zoomer

I think DWG Import in VW is pretty good. If the DWG has Materials, VW brings them in. (Unfortunately, VW does not export Materials by its DWG Export) So it depends on which App originally did the DWG Export, if DWG contains Materials or not. And if the source offers more file formats for download, some may include certain things while other offer other things or not. So I usually would download or ask for all file formats that I can import and try which works best. In the worst case I try to combine imports or test importing by other Software too. DAE is Collada, which usually isn't bad for 3D either.

We have these Service Voids here too. Not for every standard Cabinet but those who are meant to include devices which need cables or pipes, or those where cables or pipes will cross, like where the sink is and other neighbored devices like dish washers will connect. Often mainly in the lower part only, where things happen. E.g. if there is a drawer on top, it may be able use the full depth.

Yes. I think TM (and Unreal !) Licensing changes are still not final, but so far it sounds like it is a perpetual License, including all updates for a year. But that was basically always the case for TM. (Beside that the gave out licenses for free, for doing early beta testing, for woning a VW license, .... and that I never heard them asking for a next year fee during the last years) But it is not clear if you get the perpetual App for that price (?) and pay the same price for a potential Upgrade/Update after a year, which feels a bit like a subscription payment - while keeping the perpetual character and access to your data. Or if you will get update discount prices ? Everything is a bit vague.

I would love to have a all in one App. Around 2009 I did so for some larger projects by doing all in Modo. That was a great and enjoyable time. I was already fit enough in Modo to be fast. No more lossy export/imports, redundant 3D Models, .... But somehow I really have a love for CAD and missed it again. Volume Modeling, Precision, .... And in 2014 I switched to VW and was even more intrigued by parametric Modeling with VW PIOs. So I switched from Modo to my redundant Cinema License because of better exchange with VW. And when C4D Exchange finally worked after a couple of VW releases, lossless Exchange was reality anyway and VW + C4D a no brainer. But what I would miss in VW and Cineengine - without a C4D, is NOT so much the missing or limited C4D Renderer and Material features .... (AFAIK Archicad does offer the full package since they also integrated Cineengine) It is the standard Visualization comfort features of 3D Apps. Things like being able to easily save a screen rendering. Or the flexibility of C4D's Render Takes System to batch render and "publish" versions. Or the ability to calculate and save images at a certain resolution by a given Pixel amount, and all such things. In VW this all is still a pain. Paper oriented, Imperial driven, DPI thinking, inaccurate Paper Sizes, ... So I do not see that happen for VW. And C4D personally deprecated since years since being subscription only and latest experiences with my last C4D R21 and VW 2022 (?) and newer weren't very good with Exchange anymore. I think Enscape Plugin would offer great "Exchange" with VW, since it has Mac support. But that is now Chaos Group and subscription only, so deprecated even before being released too 🙂 So for me it will also mainly lead to VW to Twinmotion (or Unreal). But I do not have tested enough if Datasmith Exchange would really work reliable for me. And if I ever need to go for an All in one App, I think I need to go to Blender(BIM). Which would cover both of my priorities, BIM and VIZ.

Yes, it is always 30 years from now. Very easy to remember.

I do not get crashes when quitting VW 2024. (That was more a Bricscad thing in the past) But I see that VW 2024 will not free the memory when you just close the file .... I have to close VW first, if that memory is needed for another App.

Am I the only one or does it make sense that I get always all messages with 2 copies !? And is it really necessary to ask for confirmation when I want to delete one ? BTW, maybe it has to do with my settings ?

OK OK, something to consider. But on the other hand, nowadays, 5 GB VRAM isn't that much. (E.g. on my PC I upgraded to a RX6800 with 16 GB VRAM, 2 years ago) And I read of Enscape projects not loading and their Forum Support said the model does simple not fit into GPU VRAM ... But anyway, 1. it worked with the Rhino workflow before already on your machine 2. this VW project does open, just it takes long time So It hink we can exclude the redundant 3D geometry problem idea .... Everything of your custom plant symbols sounds reasonable. The 2D Symbols do not look like they could cause any problems. But I am not sure if putting Enscape assets into another VW Symbol container could cause issues. As these are already Symbols (?) Unlikely though, as it would just be like other nested Symbols .... So, (so far), also not the problem. And I think it should not be problematic to finally use 20-30 or more assets. Especially if these are specifically from Enscape. I would do a test. If you create a copy of the file and delete half of the plant instances, would it load in 7 instead of 15 minutes .... or much faster .... (Or maybe also test by delete the city model to narrow down what works and what not) Or do have an option to test the file on a Desktop or more capable machine ? So far I am running a bit out of ideas ..... I think the Exchange will only load what is currently visible in the Viewport ........ So you could just switch of some unneeded Layers or Classes temporarily or create some Saved Views if you want to switch between such visibility setups later again.

