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quote:

Originally posted by huw roberts:


don't worry, i have the same problems with an oxygen graphics card on a p3/700 mhz (w/ 512mb of ram) it's not a mac/pc problem, but a shortcoming in VW 8.5. NNA really needs to get its act together and support high(er) end graphics products.

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Hello Mr.Shaffer,

We have quite a few G4s with Radeon cards in our engineering department and so far, I haven't heard problem like yours. To help us solve this problem, would you please tell me some more information about your platform:

1) Which OS you are running? Mac OS 9.1?

2) Which version of QuickTime you have installed?

3) Which version of Apple's OpenGL driver you have in the system? You can easily find this out in the system extension folder: just select any file beginning with OpenGL and look at its information, it will tell you the version of OpenGL installed.

4) Did you do anything on the ATI driver? In other words, is it still the factory version and you didn't do update or anything to it?

Thanks for your input.

Shirley Carter

Software Engineer

shirley@nemetschek.net

quote:

Originally posted by doug shaffer:

Here's the big question now... Did VW9 indeed fix this problem permanently? If so, I feel that those who of us that will not be upgrading for a while are entitled to software level fix.

NNA, please respond.

Thanks,


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Ms. Carter -

Thanks for responding to our inquiry. I must say, however, that Nemetscheks handling of this issue has been quite frustrating. I just spoke with the Technical Support Manager who said he has discussed this problem with three people so far today. In other conversations with Technical Support staff in the past, I have been told that Nemetscheck has been overwhelmed with phone calls regarding the issue. How is it possible that the engineering department 'haven't heard of a problem like' mine? I assume that the engineering department regularly communicates with the technical support department.

About a month ago, I was told that this was indeed a problem with Vectorworks (see my posting above) and that VW9 would fix the problem. I was also told that an interim solution might be posted on the Nemetschek NA website prior to the release of VW9. The Technical Support department now tells me that this may be a problem that can be traced to changes implemented in the system software (OS9.1). I should point out that with the exception of VectorWorks, all of the applications on our machines function beautifully.

Has Nemetschek been looking into this problem? I hate to gripe, but I am having a hard time seeing how Nemetschek could possibly have been working on it up until now. Why was I (we) not asked these questions earlier? Please develop a solution to this problem as soon as possible.

Below are my responses to your questions.

Thank you.

d. s h a f f e r

a r c h i t e c t

Hello Mr.Shaffer,

We have quite a few G4s with Radeon cards in our engineering department and so far, I haven't heard problem like yours. To help us solve this problem, would you please tell me some more information about your platform:

1) Which OS you are running? Mac OS 9.1?

WE ARE USING OS9.1

2) Which version of QuickTime you have installed?

QUICKTIME VERSION 4.1.2

3) Which version of Apple's OpenGL driver you have in the system? You can easily find this out in the system extension folder: just select any file beginning with OpenGL and look at its information, it will tell you the version of OpenGL installed.

ALL OPENGL EXTENSIONS ARE VERSION 1.2.1 - EXCEPT FOR OpenGLRendererATI WHICH IS 1.2.3

4) Did you do anything on the ATI driver? In other words, is it still the factory version and you didn't do update or anything to it?

UPON ADVICE FROM NEMETSCHEK TECHNICAL SUPPORT, SOON AFTER DISCOVERING THE PROBLEM I UPDATED THE ATI DRIVER FROM THE ATI WEBSITE. THE ATI DRIVER CURRENTLY INSTALLED ON OUR MACHINES IS RADEON 1.1.1

Thanks for your input.

Shirley Carter

Software Engineer

shirley@nemetschek.net

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Opps! I forgot the message.

In any case the NVIDIA GeForce update does not work on my G4 533.! If you look at the Apple techsupport BBS a hack is listed that involves TOME viewer and editing the applescript included in the updater, not my idea of a fix. I am sure that system 10 will fix the problem. Unfortunatly my office is not upgrading to 10 until the software problems are worked out . Thats about 2 years away!

Bob Tiedemann

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I have installed VW9/RW9 in my G4/450 dual, 1G, 30G, with ATI nexus 128 and Rage 128 Pro, system 9.0.4, updated ATI Drivers.

When using my render preview button,the rendering quality is anywhere from worse to much worse than with RW8. Wierd color shifts, actual 'holes' in the renders. Final quality RW renders abort due to memory problems, even though the software is using less than 25% of its available 160M.Custom quality renders can complete, but I use the preview button to check pieces of the scene without rendering the whole bloody thing, and this is intolerable.

