mcobbs

Maybe somebody can help me with this problem. I have created some objects as 3d solids in VW2009, extruded circles and polygons, etc. Some of them are showing up fine, but some of them are EXTREMELY faceted. My settings are = 3D Conversion Res = Very High Print Res = I've tried 72, 150, 300 Line Render Options / Smoothing angle = I've tried 0 to 50 See attached for reference - Artistic Renderworks seems to look the best. This is a VW2009 file.

File extension is still .vwx, but it will not open in 2008. VW2009 would have to export as vw2008 file.

Anybody have a way to reduce pdf time when using GDI+ imaging? Is there a magical setting somewhere? I have GDI+ on because I want to use opacity, but when I do, it takes about 4 times as long to print as pdf, as well as making the pdf file about 6 times larger in size. If I have GDI+ off, I get a fast, usually 300K pdf, If I have GDI+ on, I get an extremely slow, usually 2MB pdf.... and since my drawings usually consist of 4 or more pages, that gives me a file I can't email to my clients... which means I can't use GDI or opacity. What's the deal? PS, even when my drawings have NO opacity used, the pdf's are still as slow and still as large, so it's the GDI, not the opacity. My 3d conversion res is set to medium, document resolution is set to 72dpi.

Forgive my ignorance, but what are 3d Edge Snaps? I've turned on and off every snap option I can find. I seem to have the most problems when I turn on "mid point of edge" I'd be happy to try turning off 3d Edge Snaps, but have no idea where to find them, I do not have "Smart Edge" turned on.

Ok, here's a few questions about the new 2009 1 = We use hybrid symbols for almost everything we do, we have a clean simple 2d version, and then a complex 3d version. We use the simplified 2d Plan to move around objects and snap walls together. In 2009, it is now snapping to the 3d object, even in 2d plan mode (did not do this in 2008) There must be a way to turn this off??? Edit =OK, I just realized that this is doing this with symbols from 2008, not new ones I create in 2009, please tell me I don't have to redraw my entire symbol library to get my snaps to work correctly.. 2 = I also have tried the Zoom tool when snapping to objects (called snap loupe) but this is not working in 2d mode, only 3d mode. If I'm in 2d Plan, and I press "z", I get a blank white box, but it still tries to snap to objects, if I'm in 3d Plan, it zooms and shows up correctly... 3 = I don't suppose there is a "Classic" workspace option?? I added a file, this shows how my 2008 symbols are reacting to snap points versus 2009 Thanks

FROM DAMON DESIGN on 9/15 Still, just upgraded to VW 08 to take advantage of the free upgrade to 09 and it all looks pretty cool to me. WHAT IS THIS FREE UPGRADE from 08 to 09???? Where can I find out about this??? I'm assuming it's only if you upgraded during a certain time frame....

Just out of curiousity... what does this mean for backwards compatibility? More specifically, if my company (the US portion) upgrades, will we be able to share both directions with our German partners, on an older version of VW??? (they don't upgrade as often as we do) I guess I could still save as older versions of VW, it would just have to convert the solids, right???

OK, I got the origin figured out, and am able to copy them to get the desired affect. BUT, It is showing up in Inches with no unit mark. Basically X: 120 Y: 120 Anyway to show unit marks? Or change to Feet and Inches? Thanks for the help.

I have downloaded a few XY Coordinate plugins, and I cannot get them to work. I need to dimension a lot of points on a floorplan, all from a relative 0,0 which I want to be the lower left corner of my floorplan. I have used a 3 plugins (VB x/y, XY coordinate, and Coordinate Dim X), I seem to be having the most problems getting the plugin to understand where I want my 0,0. I have set the "Page / Set Origin", and when I put a locus point there, it shows it as 0,0, but when I use the xy coordinate plugins, it is wrong... Probably user error, but does anyone know how these work, how to use, or a good one I can find? I'd love to be able to specify colors for text, point or locus style, and ESPECIALLY units (mm or feet) Vectorworks 2008 with Renderworks, SP3 Intel Core 2 @ 2.66Ghz (2 CPUs) Windows XP Pro SP3 3070MB RAM ATI x1300 256MB Video

Here's some as well....

My guess is that you are using the standard move tool, there is a 3d move tool, it took me a while to figure it out, but that seems to do the trick. When using the 2d Selection tool, my 3d objects go wherever they want, irregardless of snaps, but the 3d Selection tool works like a charm. I don't think you can grab 3d objects by the center... if someone has figured that out, I'd love to know...

Please stay on track.... if you'll look through the forums, you'll find that it's happening to quite a few people, PC's and Mac's... It's not a Video Card issue. My card is an ATI x1300, 256MB card, My office also has NVidea GeForce 7300 cards.

PS, thank you to all of the ideas and answers I received on my "Need FAST machine specs for VW" I have reposted under a new title, because it appears to me that a new machine will not solve the problem. There must be a workaround somehow....

