Grethe Connerth

Great idea !!! I just had this problem occurring on a project of mine. Your suggestion would save a lot of time adjusting symbols. I am all for it!

Hi @Art V thanks for the tip. Usually, when I need the native file from a PDF I place the PDF file into Adobe Illustrator and export it to DWG. Maybe yours is a better solution though so I'll definitely look into your link provided. Also I never really figured out what the Settings --> VW Preferences --> Display --> Navigation Graphics is for. I use 'Good Performance & Compatibility'. Maybe changing the setting would help.

Whilst we are on the subject of importing PDFs with multiple pages into VW ... may I ask if anyone else has also this problem I am experiencing also? When importing a multi-page PDF file into VW, then the program completely slows down and re-generates the Design Layer page over and over again. So I have to wait until I can simply move across the page or work with any tool on very simple tasks.

We sooo need this !!!

Totally !!!

This certainly got my vote !!! My experience with processes slowing down since VW 2018 is that for example when working on sheet layers and the viewports are in wireframe: - then the whole sheet layer page slows down when for example simply moving across the page itself to look for something then the Wireframed Viewports are re-generating all lines which takes a long time - or I want to work inside a Viewport either in the 'Crop' part or in the go to 'Design Layer' part then again the Wireframed layouts take very long to re-generate G

I would love for the Resource Manager to be 'active' in the way that - whilst downloading textures, symbols & other items - I can still scroll up and down within the Resource Manager to see about other units. - At the moment the Resource Manager 'freezes' and prioritises the download. - Only once the item is finished downloading the Resource Manager 'frees' up and lets me work and scroll. - Being able to do both at the same time would very much increase the overall work-flow. A solution to this is much appreciated. Cheers, Grethe

All super valid input from everyone above. My latest file for an event was way over 2GB ..., and it slowed down my work processes a lot! So I learned that various settings help: 1. When I work on larger presentations then I purposefully separate corresponding VW files. Keeping various VW file separate as "MASTER Files' e.g. main building, symbols, photos of the project, images for creative inspirations, etc. And then --> creating 'Referenced Viewports on Design Layers' / 'R-VP -DL' within your current VW file. Note - 'Referenced Viewports on Design Layers' don't import information from another VW file, and only provide the drawing in your working file, keeping the file size down. 2. Importing DWG's makes my VW files explode in size. Check/uncheck at the import settings which elements you really need to import. Also keep imported DWG files as separate VW files and reference them as 'R-VP -DL' . Or clean them up and delete all unnecessary elements prior to importing them into your file. Either in the separate VW file or in Illustrator. 3. Textures These take up a huge amount of space. I usually reference textures on import. And then purge later on what I don't need any longer. 4. Some of imported furnitures I use from the internet have a huge amount of Mesh Geometry. Either I re-draw them if they are not too complex or I use --> Tool - 'Simplify Mesh' This will help to bring down the file size. Test it in a separate / empty VW file to see the size difference. 5. Sheet Layers & Viewport Renderings These take up a huge amount of space in my VW files. This as I do a lot !!!! of test renderings in order to compare and find the best RW Settings. Once I am happy I usually duplicate the VW file ( keeping it as an Original and/or Backup file ) and then delete all unnecessary Viewports and Sheet Layers on my current VW file. 6. Publish to PDF Personally my main problem is when I 'Publish to PDF' for presentations from Sheet layers with lots of renderings. Then the PDF's are huge and I have to sacrifice on quality/dpi in order to reduce the file to a digestible size small enough for emailing my project portfolios to potential new clients whom I don't have an FTP accounts with.

Hi guys, I find it utterly annoying !!! that Viewports cannot be grabbed, neither in the centre nor on either of the corners. The way I work around it is: ----> activate a single Viewport and then 'Group' it temporarily. Then you can grab it same as a rectangular object. And when done simply un-group it again. G

I like the idea of "log file like the time-tracking' !!! In regards to 'Render Settings' - that's an ongoing desire of mine and many others as I have found. Have a look at the post I created where I posted a couple of PDF files showing an Overview of Renderworks Style Settings for various necessities - Glow, Backlit 3D objects, Lit Fog, ... Maybe that eases the pain for the time being ;0)) Enjoy ! G

Hi @zoomer I'd be happy if it were simply in the Obj Info Palette. Here for example as a line item when the VP is activated just above the Background Render Choice. See screenshot attached.

Hi Zoomer, exactly, thank you! You put it in much easier words than I did above ;0)) G

Hi Mark, thank you for our input. 1) Your first suggestion is a great visual way which I use at times when I e.g. present on my laptop and there is no point to re-render every single Viewport, unless they are really out of date in their settings. 2) Your second suggestion - " ... turn on viewport cache in document preferences ... " is always on. I just checked on this setting - and it says that unless it's checked all VPs have to be re-rendered upon opening the file, which would not be useful. Basically I need the VPs not to become 'Out of Date' when simply going onto the related Design layer without making any changes ...

