Vectorworks Plant Database on Your iPad

The Vectorworks plant database is made with with a program called Filemaker. Filemaker is a database program, so it is ideal for making the Vectorworks plant database. On your computer, you can search for plants, tag plants for a project, add your own plant images and add your own comments on each plant. This is great when you are in your office, but what are you supposed to when you leave the office to go on site? If you have a laptop, you could carry it with you, it's just that it is not that easy to hold a laptop in one hand a type on it with the other.

An iPad, now if only you could carry the plant database on your iPad....

Filemaker has released a version of their software that works on an iPad called Filemaker Go. You can read more about this here. This software allows you copy your plant database onto your iPad. When you buy Filemaker, you use iTunes to add it to your iPad. After that, you can tell iTunes to copy files to your iPad to carry with you. When you do this, you take a copy of the file, and any changes you make on the iPad are not automatically copied back to your computer. So, you can't really carry your original plant database but you can carry a copy. This means that any changes you make to the plant database are NOT copied to your original, but you can copy the copy the plant database from your iPad back to your computer (overwriting the original).




On the iPad, you start Filemaker Go. Then you choose the database that you want to open. You might notice that I have copied the USR portion of the plant database. This is the part that has all the plants in it.




When you open the plant database, you have all the records, you can edit them search and so on. Now you can take your plant database with you in the field.

Creating a Gable roof with Vectorworks 2010

This is the starting shape for the roof, the plan of the walls. We want a roof with two roof planes, and a gable to the left and right.

This post has been moved here...

Creating a Dutch Gable, or Truncated Hip?

I have been on a Vectorworks chat list lately, and the users were asking about making a Dutch Gable.

Vectorworks will make one easily if you start with a standard Vectorworks roof and edit the roof plane.

This post has been moved to here...

Books are cast in stone, ebooks are wet clay

I have been listening to This Week in Google with Leo Laporte, Gina Trapani and Jeff Jarvis. Jeff Jarvis was talking about books in the old days of scribes and moveable type. He said that errors used to occur and so errata became a common way for correcting mistakes.

It seems to me that books and manuals like the ones I write, are not designed to be updated each month. Once the books have been proof read and sent to the printer, they will not be updated.

At the moment, I am updating my four major tutorial manuals so they will be ready for the next update to Vectorworks. Once completed, they will not be updated for another year. In this way these manuals are cast in stone (not easy to update).

Ebooks can be updated easily, and downloaded when you want them. If I make an error in an ebook, I can correct it and make it available to everyone. In this way an ebook is not cast in stone, it is wet clay (easily editable).


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New Kindle Announced

Amazon has announced a new kindle device. This is a development of the 2nd generation Kindle device, which WILL be available in NZ, with WIFI only.

They have improved the screen, memory size, speed, button location and they added WIFI. I think these are great improvements, especially the WIFI. (this image is from the amazon web site). The overall size is slightly smaller, making it even easier to carry around.

Now that there are several Vectorworks manuals available for the Kindle, you have a good reason to buy one.

Vectorworks Manuals Available online at UK Amazon store

I have just found out that you can now get Kindle books on Vectorworks at the amazon store in the UK.

If you go to http://www.amazon.co.uk and search for Vectorworks in the Kindle store you will find several kindle books.










Kindle books can be read on your Mac, PC, Kindle, iPad, iPhone and Android phone. One of the things I love abut kindle books it that you can read the same book on all these different devices, but you only have to buy the book once.

spam bastards using yousendit...

I always get spam emails and sometimes the bastards use my domain name to spam others. Today a got a new spam that I nearly opened. The subject line used yousentit.com to make it look like a genuine message for me.

When I checked the email, it was not to my correct address, so I was cautious, and I deleted it. 

Creating A Renderworks Background Makes Such a difference

I'm writing the manual for my online user group, I write a different manual for them every month. This month I writing about Rendering and Lighting.

I was showing the local Vectorworks salesman the difference a Renderworks background can make, and he was so surprised, I thought I could share it with you. When you create a rendered view without a background, you end up with a distracting white background.

Use the Resource Browser to create a Renderworks background.

One of my favorite Renderworks backgrounds is the two color.

I use a very dark blue for the first color, the top color. And I use a red or orange for the second or bottom color. This can make the background look like a sunset.

Assign the background by dragging the background from the Resource Browser to the rendered scene. 

