Chris D

Thanks Stan, useful contribution as ever. We'll look at this option.

I don't like the sound of that 'no resolution' statement, although it's probably true.. I was going to upgrade my home Macs to Mountain Lion, but I need to keep VW2008 running...

Funny definition of 'out of date' when it's just been rendered..

Render. Hit Print... re-rendering...WHA???!.....it's rendered, just print it!!

hehe...good stuff

Thanks Rubes. No doubt Revit will be frustrating too but in different ways like you say. We'd much prefer VW to evolve very quickly instead! I hope threads like this one are a wake up call for NVInc before frustrated users do defect.

We couldn't be without those and for years to come our 2D workflow will be bigger than our 3D workflow. Therefore we plan to keep VW around (on a minimal upgrade path), but perhaps on Windows. It's funny that we have both VW2008 and VW2012 installed and most of us stick to 2008 as it's faster and slicker for 2D work....no working planes to worry about etc. I imagine it will work for another 5 years too...

Running before they can walk. Nobody (except DWorks) is using VW as a BIM modeller, so who needs to share? Sort out 2D output from 3D so that people can begin to use 3D, then talk about sharing.

Will do bc but we couldn't arrange it before August due to holidays (vacation) so may not be in time for you.

We'd approach this on a project by project basis, switching users (and all software) to Windows machine by machine over time. If Revit for Mac becomes available during the rollout we could always go back to our preferred (and beloved) OS X.

Bootcamp means Windows runs fully native on the hardware.

No. We've never had a major contractor mention ArchiCAD to us. They only ever mention Revit. BIM=Revit to them, so if we're changing we'll go with the big one. The Mac hurdle is a biggie. For 2D we're not changing to AutoCAD (why would you when VW is better), so we might move to VW on PC instead. All of our Macs are Intel so it's a case of installing Windows on them. (groan).

Why we're moving to Revit is is a slightly provocative subject line for this post, and it may or may not be true. Truth is, we don't know what Revit can do for us, yet. We do know that Vectorworks can't do BIM the way we want to do it, so we're looking for something that does. The people coming to give us a Revit demo wanted a list of VW's perceived failings so they could address these in their intro to Revit. Here's what we gave them. This is our broad brush overview of what's wrong with Vectorworks as it stands. (For details see my moans on this board). WORKING - No live sections - No multiple model windows e.g. plan and section open at same time - Poor architectural tools, windows, doors, stairs, roofs, curtain walls etc - Missing architectural tools rooflights, gutters, foundations etc - No multi-core / multi-thread support e.g even auto-save stops you working while it saves - No building materials, just 2D hatches, textures, fills with no relationship between them - Poor workgroup referencing. No workgroup server or BIM server - Poor stock component library, especially for the UK - Poor Coordinate System support. No multiple UCS (moving origin doesn't qualify). - No 3D working grid or reference lines related to storey settings - Poor Stories implementation. No split levels, mezzanines, double-height spaces etc. OUTPUT - No 3D hatches so all drawings need to be rendered for presentation - Render quality needs to be set very high for decent elevation output I can't claim this is a definitive list of the broad changes that NVInc need to address as we only got so far with our BIM trial. We gave up because there was no hope that VW was the right tool for the job. When September Comes, I can't see all of these failings being fixed.

The elevations issue was the killer for us. The BIM model was 5 times the work and the output wasn't even half as good. We've decided not to wait until September. We've booked a Revit presentation. The practice has been on MCD/VWX since it was founded in 1993 so this is a big move.

No, same as mini DisplayPort..but you're right it can drive DVI with an adaptor

Can't see any classes or any textures in these files, only images. Hope we get Building Materials in the September release with options like these though...

Your success rate is higher than mine. I might actually do a tally....after the September release that is..

This is good. This goes beyond the idea of having building material definitions. I like the idea of saving wall component definitions individually because wall layers have lots of properties that need intelligent re-use in the BIM world such as U-values weighted for the mortar joints of brickwork etc. It would also allow Nemetschek to supply a default set of wall components without having to supply 1000 wall style definitions. +1

It's only unnatural because VW doesn't do it right at the moment. When you're specifying finishes, colours, fixtures, fittings etc in real life, you do it by space...therefore a BIM tool should do it by space. The external finishes of walls are unrelated to internal finishes and should be controlled via an association with the wall, but again there is a more elegant solution. In your Wall Style definition you should be able to assign a fixed range of external materials for each style that can be applied by-instance in the design layer.

I have a feeling this one is coming

+1 (goes without saying)

Why do you feel the need to think this out for NV Inc? What you want is simple...any wall bounding a space should have its finishes controlled in the space settings, same with floors and ceilings. How else would you schedule them? If they can't come up with an elegant solution to this they don't deserve your subscription.

Wishlisted already: http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=34031&Number=167774

This PostScript thing has worked for us on several files now, but we've discovered a limitation....it can corrupt gradients for some reason. We don't use gradients very often so it isn't a problem to us.

Exactly. We got this far with our BIM trial and gave up. VW fails at the first hurdle in the BIM race.