Ozzie

Maybe this has been addressed before When using a large monitor and writing or editing text it is hard to see the text really clearly I am on a 22 inch monitor and do not wish to alter display resolution - shortly I am going to 24 inch Could there be an option to View Text as larger How do others deal with this?

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 Last week I thought I was going nuts and over wrote one of my Templates by mistake ? luckily I was backed up If you open your Standards file ? would it not be logical to have it as it worked in 2008 where you could alter it and easily save it there Or / And ? File Save as Standard as well as Save as Template I reckon this is a bit of a 2009 boo boo or is there a good reason to have it working this way?

Rubbish - at least here in Australia

Change must be the norm going forward if we are all to somehow collectively survive over time Generally organisational structures limit that and create ?too hard? perception realities So to do individuals It is not just relief ? it is the potential of incredible things over time Maybe though it has to be an attitude explored, embraced and even then shared Personally it could be a challenge Remember Kennedy "Ask not what your country can do for you rather - what can you do for your country" Bring it on Obama

Running VW 2009 on my both my Windows Vista Business machines is so stable it amazes me after the problems with 2008 BTW - the problems with 2008 were within VW and not Windows I cannot believe Macs are so far superior - who wants to go there and enter into that discussion My suggestion - I think it is really difficult given the complexity of software today when Mac operating systems are updated as often as they are to expect to not have such problems And I know I am treading on some toes - I would not switch to a Mac just because of that A close friend was just going to buy one - he said to me he could just not justify it as the cost was just ridiculous

I think Saved Views were used as a means of presenting different ?views? of a drawing prior to Viewports When I first began to use Viewports it was scary ? now I cannot imagine drawing and presenting without them Class overrides ? amazing I use Saved Views to do what Ian suggests ? to return to a drawing state if you like and move on from there As with lots of things; doing things differently provides a learning curve and Viewports offers that and in my view Viewports functionality can still be improved enormously Where they are at now is really worth exploring

Jeffrey and others, What you guys have done here is phenomenal About 18 months ago I quantified using Worksheets a landscaping project ? 23 houses I could not have done it without the help of our distributors here in Australia We calculated turf /m2, soil /m3, timber edging / lm, mulch / m3, boulders / number and m3, paving slabs for stepping stones / number, concrete under paving / m3, pavers / number and m2, sand under pavers / m3, concrete for edge restraining of pavers / m3 etc etc and for seeded lawn areas even lawn seed and lawn starter in kgs We did these totals for individual lots and then added them for the whole project I used location polys for each lot to enable calculations within those lot boundaries and Class Structures to identify each of the landscape elements Incredible tool that took a good deal of work to set up but once I had it a very valuable resource into the future The manner in which all of this is done is clunky and very non user friendly and therefore very probably why lots of users may not go there When I draw now ? I have hatches and other finishes for things like mulch and turf ? within my design layer work I have hatches turned off in my Classes ? just keeps my drawing simple to use ? I use Sheet Layer Viewport overrides to turn them on ? normally I duplicate my Viewports and have one for Planting ? no hatches but colourful plants and the other for what I call Surfaces and Finishes ? no plants but hatches with a Legend to identify them ? it all works well What is cool is I can draw with a closed poly an area of say mulch and voila it automatically calculates whatever I want is to ? even the soil quantity underneath I have a ?master Standards File? I use ? I start with a Template File that is very simple and as I work if I want say Class ? Paving-Brick I ?import it? from my Standards File ? works well too The power of Worksheets is amazing especially considering all of the focus on BIM The ease of using them in my view needs to be addressed and the manner in which people can customise VW for their own purposes ? examples storing reusable Viewport Class Overrides thought through, being able to turn Stipples off in Viewport Class Overrides etc Perhaps I should expand this and post it into Wish list Items What you guys have done though with this thread as a resource is phenomenal

Hatches in 3D Shouldn't you start a new Wish List item with that one? Just out of interest what version of VW did the current Hardscape Tool start in and therefore how long since it has been revamped? You know how I dislike AutoCAD and would never use it But - have a look at this http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=9246650 Watch the movie 'Impression Features' Look too at their products - now that is vertical marketing Cmon NNA - just the Hardscape Tool Come to think of it the Site Modelling Tool and ..............

Jonathon, That is obvious - the border tool has only the standard color picker Surely the hardscape tool as well as other improvements should have the same colors available as the Attributes Palette Or is that asking too much?

NNA - thanks so much - what you have at last done with Plant Tags being able to be constrained to angles is super duper I have done landscape designs with 4000 plus plants and the old plant tags drove me batty Other improvements with the Plant Tool are great too Whilst on about it - could not believe snapping to Pdfs - very cool and dragging and dropping a dwg - great improvements

For what it is worth there is no doubt the hardscape tool requires a real work over I do not wish to go into specifics but just as an example to be able to color a border and not the main part of the hardscape The way lines in corners are just not correct An ability to draw a curved path with a stretcher bond pattern Etc Etc It is a great tool but it needs a rebuild

Wyle, I have been using VW since version 11 The frustration you feel must be common to others too as it has been with me Guys like Pat are amazing and are so generous with their time and knowledge I have complained before and suggested NNA should really provide much more informative manuals and better free training resources Today I wasted a day attempting to gain information with a site model and even VW Help in my view did not provide in a clear concise manner the information I was after Sucks as far as I am concerned but just how it is I suppose It can only be addressed and changed by NNA or third party trainers and manual writers like Jonathon NNA really should get their act together with this!