When you render the scene, the results are much better, and I think this is a huge improvement. 

Now, all you have to do is add a few image props of people and trees, add some street furniture and the results are really great. The bus stops in this image is from the 3D Modeling in Vectorworks 2010 manual from the Vectorworks web site. The textures and image props I covered in my user group notes a couple of months ago, which will be available on line shortly, and this month, my user group is covering lighting and rendering. You can join here....

eBooks on the iPad - with movies

It has taken me a little while, lots of research and help from my friend Steve Scaysbrook at Konstrukshon.com to find the answer, but I have done it! I have found out how to embed movies into eBooks!

I think this is a fantastic break-through. You can now buy Vectorworks training manuals in eBook form, with movies in them. you can carry them around on your iPad, and watch the movies when ever you want. The great thing about the eBooks on the iPad, is that it is like having a book next to you. Instead of changing applications on your computer, you can keep the eBook open on your iPad and then look at the computer screen, back to the iPad, back to the computer screen and so on.

The manuals have a table of contents page that shows the cover and table of contents. The chapter headings are links to the chapters in the manual. So if you tap on a chapter, you are taken to the correct location.

When you get to the chapter you want, you might see a movie. Movies are shown in the body of the manual and they look like an image, except that the movies have a play button in the center.

When you tap on the play button, the movie starts. You can pause, fast forward or go back over the movie. With movies they don't call this fast forward anymore, the call it scrubbing.

If you pinch the movie to zoom, the movie becomes full screen, especially when you have the iPad in landscape mode.

In full screen mode ii is easier to scrub the movie forward and back, pause and play the movie, and even change the volume.

When the movie finishes, you are taken directly back to the eBook, so you can carry on reading.

I have not had success getting my eBooks on the Apple iBookstore, but there is a way around this. iTunes allows you to add eBooks to your iTunes library by dragging and dropping a downloaded eBook to the library.

Once it is in the library, tell your iPhone or iPad to sync all books. Every time you add a book to your library, it will be added to your device on the next sync.

The eBooks are very handy to carry with you. The manuals are stored in the iBooks application. Just tap on a book to open it.

You can buy my eBooks here... 

Short Sharp Training (Monthly) - August 2010 Lighting and Rendering in Vectorworks

I think rendering is one the really fun parts of Vectorworks. It can really look like your building is coming to life, but without good lighting, all your work can be wasted. Good lighting can even make a dull model come to life.

This webinar will work though the rendering options and show you when each one should be used. Then we will look at the lighting options and see when we should be using each type. Finally we will look at a couple models and look at applying the lighting and rendering to get the best results. 

Presentation 60 minutes. Q&A about 15 min.

If you are a subscriber, book your session from the links below, no cost for these webinars for subscribers. 

Session 1  Monday, August 16, 2010, Time: 4:30PM - 5:30 PM NZST Register : https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/410936562

Session 2  Wednesday, August 18 , 2010, Time: 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM NZST Register https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/226187370

Session 3  Friday, August 20, 2010, Time: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM NZST  Register : https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/698639667

Newsletter from Chris Brogan

There are a few business people that I listen to. Chris Brogan is one of then. I like his books, blogs and newsletters. He has started a new newsletter focusing on personal development:

Personal development. Small business development.
Sometimes it'll be marketing. Other times, it'll be ideas to improve your day. It'll be a mix.
If that's exciting to you, I'm inviting you to sign up to my new newsletter:
http://chrisbrogan.com/newsletters


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Viewing PDF files on iPad

I am getting closer to getting movies into my ebooks. I have successfully linked the movies in my monthly user group manuals.

To get the PDF files onto you iPad or iPhone, you use iTunes. Drag the PDF file to iTunes, and it will be added to your iTunes library. When you sync your iPhone or iPad, the pdf file will be uploaded.

This post has been moved here...

3D Modeling in Vectorworks Builds trust with your Clients

I'm a huge fan of working in 3D (modeling) in Vectorworks, and I think it is one of the fun areas. But is there more to it than just having fun?

I think there are so many reasons to model your projects, that there really is no other way. Some of my clients think of plan drawing first, and then modeling, if they have time. This is so wrong. I believe they should be thinking of creating a quick model for the conceptual model, and the developed design, and then think of plan drawing (2D) for the construction drawings.

