LarryO

This is VW2024 update 2 (just installed) first launch. Full screen. the shadow line occasionally is shows correctly (as seen in 2nd image), but as soon as VW is the active app it reverts to the image above. Intel(R) Xeon(R) W-2123 CPU @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz RAM: 16.0 GB (15.7 GB usable) Product ID: 00391-70000-00000-AA565 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor No pen or touch input is available for this display Windows 11 Pro for Workstations Version: 22H2 Date: 2023-‎04-‎14 Build: 22621.2715 Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22677.1000.0 <EDIT: why is this version, VW2024 using about 7x the RAM as VW2023 without there being an open file?>

hmmm, this works sometimes but not all the time. Today VW got its cuppa caffeine; yesterday it was not very snappy.

Should I be able to snap to a 3d locus when attempting to drag a viewport to a new location? What about a symbol's insertion point? Referring to objects in the VP's design layer not it's annotation environment. I know mid, end and a few others are normal grab points, but they are defined by an object like a line or extrusion and not objects in themselves.

Why has it been so difficult to stop these lines from occurring? Over the years of VW development no repeatable technique nor application fix has emerged to ensure a predictable outcome for this problem. Aside from tedious masking techniques which require repeatedly scanning viewports after adjustments to 3d objects. This is a simple Wide Flange beam with subtract solids performed to create the round holes shown and remove a portion (cope) of the top flange. Doesn't matter if the subtraction extrudes have three circles or one or if all the subtractions are separate operations or conducted as a single one in this instance.

I'd attached the VW2023 file to the forum but it is 9.5MB. edit: Never mind, I sourced the problem. Two layers were showing and the historical layer didn't have the visibility class assigned to the two groupings but it was behind the current layer so I couldn't select the groups in question. Duh!

Hi Pat, It is actually the opposite that is the problem. My objects within the group are a mix of types (and potentially classes); symbols, extrudes, etc, but all 3d. So rather than create a symbol that had no other purpose than grouping them to assign a visibility class I grouped them. One group for the open gate and the other for the closed gate. But in a viewport rendered as shaded I cannot get either of the groups to be invisible when I make the class invisible. And interestingly when I go into edit layer mode from said viewport both groups are not selectable but are visible at approx 75% which is, surprise, then attribute of the class assigned to most of the objects within the group. When I make the parent group's class visible and select the object the attributes that appear are not the ones assigned to the class of the group but reflect those of the majority of the 3d objects within said group. Actually I think all of the objects in this current grouping are assign ed the same class, one i created to represent steel objects.

Thanks, fixed!

I created a steel framework for a floor pit with two hinged gate panels. Wanting to show one of the gates open in one view and closed in another. Are groups not an option for making objects invisible when rendering 3d objects in shaded mode? I'm referring to using classes and assigning the group an invisible class to make all the objects within disappear. One class being open gate and the other closed gate. I think I can answer how to achieve the end goal. Use a symbol instead of a group because the rendering engine recognizes when they have an invisible class assigned. Task: try this tomorrow.

It has been so long since I have needed to enter my password I've forgotten it. An upgrade to the OS and Chrome at home has effectively logged me out of the forum on my home computer. So at work where I am still logged into the forum I was going to put in a new password so I could log in again at home, BUT one needs to enter the old password to do so. Now I am stuck. Anyone know what my options are for getting logged in again at home when I cannot recall my password anymore?

jmcewen is on the right track for attempting workarounds. 1: Substitute a clipped polygon extrusion for an extrusion that has subtracted objects that are perpendicular to the work plane and visa versa sometimes works. 2. Sometimes not adding two solids that are touching or intersecting will produce the correct look without corruption. 3. Adjusting the length of a cutting solid in a manner that is not changing the desired recess or hole will sometimes remove the corruption. 4. Recreating and then replacing the original cutting object. With multi-object extrusions it is occasionally only one of the outlines that needs to be replaced, but in the file I uploaded in the other thread there are three circles in the extrusion out of five that if present cause my extraneous line to appear.

