michaelk

It will show the internal corner if the two solids are combined to a solid addition.

No need for layer linking. Use Stack Layers. hth michaelk

Ray knows far better than I, but I've never seen the problems he mentions w/ multiple solid additions(/subtractions/intersections). I have had similar issues when mirroring symbols. Rarely - but it happens - a focus vector on spotlight instruments can get turned 90?, nurbs directions flip in a way I didn't expect, and relative positions get wonky. If that happened in your drawing and you duplicated the mirrored windows, that might explain why some windows went nuts and some didn't. I've never seen relative positions get as crazy as yours, however. There was a thread a while ago about how solids of a given class behave when the solid is one class and the defining 2D geometry is the same vs different class(es). http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=27383&Number=133198#Post133198 It can sometimes also cause the sudden disappearance of 3D objects. That doesn't seem to be causing your issue, (for a while I suspected it was) but it's something to be aware of when you're rolling your own windows.

I agree w/ Ray about using symbols. Life is much better w/ symbols. Does any of this geometry have autocad in its ancestry? Are any of the windows mirrored from other windows?

I'm seeing it, too. I don't know what causes it, but it seems to be a problem w/ the solid addition. I can make it go away, but I don't know why it works. The problem is in the solid additions. I copied one of the solid additions to a new document to make life easier. Double click the solid addition to edit. Copy one of the elements of the solid edition. Exit the solid addition. Paste the geometry beside the original solid addition. Switch to Hidden Line. Solid addition still has problem. Copied and pasted geometry does not. Double click the solid addition to edit. Copy the other element of the solid edition. Exit the solid addition. Paste the geometry. Switch to Hidden Line. No problems. It's a mystery. Did any parts of this drawing begin life in an older version of VW? MK Another clue. Just drilling down all the way into the solid addition sub objects makes the entire object disappear. ie. double click the solid addition double click an extrude. Exit the Extrude. Exit the Solid addition. The solid addition had moved to another part of the drawing. very strange.

Whoops! Forgot to answer your question. "No."

When you say you're creating truss symbols, are you creating your own symbols or using the Spotlight Truss Objects - and then turning those into symbols? If you are looking for a count there is no need to convert them to symbols or convert them to lighting devices. (or upgrade to 2010!) Just create a worksheet w/ a database that captures the lengths of all the truss objects and divide by the connection interval. If you want to get really fancy you could add locations and sort the truss by location. If you are actually creating 3D symbols from scratch, then it's even easier. Just count the symbols. hth michaelk

Yep. It's the Create Similar Object Bug in 2009. It only affects Spotlight objects. The way I understand it, there is no command built in to reset the default values for lighting devices so all future lighting devices default to the value the last time the command was run. I thought it was fixed on one of the SPs. If not there is a script that fixes it. Tech support can email it to you. hth

I totally agree that VW needs the ability to rotate hybrid symbols around the x and y axes. I'd also like to see the ability to insert hybrid symbols on working planes that are not parallel to the ground plane. You can rotate spotlight truss objects and lighting instruments w/o ungrouping. But not in the easy, simple, and much more useful way you are trying to do it. You have to enter the truss hanging angle in the OIP and enter the 3D orientation in the OIP for instruments. The current way is too slow and fussy. I'd also like to be able to use the rotate tool like suggest.

Pat Should have read your post more carefully. You're correct, it works - except for wireframe modes. Which disables nudging. So I've just fallen into the habit of disassembling pdfs automatically when I want to work w/ them in 3D. Great tip about using Illustrator.

Is the pdf made from a vector based application, or is it a scan of a hand drawing? If it's a scan or any other raster based drawing, then the above steps don't work. If it is a vector based pdf, make sure you look under everything for the lines. Keep deleting until you get to the lines.

Select the pdf. Modify>Ungroup Accept the dire warning. In place of the pdf will be three objects: ...1 a bitmap - throw it away ...2 a rectangle - throw it away ...3 a bunch of lines. Select all of them and in the OIP set the Plane to Layer Plane. That should work in any view.

