Yes, it's odd, this kind of behaviour. I've encountered it on other forums too (I should interject that I too am guilty of it too!), like the Intaglio forums for eg. I think people get very attached to their software they have invested in, both financially, and often with steep learning curves at one point, and then get readers droop at the other- and can't be bothered (and quite rightly as reading text get be really tedious) to keep up with the amount of traffic on most forums, if you see what I mean?

Keep up the fight Steve, the good work will pay off in the end, I'm sure.

>>I know I am possibly just a pain, but all I want is a cad system that does as >>advertise.

Steve,

I hope you and everyone else that may be frustrated hangs in there. I really appreciate the example files and constructive feedback. You've provided some very valuable contributions that have made the software better which I thank you for.

Tim

What? Even at $99?? Bugs or no bugs, 2D/3D at that price is an effin' bargain. What else are you gonna get out there which is precision and ACIS-based for that kind of money?

FWIW, VC has really come on since the days of CU, and where else do you get a developer who is that friendly- especially with CAD. I'd hate to be developing VC. I bet the code for VC is a great unwielding monster! :eek:

:)

Yes, I agree, there are a few bugs here and there, but I have sat down and finally got to grips with the software, and although annoying, it doesn't stop me from actually getting something done.

What are "the simple things" you say you can't do? "Conflicts in steel layouts"? Sorry I don't understand you.

What mostly stops blends is illogical parameters for corners and trying to blend convoluted edges with too large a radius. This is true of ViaCAD, TurboCAD and Alibre. They all use ACIS; despite the differing interfaces, they share characteristic blend function. Look at your edge intersections (feature interaction), blend radii and order of creation. The obscure error messages usually refer to the first two. Trying some of your problem blends in other applications, even acknowledged high-end players, will bring the same result unless higher order functions are applied, in which case the blend deviates from your parameters anyway. TurboCADders routinely slice lengths off a convoluted edge until it'll blend to find the trouble spots, or reduce the radius to the same effect. It has some of the same sort of constraints as sweeps, ie when the profile is too large compared to the edge (rail), it results in notional selfintersection, in addition having to respect adjacent faces. When TC first got blending, it's forum had lots of the same sorts of complaints, but they're almost non-existent now, while blend performance hasn't improved THAT much. Blend has limits that you have to work within, but it isn't randomly cantankerous.

Oh don't get me worked up over this again! :mad:

Aye! It is true! Model to Sheet, is well.....'sheet', to put it politely! :mad:

I tried to reason with Nick in a series of PM's over model to sheet in SLT. I thought the problems were immediately obvious, but he just didn't understand my pain. So I gave up.

BUT, if I have to do work for someone in a professional capacity, I revert to using QCad, which translates very well into ViaCAD (I'm back to using 2D/3D for now). I can export a tiff of an item made in ViaCAD and make a pdf in Apple's brilliant Pages app, using the pdf exported from QCad. It sounds a bit fussy I know, but at present, CAD isn't my only or main occupation.

I'm not a NURBS man at all. Most things, apart from complex surfaces don't use NURBS, and ViaCAD is, in my mind, exceptionally good at solid modelling.

Hey Steve,

I agree with the majority of what you have said although I have never tested Shark...I have seen enough with VC Pro thank you. I have no doubt that in time this product or whatever Tim turns his hand to will be great, I just hope people stick around long enough. I have taken time out because of these (and other) issues and I have not looked back, however I still use VC occasionaly.

I dont believe one man (maybe two(Ryan)) can develop a product like this this.....but I hope it speeds up for all concerned.