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APE, I see you're on VW11.5. If you want better speed in renderings - upgrade to VW2008! A significant difference. I use a 256Mb video card and in OpenGL the rendered objects stay rendered while rotated.

I just asked an Apple technician: It used to be the processor that did all or almost all the rendering. The video card wasn't essential. Nowadays most cad applications(Archicad the 2 latest versions - VW - no idea) uses the video card to do a big part of the job. Therefore they recommend video cards with 1Gb memory now available if you want to be on top...Not cheap but fun. Whether it applies to VW he couldn't tell.

It used to be simple in VW11 - just check the clerestory box and make sure the height settings are correct. In the view settings "dash if more then xxxx high in wall" must be set lower than the sill of the window. In VW 12 I never had the need to use it. Now in 2008 like in 12.5 the window stays filled. I have no idea why. And I never figured out why it uses a dashed line. By European standards dashed/dotted lines represent hidden objects beyond the plan surface. Objects "behind you" are represented with semi-dotted lines. In plan top view any object placed higher than 1,2 m (48") should be drawn like this: _._._._._._ If this goes for the US as well, the window tool needs fixing! At least there should be a way to choose your own dash preference. And clerestory windows must be without fill in plan view. Maybe this is all possible in 2008, but I couldn't find out how. So if you find a way to work around the problem, please let us know.

If you're on mac it might be useful to install the VWhelp update also. It didn't work with the original version.

VW12 reads back to verison 7. You need to be able to run 7 to convert older files than that. How far back? - I'm not sure it will do it back to 4. Anyhow, few of us keep old computers and old versions of VW in a usable condition. The topic has been discussed previously and people have been recommended to contact Nemtschek Tech Support for assistance. see topic: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=7&Number=92817&Searchpage=1&Main=19861&Words=minicad&topic=0&Search=true#Post92817

I was stuck in the wrong way of thinking. I never realized it was all there....embarassing! I even changed layer visibilities in the VP to show ceilings, furniture etc without realizing that I can change the plan layer as well. ...stupid me! Thank you both for helping!

In fact it's very simple. What I want to do is to show each floor (the whole) on a different sheet, but I want to make sure the crop is positionned the same way and has the same shape on all sheets. The simplest way would be to duplicate the 1st floor sheet, rename it "2nd floor" and then change the origine from being the 1st floor design layer to beeing the 2nd floor design layer. This could also be useful for e.g. a toilet group that changes a little bit the higher up in the building it is. You'd easily get a new view for each floor. Basically what I want is a viewport that can be duplicated and used as a template view. You can move it around on your plan or even move it from layer to layer.

I'm using layers for different levels in a building. I want to create the same viewport on each stock. Is there a simple way to do this, other than copy/paste the VP frame from layer to layer and create a new VP on each layer ...?

Hmm.....bad,bad,bad.

This has probably discussed before - can't find it though. Is there a way to set the text size in the class organizer?

We keep asking for more and more, but very few of us are prepaired to pay a lot more - at least if it comes out of our own pockets. Let's be realistic - VW is still worth the money, but of course, all available tools must work and do what they are supposed to - this is not always the case. We can contribute with our experience and report bugs etc and we expect swift respons from NNA whenever we do - this is not always the case either, although it has become a lot better. Katie and Robert do a great job. Why could tools not be endlessly improved? There is always room for improvements. But there is always a price tag to it. Archicad offers more, a lot more than VW, but the price is just not at my level. I don't need all it can do - just as simple as that. VW can do a lot more than I ever will understand and I am more concerned about VW loosing contact with the original business idea - to be affordable. On the other hand I agree. The tools must work and be useful. I've complained on stairs and windows tools and I hope for improvements. But I also understand that my complaints might be marginalized because they just rise from my specific needs. Would these tools be 100% to you if they match my needs? -probably not. So, basically we should keep on wishing, bug reporting etc and ask for better feed back from NNA on our demands. Perhaps a listing of topics on their part submitted for further investigation and possible improvements and their actual status. Transparency is the key word! Today I have the feeling that a lot of what is discussed on this forum just vanishes into a big black whole and pops up again from time to time. What hits the heart of NNA is hard to tell. Have you heard of the guy in France selling T-shirts on the net? He has all his sales figures, including the benefits he makes available on his net site. He now makes a fortune with his trustworthyness. These may still be fake figures ... who knows?

SP2 contains SP1, but despite that, have you tried to install/reinstall SP1? - just to see if there would be the same problem. I suppose you have rebooted your mac too....? VW does act weird sometimes and rebooting usually helps.

As I understand it, each license is personal, but possible to use on several computers. That is what I do. VW is installed on three different computers (office/laptop/home) for optimized use and I have no problems using them as long as I remember to bring the dongle.....not always the case. But, each dongle goes with one specific license. You cannot use any dongle on any license.

"Save view" selects the view you actually see on the monitor, whatever design layer, sheet layer, viewport or whatever you are in and saves it as a link. This is a useful tool for jumping around in the drawing between predetermined monitor views. If you know that you will have to get back to a specific detail in the drawing every now and then, save it as a view and you get to it whit only a click in the "saved views" menu. Primarily it's a useful and timesaving workflow tool. Viewports are more really "views" for printing and drawing layouts.

What Richard means is probably the possibility to stretch the text itself, not the wrapping or the the box that limits the text extension. What you can do if it's just a special occasion, is to convert the fonts to lines. Select the text to modify, go to "text" menu>true type to polyline - then do as Pat suggests above. This way the text can be streched both ways, but will not be editable any more.

Reinstalling is mostly a good solution. Try that, but first... I'm on OS 10.4.11 and have tried this function on both 12.5 and 11. It works fine. I don't think it is a OS issue - rather a hardware issue. Have you tried another keyboard?

I would recommend you to reinstall 2008 including SP1, SP2 and VWhelp.

Yes Peter, I knew of that one, but you see I'm a lazy one....I thought maybe there would be a list showing just the tools that weren't in the standard setting - all those available, but not in the basic workspace. It takes some time to check them all out. Anyway, thank's for your concern....and have a merry X-mas!

Is there a list of all tools that are not standard in the workspace? Maybe there are more useful ones?

Katie, it seems you were right. I threw out all cookies and as far as I can tell right now, I have no more problems. thank you!

Could we have all imported (dwg or IFC import) dash styles (lines) and patterns saved in a separate column in the windows, instead of mixed up with the original ones?...as they often are unwanted and sometimes hard to recognize as aliens. Maybe a "lock" function on all basic line styles? And please.....do something about imported line styles overriding and replacing our own.

I get logged out from this forum all the time. As soon I switch between topics or discussion areas I get kicked out and have to log in again. Anybody else having the same problem?

Katie, you misunderstood..... The move by points is great and works fine. I wonder about the old way: modify/move>insert distance. This method moves the wall as well. Why?

The new improved rectangle tool has handles flashing when you select them in the OIP. You need to be quick to see it, because there is just a double blink. But...if you have selected a handle once it will not flash again unless you select another one in between. A bug or intended design? The arrow showing the rotation of the rectangle is ok, not more really. I have added a topic to the wish list on the subject.

The rectangle tool in 2008/SP2 is getting closer....Still, some improvement would be nice. Now you get a hint of what is the width and what is the height sides of the rectangle. You also get a highlite on the handle as you select a handle in the OIP. I still have a wish not only for this tool, but for all tools. I want the handle that is selected in the OIP to be of a different colour in the object. Now they are all blue.