Smoothing angle is at 5° but it doesn't matter if I set it at 20° or even 90° when viewing solids that are clipped in any fashion these unpredictable lines can appear. VW2023 9109 612-614 Fisgard.vwx

You write a Procedure which seeks out all instances of the plugin and assign it to a button in the OIP. The tricky part I suspect might be whether or not the values you just changed in the plugin instance have been transferred to the attached resource so that you can capture them to copy to all the other instances. The script compiler usually doesn't update the resources until the script finishes. Would pressing this "update" button cause the plugin instance's script to run a second time if a reset object was issued in the script? Sorry I don't think I have any relevant examples. <edit: I suppose you could use the Procedure in a tool and simply click on the plugin instance that you wish to transfer the values from to its other brethren. Just place script in the right mouse button menu if it is a frequent use item. >

While I don't know the cause, you did mention that you can copy the affected viewport to a clean sheet and it performs as expected. That is a reasonable approach if it is a corrupted sheet. But before trying to remove corruption from a file ensure you work with a copy of the file until you are satisfied with the result, then the original can be overwritten. Copy the problematic viewports first; confirm that they display correctly. Now copy in the reference viewports if they were on the same page. Create a new reference tag in the copied VPs using the button in the OIP. You will need to know the new reference VP name when doing so. If everything resolves itself you should be good at that point to delete the original VPs and the sheet. Rename the new sheet and good to go?? Sorry I cannot speak to moving title blocks as we use our own and not the VWs generated product. I hope that though process is of some minor help.

During the initial creation of a section VP solid 3d objects in a symbol will appear if sectioned even though they are in an invisible group inside the symbol definition. Symbol instance has visible class applied, objects within have visible class attributes (to define object appearance when visible; being sol) but some are in a group which is invisible by class definition (because they are not present a certain stages). Now I found that when I subsequently change the class of the sectioned object and the group containing it the section VP fixed itself and doesn't seem to revert to the incorrect display of the object if the class is reset to its original configuration. Changing the visibility of the class settings for the section VP had no effect in the initially created VP section to make the sectioned object(s) invisible. <edit: Ok, this seems to be a result of whether the symbol has a visible class or invisible class attached to it, regardless of whether it was an initial instance of the section VP. Solid objects within will appear when sectioned regardless of their class' visibility setting but if in elevation class visibility responds as expected.>

I would be ok with turning off the threads if that would help but the shaft tool doesn't seem to be set up to respond to the level of detail settings. And there is no obvious means to show/swap a simple round extrusion for the shaft using those settings either. So I am guessing that it is either all or nothing, no visual reference when dimensioning if they are not there at all. ☹️ And those remnants place dots on the "Hidden" rendered side views when printed. The thin pair of line one sees in that side view is me trying to mask off what I believe is a radius demarcation line in the same location as a hidden perpendicular face; neither of which should be showing.

Thanks for the insight, Not sure why there is a differentiation between 2d and 3d. Those textures create a realistic representation with an in depth implementation whereas the 2d fill is a nice basic colouring book approach to transparency. I thought both methods were implemented with either type of object 2d/3d just not at the same time.

I created a quick corrugated profile and extruded it to the length required but could not get it to become translucent to represent a fibreglass panel. The profile is set to by class and the fill of the class is set at 25%. The extrusion is set to be by class. Does this need to be a rendered surface to achieve this? (shaded will not work?)

That would probably require a script to check the specific variable(s)(a field?) for the stored value(s), whether it be "A", "S", "GA" or any other value and compare it to a table of substitution values which you have created. Then place the substitution value into the appropriate variable/field. Having not used the built-in titleblock functionality myself I don't know if the titleblock's code is setup in a manner that a variable's value can be replaced without interference or errors within the management code. I wrote my own code for simplicity's sake to manage our own simplified titleblock. I placed it in the resource area if you're interested in scripting your own. Its a bit clunky because I didn't use any custom dialog or button functions.