I wrote a blog recently on Conceptual Design and ran a webinar, which I recorded. The aim of the webinar was to show why it is better you create a model of your concept. It is really quick. If you watch the webinar movie, you will see that in twenty minutes I have enough information to check my concept against the set-back or recession planes, check the proximity to neighbors and create a solar study. These things are not just for fun, they help you to make a choices. You can look at these constraints and make your choices about your concept, in a very small amount of time.

How does this build trust? Well, if you were following the client's brief, but it was clearly wrong, you could use the concept model to show them why you needed to make some changes. You could show them how much better your concept would be, and you could show them with models and movies. You can take them along with you.

As the project moves into the early design phase, you should still be showing the client the model. Some of my clients create detailed models for buildings.

My clients have found that when they create rendered views of building and landscape projects, their clients respond much better to their proposals.

One of my landscape clients found that creating rendered views of projects had a huge impact on their business. Before providing rendered views, about 40% of clients would be converted from concept drawings to on-site construction. After providing rendered views, they found that 90% of clients would be converted form concepts to on-site construction. That is a 2.5x increase in on-site work, with the same number of clients.

This image is from the office of Albert van Vliet Architectural (albert@watchdog.net.nz). The building is modeled in Vectorworks 2009 and rendered in Artlantis.  Albert states that when you work on a project it is essential to bring the clients along with you. The clients are often spending substantial sums of money on a building, thus they really want to know what they will be getting.

The images supplied to the clients help  Albert van Vliet Architectural to develop trust with the clients.  The clients no longer have to image what they are getting, they can see what they are getting.  Albert reports that from a business point of view, there is no better way than modeling the buildings in 3D.

I have spoken to several clients about this topic. So far, all of them support this concept. I was chatting to a client last night and he could not believe that there was any other way to work. Using Vectorworks in 3D at the very beginning of the project may be a change in your business model, but there are many people that are already doing this. If they are in your market, they are getting better results, they are getting paid more promptly, and they are creating more trust with there clients.  Can you afford not to?

If you want help moving your business to 3D, contacct me, I've helped 100's of clients.

Short Sharp Training (Monthly) - July 2010 Creating a Plumbing Schematic in Vectorworks - Feedback

The feedback this month was very pleasing. I've had a few people just send me thank-you's for the training this month. The funny thing was, I was concerned that I had covered enough information to keep every one occupied for the hour online. As it turned out, we used any extra time with other questions and answers.

In one meeting, the people online wanted to discuss creating a Vectorworks library, and we ended up talking about adding extra tools to your Vectorworks, and where to find the tools in Vectordepot.com. Some of the tools are mine, and freely available at vectordepot. One of the online users, Steve, made a list of useful things he learned at the meeting, and he has allowed me to post a copy of his list. Steve got 6 useful tips from the session, which he says more than pays for the cost and the time spent.

Two other users just emailed me out of the blue to say thanks, what a great session...

Join these users each month and learn to use Vectorworks better. 

Archoncad search page for Vectorworks resources

Archoncad search page
I have been creating a lot of blogs, YouTube movies, user group notes and movies of the last six years. This has given me a Challenge keeping track of all the resources. At the start it was easy, but now, there are over a hundred movies on YouTube, thousands of posts, over 60 Short Sharp Training manuals, and over a thousand movies.

I was having trouble remembering what I had covered, and my user group subscribers were having trouble finding their way around all the resources. I started with a filemaker database for myself, and thought about giving it away. Then, I thought it would be better to make it web based. Everyone can get to it and I can update it when ever I want. The result is my new search page

learn.archoncad.com

off the grid timber frame building created in Vectorworks

I always love looking at these images of heavy timber construction from webnash. The webnash founder, Michael Erkkinen, has been designing and building houses in Vectorworks, using the modeling tools to create his frames, ever since he got my 3D Modeling book from NNA.

This is the rendered view from Vectorworks. (from the webnash web site)

So, every time Michael posts a blog about one is his buildings, I like to read about it and see what he is up to. I was interested in this view, you can see the rendered model stuck on the wall so everyone knows what the building should look like (image from the webnash web site).

I especially like to read about Michael's building technology. He is interested in buildings that have a long life, that look after the occupants, and buildings that can generate their own energy.

Well done Michael, keep up the good work.

You can read the blog, and see all the other photos at the webnash web site...

Vectorworks ebooks on the iPad

I have been experimenting with ebooks for some time. I have tried ebooks on the Kindle device, iPhone and iPad.

