Eoin R

We have been trying to insert window PIO's as a symbol into walls but everytime they end up rotated 90 degrees perendicular to the line of the wall. We can insert them without any difficulty as a standard PIO but want the ability for them to be inserted as symbols. SymbolProblem.jpg Does anybody have any clues as to how this can be fixed or is it a bug? Thanks, John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Archtects Dublin VW 12.5 Mac OSX 10.4.8

We have been having major problems printing PDF files and getting Vectorworks patterns to come out on the plot. From a trawl of previous posts it appears quartz imaging is a factor Switching Quartz imaging off seems to solve the problem. Can anyone confirm what the benefits of having this on or off are? Thanks John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects - Dublin VW 12.5 Mac OSX 10.4.8 G5 2 Ghz iMac

We are having a problem in that we are now unable to print from Vectorworks to our HP1220c printer. We can print documents from any other software other than Vectorworks. Does anybody have any ideas or suggestions as to how this can be sorted out. Thanks John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects - Dublin VW12.5 MacOSX 10.4.8 - G5imac 2Ghz

Maybe another way of looking at this is the possibility of VW offering a low cost stripped down version of VW aimed at DIYers. It would help spread the use of Vectorworks. This would only be a good thing in the long term. John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects - Dublin VW 12.5 Mac OSX

Jody The best solution is go and buy Windoor from Ozcad. This will allow you to form the door you want plus many other combinations of doors and windows that cannot be made with the standard VW door and window tool. We purchased Windoor recently and can highly recommend it. The link below should hopefully take you to their website. http:// Hope that helps. John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects - Dublin VW 12.5 Mac OSX G5 2 Ghz

The opposite. Everything in 12.5 appear to be quicker for us. John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects - Dublin Mac OSX G5 2Ghz

Katie We are using the standard 'Architect' workspace that comes with Version 12.5 We have managed to put all the short cuts back in by using the Workspace editor so we are back up and running in this regard. John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects Dublin

Have downloaded 12.5 and the ability to set Layer and Class visibility by the keyboard has gone. In previous versions we constantly used the keyboard (eg. Apple+Shift+4 to set all other layers grey) to quickly control layer and class visibility. Now we have to either go up to the top menu or the navigation palette to achieve this. Is there any way to restore the previous controls? Thanks John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects Dublin

Can anyone out there put a coherent argument against Ken's second post. We are very proficient at 2D Vectorworks and are considering using the 3D modelling route to create planning and construction drawings. What is putting us off is the sense from the VW documentation where everything seems directed to creating one off timber frame houses. Our projects are more urban and nature and in nearly all cases involve existing and neighbouring buildings. In principle the 3D model route is persuasive. My worry is that this is not realistic for the type of projects we do and that the quality of the drawings (lineweights etc... ) will be poor and that the whole process will create more work rather than be a time saving route. As I said at the start of this post I would be very interested if someone could give some clear views or advice on this. As a postscript from having used Autocad, Microstation and Vectorworks (albeit for mainly 2D drafting) I would rate VW as good as the other two with the exception of larger scale projects where team work and referencing is crucial and as it stands VW does not cut it. On the other side VW is actually better in my opinion for small to medium sized projects where the combination of layers and classes allows all the project info to live on one file. John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects - Dublin VW12.01

Katie Have searched and tried what you suggested but in VW help it states a worksheet file to be imported from another format must be on the "Files of Type" list. Excel is not on this list. In any case I followed the dialogue in the Help menu and it just will not import information from an excel file. On my other issue. Can you confirm if there is a limit on the number of characters allowed in any worksheet cell. Thanks John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects Dublin

Katie Two problems 1. How do you import an excel document into a Vectorworks worksheet. We are on 12.01 and cannot do this. VW does not appear to recognise or accept excel files in the import worksheet function. 2. Next issue. On a recent project we got around the direct import by copying and pasting from an excel file into a worksheet. However the excel worksheet box appears to only accept about 250characters per box. This is a major issue for us as some of the text items needed a lengthy description. In the end we just gave up as it was impossible to edit the text down. Am I correct on this? And if so in a future release can we have the ability to import excel files ( a hotlink so any changes in the excel file would update automatically in the worksheet would be really useful) and can NNA do away with the chararcter limit in worksheets. Thanks John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects Dublin VW 12.01 G5 2Ghz

