[Working with the Polyline Tool]

You could also try the freehand tool for initial trace, then reshape.

[Can't adjust spread and beam on lighting devises]

When you adjust the beam and spread of a RW spotlight, it changes the softness of the edge of the light. If they're the same, it's sharp. If they're different, it gets increasingly softer. Adjusting the beam and field of a lighting device doesn't do that. The beam and spread options (with the little angled interface) are there for a lighting device, but greyed out.

I just saw that it works on a source 4 PAR, but not a 50deg or other ERS.

So, I repeat: how do I make a soft-edged gobo projection?

[Can't adjust spread and beam on lighting devises]

I have some lighting devises (ETC Source 4 50deg, etc) with gobo textures. In the "edit light" window the spread and beam are greyed out and I can't adjust them. How can I soften the edges of my gobos? I'm certain I used to be able to do this (maybe in previous versions).

[image props not rendering in open GL]

Hm. . . imported the design layer into a new file and the image props work as expected.

[image props not rendering in open GL]

I have a bunch of image props that were rendering fine in Open GL. I was moving them, resizing, etc not problem. Then I performed a move on one, and now all are rendering as their object color rather than the image of the prop in Open GL. Render fine in renderworks.

Thoughts?

[Odd behavior inside edit extrude]

I'm finding occasional odd behavior when in edit mode for an extrude. Sometime I can drag a polygon, say, and when I release the mouse, it will jump to a different location. Or a different object in the extrude will jump. Seems to be related to the view, maybe viewing the polygon from a different angle than when it was extruded, but I can't suss it out. Besides, used to be I could edit an extrude and see the original polygon, no matter what view I'm in when I enter edit mode.

[HDMI washing out projection screen]

My video screen object looked fine until I turned HDMI on, now it's all washed out. The image on the screen has reflection of "backlit." I turned the brightness up to 300% with seemingly no effect. I guess I'll try brighter, but any other suggestions?

[translucency/shadows]

OK, just updated to SP4 and the problem has gone away.

[translucency/shadows]

They are set to cast shadows, and seem to be doing so when viewed from behind.

[translucency/shadows]

I am rendering a stage set that uses translucent panels. They have a texture with backlit reflectivity and plain transparency (87% opaque). I have spot lights behind them. I created some extrudes to keep the lights behind various units from spilling and blending, so I can have the panels blue and columns yellow. In final RW, if I look from behind, the light is shielded as expected, but from the front it's as if the shields aren't there, without changing anything but the viewing angle. This is the first time I've tried this in VW2012; worked fine in VW2010.

[snap problems]

Looks to have been a corrupt file. I started over and so far so good. It may have had something to do with the Trusteer Rapport preference panel (for online banking security).

[snap problems]

I'm having a problem where I create some polygons, and extrude them, and then am unable to snap to the extrude. I've checked my constraint settings. I copied and pasted the extrude into a new file and can snap to it fine. I deleted and re-created it in the original drawing and still can't snap to it. Baffled.

[VW for films: should I use 2D or 3D objects on drawings?]

For my workflow, I do most everything in 3D. I often start by making simple 3D representations of my units in a class I call "shell." This is equivalent to sketching. I'll use the shell as a guide to create accurate 3D models with different classes for different materials, such as plywood skins, wood frame, metal frame, trim, etc, and eventually turn "shell" off. I tend to put each unit of my stage set (each wall or platform, etc) in its own designer layer. I can use unified view (or design layer viewports in some cases) to see the whole set together. Then I can use visibilities to create sheet layer viewports that can display each unit individually, or show just the frame, or whatever.

I don't get into symbols very much, but they could be useful to create a very clean ground plan by creating a simple 2D symbol attached to the 3D unit.

I will sometimes do a 2D detail drawing if I can't get a clean looking view of the 3D model. Often I'll create the 3D view in a viewport, draw over it in annotations, then turn all the classes off so my drawing is all that is visible.

[Export from Vectorworks Educational]

Also, if you export as an image you don't get the watermark.

[Viewing 2D in relation to 3D objects in VW 2011]

As a workaround, before the days of unified view, I'd do a lot of design layer viewports (formerly layer links) to bring different layers together into one 3D view. be careful how you class them, as visibilities can start to get confusing.

[Mapping window NO! more in 2011?]

I think if you uncheck the auto-align box (or change to perimeter), you'll be able to map with the OIP settings or the attribute mapping tool.

[lit fog vs. image props]

I'm finding that lit fog is absent from the masked area of an image prop (i.e. there's a "box" around my prop with no fog in it.) Any workaround for this?

[HDRI TV studio lighting]

Thanks, those look pretty good.

[Shadow Screen?]

I would try creating a texture with the reflectivity shader on "translucent" or "translucent plastic." I do find it odd that those appear in reflectivity and not transparency.

[VM 2010 Video screen rendering]

I've also experienced a time when I had to restart the software to make screens render.

[light beam vs. gobo projection]

I think you need to render in fast w/ shadows or final.

[Creating new Screen Image??]

The process I use is this:

in the resource browser, under the resources dropdown; new resource; renderworks texture. For color use "image color;" import an image file; navigate to your file. Set reflectivity to constant. Click OK.

Select the projector, in the OIP, edit screen image. Your new texture should now appear in the "screen image" drop down.

[objects multiplying in viewports]

No, no scaled symbols.

Not an answer, but a fix: I deleted and re-created all my design layer viewports.

[objects multiplying in viewports]

This is an odd one--I suspect a corrupt file but thought I'd see if anyone had any insight.

I've created a viewport on a sheet layer, and some object are appearing three times, rotated from each other around the z axis. This is occurring on multiple computers.

I'll attach two screen shots. The first is of the design layers (all layers visible, all classes visible, unified view. All layers have the same scale). The second is the viewport taken from that view.

[HDRI TV studio lighting]

Can anyone suggest a good HDRI file to simulate lighting in a TV studio (news set)? The "studio" ones included with W2011 seem to have way too much top light. FYI this is my first attempt at HDRI.