Steve-C

That's something else that bugged me about the iMac, pdf files were on average 10 times as large as the same pdf files on my windows machine.

Figured I would open up this can of worms again 

So I've had my iMac for over a year now. While I'm satisfied with the system performance (running X6) I was never really blown away. There was this annoying lag with some commands (mainly roof commands, even in 2D). So about 2 or 3 months ago I broke out my old Puget PC (nearly 4 years old) and it easily blows the doors off the iMac. I like the iMac for imaging and I'm a huge fan of the Mac filing system, but I am convinced that the Windows platform just runs smoother (for me anyway). I'm curious what others think now that the Mac release is over a year old. I will add that when I upgraded the Puget to Windows 8.1 (from 7), performance improved quite a bit.

Perry, have you always had shadows on in preview view? For me personally that would slow my system down quite a bit.

I've found that sometimes this happens after an edit. Most of the time I can select the roof dbx in 3D and then click ok and the frieze will fill in. This doesn't always work but more often than not it does.

Well after a talking to Chief Architect help they have said that since the Yosemite OS X update you will not be able to pan in that way anymore... kind of sucks lol

Yes it does! Now I almost exclusively use the command key and hold the left mouse button to drag across the screen. Of course if you are on a lap top that's not going to help you without a mouse. I use a mouse and a trackpad on my iMac.

I was really struggling with this so I did some research and found out it is definitely an OS issue. I found that many have installed the Adobe reader for better viewing and it seems to be a lot better than the native Mac preview. Just thought I would share because viewing PDF's on preview was painfully slow after the update.

I just went and checked a mature plan how long it would take to edit roof lines in 3D.  3 seconds is about it,  therefore I avoid editing a mature plan's roof in 3D.  I agree,  a pain in the derrière.  However,  if I remember,  I did have a lag on the PC.

I experience the same lag in 2D. I just downloaded an update to Yosemite, hopefully that will clean it up a bit.

I have no lag on Windows..... 

Anyone else having this issue? I get a 2 to 3 second lag after every move that involves walls or roofs, just about any 3D related item. I'm about to break out my old Windows machine if this keeps up.

This has pretty much been the case for me since version 10. Doubt it's a bug, probably user error.

It seems that every time I have a plan that contains a 45 degree angle I run across this issue. Maybe it's a setting I'm unaware of, I don't know. When I dimension from 2 different sides I often get dimensions that are off by an inch (keep in mind that I always round to the nearest inch for plan appearance). When I adjust corners slightly in order to try and match these dimensions I rarely have success and usually I have to create a dimension line (from a CAD line) in order to make it work out. What really drives me nuts is when I try and adjust these walls I notice that more often that not, the number is not rounded to the nearest inch. For example; I'm working on one now where I had to shorten one side but keep the other side the same and one side had an even 2'-2". When I reduced that dimension by 1/8" the displayed dimension dropped to 2'-1". Why is that? Shouldn't the dimension round to the nearest inch?

I'm sure I'll get a lot of "you should never round off" comments but this is how I learned and it (usually) saves a lot of time (except when 45 degree angle are involved). It's been my experience as a build that the plans with excessive fractions will confuse a framing crew in a hurry.

I have a Mac, and I too have semi-frequent crashes. Save and quit CA as much as you can stand it (every 30 minutes or so) and that will limit the issue. This is not a big deal for me because it helps me remember to back up the file to a flash drive and my cloud storage.

Like Scott, I also print PDF's on my Windows machine. The average file size is around 1/10th the size of the Mac PDF files. 

I've run X6 extensively on both platforms and I have not noticed a huge difference between the two (other than the above mentioned issues).

Victor, I have nothing but good things to say about the Duo. The battery life while working with CA is probably around 6 to 7 hours (continual usage), which is incredible. Having that keyboard in close proximity is crucial for hotkey usage. I've had no problem with the graphics, but I rarely do more than a final view with shadows for client previews. I don't get to use it as much now, I recently bought a 23" touch screen for my old Puget System and loaded Windows 8.1 (better touch screen interface than 7) and it runs like a top. Hope this helps.

