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Navigation Palette


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A member of our user group has Fundamentals, and that package does not include the Navigation palette. Although I think the Navigation palette is a great tool, he has learned to work around not having it by using the menu bar drop downs, and menu commands. What are the advantages to having the navigation palette? He's trying to justify the cost to upgrade to Architect.

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Time!

I work with someone with Spotlight that has limited CAD skills. He mostly used the drop-downs as you described. (I'm training him, slowly)

His main issue was getting lost in files with more than one design layer. Similarly if a class if off then selecting it as current is the only way to turn it on, other than opening the "organization" dialog.

You lose many of the benfits of complex viewing switching when it takes too much effort to navigate.

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For me, the main advantage is just seeing it all at once, unlike the drop down.  I think my main brain space when using any graphic computer program is looking for something similar to the Photoshop Layers palette.  When I teach, I find that so many problems students run into for missing objects, stacking order, or things "disappearing" has to do with layer and class organization and the Navigation palette keeps it all front and center for you.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Agreed, it's main advantages have long been Speed and at-a-glance checking of visibilities. You CAN always get along without it, functionally you can go do anything it can do in a menu or dialog, but it not only allows you quicker access, it can sometimes give you bulk functionality you won't have in menus or dialog boxes.

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Honestly the first time I had to use a computer that was running Fundamentals I was quite surprised that the Navigation Palette was not available. To me, using the Navigation Palette is about as fundamental to Vectorworks as the OIP. I would strongly support the case that the Navigation Palette should be included in all versions of Vectorworks.

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  • 4 years later...

Just found this thread. I was surprised to discover that my client’s copy of Fundamentals does not include the Nav Palette. Upgrading doesn’t sound like an option for them right now, and the crippled features (mainly navigating the app) is not a real selling point for them.

 

Is there really no workaround other than using those drop down menus?

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  • 5 months later...
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Honestly the first time I had to use a computer that was running Fundamentals I was quite surprised that the Navigation Palette was not available. To me, using the Navigation Palette is about as fundamental to Vectorworks as the OIP. I would strongly support the case that the Navigation Palette should be included in all versions of Vectorworks.

I have to concur with Andy Broomell.  I first bought Vectorworks Design 2014 for work at our puppet theater.  It was great!  I used it for both set design and lighting, and even used Landmark for an outdoor children's park.  It died when Apple changed its chipset to Intel, and the company couldn't afford to repurchase at full price.  I have been using FreeCad since, but of course it doesn't have the elegance of Vectorworks.  I got a trial version of VW 2021 and it was the "Full Monty," so I asked my salesman if I could configure it so only the Fundamental features were usable.  He assured me that if I was in the Fundamentals workspace, only those features would show.  So, imagine my disappointment after purchasing Fundamentals to find the palette to be disabled.  Now every time I hit command-shift-O or go to the pulldown menus, the feeling that the software is crippled hits me.  I see no reason for such a basic feature to be turned off (and not even ghosting the option) other than a money grab.  I'm retired, and just use the software for home woodworking projects, so I have time enough to work around the limitation (and complain) as anyone using the basic software must, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

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