jhutchison

I am having a difficult time deciding whether to stick with Vectorworks or to purchase Archicad. Don't get me wrong, I think Vectorworks is an absolutely fantastic program, and the tech support site is excellent. My concerns are that I am an Architect (sole practitioner for now) , and find that the ability to quickly comunicate 3d changes in my building model to my clients, while continuing efficient 2d documentation of the project is like pulling teeth. Vectorworks models well, and the drafting environment is fantastic. But the integration of the two is very poor. I used Archicad for a few years back in 96, 97, and 98, and quite honestly it's model and documentation hybrid environment was far superior back then than VWA is even today. The cost is really not an issue. If I made the move, I am sure the cost would offset itself in coordination productivilty. My main concern is speed and support. I use mac OS X, and VWA works fantastically on it. It is very fast. I have heard that Archicad is slow on mac, but that may only be because people don't have good video cards, etc...I don't know. Does anyone have any experience using both programs? Any thoughts on the subject? Thanks in advance for any input.

I am having a difficult time deciding whether to stick with Vectorworks or to purchase Archicad. Don't get me wrong, I think Vectorworks is an absolutely fantastic program, and the tech support site is excellent. My concerns are that I am an Architect (sole practitioner for now) , and find that the ability to quickly comunicate 3d changes in my building model to my clients, while continuing efficient 2d documentation of the project is like pulling teeth. Vectorworks models well, and the drafting environment is fantastic. But the integration of the two is very poor. I used Archicad for a few years back in 96, 97, and 98, and quite honestly it's model and documentation hybrid environment was far superior back then than VWA is even today. The cost is really not an issue. If I made the move, I am sure the cost would offset itself in coordination productivilty. My main concern is speed and support. I use mac OS X, and VWA works fantastically on it. It is very fast. I have heard that Archicad is slow on mac, but that may only be because people don't have good video cards, etc...I don't know. Does anyone have any experience using both programs? Any thoughts on the subject? Thanks in advance for any input.

I just tried using a different card. Same result using an ati xclaim 3d 8meg.

all files. ati 7500, 32meg

It has the same problem eother way (both ways).

I am having a problem with OPEN GL rendering. I can only do a rendering using open GL when zoomed way out. When I try to zoom in, the image disappears. However, in perspective mode, I can zoom to my hearts content. What's up? OSX 10.2.3, VWA 9.5.3 and 10.01.

Hi - I am modeling a complex roof that is too complicated to use the "roof tool". Alternatively, I am using the roof surface tool and building each roof surcface separately. Everything is working fine, except I cannot extrude my gable walls to the underside of the roof above. I swear I remember doing this a while back. How?

It is a new blank document. Other new documents are unaffected as of yet. The symbol is a parametric simple door. This only happens when inserting in walls that I have previously drawn. If I draw a new wall, and insert, all is clear. I also noticed that this only happens for doors drawn as "2d only". Doors drawn as "3d" are unaffected. VWA 9.5.3 official release...not beta.

Since installing OSX.2.2, I am having VWA9.5.3 crash while inserting doors in walls. Anyone else having this problem?

I would like to duplicate a plug-in object such as the revision tool and create a new object for wall labeling. I figured out how to duplicate plug-in objects, but I cannot figure out how to edit the 2d components of plug-in objects. Is this possible...without getting into written script?

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I have been trying to figure that one out for what seems like months. Your reply is much appreciated.

I do not want to use Vectorworks default classes for many objects. For instance, I would like Window-main to be A-GLAZ and I would like Vert Trans-Main to be A-FLOR-STRS. I tried to change the class name in the class dialog box, but everytime I insert a new door or stairs, it reverts back to the VectorWorks defaults. Anyone know how I can change this frustrating behavior?

I do not want to use Vectorworks default classes for many objects. For instance, I would like Window-main to be A-GLAZ and I would like Vert Trans-Main to be A-FLOR-STRS. I tried to change the class name in the class dialog box, but everytime I insert a new door or stairs, it reverts back to the VectorWorks defaults. Anyone know how I can change this frustrating behavior?

Great. Much appreciated.

