Teresa Hull

Is there a way to edit or modify a symbol definition's default Info Record values in a worksheet? I would love to be able to do this with my library files (I use a lot of Info Records) so that I can review, update and modify the default information that is attached to a symbol's definition. This would prove to be VERY useful in keeping my library files up-to-speed!

On a similar vein, but a slightly different approach: Be able to attach a Locus of sorts, that the user can define. This "specialized locus" can be used for insertion, alignment, distribution, etc., and should appear in associated dialogue boxes. Also, it would be great if a worksheet could pull the X, Y and Z information for this locus for each object. Extra-super bonus points if this "specialized locus" is a ray (with a defined "starting point", but also a direction). The x-rotation, y-rotation and z-rotation of the direction of the ray would prove useful in aligning any object's rotation with any other object's rotation. Just a thought ....

Simon, Very nice! Thank you!

Mic, You could also do a custom selection from the menu bar: Tools > Custom Selection... A dialog box will open. For "Commands" select "Select Only" (this will deselect everything else before making the new selection). For "Options", choose to either make the selection immediately ("Execute Immediately") or choose to "Create Script" (so you can easily recall the selection later. In the next dialog box, you can choose what should be selected. Through the series of drop-downs, you can choose what you want to be selected. If you opted to create a script, you will first be prompted to create a Script Palette. Then you will be prompted to name your Script. I would suggest naming the palette something like "Select Only", and naming the script something like "C: [name of class goes here]" or "L: [name of layer goes here]". The Script Palette will then show up in the Resource Browser, and when double-clicked will open as a small window. If you double click on the name of the script in the script palette, the script will execute. I'm not a VectorScript-er, but I'll bet there is a way to then modify the script that is created to make it so it selects only what is in the active Layer or Class. Again, I'm not sure how to do that, but it seems like you should be able to ... Maybe someone can chime in? Good luck!

Justin, Are you talking about a floor-base that is made of three pieces of pipe, in the shape of an "H"? You would leave the c-clamp on the fixture, and essentially "overhang" the fixture on the upper cross-pipe ... I don't know an official name for these, but I have seen them in a few shops ... I'd call them "Floor Base - H-pipe". And I do not believe there is a VW symbol for them in any stock VW or Spotlight library. If what I'm describing is what you're talking about, then it should be fairly easy to create your own symbol. In fact, VW Spotlight doesn't deal very well with any sort of mounting-hardware or clampage, other than the standard c-clamp ... I'm not sure if you'd want to attach it to the light as an Accessory -- maybe if there were an accessory category called "hardware" that also translated into LightWright? Good luck!

Jim, Seems mostly doable ... You will likely have to create custom fixtures and play with them to get the "look" exactly right. But (as far as I know) there is not a way to control the lights in your rendering from a lighting console. To do this, you would have to go to some sort of pre-visualization software, such as ESP Vision, Light Converse, Martin Show Designer, WYSIWYG, Capture, etc. The only way to control the lighting in a Vectorworks Spotlight (aka VW SL) scene is through the VW SL interfaces. Good luck!

Ryan, I have had good success with line lights, but I warn you that (at least in VW2011), the line light is pretty render-intensive. This is because there are essentially infinite light sources that go in all directions along the entire length of the line light. The render engine has to calculate each of those sources. **The previous explanation may not be completely accurate, but it is how it was explained to me.** I would not suggest putting a line light in every stick of truss on your drawing (depending on how much truss there is), unless you have a lot of time to watch it render. The attached are prelim renderings, so I didn't spend too much time tweaking all the settings to get everything "just so." If the project had been realized to final renderings, I would have adjusted the line light fall-off (although I'm not sure if that's what it is called for a line light) so there wasn't so much spill onto the ceiling above the circle truss. I also played with the texture of the truss itself, so that it was very willing to reflect the light that I was hitting it with. Another adjustment I would have made (had the project made it to the next phase) would have been to make the ceiling less reactive to the light, so it didn't shine so blue. Cheers and good luck!

