Service Pack 3 for Vectorworks 2019 released

[PVA - Admin]

Vectorworks, Inc. has released its second Service Pack (SP3) for the Vectorworks® 2019 product line. This Service Pack includes multiple fixes and improvements in the following areas: 

 

This service pack includes a larger than a normal number of fixes, with many of them focused on the following areas: Section Viewports, Mojave, Spaces and the Scaling of Symbols:

 

Section Viewport-specific:

• A significant increase in speed switching between sheet layers that contain Section Viewports
• Corrected a large number of redraw problems related to Section and edit views
• Section Lines, Elevation Benchmarks and other associated geometry should now appear as expected
• Improved the effectiveness of Merge Cross Sections
• Reduced the unusually high number of checkouts needed when using Data Tags in conjunction with Project Sharing and Section Viewports
• Significantly increased the reliability of Section edit and update functions

 

Mojave-specific:

• Users should no longer encounter freezes when selecting Extrude Along Path and other geometry types
• Quality of Pattern export to PDF improved on macOS 10.14
• Corrected a number of dialog box and other UI graphical issues
• Increased response speed of keyboard arrow navigation in text fields
• Fonts for Wall Data Tags can now be controlled as expected

 

Space-specific:

• Direct control over space and label component visibility has been restored
• Creating Space objects should now occur as fast or faster than in prior versions
• Volume calculations corrected
• Corrected a large number of stability issues related to Space objects
• Increased the speed of many operations related to spaces

A number of completely new features have been made available to users with 2019 SP3, details on these features can be found HERE.
 

This Service Pack is available for all licenses as a downloadable updater. To install the Service Pack, please select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). For a full list of fixes and improvements in the 2019 SP3 updater, please visit THIS PAGE.

 

Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process.

 

Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions.

[PVA - Admin]

Below is a summary of issues corrected and changes made between Vectorworks 2019 SP2 and Vectorworks 2019 SP3. A full list of all fixed issues listed with their bug IDs can be found HERE.

 

General:

Scaling of Symbols including multiple types of geometry should now work as expected. This was not a single bug but a number of related issues and requests

Dragging a number of resources from one location in the Resource Manager to another should now affect all selected resources as expected

 

Rendering:

Corrected an issue that would cause Grouped objects to Render tab to become locked

Fixed a number of problems related to the display of Roof Face textures

OpenGL scaling of Wall textures should now match the expected appearance as Renderworks does

A large number of causes for black viewports and missing geometry have been removed or corrected

Publish should now update rendered viewports on command

Corrected a number of issues that would prevent animation transitions between saved views from playing properly

 

Project Sharing:

Corrected a number of issues that would cause a Project Sharing to commit to taking longer than it should

Corrected an instability related to text style conflicts

Speed improvements in certain slower use cases

Corrected a problem that would prevent the placing of certain object types in Offline files

Fixed an issue related to symbol replacement in VWP files

 

Spotlight and Vision:

Fixed an issue where the Instrument Summary could become inconsistent

Flipped Symbol Edit Mode should now display instruments properly

Corrected a number of instabilities related to Hanging Positions

Load objects can now be attached as expected in 3D views

Auto numbering should now increment as expected

 

Landmark:

Improved the responsiveness of Site Model Sculpting highlighting

Replacing a Hardscape should now offer the default Hardscape Content as well as content from within that file

 

Architect:

Stairs should no longer position loci erroneously

Some stair dialogs will now show an indicator for values that can not be calculated

Walls that did not convert properly from 2018 and prior versions into 2019 should now do so

Data Tags should no longer rotate along with the rotated plan

Corrected a number of issues related to custom IFC presets

[Kevin McAllister]

1 hour ago, Jim Wilson said:

Scaling of Symbols including multiple types of geometry should now work as expected. This was not a single bug but a number of related issues and requests

 

I'm super excited this longstanding bug seems to be solved. So far in testing NURBS surfaces scale and render correctly.

 

Kevin

[PVA - Admin]

Just now, Kevin McAllister said:

I'm super excited this longstanding bug seems to be solved. So far in testing NURBS surfaces scale and render correctly.

 

Like 6 things you and I have discussed repeatedly about geometry scaling within containers should now work as we expect. If you find any new hangups, we can start new threads on them to keep things clean and focused.

[FBernardo]

Hi Jim Wilson,

 

I would like to enquire if there is an OFFLINE file link to use with the updater, as my office internet connection is not really good and updating 4 machines can be quite a heavy duty.

