domer1322

thanks for your help ..... but ..... I tried adding columns for layer and class, and that told me the 3 "blank" items are on the same layer as the space objects, with "Space-Spec" and "none" for the classes. Then I added the "XCenter" and "Ycenter" columns, and the resulting locations were near my floor plan, but about 50 ft outside of it, in a blank area of the screen. I tried selecting anything in the area, but nothing can be selected in that location (perhaps because there isn't anything there). ALSO: my database criteria was layer=1st floor spaces and type=space. (I put my spaces on a different design layer than the floor plan.) So you taught me a few things (thanks) but I still have the initial problem. Also ... the columns shown on my worksheet are 'area' and 'occupancy'. I am manually entering the occupancy for each space, so the numbers are incomplete/wrong. However ... now that generates another question that you might find easier to answer. I am individually selecting each space object, then clicking on the "settings" button in the OIP to find the occupant number and change it. I recall there is a way to alter the OIP so that it will show an additional data field for something like "occupancy". If done, then I could change the occupancy number directly in the OIP. Can someone point me in the right direction as to how to change the data fields in the OIP ? ( I looked and couldn't figure it out.) I decided to attach a revised screen shot .... maybe that will give a clue ? This file is for my church and I have replicated this file over many years, always translating the file into a newer version of VW. Is it possible that this anomaly is simply the result of an old, re-used file that started in VW 2001 and is now somehow corrupted in ways that are not to be understood ? Is there a solution to that ? spaces test.tiff

thanks, but i tried that many times without success. When i did it, the design layer view changes slightly, as if the view is panning to put a selected object in the center of the screen. However, there is no visual selection 'border' around any thing, and the OIP says nothing is selected. I also tried to use the icon that puts all selected objects on the screen, but that doesn't even force the view to pan. Any other ideas ?

I don't know worksheets well, and I can't solve this problem: on the attached image you'll see the final three rows of the database are empty on the left side, but seem to have a value in the other columns. I set the search criteria for all space objects on a certain layer, and I'm convinced I have 68 space objects. However, the worksheet shows 71 objects with the last three having odd values. I simply want to delete the last three rows, but I can't. If I try to "delete row" the entire list of 68 objects is deleted. I tried to find the final 3 items on my drawing (database numbers 3.69, 3.70, and 3.71) but I can't find them with all classes turned on. There must be 3 objects with a space record, but I sure can't find them. Can anyone offer some help with this ? I'm using VW 2015. space test.tiff

OK ... thanks for the very quick response .......

I rendered a fixed window with 4 panes and discovered this oddity. At the location where the glass panes meet the jambs and mullions, the glass pane and the framing members are in the same plane, so the OpenGL render shows the interference patterns that it always shows when two objects share the same plane. In the attached image, I put a red dot near one such occurrence. Is there a way to eliminate this ? test window.tiff

Matt: thank you so very much ... that solved it. The key is that you used a 3D hole component of a symbol to make the EIFS recess 'groove'. I've been trying for a long time to do this using the menu item "Create Wall Recess" but I've often had odd results, like the one in this case. Again ... thanks.

I'm trying to add an EIFS recess grove into a wall, and I get a strange result. Can you help ? I copied a sample wall from the main file and made the images I attached. (I added a table just to give some orientation.) As you can see, the EIFS grooves show up OK in the OpenGL render, but when I switch to 2D plan view, the whole wall disappears except for the ends (as seen in the far right of the image). Also notice that the wall has a cap on the bottom end where I tried to wrap the EIFS around it. I attached the sample VW 2015 file. Did I mess up something with various settings, or is this an unsolvable VW software glitch ? test wall.tiff test wall VW15.vwx

thank you all for your help. I'm a bit of an amateur. I did, finally, figure out that the flower texture was part of the site modifier class attribute. However, I don't understand why there should be any texture there at all. If the roadway is above the DTM, shouldn't the DTM under the roadway have the same texture as the rest of the DTM ? Here is the test file (VW 2015), for your curiosity. You'll see I replaced the flowers with 'mulch'. Also ... it still seems to be a bad thing that the "under-the-road" texture is erratic and is only present on some of the DTM triangles, not all of them. PS: I'm proud of my fence and lattice textures .... feel free to copy/use them as you wish. test dtm roadway.vwx

Thanks for the replies .... but .... Alan: I attached a screen shot that shows the roadway is selected, and shows the attributes palette is indicating "by class". Although not shown, the OIP render tab indicates the texture is "by class". HEengineeering: the same attachment shows the result after I set the roadway stations to the surface. It reduced the underlying flower texture to small areas, but did not get rid of it. Thus ... the problem is not solved for me. This is just a test file, but it represents the problems I have on a real park design where a 6 ft wide sidewalk goes around a terrain model. Did I understand your suggestions correctly ? IF yes, do you have an other suggestions ? test roadway.tiff

Kevin: your solution does not work. There is no way to logically adjust the number of points (U, V) and everything I tried had little or no affect. bcd: your solution works well for what I need, as long as the texture is gravel or grass. Thanks a lot. However, there are times when I want the surface texture to be brick pavers, and to have them curve with the path. The solution you gave doesn't align a paver texture (with running bond) to a curved pathway in 3D. Can you offer a suggestion as to how this could be done ?

I've never solved this problem and need help: When trying to 3D model a stone or paved path that is not uniformly the same width, I use NURBS curves to make a surface, then render the surface. However, it always happens that the rendered surface is distorted by amount of vertices on each side of the path. Look at the first attachment and you'll see the diagonal lines going from one vertex to a corresponding one on the other side. At point 'A' they are reasonably close and the texture is not terribly distorted. However, at point 'B' the distortion is very bad, as I show on the second attachment using a brick texture. How do I add vertices, or get the diagonal lines to "line up" perpendicular to the path, so the distortion is acceptable. (I find that some distortion when using stone gravel textures works OK.) Is there a better work-around ?