When I read this my first though was, maybe it is a very big Model .... And it looks like it is. Does that mean that similar large projects worked with Rhino to Enscape flawlessly ? On your current hardware ? What are the hardware specs exactly ? What I mean is that complex projects very likely could lag under limiting Hardware. If such possible limitations can really be excluded it would be more likely that the problem has really to do with VW to Enscape exchange. But it could also be a file organization problem. Like not effectively using Symbol/Block instancing. For me, coming from VW/Twinmotion, embedding Enscape Trees inside of the VW Tree Symbols, looks a bit strange. I would have expected that VW Tree Symbols get replaced by Enscape Assets in Enscape. So for now I would think that the Plant Symbols containing both geometries, may cause some redundant geometries or general problems inside Enscape. But maybe there is no other way to organize the Plant Symbol replacement for Enscape exchange (?) I think the number of Tree "Instances" in File is not primarily the problem. It is the number Tree types you use. E.g. if you use 8+ Laubwerk Trees, it can already slow down VW itself significantly.

BTW, when I was young I was happy to have a real middle mouse button for CAD. Meanwhile, since getting a MMB again by my CADMouse I am even more motorically overwhelmed by it. Still don't know which finger work best. And will get rid of, hence the switch to a mere standard Logitech Mouse. As the MS Intelli Mouse years showed, as long a the scroll wheel allows a comfortable and reliable MMB click, it is even easier and faster without a real MMB.

As you do 3D, do you start the flyover tool to rotate the 3D view ? While others love shortcuts, I am also a notorious Icon clicker and my mouse curser may travel 5 times as far a day this way as their's, But View Navigation for me worked everywhere directly with Mouse and a few single keys. So in VW this is a bit harder ... ahm ...harder coded, so flyover fails without a middle mouse button and zoom fails without a scrollwheel.

OK, I could click the "X" on the keyboard to deselect and reset tools. But Fit View is a bit more complicated 🙂 I prefer to have that on my mouse buttons (and/or Space Navigator buttons) as usually Mice have these Backward/Forward buttons anyway. And for Bricscad I set them accordingly to ESC and Fit View. Similar for 3D Software. So I have everywhere the same haptic and do not need to remember each App's keyboard short cuts. Currently I try the magic mouse, which feels slow. I checked and have already max speed and even acceleration activated. Really a pity that my MadCatz does not work on Mac. It has the best Mercedes/Maybach solid click sound and feeling I ever experienced. Unfortunately, without a driver, it must have some non conform signal output, which is no problem on Windows or Linux but on Mac it will somehow e.g. not auto expand Menu entries when hovering. I also do not understand why macOS still ignores any extra buttons on a Mouse. Even for this basic behavior you need already a driver suite. OK, the 3DConnexion CADMous is so non standard that it even does no basic right mouse clicks with out its monster drivers.

Also no lags with VW Icons/Buttons here. But how do you temporarily orbit your View ? ("Flyover Tool") And how can you live with out 2 Thumb Buttons for "X" Selection and Fit View ?

Ah, could be that capped T-Mode is sometime necessary to force a butted connection, like in cases when Walls or their components do not use the same height levels .... But AFAIR, join same Materials, brought a desired non-capped Top Plan result anyway .... (?)

I usually try to do this with endless playing with Wall Component Connection Tool. I did not ever have a VW Roof so far but different Wall Height situations anyway. And with endless I mean that I can play easily 2 hours on a single Wall Connection. But it is interesting that in most cases you will get to your desired result at one point. Which means that already the overall Wall Connection type is important if it will work or fail. And you usually have to try all possible sequences and directions and all kind of capped or uncapped options.

I already ordered one. But it will take some time until it arrives as I also ordered some not deliverable cables and adapters ...... (Last time when I ordered I chose only products marked as available and some switched to not available while waiting 3 weeks anyway) Did a quick look over all Mac compatible mice in an online shop. Logitech's overall looked most reasonable. Then I was a but unsure about Mac or Mac/PC/Linux version. Or if MX 2 would be enough too (?) Not sure why the Mac version is more expensive, although it misses the Logi Bolt USB Receiver (Would I need that for Linux ?) and has a USB C to C cable vs USB A to C in PC version, while my M1 Mini has only 2 (already occupied) USB C Slots. But I chose the MX3 Mac Version. And therefore the USB adapters and cables 🙂

Will give it al try too again. But i miss the MMB click. I have the original first Magic Mouse, maybe current ones are better meanwhile. But I never managed to get a reasonable or reliable MMB click with Better Touch Tool and similar Apps in the past. The other problem is that it does not slide that well on my Linoleum desktop cover .... On the other hand I like its gestures in Safari. Basically great overall, except CAD and 3D. I always wondered why Apple never designed a great mouse for Pro Users wich such mouse demanding Apps like CAD and BIM ....

