quigley

Petri, are you really still using a one button Apple mouse? If so you are really missing out on a host of powerful improvements in VectorWorks. From an ergonomic standpoint the Apple mouse is actually very unergonomic as its shape does not full support the palm of the hand or the wrist. The new Apple Might mouse is no better as the lack of positive feedback when depressing the "buttons" is again ergonomically unsound. The first thing I do when we get a new Mac is replace all the mice with more suitable scroll button mice (sizes depending on the user's hand size). One of the best range is actually produced by Microsoft.....

Colin. You should not be getting ANY crashes opening VectorWorks in Windows. I would strongly suspect that your PC has some conflict going on. Is it only VectroWorks with these issues or is this happening with others systems? Have you virus checked AND Spyware checked? Spyware is probably the thing that will slow down and eat resources these days more than viruses (a good spyware tool is http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/). I run VectorWorks on both Windows and Mac (Power PC and Intel). Both platforms are as stable as the other provided you maintain the machine running it. As the software is bombing at startup it could be one of many things. What spec is your PC, what RAM, what video card etc? Email these to NNA support and they can help you out properly.

Some thread! Firstly whilst NNA and Maxon are part of the same group they are completely different companies. Both companies are relatively small. Cinema 4D is only developed by a handful of people. That a plug in breaks is to be expected when software is upgraded. At the time NNA were working on 12.5 Maxon were working on c4D v10 - ask yourself what you would be working on? 12.5 was a free upgrade from 12. C4D 10 was a paid for upgrade (as was 9.5). I suspect the revenue for Maxon from the VW plugin is tiny compared to say the revenue from AllPlan or other plug ins. Then there is the issue of quality of rendering. Well before we start throwing the toys out of the pram again we should look at the reason for RenderWorks being there in the first place. RenderWorks is a rendering solution built into VW. Not a plug in. It is about workflow. RenderWorks integrates right through the classing structure, into the viewports and beyond. No other plug in does that. Cinema 4D and Artlantis are great apps - but for most architects they are too time intensive to learn. As well as being more expensive. RenderWorks is part of VectorWorks so it will always be compatible. Finally, I looked at the visuals Christian posted and to say fast radiosity doesn't cut it is not a valid comparison. Sorry, but for external visuals radiosity is not really needed. In 12.5 you can use an HDRI as a light source and I guarantee this will give you better results that those images posted. In terms of ultimate quality apps like Cinema and Artlantis might have the edge over an LightWorks application like RenderWorks but the benefit is intergration of workflow. At the end of the day you pays your money and makes your choice. Personally, when the chips are down I don;t have time to mess around moving between applications - the integrated approach works best for me.

Or the other way is to create a section viewport then go Modify>Convert to Group. You then need to cut and paste the group into a design layer and scale it up by the original viewport scale - eg - if the viewport scale was 1:20, scale the pasted group x 20.

I'm surprised the consultant didn't recommend looking at Revit if they were recommending Archicad. Revit is the logical upgrade path from Autocad in that they are both Autodesk products and there is an upgrade (costs wise) offer available. Aside from this, it very much depends on the nature of the work you do (or intend to do). If it is large scale developments of complex structures then there is certainly a case to be made for Revit and ArchiCad. However, the biggest shift in culture will be a switch from 2D to 3D thinking, and this will be a slow painful process. This, I think, is where VectorWorks scores in that it offers proven 2D tools as well as robust architectural 3D tools, as well as powerful modelling capabilities that ArchiCad and Revit both struggle to handle. Driven to its fullest VectorWorks could tackle most projects, but, and this is a big but, it is very rarely driven to its fullest. I would recommend you ask the consultant to explain the reasoning to switch to ArchiCad. It is not THAT popular a system, and you can bet within a couple of years the number of seats of Revit will far exceed the installed user base of ArchiCad. At the end of the day your company has to undergo a benchmarking exercise to compare the applications for your own needs and then really assess the impact (and costs) of switching everything to a new platform.

