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MikeB

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Everything posted by MikeB

  1. I'm having trouble getting a worksheet to calc my areas in different layers. In the appropriate cell I used the paste function to choose "area" and the paste criteria to choose "custom" and then the correct layer. The only thing in the layer is a single polygon that should have an area of 5100 SF +/- (according to the object info box) but the worksheet calculates it at around 721000 SF +/-(accually it dosent say what the units are). I have also tried to narrow the criterial by adding the "kind" "polygon" to the list and "square" as well with no change. does anyone know what I'm doing wrong. I have VW 8.5.2 on a G4 with 256 mb ram and a 400 mhz processor. I am using system 9.0.4 [This message has been edited by MikeB (edited 07-31-2000).]
  2. I almost exclusively use keyboard short cuts while I work, With OS 9.0.4 and VW 8.5.2 I haven't noticed any crashing related to using keyboard short cuts. I had alot of crashing when I first installed VW on the G4. The things I did that definately improved my performance were Turned off the Virtual Memory Installed the latest version of adobe type manager. There is a special edition on the Adobe site specifically for OS 9 Installed the OS 9.0.4 update. Since I did these things, my machine crashes about as much as my old G-3 did. Which seems to be a few times a week.
  3. I have a G4 400 with 256 Mb ram. I also crashed constantly until I turned off my Virtural Memory. Things have been relatively stable since. Good Luck
  4. Splash is a key on a mac keyboard that is the third key in from the left on the bottom, between the option key and the space bar, it is used to engage several keyboard short cuts. I suppose this is a slang term, I dont know what its really called. PC's use the command key to do the same thing.
  5. When you edit a saved sheet and hit OK you get kicked out of the edit sheet dialogue. It would be better if it sent you back to the list of saved sheets instead so you could edit multiple sheets without having to open the saved sheet dialogue over and over. What happens to me is that I will have multiple saved sheets and then I will add a layer to the file. Then if I want this layer (or class for that matter) to be vivible in all of my saved sheets I have to open the Saved sheet dialogue over and over for each sheet. With several sheets it can be very time consuming. Thanks
  6. To join you can use "splash J" on a mac or "control J" on a PC if you just want a 90 degree angle. Good Luck
  7. I've tried both a sweep and just a simple 3-D poly as the lense. The engine is set to ray trace with 1 bounce, smooth edges and textures with the transparency and shadows on. It is point source. It seems if I set the Material transparency to the max it works but if I slide the bar at all to the left it won't. I'll send you the file tomorrow Thanks Michael Becherer Omni Architects
  8. I've been trying to model some light fixtures with translucent lenses. If I create the fixture with the light source inside a lense with the plain glass shader making it slightly opaque, it will not allow any light throught the lense. I have also tried to use a white image as the material and again make it slightly opaque. This dosen't work either. Can RW not support what I'm trying to do. I know I can fake it by putting the light source in front of the lense, but this dosen't create an accurate spread of light. Thanks Michael Becherer Omni Architects
  9. I also think some type of extrude along line command would be incredibly usefull. you could define a path, then select a profile to extrude along that path. I could make hand rails, and other fluid element much easier to model in a more accurate way.
  10. Do you have the latest version of Adobe Type Manager, there is a special update on the adobe site for G4's running OS 9, I dont know if this will solve your problem but it's probably worth the effort. Good Luck
  11. Try reducing your prefered to 25 to 30 Mb. From what I understand VW uses free ram to render, not allocated ram. If VW eats up all of your ram there isn't enough left for the system to use to render the image. Also if your running OS 9 it can and will take up to 60 tp 70 MB on its own. So if you allocate 90 +/- to VW the system has 70+/- that only leave 12+/- for what ever else ( rendering ). I know this is true for the quick draw and Ray maker engins, and honestly the quick draw engin is as fast or faster than the solid rendering option. Its also more accurate. Just so you know I use a G4 with 256Mb ram and a 400 Mhz processor. My VW allocation is 35 to 40 Mb, My models are up to 12 Mb and regular 2-D drawings are from 250 Kb to 5 Mb, with a 35 Mb allocation I can open several files at once. Good Luck
  12. Keep in mind, in you only increase the resolution from say 72 dpi to 300 dpi you dont really gain anything. You get the same # of pixels closer together. to really incease the resolution you have to increase the # of pixels. In 3_d the best thing to do is to make your perspetive marque bigger. To change the pixed size in the exports dialogue has been ify in my experience. Good Luck
  13. Antone This is the most incredible thing i've seen on this board, We've been using Minicad/ VW for several years and out of 14 of us no one ever found this. Where did you learn how to do this, I don't think ive ever seen in the a manuel.
