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inikolova

Vectorworks, Inc Employee
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Posts posted by inikolova

    VGX, Initial view not working

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi @BartH,

    Thank you! We are currently working on tethered mode for Vectorworks Odyssey, which would bring light direction control, shadows and ambient occlusion to VR. Adding saved camera positions to Odyssey has also been discussed and it is a possibility for later this year. 

    Let me know if you have any feedback on the hot off the press saved views in the 3D viewer.

    Point Cloud vs 3D Model/Mesh from Photos

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 11/23/2024 at 12:43 AM, willofmaine said:

    I see that it generated a "gravity.TXT" file for each image and, sure enough, the pan is right-side up... but, it's also 3x bigger than it should be, so not sure about that...)

    The gravity file is only responsible about orientation. The scale is determined by depth data which is only collected on devices that support this feature. If your device supports it, you would also see "depth.tif" file for each image.

     

    With planned upcoming updates, scanning objects up to 6 ft in size would also utilize the LiDAR scanner, which would help with scaling of the model on devices without a depth camera.

    AI visualizer login issue

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    @Zsombor,

    Did you set a password for your Vectorworks account by following the steps I provided (signing in a browser with your social login and then setting a password in the login field)? It could be the same or different than your social login password. They are independent from each other.

    After you set the password, you should be able to sign into the Vectorworks account without using the social sign in button. I hope this would give you a workaround while the social sign in problem is being looked at.

    Screenshot_20241125_185150_Chrome.jpg

    Vectorworks Cloud - Cloud Publishing: Font Issue?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    @DCarpenter,

    You can upload custom fonts on the same storage where the .vwx file is, and the server should use them during the publishing. In other words, if your file is on Vectorworks Cloud Storage, the font files should also be on the Vectorworks Cloud Storage. If the .vwx file is in Dropbox, the fonts should also be on Dropbox, etc. Let me know if you run into issues and I can look into your specific case.

    AI visualizer login issue

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    Hi @Zsombor,

    Can you please go to https://sso.vectorworks.net/accounts/ and try signing in with your social login. 

    Do you see a password in the login section, or does it say "No password set"? If there is no password set, go ahead and create one this way and then try signing in with the social email and the password that you have set.

    Note that you may have another email associated with your account but you should not use this email as a username. You should use the email that appears in the Login section.

    Point Cloud vs 3D Model/Mesh from Photos

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    54 minutes ago, willofmaine said:

    I'd read that a point cloud is more accurate than the mesh.

    I think this is a very general statement. In some cases it may be, depending on the equipment used to capture it. Laser scanners can produce very accurate point clouds. For scanning with Lidar on iOS, accuracy would depend on many things - the size of area being scanned, sufficient surface details, lighting condidtions, etc. In the case when a point cloud is generated from photos, I woud think the point cloud would have a similar accuracy as the mesh, since the algorithm uses photos to create either one. Whether having a point cloud or mesh is better and would produce more desired results, also depends on the follow up commands/workflow you will use to manipulate the model in Vectorworks. Some workflows prefer point cloud data, while others work better with a mesh. 

     

    I am sorry I can't give you a definite answer. After all, the accuracy is fully in the hands of the algorithm, which is developed and maintained by Apple. I recommend taking a few critical measurements of every scan, to verify desired accuracy of the generated model. 

     

    54 minutes ago, willofmaine said:

    Aside from needing to be re-scaled, how inaccurate is the mesh?

    If your image set doesn't contain depth and gravity data (generated from supported iOS devices), the mesh would not be in the correct orientation and scale. Capturing the photos in Nomad would produce better results than taking the photos with a regular camera that does not capture any additional metadata that the algoritm uses to aid in the reconstruction process. The depth and gravity data help the algorithm know the true size and orientation of the scanned object, so no re-scaling would be needed at the end.

     

    54 minutes ago, willofmaine said:

    Also, are there any benefits to USDZ over OBJ?  The .obj file simply imported as a mesh.

    USDZ is the native format produced by the Apple's framework. The OBJ is created from the USDZ in a post-process as a conversion. So, I would think using the USDZ is better. We produce the OBJ simply because at the time we released the new photogrammetry algorithm, Vectorworks did not support import of USDZ. We would probably stop producing OBJ files soon because producing more than one file per scan seems confusing and users are not sure which one to use 😃 .

     

    Regarding the grouping, this is likely a result of the hierarchy of the USDZ file, the way it is given to us. I will consult with the engineers to see if there is anything that we can do to reduce the levels of nesting.

     

    I hope this helps.

     

    Best regards,

    Iskra Nikolova

    • Like 2

    What happened to web view 24 vs. 25 ?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi @halfcoupler,

    If only it was so simple to make Vectorworks run in a browser and read the .vwx files...

    We are actively trying to find a solution to make it possible to share both 2D and 3D aspects of the model in a web-based form, and in Nomad. 

    The Cloud presentation is mostly beneficial for its virtual tour capabilities, which make it possible to create a walkthrough experience, using high-quality renderings. Interactive 3D models can only be viewed in OpenGL-like quality on the web and in Nomad, so if more photo-realistic experience is needed, then the Cloud presentations are the way to go.