Couple of things: 1. If you see light gaps at joints of walls and floors a quick trick is to put something behind it (out of sight) to act as a screen. 2. HDRI is the way to go for external scenes, no question, and for some internals where there is a lot of incoming light. In RW you can use the HDRI as a light source or as a background. Unless the HDRI is a high resolution one though, and appropriate to the scene, use it as a lightsource only and set the background you need. For your scene, try HDRI for the external lighting and use an area light to highlight parts inside. Also, the milkiness in the windows is due to the reflection of the inside wall on the window. As Dave says know the reflection right down to avoid this. For more info on HDRI look here: http://www.lightworks-user.com/hdri.htm

I have to agree here. In v12 we were given viewport sections and a much easier way to create cavity walls (components), 12.5 brings many requested improvements across the board. What we have in 12 is essentially a 2D representation of components. What visibility in sections means is opening a 3D view (consider that the section is like an elevation in this respect) to internal wall structures. There are many many issues over and above simply turning components on or off - are they full height, how do you show graphic attributes in a 3D view, how do you control visibility of components etc etc. These things take time to develop. In the same respect. I think up a design today, why can't I have it built tomorrow? A software developer at another company (who shall remain nameless) once said to me, software development is sometimes like trying to rebuild a skyscraper - you can sometimes add new floors, somtimes you have replace floors and remove what is above and sometimes you have to replace the foundations while ensuring the people can continue to work in the floors above....

Check out this site/software. Works well with VW. http://www.laminadesign.com/index.html Also, one that works directly with VW: http://www.touchcad.com/

It can be done and its not too bad either. The problem with VectorWorks is that the tools have built up over many releases and some are named badly and hide a lot of funtionality. The method to get irregular planar walls is to do this: 1. Create the top and bottom polygons shapes in plan. 2. Convert to NURBS and move to the desired 3D Z height 3. Draw one Nurbs Curve by clicking on one corner of the bottom profile and the corresponding one on the top profile. 4. Use the Loft Surface command, Birail option 5. Heres the clever bit - choose the bottom profile as the 1st rail, the second (top) profile as the 2nd rail, and the connecting curve as the profile curve. In the options choose, make solid. 6. This will create the irregular planar shape desired but without top and base caps. 7. Select the shape and Choose. Model menu>3D Powerpack>create planar caps. 8. Select all objects and choose Model>Add solids This is the resulting solid. Repeat for the other walls and then Add solids to get the shape.

Just be careful using Move with walls. It doesn't let you select one one and move just that section - it will remove the connection. The only way to do this is to select the wall you need to move AND the walls joined to it, then use the 2D reshape tool and marquee around the wall you need to move then use the Move tool. This is my single biggest gripe about walls in VW. If I select a wall I should be able to use the move tool to move it whilst retaining links to other walls.

Does this work with PDF which originated as scans? In other words, can I take a blueprint and scan it to PDF and then convert to DWG, and end up with vector info and not bitmap info? In a word...no. That would be wonderful, but it sounds a little like turning lead into gold :-). But if you have Adobe illustrator you can

Select the polygon(s), go Modify>Convert to Group. Now double click the group and select all the elements (lines/arcs etc) and go Modify>Compose. This will create a closed extrudable profile. You can check by selecting the composed item and giving it a fill colour. Exit the group[ and extrude.

Like I said, no professional CAD apps available as UBs yet :-) Its one thing being in beta its another thing being in release format (and I speak as a beta tester for many different apps).

Lets not get onto Mac vs PC Christiaan :-) I use both, G5, iMac Intel, Dell Precision desktop and laptops. Personally I prefer Macs for everything apart from 3D CAD, where the OpenGL performance of Windows PCs wins hands down. Having said that the ability to run Windows on Macs now makes our hardware purchases much easier - laptops will be Macs, Desktops still need both. Getting back to Dougs point though, I am in his position and we are buying the new Intel Macs depite the availablility of G5s. Why? In a UB application Intel machines beat G5s hands down. Even in Rossetta we are finding apps run more or less the same on an iMac Intel than a single processor G5.

