Christiaan

I think Pete was confused by your statement that, "ArchiCAD technologies won't be used to develop VW," which implied that you actually know something we don't. Maybe it would have been clearer if you prefixed your comment with "in my opinion."

So you're telling me that if ArchiCAD technologies do get used in helping to develop VW, NNA, the developer of VW, won't have anything to say about it? Er, right.

The ArchiCAD technology is aware of it's environment too (hence it's "3D game-like"), as I understand it, so it knows to travel along a horizontal surface, such as a floor, and up stairs, etc. And NNA is a wholly owned subsidiary of NAG, but NNA develops VW, hence I'm interested in what NNA would do with ArchiCAD, not NAG.

I see Nemetschek bought Graphisoft before Christmas. The mind boggles at what NNA will do with the asset that is ArchiCAD. As a VectorWorks user obviously I'd like to see all the good stuff put to good use in VectorWorks. I'm not hugely knowledgable of ArchiCAD and I wouldn't have a clue how transferable any of the technology is, but there is one thing that immediately came to mind: the 3D game-like navigation brought out in v10: http://graphisoft.vo.llnwd.net/o1/AC10/ACClips/AC10_35.html Also the custom wall sections and angles: http://graphisoft.vo.llnwd.net/o1/AC10/ACClips/AC10_11.html http://graphisoft.vo.llnwd.net/o1/AC10/ACClips/AC10_12.html Two things I'd love to see in VW in some form. What do others think?

It's beside the point what you or I think is an ideal contract. The reality is many contracts do not pay the architect to supply this information. But even where you are paid or required to supply such information, that doesn't mean it needs to be done graphically. Architects and designers issue drawings to communicate a design. There're many different levels of detail provided depending on a situation. All I'm saying is that one of those situations involves an expert or a builder knowing more about how a building fits together than somebody's draftsperson. I didn't mean to get into a debate about the level of information that should be supplied by an architect, but instead a debate about whether having the ability to provide this sort of detailed graphical information dynamically should be a priority for Vectorworks developers. Because it seems to me, at first glance, (and I may well be wrong) that the technology you're asking for is probably very expensive in relation to what it would provide. And that would mean some cheaper but relatively more advantageous technology would get shoved down the list. I'm not saying this is a fact, I'm just asking the question (maybe a NNA employee could join the discussion?). No, it wasn't a rhetorical question. I'm interested to know if there are any other programs that approach this kind of intelligence in the wall tool.

Sorry Amy it's actually titled incorrectly. It should be "scrolling" not panning.

Put all your objects into different Classes (such as "Furniture" etc.) and then use Viewports (or Saved Views) to present your drawings, removing certain objects by turning off their Class.

I'm probably talking out of turn because I haven't really been using the tool and I haven't done framed structures for quite some time. A wall tool as intelligent as you suggest would be great; I just wonder if it's realistic in terms of priorities and overhead. Do any CAD programs attain anything approaching this kind of intelligence with their walls yet? My understanding of the current wall framer is that it produces a highly detailed estimate of the placement and number of studs in a wall, for very little overhead. It's hyperbole to call it useless or a liability. Try doing what it does totally maually for instance. 1) when you're not getting paid for it, and 2) when there's better hands-on expertise elsewhere than those sitting behind a computer in an architects office.

I must admit it's been a while since I drew stud constructions, but if I remember correctly I don't think I ever needed to worry about stud positions to this degree of accuracy. Isn't it the builder's responsibility to do shop drawings, or to work out that she can't put a stud where the soil stack will be located? For what purpose would you need this level of detail on your drawings Petri?

No it is a VW problem, for the simple reason that the same problems are not present in other programs. See also: Zooming and panning still slow Smooth zooming with mouse wheel Smooth diagonal panning with Apple's Mighty Mouse

Still present in v12.5

And it's an aspect of Autocad which is more intuitive than VW currently. Good news is a rotating coordinate system is at the top of the to do list: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthrea...66393#Post66931

I had the same problem. It's an interface fault in my opinion: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthrea...65249#Post65339

Actually I've been dabbling in GNU/Linux (Ubuntu specifically) for the first time recently. I get more concerned as each year passes about vendor lock in and lack of open standards for simple things such as writing a letter, and restrictive patronising behaiviour, such as DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and limiting me to 5 DVD region code changes, etc. So I'm learning GNU/Linux so I can jump ship if I want to. Pleasantly surprised so far. Presumably the main advantage of porting VW to GNU/Linux now is that it would immediately corner the market.

It would be nice if the Notes Manager dialogue box differentiated clearly between notes in the database and notes that are not. As it stands it's all too easy to accidently overwrite a normal note with a note from the database.

Same here.

There's also GIMP: http://www.gimp.org/

The current insulation tool only allows for a consistent thickness along a straight line, however when drawing various insulated framing details, for instance, we need to either vary the thickness or even vary the direction of the insulation, effectively squeezing and weaving the insulation between framing members. So we'd like a more intelligent insulation tool that allows us to do the above.

We've had a couple of instances of the problem of corrupted files again on our network recently. It would be nice if we didn't have to deal with this problem at all but it would also help if we could set VW to autosave a backup of files to any directory the user chooses. For instance you might be working on a network but can set VW to save a backup file to a folder on your local desktop. We have a triple rotation backup but we still lose a day's work if a file is corrupted before the evening's backup kicks in. I know you can save a copy to a separate folder in the same directory but this clutters up our filing system and makes it harder to manage; at least you know who was working on the file, for instance, if it's backed up on their machine. You also risk having that file corrupted too, I imagine, as it's still on the network volume.

I'm running the latest version of Quicktime (7.1.3) with VW 12.5.0, but it was up to date before I installed VW 12.5.0 if that makes any difference?

Looks like live previews in the print dialogue box will be supported natively in the next version of Mac OS X, so us Mac users, at least, won't need this feature built into VW: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=30074 All we'd need from NNA is support for it built into the Batch Print dialogue as well.

I'm interested in this question too, as I'm only intimate with VW. I hope this thread turns into a cornucopia.

You mean you'd like the stair PIO to support newel posts? If so I'd agree, but I'd disagree that "All banister rails should start and end at a newel post."

PDF export now supports PDF layers amongst other things. As for import I think it does a little more than simply import as an image (maybe it remains resolution independent and respects scale? not sure) but the impression I got from the meeting in London recently is that sophisticated PDF import (such as importing as vector data) is being looked at by the programmers.

Yeap, use the Component Join tool.