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SeanOSkea

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Posts posted by SeanOSkea

    v.2020 now available

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    @Andy Broomell Yeah for years I kept my stuff at default 'cause half the time I'm in the classroom with students using there factory-fresh academic versions. But I manage to keep shortcuts for PS, Blender, Unreal, and two or three others straight in my head, so a year ago or so I changed a bunch of hotkeys and menus and I love it. I don't know why I didn't do it years ago. And EAlexander's list just made me realize C is up for grabs to! I don't think I've ever used that to zoom. 

    • Like 1

    v.2020 now available

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    @EAlexander Oh that's a good point. Of course you can. The U I O keys change the mode by default. I use those all the time to cycle through wall or double line offsets. I wonder why I never thought to use it for the interactive mode? But I'd never give up my ` key to moment-switch off snapping. I use that all the time. Probably why I don't use the hotkeys for the snapping. I leave everything on all the time and then just tilde them off with they cause trouble. 

    v.2020 now available

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    @mjm Its so easy to change, you don't even need to reload,  I change it all the time to suit my mood. If I'm doing a lot of work in Blender I'll switch it to a Blender/Maya warm grey in 3D, but then I'll get sick of that and want to brighten up to a pale blue or something. Whatever. I've never liked the off-white green color of the default. Once in a while I'll even mess with the orange highlight just for kicks and do a Maya teal or something. I like a light taupe for Top/plan as its really easy to keep track of fills or that shape that didn't quite get closed, but not so dark that you loose black lines.  But I always go back to default for tutorials because I don't want to confuse my students.  Just play with it. Just takes a second and if you don't like it just change back.

    I also go in and change a bunch of the shortcuts R for rotate P for push pull F for flyover etc. So many of the single key shortcuts are give over to toggling snapping or other weird stuff that you never need to mess with but incredibly useful things like array (Ctrl+alt+Shift+D)?!? have these chords you have to play. I wish I could assign a hotkey to the interactive scale mode. I love turning that off to precisely snap corners. The #1 wish I've wanted for years is some kind of XYZ axis lock. We even have it in the 3D reshape mode. Why only there? And why is the 3D widget only in SubD mode?  In Blender when you are doing any kind of transform (move, scale, rotate etc) you just hit the letter (XYZ) to lock it to that plane or Shift letter exclude that plane. HUGELY helpful. Add it to the 2021 wishlist... 

    • Like 3

    v.2020 now available

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by SeanOSkea

    @mjm Well, we've always been able to set the page space to whatever color you want in the interactive appearance settings in the preferences. I mess with those all the time. I just noticed today YouTube has a dark setting. 

    v.2020 now available

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    @Andrew Davies Thanks Andrew 

    Hopefully us PCers will get that option in the first SP. Everything else I use, Photoshop, Blender, Premiere etc has that nice charcoal UI but in VW I still need to put on my sunglasses, at least for a while now. I'm actually not impressed with the new icons. I agree with whoever posted that they look a bit Windows 95. Also ticked that I've spent like a 1000 hours this summer updating all my class tutorials for my students using 19. And now, for the first time in a decade they decide to change all the icons! Sigh. 

    • Like 3

    Connecting a 3d Object between 2 points?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm not sure I fully grasp what you're trying to do. But it sounds like you might want the NURBS tool and some 3D Loci.  You could even draw out your path with the 2D polyline tool and extrude an octagon (you could use a circle too but lots more polys that you'll never see) with extrude along a path. But that would be if you needed sag in your rope and as I re-read your post maybe they are taught? If so what about Duplicate array with the pivot being the point where all the ropes cross?  Assuming the eye-bolts are evenly spaced around the arch? I'm afraid I'm not being helpful 'cause I'm not sure what you're finished shape is supposed to look like. 

    Good luck. 

    • Like 1
    • Popular Post
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    v.2020 now available

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    12 hours ago, Andy Broomell said:

    The OpenGL speed improvements that were discussed in a Teaser Tuesday are immediately noticeable. I was able to load a complex model in OpenGL and navigate much more quickly than in previous versions, which is a welcomed improvement!

     

    All of the icons in the program were redrawn. Some for the better, some will take some getting used to. Looking forward to that full UI redesign some day!

    I wish they would let the marketing people redesign the UI. Everything looks so cool in the commercials. 

    • Like 6

    v.2020 now available

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    9 hours ago, Tom Klaber said:

     

    Our friends in lighting and entertainment seem to have a lot more to be excited about for 2020.  I have mentioned this before - but I am scared that VW is slowly shifting to an entertainment-focused software.   

     

    Funny, I was thinking just the opposite. Doesn't seem like there is much there for Entertainment either. 

    • Like 2

    2020 Teaser Tuesday - List Browser Direct Editing - Vectorworks 2020

    in News You Need

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Mark Aceto said:

    @JuanP does this mean that can we finally edit text in the Callout Tool inline instead of opening a dialog?