Doug, I happen to think you are being unreasonable to expect NNA or indeed any other software manufacturer of any size to be able launch UB versions to coincide with Apple hardware releases. On the Mac side as far as I am aware, there are NO professional CAD applications available as UBs. As Apple take a "no information" approach to hardware releases how are software companies supposed to plan releases, and more importantly test, releases that are UBs? Testing professional apps on iMacs and the like might be OK but it is not the same as testing on a released hardware platform. Bear in mind that for the professional arena, Cinema 4D and Quark are the only available UBs currently. there are no Adobe apps, no Autodesk (Alias). One thing to consider is that CAD manufacturers often use component technology to enhance or construct the applications. Until ALL the components are available as UBs the software companies cannot even start the task of releasing UBs. Spatial, makers of the ACIS kernel used by FormZ, Ashlar-Vellum and others, only last week released a first release UB to developers. Now they have the task of integrating and testing. So I'm not defending NNA but be reasonable. Fact is that on one of these new machines VW and most other software will run very well indeed even under Rosetta. And when the UB versions do roll out you will have state of the art. Alternatively, buy a Windows machine. Dell do some fantastic value machines. :-)

Hello Adam, Why not install Quicktime?

Sorry WV-Vectorworker, I didn't say UB's meant Windows and Mac versions in the same box. UBs are Mac only. What I said was that some applications that are dual platform (and I primarily was refering to CAD here) offer a one license, any platform strategy. VectorWorks, Ashlar, FormZ to name a few. With v12 you can install VW on either platform. Ashlar have done this for years, as have FormZ. For me, the ability to run dual boot with immediately save on having to purchase extra hardware, and let me run Windows only apps on Mac, such as VX or SolidWorks. In theory. In practise, even with dual boot, there are no drivers available for Mac hardware so things like video run slowly. For office apps its a solution. For CAD its a workaround. For the time being I'll stick to running Apple Macs and Dells....with the same license.

The most interesting comment I have seen is that "Apple makes the fastest Windows PCs and laptops"......wouldn't it be ironic if by the time all the apps that need the power (3D modelling, video etc) become Universal Binaries (and we are talking into 2007 for many/most) that users switch to Windows versions...on a Mac....? Many/most dual platform apps offer cross platform licensing. Same codes work on both.

Sorry chaps, been too busy to even install VW on the iMac as yet.... But, I can say the new Intel machine is the best imac yet. It is quiet (G5 users take note) and all the native (ie non Rosseta software) runs fast. The iLife apps are fantastic. Office runs fine - hard to say about speed in Office! Other apps I have loaded run and are usable but not as quick as my desktop G5 (single processor). As I say, I've not installed VW yet. Down to issues though... RAM - Rosseta uses RAM in heap loads so if you can, max out the RAM to 2GB. Let's be clear about the Native Binary thing. Most Mac CAD apps use bolt on technology to offer features (eg RenderWorks uses LightWorks rendering engine). There will be no Universal Binary available in any Mac app until these components are available in Universal Binary. So for VW that means Lightworks (unless they can make the lightworks bit run under Rossetta?). For other Mac apps (eg FormZ, Ashlar products, maybe even VW) a key component is the ACIS kernel by Spatial. This is not available as a universal binary yet, and there has been no schedule for it either. So, my advice would be if you need a fast production Mac now, buy a G5 machine. If you need to replace an aging secondary machine (like I did) the new Intel machines are a good buy. Most software will run (apparently its the Java based stuff that has problems), but it won't be 2 x the speed. Of course in 6-12 months many developers will begin releasing universal apps and by then you will probably get a faster iMac and an Intel PowerMac on offer, not to mention OSx.5!! Like I said, only buy a Mac now if you really need to!! I promise, though, when I get VW installed I will run some tests and report back ;-)

This is an odd one that I have noticed several times. Frequently (and I mean at least once a day) I am unable to select symbols or groups on sheet layers. A typical example is importing a drawing border symbol (that I have drawn) into a new file. 9 times out of ten within 10 mins, I cannot edit the symbol in the new file, and worse still this seems to interfere with the rest of the design layers causing entities on that to become unselectable. I've got both layers and classes set to show/snap/modify so it isn't that. The only solution is to shut VW down then restart it. I never had this issue in 11.5, this is just a 12 thing. Anybody else had this? It seems to be worse on files that use symbols that were created in v11. So typically, I'll start a new file in 12, open an older 11.5 file, and use that to import the symbols from. This happens on Windows XP Pro, with a Dell M60 with 1GB RAM and all the latest service packs and drivers.

