willofmaine

A really great new feature of Vectorworks would be to speed it up. Brand new template created from scratch in 2021. Brand new project, with just a couple of PDF plan underlays, a few walls, and some basic resources. Every other new dimension, and now simple lines, require a pause of 2 or 3 seconds, and often the spinning beachball. In Vectorworks, I wish we could pull dimensions and draw lines in real time.

Vectorworks 2021, and I STILL have to right-click on resources and select "Locate (Resource) In Resource Manager..." TWICE, two times, repeated a second time, before the resource in question is ACTUALLY highlighted in the Resource Manager. Why?!?!?! VWIS180

Yep; more and more I find myself seeking an alternative - something with all the great features and the rich promise of Vectorworks... but without the endless array of crippling issues.

I've run a worksheet report on rectangles. One of the rectangles (on an angle) is 19' wide by 1' high. I know it's so because the OIP says so. But the report returns the rectangle's 1' height as its width. Why?!?!?!?!?! Why are a rectangle's width and height such a mystery to Vectorworks? Why does EVERY new thing I attempt in Vectorworks represent inexplicable difficulty and the need for a workaround or two???

Working on 2D symbols with hatches, the hatches are just "patterns"/gray until I edit the symbol at least once. Hatches that I've (repeatedly) mapped (they're just on an angle) are (repeatedly) just blank when I return to work on the file (after closing the file? after restarting VW? not sure...). Just now I zoomed way, way, way, way out before I could see the entirety of the attribute mapping tool and its grips. Why is Vectorworks SO graphically challenged?!?!?!?!?!?! Please fix it. Please develop a graphics module or some such thing that... oh, wait...

Nice. I open a VW 2020 file in VW 2021, publish the drawings, and all of the elevation viewports are mis-aligned with the model. Does anyone actually make any money using Vectorworks? VWIS207

Drives me batty. I just can't seem to learn that even though I can't see my work, I am at least getting it done.

VW 2021, SP2. Nope. Issue still persists.

This issue appears to persist in VW 2021, SP1...

It appears this issue is not resolved with VW 2021, SP1. I SO wish the whole Navigation Graphics thing would GO AWAY!!! Vectorworks has been graphically challenged ever since the introduction of the VGM. Please either make the Navigation Graphics choices go away or, at the very least, make it so that "Best Performance" performs, well, better than "Best Compatibility." VWIS179

@Peter Neufeld - Thanks for your response. I started with Vectorworks 12, though I'm pretty sure (or at least I hope!...) my current template didn't originate back then. I've been taking the "purist" approach to the greatest extent that I can. Very hopefully older library resources - in particular hybrid symbols for things like appliances, furniture, and all the rest of that good stuff - shouldn't be problematic, because of course there's no feasible - or at least affordable - way to re-create years' worth of older libraries. Hopefully Vectorworks is at least compatible with older versions of itself when it comes to such resources... I did import classes from my previous template file, pretty much as you describe above for Design Layers. So it's good to hear that that shouldn't be a problem. Otherwise, I'm recreating my Stories, Level Types and Design Layers all from scratch. I actually do have a lot of master viewports (full of visibility & attributes overrides), but I'm going to recreate those from scratch as well. I've had some questionable experiences with migration, particularly with Vectorworks. So for some years now I've used the feature sparingly. Unfortunately, if nothing else, I've always migrated the Workspace (too bad there isn't more of an indication that it's not recommended beyond just leaving it off by default...). But for 2021, I have recreated my Workspace entirely from scratch (luckily I've always a kept a list of my (many) keyboard shortcuts). This is turning into a good opportunity to purge old, unused stuff and to streamline things. Thanks! -Will

You and me both. I wish we could create Stories with Design Layers that don't initially (and it's only initially...) require associated Level Types. See: VWIS055

Still, in VW 2021, I wish we could create Default Story Level (which are really default Design Layers with associated Level Types) without having to associate a Level Type with each default Design Layer (sorry, each "Default Story Level"...). PLEASE make it so that when we're setting up Default Story Levels a Level Type is not required to proceed!!! (i.e., make it so that when the Level Type is displayed as " < None > ", we can click on "OK" without being ignored). Level Types can be deleted after the fact; please let us exclude them in the first place (so that we don't need a bunch of Level Types named "Delete 01," etc). ((In my original post, I think all of the "" should have been " < None >"...)). VWIS055 Looks like Tech Support submitted this in 2015 as a bug... ... ...

It looks as though Materials are not are not an aspect of Classes...

So... Vectorworks Roof and Roof Face objects don't have any kind of cut plane capability?... ... ...