The iPhone screen is just too small for me. The screen size is acceptable for reading a novel, but it is just too small for reading a tutorial manual that has screen shots in it. Sure, you can make the images bigger by pinching, but then you can't see the words. 

The Kindle device is limited by the screen size and display. It has a greyscale display that makes it hard to see screen shots clearly. I can kind-of make them out, but they lack real clarity. The screen size is much better than the iphone, but it is not as good as the iPad. PDF's on the kindle are hard to read, mainly because of the greyscale screen and the lack of a touch screen for zooming. 

There is a kindle book reader for the iphone, iPad, Blackberry, PC and Mac. This means that any kindle books you buy, can be read on several devices. So, while the kindle device is limited, any books you buy for the kindle will be useful an many devices. 


The iPad... there is so much to say about the iPad. The iPad has a decent sized screen. You can read Kindle books, ibooks, PDF's and so on. The touch screen is very easy to use, and before you know it you expect all computers to work with such ease. 

Ebooks on the iPad look great. When you open then in landscape mode, you get two pages next to each other. If the books are formatted correctly, you can get the cover and table of contents next to each other. 

When you get into the book, you get two pages next to each other. The text is clear, the images are clear. If you drag your finger along the bottom, you can see the chapter and page numbers. When you release your finger, the book jumps to that page. 


You can't make the images bigger, which I think is a shame.  


Unless you write your own books, you have to buy books from the Apple iBookstore. At present, there are no Vectorworks books available on the iBookstore. I have tried, but they are not showing up. You can buy Vectorworks manuals at www.lulu.com. 


PDF's in ibook look very good, and these you can zoom. This is an image from one of my monthly manuals, the June 2010 edition. The text is clear and very readable. If you want, you can zoom the PDF to make it easier to read. 


If you copy the PDF files to your iTunes library, they will be copied to iBooks. You could add all the monthly manuals to your iTunes library so you can read the manuals away from your computer. 

The manuals tend to be small enough to copy quickly, and not take up too much of your valuable storage space. They display the text and graphics clearly. And if you need to, you can zoom the page to make it bigger. 

You can see thumbnails of all the pages as well. This makes it easy to jump to different parts of the manual. When you tap on one of the thumbnails, iBook will jump to that page. 

Kindle On The iPad
As I said earlier, the great thing about buying a Kindle book is that any books you buy can be read on many devices. The iPad is just one device. 

The Kindle bookstore has so many books, and you can get Vectorworks manuals there too. 

The Vectorworks manuals look great on the big screen of the iPad. The images are in color, you can see a whole page, and you can pinch the images to make them bigger.

If you make the iPad landscape, you do not get two pages, you still get the one page, but it is wider. 

Book Shelf for Vectorworks

I have been really fortunate to have a review copy of book shelf from VectorDepot. This is now in my Vectorworks and I use it all the time.

Bookshelf is a plugin for Vectorworks. You have to add it to your plug-ins folder, and then add it to your workspace. This takes about 30 seconds to complete, and is very straightforward.

When I first got book shelf, I was impressed, but it hadn't dawned on me just how useful it can be. You see Bookshelf stores files and web site locations for you. Not just Vectorworks files either. I found that I can store PDF files, Vectorworks files, photoshops files and more. when you open these files with Bookshelf, your computer will open the file with the correct application. So, my PDF flies open with Acrobat Reader, the image files open with photoshop and so on.

For example, if you are designing a brick house, you could set up a library that had your typical brick details file, links to web sites that had brick cladding details, links to web sites that had brick textures, and you could include the pdf files for the structural codes for a brick building.

When you work on a brick project, you would have quick access to all the codes, textures, websites, details and so on that you need. this is a real time saver for me. I have so much stuff on my computer, I can never remember where I've put everything.

Bookshelf has been a real time saver, and I'm not going to use Vectorworks with out it. I highly recommend bookshelf, go buy it.

Short Sharp Training (Monthly) - July 2010 Creating a Plumbing Schematic in Vectorworks

Creating a Model of  Plumbing Schematic

More of my clients are being asked for a 3D presentation of a plumbing schematic. If you create the building as a model, with the correct symbols, layers and classes, this can be straightforward to create. We will need to look at how to make your symbols work for you, how to structure your layers and classes, how to create the pipework and and how to set up a drawing to show the schematic.


