rjtiedeman

JimW, Thanks, I have been working with recent files and I know now what has to be fixed. (15 min each). Fortunately I build my display files with symbols so I can edit the products globally. Unfortunately the the symbols are hybrid objects. Os I can't just select a group and change the sweep angle all at ounce. Ounce the sweeps have been changed the rendering move fairly quickly. I am looking forward to the next upgrade.

Thank You. That's good to know. However I have been built much more complex files in VW 2013 with out issue. I was looking forward to new and improved Vectorworks, this is a bit of a side step. If the software can't render a sweep at that resolution why include it in the first place. Does this mean that In order for me to move files over to 2014 I first have to go into the primitives and edit the sweeps or can they be modified in 2014. I have a lot of similar files that are just fine as they are. This will result in hours of extra work. Any chance of a fix.

Just downloaded 2014 and I have to report. "Out of memory" on my first test file built in 2013. I have a Mac Pro with 32 Megs of ram. I am not out of memory. I will test the file for bad objects and retest but I will not be switching my work over to the new software.

I use renderworks to render complex in-store displays with lots of mapped graphics on 3d containers. The final renderings look better than real but the redraw times are like watching snow melt. All those cool reflections and mapped graphics bog down my Mac Pro. I have loaded my mac pro with as much ram as it will take. That didn't help. It's just really slow. I have been reviewing upgrading my GPU to a better card but I am told it won't help. The only thing that helps my projects is to let it run at night and walk away. I have noticed that leaving energy saver on stops the render during the night so it needs to be set to not sleep. 2012 was slow and 2013 is the same Vectorworks please help. Bob Mac Pro 2010 6-Core Intel Xeon 3.33 GHz / 32 GB RAM / ATI Radeon HD 5770

I am sitting here waiting for a preview image to render on my Mac Pro 3.33 6 core loaded with 32GB of memory. Why is my mac pro slower than my work 27" I mac I7. ??? Both CPUs are running the same 3d file. Regards, Bob

Thanks but I failed to mention that I have been using Vectorworks on a Mac G5 (dead) and now a MacPro 6-Core Intel Xeon 3.33 GHz. I have asked this question in the past and at one time there I thought there was a conversion plug in for old files. Version 12 is not very far back in time. Bob T

I have an old mac at my studio that I have kept so that I can open old cad files. That machine just died and I now do not have access to old mini cad files Question? If I was to update to the latest version of Vectorworks. How far back does it open files so that I can use the contents for reference and or portfolio?? I am presently working with Vectorworks 12.5. But HAD access to MiniCad back to Version 8. Regards, Bob T

Mark, I have been considering a similar move to Solid Works for some time. I am a long time MiniCad now VW user working on the MAC. I have been very spoiled by the well designed user interface and ease of use for building quick 3d and 2d studies for exhibits, products and packaging. Or for just making quick construction layouts for my shop. I switch back and forth during the day between Adobe CS4 an VW with out any issues. Vector Works is great. However, as an industrial designer, I have run into issues working with outside shops and sharing information on projects. They have all requested that I get Solid Works or in some case Autocad (standards in the engineering business). As for more complex shapes I use FormZ which is much better at developing hollow organic shelled solids (bottles & product studies) that I send out for stereo-lithography models. All outside engineering shops have had issues with FormZ files as well. On a side note: unfortunately when a designer, engineer or architect adopts a software package it is a long term relationship. Since I learned old school with pencil and paper. I dreamed of the day you never had to draw the same thing twice. Well switching to a new software package means doing a lot of stuff over. NOT COOL. So the CAD software industry has allowed lots of small software companies to survive by preventing or I should say sharing information difficult. In fact I have a CPU with an old version of Minicad running just so I can get to old files (that my present version of VW can't open) for preparing portfolio images. All I need is one decent client with enough work to make the switch pay. For now I will just muddle along and try to make a living with what I have. Tell me how it works out. Bob Tiedemann

