Andrew Bell@NV

What rendering mode(s)? What kinds of objects are you rendering?

My query was for my purposes only, not an indication of the state of all of NNA. Showing components in sections has certainly been asked of NNA before now, and not just on the tech board. (As per normal NNA policy, I won't say whether it will be added or for what release if it is.) Components in sections can be simulated by drawing rectangles in the viewport annotation, so at least simple fills can already be done reasonably easily, if not automatically, in VectorWorks.

Section viewports restrict the view so that it is perpendicular to the sectioning surface. This is true both of perspective and non-perspective sections.

There is no way to make the wall components appear in the section viewport. At present, wall components are a plan view only item. I'm curious, would components be all that useful in section to you? You would get at best vertical strips of the component materials. Most of the time when I see hand-made wall sections, I see beams, joists, insulation, siding, etc. Vertical strips would be accurate for SIPs, but not stick-built construction.

A layer link is an object. It's typically created in a locked state, so unlock it and delete it.

Carbon and Cocoa are equally capable. I submit the following: The Register on the Mac Finder and Carbon 'Bollocks, says one ex-Apple software engineer of our acquaintance who has no small knowledge of the beast. "Carbon is at the same level as Cocoa, and they are both built on the same underlying foundation. They are absolutely true peers of each other," he says. "One can do things that the other can do and vice versa, but there's no reason why a well written Carbon app can't be just as good as a well written Cocoa app.'

Are the walls aligned properly? The code should be eliminating that edge if the faces line up, but just a small offset will result in it leaving the line. Can you send me a sample file if they are aligned?

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Are you familiar with the Polygon from Inner Boundary mode of the Polygon tool? It can make filling HL rendered viewports with 2-D hatches much easier.

Submit a file to bugsubmit@nemetschek.net or send it to me directly, and I'll take a look-see.

If you have a file that demonstrates the problem, please send it to bugsubmit@nemetschek.net or to me. If you need a quick fix, try reversing the orientation of the defining object for the slab.

It's not surprising that it is slow, because VectorWorks 12 is not a universal binary, and thus is PowerPC code running on your Mac Mini via Rosetta emulation. While NNA has stated that a later version of VectorWorks 12 -- a free upgrade for VW 12 owners -- will be a universal binary, at present Intel Macs are not on the list of supported hardware for VectorWorks. There has been no announcement about when this universal binary version will be released, and I won't drop any hints; you'll just have to be patient (with both NNA and your Mac Mini...)

Note that while displays may seem expensive, they go obsolete more slowly than other components. But for price/performance, you might consider two Dell 2001FP or 2007FP 20" LCDs rather than one 30" display. You would get 3200x1200 pixels rather than 2560x1600 for about half the cost.

VectorWorks is not yet a universal binary, but NNA announced that it will be a free upgrade as part of version 12.

Your 3-D conversion resolution is set to low, so it generates a low resolution version. Go to VectorWorks Preferences and select the 3D tab to find the drop-down where you can change your resolution.

Layer scale is also available in the context menu (right-click on Windows, right- or ctrl-click on Macs.)

That's correct. You can even create the first viewport and create the cropped, scaled detail viewport from it by drawing the 2-D cropping object on top of that viewport, selecting it and the cropping object, and selecting Create Viewport again. It will create a cropped duplicate of the original viewport. Then change the scale and any other things you want changed for the detail viewport.

quote: Originally posted by Christiaan: To tell you the truth I just want to see what Katie looks like. One should always leave a little air of mystery about these things, but I think Katie wouldn't mind if I gave you a two word description: Unforgettably Blonde.

As far as I know, no, though I was thinking the same thing when I created it. I guess you still have a wishlist item...

quote: Originally posted by Kaare Baekgaard: The snap to edge option under the snap to object in the constraint palette is often very handy, and often it is not. I turn it on and off 20-30 times every day, yet it is hidden in a submenu. I would like it to become a tool palette item in its own right - or a keyboard shortcut to activate it. Please. The following VectorScript will toggle it: SetPref(48, NOT GetPref(48)); or you can do SetPref(48, true); to enable it. You can create a plug-in menu command with a script, and then assign it a keyboard shortcut. If you want feedback for the current state, add at the end: Message('Snap points ',GetPref(48));

Incidentally, there is a difference between the section line for perspective sections versus orthogonal ones. In an orthogonal section, the section "line" can have segments perpendicular to the main line that "stair-step" the section line. Perspective sections require the section line to be a straight line.

An "image" on a 3-D object is a texture. To support textures you need (I think) the RenderWorks add-on package. If you have RenderWorks, then from the resource browser, create a new RenderWorks Texture. The first drop down will include image files as the source, and if you choose that, a dialog will appear that allows you to select your image file to use as the texture. Once the texture is created, you apply it to a 3-D object either by drag-and-drop, or from the Render pane of the Object Info palette.

quote: Originally posted by ErichR: Also, if 11.5.1 works where 12.0.1 doesn't, what's your conclusion? None at this point. I was trying to figure if 12 could possibly be pushing you over the edge memory-wise, but with 4 GB I'd say no. If you manage to create a simple file that consistently does not render, I'd send it to tech support. You might want to try a memory test program like MemTest to see if there could be faulty memory. Does OpenGL work without problems, or do you encounter the same issues with that?

Have you checked either the Task Manager or the Activity Monitor to see if you are getting close to running out of memory? What happens if you just create a simple extrude and try to render that? We can't fix what we don't know about. Have you reported the problem to tech support, with details about your particular system? As for file corruption, could you provide any details? Are you getting size 0 files, or files that seem large enough but that VectorWorks won't read?

Have you tried reinstalling VectorWorks?