Book now for the online sessions in July 2010.

Session 1  Monday, July 12, 2010, Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM NZST Register : https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/368404714

Session 2  Wednesday, July 14, 2010, Time: 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM NZST Register https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/436411666

Session 3  Friday, July 16, 2010, Time: 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM NZST  Register : https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/469219778

Presentation 60 minutes. Q&A about 15 min.
Cost : You have to be a subscriber to join this webinar.

Retrieving a Corrupt File and Backing Up

I've just had an email from a client, they have trouble with a corrupt file and their backup system is not working. I feel for my client, it is never nice being in that situation.

I have written a manual that would really help, (Saving a Corrupt File) which i have now sent. But, if my client had read this manual earlier, they would have had all the backups they need, and they wouldn't need to retrieve the lost file.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Novedge online Webinar Series 004 - Quick Concept Design in Vectorworks

Today we had our last online webinar in the Novedge Webinar series, covering How to Create a Quick Concept Design.

Vectorworks has several, very cool, techniques that can be used together to create a very fast concept design. If you can create a quick conceptual design, you can improve the quality of your work though 3D visualization, solar studies and checking your concept against site restrictions.

Although the title is residential concept design, you can use these techniques for larger projects as well.

Video of webinar:

Quick Concept Design in Vectorworks from Jonathan Pickup on Vimeo.

If you have trouble setting up layers, this webinar is for you.

If you want to learn how to setup layers for a building, stage design, or event planning project, this webinar is for you. If you learn how to set up your layers correctly, you can speed up the creation of your concept models and complex building projects.

Register here...

We will learn:
what are layers;
what is layer Z, and delta Z;
using the Model Set up command;
creating your on layers quickly;
Stacked Layers/Unified view.


Suitable for beginners and everyone that wants to set up layers effectively.

Presentation 30 minutes. Q&A about 15 min.
Cost : $35US

As well as the presentation, you will receive an electronic manual that covers this webinar. If you are a subscriber to Short Sharp Training (monthly), we covered this topic in February 2010.
Monday 5th July 2010, 2:00pm
Time zone is shown in Pacific Daylight Time (California), Please check your time zone.

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julian Smith, How This Relates to Vectorworks

I have been reading this book recommended by Steve Scaysbrook at the Konstrukshon web site. http://blog.konstrukshon.com/?p=3402

This is a great book and I'm enjoying it a lot. I'm at a part where the are talking about three main parts to the way kids learn games. I have been thinking about how these parts relate to learning vectorworks and I have added my comments in the brackets.

1. Playing (learning the rules)
2. Cheating (learning from others)
3. Programing (customizing)

Playing (learning the rules)
This is when you first start to learn Vectorworks. Ideally, you should start with the Essential Tutorial manual, but you can start with the Vectorworks Getting Started guides.
You need to learn the rules when playing with Vectorworks, and the easiest way to do this is with a well structured and easy to use manual. My manuals are designed to be easy to use, and they are well structured to teach the rules for using Vectorworks.

Cheating (learning from others)
Once you have learned the rules, you can start to learn from others. This is where you should be attending the user groups, watching youtube movies and joining community boards like www.vectorworking.com, or www.vector works.net. If you were playing computer games, you would be reading FAQ web sites. The community boards, movies and blogs serve the same purpose, to give you the inside information.

Programing (customizing)
Vectorworks has it's own built-in programming language, and a customizable interface. This allows you to change the look of Vectorworks and create your own tools. You can make Vectorworks do pretty much what ever you want.

Location:Mason St,San Francisco,United States

Vectorworks for Modeling

Nearly everywhere I've been, they has been a discussion about 3D modeling vs 2D drawing. Even when I went out for dinner last night with Novedge, we discussed it. There are many Vectorworks users that think of 2D drawing first, and 3D modeling as some kind of luxury that you do after the real work is done.

I think that as you resolve the conceptual plan of your project, you should be looking at a simple model of the concept. Vectorworks has so many tools you can use for this, and it is so quick.

I had a project once where the concept plan was resolved, but not the form of the building. I had a sketch to work with, but a 5 minute model made from simple extrusions showed some problems with the sketch. The architect and I then spent 30 minutes resolving the concept in 3D, and the result was a better building.

This, to me, is the great thing about 3D. it can be fast it can help sort out early problems with the concept and it doesn't take a lot of effort. Everyone should be modeling first, then creating drawings.

