Andy Broomell

This sounds like Master Snap Points which were introduced a version or two ago. Put a 2D or 3D locus in a symbol, then check "Master Snap Point" in the OIP. This will then override other adjacent snaps within the Symbol. Also, make sure Master Snap Points are turned on in your SmartCursor Settings.

I do the same thing 😑

Alan, all you've done is set the cut plane really high and made the depth only 1", so of course nothing is going to show up. 🙂 Unfortunately I don't think you're on the same page as willofmaine. Ignore the AutoHybrid settings. It doesn't actually have anything to do with the issue he's describing. In fact, ignore the AutoHybrid object completely. The issue he's talking about applies to all Hybrid objects, including Symbols. It's purely to do with nested hybrid objects and the fact that 3D objects are sometimes invisible in editing modes, even when in 3D views. Also, it has nothing to do with classes. I'm not sure what aspects of it are a "bug" versus broken as designed, but I can say that it happens inconsistently, and inconsistency is always bad. In general, there should never be a time where we can be in a 3D view and the 3D objects are there and selectable, but invisible. It just doesn't really make sense. And perhaps it has something to do with the invisible loci/lights bug, not sure... For the past few versions I must say there have been a lot of issue with things being invisible. As one bug is fixed it seems another one appears. Nothing should ever be invisible (unless turned off completely, of course).

Awesome! Does this apply to all viewports or only ones that are in Top/Plan or Hidden Line? For example, what about a 3D view in wireframe? I've been working with some files with numerous complex meshes recently (usually figures, but also furniture), and the redraw rate before it's rendered is quite slow.

What's wrong about the way his Auto Hybrids are set up? I don't see anything wrong in that regard. But I do see the same invisibility issues he's outlined, and he's described them in a very detailed way. @willofmaine - if you haven't already, submit a bug using a link at the bottom of the page, and include your file or a link to this thread. Hopefully it's a bug they can fix because it's quite annoying.

Are you in a view other than Top/Plan, drawing in screen plane, have Unified View on, and have "Display Screen Plane Objects" unchecked under View < Unified View Options?

So although this issue seems to most often arise after editing Light objects, today I'm working in a file that contains zero Light objects and it's still rendering black every 3 or 4 times. It's a large file so restarting adds about 5 minutes of wasted time (it's not only closing and re-opening the file, but also the fact that it has to build the geometry cache from scratch again). I have a deadline to finish a batch of renderings by the end of the day. This bug is literally eating up half of my time. I'm screwed.

In your window settings under Classes, make sure the glazing is actually assigned to the appropriate class.

It would be great if the Softgoods tool had "Top Trim" and/or "Bottom Trim" as options in the list of text labels that you can turn on. For example, I have a soundstage full of different sized curtains hung at various different heights (i.e. most don't touch the floor, so the trim isn't obvious). I need to annotate a plan view to print and hand to the riggers so they can hang the softgoods. Currently the Softgoods tool can automatically pull the curtain size from the PIO, but regarding trim height I have to do this manually with a text block (or by utilizing the Notes field of the OIP). However, if I change the PIO then I need to remember to also change this label. Incorporating trim data into the displayable labels would both eliminate chances for error and would make annotation faster and easier in the first place.

Under VW Preferences < Interactive, try unchecking "View Transition Animation" - this should make plan rotation happen faster. Granted, it also takes away the transition animations between 3D views (which I prefer off anyways).

Exactly. Even if I hide the venue layer, I still have the 10-100 classes associated with it while trying to work on the set (which is all classed to "SET-" classes). It'll be great to effectively hide those while I don't need them 🙂 So here's a question about filters... Is there an easy way to filter the navigation palette to show all classes containing "SET" but also keep None and Dimension visible? Without adding tags to everything...

If you've filtered Classes in the Nav Palette, will there be any actions that trigger it to reset to viewing all classes? (Besides hitting the little X of course). For example, what happens when: -Switching to different tab in the Nav Palette and switching back (I'd expect class filter to still be in tact) -Running a Saved View (I'd expect class filter to still be in tact... unless Saved Views have been given the ability to save or not save filter states). -Closing a file and reopening (I'd expect class filter to be reset, though I could see this going either way.)

Also, regarding transparency - even before exporting you should be able to tell where the transparency is by simply putting the viewport in front of something else, such as a rectangle with a solid fill. That way you can tell directly in VW what you have.

Exactly, Sheet Layer Viewports should work well. I've developed a workflow where I set up my viewports to be exactly 16:9 aspect ratio (via a RW camera), then I make the viewports exactly 16" x 9" in size, and I make my Sheet Layer print settings have a 16" x 9" page. I place the viewport aligned exactly with the page. That way under Export Image File you can select "Each Page as a Separate Image" and get a precise export of that exact 16x9" viewport (or whatever size you've set up). I've found this to be the only way to get a reliable pixel count on export, as whenever I use the marquee method it always seems a few pixels off and is always a little different for whatever reason. I also make sure the DPI on export matches the Sheet Layer DPI I've rendered at. Hoping to one day have a clear and easy way to export a viewport's render cache pixel-for-pixel with a simple right click of the viewport...

A few versions ago they introduced the ability to export PNGs with transparency (via Export Image File). I've used this a bit and the anti-aliased edges seem to export pretty well and look nice. I haven't tried it with something transparent like a window though. For this to work the render style has to have to no RW background for there to be any transparency. For example, even a white RW background would make the negative space solid white instead of transparent. I feel like the chroma key background method would have been useful before this functionality was present? Otherwise I don't understand why you'd need to greenscreen something out as opposed to just having native transparency. But I might be misunderstanding. Note you should probably be rendering with Sheet Layer viewports for this to work best, if you're not already.