Andrew Bell@NV

quote: Originally posted by ant: i have some students which have had the computer crash and then there VW files are corrpet and comes up with error -54. can you tell me what this error is??? www.appleerrorcodes.com lists this as: -54 permErr Software lock on file; Not a subscriber [permissions error on file open] My uneducated guess would be that due to the crash, the Windows server still thinks the files are in use and thus won't let you write to them, or possibly even read them. You might try copying the files and opening the copy instead, or try to figure out how to break the software lock on the server. Is the computer (i.e. the operating system) really crashing, or is it just VectorWorks?

quote: Originally posted by Pharr: VectorWorks 8.5 used a QuickDraw 3D based rendering system and RenderWorks was built on this. As of RenderWorks 9, we transitioned to a completely different implementation of RenderWorks What Paul doesn't mention, BTW, is that Apple dropped support for QuickDraw3D in Mac OS X, which led to NNA needing to find a replacement renderer for VectorWorks. As you've discovered, this replacement is not a superset of the old renderer in all situations.

quote: Originally posted by Chris T: How do I open Minicad 4 Files? You should be able to open them with MiniCAD 7, convert them to MC7 files, and then open those in VW 10. MiniCAD 7 should run well enough on XP/2000/Mac OS X to allow you to do the file conversion. There's a tool palette issue with 7.0.0 and 7.0.1 -- fixed in 7.0.3 -- under Windows, I think, but you just need menu entries to load and save files.

quote: Originally posted by jtallen: Katie, The problem seems to be that we have been posting this problem since last May and only now do you deem it time to post any type of response, and that is to tell us that you all are not required to respond to any posts!! Thiws is not the paid technical support that comes with a copy of VectorWorks. Anyone, including people still running MiniCAD 7 and before (and thus long out of the 18 month tech support interval) can sign up and post requests for help, and often get responses. It is free for anyone who has an interest in MiniCAD/VectorWorks, and you get what you pay for... (More, actually.) The tech support you paid for is via the phone number already given. If you absolutely need a response, call.

quote: Originally posted by Farlan Williams: I have recently recently re-installed MC7 on my computer which is now running under Win XP. I found though that the palettes did not display correctly, with only the first line of buttons diplaying correctly. Does anyone know whether this is because of an incompatibility of MC7 with Win XP? Setting the executable file's compatibility options to Win 98 did not fix this problem If you can get your hands on the 7.0.3 update, this problem should go away. At this point, I don't know where you can get a copy of the updater.

quote: Originally posted by Adam E: I was using a custom workspace. If you're using a custom workspace, we're not going to modify that with an update; consider how many complaints we would get about messing up people's nicely laid-out tool palettes and menus if we did.

quote: Originally posted by Cloud Hidden: So what function is being called by the Reverse Normal button that I'm missing with NurbsSetPt3D? Try calling the function RedrawAll. The reason for not triggering a redraw and bounds recomputation with every call to NurbsSetPt3D is that it can really slow things down for a complex surface with a few hundred points changing. If you're changing individual points through the object info palette, however, it's a lot slower than a VectorScript loop, so the full bounds recomputation and redrawing can be done.

quote: Originally posted by Cloud Hidden: Still looking for answers on GetWallPeaks. I'm guessing that most people only have one wall peak, and that was the test case. Unfortunately for me, I have lots. GetWallPeak and GetNumWallPeaks was partially broken in 10.1.2 and before, and my attempted fix made GetWallPeak worse. I've buglisted it, and have a fix ready that should be in the next release. I can't tell you when or what release that will be. The partially broken code used 1 as the index of the first peak, so I'll make sure it stays that way. (Its problem was that it also considered wall joins and symbols in the wall to be "peaks" when counting, and then would return bogus when you used GetWallPeak to get the values for one of those "peaks.") Unfortunately, VectorScript is not consistent in its choice of 1 as the first index, or 0 as the first. GetPolyPt uses 1 as the first index, GetPolyPt3D uses 0. But then isn't a foolish inconsistency the hobgoblin of little minds?...

quote: Originally posted by Steve Frushour: Thanks for all your help. I'm now facet free. Now, on to the next item on my wish list: Bitmap Render Tool. Where is it? How do I get it if it's not already in my VW folder? It shows up in the workspace editor among the 3-D tools. I'm never sure how my workspaces compare the ones that come with the release versions of VectorWorks, but most of the time I've seen a Rendering palette among the palettes, with that as the only tool. It may be you need to have RenderWorks in order to have that tool.

quote: Originally posted by Steve Frushour: I should have mentioned that I'm using VW 9.5.2. Now you have even more reason to upgrade, don't you? :-) quote: Interestingly, I received a VW file in which the facets are invisible. When I copy an object from that file to one of my files the facet line reappear. When I drop my object into that file the facets go away.The smoothing angle is a Document Preference, which means it is actually stored with the active file. You'll need to set it for each new document you create, or create a template file with your preferred value and use that when you create new documents. Note that the .vsm file is a menu command, which you need to add to your workspace via the workspace editor. Then run that command, and it will ask you for an angle value, which is your smoothing angle. That angle is the maximum angle between faces for which it will remove the surface line, so you would need a higher value the lower your 3-D conversion resolution is. The .vsm file does not actually add any defaceting code to VectorWorks, the code is already in the program. Thus if someone sends you a file for which they've set that smoothing angle, it will render with facet lines removed even if you don't have the plug-in. [ 09-11-2003, 09:27 AM: Message edited by: Andrew Bell@NNA ]

quote: Originally posted by Steve Frushour: All great, but where on earth does one enter the values on the Hidden Line Smoothing plug-in? I've looked all over the place. VW 9.5.2 The plug-in is a menu command. Use the workspace editor to add it to your workspace, then select the menu item. It will display a dialog where you enter a value between 0.0 and 90.0.