Is this related to the video issue I see here? I have not expereinced the missing rulers or handles thing.

It goes without saying that my other software exhibits none of these behaviors.

Any clues would be helpful. A fix would be even better-I got deadlines to hit with product.

-ajs

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I just installed the latest NIVIDA drivers in my PowerPC G4 533 workstation and I still don't have handles when drawing. Does anyone have a solution that doesn't disable part of my machine.

Turning off colors is not a fix since renderworks needs them to work.

Best to all Bob Tiedemann

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I just installed the latest NIVIDA drivers in my PowerPC G4 533 workstation and I still don't have handles when drawing. Does anyone have a solution that doesn't disable part of my machine.

Turning off colors is not a fix since renderworks needs them to work.

Best to all Bob Tiedemann

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Hello again -

NEMETSCHEK - PLEASE RESPOND.

What is the status in the search for a solution to this problem? Do you need more information from us? If so, please ask for it.

It has been more than two weeks since Nemetschek has responded to this thread (which has 41 responses - more than any other on the Tech Board)

Can we ever expect a solution to this problem, or will those of us with new Macs be forced to disable our graphics cards permanently? Please let us know what is happening.

thank you.

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d. s h a f f e r

a r c h i t e c t

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Sorry to be a pest but I got this response from my post for help on the apple support BBS and I thought I would share it with my fellow Vectorworks users. It appears that we are alone with our video problems.

"francois Chatelain GeForce 2 MX and ArchiCAD (G4 533, nVidia GeForce 2 MX, 1.12 Gb ram, Mac OS 9.1)

Same Hardware here, but different Software (ArchiCAD 6.5), and no problems at all. I thought I'd post this here just to keep the war between the different CAD packages going ;-) On a serious note, the nVidia card works smoothly with ArchiCAD."

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Same problem - 3 new 533MHz G4's, NVIDIA GeForce2 cards, OS9.1, VW8.5.1, selection handles only visible with 256 colours (or 256 grays!).

We have 55 Macs with previous hardware which don't give this problem. We are currently reviewing our company CAD strategy - whether to stay with Vectorworks or not. Obviously I need to know if it will work on current hardware - is there any point in keeping investing in this product?

Just to add a little more weight to the request for some replies from NNA in this thread.

In hopeful anticipation...

John.

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Please be assured that this matter is being looked into. There is still no further information available regarding the compatibility issues indicated in this post. We are in the process of exploring solutions for our users and will relay any information as soon as it is available.

The work around of setting colors to 256 does enable users to see selection handles, etc.

This is a top priority situation with technical support and we strive to have accurate and helpful information regarding these video card issues ASAP. The information provided by our users has been quite helpful and will speed up the process.

Thanks,

Mike S.

Technical Support Manager

Nemetschek North America

[This message has been edited by MikeS (edited 04-04-2001).]

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I have had this exact problem only on my NT machines with high end video cards using 8.0, 8.5.2 and I am about to test 9.0. We had to downgrade our videocards to a older much much slower card to get things to work. So far I have not had this problem at all on any of my iMacs (3) , G3 Powerbooks (3) or G4s with 16mb ATI Rage (a mix of 400, 450 and 500 mhz machines). We have a wide range of USB and SCSI items installed with associated drivers. I have just installed VW 9.0 on a G4 450 and although I am rather dismayed at some of the problems I am having with the software itself, no video problems yet on this machine. Once I have worked with it I will post some of the issues I have encountered.

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I should note one surprise workng with the new nvidia card. Yes there is the problem with resolution and handles. I look forward to a fix. But a longstanding bothersome problem, one that I thought was N's, is gone. A problem I and others had was that VW seemed to lose track of font sizes. 12 pt. type would become almost 12 pt. and would no longer have a check by it in the font size menu. Also, one could see differences in font sizes, depending on the zoom level, for type which was all created with the same font size setting. Never looked right on the screen. This problem is gone. I only see it on older files and they can now be corrected and will remember the correction. The only change I made was a new computer with a new video card.

Donald

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Hello again -

Like the others who have responded to this topic, I am getting pretty anxious for a solution to this problem.

Just to point out one possible conclusion regarding this issue - It seems to me that if people using different platforms (Windows or Mac OS) are running into the same troubles (see note from Windows user 5 or 6 responses above) that the culprit is not likely the operating system. Is this a correct assumption? A driver, perhaps.

There are a bunch new Macs being bought by VW users out there and none of them are going to be able to use their graphics cards. Are other PC users running into these problems? If so, please respond to this topic.

YIKES!

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d. s h a f f e r

a r c h i t e c t

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