Bruce Kieffer

No Worries. The object is to get Nemetschek to fix the problem, cause like I said, it's a great tool that unfortunately doesn't work.

Mike, I see two center marks on your VW file when I zoom in close.

Mike, I did do it in one step. I aligned the two objects, then subtract both from the extruded rectangle at the same time. Even so, there are still two center marks.

I think Pat is referring to the custom visibility command, not the visibility tool.

Mike, You are correct, but I ungrouped them, realigned them, subtracted them again, and there are still two center marks on the subtraction.

OK. Attached is another VW file showing in front view an extruded rectangle at the top, and the same extruded rectangle below, this time with a hole cut in it off center. Grab the lower object by the center mark and align it to the upper object's center mark. See what I mean? The center mark of the solid subtraction is not correct. The true center of that is the intersection of the rectangle's width/2 and its height/2. VW calculates is as something else.

Hi Pat, The offset circles you refer to are due to 2 solid subtractions from the extruded rectangle. One is a cavity for a hex head nut, the other is a hole. Yes they are a part of the same solid subtraction. I moved the duplicated objects apart in the attached JPG. I investigated further, and I think the double center marks are in the one solid subtraction object. I attached a VW 2010 file for you to see that. It has the single solid subtraction. Zoom in to see the center marks. VW thinks that object has two different centers. One center for the extrusion with the subtracted hex head cavity, and another center for the extrusion with the subtracted hole. This is what I pointed out to tech support recently with a different example. I will post that example file shortly. I just added the Custom Visibility command to my workspace. Nice! That's a great topic for my users group. Do you have a link to a tech document or movie that explains more about it?

One of the best features of VW 2010 is object center marks. The problem is you can't rely on them. They are not determined correctly for any somewhat complex object, and in the case of the attached screenshots, even a duplicated object has a different center point than its parent. Not good. 1.jpg shows a duplicated and aligned object in right view. 2.jpg is zoomed in on the 2 center points of those "same" objects. I wish I could understand how they are not in the same spot? Same object, one directly on top of the other, residing in the exact same space. I did make tech support aware of this issue, but it has not been corrected in SP3.

Nice! I edited the texture and changed the size to 1" and it looks great. Thanks Mike.

Any ideas how to make a 3D poly render as a window screen mesh?

Ray, Nice and thanks. I'll see what I can do with that.

Anyone know of an available texture to look like woven cord? Like twine.

So where is the true center of a triangle? I don't think it's where VW is telling me it is. Is there some setting I need to change? Please look at the attached screen shot. I drew a 30,60,90 triangle. I do believe the true center is the intersection of the lines that bisect each corner. See the other attached screen shot.

Now that VW 2010 has fractional dimensions, how about adding fraction text so when we enter 3/8" as text it is consistent with the fractional look of dimension text.

Thanks Peter. I'll keep that tip in mind.

Anyone have ideas how to render a VWRW transparency like I have in the attached PDF?

Set the 4 and 5 buttons to the VW keyboard commands for previous and next view. Then click, click, click, back and forth through your recent VW views. Nice!

And maybe you've hit on why it works as it does... because there is so much inconsistency, that "use the active class" is the only option that makes sense. I would prefer your option one with how I use VW.

bcd, Thanks for reminding me of this tool. I will follow your advise.

I have found the new (VW 2009) visibility tool is helpful to quickly identify classes of objects, and I find the select similar tool useful in this regard as well.

Michael, all of you observations are great and lead me to thinking that there's far too much confusion and inconsistency in how classes are assigned. With the way I work, I could use a preference that says once I manually assign a class to an object, that object keeps that class until I change it to another class. I somewhat understand the "container" concept mentioned by Frank Brault, and I have no qualm with the container being set to a certain class, and it's contents being set to other classes. What I'm saying is; if at some point in my drawing process I manually change an object's class, then it should maintain that class until I change it again, no matter how I modify the object (like extrude it). I also see your point about an extrude along a path, but I think in that case I'd rather be presented with a dialog box that asks which of the two classes I prefer the resulting extrusion to reside in. With all of this said, I have to believe there is a logical explanation for why VW does what it does, but so far none of us have figured it out!

Is there a preference setting somewhere that I have missed? When I create a 2D object and define it's class, I want to be able to extrude that object at a later time and have it maintain it's class, but VW changes the class to the active class. Maybe there's some logic to this that is lost on me.

Dear Nemetschek, I could go on and on talking about how bad the "new" help system is in 2010, but I'm confident that if you have used it on a Mac, you already know this. Please change it.

Help stinks even worse. Try and do a "what's this" search twice. Nope! If the help is open it won't work the second time. You have to quit the help, then do the next "what's this" search. Bad, bad, bad. Help is suppose to help, not work against you.

I use a Wacom Intuos tablet with their 5 button mouse. It's very accurate, and expensive! I've had mine for about 6 years. Wacom is good at keeping the drivers current. I wouldn't go any other route. I got tired of fighting to "land" on an exact spot with wireless mice I tried.