In the newly released 10.5, facet line removal is significantly improved. As long as the smoothing angle value is greater than zero, most surfaces that are curved by definition (spheres, extruded cylinders, swept circles, extrude along path objects, etc.) will have their facet lines removed. No more guessing as to what a good angle value is to remove the lines you want and not the ones you don't.

quote: Originally posted by Kaare Baekgaard: I second that question: When is the next release expected? Happily, I can now tell you. VectorWorks 10.5 is available for download, and fixes the extrude rendering issue (along with lots of other improvements and fixes.) Enjoy.

quote: Originally posted by gdickson: I have note seen this information before. The words Destroy List have appeared next to the render progress bar but I am not clear as to what it is refering to. This message is displayed when VectorWorks is destroying the stored rendering data, for hidden line or polygon rendering modes. It is merely letting you know it is doing something, and does not indicate a problem.

quote: Originally posted by P Retondo: Also of note: I'm still getting multiple overlapping lines when generating a hidden line rendering from a 3D section. If you have a relatively simple file that demonstrates this problem, send it to bugsubmit@nemetschek.net. The hidden line code is supposed to eliminate duplicate lines, so any failure to do so is a bug (or possibly too tight a tolerance for what it considers overlapping).

quote: Originally posted by jangle: I'm using VW 10 with symbol libraries created in VW 9 saved as VW 10. Everything is fine except random elements of these symbols will render as wire frame instead of solid. Are these random elements extrudes? We tracked this down to what we think is a bug in the compiler we use on the Mac, and there will be a fix in our next release.

quote: Originally posted by BaRa: - Make it possible to select multiple CV’s. You can already do this for nurbs surfaces; just marquee select or shift select while in 3-D reshape mode. We should add this for nurbs curves, though.

quote: Originally posted by Cloud Hidden: I draw a curved wall and add windows. Client wants the wall longer on each side. If I change the start degrees, then all my windows move because they are relative to the start. If I just add a separate wall segment for the new space, then I cannot add any symbols that bridge the two wall segments. It's a nuisance to have to more all windows one by one just because the wall is being lengthened a foot or three. Is there a way to get around this? I reshaped a round wall in top/plan view, and the symbols didn't move when I extended either end. Does this work for what you want to do?

quote: Originally posted by Fred Perkins: You have it working on a Mac? With our files there are almost always lines missing somewhere. And to make it more interesting, the missing lines change. Nemetschek knows about this problem but they said it way only on Macs. We have to go back to 9.5 if we want to convert to line or cut a 3D section. We finally tracked it down, and will have a fix in our next release. (It seems to have been caused by a bug in the compiler we're using on the Macs, which is what made it such a challenge to track down.) Unfortunately, we can't blame all our bugs on the compiler...

quote: Originally posted by ErichR: 2. Make the Render Bitmap tool work in modes other than Renderworks, ESPECIALLY the Hidden Line Rendering. Try the "Copy convert To Lines" menu item. It creates a group of editable lines from the hidden line rendering of the selected objects.

quote: Originally posted by Cloud Hidden: My absolute biggest need is an easier way to make walls rise to meet a non-linear roof. I design domes, so the exterior will be some compound curve shape. Interior walls are sometimes built right up to the dome. When designing this, I have to make the wall as tall as the dome, then 3D section each wall plane and point by point, 3D Reshape each wall top to fit the curve. This takes next to forever, and literally doubles the time to do a design. Have you considered just letting the walls go through the roof? You could simply create a nurbs curve for each of the lines you need, if you need them in hidden line mode. Then if you need an outside view, hide the class the walls are in while you render. I assume you want to be able to add windows and doors after finishing the wall, so simply sectioning the wall to trim off the top does not work for your needs.

quote: Originally posted by Fred Perkins: I posted a message earlier about disappearing objects when using convert to lines or cut 3D section. I can't believe that our office is the only one having this problem. It happens on most of our jobs, but it is transitory and hard to replicate exactly. We now go back to version 9.5 when we need to get elevations with convert to lines. Is there any fix other than going back to the old version? The problem has not been seen on Windows, so if you have access to a Windows machine, you could generate your renderings on that. But we believe we have tracked down the cause of the problem and will have a repair in our next release.

quote: Originally posted by ant: I am a leacture and have some students who have bad files, which come up with "-51 Nonexistent access path Attempt to open File - FSOPEN" when they try to open them, I have try to set up a Workgroup ref, but the same thing comes up any idea why this has happened??? It sounds like a file system issue, not corrupt files. Are you attempting to open files via the File Open dialog, double-clicking on them in explorer or the like, or from the Recent Files list, or all of the above?

quote: Originally posted by jan15: There is a way to make that AutoCad-like "relative move": How about the "move/duplicate by vector" plug-in available at http://www.vectordepot.com/PlugIns1.shtml ?

quote: Originally posted by thx1432: I'm working on a file, and about 4 hours or so into it, it now fails to render at all. Can anyone help? Four hours into rendering it, or four hours into modelling it? It's generally easiest to fix these sorts of problems if you contact tech support directly, especially if you're willing to send a copy of your file. It may be there's a particular object in your drawing that VectorWorks is having trouble with. Also, what rendering mode(s) are you using?