You are correct; which is one reason we didn't adopt using them in 2019. HSS tubing, steel beam profiles, angles and others do not have the ability to assign materials to them unless they are embedded into a modeling process like addition, subtraction, etc., then the resulting shape will have the material check box available. That work around to get basic functionality for plugin like objects was simply not conducive to creating a clean model. Every time you do add or subtract, radius lines more often than not behave unexpectedly, even when the smoothing angle is set to 20° (normally it only needs 5°-7° to remove them).

Thanks Tom. That material selection ability seems to have promise (I tried it initially in VW2019) but as you say that database doesn't seem to have mass or similar analysis data like heat transmission etcetera but seems to be built for presentation and rendering needs. Perhaps I'm not finding where these physical properties are or need to be??? I find the rendering data ok in the rendering tab, but no records are attached when selecting the material. I was looking to find a standardized nomenclature at least in which I could enter the values you say are missing. And I don't quite fully comprehend if this is an IFC task but I find understanding that structure to be overwhelming challenging to navigate for simply wanting to add mass etc. to the built-in elements. And there being no built-in tool for sheet goods every one of us would be starting from scratch for a plate of glass or steel or aluminum or .... Larry

And a means for 3d elements to take on those qualities? Like for an extrusion representing steel plate be able to report what it's weight is after having cut it into an irregular shape. And then be able to quickly switch it to aluminum, glass or even plywood for instance. Same with all the structural shapes built into the application, HSS tubes, Beams, Angles. To be able to select and report their material in the OI palette and volume/weight of the object created. That info being interfaced from a database in VWs just like the data of the shape profiles are currently taken from predefined tables.

I forgot to mention that the titleblock is just an ordinary autoscaling symbol. You can reorganize the elements and place new static elements. If you do not delete the existing linked text, these are elements that the manager maintains, but only move them around or change their characteristics you will not need to re-link the data fields to the text instances. If I recall correctly the note option may not be fully embedded in the symbol. I added it much later in the script's development. The script will edit the default text's origin and move that text if the manual entry option gets too many characters; it shuffles left to accommodate as if it were right justified. That default origin I think I hard coded in the script giving you an opportunity improve upon my work. 😁 It shouldn't be too difficult to find and change. (Bad Larry, bad, cutting corners🙈)

Try separating the 2d and 3d elements of the symbol to give you some flexibility in rotating the 3d version. Begin by making a duplicate of the symbol in the library. Go to the original symbol definition and removed the 2d elements. It will lose its hybrid status and become 3d only. You can now check the outcome and see if the results are what was desired. They can be rotated and flipped now but I personally would avoid extensive use of the latter if you intend to do a lot of edit in place operations. On a different layer keep or place an instance of the symbol in its natural orientation which allows for easier editing when everything is close to and at simple angles to 0,0,0 placement rather than trying to edit at various site locations, rotations and slopes. Afterwards you can go to the duplicate and edit 2d mode, select all, exit, go to original, edit 3d mode, paste in place with wireframe active, probably plan view is best, and move as a whole the pasted objects relative to the origin if required or as parts to realign elements to the changes in the 3d object. Using the group command can come in handy here in case you want to re-select some of the 2d objects and not others. Ungroup afterwards. When you exit edit mode the 2d elements will automatically go to the 2d portion of the symbol definition if you do not change their Z values and the symbol becomes hybrid again when you accept the change dialogue.

In the second instance you are decreasing the accuracy in the file and there likely numerous points close together given the file size. Those points may now be perceived as being in the same location but in reality are not, just very close together. When calculating the object geometry potentially small surface triangles are no longer perceived as have a surface area and curves are not curved anymore, etc and would be causing geometric calculation errors like division by zero, etc. and they disappear or appear malformed with one or more points placed near infinity. Similar issues can occur when exporting to dxf/dwg if you don't have accuracy to at least 6 decimal places when using imperial units. If you have the ability to exclude small items from an import/export of a site it can help. Things like screws, faucets and floor drains that may have been imported from a manufacturers' library which were created with very high or very crude definitions. I've also seen company logos and converted font characters cause numerous problems when they were flattened and embedded into the file somewhere.

Are you certain that it is a "component" of an object that you wish to edit and not the 3d object edit mode that is applicable?