Building Information Modelling ? the name says a lot The ease and simplicity of operating software applications is critical to benefit from the depths potentially it can be plumbed ? one of the challenges for software manufacturers I know of a large organisation using not Vectorworks but another supposed ?BIM capable? software application who have abandoned that idea as it was too hard to implement ? the complexity of formulas and the like; meaning learning curves for existing and new staff was just too great. Mistakes were made and in areas things hit the fan The next challenge is data exchange between various cad packages It therefore immediately means there are serious limitations to its practical application in fact and collaboration outside of the software it came from ? all very difficult for Mr Jo Blow NNA has a challenge to simplify the manner in which data is collected assumedly through Worksheets and probably too in their own interests as well as their users provide meaningful as simple as possible to learn very available resources helping users to be more effective It mystifies me already this has not happened in a very open and transparent manner and I would not suggest anyone hold their breath I remember in another life exploring ?programming? possibilities with AutoCAD. It did my head in. I met a man who was a genius at it ? did his head in too for a long time Vectorworks is so powerful ? too learn in a simple tutorial manner to use Worksheets properly or for that manner Vectorscript ? where are the resources to allow one to in a structured manner to take on the challenge provided by NNA for free to build a users ability to gain more from Vectorworks Assumedly too if BIM is so important it would build the user base too

Why to be told - NO Perhaps you place a post in the Landmark forum and explain if that is the case - why not Or if it is going to be fixed maybe when I doubt it will Or is your time more valuable than mine? NUFF SAID I get where you are coming from

Chris, I have monitored and observed your posts for a long time now Some people just go along with the flow and accept what is going on Others see reality Smoke and mirrors - the smoke settles You do not have to look at the mirrors or allow them to reflect you away from reality There is plenty of smoke and mirror stuff going on Why is it we get posts from NNA staffers you can do this and you can do that in response to a post where within the same post other TOO HARD issues have been left out Yawn and wonder if there are meetings or understandings - lets just sell the sizzle - who gives a about the sausage

Jeffrey, The plant tool bug must be known of within NNA - I am in Australia and have no doubt at all our distributors here have submitted it - long time ago Check with your internal NNA people perhaps to see what is going on - they MUST know Question is this - simple - will it be fixed - the vanishing plants that is? Doubt it so just upgrade to 2009 That is ok and I plan to anyway but I can afford it What about someone who cannot - at that level it is not fair or probably in fact in my view moral

That is all great and really appreciated BUT Have there been any improvments made to the Hardscape Tool from 2008 to 2009

I do not as yet have 2009 and will not until SP1 ? if there are bugs at least some by then may be sorted out Maybe issues with rotate plan, user origin resets and I think some users had issues with viewports changing positions etc I have had issues with plants disappearing except for their polys and tags in 2008 Thinking the new engine behind 2009 has in 2009 corrected this but who knows what happens when you bring into 2009 and older file I would wonder if NNA would just do something really simple and basic ? tell the truth

Standard industry stuff is fair - bugs that have not been fixed are not Explanations as to why they have not been fixed or if they will be fixed would be fair too VW 2008 LM - Plants have been disappearing - their geometry that is and I would assume NNA is and has been aware of the problem for yonks now So in big files and some of mine have 4000 plus plants - run a script to regenerate them; have a cup of tea; do something else and wait - that is my time and over months adds up Does anyone remember corrupt Worksheets if you duplicated them - cost me in one project days and a client thought I was an idiot BTW ? I did not tell them it was not me but my software as I would have preferred they too used VW That is loyalty!! Question is this - simple - will it be fixed - the vanishing plants that is? Doubt it so just upgrade to 2009 That is ok and I plan to anyway but I can afford it What about someone who cannot - at that level it is not fair or probably in fact in my view moral I have not made a noise about that and other issues as I would prefer to see VW be used by more and recognised better as the great software it is I think it is naive and shooting from the hip too quickly perhaps to suggest a licence agreement may mean a software developer can necessarily hide behind it in all instances If I had the time and inclination ? and I do not - I would love to test that Beyond that having not fixed bugs cannot be good for reputation either NNA should not in my view at times exhibit such a heavy handed flippant demeanour towards their users ? at all Without us you could not exist

As posted above from another post - interesting question though from Ian H "I wonder if NNA has professional indemnity insurance to cover the situation where their software produces an incorrect result?" Jeffrey - do you have an answer for that?

Have you updated VW 2008 to SP3? Do you have latest graphics card drivers installed?

So what happens with localisation within the UK? Is that the issue? Seems there are issues with VW at its base level and too at the localised level and these are two different things Example - I do not know - maybe components of say windows are different in the USA to the UK or to New Zealand

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I set up Vista so that it works my way rather than its - why do you want it to sleep?

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