Ozzie

Although there have been great improvements made to the Plant Tool in 2009 we need when selecting Plants from the drop down list beside the Mode Bar the list of plants to have a scroll bar If you have a lot of Plants in your library it takes yonks to scroll down to the end of the alphabet

Doug, Are you using information from the VW Plant database or are you adding that information yourself when creating a plant Perhaps if you can post the file here or email it to me I can sort this design@landscapesbydesign.com.au

Christian, $20 US on Barack going for a Mac C'mon

Bill, VW 2008 was a huge improvement over VW 12 ? the disappointing things were bugs 2009 takes VW into a new direction and although the improvements are not as great as 12 to 2008 it seems to be far less buggy and just better to use I found my work flows from VW 12 to 2008 were substantially lessened ? just much quicker to do things in 2008 2009 ? the Plant Tool as an example ? I said to our distributor here in Oz ? I think I have died and gone to heaven ? the improvements are that powerful I update sooner always rather than later and I think what I pay for VW is cheap considering I use it as a tool for my work most days I like the annual release cycle

Oh and BTW File/Import/Mincad File - KISS

Christian, I really like you and your input here and really do not care a hoot about Macs versus Windows - VW runs on both and that is great There is talk about Barack Obama being the first computer savvy US president maybe ever - he apparently already has and uses a Blackberry thingy and has said will have a laptop on his desk ? cool ? big question is - will it be a Mac or PC? My Vista PCs ? both ? no gadgets or sidebars and every unnecessary process disabled ? but I can open AutoCAK as I have to most days whilst I have VW running A friend just bought one of those Mac all built into the screen thingys so I had a play with it for a couple of hours ? hated the keyboard and the mouse ? otherwise a nice machine for what it was I betcha Barack uses a MAC - at least he will have a computer

Yeah I bet it is but in ArchiCAD does it really work? Can we get sme feed back on that?

You guys have to be joking with this seperate application stuff Think into the future - what have to update it too!!! NO NO - just do it in VW - KISS And yes the last "S" in KISS = STUPID Think about it!!!

I agree ? I posted this link a couple of weeks back although I will never use AutoCAD http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=9246650 Really interesting stuff though And this http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=113313#Post113313 Gee and really ? what - replace some circles with a particular symbol and therefore you have to write a script For a user to be productive (Jonathon from Archoncad thought) that user must be able to do things quickly and intuitively NNA must respond to these sorts of challenges 2008 still has bugs that quite probably will never be fixed ? that is cool given we are moving forward but ? the improvements in 2009 whilst good are probably only 50% of what we experienced from 12 to 2009 Best NNA is doing something sensational going into 2010 ? I wonder??

Can anyone define the difference between AutoCad's UCS and what VW can do?

FYI That is not a work around The original question was any suggestion to importing a word doc? Perhaps it wasn't It's long text file that I need in a column Maybe it was Glad though you imported the Pdf

AndiACD, If you read my above post Very clearly it says I agree VW 2009 should be able to open all old files It has nothing to do with Windows or Macs VW should be able to open all old files Just needs to happen from within VW Why would we need a new application?

Convert the word doc into a Pdf and then import the Pdf

I agree VW 2009 should be able to open all old files - not that I have any past VW 11 It should not be a separate application ? who would want to download and install and do all that I should happen from within VW 2009 - KISS I wonder too if this in part is because of how Mac OSs have changed and /or how Macs deal / dealt with their files Should be fixed though but from within VW ? loyal long time users should be looked after

Doug, Where did you get the WS from?

Thom, here are pictures of some of my plants - I do not really want to sell or give them away - they are a work in progress If you like though I have the original base file of 2D symbols I collected from the internet and other files that I used to get started - I can send that to you to get you going It is about 9 mb - do not know if I can post it here You just have to be diciplined - I started mine back in VW 11 - ditched them all when I went to 2008 and now have I think about 200 plus Just yesterday whilst working on a domestic project I built about 15 new ones As you go along they just become an asset Tell me what version you want them in if you want them - be aware though some have lots of lines and un closed polys - so you have to be a bit careful