Richard, are you mac or pc. If mac, do the referenced files have suffixes atatched, eg, .pdf, .xls, .mcd? Another thing to try is to open the referenced files first and convert them to 12 files. I've never heard of this happening yet.

A can of worms has been opened, or is it Pandora's box? When I did my engineering degree I worked all night on a VAX mainframe to construct a 3D solid model of a car front axle assembly. Today I could repeat the entire 4 months work in a couple of hours. In those days I could have drawn it, hand made a prototype and tested it in less time!! I get a lot of students applying for jobs with no CAD skills at all because the Universities didn't insist on it. That leave me having to train them only to find they move on after 6 months. we need to move away from this old school thought process of thinking of CAD as replicating what can be drawn on paper. To me, the value of using IT is what it is - computer AIDED design. For me that means 3D most of the time. In many respects architecture is maybe 15-20 years behind engineering in the use of 3D CAD. Architects (on the whole) think of CAD as 2D. It is really only since the advent of true design apps like SketchUp that they actually start designing in 3D, and use it as a tool. But, to me the important thing is what ios the outcome? The outcome is not a work of art, the outcome is a high quality building or product. Does it matter how this is achieved? Well, yes and no. Ask yourself how much time is spent actually designing and how much time is spent preparing presentations to those who need to interpret the design intent (customers, toolmakers, planners, investors etc etc). This is as much a part of any design profession as learning to use the software or learning how to draw. Teaching drawing skills I think is important, provided it is taught in the manner that it will be put to in professional life - ie - sitting in front of a customer and being asked to explain something! So getting back to the original point, no I think your teachers are too prescriptive in their outlook, but you should learn how to draw manually, in the same way that you should learn how to use apps like SketchUp, or Adobe Photoshop or Indesign or Powerpoint or Excel! Use your time as a student to experience all the techniques you will struggle to have the time to learn while you are a professional. In the words of Bob Dylan, the older I get the less I know! ( I should point out I'm not a great Dylan fan, but I did once have a boss who was - part of the interview was "do you like Bob Dylan?".....they don't prepare you for questions like that at college!!!)

Sorry guys, didn't mean to start an Apple vs PC thing here :-) Fact is we have no less than 5 macs and 3 PCs, including an old (but was very expensive) Silicon Graphics Visual NT workstation running NT! Given a choice it would be macs every time, but the simple fact is that so much software for engineering/product design just isn't available on the Macintosh platform that we have to use PCs. I just say it how I see it. For product design work, which involves heavy use of complex surfacing, things work faster on PC. My great hope was that the Intel Macs would allow installation of Windows so I could run both OS's on diferent partitions as a dual boot afair (or even windowed as in Virtual PC), but alas, my new Intel iMac doesn't even recognise the Windows XP install disks. Apparently I'll have to wait until Vista is out to achieve this.....bugger! My software developing friend did explain why but it was over my head (but then most of what I do is over his, so I don't feel inadequate!)...I phased out at BIOS. Still, I know all the tricks to make an app sing, but I'll stand by what I said before. 3D runs much better on PC. I'm talking about actual use here - OpenGL shading, OpenGL hidden line, view manipulation. For processor intensive operations like calulating fillets or shells or even renders, both platforms are pretty much the same. My great hope is that now Mac is Intel we will get access to some of the better graphics cards on the market - not just the games ones.

I suspect this is down to programming than anything else. Its a similar story in the MCAD sector when updating drawing views from 3D models. Most Windows only software I have used/or use (SolidWorks, VX, Alibre Design, ThinkDesign) update drawings very quickly - in seconds usually. Most Mac/Windows dual platform software I use (Ashlar Cobalt, VectorWorks) update slowly on BOTH platforms. Speed of update is pretty much the same on a Windows PC or a Mac of a the same sort of spec. No idea why this should be, but if I have to do any serious complex modelling I use a PC. Its just faster (or maybe the software is more optimised for OpenGL display?). Maybe the dual platform development is creating a performance hit?

You might want to consider increasing the RAM installed to 1GB if you can. VW12 has a pretty high overhead. Also make sure you have all the latest graphics drivers installed, and don't run too many other apps at the same time. I can run VW12 all day on a Dell M60 with no crashes.