David Bertrand

This is such a silly thread. Curse Windows! I use it every day, but curse it anyway. And as for color-blindness, I'm sure it has little to do with artistic creativity. It just gives one's art a different look.

At those prices, I don't see many people switching to ACAD unless they have no choice. My continuing problem with VW is the interface, which drives me crazy; the commands are all over the place and I'm always searching for them. I guess icons are too much for me to cope with. I was much more comfortable with the command line interface of ACAD. I would like to see VW move toward a touch screen interface like the iPad, maybe also adding a ribbon interface as with Revit.

I'm looking forward to VW for the iPad. Especially if it costs only $9.95 like the iWork modules.

Keep showing up and stay available; that will show that you're dedicated. Spend time at the computer tweaking your own system in any way you can, making sure that you're always ready to go if called upon. Learn as much as you can about how their work is done so that you can join right in when they need you. Familiarize yourself with the way they do things. Make up a few small projects, or copy some of the work being done, to practice on and to demonstrate that you are competent. Keep busy.

I hope that Apple users won't eventually have to run Windows on their machines in order to use Vectorworks.

Two Vectorworks users work on a tablet: one to hold the tablet, and the other to move the stylus.

Thanks Ray. I'll check those out. Samsung has a great reputation. I've emailed the local Apple dealer to see what they recommend.

I'm thinking of getting a separate LCD display for my powerbook, something in the 20" range. Apple doesn't seem to make that size anymore; it's not listed on their web site. Can anyone recommend something about that size and reasonably priced? Thank you.

Back in the mid-nineties, I manually coded the web site for an engineering company that I worked for. My first and only experience at HTML. Later, the Office Manager, using software, dressed it up a bit. But the original layout that I did is still there: http://www.cpceng.com/

Bottom line though is that with Vectorworks, as Brudgers' has been saying, we can't type "^B" to get bold or "^U" to get underline as has been possible since the days of CP/M & DOS.

OK, Miguel, assuming that you're not being facecious, how do you format while typing?

Brudgers: That never occurred to me since I write everything first and then go back and format later (I also have difficulty walking and chewing gum at the same time). So the issue never came up. But I'm sure that your suspicions may be valid. Apple is behind this evil plot.

Jim, That's a little off the wall ( ) but worth a try.

I wanted to mirror a series of openings/doors to a wall on the other side of the building. The flip button in the OIP will mirror the window within its current location. I always forget about the OIP calculator. I think I received my copy of 12 in Jan 2006. I just recently updated to 12.5.3. I like it fine for what I do. Eventually, I'll have to consider getting Architect. If anyone knows of a good theory book on space/site design, I'd love to get one. I'm especially interested in "efficiency" as an approach to the design of spaces.

Ah thanks Peter. I'll give it a try. Yes, the math in VW makes my brain hurt. Have to keep a calculator handy. How about mirroring? Is there a way to separate a symbol from a wall temporarily to mirror it and then re-connect it? What I'm doing is going through a Revit book and following their tutorial to see how the programs compare. So far, Revit is trouncing my version of Vectorworks.

Thanks Kevin. I can't select just the symbol and not the wall, as far as I can see. So cmd-M probably won't work. I also tried to mirror some doors, and that appeared to mirror the wall as well. I'll have to test this again later on when I can get back to it.

To move a symbol in a wall, do you have to drag? When I try to move a symbol with the move command (cmd-M) it moves the wall as well. Is that correct? Thanks.

That's a very attractive rant, Brudgers. I never used mtext. It slowed me down. I never used TTF because they slowed down the whole system. That was the bad old days.

You should try it on AutoCad

I'm not sure that Vectorversity would work because VW users tend to be very frugal. But it is a great idea.

The walls look pretty good in Revit. And they are able to place doors and windows accurately. Also, they can control the finishes around the openings and can stop them at wall intersections. That will help in details. I'm using Fundamentals and don't know how well Architect can handle these things. It's probably a close race. Since I've always struggled with VW command system, I decided to change my basic commands pallet to show both icons and text, in alphabetized order. What an improvement in usability! I can now find the commands quickly without a lot of eye scanning. The only way to make the command system better would be if they let me type them at the bottom of the screen

Thanks for your comments Bob-H. I got the same impression, that Revit's 2-D tools are very limited. I'm going to slog through the book and follow the tutorial using Vectorworks. I want to see if Revit has any tricks that I can apply to VW. So far, in basic wall drawing, I see no advantage with Revit. One thing they have that I like is a command system which is located in a small area at the top the screen, with commands that pop down only when you might need them. It looks like a good idea. The high cost of Revit would preclude my switching over, but I may find myself employed using it someday.

Jonathan, Don't listen to these people! Don't raise your prices. Lower them. Actually, I have a copy of the 12 manual and like it very much. I especially enjoy the little videos, with Jonathan's narration, which are very entertaining. At this time I'm not employed using VW (for which the industry can be very thankful), so I don't need the books for my job, but I like to read anything on the subject.

Well, it was worth a try. I'll wait until the clearance sale.

Jonathan, Please let me know when your 3-D manual goes on sale for 50% off :)