Jershaun

The problem comes when windows or doors or objects in the wall changing or the wall itself changing, you have to constantly remember to update the hatch associated to that wall. So it's always a 2 step process-that's a bit of a let down.

Check out the new videos on vw2011. I think it will do what you're after. If you upgrade, you'll find there's a good progress from vw11 but not as much as you think because you can put vw2009, vw2010 and vw2011 into one release-basically. However what I think you might find annoying is that all versions after version 11 does not support hardware assisted 2D navigation. eg. "pans" will be fill the screen with white spaces. You won't get the good "pans" that you currently get with vw11. HTH,

Although vw2011 is far from a complete BIM and interactive package, it is what vw2009, at the very least vw2010, should have been. vw2009 and vw2010 users should be given a free upgrade to vw2011 for financing it.

The whole point of BIM is not to do things more than once. I find the method advised for applying 3D hatches to walls, Non-BIM. If the wall changes, then I have to remember to change the polygon representing the hatch to that wall. Why the double work? The wall should have had the hatch applied directly to it. Tsk,Tsk,Tsk

People that use AutoCAD find it difficult to change to another CAD system and most times refuse even if they are shown a better more productive and better looking CAD system (eg. vw). This is because (IMHO) they have invested so much time, money, effort and lisp routines that they don't want to loose all that even if it means staying in the dark ages. "They'll cut their nose to spite their face". Similarly, vw users don't want to let go of this archaic pio's because they have spent so much time creating this "code" in vs. Sometimes to move forward, we just have to let go. @ Miguel Barrera Interactivity is only ONE of the points I'm trying to make. The other is that these "2D and 3D Control Points" should be made without "code". I would like to quickly and visually place a control point without writing lots of code. Similar to "Dynamic Blocks" in AutoCAD. Also, pio's are extremely restrictive. I work according to my own office standards which have my own infill colours and line weights and when I use the window/door pio, it doesn't comply with my office standards therefore I don't use those tools and I work with symbols instead. eg. the 2D sill in my windows should have an Infill Colour of light red, glass to have a colour of blue, timber frame to be light brown, steel frame to be light blue, aluminium frame to be light grey, etc. (I print everything in colour) and this isn't possible with the window pio. The window/door pio is according to someone else's standards, not mine. Now, if I could set these 2D and 3D control points with my mouse in my symbols (Dynamic Symbols), then problem sorted. Whatever you call it, pio's, dynamic blocks/symbols, or whatever, I need to have 100% control without learning code. I hated DOS, never learned it and don't bother about similar type of things. I'm too old and life's too short to start learning code. Code should be left to programmers and not designers.

I don't find that very exciting to be honest. I can't place my finger on why, but it doesn't look as good as SolidWorks or SpaceClaim. Besides, just before the circles are isolated, the screen goes all blochy because of his navigation and I find that messy. Let's see what else vw2011 has to offer. Just my 2c

The stair is not.

Although we haven't seen the layout of the rendering engine within vw2011, the site below could be an indication of the possiblities of the C4D rendering engine. I was amazed at the closeness of the renderings to Vray. http://www.amscenes.com/category.php?id_category=5 I'm not sure how much control of the rendering engine we will have from within vw but the tutorials could be helpful however they apply more to C4D than vw. Anyway, I think it's worth a look at least.

With programs like this (below) on the horizon, is why the pio system of working is quickly becoming outdated. Everything is starting to become more interactive. I thought with vw having the parasolid modeling engine, this would be the logical step forward.

Firstly, IMHO anyone wanting to switch from vw to AutoCAD has to have their heads checked. Secondly, I do find the AutoCAD WS very interesting and I find it amazing that a traditionally PC based company has beaten all Apple based companies to this type of technology. I expected either NemV or Graphisoft to come out with something like this, least of all AutoDesk. The world is moving fast, we have to keep up.

I don't know much how Revit models therefore I'm not sure whether that style of architecture is possible in Revit. VW however, can model that style and vw is very easy to learn. The problem comes when making plans for that style of architecture (the link you posted). The current state of vw doesn't automatically create 2D representation of certain 3D objects. The 3D tools needed to create that architecture are unfortunately some of the tools that create those "3D objects without 2D representation". There are work-arounds but they are a bit complicated for a new-comer. My advise is to check if revit can model that building in 3D and have an automatic representation in 2D (and vice-versa), if it does then Revit is the choice, if not, vw wins. Also as Diamond has said, wait for vw2011 to finally make your choice.

1. 3D Hatches 2. Clash Detection 3. True Multi Core Support (Use all cores 100% to execute tasks) 4. Full 64-bit Support 5. Window tool improvement (Current Window Sill makes Window Tool Irrellevant) 6. True Hardware support (Currently hardware accelerated panning and zooming/navigation doesn't work) 7. Proper solution to working in a team (current workgroup referencing is inadequate. Similar to archicad's teamwork would be good) 8. Ability to place window/opening half-way between floors without having to reshape walls and come out with work arounds for viewing same on plans eg. a stairwell 9. Shadow Catcher 10. Line styles to objects in Unified view and also to 3D objects (eg. 3D Polygon) 11. Interactive Section Line/cutting plane. 12. Automatic representation of objects on other layers relative to a chosen layer (eg. layer above like a roof, to be dotted) 13. More interactive type of modeling similar to SolidWorks and SpaceClaim. 14. Wireframe and OpenGL speed increase, including switching between them. 15. Current PIO system to be scrapped and an alternative and more interactive method to be incorporated. 16. Proper working and fully thought out stair tool.

