Andy Broomell

The Visualization Palette should also list and give us control over the "Default Light" which illuminates when no other lights exist in the scene. We should be able to turn it on even when other lights exist, or turn it off even when they don't. And even if having control over the Default Light weren't an option for whatever reason, it should still always be listed so that users have a better understanding of what's happening in their scene.

I was just thinking this the other day. It'd be very handy if viewports had a setting to determine the open state of Doors & Windows, with the following options: • By Object (default) • All Closed • All Open Perhaps it could be under Advanced Properties.

There's an algorithm that automatically chooses the Texture you're least likely to want. (Kidding of course.) I think that it defaults to the most recently created / imported texture, though I may be wrong... It would be better to default to the most recently chosen Texture.

All very good points and questions. Controlling and interacting with lighting is indeed full of idiosyncrasies and inadequacies. Hopefully it will be reexamined in the near future.

When making 'new' TBBs from existing, I tend to suggest choosing "Edit Style" then immediately changing the name, then modifying the style as needed. The advantage here is that By Style / By Instance settings are preserved, whereas if you Convert to Unstyled and make a new Style, these have to be determined again from scratch. It also preserves Plug-In Object Style Options (which is perhaps more relevant for other Plug-In Object types, which I also use this process for). Might not matter too match in the OP's particular case (?), but a good habit nonetheless. And of course if you need the original style as well, then it can first be Duplicated in the RM.

You can right click a Class in the Navigation Palette, or in the Organization dialog, and choose Delete. This should spur the pop-up allowing you to choose the replacement class. If there are no objects on the class you delete, then the pop-up won't appear; you'll instead get a pop-up simply asking if you really want to delete the class.

How obstinate of you! 😉

This also happens in wireframe: ViewClipped.mov

This just fixed the same issue for me on a 2015 MbP. Thanks!

If anyone is in a scenario where you're designing a handrail using prefab parts, such as from King's Metals, it can be easier to figure out the design & layout in 2D first before jumping into 3D. And in cases where you don't even need a 3D model, then this 2D geometry just becomes the drafting. The great thing is you'll have better control over attributes such as lineweights.

But that surface hatch will never match the detail/design of the texture. I think @line-weight points out a valid limitation of the texture approach. You'd only get a rectangular outline of the shape, not the individual components represented in the texture. That being said, I would still likely use the texture approach, then I'd render the viewport with a Shaded background render (to get the texture) and Hidden Line foreground (to get vector lines). This is what 95% of my elevations are set up as.

Sometimes I find that "Surface UV" refuses to respond to any mapping (rotation, scale, offsetting, etc.). But only sometimes. Maybe you were experiencing a similar issue.

Are you able to post any screenshots or even the files?

Just a guess, but make sure that in the Style definition, "Title Block Graphics" is set to "By Style": If it's set to "By Instance" then each title block instance can have a different Layout, so updating the Style doesn't get pushed to those instances.

Go to Vectorworks Preferences, then choose the "User Folders" category on the left. It should show your current folder location at the top, and there's also a handy "Reveal in Finder/Explorer" button to take you directly there.