My main VW template has been around for many years and has been forwarded from one version of Vectorworks to the next (maybe via migration, more likely more often by creating a .vwx file in the previous version, and then opening and saving that as a new .sta file). So, with VW 2021, I'm attempting to create a brand new template file from scratch. Maybe this will make some of the issues I have with Vectorworks go away... I'm always hopeful! It's definitely exposing me to new (or at least new-to-me) features & functions. When it comes to classes, I'd like to open a VW 2020 file in VW 2021 and, from there, simply import all of the classes (many custom classes) that I already have into my new VW 2021 template file (rather than actually re-creating some 100+ classes all from scratch, with all of their attributes and, in particular, their colors (the Apple color palette's so annoying)). So... is it safe to assume that classes, even if they've been around for maybe as much as a decade, are fairly straight forward and extremely likely to be free of any corruptions and/or legacy-related issues??? Thanks!

Interesting, I guess I didn't realize those fields could be activated by the mode keys; I thought those keys only just cycled through the available fields for any one mode. I actually have my "D" key set to Move by Points (I use it a LOT), so I've replaced "P" with "R" and hopefully the close proximity "D" and "R" will make this (almost) as good as just hitting the "D" key twice. Thanks for the suggestion!

Okay, I'm trying it with "Use Application Window" and Tabs. Tabs are okay; maybe even growing on me. At least I can quickly close files with them, same as clicking on the red dot. I've docked the OIP and Attributes palettes and made them as small as possible, and I've docked the Nav palette and made that as big as possible (all three vertically). I use both a lot and really want them to be "omnipresent." I often look at the OIP to see or confirm what I've selected, and how many there are. I've set Command-I to call up the Properties dialogue box (pretty much the same as the OIP(?)...) for when I need more info or settings for a particular object. We'll see how it goes!

VW2021. Please make it so that when we right-click on an object near the bottom of the screen, the entire pop-up context menu is entirely visible, without having to scroll down within the menu. VWIS066

I use the Move by Points tool extensively. In VW 2020, when I double-tap my keyboard shortcut, the "Move by Points Settings" dialogue box comes up, I punch in the number of duplicates I want, and hit return. Very fast. In VW 2021, the "Move by Points Tool Preferences" button seems to have gone away so that it's now necessary to find the "Number of Duplicates" box, get the cursor to it, and then type in the number of duplicates. PLEASE bring back the "Move by Points Tool Preferences" button!!! VWIS205 This is similar to the Fillet Tool: years ago one could simply double-tap the "7" key, and immediately punch in the radius. But for some years now, it's been necessary to enter the radius into the "Fillet Radius" box. Not such a big deal for the Fillet Tool but, for me, for Move by Points, this removed functionality is very much missed! On the bright side, the preview of objects that will be placed when using the Move by Points tool in VW 2021 is excellent! And it looks like it works for Mirror as well; great!

Historically I've sized the Object Info and the Navigation palettes so that they are almost the full height of my monitor, and one sits on top of the other. A small portion of each is visible, which I can click on to quickly switch from one to the other. I do this to minimize the need for scrolling in either palette. I don't think I can do that with the "Use Application Window," but luckily I just alway use the same computer/monitor for VW. (Actually, I guess I could try combining the systems, and just float only the Object Info and Navigation palettes, and just loose an inch or two of real estate at the top). Phew, hopefully that was all clear as mud... You are absolutely right about how the learning curve flattens, and stays flat, once you know how to do something!

N'mind, figured it out: Window > deselect "Use Application Window." I'm trying to maybe start from scratch in VW 2021 (new template, workspace, etc.), so suddenly I'm pretty much clueless about everything that for years now I've been relying on migrated features for. We'll see how far I get with this whole learning-Vectorworks-all-over-again thing... ... ...

In VW 2021, on a Mac, where'd the little red dot for closing the file, at the upper left of the drawing window, go?? The yellow and green dot's are there, but the red one is grayed out and dysfunctional...

1. Thanks for the info re: "value;" I did find that if there were letters in the User Defined field, it just failed with an error message of something like "Value?!" 2. Now that you say it, it makes much more sense that the 11_ is just a conventional designation. 3. Well if you didn't know about the Leader and Trailer, I feel better! 4. Ultimately we'd probably just update the user field via the worksheet, so, probably not worth pursuing further, especially if it works as it should in other files and 2021; thanks for checking. Thanks!

Okay, so the "Area" in your formula is Net Area Number, and if I want to use gross area for cost calculations, I just replace it with "Gross Area." (gee, if I'd written my formulas from scratch, I would've used 'Area' and 'Gross Area' and been numeric from the get go!!...). Does the "11_" prefix make fields into static text?...