RAC 2008 gotchas?

[ron.sanpedro]

The whole office is moving to RAC 2008 on Monday, and I would like to provide a very concise little cheat sheet of Gotchas. Things that you just need to be aware of for the first few weeks until they become second nature.
So I have mentioned the improvement in Element Properties name and location. The kind of thing that you want to let people know about as the old location is almost spinal memory, and people are going to instinctively go to the old location for a while.
Another one is to pay close attention to that @#$@! default of Fit to Page when printing. I expect till kill a lot of trees in the first few weeks.

So, anyone run into any other new features or changed behaviors that annoy people as they get used to them? Even improvements can be annoyances while you get used to them, especially after you have internalized the old way.

Thanks,
Gordon

[iru69]

Another one is to pay close attention to that @#$@! default of Fit to Page when printing. I expect till kill a lot of trees in the first few weeks.
We've not only already whacked a bunch of trees, but it's taking up a lot of our time reprinting and resetting all the print settings in all our projects. Anyone know what happened here? Was there any benefit to this change?

[bowlingbrad]

Friendly reminder....

Remember to send in a Support Request!

[jtl]

I am wondering - gothcas aside - is there any other reasons to delay switching projects over to 2008?
I am trying to finish up a project in the next two weeks and can already see the advantage of the sloped roof/warped slab tool. However, i am wary of screwing up my deadline with unanticipated nuisance-type problems.
Thoughts?

[bowlingbrad]

There are several threads here speaking of crasing (may be video card related). And also of high memory requirements. Just roll it out with caution. Do a lot of testing.

[patricks]

Yeah I will probably only move projects still in the earlier schematics stages from 9.1 to 2008. I am currently working on a large factory project where we are only producing CD's (not the architect of record), so I have started that one fresh in 2008. Although, the template I used was upgraded from 9.1, so I don't know if that will make for any issues. I will be creating a new 2008 template from scratch soon, though.

[awatkins]

I've found no reasons to not upgrade a current 9/9.1 project to 2008.
About a month ago I upgraded a 75Mb file of a project (with linked Systems and Structure models) without issue and kept on working.
If anything, it's much smoother when working with the model on a projection screen to show the client/consultants so they can better understand certain aspects in 3d.
The only gotchas are things that have been relocated or renamed, giving a moment's pause when looking where it used to be.
I haven't entirely firgured out the new slab/roof tools, but haven't used them much to date.

[ejc]

We've not only already whacked a bunch of trees, but it's taking up a lot of our time reprinting and resetting all the print settings in all our projects. Anyone know what happened here? Was there any benefit to this change?

I have had no plotting setting issues. But, once you have setup one RAC 2008 project, use transfer project standards to bring the others online.

ejc

[ejc]

The whole office is moving to RAC 2008 on Monday, and I would like to provide a very concise little cheat sheet of Gotchas. Things that you just need to be aware of for the first few weeks until they become second nature.
So I have mentioned the improvement in Element Properties name and location. The kind of thing that you want to let people know about as the old location is almost spinal memory, and people are going to instinctively go to the old location for a while.
Another one is to pay close attention to that @#$@! default of Fit to Page when printing. I expect till kill a lot of trees in the first few weeks.

So, anyone run into any other new features or changed behaviors that annoy people as they get used to them? Even improvements can be annoyances while you get used to them, especially after you have internalized the old way.

Thanks,
Gordon

A quick work around for the "Element Properties" irritation is to customize the "keyboardshortcuts.txt" file.

"EE" menu:"Edit-Properties"

Hopefully they will move it back to where it would be closer to the pointer in the future.

ejc

[patricks]

A quick work around for the "Element Properties" irritation is to customize the "keyboardshortcuts.txt" file.

"EE" menu:"Edit-Properties"

Hopefully they will move it back to where it would be closer to the pointer in the future.

ejc

It depends on the vertical position of your mouse pointer whether the right-click menu comes up above or below the pointer. If you're closer to the bottom of the screen, the menu comes up above the pointer and Element Properties is right there. If you're near the top the menu comes up below the pointer.

So it's really no different than the old location. It's certainly no reason to put it back where it was. If anything, I think the new position makes both of the "Properties" menu items (view and element) easier to see, since one of them isn't buried in the middle of all the other options.