Grant, I think I ran into this confusion a little while ago myself. I feel like an image prop will bring in the alpha channel, but a texture will not. Perhaps a Wish List item?

Seokage, I'm a Mac, so I'm not much help, but make sure your OS and drivers (especially the drivers for your video card) are up to date. Here are the system requirements for Vectorworks 2011 (copied and pasted from the Vectorworks website): Windows: Operating System: Windows XP SP 3 Windows Vista SP 2 Windows 7 Other Software: QuickTime 7.6.0 to 7.6.6 (higher versions not recommended) Processor: Pentium 2GHz or better Other Hardware: DVD-ROM drive (dual layer) Screen Resolution: 1024 x 768 minimum, 1280 x 800 recommended Display color depth: 15 bit or higher Vectorworks RAM 1GB minimum*, 2GB recommended Hard drive space 10GB free Vectorworks plus RenderWorks RAM 2GB minimum*, 4GB recommended Hard drive space 10GB free Vectorworks Designer RAM 1GB minimum*, 2GB recommended Hard drive space 10GB free Vectorworks Designer plus RenderWorks RAM 2GB minimum*, 4GB recommended Hard drive space 10GB free

Richard, Post a file or email one to me. I'd be happy to take a look. Also, make sure you are on SP3 for VW2011 ... You should also post your system specs and the VW version (including SP and build numbers).

I have a VW2010 file (which was originally a VW2011 file) that I am trying to export a viewport as a DWG or DXF. There are around 8000 objects to convert, and VW crashes at around 2000 objects. I have tried to do it in VW 2010 and in VW 2011. Can anyone help? I can send you the file (which is 31.6 MB), and you can give it a whirl. Any suggestions on settings or workarounds to get it to DWG or DXF? Thank you!

Maybe this should be more of a WISHLIST thing: (1) More than one viewport should be able to be linked to a Camera. (2) In the OIP for the Viewport, there should be a pull-down menu next to Renderworks Camera, which lists all the possible cameras the VP could be linked to. (3) Cameras that are linked should still display on Design Layers, so the user can see what Cameras are where.

I wouldn't recommend turning a very complex thing into an area light or line light, though. Rendering times will shoot through the roof. As I understand it, a line light is basically a BUNCH of point sources all along a path. That is a lot of computing. Depending on what you are trying to do, I may just add a light source (point, spot or directional are all faster to render) to a symbol. Of course, I'm not sure what you're trying to do.

Has anyone "cracked the code" on editing a viewport once the link to the camera has been broken? Here's what I did: 1) Create Camera "A". 2) Create Viewport "A" from Camera's view. 3) Duplicate Viewports 3 times, giving me Viewports "B", "C" and "D". 4) Edit Camera View for Viewport "A". 5) From Camera Plan View, duplicate Camera "A" three times (in the new position), giving me Cameras "B", "C" and "D". 6) Exit Camera View. Now I'd *like* to edit the Camera view for Viewports "B", "C" and "D", but I cannot. The PIO says the viewports are linked to cameras (Renderworks Camera: Yes). I cannot change the view at all. Double-clicking on the viewport opens the "Edit Viewport" dialogue box, but even with "Camera" selected, when I hit OK, nothing happens. If I could, I'd link Viewports "B", "C" and "D" to the newly-duplicated Cameras "B", "C" and "D". Seems like the only way to get a different view for those viewports will be to re-create them. (The fun part is that there are actually 10 camera views, so 40 viewports.) Anyone have any better ideas?

What is the conventional wisdom on getting the fastest rendering (even if lower quality) in Vectorworks 2011? In other versions, if I wanted to see what the shapes looked like "flushed out", OpenGL was my go-to. Now it seems that OpenGL isn't that anymore. If I am working on a drawing, and I want to toggle between wireframe and a rendered view (to see what things "really" look like), what is the fastest way to get an accurate look? What was always nice about OpenGL is that it didn't worry much about lighting. I could see everything, even if textures were rudimentary. Is Fast Renderworks the best? Or perhaps Custom Renderworks (with what settings?)? I am well-aware that this information exists in this Community Board, spread out amongst several threads. I thought it would be nice to consolidate all the advice into one thread. Let the Copy-and-Pasting begin! Let's focus on TIPS THAT WORK, not on a laundry list of what doesn't work.