Interesting. Currently I dod not have a problem with standard mouse usage and I am curious if I could get used to a vertical hand alignment. But if drag when moving isn't higher I could imagine ... What I can't imagine so far would be a trackball solution ....

Great, that is like my MadCatz. It is there, I forgot about too it as it also does not disturb .....

Basically I never ever had a problem with a mouse with a cable ... (otherwise it is not a Mouse - more a Mole ....) If it is wireless, I do not want to need to change batteries like with an old Apple Magic Mouse or Keyboard. If it has an USB cable option to load (or permanent connection offer) that is OK. If not, at least standard AA or AAA battery sizes for Eneloop rechargeable batteries .....

I also first thought about something from Logitech. Because of driver quality and features and hardware reliability I experienced in the past. I will look closer to your recommendation. But I also hope for some reasonable gaming mice options from Razor or such. BTW, when Microsoft dropped Mac Driver support (Until I was so happy with Microsoft Intelli Mouse Explorers for many years, totally reliable although only in the 30, later $15 price range) I bought some mice at that time, also a Logitech USB office mouse that had a "side scroll" scroll wheel feature - which made it totally unreliable for CAD MMB actions. Is your offer free of "side scroll" features ? (Watching the feature list it looks like it is ...)

I still use my 3D Connexion CADMouse, because of the extra separate middle mouse button (and as I have the 3DCon Driver installed anyways for Space Mouses) But the Mouse again, this was already the second RMA replacement and now after 4 years, again it has a corrupt left click. (Missing clicks and far worse, unwanted double clicks) I am not pleased that another mouse manufacturer also means the need for another driver suite but I wish for a new Mouse. My wishes : - reliable in drivers and hardware quality (basically like any other mouse beside CADMouse that I ever owned) - separate middle mouse button not mandatory, as long as the Scroll Wheel works as reliable and comfortable for both, scrolling AND MMB clicking - it should have an ergonomic form and buttons and be suitable for a larger hand (Logitech Mouse Man Wheel around 1998 was perfect, most current mice feel a bit too small for me .... often thumb buttons are too near for my thumb) - it should look Apple-like, cool, modern, reasonable colors or lack off, ... - it should not be from a too exotic manufacturer that goes bankrupt after a few years (my beloved MadCatz Ratz5 would be great if it would still have macOS drivers) - it should offer a a USB(C?) Cable, at least optionally beside Bluetooth - driver need to allow separate Settings specific for each App Basically it will be more about gaming than office mice .... mainly for CAD and 3D (not gaming)

You said Favorites he said Bookmarks SNCR 😅 I also have also bookmarked VW help in Safari (probably for VW 2019 or so, but I can edit the year ....) But if you do Bookmark all such things, your bookmarks may be so crowded and deeply hierarchic in Sub Folders that it might be even easier to start VW and open help from there .... (At least my Bookmark collection is that way) An alternative would be to create an Alias to VW's local help on desktop (?)

Generally I also always asked for a consolidation of Select/Move or any other Command that includes a Move option and the Move by Points Tool. I think the recommended way would be by using the "G" key. That should allow to reset the move at a certain point, before you enter the values from there. Problem is that I try to use "G" every few years again but so far never was able to make it do what I want or expect. Seems I am not compatible with that VW feature. My Keep It Stupid Simple approach in this case would be - move the points to black line - move again away to desired location .... This is also why in VW I really use Select/Drag Tool for 95% of movements. (Together with the "T" key to lock to a single Axis, if ever applicable) And I never ever used any Select/Drag option in any other CAD before or after VW. All had beautiful satisfying single do-it-all Move Tool. I think the Gold Standard for Move Tools goes to Microstation, same for Selections and Filtering and easiest use of Axis constraints. (On the 3D Mesh App side, it is clearly Modo !)

They recently changed the UI to make it similar to Unreal. And soon you get Lumen (realtime GI) in TM. You can already test the preview. I think TM is on a very good way. But they want money for TM now. In the past they gave away permanent licenses for TM and did not ask for a fee between TM main versions. No w they may ask for a price per year or version, which is similar to a service contract or nearly like a subscription. Beside that it seem to stay perpetual. Same for Unreal. Beside Game producers, for "linear" productions, like videos (!) or visualization stills, Unreal was free. No visualizers also have to pay. It is announced and said there will also be a minimum earning until the fees start, but so far no concrete data or numbers .... Interesting. Basically I preferred Enscape in the past and was so much waiting for a Mac version. But then they went chaos (group) and subscription. And I do not go any subscription ......