Andrew Davies

It's bonkers ! Wasted so much time. Have tried the above to no avail. No matter what I do I can't select the viewport crop. When I hover my mouse over the crop, pre-selection handles appear - but clicking on them does nothing. Worth trashing preferences maybe ?

Thanks Ray - I promise you - every class is visible. In the Navigation palette and within the viewport (by clicking classes in the object info palette when the viewport is selected - before editing the crop) Is there anywhere else a class can be marked as not visible that I have missed ? Does the None class have a different behaviour to other classes ?? Thanks, Andrew

I'd like to see background rendering (so that you can still work if required whilst rendering) and also a better progress bar / time remaining indicator. Sometimes I expect a render to take a few minutes and I sit and wait for what turns out to be 30 mins ! Andrew

Could the process of cropping a viewport be simplified ? At the moment, the viewport crop object is only visible if the relevant class is visible, both document wide and within the viewport. Don't see why this is the case. Why does the crop object need a class assigning at all - the viewport itself has a class anyway.

Thanks Pat - I did check the class visibilities within the viewport too (ie. clicking on classes on the object info palette when the viewport is selected. Still to no avail. Will delete the viewport and start again.

The long URLs didn't work for me - not without copying and pasting them into a new browser window. Thanks for the links Pat (loved the new podcast by the way - listened to it earlier today) Have read through both links and tried the suggestions but they have not worked. All classes are visible. Class options set to Show / snap / modify others. All layers visible etc. All classes and layers visible within the viewport. Did the following procedure from one of the posts. 1. Make all classes visible 2. Enter VP "Edit Crop" mode 3. invoke 'Select All' command 4. Delete crop object 5. Draw new one Select all did not select the viewport crop object. Info palette confirms this. Andrew PS - are there really only 400,000 users of VW ? Did I hear that correctly ?

VW 2009 snapping is better than 2008 so I am sure there is a preference or something you are missing. Have you double clicked the Object Snapping tool in the constraints palette and checked those options out ? Hope this helps. Buena Suerte Andrew

Hello - Am having a bad Vectorworks day - can't select what I want, objects and items disappearing when I don't expect them to. But this one is killing me : Have a DLVP set up - Edit crop. Can't select the crop (rectangle) for love nor money. Have tried force select, have all classes visible & on show/snap/modify others - and even the same for layers. Force select says no object exists at click point - even though holding the mouse over a corner of the crop displays a handle and a "Top right..." etc. Any ideas before I go and get my old drawing board out of the shed and do things by hand ? Andrew

I've stumbled across this today. A great little script - thank you ! Still think it should be something VW can do out of the box though !

Apologies - didn't search hard enough. FYI - some of the links to Vectorscript on old posts are no longer active. However I did find DUpdateTitleBlocks at http://www.dworks.be/English/Products/Commands/DUpdateTitleBlocks.html Best wishes, Andrew

Thanks Vincent. I think it is / was a bug. But I can't recreate it now ! Thanks for your help. Regards, Andrew

Hello Apologies if this is a simple thing to do, but I have searched help / forums and manuals and can't work out how to do it. I would like to simply have the current date and VW filename inserted into my title block automatically. Can anyone point me in the right direction ? Thanks, Andrew

Many thanks Vincent. The crop polygon was on the same class as the viewport. What is the name of the checkbox in the OIP which you can activate to lock the position of VP ? I'm up and running now anyway - selecting "Project 2d objects" seemed to fix it - but I have no idea why ! Cheers, Andrew

Hello all - I have just spent a very frustrating 30 minutes trying to select a viewport. It was on the active class (a class I named viewports) but I just could not select it. It was showing a Left Orthogonal (3d) view. Even activating it in the navigation pallette didn't help. This would highlight it, but I couldn't move it - not right click to get to the Annotation options for example. Then in desperation, I clicked on "Project 2d objects" in the OIP and this solved the problem. Why on earth should this make a difference ?? Is this a bug ??!! Thanks, Andrew

Apologies to reply to my own post, but I've discovered the following : The original object which had the texture applied to was an extrude. Converting it to a 3d Poly cured the problem (Though perimeter was no longer a mapping option, it seemed to work correctly) Still a bug though isn't it ? Is there any reason why you shouldn't apply a texture to an extrude ? Thanks, Andrew

Hello - Thanks for this. I've tried a different image and I got the same result. However changing the mapping type from plane to perimeter solved it. However, using perimeter means that I can't place the texture as easily (in the edit texture dialogue box, you can not use the mouse to position the texture for example - nor can you use the attribute mapping tool (not sure why that isn't possible) Have attached a VWX file - how do I submit it as a bug ? I have already upgraded to SP3. Thanks, Andrew

Hi - Have combined the two images to make it easier to see. All settings are identical between the two. I just used the shortcut keys to re-render the scene (CMD-SHIFT-G & CMD-SHIFT-X) and then took a screen grab. Repeat x and repeat y are on. In this case, the Fast RW is the correct output - but surely the texture mapping results should be identical ??? Cheers, Andrew

Hello - Have attached two screens shots - both showing an LCD monitor in a graphic plinth with a texture mapped to replicate the screen. 1 is rendered with OpenGL, the other Fast RW with shadows. As you'll see, the mapping (placement) of the texture (an image colour shader) varies between the two render modes. Does anyone know why this is ?? Thanks, Andrew

Really helpful everyone ! Many thanks. Andrew PS - Have only been using VW seriously these last few weeks and am amazed by it. Wish i'd got into it sooner. My clients love the stuff I am sending them !

Hello chaps - I hope you don't think I am just getting you to do my work for me - but this is my next question - the net. I have made a texture called net, used grid colour and got the net the right size. But I can't get the transparency to work. I thought grid transparency would have worked, but it gave me a solid. Have got fairly good results by just reducing the transparency of the whole texture, but it is not great. Any ideas ? Thanks all Andrew

Wow ! Fantastic - thanks so much. Not sure what a Dupont Zodiac is, but I added your CC_Cloud image as a texture to my 3d Polys. Works well. Many thanks, Andrew

Daft question, but how thick should I make the extrude ??! 10mm ??

Hello - I need to draw a 3d tennis court. I have everything drawn in 2d already but am stumped as to the best way to draw it in 3d. I could make the grass a floor and add a texture, but what would be the best way of drawing on the lines ? They need to be accurate so don't want to add them as a texture. How about a 3d poly or a Nurbs surface (which I don't understand !) Any suggestions !? Many thanks, Andrew

I updated to SP3 painlessly on my iMac and MacBook Pro.

Thanks chaps. Andrew