P Retondo

Nicholas, Great idea, I wish I'd thought of it!

I've heard similar things from other Archicad users. I'd be very interested to hear from others who have used both programs. I've never used Archicad, but I've worked with offices that do, and I have exchanged info with them via the .dwg format (BTW, I don't recommend doing that - very time consuming at both ends!)

quote: Originally posted by P Retondo: I experimented, and found that if I change the origin location, this problem can be caused because only the 2D coordinate system changes when the origin is moved. I can't remember doing that in this file, but it is possible I did and that may be the explanation. Is there any other possible cause? Your message crossed with my edit above! When you shift from top to a lateral view, the 2D XY coordinate system is modified so that 2dY -> 3dZ. If you are in front view, 2dX -> 3dX, and if you are in right view 2dX -> 3dY.

Katie, Yep, the 2D coordinate system has been shifted from the 3D system in all lateral views. I experimented, and found that if I change the origin location, this problem can be caused because only the 2D coordinate system changes when the origin is moved. I can't remember doing that in this file, but it is possible I did and that may be the explanation. Is there any other possible cause? [ 01-30-2003, 12:09 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

Katie, In any side view (right, left, front, back) the 2D Y value is "up and down." This corresponds to the Z axis in 3 dimensional space.

Robert, What is the configuration of your hardware/software environment?

I have always experienced the fact that the Z coordinate of a 3D entity viewed from the side = Y coordinate in 2D space from the same view. So, for example, if I'm in front view and I place a 2D locus at a height of Y = 0 and align a wall to the bottom with that locus, my wall is set to a height of Z = 0. For the first time, however, I have found that this behavior is not true in a version 9.5.2 file. I find a set of walls originally set to Z = 0, but in side view the 2D coordinate reads Y = 11'-2.755" while the 3D Z coordinate reads 0!! Do you have any experience with this problem? In an archived earlier version of this file, for the same walls Z and "2D Y" agreed (= 0 in both cases). VW 9.5.2 Win2K P4 2.0G [ 01-28-2003, 09:56 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

Thanks, Katie. I hope you don't take my request off of the wish list, though. It would be a simple matter to make that options window pop up in a location clear of where the cursor has to be to click on the icons in the attribute palette.

Thanks, propstuff - it looks like the distance of the light makes a difference with a spot light, but with my directional light (analogous to the sun), the distance appears to be irrellevant. Since I do building massing studies, the spot lights don't work for me, where with room interiors such as you work with it would be the right choice.

Sorry, for the record this was a glitch with the "connect/combine" tool, not the join tool.

For whatever it is worth, when I use the compose command to create a complex polyline from arcs and lines, I get a polyline consisting of arcs and lines. If you activate the "edit polygon" tool, you will see the various vertices. The arced portions of this polyline can be dimensioned using the radius tool. However, if you offset this polyline, you will get a series of straight segments instead of a set of lines and curves. Since there are no true arcs, the arc dimension tool will not recognize anything with a radius. This, I think, may be the source of your problem. In my experience, offsetting any polyline creates this kind of many-segmented entity. Mathematically, it would seem that when we start with a polyline consisting of arcs and lines, an offset polyline consisting of similar arcs and lines would be the more logical result. I think that there is a flaw in the logic of the offset tool.

Sean and Katie, Perhaps you are somewhat misled by the way we are characterizing the use of the extend tool. With the old extend tool, you select the line to be extended to, select the tool, then click once on each of the lines to be extended. N.B.: the line to be extended to does not have to be in your view! It can be hundreds of feet away, and you can zoom in to see the individual lines to be extended, which may be inches or less apart! So besides one click for each extend, no panning and zooming between clicks. This is what we miss. Better than just bringing back the extend tool, it would be great if there were a second mode where you could select multiple lines to be extended, then hit enter to extend them all at once. [ 01-22-2003, 09:10 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

Katie, The issue is not one of multiple lines extended with one click. It's where the lines you want to extend are a long way from their destination - i.e., far enough away that when you zoom out to see everything, you can't reliably click on the individual lines to be extended. With the extend tool, you can zoom in on all your lines to extend, click on each, done - potentially with only one pan and zoom. With the join tool, I'm constantly panning back and forth between the lines to extend and their target line.

