Andrew Bell@NV

quote: Originally posted by JJD: I'm looking for peoples comments on running 9.5 with win 2000, XP home and XP professional, also if anyone can tell me if VW 8.5 will run on XP. I run versions of Minicad/VectorWorks as far back as 7.0.3 when I want to check how we did things in those older versions. My current main system runs XP Professional and runs all the old versions without a hitch as far as I've seen.

quote: Does VWKS 10 take advantage of Motorola's velocity engine/ alti-vec technology ? Does VWKS 10 take advantage of Apple's dual processor technology ? If not to the last questions then why not? Altivec speeds up multiple identical 32-bit floating point mathematical operations. VectorWorks uses 64-bit precision, and rarely does large numbers of identical operations on a big array of data, unlike a program like Photoshop. If we were doing Gaussian blurring of 1024x1024 bitmaps, we'd be looking at Altivec/MMX/SSE optimizations. We aren't. (Apple's implementation of OpenGL might, or ATI/nVidia drivers might, in which case we would get that speed-up also.) Multiple processor support requires complete re-writes of algorithms, not "throwing a switch." And in the process it makes testing harder (as a particular bug may be a synchronization issue between the threads), and increases the expense for us as anyone working on or testing such algorithms needs to have a dual processor machine. And in the end, typically you get perhaps a 60% speedup typically, nowhere near a doubling. What might be more practical is background rendering; having a way to have ops like "Convert Copy to Lines...->Hidden Line" work in the background, rather than the foreground. Then you could continue working on your document while the rendering occurs. Writing that to work with multiple processors -- one would render, the other respond to your input -- or multiple threads would probably require substantially less re-writing. Do you think that would be of use? (No promises, of course, I'm just a grunt here.) Also, for what operations is performance a big issue? A lot of the time, it is easier and more cost-effective -- since it helps people with single processor machines too -- to rewrite code with a more efficient algorithm rather than to write for multiple processors.

quote: Sorry for the inconvenience, but such is the problem that spammers have created for us.[/QB] "I say we take off, and nuke ['em] from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."

quote: Originally posted by pedro: is it possible that someday when i go to open a VW file i can see a preview of the file in the little window by its name? Anything is possible... What would probably be the best mechanism for doing this would be the VectorWorks drawing file itself to have an embedded preview bitmap, generated either based on the current display as you save the file, or at some user-specified time. The file preview code could then look for that bitmap and display it when you select a file in the File Open dialog. The disadvantage of doing this is that we would probably have to implement a custom File Open dialog to support it, rather than using the system's one. It would thus tend to lag behind, possibly missing the latest things like Windows XP's drop-down list of recent files of the same type.

quote: Originally posted by sakkaraju: Full support of boolean primitives or, and, xor operations on 2d and 3d objects that works reliably acrross multiple onjects. How is this different from the Add/Subtract/Intersect Solid commands, and the Add/Clip/Intersect/Combine into Surface commands? They work on a fair number of object types. If there are object types they don't work on and you would like them to, I would make that your wish. If there are operations that you try but they fail, report those to bugsubmit@nemetschek.net so we can fix 'em.

quote: Originally posted by richcaud: It would be nice to be able to snap to other views from top plan for the purpose of "tracing" objects drawn in 3d. The cut 2d and 3d section tool is nice, but they both leave you with lines instead of polys - and a lot of lines at that. If cut 2-D section gives you the line you need, you can just cut 2-D section to a new layer, then create another layer. Have both layers visible, and work on the most recent layer, and you'll get the equivalent of the snaps you wanted. When you're done tracing, delete the section layer. Or is this somehow not what you need? You can also created projected polygons with the "Copy Convert to Polygons" command.

quote: Originally posted by buz: Is there a way ......... I have a batch of extruded rectangles showing a joist layout (duplicate array) on 16" centers. They are square to each other at one end but at the other cross a 45? guide line where i want to cut them. I know I can cut them individually with another extruded shape and subtract solids, but is there a way to cut the 'batch' all at once? Or is there a better way? tfyh Buz If you're using VW 9.5.1 or 9.5.2 with the 3-D PowerPack installed, you can use the Section Solids command to cut them all at once, or go into top view and use the split tool in Split By Line mode to cut them. Alternatively, you can add the joists together with Add Solids, and then Subtract Solid with your slicing object. The Split tool method has the disadvantage that it's harder to change the cutting line if you change your mind about where to cut, but it's easier to set up.

