I've used several other professional CAD packages over the years. All CAD packages have weaknesses. I've only been using Vectorworks now for about a month (to access plant database and better graphics) but I've quickly learnt to really dislike worksheets. They have cost me enormous amounts of time... and I still haven't find a way to achieve what I need. The user experience is like playing in Windows 3.1. What is the use of BIM thinking if you can't get the info layed out onto a sheet! With Vectorworks, if any worksheet list is longer than whatever sheet size you want to put it on, good luck! Really? Is it really expected that BIM lists should always be shorter than the sheet you are trying to put them on?
- Worksheets cannot crop over several pages, so you have to resort to time-wasting, complicated viewport creating (or export a PDF only to re-import it and fiddle with it). Copying a viewport and then re-defining its boundaries results in the copied viewport going blank. I have a plant schedule that is up to 20 pages long. Do I have to create 20 viewports? What happens if I add in one more plant and my whole viewport hack gets miss-aligned? .... I'm literally spending days on this.
- You cannot rotate a worksheet (why not?) The rotate menu option appears, but when you use it ... nothing.
- If the text is placed vertically in the worksheet, it can no longer wrap to the cell. (I spent the best part of a day trying to make a worksheet on its side to see if it would be easier to get the layout I need)
- if you rotate an image (by 90 deg) in a cell, it disappears. If you rotate it by 10 deg you can see the direction it is going in. Why offer a rotation for images if the image moves out of the cell?
Other CAD packages I have used (like Archicad) will effortlessly re-organise spreadsheeted BIM data over multiple pages, literally in several seconds, just by dragging and changing the worksheet window.
Will this be fixed? Please let me know. It is a deal breaker for me.
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Etienne_Mallee
Hi there,
I've used several other professional CAD packages over the years. All CAD packages have weaknesses. I've only been using Vectorworks now for about a month (to access plant database and better graphics) but I've quickly learnt to really dislike worksheets. They have cost me enormous amounts of time... and I still haven't find a way to achieve what I need. The user experience is like playing in Windows 3.1. What is the use of BIM thinking if you can't get the info layed out onto a sheet! With Vectorworks, if any worksheet list is longer than whatever sheet size you want to put it on, good luck! Really? Is it really expected that BIM lists should always be shorter than the sheet you are trying to put them on?
- Worksheets cannot crop over several pages, so you have to resort to time-wasting, complicated viewport creating (or export a PDF only to re-import it and fiddle with it). Copying a viewport and then re-defining its boundaries results in the copied viewport going blank. I have a plant schedule that is up to 20 pages long. Do I have to create 20 viewports? What happens if I add in one more plant and my whole viewport hack gets miss-aligned? .... I'm literally spending days on this.
- You cannot rotate a worksheet (why not?) The rotate menu option appears, but when you use it ... nothing.
- If the text is placed vertically in the worksheet, it can no longer wrap to the cell. (I spent the best part of a day trying to make a worksheet on its side to see if it would be easier to get the layout I need)
- if you rotate an image (by 90 deg) in a cell, it disappears. If you rotate it by 10 deg you can see the direction it is going in. Why offer a rotation for images if the image moves out of the cell?
Other CAD packages I have used (like Archicad) will effortlessly re-organise spreadsheeted BIM data over multiple pages, literally in several seconds, just by dragging and changing the worksheet window.
Will this be fixed? Please let me know. It is a deal breaker for me.
Etienne
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