Thom, I use Layers to separate things like a site model, referenced in files, sometimes the buildings and like Ian if the file is large and there are lots of them ? stipples as they are resource hogs I have completed projects with upwards of 5000 plants ? say 50 residential houses ? Large projects like that for clarity I separate into two views if you like ? Surfaces and Finishes and Planting Plans ? so a project of that size could have 12 A1 Sheet Layers of Planting Plans and the same for Surfaces and Finishes As on each Planting Plan I require a Plant Legend Worksheet I use Classes to separate the plants allowing me to count them for each Sheet ? this means as I work in a project this big if I choose I can have only one twelfth of my Plants turned on I also have another Class I am beginning to use for my Plants ? Plants-Component-Circle meaning for each Plant I can use a simple circle if I choose whilst working and when presenting through my Sheet Layers have my intricate and details plants showing I have built quite complex Plant Symbols for my individual Plants and now have about 250 structured this way ? I can turn on my Blooms, Colour fill, all of that or just have a simple circle Works well for me I use the Plant Database ? ditched all of NNAs plants and only use my own and am disciplined as I work ? if I use a new Plant I put it in the database, create the symbol and then use the plant ? takes time but always then I have the Plant as a resource into the future

Again If you have what ever it is you wish to offset say by 6 metres - should'nt a user be able to do that without work arounds and hidden understandings If you went into McDonalds and asked and paid for a Big Mac and drove away to discover you really had a Cheese Burger in most instances what would happen? I do not think McDonalds would get away with oh sorry those that don't know get caught out The tool should do it properly or Simple A couple of days back I placed a pad on a site model at a certain height and then used the Stake Object to read heights off the site model - I placed one in the centre of a pad and I think the reading was incorrect but I did not have time to test it Today I discovered a bug with exporting to my User folder Plant defaults Last year - 2008 - I discovered several bugs - 12 the same This issue We all love VW A couple of weeks back Jeffrey did a great thing with Worksheets - really instructive and very transparent Cmon NNA - the new parasolids engine Can it deal with this or not?

Is it possible to seperate your plants into different classes or layers so whilst working you can turn some of them off? Can you give some more info about your project?

Perhaps send it to Ray via YouSendIt BTW - it may be a problem with 2008 - long shot I lived with a problem throughout 2008 that is still there and I think it still has problems As soon as I could I upgraded to 2009

Me too - my users account has full administration rights - no log ons on both machines - 2008 and 2009 installed fine

Riddingtone This is an area I believe could be and needs to be improved When moving from a Sheet Layer Viewport with Class / Layer Overrides you return to the Design Layer in its original state rather than the Class / Layer Override state in the Sheet layer Viewport If I am correct with this I think when moving from a Sheet Layer Viewport ? Edit Design Layer ? an improvement could be to have an option ? Maintain either Sheet Layer Class or Layer Overrides Visibilities back to the Design Layer as an option ? I too think to be able to store like a Resource or whatever Viewport Class / Layer Overrides or Saved Views to easily be able to transfer them from one file to another would be a great improvement to VW It can be done through Standard files and that works but is cumbersome and time consuming Perhaps post this as a Wish List Item ? perhaps too NNA is working on a means of doing this better

This works but it is not in Help as far as I can see The process too is a little different to 2008 and not as intuitive in my view Setting up a Template File is easy - just look at Help - search for 'Templates' So to is setting up Standards Of to Wish Lists I think with this

That is not the point - why are all like this if only one has been altered Same with Worksheets too I think - if you recalculate one all are recalculated That is cool but in a big file - go and have a coffee sometimes

Jonathon, Thanks I will try that How come though when you do a search for Standards in VW 2009 Help - under the heading - Importing Drawing Structures from Standards or Other Files it says this Custom layers or classes can be created in a blank file and saved as an .sta file in the Standards folder. Once they are placed in the Standards folder, these new layers or classes become part of the Standards list and are available when new layers or classes are created. Further though as I said above - I think I am right with this ? in 2008 you could open your Standards File and it would remain that file whereas in 2009 if you open it - it defaults back to ?Untitled 1 (or whatever).vwx Then if you alter it you have to Save it back into the Standards File location and over write the original file What happens is - when you go to Save as Template ? the default save location is the Templates File so you have to be very careful to make certain you browse to the Standards file to save it there There is something wrong here - surely