By they way, shop around, I bought the Duo for $1499. It's since gone up on the link I provided

For starters, copy the windows out of the attic because that's where they are showing up in the floor plan. Then delete them from the attic and paste them into the second floor. Then do an exterior 3D view and click on the wall that the windows are on and tab through until you have selected the wall that is being auto generated by the first floor and delete it. I've had problems with this in the past as well. You're auto dormer is not recognized by the first floor exterior wall and it's generating an attic wall over the front of your dormer wall. Exploding the dormer may help too but it initially didn't not solve the problem for me.

I've had this problem too. I had to enable the cross hairs in 3D just so I would know where I was.

I've been using my Sony Vaio Duo 13 for about a week now so I thought I should give an update. While the system does not run quite as fast as my iMac (mainly due to differences in hardware I'm sure), I absolutely LOVE using the touch screen interface! I really thought it would be somewhat of a novelty but in the week that I've had it, my iMac has been little more than a storage hub. I really expected the newness to sort of wear off by now but it seems the more I use this thing the more I like it. It took a little getting used to but once the learning curve is over I actually think I move faster on the Duo. Copy and paste are extremely fast with the touch screen, particularly in conjunction with hot keys. On that topic, hot keys are a critical part of using this system, that's what makes the Duo a much better option than other systems because of how it integrates the keyboard. Plus the "kick-stand" design makes it very stable to work on. I can set it on my lap or on a desk and I don't have to hold the screen still to use touch functions, which is one thing that concerned me about other models. So far I've had no issues running X6 on the 8.1 platform, something I could not boast about on my iMac. I have not had any trouble opening files between the two systems either. I fully expect to be back and forth between machines a little more than I have been this week, but I've just enjoyed having a new work environment to "play" in.

Is your Temp. Dim. Icon turned on

Has this feature always been available? I'm wondering how long I've gone without even noticing that....lol

Thanks, by the way!

I purchased a new Windows laptop and for some reason my temporary dimensions are not working on any CAD objects even though that option is selected in the defaults. I don't have this problem on my Mac. Has anyone else had this problem?

My wife's Macbook Pro has Intel grahics and it runs surprisingly well on her machine, I mean really well. Comparable to my iMac. That was one of the factors that set me at ease about the touch screen.

I just pulled the trigger on this machine a couple of days ago. It's supposed to be here today or Monday. I'll post an update after I've worked with it for a while.

I'm in the same boat as Scott, I quit CA every 2 or 3 hours as a preemptive measure which has helped limit the number of crashes. That being said, X6 locked up on me this morning for the first time since I downloaded it 3 months ago. I've had several crashes but this is the first lock up. I downloaded the update yesterday so that apparently did me no good.

Yes, the feature was removed. It never really worked well and created frustration when it inadvertantly got turned on.

Indeed!

I've had a few hang-ups but for the most part I'm satisfied with the software.

Here's a tip for the Chief Architect software designers.  Develop a version of CA that actually performs well for a Mac.  I have been waiting for a Mac version of CA for years.  I couldn't contain my excitement when X6 came out with the Beta version for Mac.  I immediately downloaded it--what a disappointment.  Slow, slow, slow.  A simple move like…zooming in plan view--increases my blood pressure to a dangerous level.   Please fix the Mac version!

While I'll admit the Mac version of X6 isn't as stable as my Windows machine ran X5, it's not as bad as your experience. Panning and zooming have not been a problem for me. I've had issue with roof connections, crashes when printing pdf, pdf file sizes and some minor lagging with command inputs in 3D. Is your software updated? They released a fix one or two weeks ago.

My undo and redo functions are both painfully slow. I was going to address that with tech support once some of the dust settles from the other issues I've had. My drive is SSD.