Don Chin

My drawing labels on sheet layers keep flipping, even without being touched. The drawing title will flip to below the label line, and the scale will flip to above the label line. I do tend to duplicate drawing labels instead of inserting new ones, if that contributes to the problem. Thanks, Donald

Thanks to Michael Groves at Tech Support, who told me to change the router firewall settings with the following: http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/610/Installation+and+Use+of+Vectorworks+in+Environments+with+Firewalls+and+Proxy+Servers

I am also up-to-date with the VW 2012 Service Packs. - Donald

I have been using VW 2012 on the same computer (Windows Vista) since it was released in 2011. I started getting the message that I needed to renew my license online when it expired on March 5. I have received this message in the past and have never had a problem renewing. I receive the message "An attempt to activate has failed because of communication problems." I have tried everything I can think of and have read all the tech tips: - made sure Windows Vista is updated using manual updates - graphic card driver is updated - tried renewing with the firewall disabled. I have resorted to using VW 2008 (have the same problem with VW 2011) I appreciate any help. Thank you, Donald

Thank you Tamsin. I hadn't noticed the pulldowns in the Tile and Noise dialog boxes. The Guide is a great help also. Donald

In VW 2008 in the Edit Texture dialog box, the Bump pulldown menu had many options, ie Birch Floor, Horizontal Stripe, Vertical Stripe. This made it very easy to for example create horizontal siding with a color chosen form the Color pulldown. In VW 2011 and 2012 there only 4 options (Bricks, Noise, Pavement, Tiles). Is there any way to access the Bump optons that used to be available in VW 2008? Thanks - Donald

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice. Pretty simple solutions, though it would be nice if it was one step. -Donald

I am trying to create a rendered floor plan simply by drawing a polyline around a floor plan and creating a viewport and then rendering the viewport in Open GL and the other Renderworks styles. The model has textures applied. One problem I find is that because the rendering styles put the view into Top Plan View, the door openings do not show up, as attached sketch shows. Is there an easy way to create a rendered floor plan or any way to use the section viewport to cut horizontally through a plan? Thanks - Donald

Jonathan - can you elaborate? For example, can the Velux skylites in the library be easily inserted, without having to do the cutouts? Thanks - Donald

Thanks for the suggestions - I will give the vertical mouse a try. The Wacom is probably more than I need at this point, though it looks pretty cool, and I need to save up for VW 2011! Donald

I have been going all out with VW on a project, and while I am loving Vectorworks more and more every day my hand is killing me. Years ago I used what was called a stylus pen instead of a mouse, and what today might be referred to as a digital mouse-pen. Does anyone use one that they can recommend and is compatible with Vista and would know where it can be purchased in the US? I came across the Fingersystems I-Pen but it won't work with Vista, and the Epos Pen + Mouse but can find no mention of retailers. Thanks, Donald

Hi Horst, Thanks so much! Pretty easy to use and much more than I hoped for. I really appreciate your help. Donald

I would like to indicated horizontal siding on an elevation and then apply color (from the Benjamin Moore textures that bc generously posted a while back). Jonathan Pickup hinted at this being possible in a short podcast - it has to do with converting hatch to 3D polygon. Has this been discussed already? Thanks in advance Donald PS After purchasing the Renderworks Recipe Book and #D Modelling I have used up my tutorial budget.

Now when using the Modify Convert to Polygons command, I selected polyline contours in groups of 10 or so (because in this case there are so many). Was that part of my problem? Also, when I originally traced the contours off of a scanned pdf of the survey I started with the contours that were most pertinent to the area I needed most of all to model. Thanks for all your great help and advice. Donald

I am trying to generate a site model using the 2D Polys to 3D Contours command. I have converted the contour polylines to polygons. Basically I can't the command to work. The first couple times I tried it it seemed to randomly select one of the polygons (I would like to start with the lowest contour elevation). But now the Set Elevation box appears but no polygon is highlighted and after clicking Next and telling it to save polylines nothing further happens. I have attached the file - thanks for your help in advance. Donald