I just logged on to post the exact same comment. I will also eventually migrate to VWA10. But I will not migrate until I receive my moneys worth of VWA 9.5. In order to get my moneys worth out of VWA 9.5, I am going to want to see a non-beta version of the final release. Is this going to happen?

what I ended up having to do is delete my layer link layer and create a new one. Everything works fine now.

I am trying to render a model I have created in my Layer Link layer. At first is was working, but now it does not...even after restarts. If I try to render with RenderWorks, I get nothing. If I try to do a hidden line render, I get a message "There is nothing to render"...yet it is definately there in wireframe mode. Any ideas? I am on Mac OSX.1.2, VWA9.5.3, PowerMac G4-800

Advice to NNA: Send a mailing or email to all registered users regarding incomplatibility with Jaguar--ASAP. I have Jaguar ordered, and just stumbled upon this topic. I am glad I did, but the vast majoity of users out there do not check these message boards. When can we expect a fix? I anticipate needing Jaguar for other non-VWA compatibility issues---I don't want the money I shelled out for Jaguar to just sit on the shelf.

Well, I was able to save as a tif using preview, but my service beureau said that the file is not being recognized by their oce software as being a compatible raster image. So far the only way I have been able to give them a compatible raster file is by using the raster program that comes with GpahicPak 5.1.2. Any other suggestions?

ok - here is yet another issue regarding printing in the OSX platform. We can now print to our plotter just fine out of OSX. However, we would like to find an OS X native solution for saving a raster file so we can send to our service bureau for reprographics work. GraphicPak in OS9 did this wonderfully. However, I just spoke to Microspot, and the OSX version of GraphicPak does not/will not support the "Save as Raster" command. I have tried sending pdf's to the service bureau, but that only works if they print to a plotter----not a high speed reproduction machine like an Oce. Our service bureau has informed us they need raster files (a "cad-complient tiff") in order to use the high volume machines. Does anyone have any recommendations? Is there a way we can trick our computers into thinking we have a driver that can write to raster? What driver would that be?

If that's true, it's a font compatibility problem with VW 9---not the rip software. The reason I say this is if you take the same file and fonts that crash the RIP in VW 9 and print it out of VW 8, it will not crash the RIP. Could there be a font issue with printing out of VW 9? We will investigate as well.

In order to print from OSX, you will need to set up the HP455CA printer in Print Center by selecting it from Appletalk connection (make sure the RIP software is running on the OS9 print server so that it can be seen by other computers using Appletalk). Once you select the HP455CA, assign it the HP455CA ppd.

Currently, we are just using an OS X machine as a server---not "OS X Server". It works flawlessly for us (after a few downloads such as "Sharepoints", etc.). If necessary, we will upgrade to "OS X Server", but would obviously prefer not to unless warranted. We will still do all our work in VWA on Macintosh, EXCEPT work for this client. The jobs are pretty substantial (about 25 architectural sheets) and require thorough coordination w/ consultants (all of which use AutoCAD). We will still use MAC OS apps (Office v.X, photoshop, quark) in the Mac OS environment as default. My gut feeling so far is that Virtual PC will be great to load on the Laptops for people who work at home as well as the office. But I think that the jobs are going to be too big to solely produce on VPC. My guess is that as the file sizes and xref sophistication become larger, VPC will bog down. Ultimately, what we are looking to do is purchase a $600 tower for each workstation with a kvm switch that converts back and forth. What do you think?

We are presently an all-mac Architectural office w/ 6 mac clients (running OS X) a mac File server (running OS X) and a mac print server (running OS 9). All clients presently run VWA 9.5. Recently we have had a client (a National company) ask us to switch our cad program to AutoCad so we can standardize with the rest of their firms. Our gut reaction is that the best thing to do is to purchase pc's and network them into our mac network. Does anyone have a similar setup? What are the issues involved? Can we keep our OS X server, or will we have to get an additional server to serve the PC's? Any recommendations will be much appreciated.

I remember getting that error back in the days of using OS 9 on our clients. We always had to convert to PS first. However, none of our client Macs are printing from OS 9 anymore---they all print from native OS X programs. The only computer running OS9 is the print server---so that it can run the HP RIP software. I wish I had a better explanation for you, but consider printing from an OSX computer. It will send the print file to whatever OS 9 computer is running the HP RIP software.