quote: Originally posted by BisbeeBlue: Ok. So I know I'm a rookie at this, but the roof creation tools are enough to make a man drink. I'm drawing the gable end elevation of a remodel and am attempting to add a shed addition projecting out from the existing wall. The 3 walls are no problem. Can even make them pitch to meet the existing wall. I cannot, however, seem to get a roof on it. For a simple roof like this, you might simply want to create a 2-D polygon covering the area of your roof, and then use the roof face tool to create the roof. Draw your roof slope line over the outermost wall, and give it the bearing height that is the height of your wall. If you use the roof from walls tool, you'll need to select the 3 sides of the wall that you don't want to slope down to, and mark them as gable ends.

quote: Originally posted by TiTaNiuM sAMuRai: However, I'd like to know why 3D/2D states affect the file _size_. Andrew? Given that I claimed it doesn't, I'd be hard-pressed to give you an answer to that. There are situations where VectorWorks creates what we call a cached representation of an object. That's data that can be generated from the object's definition, but we store a copy because it's faster to access that copy than to regenerate it each time we need it. This cache is often saved with the file. These caches may get destroyed for various reasons; changing the 3-D resolution, for example, will destroy some of the caches. The cache is only regenerated as needed. So if you did something that destroyed the caches, but all the relevant objects aren't visible afterwards, it's possible that if you save the file at that point it will be smaller. But changing to plan doesn't do anything like this that I know of, other than wiping out the current rendering settings which is a pretty small record.

quote: Originally posted by TiTaNiuM sAMuRai: and VW would 'store it' how, if not writing to the file? I think Katie is misinformed on this particular detail. To the best of my knowledge (as someone with an intimate knowledge of much of the code), no rendering results are ever saved with the file (unless as a rendered bitmap), nor is anything not saved just because it's in top/plan. However, the general remarks regarding VW having to do a lot more than Photoshop with input data, and thus being slower, is correct. Beyond the file headers, Photoshop needs simply to read in a large list of color values of a known size. VectorWorks has to rebuild all the various class, layer, and object connections, and it tries to make sure none are corrupted and to repair them if they are. If you want a closer test of raw file read time, make a VectorWorks file that contains nothing but a large bitmap texture. Then compare the speed it takes to load that file with the time it takes Photoshop to load the original bitmap. (Your original bitmap should be in an uncompressed format for an accurate test.) I suspect you'll find the read times much closer.

I'm not the official announcer, but VectorWorks 9.5.2 -- which fixes the OS 10.1.5 color issue -- is now available for downloading at http://www.nemetschek.net/downloads/vectorworks/index.html Enjoy.

quote: Originally posted by Marc: Is it possible to remove all lines except the outline? or will this just get us really close? If you put it up to 90 degrees, the maximum allowed, it will come very close to just the outline. However, it only works to remove lines within an object, and joined walls (for example) don't count as a single object. Meshes do, groups don't. But it'll get you fairly close.

quote: Originally posted by Jono: Hi Katie ... I seem to be missing something !! If I create a rectangle with the extruded rectangle tool, I get prompted to put in a Z dimension. The problem then comes if I want to alter any dimension. The X and Y dimension in the OI box is one of the poisition of the rectangle, not of its properties ... You can "Edit Group" on the extrude to see the contained rectangle and change its size. The Z value you speak of is labelled "extrusion", and is the thickness of the extrusion. You can use the 3-D reshape tool to adjust the thickness from the top or the bottom. But you are incorrect, the X and Y values in the OI box are the X and Y dimensions of the contained 2-D object. You can resize the rectangle by editing these values. It scales around the object center. It might be nice to have a widget like rectangles do to change which corner it scales from, or to have 3-D reshape allow you to reshape it from a corner.

