[EAP, Multiple Planes, Radiused Corners]

Fun video! Not to mention informative!

 

Thanks,

Ed

[EAP, Multiple Planes, Radiused Corners]

I use extrude along path to make fireplace flue pipes, hand rails, etc. If the path turns out of a single plane, I start with a 3D poly as the path. I often want to radius the corners. Sometimes I can; sometimes I can't. This image shows an extrude (to the left) that worked fine. Now, on the right, I've got my 3D polygon, but the radius ("Fillet Tool") does not seem to work. How do you model shapes like these? Is the Fillet Tool the best tool for this?

 

Thanks,

Ed

[3D Hatches not appearing in rendered VPs (or the scaling is wrong)]

Yes I prefer that approach with the surface hatch textures. Some members of our office use the polygons in order to quantify the tile area (into a worksheet). In my opinion, that's the builders job. In this case we even had a separate wall style for the tile, so a texture makes a lot of sense, and I imagine we could pull the quantities from that wall style.

 

Also, we usually just need a generic representation of tile. We show where we think tile should go, but it's usually the homeowner or interior designer who actually designs the tile layout. So we don't fuss too much, but the polygons are forcing us to fuss whenever the design changes.

 

Not to be too fussy, but do you know why the hatch in your Hidden Line rendering is a slightly different pattern than what appears in the Shaded version? Our office has struggled to maintain a consistent pattern between the two render modes.

 

Thanks again.

Ed

[3D Hatches not appearing in rendered VPs (or the scaling is wrong)]

@Jeff Prince Thank you! Those renderings are now good enough to send to the homeowner for comment.

The fact that the one camera was coincident with the wall geometry is a humorous stroke of bad luck. I don't consciously use cameras to set up these views. I navigate to where I want to look using my Space Navigator (more recently called Space Mouse from 3D Connexions), and then choose Create Viewport. Now I see that I can click on Edit Camera from the VP to make adjustments.

 

I appreciate your time and help!

Ed

[3D Hatches not appearing in rendered VPs (or the scaling is wrong)]

@Jeff Prince Thank you! Those renderings are now good enough to send to the homeowner for comment.

The fact that the one camera was coincident with the wall geometry is a humorous stroke of bad luck. I don't consciously use cameras to set up these views. I navigate to where I want to look using my Space Navigator (more recently called Space Mouse from 3D Connexions), and then choose Create Viewport. Now I see that I can click on Edit Camera from the VP to make adjustments.

 

I appreciate your time and help!

Ed

[3D Hatches not appearing in rendered VPs (or the scaling is wrong)]

@Jeff Prince Thanks. The purged VW file is attached. I've also included a PDF showing what I'm getting from the VW file this morning. Now, only one of the VPs has the hatch scaling problem, and one has a new rendering problem. Previously, other VPs also had the hatch problem. I appreciate your attention to this

TEST FILE w: polygons w: hatches vw2021.vwx Bath Perspectives w: hatch.pdf

[3D Hatches not appearing in rendered VPs (or the scaling is wrong)]

@Jeff Prince Ooops! Yes, those are 2D polygons in 3D space. Regarding how they appear in VPs, now some VPs display them correctly; others do not.

 

Is there a way for me to share the file with only you? I'd also like to eliminate our titleblock, or at least our stamp and signature, before I send our VW file, but I don't know how to eliminate the TB and VW won't allow me to delete the class that contains our stamp and signature. 

 

Ed

[3D Hatches not appearing in rendered VPs (or the scaling is wrong)]

@Jeff Prince Ooops! Yes, those are 2D polygons in 3D space. Regarding how they appear in VPs, now some VPs display them correctly; others do not.

 

Is there a way for me to share the file with only you? I'd also like to eliminate our titleblock, or at least our stamp and signature, before I send our VW file, but I don't know how to eliminate the TB and VW won't allow me to delete the class that contains our stamp and signature. 

 

Ed

[3D Hatches not appearing in rendered VPs (or the scaling is wrong)]

We use 3d Polygons with a hatch to represent ceramic or stone tile. I'm currently setting up perspective VPs that include tile. At first look, it appears that the tile is not visible, but I think it is visible except it's been scaled up drastically, so that only a few hatch lines appear. Attached is a wireframe and rendered versions of one view. In wireframe the hatch appears normally. But when rendered, only a few hatch lines are seen. Any thoughts on how to get the hatch to display normally when VP is rendered? Is there a better way to show tile? (We have the 3D polygons report to schedule for tile quantities; it would be nice to retain this feature). 

 

This project is in VW2021.

 

Thanks,

Ed

B1 Render.pdf B1 Wireframe.pdf

[DWG Export - Trouble with doors and windows]

@Jeff Prince Apologies. I missed your post. We never got this resolved. The engineer ultimately agreed to work from PDFs instead of DWGs.

 

Ed

[3DConnexions Driver Upgrade problems w/ Space Navigator]

Never mind. I was able to find the older driver (10.7.0). I reinstalled that and everything is working well again.

Ed

[3DConnexions Driver Upgrade problems w/ Space Navigator]

Today I installed the driver version 10.8.3 for MacOS. My Space Navigator still works but I can't control the speed and can't get the buttons to invoke a keystroke command. Please let me know if you're having similar problems or have ideas. We've been using the Space Navigators for close to a decade. Each driver update seems to be difficult. I love the product once it's working though.

 

Thanks,

Ed

[Where do I find Scott's videos?]

Thanks Juan.

 

Ed

[Where do I find Scott's videos?]

Where do I find Scott's videos?