    Thanks for all your feedback. We really appreciate it. 

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    Point Cloud vs 3D Model/Mesh from Photos

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hi @willofmaine,

    You are correct that things have changed since few years ago. The Photos to 3D model used to generate a point cloud and a mesh (as a sub-product of the point cloud). At that time, the algorithm did not have a high success rate. Many users were not able to reproduce models from the photo sets that they have taken. We have then evaluated the Apple's framework and determined that sets that used to fail are now succeeding, and the models are more optimized and more accurate. Unfortunately, Apple's framework does not generate point clouds at this time. Natively, it generates a mesh in USDZ format and we also convert it to OBJ, as some older Vectorworks versions do not support USDZ import. Actually Apple offers a solution for creation of point clouds from photos, but when we evaluated it, we found that the point clouds were not satisfactory and decided not to implement it at this time. With Apple constantly evolving this framework, we will re-evaluate to see if it reaches a point where the point clouds can be brought back.

    If you have an iOS device with Lidar sensor (the Pro models have it), you can create a point cloud with Nomad directly on the device (no cloud processing required). 

     

    I hope this clarifies things. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

    • Like 5

    What happened to web view 24 vs. 25 ?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Selective sync is the third section from the top, where you see the check mark next to the Vectorworks Cloud Services folder. If you click on it, it will expand to show you the folder structure inside the Vectorworks Cloud Services folder and which folders are set for syncing. But since you have a check mark on the root folder, that tells me all folders inside are selected as well, so selective sync is not your problem. 

     

    Have you paused the syncing of the app entirely? The pause button is shown inside a teal circle, as on my screenshot below.

     

    When you open the Cloud Services Desktop app, do you see the .vcdoc file in the Sync activity section?

     

    It would also help us troubleshoot if you enable sending app logs from the settings - the second option on the General section on the Settings dialog. Or you can zip up and email me the following folder: /Library/Logs/Nemetschek/Vectorworks Cloud Services to inikolova@vectorworks.net. 

     

     Screenshot 2024-11-14 at 6.43.04 PM.png

    What happened to web view 24 vs. 25 ?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    @halfcoupler,

     

    Thank you for your positive notes about the webinar and the feature. The webinar was very useful for me as well, to learn what users expect from it and how we can evolve it. 

     

    1) It seems like the .vcdoc file is not yet uploaded. Things to check:

     - Did you click Share on the Vectorworks dialog, which actually triggers the file export?

     - Do you have Selective sync enabled in the Cloud Services desktop app? If yes, make sure the Shared Documents folder is selected for syncing. (We have a fix for this in the upcoming version of the desktop app)

     

    2) Thanks for the feedback! I will pass it on to the team for consideration. This was actually part of my initial design proposal, but it wasn't completed as part of the inital release. I hope we would be able to come up with a solution for the subsequent releases.

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    What happened to web view 24 vs. 25 ?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    @halfcoupler, We are going to release a saved views in the 3D viewer in the next few months, making it very easy for your clients to view and navigate the model. The technology for the old web view had a lot of limitations that was making it hard to develop the same features for multiple platforms, making it hard for us to maintain and evolve. The new technology allows for opening and viewing of much larger models than before. You can also add your logo in the cloud portal preferences (under the account menu). The old web view is a thing from the past. I would love to hear your wishes about what we can do to make the new one much better than than the old one 😀.

    • Like 6

    What happened to web view 24 vs. 25 ?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    @halfcoupler,

    While it is correct that the Export VGX replaced the old Export Web View (although this happened long time ago, not with 2025), it is not correct that your clients are forced to sign up for Cloud Services or to use Nomad. You can share a link to the .vgx file and you can even set an expiration date for the link, so it available temporary to your clients, but the file remains in your cloud storage after this. Right click on the file in the web portal to see the Share link command.

    Also, I want to point out that using Nomad does not require a sign in. Your clients can view the model in Nomad if they want to view on a mobile device, because mobile browsers are not supported. Nomad actually offers a feature that the web browser does not, which is the ability to see and control visibility of light objects exported from the Vectorworks file. 

    I hope this helps.

    Please let me know if you have any other questions.

    Exporting referenced layers to VGX

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    Hi @Tim Harland,

    The Export VGX command should export geometry that comes from referenced files as long as it is available in the file. Let me explain what I mean by that... So, when you do Export VGX in your local Vectorworks application, the file is sent to the cloud for processing. Think of what is available in the .vwx file at the time the cloud server opens the file.

    The Cloud server always runs the latest available Vectorworks version, so if your file is an earlier file version, it would be converted when it is opened on the server. If you place all of the files in your cloud services folder, along with the file you are trying to export, the Cloud server will look for those referenced files and use them, as long as they are the latest file version. As you may know, every time you update the file version of the master file, you need to update the referenced files to the same version, or they won't be recognized by Vectorworks. 

    I also think that saving referenced cache should be able to avoid having to deal with all that, even if your master file is an older file version. Do you have the reference cache set to Yes for all of your referenced files?

    • Like 3
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