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Mark Aceto

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Posts posted by Mark Aceto

  2. Posted · Edited by Mark Aceto

    The old vector depot plugin will quickly create a simple 4-web design that’s mostly conceptual (vs mechanical). If that suits your needs, Bob’s your uncle.

     

    I attempted both the Framing Member and Structural Member tools, and they both got me about halfway there before they ran out of gas. This is one of those jobs that’s still best suited for manual modeling (vs parametric editing). Good old extrudes ultimately got me across the finish line. Even if you do have to edit the extrudes later, you’ll still save time in the long run vs forcing a square plugin into a round hole. Trust me: I took the red pill, and went down the parametric rabbit hole.

     

    • Like 2

  5. Posted

    I undocked my palettes for a Zoom meeting earlier today (so I could resize the shared VW window on my 43” screen to fit my client’s laptop screen). VW has crashed or force quit 3 times since then. Every time, I’ve had to reassemble the palettes.

     

    My short term solution: save the file, quit and restart VW to lock in the setting. Yes, I know I can save palette positions.

     

    My long term suggestion: look at every other 3D design app, and pick the best of those worlds. There has to be a better way… 

     

    Screen Shot 2020-12-15 at 4.40.24 PM.png

    • Like 1

  9. Posted · Edited by Mark Aceto

    On 12/11/2020 at 6:08 AM, TomWhiteLight said:

    This should help...

     

    https://university.vectorworks.net/mod/scorm/player.php?scoid=898&cm=1006&currentorg=articulate_rise

     

    Quite possibly Video of The Year right there. I usually have this one plus one of Jim’s Braceworks videos open at all times.

     

    @Charlot start watching at ~30min mark for your original post. He then goes into a comparison of various methods of creating “lighting pipes” at ~34min. The most Braceworks-aware method seems to be a Truss version at ~39min.

     

    @jcogdell there's a bit of a Konami Code with complex combinations of connections that I’d love to better understand. I’m currently dealing with speaker arrays that hang from a mother grid, so I’ve sort of figured out the order of operations for each side:

    1. Connect the speaker array bumper to the truss (mother grid)
    2. Connect the hoists to the speaker array bumper

    Intuitively, that seems like the opposite procedure anyone would follow but it’s the only method I found to work. If there’s more documentation on how to properly attach secondary rigging objects (pipes, speaker array bumpers, LED hang bars, etc.) to truss, please share a link. Thanks!

     

  12. Posted · Edited by Mark Aceto

    For as long as I can remember, the Purge command will delete all manner of things it shouldn’t. It loves to delete truss parts, and I just caught it deleting speaker and bumper symbols that were in use (and were subsequently replaced with the default bumper). To be clear, this behavior has been going on for years (nothing new in v2021).

     

    I’ve also observed the same behavior when purging “unused” colors from the color palette which has produced comical results (like Ace & Gary’s “flesh lift” below). 

     

    Can anyone explain to me how to avoid this or is it simply a longstanding bug / pitfall? The only safe way I’ve found to remove items is from the RM. If I don’t get a replacement warning, I know it’s actually unused.

     

    Screen Shot 2020-12-09 at 6.03.54 PM.png

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  15. Posted

    I may just go back to relying on my OCPTSD method of hitting Command-S every 10 operations (not mouse clicks) that’s already hardwired into my central nervous system.

     

    However… there are scenarios like a Force Quit when VW will unsave all of my saved changes, and revert to the file’s state when I opened it. I think my workaround for that in the past was to duplicate the working file before I forced quit.

     

    Additionally, I’m looking at https://www.arqbackup.com to add to my actual backup routine in addition to Time Machine (which has saved my butt more than once but is also its own special brand of Apple abandonware hell).

     

    @markdd I once did that with a budget where I removed a line with an internal client fee before sharing it externally with a vendor. By the time I caught my error a week later, I had my work cut out for me (to say the least). I also have the same fear when versioning an open VW file (Save as… or Save a copy… ). I compulsively have to archive it right there in that moment for fear of reopening the old version (which, from experience, I will do). This is also why I only use the cloud for exporting / publishing. Everything else is stored locally.