 

Thanks,

Ed

[DWG Export - Trouble with doors and windows]

Hi all,

I am exporting DWG floor plans to a structural engineer who is using "Autocad 2019 3D Map". Some doors and windows are changing width (getting wider) in his software, so that they extend beyond the ends of walls. He sent us a PDF, a portion of which is attached. I've been exporting DWGs to consultants for at least a decade without running into this. Any thoughts? Are there DWG export settings that might prevent this?

 

Thanks,

Ed

 

Screen Shot 2024-01-25 at 5.42.23 PM.pdf

[Baffled by Snaps (in 3D)]

I think I'm beginning to understand this. It seems that the snaps don't work when I have a lot of 3D geometry displayed. It makes sense that the computer would not snap reliably when there are many edges, surfaces and points to possibly snap to. I am getting better results when I display only one layer or one class, or orient the view so there is no geometry behind the edge I want to snap to.

 

Ed

[Hardscape Objects disappear while editing surface modifiers]

Thanks. The next time I use Aligned Hardscapes I will keep all of these suggestions in mind.

 

Ed

[Baffled by Snaps (in 3D)]

I’ve been using Vectorworks, in 3D, daily for over a decade and I still don’t understand when snaps are going to work, and they only work about half of the times I want them to. I often have to align objects in plan view and then guess at distances in the Z direction (because the Tape Measure, or 3D loci, won’t snap to the objects in 3D). Then I move objects vertically by trial and error until I get them close enough. I also frequently struggle using the Move command in 3D; I can snap to some edges but not others. I’m currently looking at extrudes where I can snap to the top edges but not the bottom.

 

I think I understand how the snaps are supposed to work; I don’t have any problems in 2D.  I’m particularly interested in using snaps (in 3D) with the Tape Measure, 3D loci and the Move command. Are there circumstances in 3D when they don’t work? Is it possible that after a model gets crowded with a lot of geometry, the snaps get confused? It often seems like the curser is snapping to objects I can't see.

 

I'd appreciate any thoughts!

Ed

[Building Geometry Disappeared from Section Viewports]

@Pat Stanford, That thought also occurred to me and I deleted the crop in one VP and zoomed out looking for the model, but did not see anything. After reading your message I did the same in other VPs and found the model. Somehow I fooled myself. I don't know how. Could I cause this problem if I accidentally moved the internal origin? Or only by moving the model?

 

Thanks,

Ed

 

[Building Geometry Disappeared from Section Viewports]

Suddenly, all the section VPs in a VW2021 file are not showing any of my building geometry. All of my Anno drafting and notes are still there. I can select the VPs. They're still called Section Viewport in the OIP. The design layers layers and classes are still turned on in the VPs. But updating does not show any hint of the building. I've been working with this file for a few years with out any problems. Have you ever experienced this? Any thoughts on how to fix the VPs?

 

For now, I'm recreating the VPs, unless someone has any other suggestions.

 

Thanks,

Ed

[Repeating image texture; How to get a running bond or staggered joints?]

1 hour ago, Jeff Prince said:

Post the image you want to use for the texture.  I can take a look at it in a few hours when I get to a computer.  Worst case, I can probably make a seamless texture with Affinity Photo

Thanks @Jeff Prince. Let's wait for now. I don't yet need a new texture. I've been expecting the project designer to ask for another option, but so far the designer and the client are happy with the panels stacked. If we do end up needing a staggered version, I can make a new image, or get help from co-workers with have more Photoshop experience. For now, I just wanted to know whether I would create a new image or start from scratch with the brick shaders. I expect a new image to be easy. The Shaders however look like a time-consuming process of trial and error. In cases like this, where we know what siding product we want, and the manufacturer provides a good image, I think it's easiest to start with their image.

 

Thanks,

Ed

[Repeating image texture; How to get a running bond or staggered joints?]

@Jeff Prince I think I misunderstood your comment about using the brick shaders. I thought you meant that I could keep using the same image but use the various shaders to get that image to repeat in a running bond. But it appears that I must either choose my image, or go down a completely different path of using the shaders to recreate the look of my image. Is that correct? Let me know if I'm missing something. My current thinking is that it's easier to make a new image that includes two courses of this particular siding product, with one course staggered. Since the manufacturer has provided a nice image, it seems easier to get that look by using that image. 

 

Thanks all.

Ed

[Repeating image texture; How to get a running bond or staggered joints?]

OK. There's two votes for creating a new image that includes multiple panels and @Jeff Prince suggesting that the built-in brick shaders can create a staggered pattern using the image of a single panel. I will try the brick shader controls first; I'm guessing that any new image that contains a half panel will show an unwanted seam line where the half panel repeats.

I'll post another message after I explore this further. 

 

Thanks,

Ed

[Repeating image texture; How to get a running bond or staggered joints?]

The texture shown on the wall in this screen shot is made from a JPEG image of one siding panel (18" x 10'). The image repeats in a stacked fashion as shown. How do I get a running bond or get the vertical joints to be staggered? Can I use this image of one panel, or do I need to make a new image that includes multiple rows and panels that are staggered? 

 

Thanks,

Ed

[Finding Wall Areas]

On 9/13/2023 at 2:47 PM, E|FA said:

BTW, I learned the extract surface approach from @Jonathan Pickup as part of a workflow where the exterior siding is not a wall component, but is modeled separately.  This is really useful for panel siding.  Extract and then extrude to generate the siding area, and manipulate as needed to create the panel joints.

Yes, I'll now use the extract surface method for siding also. Thanks again.

 

Ed