Just a thought... The default grid snap is 1/8". If you have the grid snap constraint on with the default snap distance is it easy to snap something exactly 1/8" from where you intended to snap it. michaelk

Good call, Vincent I never thought of using the RU tool for that. michaelk

This has been a popular wish list item. There is no dedicated tool for it. But it can be done. Draw the line or polyline or polygon. Create the text. Select both the text and the line or polyline/polygon. Edit > Duplicate along path... hth michaelk

I'd like to see a preview button added to the "Edit Viewport Design Layers" dialog box. Currently, when editing the opacity of a design layer in a SLVP, one needs to change the opacity setting, OK out of that box back to the "Viewport Layer Properties" dialog box, and click preview there. In the highly unlikely event that you didn't guess the perfect opacity setting the first, second, third, or fourth time, it means repeatedly going in and out of the Edit Viewport Design Layers dialog box. A preview button in the EVDL dialog box would save a lot of mouse miles. michaelk

In recent versions there has been a very commendable effort to remove unnecessary redraws. There is one that has been overlooked: When in a design layer in a FQRW rendering with a Spotlight Lighting Device as a light source: From the Vis Palette right click on the light and select Edit. As soon as the first change is made the drawing redraws in what looks like Open GL mode. After clicking OK the drawing redraws in Final Quality Renderworks. So if you want to make multiple changes in the "Properties" dialog box you have to wait for the screen to redraw between each change, but the redraw isn't helpful - it's in a mode that won't show the beam. When editing regular light object the behavior is different: After making any change in the "Properties" dialog box the drawing immediately redraws in FQRW so the effect can be immediately seen. I'd like the Spotlight lighting devices to behave like the light objects when editing. Or even better, I'd like both of them to have an option to automatically or manually preview the changes. michaelk

Good question. If there is, I haven't figured it out, either.

Bruce I'm pretty sure that Multiple Extrude locks the profiles at equal spacing. So you'd have to do a lot of math to make it work. You might have better luck turning the profiles into nurbs curves, setting them where you want them and then using the loft tool in the first (loft w/ no rail) mode. The only bummer (and reoccurring wish list item) is that the result is an uneditable generic solid. michaelk

The biggest (and coolest) difference in dimensions between 2009 and 2010 is that in 2010 you can double click the dimension object and edit the "anchor point" (I'm sure that's not what it is really called) and the actual value of the dimension right on the dimension object w/o going to the OIP. michaelk

Eb Check your mode. You are probably in "chain" or "baseline" mode - they use that target curser rather than the small + that the linear mode uses. michaelk

I do the same thing all the time. Just takes a stray mouse click to turn the dimension class invisible.

Rob It helps to know what version of VW and what computer system you are using. Most people add it to their signature. If you look in the resource browser, there will be a symbol for the existing table/chair symbol. It's called something like "Table 72" and Chairs". Right click on that symbol and choose Duplicate. Right click on the duplicated symbol and choose Edit. In the next box choose 2D. (You could also choose 3D - in this case it doesn't matter.) Delete & rearrange the chairs. Click on "Exit Symbol" - top right of the drawing window. Select the seating layout in your drawing. In the Object Info Palette click "select symbol" Choose your new symbol. You can keep editing your new symbol and the seating layout will automatically update. One word of caution: It's not always intuitive which direction the tables face. It doesnt' matter with the stock 72" round w/ 10 chairs: it's symmetric. But if direction of the symbol is important, you may have to expirement a little. I have very little experience w/ the event planning commands, but I've found that the the chair that is at the top of the table in the symbol sometimes ends up bottom right in the seating layout. Easy to fix, but it can be confusing at first. hth michaelk

Is your dimension class visible?

There is an add on that will animate objects in VW.: http://www.ozcad.com.au/products/animationworks.php The less cool way is to put each move in its own class. Make all the set move classes invisible. Then Command-right arrow and Command-left arrow through them. hth michaelk