[Gaspar Potocnik]

9 minutes ago, FBernardo said:

Hi Jim Wilson,

 

I would like to enquire if there is an OFFLINE file link to use with the updater, as my office internet connection is not really good and updating 4 machines can be quite a heavy duty.

 

+1

[PVA - Admin]

18 minutes ago, FBernardo said:

Hi Jim Wilson,

 

I would like to enquire if there is an OFFLINE file link to use with the updater, as my office internet connection is not really good and updating 4 machines can be quite a heavy duty.

 

9 minutes ago, Gaspar Potocnik said:

 

+1

 

There is, I believe that tech@vectorworks.net is the best contact to get yours. They customize them based on what modules/products you use.

[FBernardo]

5 minutes ago, Jim Wilson said:

There is, I believe that tech@vectorworks.net is the best contact to get yours. They customize them based on what modules/products you use.

 

Thanks i've sent the email to them!

[mjm]

2 hours ago, Jim Wilson said:

A number of completely new features have been made available to users with 2019 SP3, details on these features can be found HERE.

Hello Jim Wilson: Where's "HERE" when it's at home? I'd love to take a gander at that list.

 

[PVA - Admin]

6 minutes ago, mjm said:

Hello Jim Wilson: Where's "HERE" when it's at home? I'd love to take a gander at that list.

 

Woops, fixed, thank you! It can be found HERE now for real.
 

If anyone has any questions involving the fixes or new features, feel free to ask them here, I am now free to discuss all details.

[mjm]

Just now, Jim Wilson said:

Woops, fixed, thank you! It can be found HERE now for real.

Thanks man

[PVA - Admin]

Videos on the new features can be found below:
 

 

 

 

[Andy Broomell]

Looking forward to playing around with the new linked Panoramas! I saw Luis' link to this panorama, and I must say this is a huge upgrade to the panorama interface in general. The video shows that you can incorporate other media too which is a great idea. Are there any example presentations that include other media?

 

Also happy to see this listed in the fixes, as it's has been happening intermittently for years:

VB-112574 Clip Cube is Unexpectedly Enabled When File is Opened

 

The biggest thing though is fixing the bug where Section Viewports showed the geometry of classes that were invisible in the viewport. I've had to continue drafting in 2018 because this bug made 2019 unusable in my workflow.

[PVA - Admin]

If this ends up being more of a broadly applicable thing, I'll create a dedicated post, but for now:

Anyone using Vectorworks 2019 that had to drop the Tools > Options > Vectorworks Preferences > Display > Navigation Graphics to Best Compatibility or to Best Performance and Compatibility in 2019 Sp0, Sp1 or Sp2 should retry using Vectorworks in Best Performance mode. This is the mode that uses the latest technologies in the VGM and a large number of problems that caused users to have to drop this setting in 2019 have been corrected which could make things much smoother on superior hardware, but only if this setting is reapplied.

[Kevin McAllister]

1 hour ago, Jim Wilson said:

If this ends up being more of a broadly applicable thing, I'll create a dedicated post, but for now:

Anyone using Vectorworks 2019 that had to drop the Tools > Options > Vectorworks Preferences > Display > Navigation Graphics to Best Compatibility or to Best Performance and Compatibility in 2019 Sp0, Sp1 or Sp2 should retry using Vectorworks in Best Performance mode. This is the mode that uses the latest technologies in the VGM and a large number of problems that caused users to have to drop this setting in 2019 have been corrected which could make things much smoother on superior hardware, but only if this setting is reapplied.

 

^ I wondered about that when I was told to lower my setting on an iMac Pro.....

 

Kevin

 

[donlb55]

Sadly, Section Viewports still do not render properly (in particular, staggered Cut Lines) and Section VPs cut prior to SP3 are still broken. VW folks have had four (4) chances to get this right (VW2019 and three Service Packs) and it's still not been completely addressed. For me, this has made VW 2019 unusable. As user since MiniCAD 4+ this is terribly disappointing. I've been in regular contact with Service Select support and while they are aware of the problems Engineering doesn't seem to be able to translate user needs to a reliable product. So, I am forced to stick with VW2018 to ensure that files are not corrupted (even though I have paid for updates thru Service Select). Maybe SP4 can just revert the application back to VW2018; for me, there are NO new features that warrant an unusable piece of software. I've suggested that VW internal mandates have derailed their ability to properly serve their existing user base.