Dave, I'm not having much trouble when the view is not in perspective. Is the problem with the Use Planar Attributes specific to my drawing, or is that a general rule? One of the aspects of this drawing is that the human figures are replicating existing bronze statues. Eventually this drawing is all about rendering the landscape and monument lighting. When working with other parts of the drawing, I do have the human figures' class turned off. I have to admit that this drawing isn't my best piece of work ... it has been a bit of a cobble-together in between other projects. Thanks for the input!

Ethan, This issue showed up in one of the VW email lists. Seems like the popular things to try are: - Make sure you don't move any files in the path while the file is open. - No spaces in file names; use underscore "_" instead. - Keep the character-count of the PATH short; this could mean shortening the names of folders, or saving in a directory closer to the root drive. If you can determine what the issue is, submit a bug.

Grant, I did take a look at some of the plant stuff at VectorDepot. This is the only time I've ever really needed to use trees, and I don't foresee needing to do it often in the future. So I can't justify spending money on any tools or symbols. I just thought it would *work* to scale the symbol. It's funny how I learn more about Vectorworks by figuring out what it CANNOT do, than I do by learning what it CAN do. I think life is just like that. We learn from our failures, not so much from our successes.

Dave, Thanks for your interest. I invited you to a Dropbox folder that has ZIPs of both the file as it is now, and a backup of the file as it was an hour or so after the screenshots were taken. If anyone else wants to see, I'll invite you to the Dropbox. The files are a little big, and the uploader choked on attaching them to this.

Removing all nested symbols does make asymmetric scaling work as expected. For a tree, this isn't the most ideal. It is nice to be able to adjust the component parts (leaves, leaf clusters, etc.) and have that change be reflected everywhere.

Grant, Thanks for the reply. RENDER SETTINGS: everything is Default; when not in the walkthru view, OpenGL is faster than Fast Renderworks. SHADED POLYGON: Actually it was UNshaded polygon ... but nonetheless ... FINAL OUTPUT OBJECTIVE: any render mode that renders quickly; I am still working with the drawing, so I was just looking for something to show me a fast render so I can check on how things look; I *used to* prefer OpenGL in previous versions of Vectorworks because it was not as sensitive to light sources, so I could just SEE what the geometry looked like, even if there wasn't any light in that area I guess I'm just more stumped as to why it didn't render accurately AT ALL in Walkthrough, but it did in Flyover (with no perspective). Perhaps I stumbled upon a workaround for drawings that don't want to render: don't use perspective. I am going to be awfully disappointed if the final renderings can't be in perspective.

Jim, There are several other threads about moving the origin ... So I'll just be brief. DON'T DO IT. You may think that everything is fine, but at some point your drawing will start doing weird things. And then you'll post here, asking WTF happened. And then someone will ask you if you ever moved the origin. And you'll say that you did. And someone will tell you that you shouldn't have, because it is causing your problem. If you need 0,0,0 to be somewhere else, turn on ALL CLASSES and ALL LAYERS, put a 3D locus where you want 0,0,0 to be, then SELECT ALL. Drag the 3D locus to the 0,0,0 of the drawing.

Dworks, You are speaking of the difference between "Page-based" Units and "World-based" Units. That doesn't really do it for me, as it would just scale the symbol symmetrically. Symmetrical scaling I can do. It's the asymmetric scaling that is giving me trouble. Thanks for reminding me about that option though! I always use Page-based, so the reminder about World-based is good.

Here are the rest of the screenshots.

If I try to render in a design layer using WalkThrough: - Open GL gets a consistently not-rendered-at-all funky look - Fast RW has some extra reflected-looking bits coming off the bottom of the drawing - UnShaded Polygon gets an error If I stay away from any perspective, and just go to a Front View, then use FlyOver to get an angled view, all is good. What gives?!?!