MikeB

We stumbled upon a strange little bug today, if you try export a polygon (or polyline) with a solid fill but no line weight, it will not export (or import, I'm not sure where the object accually disappears) Is this a bug, or is it a limitation of the import/export engine? Thanks

I think the answers are no and no.

I think this is your problem. Vectorworks isn't really made to view different Layers in 3-D at the same time. What you need to do is create a layer just for viewing the complete 3-D model, and then Layer Link all your layers inton this layer. The Layer Link command is under the View menu. What this does is reference all of your 3-D information into a single layer for viewing. I find it very useful for seperating the 3-D information into simpler sets of compnents in different layers for editing, and then have the Complete Model layer (with all the other layers linked to it) just for viewing. Keep in mind that you cannot edit Layer Linked information in the Layer it is linked to, you have to edit the objects in their origional layer, then VW will automatically update the Layer Links. In addition you can select a Layer Link, unlock it (under the edit menu) and move it or duplicate it, and it will still update when you edit the origional geometry. Good Luck

Are you trying to look at several different layers in 3-D at the same time?

OS 10.2.3 Solved this problem for us

I was wondering, when working with a nurbs surface you can add to the U and V values to get more verticies to edit. You can also add to the weight of individual vertices to make them "pull" harder on the surface than other verticies. What I'm having trouble with is it seems the only way to select individual vertices in order to edit the weight is by using the arrows in the OIP. I'm hoping there is a way to select these vertices graphically in the drawing. What I want is to be able to pick the vertice in the drawing window and have it become the active vertex in the OIP so I can edit the X, Y, Z, and the weight vertex by vertex. Thanks

Try using the cloud shader with some glass reflectivity

By the way, the DC-10 model seems to be to scale too.

Keep in mind when you get free stuff, very often it is not put together well. Lots of free models I've found are way off in terms of scale. I don't know why, but I know I'm not doing any thing wrong when I import (I import consultants drawings daily with no problems), so the problem must lie with the origional file. Basically you get what you pay for.

I think theres something wrong with the scale of that dxf file. If you down load the 747.exe and import it setting your units to "feet" you get a plane with a 196' wing span. Graphic Standards says that a Boeing 747 should have a 214' wing span. Close enough for me in the free 3-D model world

I've also noticed that you have to push and hold the ESC key until the rendering quits, if you let go too soon the program won't recognise the command and then no amount of hitting the ESC key will stop the process. Good Luck

Scroll down to the bottom of the list, there are about 50 to 100 DXF files there.

Try Here http://www.3dcafe.com/asp/aircraft.asp

quote: Originally posted by propstuff: Yep; processor speed.........................I'd really be interested to see a tractor pull of a nice big render B/W a "Top spec" Mac and "equivalent" PC. But maybe that's just morbid. N. I've heard the new 3.2 Ghz Hyperthreading P4's are almost twice as fast as the Dual 1 Ghz Macs using the standard Photoshop benchmark tests. Which is interesting considering that Photoshop is a multithread app. I don't know, I really like OS X but to pay more for less speed seems a little strange to me. I work cross platform (P3 800 Win98se at home, G4 800 OS 10.2.3 at work) and my employer is commited to apple for the long haul so It will be interesting to see how all this plays out over the next couple years.

SMS

Your results seem to confirm what I suspected. When you double the processor speed, you 1/2 the rendering time. I'd bet if you dropped the 800 Mhz machine down to 512 Mb of ram you would see almost no difference in rendering speed. Thanks for the info.

I don't know for sure, but in my experience 384 Mb of ram seems to be plenty for VW under OS 10 and Win 98. It you have alot of ram on your machine, the next thing to look at is processor speed, I'd say this rather than Ram has become your limiting factor. Good Luck

The solar animation tool creats its own sun, so you need to delete all light objects befor you create the animation. Good Luck

It's funny, theres been alot of "this is better than that" kind of talk on the forum lately. What I've found in my life is that very rarely is one thing better than another, they are usually just different. For us, VW is a really great package. We are a mid sized firm doing mostly Institutional work in the 10 to 60 million dollar range. We are on macs and have been using VW since it was called Blue Print. I've been on VW since version 7 and have to say the program has come a long way. I also used ACAD befor VW and although I was frustrated at first, I now am very comfortable with VW and the direction which NNA is taking it. Dzens, its unfortunate that you have to use software you dont like, but just because you don't like it dosent mean it dosent have value. For alot of firms VW meets a specific set of criteria. It works well, produces good documents, is affordable, and most new employees can be productive with it in a very short period of time. I admit cropable layer links/ WGR's would make it much more powerful, but like you said, VW has built in worksheets, so it sort of looks like a draw. I guess I'm not sure what the point of this thread is. If you are pointing out the VW is different and ACAD, well, your right.

quote: Originally posted by Peerman: Instead of viewports, why don't you use the numpad keys to quickly switch between different views? using the 1,3,7 and 9 you even get isometrics! This is what I do too. My first experience with 3-D modeling was with VW, so the interface seems very natural to me. Personally I really don't see the need for view ports. I use a series of groups, layers, layerlinks, and classes to divide the model up into easily editable and useable parts. If I need to see the elevation, I simply hit the #2 on the key pad and there it is.

I believe that the reason many of us use VectorWorks is because it dosent do what Acad does.

Huh, well, I don't have VW 10 in front of me know, if no one else gets to this by tonight, I'll check it out when I get home. Maybe something was changed in 10 that I haven't noticed yet. Good Luck

Your not importing the image, your importing the texture. If you have gotten the texture into your target document simply apply the texture to your object. Thru the resources palette you can also edit the texture once you have imported it into your active document.

This is available in VW 10, and its really cool. Very easy to use and edit the orientation of the fills. I'd say the chances of NNA adding it to 9 are zero. From what I understand 9.5.3 is the terminal release for the VW 9 series.

quote: Originally posted by P Retondo: What we want, which is something it would seem NNA programmers would not have too much trouble implementing, is the ability to crop a layer link in the same way ACAD viewports can be cropped. I would also like to be able to crop referenced layers in the same way.