bonus

Thanks Katie and Peter That's not bad at all! I'll use both methods. But is there a reason why move by distance should not do job as well? I find it a little odd that the whole wall moves even though only a window is selected. You may not notice the wall move when zoomed-in.

Why do windows not insert properly in the walls when they are moved by distance or by duplicate array? The original window cuts the wall but the copies don't. If i move them out of the wall manually and then back again they cut in just fine.

I think you should start with VW 2008. - not a new mac. There is a significant improvement in the rendering engine in 2008. Now you will have real time open GL rendering, meaning the object remains rendered while rotated on your screen. Even with complex objects. I just tried final polygone rendering. What took 10 sec in 12.5 takes 2 sec in 2008. This is just a quick test, but 5 times faster is not bad. So it has more to do with VW than what mac you have. Im sure there will not be any imrovement with another mac. So start with 2008.

9-ML-20077-ML-

Are there any known problems with importing IFC files? Before trying different settings etc I would like to know I don't waste my time on this....

Thank you Petri - you're right. I never realized it didn't work without the fill.

Tha ability to move rectangles by snapping to the center point is gone in 2008 - or have I missed something? I know it can be done by using the "move by points" tool, but why remove an existing function?

Right, layer links do not exist in 2008. Go to VW help and read this and more. "In the VectorWorks Design Series, layer links are being superseded by design layer viewports. Layer links cannot be created, but for backward compatibility, existing layer links can still be viewed and edited. See Presenting Drawings with Design Layer Viewports."

Darci, what about you? 10.5? My main reason not to switch to 10.5 from 10.4 is all compability problems that arise with most softwares, not only VW, when uppgrading the OS. VW has announced compability problems - maybe this is one of them. Send a description of the problem to bugsubmit@nemetschek.net

Any comment from NNA?

Again: I have no problem using the callout tool in sheet layer / annotation. Even in files with 12.5 origin. I'm in mac OS 10.4.11 and VW 2008sp1 on a G5. Are you using OS 10.5?

For the record: On my mac the callout tool works fine in a viewport annotation. Maybe this is no longer a problem for you either - a month later?

If not, this is as bad as a bug. Moving an object should not affect anything but the location sidewise. I could not find any way around it, but moving it to the front should not be the default way - anyway!

Didn't see that....but that was back in April...... I might be more sporadic in my visits in the forum than you are. Reminding never hurts though and it shows there are more of us out there. I saw your ditto wish for symbols. Are you not afraid doing changes to a symbol will affect the same symbol in other files, where the change might not be wanted? - or that you will end up with symbols with the same name but different content? If a symbol needs adjustment in a particular spot, I would rather convert it to a group, do the changes and then recreate a new symbol with a new name.

Today you can choose in VW preferences wheather to have other objects invisible or shown while editing a group. My wish is to add the option to have other objects in "grey/ snap others" while editing. It gives the opportunity tho clearly see what belongs to the group you edit, while you can adjust it to the surrounding objects.

Most of you guys are Enlish speaking clever fellows - still you argue about the terminology used in VW. Imagine my possition. No Swedish version is available and not even the dictionaries are consistent. Then again, how could they? Not even in our office, we use the same words at all time - so what is a world-wide true terminology. There just is none. Just like it is possible to edit the workspace, all displayed terms used within the program should be editable, just like a workspace or within it. Then I can choose to call sills, mullions etc whatever suits me. Whenever the alt-key is pressed the original term pops up. American or not is less important to me. Retondos suggestion with terminology tables (also editable and printable)could be a good base for it. As for the American windows...I love them - if they were possible to use in our climate. But, sorry - no. We're talking about exterior walls with 400mm (16") insulation in a near future. The windows need to fit technically to these conditions. Locally adapted PIOs in Sweden - never heard of! Who provides those? Maybe the German-Swiss-Austrian pios are good - where can these be found?

You're right Mike, but it's a beautiful one. It's like a woman - mostly beautiful, mostly unlogic, mostly unconsistent. I had the privledge to grow up in Switzerland and consequently speak both German and French besides my native Swedish. It all just came to me free of charge. I can tell you there is no such thing as a locig and consistent language - should be Balinese then: I heard they have only 99 words in all - that's masculine!

What is the point in importing a viewport. What is shown in it?

Great - then we should all be happy! Let's close this topic and move ahead - there's a lot more to be done! so long guys ps - Petri, thank you for your concern about my "barrier", but as long as possible I intend to keep on writing in English as it is the language used on this site and it should be for all to read. Maybe I accidentally contribute to the evolution of the English language.... :-)

I'm truly sorry Robert if this is how you feel. Please accept my appologies. This is what I read: (quote) "I'll add this alternate workflow as a wish (along with offsetting the running-line reference.)" Maybe you did not mean the "wish list". My mistake then. On the other hand it made me a bit confused. Why would you put it in the wish list. Why not just put it on NNA's "let's-do-it list". The reason I wrote my reply was to end this topic without leaving all viewers/readers/writers without any knowledge about what came out of it at the end - especially when the matter has been discussed "privately" over mail with no transparency. My commitment as the topic author, so to speak. All too often topics just end without closure - they just drop dead, maybe because once the problem is solved for the author of the topic, he or she forgets to give feedback to all others following the discussion. And you are right. My intentions are good. I spend precious time writing in this forum, not for fun but for the best of VectorWorks and its users and of course to find help and disclose how stupid I am every now and then. So, whoever reads this, - I might be the unreasonable Shaw wrote about, but I'm certainly not the guy who want's to put words in anybodys mouth. I had a hard time explaining the tread problem. Therefore it was kind of a relief to read Roberts answer which I understood the way I did. A guy with NNA connection, native english and certainly some skills in VW would take over and navigate the rest of the way. I was thrilled. Now, I'm lost in a fog. Now - I started this topic and it is about one specific problem with the stair tool. Let's please stick to that and join our efforts to make our working tool better. Again , I'm sorry if I stepped on your toes Robert.

Sounds like a hardware problem. HAve you tried another mouse?

An alternative workflow for the tread depth in winders along with the possibility to offset the walking line will be added to the wish list by Robert. Thank you Robert!

I understand. I usually use a blank file too - only this time I imported a file by accident (thougt the blank file was active) to my own file. Then some of my original lines changed style without my knowledge. It's not fun to find this out after hours of work saved in the file. I had to go through the whole file and check every line in all layers.

If you need to convert lots of files, use the File > batch convert. It will convert all VW files within any chosen folder to your current version. You also get a report of files, for any reason, not converted. The detailed information though, is not good enough. It shows a list of all files that were not converted - even non VW files. Who needs that info? What we need is a detailed and printable list of the VW files or even the option to save the file names to a accumulated list for future use. But first: make sure you have back up copies of all the original files before converting. Some translation errors may occur.

Is this acceptable? Any good reason for this? I want my assigned pen styles to be protected from contamination. If new lines are added in the list, that's fine, but don't touch my lines! Is this regarded as a problem/bug by NNA, or just a minor discomfort to live with? Referencing sounds good, but I'm afraid I'm not disciplined enough to handle it in the long run. Will the master files always be at hand? If not, are referenced resources lost in the target file or just not updated? If not updated, will I be aware of that? Is it possible to have a chain of references? I.e. I would have a master file where all resources are stored and edited over time. This master file would be referenced to a sub-master file kept as a copy of the master file in the live project folder. From this file I reference to any file within the project folder. The idea is to be sure that if a project folder is backuped or saved for use on another location/laptop, all necessary information will be included. On the other hand the shuttle file, as you described is very tempting.