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Andy Broomell

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Everything posted by Andy Broomell

  1. If you're starting off in Vectorworks, one of the most important things to learn early on is to always look at the Mode bar (that area in Tom's screengrab above) which changes depending on which tool you're in, and which determines how that tool will work. You should always be aware of which modes you're currently using. You can also hover over the buttons for a moment and a tooltip should appear explaining what that mode does. Also notice the little vertical lines in the mode bar, which separate all the mode buttons into mode groups. Only one option in each group can be active at a time, so for example with the Offset tool you first choose either Offset by Distance Mode or Offset by Point Mode, then you choose either Duplicate and Offset Mode or Offset Original Object Mode. The way these modes combine greatly affect the outcome. Then there's also the Tool Preferences button which gives you a pop-up with even more options.
  2. It's currently broken when editing inside certain containers such as Symbols and Solids (Additions, Subtractions, etc). I filed a bug a while back [VB-192383] but it hasn't gotten any attention. However, it should still work when not inside those editing modes. Is that what you're seeing?
  3. I've noticed the VWX icon infiltrating other things too! Finder, for example, often has the VWX logo in the Force Quit menu...
  4. Yes please. It's silly that this dialog doesn't have the option to import the layer objects (like you can with Design Layers).
  5. Here are some sources: https://renderpeople.com/3d-posed-people/ https://secure.axyz-design.com/en/shop/ https://evermotion.org/shop/cat/390/characters I've used RenderPeople a number of times. You can download the SketchUp format then import this into VWX. I tend to also Simplify the mesh and downsample the texture since these figures are pretty 'heavy' by default.
  6. No, these are two different things. The "Default Light" is a literal Light that exists over the viewer's shoulder, but only when no other lights exist in the scene, and which cannot be interacted with by the user in any way. The Ambient Brightness (the slider under Lighting Options) is an omnipresent surface illumination that exists regardless of Lights. You're right that it sort of artificially illuminates an entire scene. It's good for working on a model, but not great for realistic renders. I believe the default value is 35%. For renders I recommend 0-5%.
  7. Have you imported objects from SketchUp? If so, check that they don't contain any 3D polygons that have no fill. I've seen similar (though smaller) examples of this black splotchiness, and it was always due to unfilled 3D polygons.
  8. I don't think so, no. My suggestion for a future improvement would be that Quick Search itself be able to search the RM. There are already tabs for filtering the search to only Tools or only Commands, so other places could be added as well. By default it shows all results but then you could click on RM to only should RM results.
  9. "Paste in Place" is really "Paste in the same spot in relation to the current origin" - so the unpredictability comes in due to the fact that many objects contain their own internal origins, such as Extrudes, Solid Additions, EAPs, etc. When you copy from inside of one then paste somewhere else, it's technically maintaining some relationship to the 0,0, but this might very well be not what you want / expect. I agree it can be quite annoying. I wish we had smarter versions of Paste and Paste in Place. Don't get me started on working in an orthographic view and pasting a 2D object and it gets pasted perpendicular to your view. 🤬 They still haven't fully solved plane issues despite deprecating Screen Plane a few years ago...
  10. While I agree that it's a slightly confusing message, here's the logic behind what's happening: -You engage the "Create Similar Object" command and click on an object. -This command sets the Active class to match the object, it activates the correct tool to create another one of the object, and it sets the Attributes palette to match the attributes of the object. -Typically the expectation is to then be able to create an identical object (as far as class, object type, and attributes). -In our scenario, the class which is now Active happens to have "Use at Creation" checked in the Class definition; and the object you clicked on happens to have attributes that are set locally / not by class. This is where the conflict comes in since these are two competing ideas. -If you were to draw an object, it WOULDN'T match the object you clicked on because "Use at Creation" means the Active Class will "push" its attributes onto the newly created object, overriding the current Attributes Palette settings. So the new object will appear different despite having used "Create Similar Object." -This pop-up warns you of this fact. There's not an option to always do "Yes" because it's literally changing the class definition, which is potentially a substantial change that a user shouldn't be able to accidentally do without thinking. You should only want to choose "Yes" on a per instance basis, plus, hypothetically you only have to do it once per class, since the conflict wouldn't exist the next time you do the same operation. -In the end, it's actually more likely that a user should choose "No," accepting the fact that object might look a little different, while preserving your class definitions.
  11. Activating a Renderworks Camera view makes the Cropped Perspective frame match the aspect ratio of the camera object. So you could add a Camera, set its Aspect Ratio to "Use Page Size," then activate the camera. Not positive if this achieves your specific end goal but it's the closest thing I can think of.
  12. (And by that I mean... this is a very good observation, and is relevant to dozens and dozens of other workflows in Vectorworks as well, where windows lock you out of drawing navigation)
  13. My interpretation of your question is that you want the Flyover tool to "stop" at the ground level so that you can't look at the model from a lower vantage point? No, that is not currently possible. The only bit of advice I have is that you can hold Shift while using the Flyover tool, which causes the Z-height of your POV to be locked, and you essentially just orbit around at the same height.
  14. To clarify the conversation... In SP3, with nothing selected, turning on the Clip Cube clips to the bounds of all the visible geometry on ONLY the current Layer. Previously it would clip to the bounds of visible geometry on ALL layers. I assume this is a bug. I noticed unexpected behavior a couple days ago but didn't take a moment to explore what was happening. @bpsabatier is spot on with their assessment of the issue.
  15. Probably not directly, but can you export to OBJ then import that into Vectorworks?
  16. I Indeed, the first screenshot looks like a raster-based "preview" that is shown while the actual vector-based hidden line render is being calculated.
  17. @richardanderson – To address your specific scenario, this is occurring due the current MODES that are selected when you're drawing the circle. In the mode bar there are two icons that you'll want to take a look at, and alway be aware of whether these buttons are ON vs OFF. Perhaps turning off the last mode with make things work more like you're expecting (I personally leave it off too).
  18. I've had issues with using the "Image" function for shader. Have you tried using "Image Mask" instead?
  19. Wow, the 'new' Dropbox suuuuucks. I'm using MacOS 13.2 on a new M2 machine, and it did that thing where Dropbox is now required to be within the list of "Locations" as opposed to being in your username folder. But I'm finding that they've changed the implementation of the various sync icons, and not only is the new UE more convoluted, but the icons simply don't work properly. I have files that have a green checkmark AND a cloud icon at the same time. And using the contextual commands to determine whether folders are online or local doesn't work reliably. It's almost impossible to tell what's local and what's on the cloud. I've been a loyal Dropbox customer for over a decade, but this simply isn't acceptable. What a mess...
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
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