Katie, Thanks ... I emailed a file to you.

I think that the "sun" light object is a directional point source, and it does not "naturally" create shadow softness, because the light source has no breadth. The softness appears to be created by some kind of mathematical function.

Mike, Since fills don't translate into ACAD, is it possible the object is there but you just can't see it because of the 0 line thickness?

When I join a line to an unclosed polyline using the Join tool (under the tool menu), the polyline closes. This appears to be an "undesired feature." I can send a sample file if desired. VW 10.0.1 Win 2K

Hi Dave, I am aware that the detail setting is supposed to affect shadow softness. However, with detail set to the maximum, the softness zone is still way to large and coarse - not realistic at all! Maybe this is a bug in v 10.0.1, but there really should be control over the size of this zone. In real life, when a wall casts a shadow on a wall 10' or so away, the zone of softness is no more than a few inches - the distance it takes to move your view of the shadow-casting corner across the face of the sun. Since this is a universal geometric formula, it seems that realistic shadow softness could be an easily constructed algorithm, with some edit-able constant placed in the formula to allow users some "artistic license." Shadow softness helps the viewer distinguish between planes of color that define an object, as opposed to planes of shadow. [ 01-20-2003, 02:07 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

Call. NNA, it's time to bring back this useful feature, especially since AutoCAD has a similar capability. Eliminating the extend tool was a step backwards. I imagine many people use it as I once did, to project lines from a floor plan to create an elevation or section. [ 01-20-2003, 01:48 PM: Message edited by: P Retondo ]

Unlike the way it was in the past (v. 8?), when I click on the attribute palette to change a line type or weight, the options window that pops up is located so that my cursor aligns with the bottom line-type (a dash type), and activates it. With click-click mouse operation, I am used to just clicking, then being able to select the desired option. Because of this fault, one click changes my line type when I don't want to, and automatically closes the options window when I release the mouse button. Please change the screen location of the options window so that this does not occur. Also, since I very often want to change both line type and weight, it would be great if I could do both without having the window close. As it is, I have to click on the line attributes and make my selection twice, once to change the type and again to change the weight. I realize this means adding an <Enter> to close the options window . . .

I think Mike has the answer. If you are viewing multiple layers in 3D, when you change the view in one layer, you have to use the command "Align Layer Views" to get the other layers to adopt that view. I've never tried rendering in that situation, so I don't know if all layers will render once they are aligned. Mike has given you the correct procedure: create a new Model layer, and insert links to all the layers you want included. If you still have a problem with an object appearing in the foreground when it should be in the background, the most likely explanation is that the object actually is in the foreground and has been placed incorrectly (an easy mistake to make in 3D!).

I agree completely. The extend tool was able to do something that is no longer available, and which, by the way, is a standard feature for AutoCAD. If you want ACAD users to switch . . .

Is there a way to vary the softness of a shadow mapped shadow? There's too much of a fuzzy edge for my taste. VW/RW 10.0.1 WinXP

In my experience on the windows platform VW 8 will use 100% of the CPU whenever it is the active window. This problem is corrected in version 10, and if I recall correctly was corrected with VW 9. You can confirm this using Task Monitor, minimized to the little icon on the task bar. Open version 10 and version 8 at the same time, switch back and forth between the two (allow a few seconds lag time), and watch the little icon go from black to solid green and back. There have been posts in the past on this. If it was solved for Windows, it can probably be solved for the Mac . . . ? Win2K P4 2.0Gh

I have a vague recollection that the number of facets in a curved object is determined by the conversion resolution setting at the time of the object's creation. Therefore, if that setting was changed between the creation of one wall and the other, it might explain why there are differences. But, I'm puzzled that there would be no lines at all on one of the walls. Just a thought, it's probably not the answer.