Win B.

Adobe Reader 9.4 (Windows) does an excellet job of manipulating and printing the 3D PDFs. wb

Microstation V8I from a VW2011 DWG export. wb

Mitch, please see attached mechanical model. Win B.

Fittings and all equipment were modeled in Vectorworks. 3D PDFs can be created directly from a VW2011 DWG export but it takes a lot of rework in Acrobat to get it right. AutoCad can also produce 3D PDFs but it a bit harder to get the transparency working correctly (you have to assign it via materials, etc.). MicroStation V8I just does a really slick job of conversion. You can open the DWG file (exported from VW), save it as a DGN (Microstion file), revise the layer data (classes) as needed and print out the 3D PDF model. VW2011 does have some real problems when exporting DWG files with complex extruded polylines that they really need to fix (way too much time revising in AutoCad or Microstation). Cheers, Win B.

Peter, I use VW2011 to do ISO 3D piping system design for water treatment plant and mechanical systems. Really pretty slick except I have to use MicroStation V8I to produce the 3D PDFs that I need for client review. Chase me down with any questions. Win Benbow win@bwcsystems.com

Benson, if you have Acrobat 9 Pro you could export a 3D DWG out of VW (export it in top/plan view), open it with Acrobat and get the layers cleaned up (Acrobat 9 allows the user to turn layers on and off). I've done it a couple of times; its a bit flunky and not nearly as clean as the V8I workup but you can get a 3D PDF with full layer (class) control. Win B.

I'm currently having to use Microstation V8I to create 3D PDFs by exporting a DWG file out of VW11, opening and saving it in MicroStation as a V8I file and then changing class (layer/level) colors and transparency as needed (its very easy to set up & save custom layer files in V8I for repetitive use). The resulting 3D PDFs are very impressive and easy for anyone with a recent version of Acrobat (7 or later) to manipulate but having the class (layer/level) transparency option is imperative. Win B. win@bwcsystems.com

Anyone have any idea as to how to eliminate the large and imprecise selection area of symbols that include Loci? Click/Drag selections are very difficult when working on a complex 3D process pipe systems drawing. Thanks, Win B. VW2011 Windows

VW 12.5 w/Windows XP (Lenova T60, Dual Core 2, 2 GB RAM). Screen redraws after zoom does not regen screen until command ZZ and then selection handles on objects are usally gone and VW needs to be re-started. Is there a fix or do we go back to an older version? Win B.

Many crashes on fairly new and very stable IBM Thinkpad running XP. New files, old files, imported DWG or DXF....no difference. Usually goes down during editing tasks. If no resolution from the Maryland countryside soon...looks like I'll join the herd and head back to the VW 11 barn. Cheers, WB