     

    Any other areas of the interface that fall into the category of, “I see the data right there - why can’t I edit it?” 

    I hope we can rename objects in the OI. The name field appeared at the bottom a few versions back but we still can't rename or search for objects by name like every other software lets you do. We're still clicking on dozens of "extrudes" and "generic solids." It seems like the capability is right there with that little field, now if we could simply rename in the object info heading and the use a search field to select-on-document that would be a small be so useful thing. Also great if the name stayed with an obj through state changes. i.e now, a named rectangle that is extruded looses its name. Naming a simple 2d shape and having that name stick with it regardless of the modifiers applied to it would be awesome. But to start, I'd just be happy with double clicking on "Polygon" or whatever at the top of the OI and renaming it. 

    • Like 3
    • Popular Post
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    2020 Teaser Tuesday - List Browser Direct Editing - Vectorworks 2020

    in News You Need

    Posted

    Nice little feature. I hope this is just the first of many. I'm disappointed by his closing comments which basically translate to "don't worry we're not changing anything important to your legacy workflow." VW development has been strangled by the goal of keeping everything the same while coming out with new ($1k) upgrades every year. They've got to get over that, we've needed a major interface overhaul for years. We are smart people; we can handle change.  

    • Like 5

    Homemade CNC

    in Hardware

    Posted

    @Terry Ackerman Any setting results that worked without going through a 3rd software? I've been trying to get a VW file into Create and have been getting the same error message. I've been trying different export settings in the DWF but no luck. We've added a lot of "maker" tools to our shop lately--3D printers, a Glowforge, and now a Shapeoko 3. I've had no problem getting stuff out of VW and into the printers and laser cutter but I've hit a wall with the CNC. 

     

    Lock Model lights on the Z plane

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    Interesting. I never work in Top WF. I would have assumed as a 3D view it would be even more likely to have unplanned snap jumps too. But you're right in Top they stay put, surprisingly. Thanks, but EAlexander nailed it with the snapping suppression. Just holding down ` does exactly what I need without switching modes or tools. But you've pointed out a lot of other great points. Thanks. 

    Lock Model lights on the Z plane

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    @JBenghiat   Thanks. 

    I'm generating storyboard renderings for, sometimes, dozens of scenes including around 8 or 10 lights so I'm making these moves potentially hundreds of times in a project.

    Yes I do have them in their own layer but switching between layers or layer options is also time consuming.   I always forget about the Move by points tool, but I'll give that a try--although that will only allow for location changes not pan and throw, so that would have multiple steps too. I work with light objects visible in WF only so I don't accidentally get a lamp-shade in a render.  Toggling back and forth between show and hide lights is also a lot of extra steps. 

    I think the tilde temporary disengage snapping is the best option but thanks for your additional recommendations. 

    Thanks 

     

    Lock Model lights on the Z plane

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    @EAlexander  Great call. Yeah holding down ` seems to do the trick. I've only tried it out for few minutes but that seems to work. But I can't figure out what it's snapping to. I mean the Z=0 makes sense but it will drop from 18' with a "Look to" of 5'  to some completely random number Z=15'6.06" Look to= -2'5.94   These are actual numbers from my experiment just now after letting up on `   I guess it doesn't matter now that I know I can turn off snapping to, I guess, solve the problem. Thanks. 

    • Like 1

    Lock Model lights on the Z plane

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    Thanks Rob: 

    But that's kind of the point. If I'm pushing objects around in a scene, I wan't to click and drag a light to re-position its focus onto where I've moved them visually rather than type in exact coordinates as I'm experimenting with different compositions. I don't know what the XY needs to be until I see it in its new position. I just know that I don't want its Z to be -6' or something. 

    @EAlexander That's a good idea. I suspect that's whats going on especially when they drop to exactly Z=0 but often it will be random heights as well. Sometimes up, although not as frequently. I'll insert a LO at Z=18' or something nice and round. Move it around in Top/plan and then see that its Z has dropped to 11' 7 7/8" or something completely random. What I'm really hoping for is a tick box somewhere that say "Lock Height" or something. Or what we desperately need for all our work--the much wished for XYZ locks or even something like the plane lock you get in SketchUp by holding down the Shift key. That would solve this and many other issues of moving objects in 3D. 

    Lock Model lights on the Z plane

    in Entertainment

    Posted

    Hi all: 

    When I'm setting up renders for different scenes I will move Light Objects (not Spotlight symbols, just plain light objects) around the model to generate different looks. Its easiest to do this in Top/Plan of course but I run into the frustrating issue of the lights moving in the Z axis when I do that. More often than not moving the light will cause it to drop to the Z=0 or even below the z plane. Then I have to go to the OI or a side view to re-position it. My fondest wish is that VW will add a axis lock (hopefully a hotkey) as many modeling programs have, but in the mean time is there a simple way to move the X/Y position of a light object without inadvertently changing its Z? 

     

    Thanks, 

    Sean 

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