quote: Originally posted by kla_anders: is there a way to section 3d objects, or view as hidden lines without getting the triangulation? There are two answers to your question. 1) The new 3-D PowerPack includes a Section Solids command, which sections a 3-D object by a user-specified sectioning surface, and returns curved surfaces, not triangles. 2) There is a defaceting angle preference for hidden line rendering which will remove most faceting lines. For now, there's a plug-in command at www.vectordepot.com that will allow you to set the value.

quote: Originally posted by fishken: I have just noticed that when rendering using "Shaded Polygons", the colours take on totally different hues. Rendering in renderworks or OpenGL gives the correct colours.I have checked the problem using a new document with a few simple cubes, but with the same result. The shaded polygon mode must pick polygon colors from the 256 colors on the attribute palette. It doesn't have the option of a full set of 24-bit colors like OpenGL/RenderWorks. Could it be there just aren't any colors in the color table that are close to what the shaded color should be?

quote: Originally posted by Marc: Andrew, I downloaded the plug-in but it is a simpletext document. What do I do with this?Is this vectorscript ? M This is a VectorScript plug-in. Copy the .vsm file to your plug-ins directory, then start VectorWorks and use the workspace editor to add the command to your workspace menu.

quote: Originally posted by Marc: try using the "U", "I", and "O" keys M Note that these work for every tool with mode bar widgets, not just the polygon tool. U cycles through the first set, i through the second (if any), and o through the third set (if any.)

quote: Originally posted by kla_anders: would love to see a hidden line view that was purely the edge lines and not all the mesh and triangulation of solids. Have you checked out the smoothing angle preference? It was a late addition and hasn't gotten a control in the preferences dialog yet, but there's a plug-in at http://www.vectordepot.com that allows you to set it. What it does is it removes lines between faces of objects that are within the user-specified angle.

quote: Originally posted by Tony: Does VW have any type of command that aligns the working planes to a surface , Similary to AutoCAD's Align to Face? If the surface has points you can snap to (and it should), the Set Working Plane tool should work for what you need. Is this not working for you as you need it to?

quote: Originally posted by TiTaNiuM sAMuRai: Yes, I'm talking about holding down the Alt key while making a window to select all items the window crosses. Generally this is referred to as a marquee. (As in the flashing lights around a movie title on movie marquees.) Is there a particular reason -- or two or three -- other than ease of programming, why the group _boundaries_ are used? I can't think of any, I suspect it's just something that people haven't generally complained about. [ 05-24-2002: Message edited by: Andrew Bell@NNA ]

quote: Originally posted by Alexandre B A Villares: I already use the 'hidden line smoothing angle' often, but that isn't enough... Points taken. I have some thoughts (and even some test code) about improving the defaceting, but I can't promise which release it'll be in.

quote: Originally posted by Dellboy: Thanks spring drawn and looking excellent.However i do need to draw another standard spring. I would believe this would involve creating a fixed diameter spiral which extends in the Z plane. Adjust the pitch value when you create the spring to create a helix.

quote: Originally posted by Alexandre B A Villares: The wireframe view of NURBS based objects is so cool it makes me wish for neater line rendering. At least if the dashed hidden line rendering could be made to be based on the wireframe it would be great. [ 05-13-2002: Message edited by: Alexandre B A Villares ] How do you want it changed? Do you want to get rid of the facet lines? There's a VectorScript function that allows you to do so, or you can go to http://www.vectordepot.com and pick up a plug-in that allows you to adjust your facet line removal setting.

quote: Originally posted by Garry Dreger: In theory------Unfortunately, It is not possible to combine Extruded circles [logs] into a solid; the"Add solid" tool. Why not? I have not heard of any problems adding extruded circles together. You probably actually want to extrude a circle whose top and bottom have been flattened, rather than a true circle.

quote: Originally posted by Garry Dreger: I've "constructed" a wall made of 16" dia. extruded circles.[a log wall] .I would like to cut door and window sized openings. Anyone? You could use Add Solids to combine the logs together, and then use subtract solids to subtract an object the size of the door or window. Or, if you have the 3-D PowerPack, you could use the "Project and Trim" tool to cut the appropriate outline.