Next week I have a webinar on improving your conceptual designs by using 3D models, site models ane the advantages you get from this. You can register here.

Central California User group

24th June 2010, Fresno, California

Thanks again to my sponsor www.novedge.com (vectorworks resellers) and www.vectorworking.com (the vectorworks online community) for making these visits possible. 

Due to the airlines, I as really late to the user group meeting, but that's another story. We had a great evening looking again at 3D. Not 3D for working drawings, but using 3D at the really early stages. 


I think that at a very early stage, you can use simple extrusions to create a block model of the project so you can test your ideas. Sure, I know a lot of people start the concept in plan, I'm saying you shouldn't do that, but as well as, you could look at some rough 3D forms. I had a project once where the quick 3D model helped the Architect and I to resolve some really tricky junctions. The 3D model only took 5 minutes to show the problems, and having found them, the architect and I spent about 30 minutes sorting out the problems and resolving the concept in 3D. This was a powerful lesson to me, because I was told not to make a 3D model, but having made one, the architect was very happy to use it to improve the quality of the concept model. 


The favorite manual I showed tonight was the 3D Modeling manual form NNA, the one I wrote. There is some great stuff in there, one of the new chapters is the one on working planes, which we discussed. When you want to draw 3D models quickly and effectively, working planes make it easy. 

Philadelphia User Group Meeting

22nd June 2010

Thanks again to my sponsor www.novedge.com (vectorworks resellers) and www.vectorworking.com (the vectorworks online community) for making these visits possible. 

I travelled into Philadelphia early on the train with my aunt so I could see a little of this historic city.  Philadelphia is the city were the Declaration of Independance was written and signed, starting the war, and ultimately seperating USA from England. 

The Philadelphia User Group meets at the AIA, which is very nice. Air conditioned an nicely designed.

Again, the topics that most people seem to want to know about are:

When to use 3D modeling

How to use simple 3D modeling

How to have fun with NURBS. 

It seems to me, that there is a challange here. How to get users to see that creating objects is not a luxury that you do after you have done the real work in 2D. 3D can really help at the concept stage, and at the modelling stage to get the plans, rough sections and elevations from the project.

We had a great time ( so they told me) and then my aunt and had to rush to catch the train home.     

Jonathan Pickup, Live from Asbury Park

21st June 2010
Tonight, I went over to New Jersey to attend the New Jersey Vectorworks User Group. They were very kind to invite me over and they provided pizza and sandwiches for the group, about 14 were there.

Some of the users were in my online user group, some had my manuals, but everyone was pleased to see me.

We had several questions about NURBS, which I love showing. I hope everyone learned something about how easy they are to use, and when to use them. In order to cover the NURBS, I also covered working planes.

After a short break, we went back to covering basic concepts: planar objects, extrusion, duplicate along a path, and layers and classes.

I would like to thank everyone that attended, thanks for giving up your time to listen to me. Thank you to www.novedge.com and www.vectorworking.com
Novedge are a major online vectorworks reseller, and vectorworking are a great community site.

Where in the World is Jonathan Pickup

Saturday 12th June 2010, 1850 hrs.

I've just to to Auckland airport, and I'm waiting to board my Air New Zealand Flight NZ8 to San Francisco. I made the mistake of not giving my wife the car keys when I got on my flight to Auckland. Luckily, my son was able to bring a spare set for her.

Have gone through all the security checks, now just waiting to board. At the airport the signs tell you that final call for boarding has been made, which made all us late people run to the gate for boarding. We ran past all the shops, past all the duty free. It turns out that the Final Call trick is to get you to the gate, because there is so much security to go through. So, I had a long wait...

Monday 14th June
Have settled in. I'm staying with relatives in Pennsylvania and from here I will be able to visit several user groups in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The weather here is very hot, and when it rains, I've never seen it rain so heavily.
I have had trouble getting my computer online. I brought with me a mobile 3D modem, that will not work here at all. Right now I have hooked up directly to the household modem. Fast, but I can use this permanently. I will have to unplug at some stage.

I'm really tempted to solve my problem with an iPad. wifi, 3G, skype when I want. and my manuals are available on the Kindle app. I have not seen them myself, but I have seen an ipad with my manuals on them, they look great.