Chris, I have been using VW on a 27" I mac for about 6 months at the office and it runs great. Our big silver G5s are starting to die one by one and they are being replaced with Imacs. As for being down with out a computer well you have to consider "TIMEMACHINE". If you keep your CPU backed up you can run out and buy a new Imac while you wait for your machine to be fixed. You can buy 2.5 Imacs for the price of one low end Mac Pro. Now that I have said that. I bought a 27" i7 for my home computer and It made a mess of my back up RAID and portable firewire drive. After several weeks of back and forth with LACIE and applecare. I was never able to pin down the firewire failure on 2 seldom used expensive hard drives. I gave up and sold my Imac to my daughter. Now I am in the same boat again (using my aging G5) but now I know I need flexibility and connectivity which the Imacs lack. Go with the Mac Pro. There is a lot of new technology coming which will pass you by if you are using a Imac. USB 3.0 and SSD drives are 2 happening right now. eSATA has been out for some time now and that is only available on the pro as a 3rd party add on. Enough Yakkin for now. Bob Industrial Designer VW & FormZ

Dave Donley I am using image export, as always. I have tried viewports and I have not seen any improvement they are just slower for rendering. Last week I worked with Tech support on this issue and they had me reset the document preferences for PICT/PDF and printing from 72 dpi to 300 this helped alot. However after hours of testing I still get half rendered images is I set the quality too high. Since version 12 opens new files with a defult value of 72 DPI this could be the issue and I will have to experiment more with this setting. Regrads, BobTiedemann

The short answer is no. The addition of more memory to my Mac Dual 2 Ghz G5 did nothing for rendering images. I doubled my ram to 5.5 Gigs and vectorworks 12 rendering is the same. Where is tech support on this issue? Please help. This is a problem in the rendering software not in hardware.

The PNG worked better than the other formats in the list but Vectorworks still renders a blank file or partial image when you go past the unknown barrier. Monday I am getting 2 more gigs of ram for my office machine which will bring it to 4 gigs. I will run the images from last week and report back.

Thank You, I will try the PNG and I will also try the render in pieces option. However I was hoping for a real fix to a new problem. If more memory will help I can get the office to load my machine to the max. I don't want to do this unless it will help. Since I am a long time user I am always surprised when we move forward in our ability to build objects but backward in others. I was hoping for a definitive document on how to get the best results from the people who sold me this software. javascript:void(0)

What are the secret rules for exporting "final renderworks" images out as tiff or photoshop.. In the past I have set the DPI anywhere from 300 too 1000 and the print size 12-18 inches wide and rendered 80 -120 meg photo quality images. Now rendering in VectorWorks 12 I can't do an image larger than 300DPI at 8 inches wide. If I go over the secret limit the program renders a blank file. I would like to know what the workaround for this limitation is and what about basic rules or instructions??? NOTE: the software will produce an adaquate image at 300 DPI as long as I keep it to below 2400DPI wide or 8" wide X 9" tall MAC OS X Tiger 10.4.5 Power Mac G5 Number Of CPUs:2 CPU Speed: 2 GHz Memory:2.5 GB

No image after rendering with VW 12.0 and Tiger 10.4.3 After several calls to VW tech support I have fixed this problem by updating to System 10.4.4 and the new quicktime. My Mac G5 now will render a image from Vectorworks 12. It would have been a big help last week when I was calling tech support for an answer but no help came. In any case I now just rendered the image I need last week and I am a releaved. I would suggest this update to all Mac users running Tiger 10.4.3

Katie Yes, First thing tomorrow morning when I get to work. Regards Bob T. robert@lwbranddesign.com Bob Tiedemann Project Manager Industrial / Environmental Design Liljeqvist & Wargo Inc. Suite 305 49 Richmondville Avenue Westport, CT 06880 Phone: 203-454-2592 FAX: 203-454-2609

I am encountering major slow downs when working with 3d objects (bottles/products) that have mapped graphic labels. I have been using Vectorworks to design POP displays, exhibits and in-store product visualizations. The preview rendering screen redraw-time has been extremely slow since 11.5 and now version 12 is no better. This problem is especially bad when working with 3d objects that have nurbs as root objects. Such as squeeze tube shapes. I have spent hours messing with my 3d files, deleting the mapped images on the products, turning the 3d objects into generic 3d objects, and ect. The only thing the works is to delete all complex 3d shapes. Any suggestions to a fix. I have a request in for a new color board however since I told the systems manager that version 12 would fix the problem I am on his @#*#@ list. CPU is MAC G5 dual 2 Ghc with 2.5 GIGS SDRAM Operating System is Tiger 10.4.3 Have also experienced the same problem with Panther 10.3.9