Edited March 25, 2019 by donlb55
typo

[Mark Aceto]

On 3/20/2019 at 12:03 PM, Kevin McAllister said:

^ I wondered about that when I was told to lower my setting on an iMac Pro.....

 

Same here. Was instructed to do this a number of times, and assumed it was like "Safe Boot" troubleshooting step because I always restored Best Performance following the tech support call. At least now I know for sure... 

[BG]

On 3/23/2019 at 10:25 AM, donlb55 said:

Sadly, Section Viewports still do not render properly (in particular, staggered Cut Lines) and Section VPs cut prior to SP3 are still broken. VW folks have had four (4) chances to get this right (VW2019 and three Service Packs) and it's still not been completely addressed. For me, this has made VW 2019 unusable. As user since MiniCAD 4+ this is terribly disappointing. I've been in regular contact with Service Select support and while they are aware of the problems Engineering doesn't seem to be able to translate user needs to a reliable product. So, I am forced to stick with VW2018 to ensure that files are not corrupted (even though I have paid for updates thru Service Select). Maybe SP4 can just revert the application back to VW2018; for me, there are NO new features that warrant and unusable piece of software. I've suggested that VW internal mandates have derailed their ability to properly serve their existing user base.

Hi Mark

Can you elaborate on what the issues are with the section viewports? We were thinking of upgrading to 2019, but might not now as we use section viewports a lot.

Thanks

[PVA - Admin]

On 3/23/2019 at 1:21 AM, Mark Aceto said:

 

Same here. Was instructed to do this a number of times, and assumed it was like "Safe Boot" troubleshooting step because I always restored Best Performance following the tech support call. At least now I know for sure... 

 

15 hours ago, BG said:

Hi Mark

Can you elaborate on what the issues are with the section viewports? We were thinking of upgrading to 2019, but might not now as we use section viewports a lot.

Thanks

From the case notes, it looks like the remaining issues are: 

1) Sections with staggered section lines are still not rendering properly, only a few cases of this were fixed in SP3, some still remain

 

2) Sections created BEFORE 2019 SP3 that rendered incorrectly but had their issues fixed in SP3 must be recreated before they will resume working as expected. New sections made after SP3 should work find (as long as they aren't affected by item 1) A fix is being developed to avoid this but I have no dates yet.

[Mark Aceto]

For clarification, Tech Support asking me to set Navigation Graphics to Best Compatibility was not a troubleshooting step related to section viewports. Rather, it was myriad other issues.

[NHJ]

Jim,

 

At this point with Service Pack 3 for 2019. Would you or would you not recommend upgrading to Mojave yet?

 

Curious as to your stance at the moment.

 

 

[PVA - Admin]

2 minutes ago, Our Spaces said:

Jim,

 

At this point with Service Pack 3 for 2019. Would you or would you not recommend upgrading to Mojave yet?

 

Curious as to your stance at the moment.

 

 

I now have myself as well, I no longer experience any problems related to it. It should be perfectly safe to update your OS now. Worst case, you may want to reset Vectorworks preferences after updating but thats just a standard OS-update step, not really specific to Mojave.

[NHJ]

@Jim Wilson Thanks. Much appreciated. I am gonna wrap some things today and take the leap this evening.

[willofmaine]

On 3/25/2019 at 9:46 AM, Jim Wilson said:

 

From the case notes, it looks like the remaining issues are: 

1) Sections with staggered section lines are still not rendering properly, only a few cases of this were fixed in SP3, some still remain

 

2) Sections created BEFORE 2019 SP3 that rendered incorrectly but had their issues fixed in SP3 must be recreated before they will resume working as expected. New sections made after SP3 should work find (as long as they aren't affected by item 1) A fix is being developed to avoid this but I have no dates yet.

 

By "recreated" do you mean simply updating the viewport, or, literally starting from scratch with a new section line, new crop, etc.?  Other than staggered sections, so far (a couple of days into 2019), I haven't seen any rendering issues with section viewports created in VW 2018. 

 

@donlb55 & @BG A workaround that seems to work is to just have an additional viewport for each plane of the staggered section, with crops that start and stop at each jog in the section line.  Less and less ideal the more staggered sections you have, of course, but, at least for me, so far, it's been worth the escape from VW 2018.

[BG]

In 2018, we have to live with the issue where items often do not update on screen after being moved etc until the screen is refreshed in some way.  Has this issue been resolved in 2019 SP3?