One of the most irritating thing I find in vw is while panning, part of the screen that you want to pan to, remains white until the mouse is released. Imagine you're zoomed in to a part of a drawing. Then you pan from the bottom left to the top right. Now, virtually the whole drawing isn't visible until you release the mouse. This way I don't know whether I going in the correct direction. Looking at the video on the architosh web site, it looks like 2011 hasn't fixed this problem. The top of the tower appears after the mouse is released. Other software don't behave this way. When will this be fixed?

If anyone's interested, have a careful look at the video below: You can see above, although people have reserved items in the model, other users can request temporary ownership. This is extremely useful compared to someone (in vw) closing a document for someone else to work on it. Anyway, we can talk until we're blue in the face but vw's workflow is up to the powers that be. In my opinion though, it will never change because they have a rigid way of thinking. For example, PIO's (old technology), the stair tool (needs re-engineering), renderworks (needs replacing), 3d dimensions (needed), 2d/3d navigation hardware support (white blotches while panning, jerky), etc. NNA are stuck in their ways.

PIO's are old technology and generally the long way of doing things. We need to have something like "Dynamic Blocks" from autocad (and I think revit as well-not sure). With this, the user can have full control of how he wants the "pio" to look and the user can place dimensions where the user thinks are important, not a programmer. Drawing with code just doesn't make sense. I'm a visual person and I draw visually and that's one of the reasons I left autocad for vw in the first place. I find the PIO system frustrating and I hate working according to someone else's standards. That's what pio's are, they're designed by someone else and not me. NNA, please get rid of PIO's altogether. We need a better system

@Vincent C: In ArchiCAD various people work on different parts of the model and it's true if I'm working on a wall on Ground Floor, that wall (and that wall ONLY) is locked to my computer...but that's the whole point...with Vectorworks, the WHOLE Ground Floor is locked and NOT accessible by others in the team. In ArchiCAD, I can work on that wall on Ground Floor and my colleague (who is busy attending to the Second Floor) can still work on other parts of the Ground Floor if he so wishes. In any case, with ArchiCAD 13, if my colleague wants to do something to the wall I'm working on, all he has to do is send me a message (via ArchiCAD) that he wants to work with it and I'll give him permission from my computer. Once he's finished with that wall, permission reverts to me. Do a bit more research on the way ArchiCAD's teamwork works and you'll see they have a better system. You're also correct, vw has lot of flexibility with it's layering system that's why I'm still hanging around. I know vw has a lot of potential. I'm just hoping NNA brings vw up to the level of other programs but I'll be making a decision in a couple of years whether to stick with it or not.

Still doesn't solve the problem of "more than one person working on a file at the same time". If someone is working on a symbol no one else can work on that symbol so your workflow doesn't work. Have a look at this This is what's required. Workgroup Referencing just doesn't cut it.

What I like about Chief is that one can model in SketchUp and bring into Chief and Chief will determine the 2D representation automatically. Now, if vw could do this, one could model a 3D symbol, rotate that symbol in any plane x,y, or z and vw would determine all different 2D views for that symbol in plan. Secondly, I like the 2D window and 3D window-it reminds me a bit of ArchiCAD-none of that wireframe non-sense. I think each program has it's pro's and con's though because Chief cannot keep a linked Elevation to the model. If the Plan/Model changes, then the effected elevations have to be manually corrected. Anyway, that's the way I think it works-I could be wrong.

Although it would be good to export to Google Earth, I want to go back to my original wish just so that there's no confusion. I would like to Import terrain from Google Earth to use in my vw documents. The 3D contour data is already in Google Earth-it just needs to be brought into vw. But Import and Export would be the best. Thanks,

Well said. I feel the same. I've got vw+rw2010 but I use vw2008 still. I tried importing a whole lot of 3d dwgs into vw2010 but it couldn't handle most of it. Those that did come in made vw crash when I tried to export to c4d. vw2008 brought in all the dwg's and was faster than vw2010 in doing so. All exported to c4d without any issues.

NNA should think about hiring the guy that created AccuTrans 3D (http://www.micromouse.ca/index.html). For a $20 program it has faster and smoother navigation than vw. Download the demo and you'll see that the changes from wireframe to shaded views are INSTANT and it navigates around while rendered in ANY type eg. hidden line. I imported a 490MB dxf and navigation was effortless irrespective of what shaded view I chose. Please NNA, do something about the speed of vw. If a $20 program can do it, surely NNA can do it?

Array a 3D cylinder 100x horizontally and 100x vertically. Now navigate around in wireframe and then in opengl. Question: Why is navigation in wireframe more jerky than opengl? Wireframe is just wireframe so why should it be slower than a rendered view? System used: Xeon, Quadro FX3700 (latest drivers), 4GB Changing "3D Rotation" is not an option. I want to see all geometry while navigating. Same system runs Octane Render with exact same geometry smoother than vw and that's while Rendering the same time. Will 2D and 3D navigation in vw ever use hardware properly? Will 2D and 3D navigation in vw ever be smooth?

How can I get the Northings, Eastings and Up/Down values to show up in a spreadsheet? Also, how can I have the rotation (in relation to North) show up in this same spreadsheet? eg.: Position E 5260495mm N 10313588mm U 51700mm Orientation Y is U and Z is S 25 W It doesn't have to be exactly like the above. Is this possible in vw?

Google Earth Terrain import would be nice. I know this is possible because AutoCAD Civil 3D and Cinema 4D can do it.

vw2008 TO vw2010 NOT worth the upgrade. Wait for vw2011..... in fact I'd wait for vw2012