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I had been using VW in 2D mode since the 90's, but switched to 3D/BIM over the last 2 years. During this time I've read/watched pretty much anything I could find for tutorials & guidance. I agree that VW has a real problem coordinating the available resources, keeping them up to date (and labeled as to version number & publication date), and providing a comprehensive getting started guide to walk you through setting up the model and then generating drawing sheets from the model. VW University is an attempt to consolidate the information, but the navigation, search, and interface are terrible. The message boards have some good information, if you happen to find it. In particular, @Wes Gardner has posted some of the best guides and sample files. I don't understand why the library of documents he has are not publicly available & searchable, but my understanding is that it is not Wes's decision. So, looking outside of VW for free resources, I found these YouTube channels really helpful: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwvftfxlvkvJb6BBr2eqRpw - by @Jonathan Pickup https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCneBbkxJjxNRhKnws0vxWPw - Novedge https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC56qp6QeXSAayDOOHu3BcCA - by @Jonathan Reeves7 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsXFxbjty25SW48uWsTR9DA - MegabitsNZ In the end, the most important resource for me was Jonathan Pickup's VW BIM course, which was well worth the price: https://store.archoncad.com/courses/architecture/vectorworks-building-information-modeling-architect-2019/ He has a Fundamentals course as well, but I did not need it given my previous experience with VW in 2D. The subscription site at https://learn.archoncad.com and https://archoncad.com is also an amazing resource, and a model of what VW should aspire to in providing support information to their user base. My subscription has expired, so I guess I should use this unpaid endorsement as a reminder to renew.

While I also find the "need for muscle micro-movements" problematic for the columns (and the active layer checkmark), and the proposal has some merits, I think the three column layout helps in easily see the class & layer settings to make multiple selections, so I prefer the current system to the proposal. The part of the UI I never understood was the order of the columns: On - Off - Gray. It seems like the order should have been ON - Gray -Off, since gray is the intermediate stage between on & off. However, given existing users' muscle memory, I think it's too late to change.

Post updated with explanation of how price was derived.

My current thinking is that stories are not worth the effort in these situations, and manually handling the floor heights. Of course, @Wes Gardner posted about this as well:

I was told by a VW sales rep that there is no transfer fee. The rep was in the US office, so I don't know what happens in other countries. However, he did tell me that the license is transferable to Mac or PC, worldwide.

@Timothy Metcalfe License transfers are handled by VW. I'm attaching a copy of the form I was sent when I listed two VW Architect 2020 licenses for sale: You can reach me at info@eggfarkarch.com or through a direct message on this forum if you're interested. Transfer of Ownership New.pdf

@Taproot Very clever. Might be a reasonable tradeoff for losing Data Tag operability for revisions. I guess my original wishlist request still stands. We'll see how things look in VW 2026.

EDIT: BOTH LICENSES ARE NOW SOLD I have two VW Architect 2019/2020 licenses available. EDIT: I am asking $1870 obo. I arrived at the asking price by looking at all other Architect/Spotlight/Landmark 2020 offers on the board that had a price listed, eliminated any that are above the current ($2895 on August 26, 2020) sale price at Novedge (https://novedge.com/collections/home-page-products/products/vectorworks-architect-2020), and rounded down. This seems like a fair number to both sides. I would handle any transfer fees with VW USA (I don't think there are any). Buyer would be responsible for other country distributor's fees, but as far as I know there aren't any. I have confirmed with a VW sales rep that the licenses can be transferred to Windows or Mac worldwide. The licenses include Fundamentals 2012-2018 & Architect 2019 but we would need to confirm with VW that access to the past versions is included with the transfer. You can reach me at info@eggfarkarch.com or through a direct message on this forum if you're interested.

If this is "Working as Designed" why was it designed this way? Is there a workflow in which this is the preferred behavior?

@Pat Stanford I believe this occurs in only certain situations but I'm not sure exactly when (while inside group, symbol, 3D model history?). I seem to remember that there's another thread on this subject. @mac@stairworks While Pat's suggestions helped me greatly in another context, you might want to look into this a little more before putting in the time required to go through all the troubleshooting steps. It might be a bug.

On the bright side, I memorized a new keyboard shortcut: Shift-Command-G for OpenGL in the default Architect workspace.

We all work differently. In my case, I usually set the top of wall height, and then place the roof on top of that. I don’t need to be exact in terms of the top of the roof, as long as I check that I don’t exceed the height limit.

I'll reach out to you via direct message.

I have two 2020 Architect licenses that I've thought about selling. Let me know what you think a fair price would be.

I’ve already been in touch with tech support.

Safari on my iPad failed.

In case anyone is having a problem with course progress not being recorded in VW University, I just found out that if you complete a course using Safari, it won't register. Chrome on a Mac does work.

This is not that important, but... The Detail Cut Wood tool draws objects to NOMINAL SIZE, and the "Show Size Options" adds the nominal sizes if "Size & Unit" is not selected. This is the expected behavior for rough lumber (at least for an architect in the US). However, if the unit designation is turned on, it does not change the numbers to the ACTUAL SIZE, which is an error. It will show "2inx4in" for an element that is actually 1 1/2" x 3 1/2". The simple solution for users is to never turn on the units. On the other hand, if you try to use an ACTUAL SIZE using the custom width and height, you can't get the unit mark to show in the "Combined" show view options. Thus a 2"x4" ACTUAL member appears to be a 2x4 nominal. Adding unit markers (double-quote would be better graphically than "in") would solve this. There are easy workarounds, and I'm guessing there's no real reason for VW to throw development time at this. This is probably "working as expected" as far as the programmers are concerned, but not as architects expect. https://www.archtoolbox.com/materials-systems/wood-plastic-composites/dimensional-lumber-sizes-nominal-vs-actual.html

Not obvious, but the link is at the bottom of every forum web page: https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/forum/19-wishlist-feature-and-content-requests/ Bug submit link is down there, too, as is "What's New in 2019?" (as of June 2020)

Agreed. My workaround has been to enter the slab editor, cut the existing modifier, exit the slab, paste-in-place and edit the modifier, then use the edited modifier to re-modify the unmodified slab. A fix from VW would be appreciated.

If I understand correctly, you're using division-00 for any linework added in viewports. I'm still working through how to deal with classes for items I'm modeling vs details I'm drawing in 2D, and then how to deal with SLVP annotations in each case. It's still a work in progress. Once I have things resolved a little better I'll post my class structure as well.

@Taproot Thanks for the post and starting the conversation. How do you deal with viewport annotations? Are line weights/types set individually, by class, other?

Bug report has been submitted

I agree that the UI is not the most important thing that needs to be fixed. What's irritating is that the previous UI from 2019 was much better, so this is entirely a self inflicted injury, and it seems to an outsider that rolling it back (and losing Mac dark mode) should be relatively easy to do without using resources that could be otherwise deployed to improve VW.

@Pat Stanford That sounds about right. Has a bug report been submitted?