     

    @Pat Stanford I have caught Dropbox in the act. I have zero trust in their system. And, yeah, more “robust” features = bloatware. The cloud is a trap. I only use Dropbox for project sharing (the master project file) and rendering (my new favorite thing in the world). Who’s got 2 thumbs, and never worries if his files are syncing with the cloud? This guy.

     

    BTW, grumpy old man rant: I miss the days when you got a new computer, and just copied all your documents, and that was it. Bob’s your uncle. Now I have to perform evasive maneuvers to avoid signing into every freaking cloud service in the walled garden to get up and running… 

  16. Posted · Edited by Mark Aceto

    I would definitely be interested in a master template CSV file that I could maintain without having to open VW and enter dialogs. I find myself doing some version of that with many things in life (outside of VW). Very quick to edit, and then import. Would kill for that with workspaces too. I just get overwhelmed by all of the tinkering and fiddling with settings buried and scattered all over the place.

     

    • Like 3

  17. Posted · Edited by Mark Aceto

    At first I thought it might be from the dreaded “Force Quit” scenario but I definitely didn’t do that 166 times in 5 days.

     

    I also have 120+ versions of a pano that I was exporting to VW Cloud Services, so I’m wondering if these files are generated during every single export. That could be complete coincidence though.

     

    It may have been 166 times that my machine exceeded 3.5gb of memory while previewing (“pre-flighting”) RW views at the lowest setting before exporting.

     

    Either way, I’ll keep an eye on that smart folder moving forward.

     

  18. Posted

    Thanks for the feedback!

     

    For clarification, I’m asking about the Autosave generated files that are stored in the VW Backup folder that I’m now thinking about renaming the VW Autosave folder.

     

    Unfortunately, I didn’t start Autosaving all files to ~/Documents/Vectorworks/- VW Backup until recently, so I have to run a minutia marathon to free up that space. At least now I know!

     

    BTW I’m still an "Autosave every 5 minutes guy", so part 2 of this poll is:

    • How many operations and why (based on your experience)?
      • Also interested in how you manage Autosaving, so that it won’t interrupt rendering
        • Maybe operations vs minutes solves that?
          • Unless you continue working on the file while it renders?

  20. Posted

    @zoomer that seems to be the case from what I’ve researched here in the forum.

     

    My internal hard drive is on a “diet" right now, so I was confused how it lost ~10gb of free space, and then I was surprised to randomly discover 10gb of temp files that were created in less than a week.

  21. Posted · Edited by Mark Aceto

    I’m doing some housekeeping to free up space on my hard drive — up to 32GB of VW Backup files — so I’m interested in where others have landed with best practices.

     

    On the one hand, if I have 15 revisions of the same drawing, do I really need any backup files? In practice, I would only need them "in the moment" when VW crashes. That’s the only way I’ve every used them anyhow.

     

    On the other hand, I want to "measure twice, cut once" before I scorch the earth behind me.

     

    I guess technically, I have them all saved in a Time Machine backup… 

     

    Screen Shot 2020-12-05 at 12.23.52 PM.png

  22. Posted · Edited by Mark Aceto

    I just discovered 10gb of these files that populated in 5 days from the same drawing.

     

    I created a smart folder to track them, so I can delete them before I run out of hard drive space.

     

    However, I may automate the deletion process with a Hazel rule.

     

    Screen Shot 2020-12-05 at 12.09.12 PM.png

     

    Screen Shot 2020-12-05 at 12.14.46 PM.png

     

    Screen Shot 2020-12-05 at 12.15.22 PM.png

     

  23. Posted · Edited by Mark Aceto

    “No good deed goes unpunished."

     

    Friendly reminder that there’s a whole new section dedicated to the roadmap. Specific threads can be started there instead of piling on the good news of this announcement that we finally have a public roadmap and a place to provide feedback about it:

     

    Roadmap - Vectorworks Community Board

     

    Who’s going first?

     

    1149682838_ScreenShot2020-12-03at2_51_33PM.thumb.png.823773ff400c184397aa98682a33c2a2.png

     

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