OK, I and many others on these forums seem to have the same problem. (Macs and PCs both...) And I've seen a lot of opinions, and a lot of "have you tried restarting your computer" junk... Does anyone have a solution or workaround for the "leaking memory" problem? I have 8 Vectorworks users at my location that have the same problem. Our machines are 2.66Ghz Dual Core, 256MB video, 3GB Ram, 6GB Virtual, XP Pro, all using VW 2008 SP3. Our machines are defragged, I've optimized the drawings, we are typically doing 3d hidden line drawings. Typically on one of our larger drawings, around 20MB or larger, we will do severaly hidden line renders, and then we will receive the "out of memory" error. VW requires a restart, and then we can do several more before the error again... I can watch the memory usage with a memory program, and I can see that the physical memory usage will grow and grow.. Basically the following = open a drawing, work on it for a while = 50MB memory usage... Render 1 view = 200MB memory usage, Render 2nd view = 400MB memory usage, until typically about 1GB memory usage = Memory Error... Even after VW finishes the views, it shows up on my memory monitor as still in use. And it just grows until the error.... Has anyone found a workaround for this? Maybe a program that recovers the memory? I'm really growing tired of restarting VW every 5 views...

RonMan That appears to be what VW is doing on my PC as well. I can watch it's memory usage, and after every hidden line render, the memory usage just grows and grows.. It does seem to "run out" at about 1.5GB, and I've seen that 1.5GB figure on some other posts as well - WHICH leads to my next question... EVEN IF, I have a 64 bit machine with LOTS of ram, is VW capable of using any more than 1.5GB, or is that a limit in the program?

Anybody know anything about this VW "memory leak" that some users on these forums are talking about?

lanH Currently I am at 2x my Ram, so 6GB of Virtual Memory. I'd be happy to try 1.5x instead and see if it helps any... brudgers I use a program called Diskeeper that actually defrags daily. MCH I have read on these forums that some mac users are having the "lack of memory" errors as well... Russel Typically Outlook and Acrobat, sometimes Autocad, Photoshop.. But I've tried shutting them all down, doesn't seem to make a difference...

I am doing Hidden Line 3d drawings. This is doing the same thing on multiple machines in my office. Multiple files as well. I've read other posts, and it seems like others are running into the lack of memory errors... any solutions?

OK, I've got a good machine, but it keeps running out of memory -or so VW tells me. I have a PC = Intel Core 2 - 2.66ghz / 3 GB Ram / ATI Radeon x1300 256MB Video. Does VW have the capability of working on an x64 system so I can increase the ram, OR are there other specs I need to increase, OR (PLEASE NO!!) do I have to get a Mac? Any opinions would be welcome, thanks. I am using VW 2008 SP3 with Renderworks on a Windows XP Pro SP3 OS. I'd love to know if anyone is using a x64 system. Is there a way to control what RAM or Virtual Memory VW uses? I have plenty of memory available, even when it runs out. Typically when VW gives me the memory errors, it is only using 1/3 of my actual ram, and usually none of my virtual... I have been using CachemanXP to monitor it.

I am working with some huge, way too detailed, robot files from a client. They are importing into Vectorworks as Nurbs, and consist of 10's of thousands of objects... Yes I've purged the file. Does anyone know of a good reliable program that will reduce the faces (or simplify to solids) of large 3d objects?? It could also be compatible with other file-types, I have autocad, 3d studio, form z, and strata. I need the files for Vectorworks, but I can convert them if needed. I've looked at VizUp, but have no idea if it would work...

I have a truss system drawn by a client in Spotlight. I do not have Spotlight, just fundamentals and renderworks. The truss comes in as greyed out (as if the class was greyed out) Is there anything I can do to make the truss look correct in my Hidden Line drawings? I can't find any reason they are showing up grayed out. I have basically decomposed, ungrouped them down to where they are just extrudes, but they are still grey. Thanks

Absolutely, I posted a similar message about my text resolution 2 weeks ago... So far, no answers. I went from VW 12.5 straight to VW 2008 SP1, but I immediately noticed my fuzzy text resolution. Hopefully someone has an answer out there. Attached is an example of my problems.

I have just upgraded from VW 12.5 to VW 2008. Is there a way to increase the screen or preview resolution? All of my text looks dithered and it did not in 12.5. I have tried all of the possible settings I could find. Thanks for the help. I also seem to have some text size / placement issues when opening my VW 12.5 files.

Katie, Thank you for showing me where the "move page tool" was. That is exactly what I needed. Something simple, I just couldn't find it. To any others that are interested, I did have to recenter my drawings in the Plan view, but it did not affect the perspective view. So all is good now. Thanks

How do I move the page?? This is the default ?Page Area? that vectorworks created when I make a new document. I can?t seem to grab the 11x17 page and move it. I had thought of doing this, but I can?t figure out how.... In addition to this thought, when I move the page, won't the PLAN view no longer be centered on the page, and then if I move it back to the center, won't the perspective be "off" again....