment, you still have to save a Saved View for the design layer equivalent of every viewport, which is both time consuming and frustrating. NNA seemed to be keen to hear about users' suggestions for viewports after the initial VW11 release, so I'm hoping to see big improvements such as this in a forthcoming interim release.

Thanks. Been wondering about that for a long time...

VW11 allows you to name viewports on creation. This name is NOT displayed when you click on the viewport. Is there a way to list viewport names?

Our office has made the mistake of buying eMacs....and you can't upgrade the video card on an eMac. We have over 40 VW users, mostly on eMacs, which were fine for VW10...but not good enough for VW11. The only upgrade path is to throw all of these computers away and buy new. Adding RAM makes little difference.

Oh, it's not just AutoCAD that uses one handed pan/zoom - so do Revit and ArchiCAD - all these users can't be wrong!

Quite happy for NNA to give you guys the option of keeping two-handed pan/zoom, if that's what you are used to. Propstuff...you DO need your other hand in the middle of pan/zoom...try using ALT to copy, while also using it to zoom...or not to accidentally copy, when you just wanted to zoom...and so on. As for using the mouse wheel to scroll...I never do...it's very jerky. Arrow keys are great though...if only AutoCAD had them....!!

What is needed is for the print dialog/driver to offer re-scaling, without affecting the page setups....(just like AutoCAD...) I find it an ache to print off a set of reductions, because I need to alter the page setup on all my sheet layers, print, and then change them all back. Some printers offer override re-scaling (without VW cooperation...) but most don't.

Pan/Zoom like AutoCAD has been raised many times. The VW method is two-handed and inefficient. NNA seemed to have recoginised this and implied that they would implement single-handed pan/zoom. How's progress Katie?

2D Working Planes have appeared frequently on this wish list. (VW has them in 3D, but not in 2D....bizarre but true) This must by now be No.1 on the Great NNA Wishlist, surely...? (Either that or pan/zoom like AutoCAD....)

In black and white, solids disappear, patterns don't. I'd like the option...

Absolutely. How about a 'purge nested objects' option too? It's not 9 clicks, more like 27 clicks, as you have to purge all objects at least 3 times to be sure to purge nested items. (In AutoCAD it's one click.)

I agree, drag-drop in the Resource Browser would be good. An improvement to the Move command would be to allow symbols to be moved without having to open the target subfolder (i.e. just select it). Having to open the subfolder is odd and so counter intuitive that I had to look in the help file to find out why I couldn't move symbols...

I WISH... The File>Open dialog on the Mac would work better. In columns view, the columns can't be resized ....but they can in Finder, so why not here? Is this NNA's fault or Apple's?

Alexandre, Thanks, nice trick. Very handy.

We did the trial with other programs closed (except Entourage), and with only one VW file open.

We were having problems after moving to VW11. Our standard (new) eMacs just aren't coping. For comparison we tried a 20Mb drawing file on an eMac alongside a brand new Powerbook. The eMac struggles painfully, with the colour-swirl coming on all the time and the CPU being used to 100%, just to switch between saved views, or even to select a tool or draw a line. The Powerbook handles the same file easily, with very fast panning and zooming. Even opens the file twice a quickly (7 secs instead of 14 secs) The only difference in spec between the machines, both G4 (1.25Ghz eMac, 1.33GHz Powerbook) is extra RAM, 1Gb over 768Mb, and the graphics card VRAM 64Mb over 32Mb. Same cache, same bus speed. The Activity Monitor utility says VW is only using 110Mb of RAM, so the critical difference must be the graphics card. I would say that processor is all important - go for a G5 if you can afford it, but failing that, get a half decent graphics card.

No didn't crash. Have probably crashed on this file before, as it is a couple of years old and was originally VW9. (It has been Saved As many times though)

The only thing I did was close the file, go to Finder, copy it to a manual backup folder, rename it, and reopen it. The Saved Views were gone, so I went back to the last draft of the file (we notch up a draft number for each significant amendment). This last file also had the Saved Views missing for some reason. I closed the files, but I didn't quit Vectorworks during the Finder operations. A note for your bug team - the script palette is still called 'Saved Sheets'.

The same thing has just happened to me in VW11 - my Saved Views (saved sheets) have just disappeared. I went to my backup copies (which were fine yesterday) and they have disappeared off those too. As you say, if you go to Windows > Script Pallettes > Saved Sheets, you can still see your saved views, but can't access them. Any advice from NNA?

If you think 10.5 is slow, wait until you get VW11. It's noticeably slower....almost painful on a G4 800MHz that ran 10.5 OK, bearable on a 1.25MHz