  14. KWB In your image 1 (Print Dialoque) there is a box which says "print to file" check this. Because you are using the HP plotter driver it will write a PLT file, It just dosen't say that. After you check this just hit print and it will ask you for a file name and location. Good luck [This message has been edited by MikeB (edited 06-22-2000).]
  15. I think in the print dialogue there is a box you can check to save the PLT file. I have done this before, I use a PC at home and have on several occassions made a plt file from VW to bring to work and print using a mac on a HP Plotter. So I think you go to the file menu, select print, use the HP plotter driver(You select it where the defaut printer shows up in the dialogue box, you can download the driver from HP web site if you dont have it, then you install it as a new printer through the controll panel/printers. It dosent matter if the plotter is physically attached to your computer because you are only using the driver to write the plt file) and look for the save file box ( it's the kind you check as I remember) then it will ask you for a file name and location to save the file. I'll look tonite at home to make sure this is how it works Oh, I'm talking about Win 98 but I think Win 2000 works the same way. Good Luck [This message has been edited by MikeB (edited 06-19-2000).] [This message has been edited by MikeB (edited 06-19-2000).]
  16. That is a preference. Goto File VW preferenced Edit tab Deselect "offset Duplicates" Good Luck
  17. I think you can do a custom selection by color and then change the line weight, I think this might be the only way to do what you want. Good Luck
  18. You can. You need to set either a 3-D loci or a 2-D loci at the points you want to snap to and then set your contraint to "snap to loci" Good Luck
  19. If you go from Mac to Pc simply add a .mcd file extension to the end of the file name. To go from PC to Mac you have to open the file from within VW. So launch VW first and use the open file menu option. Then "save as" keeping the old file name and the Mac will write the resource fork so you can open the file by double clicking. Fortunately VectorWorks documents are completely cross format compatable. You will lose no information moving from PC to Mac or vice versa Good Luck
  20. We have about 14 macs, most are G-3's on OS 8.6 and one G-4 on OS 9. We have trouble with the print area changing to "other" instead of "one page" this seems to be a random problem and what happens is when you send the drawing to the printer it sends 2 pages instead of one and causes the plotter to crash. You have to pay close attention to the dialogue box as the file spools to catch it. Does anyone else have problem?
  21. I Agree, actually a general discussion on lighting, and techniques for various effects would be nice. I've seen alot of good models rendered ineffectively because of bad lighting. Also, I've had alot of trouble with color. I suspect this is related to lighting but I haven't found a solution. The problem is that the images I export from VW tend to be rather washed out, the colors seem pale. I can usually get satisfactory results from manipulating the exported image in Photoshop, but this can be hit and miss and seems like it should be unnecessary. I just wonder if I'm missing something important in this regard. Thanks
  22. If you are using a true type font you can use the "true type to polyline" command on the text menu. then Possibly convert to lines, group it, then you should be able manipulate it. Although you can no longer edit the text after you do this Good Luck
  23. I see your difficulty. Have you ever considered setting up your sheets in Photoshop and only using VW to generate the individual graphics. Thats basically what I do and It works really well, I simply export each view as an image and then reassemble everything in Photoshop. Although to be completely honest you can get into alot of trouble with large photoshop files doing this. Anyway Good Luck
  24. You need to create a layer link to combine your 3-D layers. What we do is make a new layer (called the Model Layer or something) and link all of our 3-D layers into it. The layer link command is in the view menu, and there is decent documentation in the VW book. Good Luck
  25. Just wanted to add that my PC also has a NVIDA GForce 32Mb card and I have no problems. I'm very happy with it.
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