We have just arrived at the exact same hurdle. We are working on a protected (listed) structure and need to add lots of survey and condition notes onto the drawings. These have been set up in excel and was hoping to link the spreadsheets directly in Vectorworks worksheets. No such luck!!! What I can't believe but have found out is that the VW worksheets are limited to 256 characters. Does anybody have any workaround to get over this. Thanks John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects Dublin VW 12.01

Duplicating a layer in Version12 is very simple using the Organisation dialogue. This feature and the navigation palette are alone worth the upgrade to Version 12. John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects - Dublin

Bluefin A work around is to create a layer link to the workgroup reference layers. These layer links can then be rotated or moved around the drawing space. One thing to watch on this is that these layer links are the full size of all elements in a particular layer. Currenty there is no way to clip these layer links to a more manageable size which would come in very handy if you are drawing sections or elevations off rotated plans. HTH John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects - Dublin

Ion & Peter Thank you. The problem was the 'ceiling-main' class. I was unaware that this class is automatically created in Version 12 whenever you insert a door into a wall. John Ryan Camilleri-Preziosi Ryan Architects - Dublin VW12.0.1/Architect imac G5 2Ghz

Brian Completely agree with you on the need to be able to crop layer links. When elevating off plans it would be so useful to not have the entire layer link showing. John Ryan CPR Architects

Michael A lot of this comes standard with Vectorworks. Open the resouce browser. Then within this you can browse the standard libraries. These include Armitage Shanks, Ideal Standard etc.... There also libraries for furniture cabinets that may be useful to you. John Ryan

Steve The problem seems to have gone away since we upgraded to Version12. Regarding scale we usually set the layers to 1:100 or 1:50. Thanks for your advice on this. John Ryan

We are having similar problems importing Autocad files. During the import process Vectorworks crashes and we then have to force quit the programme. Usually after about 3or4 attempts for some unknown reason the process works and the autocad files are imported. John Ryan CPR Architects - Dublin VW12.01 OS10.4.4 G52Ghz 2Mb RAM

Cmury Completely agree with your wishes for manipulating reference files. The ability to rotate and clip reference files and/or layer links would be the single most useful improvement in the programme. One further related issue to add: We would really like reference files to be automatically located from within the local folder of any file. We have a lot of problems if we transfer files from a desktop to a laptop computer. On the laptop when we open a file it searches fruitlessly for the reference files from the original (desktop) file path. It would be far more useful if it searched locally for the file within the local folder. John Ryan CPR Architects - Dublin

Katie I tested the tool in a new blank document and it works. Logically there is a bug in the working file that prevents this happening. Is there any way of sorting this out other than possibly copying and pasting the entire contents of the file to a new file. Thanks John Ryan CPR Architects - Dublin

We have upgraged to Version 12 and have had a number of problems with the Door Tool. Our latest difficulty is that when we insert a door into a wall it fails to cut the wall. We are left with the wall lines carrying through the door. Never had this problem in Version11. Does anybody have any advice or pointers towards a solution. Thanks John Ryan CPR Architects - Dublin

I should have clarified in my earlier post that the problem of applying class attributes only applies to Walls.

Chris I second you on this. In version11 we found it very useful to be able swith on class attributes to show walls with and without pattern/hatch fills. What we find in Version12 is that when we define a define a class attribute (eg. pattern fill) this does not show up unless we repeatedely and separately identify each object and click on the attributes palette. John Ryan CPR Architects

I think it would be very useful to be able to crop a layer link. With this it would be possible to be selective as to what extent of the layer you linking is visible. Frequently we draw sections/elevations off rotated layer links. To be able to crop out parts of this link would be invaluable. Maybe the crop function could work in a similar fashion to the viewport crop.