bicameral2

when i need to show someone a sign in a set, i can't send them anything in a viewport, as the image doesn't display properly in any view other than head-on, orthogonal. another problem in 2015, is i can't get openGL to show up as openGL in a viewport. openGL seams to default to wire frame.

I have repeated your problem. Have you tried enabling "Use Layer Colors" from the doc prefs instead of the window quick drop down? File> doc settings>doc preferences>☒ use layer colors

In the past, i've had to build the image for each screen.

That would be great if all of my clients were font purists, and only used typographer approved versions of fonts. let's take a step back from purity, and be practical. it would be great if VWX outlined what i see, what i designed, regardless of how i got there.

old thread, but i've run into this a few times so i just want to add it: Do it in SU, which obeys the bold perimeter ('cuz that's what convert to polys should mean) and back save as v8. File>Import>Import SketchUp usually looks right, is the fastest, though it can be a little low poly with random extra geometry which is common with this import. the other way i've found that reliably looks better, but takes a little longer, is through illustrator: select text>Type>Create Outlines>Export (.DWG). when you import in vectorworks, it comes in as a symbol, and it will need to be scaled, negative spaces will need to be extracted/cut by hand from each letter, and then extruded. I've found that using illustrator outlines to be a great way to tackle complicated graphics extrusions.

Thanks, jim. I forgot to add that i was playing with the mesh import for 3ds, and wasn't having luck. or, i guess, noticeable luck. are there any mesh settings i should be paying attention to?

Lately, I am importing a lot of SU and 3DS (via OBJ -> blender), and i'm having to redraw everything because i can't use hidden line drawings with hundreds or thousands of triangles in them. does anyone know of a way to "smooth coplanar" like in sketchup after a .3ds or .skp import? mostly, it would be great to not have to redraw entire models just so they look right in hidden line. sometimes, all i'm asked for are elevations with dims, from a obj model that was used in concept renderings. clients wonder, and rightly so, why they're paying me to redraw something they already paid someone else to draw in the first place. i found this in another thread , but i can't figure out how to use it globally, if that's even possible: PROCEDURE ToStructuralObject; VAR selected : HANDLE; PROCEDURE SetAsStructural(obj : HANDLE); BEGIN SetObjectVariableBoolean(obj, 702, TRUE); END; BEGIN ForEachObject(SetAsStructural, SEL=TRUE & INSYMBOL & INOBJECT); END; Run(ToStructuralObject);

I've been trying to use referenced design layers more, and they are great...mostly. Sometimes, i will open a file that was fine yesterday, and today one referenced design layer viewport will be off...just wrong. everything else is fine, but that one viewport is oddly displayed. for example: the walls and notes are perfect, but all the furniture is individually out of place and then rotated 90? as a group around a random center. i go to check the referenced file and it's fine. i check the references tab, i update the reference, and no change. i can only fix it by deleting and creating a new referenced viewport. another example: the viewport is there on the sheet layer with annotations, but the referenced design layer elements are gone. i go to the design layer reference, and it is highlighted though nothing is there. i click away and cannot reselect the referenced viewport. i go to the referenced file, and everything is fine. i check the references tab, i update the reference, and no change. i can only fix it by deleting and creating a new referenced viewport.

no one ever answered this? Well, years later, i got this one. Check your fill attributes. Chances are, you changed the viewport class and it update with a class attribute fill.

I've been haveing the weird thing happen lately. I will be working on a simple modle in 3D, and everything will be fine. I look at a Hidden Line or Dashed Hidden Line render in an ISO view, perspective or other custom view. then if i try to render in a standard view (front, back, right, left, top bottom), VWX hangs. it never recovers. this happens in viewports, or design layer/sheet layers. I think it might have something to do with generic solids with a circular subtraction...but i don't know. it doesn't matter what settings i use...high or low. it doesn't seem to matter how heavy the model is after a certain point. a cube with a hole in it, no big deal. but render a solid addition/subraction object with a hole in it...whole other story. also, open gl, wireframe are fine. no issues.