Dear Robert Anderson, Yes. I have played with: Vectorworks Preferences 1. 3d preferences to LOW (conversion) 2. retain rendering model (high and low) Document Preferences: 1. Set resolution to reduced and bounding box 2. set pict export to 50 from 72 dpi. Nothing helps except getting rid of the products which are hybrid 3d objects with mapped labels. I have been talking to tech support all week about this and another matter. I am not ready to give up. I have been using Minicad since V3 when Renderworks came along I scraped Strata vision and have not used it since. However now I am wondering if I made a mistake. Strata Vision was terrible for drawing 3D shapes but it still has one of the best rendering engines around. Regards, Bob Tiedemann

My computer has been upgraded to System 10.4.3, (tiger). Since that time I have experienced a screen redraw & rendering slowdown. This is with older files and new files. 1. Will upgrading to VectorWorks Version 12 fix this problem? 2. Since the problem gets worse when I import old symbols in to new documents. Is there a way to update symbols to the new format? 3. can symbols with pict files mapped be modified with in vectorworks to shrink the pict size? (NOTE don't always keep copies of image maps on file.) My CPU is a Mac G5 dual 2 GIG with 2.5 gigs of ram running system 10.4.3. Regards Bob Tiedemann

I am also a long time VW user and I have been using FormZ. You are right it is sometimes easier to work in 3d space. However Vectorworks is not there yet. If you draw 3d shapes as a guide and use the snap to points with the 3d polygon tool you can draw in 3d space. It works but its really faster to draw from orthographic views.

Vectorworks 11 slows to a crawl when searching for images on my hard drive while creating textures. This has been a problem in version 10 and now version 11. I have found that making a file for each job speeds up the process. I was wonder if their was a some other fix for this issue? I am running system 10.3.7 on a G5 Dual 2 Gig Powermac with 3 gigs of ram. I do not have this problem with Illustrator or Photoshop. I run Disc Warrior on a monthly basis for normal maintenance and I check and repair permissions at the same time. Bob Tiedemann

I have used a PowerMac G5 2 GIG dual with Vectorworks 10.5.1 every day for months with out any problems. Questions: 1. How much ram is installed? ( I have 2.5 gig and would like more.) 2. Have you repaired permissions lately? 3. Run Diskwarrior 3 or better and repair your directory after ever system upgrade. Don't run Norton. (I have personally experienced lost information by running Apple software updates.) 4. Don't render to a network server. Turn off other software like e-mail. (I have noticed network lags when doing this.) Regards, Bob

I have been running VW 10.5.1 and System 10.3.5 on a G5 dual 2 GIg. I have only noticed slowdowns when adding texture images from large folders. I have 2.5 GIGs of ram installed and was told that 2 Gig was minimum for most graphic applications on system 10.3. I suspect we all need more. 1. Would more ram solve these problems and how much? 2. Has any one tested a new machine fully loaded with 8 GIGs of ram?

Maz, I currently use both Vectorworks and FormZ and I think the VW interface is really easy once you get in in to drawing on the computer. VW does 90% of what I need. When I need to get into intense 3d with complex curves and solid models for developing prototypes I go to FormZ and get gray hairs. I have been very spoiled by the Vectorworks interface it's too easy. Go to the Formz.com web page download the demo and see what I mean. Bob Tiedemann

Brushed stainless that looks brushed. Years ago I was able to export MiniCad drawing directly to STRATA which has better textures and rendering than most products. That feature has become some what lost and I have learned to accept less just to get the job done. Renderworks is fine for most projects. I have been learning FormZ over the past 2 years. My company purchased FormZ Renderzone which is their bottom of the line rendering package. The basic rendering quality is better than Renderworks but harder to use and control. The basic rendering engine are both from Lightworks. I still prefer the quality of STRATA but I have run out of time. Bob Tiedemann