topic Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please in Installation & update

dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 13:42:29 GMT

is it more effective to run say (2) 19" or 21" monitors or 1 larger single monitor? Am using 1 21" right now with different cad software & getting ready to switch to archi. Looking at demo version, looks to be alot of info to squeeze into 1 screen between all the tool bars, 2d & 3d windows.

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Dwight — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:23:33 GMT

Coming from 2-21" displays at 1200x1600 to a 30" display hasn't been totally great:

In the old days, ArchiCAD's plan view fit nicely on one screen and the other screen held the rest - It seemed somehow easier to organize the ArchiCAD windows....

I could put a DVD on one screen and keep working on the other, while now, that fourth season of "Angel" just released on one-week rental sits in the lower right and sometimes windows overlap it. I've become totally neurotic about pallettes - top? bottom? sides?

The long screen is nice, however, for full-screen DVD watching, and a long elevation or section all-at-once.

Truth is that no matter how big a single screen is, one always craves more. The 30" dsplay is lovely, but I paid a premium for those pixels and really only benefit from the single screen when editing large images. Just did a 2500 pixel rendering and can see all the pixels at once.

While a second 30" display would be too much to look at, I am thinking of a second, smaller display as an inexpensive "outrigger" for 3D views.

screenshot attached - 50%

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 13:23:38 GMT

i just installed a second monitor...personally I prefer to work that way....I jsut think it's easier....something I picked up when I was using Triforma.....and most of our employees prefer 2 monitors.....I think it might be a personal thing.....

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Dwight — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 20:09:40 GMT

another issue is the total pixels available, their size, and the least expensive way to get them, considering the limits of vision.

Moving from two big screens to one gigantic screen was a challenge, but once you get to 2500 pixels wide x 1600 pixels high, the issue, for your older ArchiCAD user, is seeing it all at once, in focus, without turning into one of those back windo doggies on a bumpy road.

.

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 13:55:13 GMT

We are about to undertake a complete upgrade of all hardware and software, (Mac to PC and AC6.5 to AC9). Approx 23 units in total.

We have a demo of AC9 set up on a new PC, and are trying to make a decision to use two 19" side by side or one 21" (both ViewSonic).

My ideal set up would be to have plans on one screen and 3D window/details/sections on the other.

The only way I can see to do this is to stretch the main plan view over two screens, as I cannot move the 3D window outside of the limits set by archicad. I am thinking that maybe using the larger 21" would be the best option, or am I missing something?

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 14:21:52 GMT

Our plan at this point our plan is to use 21" for main screen & recycle 19" or 17" for companions to throw the other windows in. That way whatever is most important can be setup on the 21" & smaller can be used for verify windows & tools etc. Don't know if this helps out any since we will be newbies to archicad & only setting up 2 stations to start vs your 23. Our plan is to run this config till midsummer then evaluate if we need new/larger screen. With the fixed budget we have for this conversion, thought it best to put money into machines & use existing CRTs around office then try to impress purchasing enough to let us get large flat panels later.

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Dwight — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 15:37:19 GMT

but don't stop thinking about the number of pixels on those screens. It is easy for you young folks to see 1200x1600 pixels on a 17 or 19" screen but impossible for a geezer. A geexer like me. How old is your work team?

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 16:06:44 GMT

1024x768 is the setting on our current cad program using single 21" or 19" NEC/VIVTRON monitor. Our intial training runs feb 21-25th so we are getting quite excited to see this program up & running on the yet to arrive new PCs. Would have liked to run on mac but the Log Solution plugin only runs on PC. Still on the nervous side as this is by far the most amount of money this small company has ever spend on IT. (over $27,000 for 2 stations/PCs)

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Dwight — Fri, 04 Feb 2005 16:31:20 GMT

Right. With those pixel sizes your questions about display size are irellevant. With such giant pixels, OF COURSE you need two displays.

Try that 21" display at 1200x1600 pixels or higher if your card can take it. Now you are in the game. Two of those is more than plenty.

My display is 100 pixels per inch and that is about right for my aging eyes. ArchiCAD's currently fixed size dialog boxes are large enough with this density of pixels, even the tiny boxes.

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Feb 2005 10:07:01 GMT

My setting is:
2 17" TFT side by side, which gives me a 2560x1024 pixels real estate.
As the TFT price has been steadily going down (my first 17" cost me €1000), I have pondered the advantage of investing on some bigger work area. These are my conclusions:
- If your main work is ArchiCAD modeling, 2 17" 1250x1024 monitors are enough (if there is sucha thing like enough...).
- When modeling, you have the main palettes and the plan window on the left monitor, and the 3d, seccion and navigation palettes on the right monitor.
- Try this: 2 ArchiCad, side by side, where you develope simultaneously the same idea in two different directions. Headache guaranteed, but quite interesting as a metodology...
- When working on final drawings, you take two archiCad side by side (one for each monitor), so you can copy paste from a previous file to the new one.

As for very big screens, consider this:
- Your focus point is quite small. If you are looking at these letters here, you can not focus the one that are two rows up. So, if you manage to program and use proficiently zoom in and zoom out with the keyboard (or a very strange device), having a big visual area isn't that important.
- If you do a lot of work with images, then Dwight has a point. You need to see the most of each image, as close to "real" size as possible. But if your main work is architectural design, you tend to focus on the details, and looking at the whole on a different scale isn't such a handicap. You get used to it, and never miss those big paper sheets again.
- The pointing device: either rat, pen, wand, track, the bigger your working area the bigger your arm movements. It ain't the small finger movement that turn carpal on you, but the wrist suspended arm movement.

