MaltbyDesign

@Boh That's what I was assuming. That the modifications would only happen on the second model, showing new construction.

@Boh Thanks again.

Sorry for the late reply @Boh . Thanks very much for the detailed response. I think I understand your process for working in plan but with the existing model having objects demolished and, effectively, deleted from the model does one need to have two models? One model showing the entire existing building and then one model showing all of the modifications? It seems to me that it would be really difficult to show both demolition and new construction in a single model.

Thanks for the input, zoomed.

I do a lot of home renovations but typically do those drawings in AutoCad because it's quick and easy. However, I then often end up having to model in SketchUp to help homeowners visualize spaces. I'd like to be able to handle the entire workflow in Vectorworks, which I typically use for new builds. I'm having trouble figuring out how to model in 3D in a way that I can show the walls of the existing home, the walls to be demolished and the new construction. I tend to define a set of classes for the existing house with the prefix EX while new construction gets prefixed with CD (construction development/document). This works well for 2D drawing but I'm having trouble trying trying to figure out how to set up a drawing for 3D modelling. Does anyone have suggestions for a seamless way to integrate classes in a 3D model that clearly shows existing, demolition and new construction? In AutoCad 2D draughting it's just a matter of creating a plan where layers (classes) are toggled on and off to show the desired information. I'm having trouble trying to figure out how to achieve this in Vectorworks 3D drawing. Any recommendations or examples of workflow would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

You're right. I forgot that opacity doesn't work for extrusions. If only I could draw a rectangle along the z axis and then give it a radius, so that it is effectively like a curved (along the x-y axis) curtain or arched screen. Then I could use opacity. But I tried my extrusion idea and gave it a clear glass texture and removed reflectivity. That seems to work okay (need to fiddle with the texture settings to optimize). I created the extrusion from an oval so that it surrounds the building and would work for any view.

Thank you for these suggestions. I'll give them a try. Your first point gave me an idea; I wonder if, in plan, I could create a series of 'curtains' (vertical extrusions) with varying opacities and set them at different distances apart. I'm think of these curtains as concentric circles so that the view chosen doesn't matter. Have them on a class that can be turned on and off easily. Just thinking 'out loud'.

I'd love to be able to show depth on my exterior perspectives by trying to add some atmospheric depth to the background (the atmospheric filtering or layering that we see as objects get further away from us). I thought I might be able to control the opacity of trees and other background images to achieve this but that doesn't seem to work. Then I thought perhaps there might be a way to do this by adding exterior lights and using lit fog but that doesn't seem to achieve anything either. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Is there a guide to exterior rendering that illustrates how to get reasonably realistic depth of view? Aside from shadows being cast, everything looks so flat as though the background trees and building are on the same plane.

@Alan Woodwell Thanks so much for this bit of information. Very useful! This will help me get a solid 'skirt' with a textured ground surface.

@markdd That did the trick! Thanks very much for the suggestion, I appreciate it.

Hello, I've made a coloured glass backsplash that should be completely blue in the attached photo. However in render works it shows swaths of white that shouldn't be there. Any ideas what might be causing this? I thought it was the lights I installed but I've turned them off and still get the white. Thanks for any suggestions.

Moved question to Renderworks section. Moderators, please delete if necessary.

@Wes Gardner Thanks so much! It never occurred to me to use the drainage tool for this.

I found this post from early 2015 and was wondering if any solution has been found? Had hoped to be able to create a roof assembly using a slab and then rotate it to give it a 2% slope for a low slope roof. Since the create roof tool won't allow such a shallow roof, I was hoping I could do it with a slab, but apparently not. It may be that the only solution is to model the roof by its individual components.

Hi Wes, Adjusting the 3D Fill didn't seem to work, nor did adjusting the 3D Triangles. I then decided to try deleting the dark grass texture from the resource manager for this model and the drawing updated to show the lighter grass texture. I got the result I was after but not sure how! Thanks for your help!