Mattheng

I can't get the textures on the sides and tops of brick walls to match up. As a result it looks like what it is, i.e. a 3d shape with textures on the sides and the top, and not a wall made of bricks. Which defeats the whole object of the exercise. I'm guessing "Align Selected Mappings" on the OIP is the answer but it is, seemingly permanently, greyed out and doesn't even come up when you type it into the help system. What does it do and why is it greyed out? Alternatively how do I get the mappings to align so that my brick walls look like they are actually made of bricks. The textures do say that they are "auto aligned" but to what exactly I'm not sure Matt

Anyone know how to reduce the number of polygons in an object short of rebuilding it?

Ok now I'm confused. In VW 2012 this was working perfectly. You could select the entire database and it would convert them all in one go. I just checked. So, if it wasn't broken before you must have done something in 2013 to break it. So rather than try to bodge something that has stopped working after you have changed it just roll it back to the 2012 version. Simple? Matt

Told you... Thanks a) for giving me the right command to select all plants, hadn't worked that one out b) for admitting it doesn't work. I was half expecting to be told it was a "feature"... Matt

I am trying to get the plant database to show all the dimensions as Metric and not Imperial. Worked in 2012 but doesn't seem to work in 2013. Anyone had the same problem and know how to fix it?

Seems to depend on how many you have to update. Also seems to be because 2013 doesn't render them sequentially but tries to render them all at once and completely runs out of RAM 2012 doesn't seem to have this problem. Is there a maximum number of viewports that VW 2013 can open for a given amount of RAM? eg 4 for 4GB, 8 for 8GB etc. My main computer has 16 GB and I was trying to render 10 3D visuals plus half a dozen black and white sections. ?

Tamsin, That "cloud cover" does not exist with the standard HDRI background. see HERE Any ideas why this is? Happy to try rotating the sky but not sure how to do it? And I'm not going to argue with you about the weather. I have used everything from overcast skies to even putting snow on some visuals (2010 had a weird little feature that let you do it). Didn't go down terribly well I have to say... Matt

Tamsin, Seeing as it's you. A quick movie. Solar Animation One question, the horizon looks like someone has painted a thick line along it if I compare to the normal HDRI background. Is this normal? Matt.

Tamsin, As usual, thanks for the advice. Worked perfectly. Cheers, Matt

Ah thank you

Physical sky looked good but when I set one up and turn it on I just get inky blackness if it's on a file I had originally set up in 2012. Does work in a new 2013 file but seems very slow. Shame, the pictures looked so good in the Brochure

I have had two separate licences for 2010, 2011, 2012 and now 2013. Occasionally when logging on I am told that I cannot because there is another computer logged on. This seems reasonable. As I have paid for 8 separate licences I would like someone to train themselves on one of my old licences so that we don't prevent each other from being able to use one of the new ones. At least that was the plan To test this theory I tried running two computers with the same licence of 2012 and, confusingly, they happily ran together. I then logged on to a third with the second licence and that one ran happily too. I don't get it, how is this supposed to work? Matt

I am having a very simple attempt at some basic 3D modelling and have absolutely no idea which of the above methods (objects?) I should be using. What are the pros and cons of each? Does Vectorworks handle one better than the others? Do other programs prefer one or the others? The 3D Powerpack looks intriguing but I'm really not sure where to begin... Matt

Turn the illumination up. I had a similar problem where it was ok in Final Quality but in OpenGL the whole thing looked like the sun had gone super nova. The OpenGL mode seems to be miles more sensitive to light. Must say this one seems new to 2012, didn't seem to happen before. Reckon the boys at Nemetschek just slip these things in to keep us on our toes...

Pleased to hear it's not just me too. This wouldn't be some perfidious method of ensuring that we only buy VB Visuals 3D efforts? Don't get me wrong, they seem very well done but a) They are a bit expensive and b) They are a bit lacking in content. Artlantis seems to have some link up with VB Visual too but it's all a bit vague on what you are getting exactly with the plants and if, indeed, it's any different from what VB Visual are selling direct anyway. Hmmm, any Artlantis / VB Visual users out there care to talk about what you get? Or any other program, VUE for example...? Matt

I have tried this repeatedly. If I make an image prop of an image I can scale it, symmetrically or asymmetrically and it works fine. The texture "knows" that I am scaling the Image prop and scales itself accordingly I can apply the same texture to a surface but then I have to use the OIP to scale the texture or it doesn't change. This is obviously infeasible when I have hundreds of polygons (e.g. leaves on a tree) and doesn't seem to work anyway. If I just scale the texture directly in the resource browser it seems to forget what it was applied to and no longer fit properly which takes you back to the hundreds of polygons problem again. How can I get any normal texture to act like the texture in an image prop? I have asked this before but since then the fact that it works on Image Props has made me realise that VW can do it so it must be possible. Mustn't it?

Ok have read wikipedia on UV mapping etc. Tiling textures seems to be an option you can set within the definition of the texture and all of mine are tiled so it isn't that. What has just hit me is that the image props scale just fine and they are basically textures wrapped around a 3D polygon. Why do they work and 3D plants not...? Matt

Thanks, it looks like you are saying it won't do it but, just to be sure, what does "UV mapping with textures" actually mean and how do I know if my texture is "non tiling" or not? I only ask because your answer implies that it might work if my texture is "tiling" ...? Cheers, Matt

Hmm Yet more plant problems. If I stick one of the many half decent 3D plant models out there in cyberspace into the 3D section of a plant object they work fine apart from when they have to be scaled and they have textures. The model scales but the texture doesn't. Am I missing something?

Hmm Yet more plant problems. If I stick one of the many half decent 3D plant models out there in cyberspace into the 3D section of a plant object they work fine apart from when they have to be scaled and they have textures. The model scales but the texture doesn't. Am I missing something? I'm going to post this in the Landmark section as well

I know I can export them....

Just re read the Renderworks knowledgebase article by Dan Jansenson Renderworks Tutorial When it comes to aligning mappings he, quite cryptically, says about several walls that he is trying to texture so that they look natural : "How do the walls look? Are the textures on adjacent walls aligned? With the eight exterior walls still selected, make sure the settings in the Object Info palette match those in the following image." and then shows this Note align selected mapping is greyed out plus why has he chosen these settings? Also is this 2012 I can't quite seem to get the same screen...? Anyone? Only reason I'm asking is my textures are a complete un-aligned mess...

"Align Selected Mappings" looks interesting but it's always greyed out. Why and what does it do?

Nope UK based. Does this matter?

Thanks. This does raise two questions: 1) why not VSS? 2) why do none of my computers know it's there? ..?