In a nutshell: architecture, two 17" side by side is "cheap" and effective.

Of course, you can always try these:

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Ben Odonnell — Sat, 05 Feb 2005 11:03:23 GMT

Using a monitor config like that would freak me out

I wouldn't know were to look.

Ben

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Sat, 05 Feb 2005 16:23:38 GMT

Of course, you can always try these:

multi-tasking fetish that was.

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Feb 2005 16:03:01 GMT

Two screens side by side would be ideal but the 3D window cannot be moved outside archicad main window, therefore having plans "maximised" in one and 3D "maximised" in another is not possible?

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 15:56:42 GMT

simy wrote:
Two screens side by side would be ideal but the 3D window cannot be moved outside archicad main window, therefore having plans "maximised" in one and 3D "maximised" in another is not possible?

I never maximize anything, while working with two screens (well, almost anything, ArtLantis 4.5 is either max or nil).

So, I make a really big main window (not all the real estate screen area, about 98%(lets me access other stuff in the background)), and I put 2d plan window in one screen and seccion and 3d on the other, adjusting the size of the window manually.

This is done with Win XP. I do not know if it is possible on Mac, really hope it is, otherwise this tread will get two or tree pages long pretty fast

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:32:57 GMT

Krippahl wrote:
This is done with Win XP. I do not know if it is possible on Mac, really hope it is, otherwise this tread will get two or tree pages long pretty fast

The Mac is completely flexible with multiple screens (though I personally prefer one big one), you can put any windows anywhere you want (this has been true, as I recall, ever since the Mac started supporting external monitors (1987?). Windows has been getting better at this; NT sucked, 2000 was OK, and XP seems good (though I haven't had the chance to test it myself yet).

The one problem I have run into is, when switching from the large desktop screen to my laptop by itself, ArchiCAD will place some dialogs off the screen (where they were last on the big one). But this seems like more of a GS oversight than a hardware issue..

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Dwight — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:38:50 GMT

you really should stage the disconnection to let the unit figure out the remapping. I make sure to reassign primary display status to the laptop before disconnecting. Adobe is bad this way, too. Artlantis, also.

But have we discussed cost? It is obvious that pixels are still cheaper in smaller units - so you'd stay away from a single big monitor if you were economizing..... with ArchiCAD having so may small windows, multidisplays are most sensible.

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Dave Jochum — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 22:20:36 GMT

Matthew wrote:
The one problem I have run into is, when switching from the large desktop screen to my laptop by itself, ArchiCAD will place some dialogs off the screen (where they were last on the big one). But this seems like more of a GS oversight than a hardware issue..

This isn't an AC-specific issue, but does anyone know a Mac solution to this? In the office, I use a MacBookPro with a separate monitor for a two display setup. On the road I have just my MBP screen. All the windows, toolbars, menus, etc. annoyingly must be repositioned for the single monitor--not just for AC, but SketchUp, Photoshop, etc. The third-party "location" utilities don't appear to be solutions (Locations, Location X, etc.)

Anyone have a solution?

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Anonymous — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:39:02 GMT

Dave wrote:
Matthew wrote:
The one problem I have run into is, when switching from the large desktop screen to my laptop by itself, ArchiCAD will place some dialogs off the screen (where they were last on the big one). But this seems like more of a GS oversight than a hardware issue..
This isn't an AC-specific issue, but does anyone know a Mac solution to this? In the office, I use a MacBookPro with a separate monitor for a two display setup. On the road I have just my MBP screen. All the windows, toolbars, menus, etc. annoyingly must be repositioned for the single monitor--not just for AC, but SketchUp, Photoshop, etc. The third-party "location" utilities don't appear to be solutions (Locations, Location X, etc.)

Anyone have a solution?

Make a work environment for the MacBook.

I know it's not exclusive to AC. It is true of any software that doesn't check for the current resolution and so allows windows to open off screen.

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Dave Jochum — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:48:03 GMT

Matthew wrote:
Dave wrote:
Matthew wrote:
The one problem I have run into is, when switching from the large desktop screen to my laptop by itself, ArchiCAD will place some dialogs off the screen (where they were last on the big one). But this seems like more of a GS oversight than a hardware issue..
This isn't an AC-specific issue, but does anyone know a Mac solution to this? In the office, I use a MacBookPro with a separate monitor for a two display setup. On the road I have just my MBP screen. All the windows, toolbars, menus, etc. annoyingly must be repositioned for the single monitor--not just for AC, but SketchUp, Photoshop, etc. The third-party "location" utilities don't appear to be solutions (Locations, Location X, etc.)

Anyone have a solution?
Make a work environment for the MacBook.

Hi Matthew-Yes, if all apps had WE options like AC, I'd be set. I'm hoping for a OS-specific solution so I don't have to resize/reposition windows for every app I use outside the office. (Just re-read my original post. I didn't mean to lump AC into having this problem.)

Re: dual monitors or sinlge large? opinions please

Dave Jochum — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:27:25 GMT

After a lot of discussions on the Apple Discussion site, I've come to realize there just isn't any such utility. As with AC, it's typically handled by the apps themselves and not the OS. Though I wasn't aware, Photoshop has the capability as does Dreamweaver and a few others. So I'll be making feature requests to some developers--starting with Google for SketchUp Pro.