So, my pattern options in the fill attributes have gone all black. I can still see and edit patterns in the edit pattern dialogue, and my wall styles still display patterns correctly. But, objects 2d and 3d pattern fills are all black....any ideas? ps - see pic fyi:file is upconverted from 2008 to 2012.

Thanks for the work around. I only showed the OGL with Black background to make the illustration more clear. it doesn't matter how the thing is viewed, the extrusion is never as clean as the path arc. one thing i think i figured out is that the duplicate along path is actually more precise and true to the path. my only problem is that my paths are deceptively irregular, and whenever i try to connect them into a shape, VW crashes. i spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what's wrong, but... now i just want to know why the extrude along path is so crummy.

I've read a lot of discussions on curves. I haven't seen a real answer, though...ie: one that leads to good curves. I'm trying to build a curved ladder. I've extruded a square tubing profile along a path, and duplicated the rungs along the same path. no matter what combo of attributes i use, the rungs and rails do not line up. worse than that, in my renderings the "curves" are very crude. i've read a couple of solutions: set the 3D quality to high is one, and that's covered. the other is that some display engine isn't good enough. has that been fixed in 2014? what can i do to draw proper curves that behave properly using extrude and duplicate alone path?

ahhhhhh...so sweet is the perspective. thank you, everyone.

So much great help. THANKS

Does anyone know of a decent tutorial about creating perspective views in 2012? when i look at a perspective view, it is horribly distorted. i've managed to avoid perspective in VW up until now, but my normal workflow, VW->SU->JPEG->VW viewport, isn't good enough this time. i'll read or watch whatever, i just can't find it.

is there a way to delete an object's history? is seems, when an object gets complicated with several transformations, it retains those histories, and slows my computer down. can i delete those operation histories once i'm done modeling an object?

thanks, bcd

Yes. I was just drawing a 2D line. It's the same issue with poly line or 2D polygon, of course. Here's the real issue: I do a lot of stage drawings for TV, and vectorworks has some particular features which really speed up my work flow; ie doors, walls and windows. However, i often need a custom object - such as a weirdly sized desk - in a room. But it doesn't have to be perfect, as i'm not creating a construction document just yet. The decorator and designer just needs to see how big it is in the room, and the director wants to see that it is unusually short as it is described in the script. If i build it as a 3D object, and put it in the plan, it has no fill. so then i have to create a hybrid symbol, and redraw the the thing in 2D, just so it obscures other objects, such as a rug or chair, in plan view. But i can't just draw it in 2D on the floor, because i also need to see it the elevation, and it needs to obscure base boards and chair rails. My solution is to create, in essence, paper models. See attached images. this takes less time than 2D drawing over 3D shapes in complex hybrid symbols (that some co workers find frustrating to use), and would take even less time if i didn't have to constantly switch views and employ working planes...if ONLY i could draw in the Z axis. Thanks again for all the responses. This forum is great. Maybe if VW is listening, they let me do it next year?

ok. i'll go back and play around a bit. in my mind, i was looking for a wall tool setting or insertion option. now i'm imagining a script..."connect all walls"

Shift key only locks usable constraints. It doesn't force any constraints. ei: It seems that forced constraints isn't possible.

how do i get my walls to connect such that they appear contiguous? i can only connect walls in line or at corners, and then only once. t intersections and angled connections don't seam together for me. Pls see attached.

Trying to learn roofs and stories when i ran across this video: In it he is able to move an object in the z axis - apparently irrespective of the working plane. does anyone know how it's done? can i also DRAW this way? i think this would speed up my modeling a great deal without the constant hassle of creating a new working plane for every direction i draw in. thanks

I have to avoid it, for now. But it is a cool idea...if it only worked.

oh, sorry. I meant: "Is there a way to turn the fill on for 3D items in PLAN?"