Tuesday 15th, Easton PA
Don Marquardt, from the Eastern PA user group gave me a lift up to Easton PA for the user group meeting (a long drive, so thanks Don). We had a great time talking about Why Use 3D. I'm a real fan of modeling projects. There are so many advantages, and so many things you can do with a model to improve the quality of your work. I reckon that in a short time (maybe a couple of hours) you can create your site model, building restrictions, space objects and then you can check for compliance, excavations and site fills, solar studies and so on. It’s great to see these things in a rendered view, and it is a powerful technique. See my blog on Productivity is not Just About Speed.

Wednesday 16th June, Columbia MD
I was due to be in Columbia and the Nemetschek North America for a webinar. However, I started my trip in the car and the GPS would not find a signal. Boy, I wish I had one of those old things, a map. I got lost more than once, and I ended up being very late. So for those of you that we expecting to hear from me on the webinar, I’m very sorry I was late.

I met with several people at NNA when I got there, and all of them were please to see me! I was really please to meet with them all and I was able to talk to everyone, even the CEO, Sean, had time to talk with me.

After the delayed start, the webinar got under way. Usually, I have some people live on the webinar, so I can have a conversation. This time, there were loads of people, and it wouldn’t be fair to talk to just a few. It felt very odd though, like I was talking to myself. There was a lot to cover, so sometimes I went too fast. If I left you behind, I’m sorry.

After the meetings at NNA I went out for a dinner meeting with JessieX. I had a great time. She has so many ideas for social media, I learnt heaps. I will be starting to put some of Jessie’s suggestions in place on my web site and blog.

Thursday 17th June, Columbia, MD
All day I had meetings at NNA. I met so many people there and they work really hard. I know every time a new Vectorworks comes out, I’m disappointed about things that I think should have been included. I know that the R&D team and the engineers are working as hard as they can, and they really do listen to what we say. Just because they don’t do what I want, doesn’t mean they haven’t heard me.

Friday 18th June, Warrington, PA
I had another series of meetings today with some very interesting people from NNA. They gave me so much or their time, that it was after 2pm by the time I got away. I went to Columbia Mall to get some more time on my pre-paid phone (that is a whole story on its own), I I found the Apple store. First time I have ever been to an Apple Store. It really was a lot of fun. The stores are very slick, and there are a lot of Apple devices to play with. There were 2 tables of iPads to play with, but not one to buy. I suspect that with Father's Day here in USA, they have sold all the stock. I hope they have more stock arriving soon, otherwise I will not be able to get my one.

I managed to leave just in time to meet the rush hour traffic in Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. So, basically, it was busy on the road all the way home. The GPS still confuses me. It told me to stay in the right lane, but the right lane was exit only... Still it got me back on the correct road in a matter of minutes.


24th June 2010, Philadelphia, PA - Frenso, CA
I needed an early start to get to the airport. The flight is scheduled to leave at 6:22am.  Because of the security checks. I was checked in about 5:00am for my flight.  Strange, I didn't get a boarding pass.  It turns out the United runs a service where they overbook the flight and then issue you a ticket at the boarding gate.  So, even though I paid for my flight in March thus year, they would not let me on the plane. I got all the way to the gate, they even printed me a boarding pass, but the other passenger turned up in time.

I seems they over book the flight, in the hope that some passengers will show up late, or will not show up at all.  So, I was the unlucky one. I guess, now that I know this is how it works, I won't be so shocked. At least I have my seat for the next flight to LA and then on to SF

Good bye Philadelphia, it is an old city by USA standards and they are very proud of the history. The oldest street, the house where the US flag was first sewn, the signing of the Declaration of Independence and so on.

I won't make it a long story, but after 5 hours of delays at LAX, I ended up at the correct final destination of Fresno, CA. I'm not sure what it is but my US flights have not been fun nor reliable. Anyway. I got to the user group about 40mins late, but they were still pleased to see me. My luggage finally turned up at 11pm!


26th June 2010 Fresno, CA - San Francisco, CA.
My bother was really kind taking me all round Fresno yesterday. We visited his friends, the Apple store and anywhere else I wanted to go, like the motorbike shop. Today he drove me all the way up from Fresno to SFO. The dive reminded me of New Zealand, but bigger. Lots of farms, but bigger.

I have been hosted on my trip my NOVEDGE and Vectorworking. They have helped me plan this trip, and they took me out for dinner to meet the team there. We have a very long dinner, finishing about 11pm, and we had a fun time talking about my trip and Vectorworks. Please support these to web sites, they have been very kind to me.


