seanSF&A

Corner windows are common in the UK as well. I have purchased Julians Windoor, it is well worth buying, but I agree with Mike and I think it should be included in the Architect package. You know, the rest of the world is a lot bigger than the usa even if it doesnt appear that way to some.

Peak not peel settles not stlls fingers to slow for brain

It only happens when VW opens with the initial blank sheet. Before I open VW the cpu is normal and base is between 0 and 5%. As soon as I open VW it shoots upto @65% peal and then stlles to 30%. Nothing else effects this until I close the blank page. then everything else returns to normal. It is definitely the blank page that automatically opens that is the cause everytime.

Ahhh... I should have tried out opening and closing files a little more before posting. The 30% cpu commit only happens on first starting VW and will continue if I do not close the blank drawing that opens by default. The base cpu level remains around 30% rising on any actions like opening working drawings but falling back to around 30% UNTILL I close the blank drawing in the background. I usually just ignore that blank and open my work in progress. I shall be closing it immediately in future. Is there a way of switching that blank off on start-up?

Can anyone say why VWA has a constant CPU usage of around 30% as shown in windows task manager \ processes even when there are no dwgs open? I dont think I have any other programs on my PC that use so much CPU power just doing nothing - that includes AutoCAD. This might explain why VWA is so slow in comparison. Is it something to do with the HASP dongle? VW Architect 11.5.1 AMD X2 4400+ 6600GT 2MB RAM

Can anyone say why VWA has a constant CPU usage of around 30% as shown in windows task manager \ processes even when there are no dwgs open? I dont think I have any other programs on my PC that use so much CPU power just doing nothing - that includes AutoCAD. This might explain why VWA is so slow in comparison. Is it something to do with the HASP dongle?

Can anyone tell me if the following enhancements are significant improvements in VWA12: 1. new stair pio. Does this truely allow a more flexible way to create stairs ESPECIALLY the inclusion of winders and can you have two winder boxes in one staircase? Does it provide control over the type and appearance of newels, ballusters, spindles and handrails. How effective are the new 2d plan view tools? 2. Enhanced roof tools. Does this provide a roof face join/intersect tool? Can you frame roof faces? What enhancements if any are provided for dormers? What else is significantly included? Other than the live section tool and layer stacking which have already been discussed, these are the two most important issues which affect my productivity.

Thanks Guys, I will play around some more.

After much trial and error I have managed to turn a windoor hybrid into a "velux" window 3D symbol and placed it into the roof (its strange that there is not one packaged with VWA). However the problem I now have is that although I can see the lines of the window in wire frame, I cannot see the window when rendered (std openGL) it just disapears leaving the cut out in the roof. I have tried editing the symbol but have not found a way of keeping it visible in rendered view. Can some one please tell me what I need to do?

Yes it will install and works fine on Windows x64 as I have done it. The HASP driver for the dongle is available as a comand line install. However there appears to be no improvement that I can see. More disapointing is the lack of 3rd party divice drivers generally, so if you use the same pc for other work such as video editing for example, some divices (such as my camcorder and my digital camara) are not recongnised. More annoyingly my Palm Tungsten PDA cannot sync with Outlook on my pc as the Palm descktop software will not install. Also my favorite player Realplayer will not install. I assume that these drivers and software updates will become available as Microsoft approaches the release of the new MS Vista O.S. which will be a native 64 bit O.S. but for the present it is a pain and not worth the bother.

Well, I did it, Im also an inveterate techie as well as Building Serveyor and I could notr resist upgrading to x64. It can be done but it is fiddly. Some modern printer drivers may not be supported but my Epson works fine with the pre-installed Esc/P2 windows driver updated for x64. I understand that HP also have a generic driver pre-installed in the 32 bit XP version which have also been converted. If you can find a preinstalled driver in 32bit windows it is very likely it has been converted. My HP all in one does not work however but that is now wired to another box. The Hasp key has a command line installed driver which also works to recognize the dongle. However that said there is no benefit to the upgrade other than satisfying my curiosity, so unless you are similarly driven to fiddle, dont bother.

.......except that its the (near)future of computing and that one of the virtues extolled is the ability to address more memory and be much faster at tasks such as rendering. Added to the up-comming dual core AMD64, computing power is set to increase expotentially. Any software vendor who does not adapt to the new technology, looses out and will fade away.

Can NNA confirm whether 11.5.0 will run on the new Windows XP Pro 64 bit editions as I am about to install this. Can you Confirm that the HASP driver is compatible also.

PS. I found the mansard roof worked great as well, thanks. sean

Mike, Thanks for your reply. However I have tried and retried this method and keep getting the same results as follows. I draw two rectangles at rightanges to each other then overlap them to create the basis for the intersecting roofs. I then draw a polygon over the part of the secondary roof that is to remain, cut, select the primary roof, edit group, paste in place, exit group. That works, i get a neat cut-out in the primary roof where the secondary roof intersects. I then draw a polygon over the remaining part of the secondary roof, cut, select secondary roof, edit group, paste in place, exit group. That doesnt work. Each time i try it only removes one roof slope of the two sections (gabled roof or one of three if left as hipped). Each time i re-enter the secondary roof group, the part of the roof that remains, has somehow come to the front, over the polygon, whilst the the section that was removed has remained behind the polygon. By sending the roof slopes behind the polygons, they are once again covered by the polys, then on exiting the group it reverts again. Every time it keeps sending all but one roof face back up to the front, covering the polygons. Most frustrating. What am i doing wrong?

I am also self trained with the aid of the packaged manuals and also the VW training CD's. None of the material supplied by NNA seems to show how to intersect roofs, creating new valleys. Whilst I respect the fact that Jonathan would like to protect his intelectual property in the form of his training manuals, the fact is that this problem needs an answer from NNA. It is not acceptable that a single issue like this can only be answered by purchasing a complete new manual. sean

how do you do this? creating two seperate roofs that need to be intersected creating a roof valley does not appear to be an option when creating complicated roofs.

I have had the exact same problem. Have you had any resposes to this query? sean

Diana, I have purchased the WinDoor pluggin from OzCAD and it has so much more flexibility. Highly reccommended Sean

8 in 10 of my projects are domestic loft extensions to provide additional bedrooms which are very popular in southern england due to high house prices. 99 in 100 loft extensions require stairs with square winders, which means that for the majority of the work i do, the VW stair tool is useless Please get that German pluggin sorted for world wide distribution. I would be prepared to pay for it as an optional extra.