mgajewski

Cool - I especially like the first two. Keep the Learning Center topics coming! Thx, Mark

Thanks, Tom. It looks great but perhaps a little heavy duty for a single user in the sticks in California : ) Mark

Very clear - thanks! It's funny how I have some fairly correct ideas about these things but to really apply them in a useful way it's great to break them down the way you just did. I think that a decision-tree type guide for configuring the best hardware for IronCAD would be great. The information in this forum has been very helpful, in addition to what can be found by Google searches, but it is scattered and time consuming to research. But perhaps it's just me - I do not see a lot of posts on this subject. Mark

I have been using IronCAD since it was TriSpectives and I can do what I need done reasonably well. At the same time I know that there are a lot of commands and tools and ways of doing things that I do not use and therefore my productivity is much less than it could be. What would you say the best, systematic, way to really master IronCAD would be? The tutorials cover a fraction of what there is to know, help is helpful but of course necessarily limited., and of course this forum is a wonderful resource. I'd welcome a lot more in-depth tutorials and tips, even informal, user created ones, on YouTube or similar. Also - a tip of the day would be great, as would be an online "IronCAD U". I wonder if there are any up-to-date books on using the latest from IronCAD? I live in near San Luis Obispo, CA (the home of CalPoly) and I wonder if there are any classes offered nearby or even in San Francisco, LA, Santa Barbara, San Diego etc. I'd love to know anyone's stories about how they became IronCAD power users, and any advice and suggestions on the subject. Mark

Hi Kevin, That's very helpful to know. I'm exchanging my computer! However, I often find comments about the desirability of having a lot of RAM - that's why I got 24 gigs of it, and found that very little is actually used. Could you please elaborate on that? Am I wasting money on extra RAM and how much RAM would actually be plenty for IronCAD modeling and rendering items of complexity similar to light fixtures, ceiling fans and furniture (making really nice presentation renderings)? Thanks. Mark

Hi, My new computer has 24GB RAM for fast IronCAD rendering etc. However, its RAM usage, no matter how intensive the rendering task, seems to be topping out at 2.4GB – about a tenth of the available memory. So that the new computer with its 24 gigs of RAM, two quad core processors, ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB graphics card, Windows 7 Pro x64, runs IronCAD renderings about just as slowly as my four year old XP 64bit computer which has 4GB RAM and NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB graphics card. My question is how to allocate much more RAM to IronCAD or to Windows 7 Pro x64 (or both) to take advantage of the available RAM? Any help would be greatly appreciated – and please make it clear to the meanest intelligence as I am no Windows expert : ) Thanks. Mark

That's terrific, Cary. I think a picture of this car with the tires smoking would make a great splash screen shot. Some subliminal persuasion , and fun to look at. Mark

Hi, I have a new computer and I wonder how well it performs running IronCAD compared to my old one and perhaps to some really good ones out there. What would be a good test to see how it handles running various really intensive IronCAD tasks? Is there an easy way to quantify a computer's performance with IronCAD? Thanks. Mark

Hi, On my MacPro, I have installed IronCAD in Bootcamp and it seems to work fine. I have also installed it in Parallels on the same machine. When I start it up in Parallels, I get the following message in the License Management Tool window: Failed to check PC hardware. Please contact support. I'd like to be able to use IronCAD on my Macs in both Bootcamp (when I need maximum speed) and in Parallels (when I am doing less demanding tasks in IronCAD and want to have the Apple side available). Could you please advise me on these questions: 1. What to do about the "Failed to check PC hardware" message? 2. Can I register IronCAD in both Bootcamp and Parallels with the same codeword? I assume this is allowed since it is one and the same machine? Thank you. Mark

Hi Eric, That is very helpful. Thank you very much. Mark

Hi, I'm buying a MacPro for IronCAD (I'll use Bootcamp) and would like to make sure it's a very good performer. I design ceiling fans, lighting and furniture - items with a small to medium number of parts. What matters a lot to me is very fast and very high quality final presentation rendering speed and pretty good quality rendering while modeling. And of course quick modeling with the ability to quickly rotate, zoom, hide/unhide etc. MacPro is offered in three flavors if we don't count the server. Which one is sufficient to do a great job for me with power to spare (without wasting money by going completely overboard)? The three MacPro options can be viewed either at this link http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop...mco=MTM3NDc4OTA or in the attached picture with text Also - I plan on getting 24 GB of RAM - is that good, too much or too little? Would the ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB graphics card be a good choice? If possible I'd appreciate a prompt reply because I have an Apple store appointment this Tuesday (June 14) at 11:30AM Pacific time Thanks! Mark

That's pretty cool, Cary, very useful - thanks. Mark

Is there a way to create a direct shortcut to Transparency settings? I have created a shortcut to Smart Paint but that still requires clicking on the Transparency tab in the dialog box. Can I somehow get to that dialog box tab directly with a shortcut, or better yet, click on a part holding down a shortcut key and so make it transparent / opaque? Mark

Thanks Robert - that clarifies it. I downloaded some of those files from www.swedese.se They seem to use 3D DWG files for the downloads they make available on their site. I wish they used Ironcad : ) Mark

OK - thanks. I have Ironcad 2009. I selected Add-In Applications and Add-In Tools and nothing appeared. Exactly where do I download the Catalog Utility from? Thanks again. Mark

It appears to be a 3D DWG format. Autocad's DWG files seem to be capable of having 3D solids in them. I have downloaded a number of those 3D files from http://www.bebitalia.com/ - one of them is attached. Regarding the format itself, I am not familiar with it either but I have come across it on a few occasions. Here is what a Google search produced: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navc...ad+3d+dwg+files I guess we cannot get away from Autocad... Mark Accord_3D.dwg

Hi Is it possible to open / import Autocad's 3D DWG files in Ironcad? If so, how? Thanks. Mark

I dont' see the tool on the Add-In Ribbon nor in the Add-in tools. Do I need to install something to enable it?

Got it, Cary. Worked like a charm. Mark

Hi Kevin, OK - I did it! Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the trick seems to be to never let go of the mouse button after the click used to select the shape in the main window. This of course does not work if the shape is selected in the browser and then the mouse moved to the main window in order to drag the shape to the catalog. It would be nice if it did work with selecting the shape in the browser because it is sometimes awkward to select a negative shape on a part buried somewhere in an assembly, in the main window. Thanks. Mark

Hi Adding shapes to catalog works well for me with "positive" shapes which usually are easy to grab and drag from the main window into the catalog window. How can I reliably grab a "negative" feature, like a hole? When I select one and click to grab it, it gets deselected and I'm pawing air. Is there some trick to it? Thanks. Mark

Cary, Where is the Export Catalog tool? It does not seem to reside in the Catalog menus. Thanks. Mark

Hi, Is there a way to combine two catalogs into one or easily move a lot of items from one catalog to another? Mark

Hi Cary, I think the marketplace (including me) is already taking quite a strong hold of, for instance, Google Docs. It seems to me that web based software etc. is a very powerful concept and it works really well when well executed. Mark

Hi Guys, I travel a lot between US and Europe and lug all kinds of laptops, hard drives etc. which is not only inconvenient but with ever increasing luggage weight restrictioins, is becoming expensive. Is there a way (or will there soon be a way) to run IronCAD from a portable hard drive? That would allow users to use any Windows desktop or laptop... Ultimately, it would be great if IronCAD were web based - is that being considered? I realize certain features are not frequently asked for by IC users. Perhaps this issue could be a case of "build it and they will come", and yet another competition leapfrogging move by IronCAD. Mark