Can someone tell me how to fix this ? .... look at the image and you'll see my roadway in white, and the roadway height is set to 10". Thus, the plane of the white roadway is 10" above the DTM and you can see underneath to view an odd texture (in this case, flowers). If I set the roadway height to be 0, then I can't see the flowers, but the roadway is interrupted by the DTM intermittently, according to the contours. I can set the roadway height to be something like 2", but then I'll see just a tiny bit of the flowers underneath. I checked both the DTM and the roadway and both of them have texture set to "none". I can't explain why it is showing up as 'flowers' instead of bricks, or asphalt, or any other texture. Changing the DTM or roadway texture does not change the flowers. Any suggestions ? one odd thing: if I take a "snapshot" of the DTM, the entire snapshot is given the flower texture. I can change the snapshot to other textures, but this isn't a good work-around if I want to make other changes to the DTM.

JimW: thank you very much for your prompt and accurate reply. Now I can upgrade to 10.11 and also do my taxes ... yippie !

thanks .... but ..... I can't find the right statement in the Knowledge Base. The answer given in the posting by JimW on October 21, 2016 IMPLIES that VW2015 will work with El Capitan, (OS 10.11.xx) but it does not explicitly state that they are compatible. Can anyone else give me a definite answer ?

I'm currently running VW 2015 on a late-2012, 27" iMac using Mac OS 10.10.5 Yosemite. Unfortunately, I downloaded TurboTax 2017 and it won't open using Mac OS less than 10.11 El Capitan. I don't really want to upgrade, but the most important factor is Vectorworks. Will VW 2015 sp5 run completely OK on Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan ? Also ... if I am forced to upgrade to mac OS 10.12.xx , will VW 2015 work with that version as well ?

YES ....sort of ..... I'm not sure if you would call this 'automatic' but I do this for fences. I have a symbol with both 2D and 3D elements for an 8 ft long fence segment, then draw a path, then select both and choose "edit > duplicate along path". That works well. However, I've never figured out a way for the 3D element to go up and down with the slope of the terrain. The horizontal portion is always horizontal and doesn't match the grade slope (unless the grade is flat). Also, if the line has a segment that is not a multiple of the fence segment (8ft) some custom fixing is needed.

Is there any way to change the image of a texture in the resource browser ? I am frustrated by several default files for textures that show stone textures for the preview image in the resource browser and there is no way to tell what the actual texture looks like by seeing the tiny image in the resource browser. I attached an example .... notice on the left is the image of the actual texture, but there is no way to know that by looking at the image in the browser.

Jim: I would be happy to send you the file, but there are some complications. The main file is a site with DTM and is over 120 Meg. It uses an external reference file for the building, and that file is over 200 Meg. Both use VW2015. I don't know your email address, but even if I did, how could I get these large files to you ? I attached a still image to give you some idea of what I have modeled. Site_from_SW_RW.pdf

I attached a "grab" image of an animation where there is a very fine vertical line exactly in the middle of the movie window (look at the upper roof). Interestingly, the fine line also chops off the edge of a tree. As the movie continues, subsequent frames restore the edge of the tree, but the line remains, always in the center of the image. The animation is an OpenGL rotate 360 deg, 30 secs long, with quality set to 'high'. The line occurs exactly in the middle of the rotation axis. I do not see this line nor the tree cut off using RW. However, RW seems to always yield an offensive moire pattern in the bricks. Also, the tree in question is a default image prop tree from VW, and the same thing happens to other copies of the same tree (and other trees). I have another tree from a different source "VBPlant" and it does not chop off. Can anyone explain this ? ... or better yet, tell me how to avoid it ?

Mike and Markdd: Thank you so much ... that solved it. I guess that "cast shadows" check box on the texture was another obvious feature that wasn't so obvious to me ....

If you look at the attached image, you'll see a problem that has perplexed me for years. How do you put a light object inside a light fixture, then realistically show light emitting from the fixture that doesn't show the structure of the fixture ? In the image, I have a street light casting shadows from the light structure, but in real life, it never casts shadows like that. I know I can make the light fixture with a transparent texture and the light goes through it, but then I can't see the fixture. I also know I can set the light to not cast shadows, but then it doesn't act like a real light would do (it wouldn't cast shadows on anything). Is this possible or should I give up ?

If you look at the attached image, it shows the same wall corner with quoins, rendered in OpenGL (left) and Final RW (right). Notice that both textures make a shift in the brick joints. Thus, I can render it with the joints lined up in one render mode, but if I switch modes, then the joints no longer line up. This is NOT a matter of using "world origin" since I tried it both with and without that checkbox marked. Also, notice in the left image the horizontal joint seems to be skipped for every 6th course. I am primarily interested in getting the horrid joints lined up, but notice the vertical joints also shift. Can anyone tell me how to fix this ? Is it fixable ?

thanks for replies ...sounds like there is no solution. I usually think these things are operator error. Benson: I have also had the "duplicate DTM" error that perplexed me, but this time, that is not the case. Glad to know I'm not the only one .... guess that only happens to each of us just once. Also (J Wallace): I also find texture beds very tricky .... but is there any other way to use a Google Earth image for the site model with contours and showing 3D elevation changes ? Also: does anyone else notice frequent crashing when trying to render large sites using 3D extruded contours setting ? It happens to me so much in both Open GL and RW that I no longer even try to use 3D extr contours and always use 3D triangles.