brudgers

Actually I should reprhase that: It would substantially be more work for me on the fullfillment side since NNA doesn't provide any interface to Windows which allows automation of the Vectorscript compile cycle. Despite all the pablum about equal platform support.

Well I supose I could too if I tied each copy to the last six digits of the user's serial number at compile time. Of course that means more work on the fullfillment side leading to a higher cost to produce, a higher price, and therefore lower sales. There are some nice utities out there for 20 bucks or more, but people aren't inclined to buy them. Partially, it's just the demographic for Vectorworks is already inclined not to spend money...otherwise they'd probably be using ArchiCad, AutoCAD, or something in a similar price range.

I recommend parsing Vectorworks output in AutoCad to get what you want.

I was referencing several aspects of the Vectorworks community in the other thread: 1. That the requested feature was probably doable in Vectorscript. 2. That the work entailed in doing so was slightly more than trivial. 3. That requesters tend not to place a value on their request. 4. That there are probably people who could and would code it if there was a market for it. 5. That there probably is not a market for it. I'm sure you could code it more quickly than I can, and I doubt - to the degree that a pattern of past events predicts future events - you would code it gratis. Commercial development of Vectorscripts I suspect is quite limited since...as you know...there's really no good way protecting scripts. That's not to say commissions aren't viable, but writing for sale scripts is pretty much dead...you can encrypt them and protect your code (at least from someone who doesn't want to be bothered cracking what appears to be very simple encryption) but you can't really keep people from sharing it broadly. So for sale scripts have to be priced high enough to earn a return from a few honest people rather than everyone who uses it...which drives down sales volume...which discourages development. BTW, anyone who wanted such a script could pay for it with their own time writing it.

Many thanks.

Well I found a kludge (I think); http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=54572&Searchpage=3&Main=12755&Words=%2Bworksheet+%2Bhandle&Search=true#Post54572 Anyone got a better way?

I want to read from a worksheet without creating an image of the worksheet on the drawing, but cannot find a way to get a handle to it.

Looks like a vectorscirpt job. How much would you pay for it?

As it happens, I need to increase the radius of all circles by 2 mm, regardless of their size, so I'm not sure I can use the Scale function for this. A Scale function probably doesn't have an option for specific mm increase. I can't say for sure, however, because I can't locate any documentation on Scale. Where did you find that? The second alternative could work---but I don't like it. Entity names and stacking order aren't the problem. These circles have all manner of different attributes, so re-creating them would be a lot more work (I think) than just creating a new default circle. I'd like to find a way to edit the radius of the existing circles, if possible. (I don't think density enters into the matter.) You could calculate the new scale. On the other hand if you don't need to maintain names...this would be common...you could call the offset tool.

It may be that the PDF reader at the printers is an older version that does not support layers. I know that this is the case with older versions of Acrobat and CorelDraw. In my opinion, there's no reason to include layers on a PDF sent to the printer. I recommend not mapping Vectorworks classes and layers to PDF layers.

The 2010 VS function reference?...that's adorable.

HScale2D http://developer.vectorworks.net/index.php?title=VS:HScale2D Available from all versions.

That's the gap. Vectorworks lacks the ability to print arbitrary content to scale.

The dynamic array of handles is a good idea.

Once you sweep an arc object 360 degrees it becomes a circle object according to the OIP.

The three amigos don't care about Revit. It doesn't perform well within parallels.

All the free stuff is features not training...there aren't any decent free tutorials or training resouces. The for sale materials are both higher priced and weaker compared to what's available for Autodesk products, if you're familiar with those. It's software like it was in the 80's...designed to sell support services.

Given how crappy Vectoworks priting options are, I export PDF's and print from them to get what I want. I find the process more managable in the long run.

NNA doesn't manage the Mac/PC issue well. The roots of its mismanagement are historical. In the beginning it was easy to graft their brand onto Mac culture. The consequence of this expediency is that today the Vectorworks brand struggles to exist independently even though the major themes of Mac culture are contrary to NNA's business interests. Apple spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year to define Windows users as "the other" and it's impossible for NNA to embrace Mac culture the way Mac users expect without assenting to such a definition. That's why here on the board NNA employees are extremely active in rebutting disparaging remarks about the Mac and entirely hands off regarding such comments about Windows. By to some extent seeing - even if subconsciously - at least half their user base as "others," NNA has made it next to impossible to create a culture of Vectorworks which is distinguishable from the culture of Apple. And since adopting the culture of Apple in lieu of creating a true Vectorworks community is so easy, the circle continues despite its detrimental effects on potential sales growth.

By and large Windows users are always "dealing with" Vectorworks. Windows users respond to the difference between NNA's dual platform talking points and the corporate culture of Mac bias...Even if such response is subconscious. So many of NNA's employees...not just Jeffery...have more passion for selling Macs than for selling Vectorworks. And as Kool-Aid's post points out, Windows users are viewed as problems by the local distributors who represent NNA around the world. You can't hide passion and you can't manufacture it either. Notice the absence of Vectorworks evangelists using the Windows platform. In their hearts, NNA would rather have nine toes and sell a Mac, than have ten toes and sell Vectorworks to a windows user.

was to the point. However, I have not experienced a NAA prejudice against PC's. I seem to remember NAA promoting a DELL machine pre-loaded w/ VW, a year or so ago. Also, VW tech support provided some good information re choosing a PC. Based on my personal experience with NNA's technical support for the Windows platform, I would consider Jeffery's attitude and platform knowledge as typical. I know the person at NNA I spoke with prior to purchasing the black beast in 2008 pushed the "switch to Mac" agenda. And of course they weren't aware of the known and significant incompatibilities between windowsXP Professional x64 and VW2008...even though NNA was in the process of adressing them in SP3 which was released within a few weeks of my call.

I believe I read somewhere that it is no longer supported by Quicktime X.

Just a thought, but it might be easier to modify the built in standard view tools if you have Architect.

With circles, "scale (x, y)" would probably work well. Since I'm dense, I would: 1. create an array of handles 2. ForEachObject criteria (sel=True) --> populate array with the handle of the selected objects 3. deselectall 4 While LOOP select array element, scale it, deselectall. Alternatively: 1. get center of existing circle 2. draw new circle of desired size at the locaton 3. delete old circle. The downside of the alternative is that it will not preserve entity names and stacking order.

Well that makes your comments productive and helpful!