27th June 2010 SFO - Home
It turns out that today is the Gay Pride day, so it is very busy here in San Francisco. But I have all day here before I'm due out at the airport for my 13 hour trip Auckland.

Jonathan Pickup to visit USA

This time next week, I'll be in USA, in Pennsylvania. I have bee arranging to visit the USA for some time now and I have tried to fully book myself. My main reason to visit the USA is to meet the people at NNA that have been printing and selling my manuals for the last year and a half. 

I have offered to visit as many user group meetings as I can and I and now nearly fully booked. The current list of placing I'll be visiting is:

15th June  - ePaVUG EASTERN  * PA * Vectorworks * USER * GROUP, Easton, PA


16th June, online webinar 

The "Ins and Outs" of Popular Vectorworks® Tools with Jonathan Pickup
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/803583603
Webinar June 16, 2010, 1pm to 2pm EDT

17th June Mid-Atlantic VW User Group, Columbia, MA

21st June New Jersey VW User Group, 6-8pm

ASL Design Studio,Inc

1221 Main Street

Asbury Park,  N.J. 07712

Mark Napolitano, (732)861-3843 www.naturebydesignllc.net
(sponsored by www.novedge.com)

22nd June Philadelphia VW User Group 6:30pm-8pm
(sponsored by www.novedge.com)

24th June Central California User Group 6:00pm

RSVP to 

David Laurence Phillips, AIA 559.456.6118  /  CCVWUG@GMail.com (or DLPAssociates@Me.com)

(sponsored by www.novedge.com)

If you live anywhere near these meetings, please come along. I'll add more details when I can.

How Can I Re-shape The Top of a Wall?

There are two main ways to reshape the top (or bottom) of a wall. The first method uses the 3D Reshape tool, and the second is to use the Fit Walls to Roof... command. If you have Vectorworks architect you can use either, but if you do not, you can only use the first method.

Change to a 3D view.

Use the 2D Selection tool to Double click on the wall. You will see several blue handles on the wall.

Vectorworks has selected the 3D Reshape tool for you. Check the Tool Bar. To move the handles (peaks) on a wall, use the first mode.
To add a peak, use the second mode.
to remove a peak, use the third mode.

Move your cursor to the handle at the start of the wall. The cursor will change shape.
Click once.

Move your cursor along the wall to the place you want.
Click once.

Click once on the new peak to create a new peak.

Move your cursor down to make a vertical part on the wall.
Click once to finish.

Click once on the new peak to create a new peak.

Move your cursor across to make a horizontal part on the wall. 

Click once to finish. 

Click once on the new peak to create a new peak.

Move your cursor up to make a vertical part on the wall. 

Click once to finish. 

In front view the wall should be the shape you want. The walls are not quite vertical, they are 1mm off vertical, but that’s the best I can get.

Vectorworks user group Meeting in Fresno

24 June 2010 at 6:00 pm Jonathan Pickup will be there to talk to our Central California V. W. User Group. . . 

So, if you are in Central California,  come alone and meet me. 

XTRA Kills My Emails

It turns out that my ISP has changed its email policies . When I send emails from a separate email address than the one registered with my ISP, my emails are not being sent. I have no idea when telecom introduced this system, they did not bother me with any details about this.

I was talking to a friend yesterday and I said, "did you get my email?" Imagine my surprise when he told me that he has not had an email from me since the 3rd of June. What has been happening? It took a long time to sort out that this was not my fault. I found that if I use my .mac or gmail account to send my emails they were sent successfully. So, it finally occurred to me that the problem was with my ISP, they must have changed something.

It turns out that they have brought in a new system to control spam. Rather than tell their customers, XTRA will let their customers find out for themselves. And rather than warn their customers that the sent email will not be forwarded on, XTRA will just wait for you to find out on your own somehow.

I have just spent most of the morning on the phone to XTRA. The tech support people are helpful, but that is not the issue. The issue is that XTRA have decided on a change to the security system, and have not warned the users that they will have to add passwords to their ISP accounts, and they will have to change the mail settings and ports, on all accounts, for me and all the members of my family, on all the computers.

Shame on you XTRA! you should have told us in advance...

So, if you haven't had my emails for a while, I'm sorry, XTRA has been killing them...