Dear VW lovers! Q&A Is there a way to avoid for a Viewport to become 'Out of Date' when simply going to an associated Design Layer of the Viewport? Example I go to a Design Layer - either by: A) Double Click on a VP --> Edit Viewport --> Design Layer or B) via the Navigation Palette I don't change anything on the Design Layer. I only activate everything and copy it. This in order e.g. to copy paste it to a new and unrelated Design Layer to try out some things. By that time ALL VIEWPORTS associated with the Design Layer are out of Date. If I go direct and simply --> 'Duplicate the Design Layer' then of course all associated VPS are also Out of Date because they attach themselves automatically to DL duplicates. Soooo frustrating and time-consuming to re-render everything .... Is there a 'Work-Around" to this or am I the only one experiencing this? Cheers, Grethe

Hi Art, thanks for your input. I would call myself a VW gig or nerd, but sorry to say, your suggestion is outside my capabilities ... ;0)) A post on the Wishlist will follow once I know there is currently no solution in sight. G

Dear VW lovers, when rendering a Viewport and searching for the best outcome and in a time saving manner at the same time, I do Test Renders of various Viewports along side of each other and monitor the time they take to render apart from the result of the quality. Rendering a Viewport can take some time, so either I work on something else - once the VW program allows it - or I walk away. Either way - once the Viewport is not 'active' the slider on the bottom right hand side of the program won't show the time it took to render. And it cannot be retrieved. At east I haven't seen it. At times it doesn't show the render time at all when the 'Auto-Backup' pops in between. Q&A Is there a Setting or some way I can go back to a Viewport and see how long it took to render? Any insights are appreciated. Cheers, Grethe

Hi @Luis M Ruiz, hope you're well. May I ask which RW Setting the scene in your "See It to Believe It: Next Level Rendering Techniques" entails? 1) 34.30 Mins "Monotone Blue & Overlapping CAD Lines" 2) "Fading Effect" --> is this fade over look done in Photoshop or VW? 3) Also when it comes to Artistic RW Styles in the "Artistic RW Options" --> Style 'Art' there is one single blue-is/green-ish Image. Where is this image saved and can I change the colour of ti somewhere ? BTW - on an internal note re the files that I wanted to send you ... all of the Viewports imploded and crushed to being 'Wireframe' when I changed a Class. So I have to re-render everything before I can send them out, which may take a few days. Cheers, Grethe

Well done @Luis M Ruiz !!! I very much enjoyed the structure of the step by step orga behind setting up renderings. G

Thanks Luis, am already on it ... G Hi @Luis M Ruiz one questioning regards to the video - Is it available in a way where the video is not streaming? Reason - it takes quite a while to start and also when I stop the video or go back to listen again to some parts of the video it won't always start but I have to refresh the whole video and listen from the beginning. I know it may have to do with our provider and internet coverage here in OZ which is not perfect, but on the other hand I am not in the Outback but in Melbourne ;0)) ...

Hi @Pat Stanford I just got around your post above and also your post on 'Worksheet Creation'. Thanks again to you and @Boh for both of your very comprehensive posts which essentially cleared the vision through the woods of question marks in front of me ;0)) G

..." link towards your interior tutorial " ... I second that. G

oooh, this is intense @Pat Stanford. I also just looked at your post in 'Worksheet Creations’. I need to take some time to digest this, but this looks VERY comprehensive. WOW! Thanks for posting it in this depth. Yes, there are a lot of users struggling with RW Styles. Luckily there is this VW Forum and some gurus who are super helpful like @Luis M Ruiz and @JimW. I find that we should look at RW styles in a different way. There are a lot of great resources in VW, but I don't see any guidelines on which RW settings to use for which scenes and which range of texture. E.g. night time scenes --> use a heliodon with late arvo sun settings. Who would think to use sun at night? But this way RW works within the scene. Or metal texture need a HDRI background in order to become reflective within the scene. But when you have a scene with no windows you need to use HDRI in the Environment Lighting settings instead. Who would know this unless someone points it out to you or these things were for example within a pre-set RW Styles in the Obj Info Palette alongside the other RW Styles. So it'll be fun and helpful to have an overview as a guideline going to the next level along the lines of this great post for example --> scroll down to where it lists "Rendering mode-specific settings". Also you @Boh mentioned Texture Effects - good one! This would be very helpful when importing images e.g. in 3D as Textures. I do a lot of try & error with a range of textures / images to create comparisons and options when I do Renderings seeking the best outcome. Therefore I name all my image files very specifically - e.g. Image Texture Name --> "AV-4-Glow 125% - Emit Lig - Refl 15% - Ca & Rec” and so forth. However none of the images seem to show up in the Obj Info Palette nor in the Image Attributes with their names. Unless it does and I haven’t found it yet. So its easy to loose track of which image is which especially when they have slightly different settings. I’ll start a post in the VW Wishlist for this. G

It's rather late here in OZ and I just saw your message fly in so I jumped on it, printed it out and it makes 100% sense now. YEAH !!! Ok, can I please call Vectorworks Technical Support or anyone at VW to have them place @Boh 's explanations on the 'VW Help site' as THE clearest overview for users of all !!! This is incredible ! You may not have read my post here on the forum about RW Styles and my quest to generate an overview meaning trying to find a solution to compare them in an easy way. This is the currently the main area I was hoping to use worksheets and/or data for - this in answer to your question @Gadzooks. I know now with your detailed explanations above, that RW Styles obviously have neither a record attached nor can you generate one to create reports. I got so frustrated therefore I created my own RW Style Overview Spread Sheet of results used for Glow, Lit Fog, Backlit, Glass Lit Edges, White Model & Caustics, which I found in VW tutorials and here on this VW Forum about RW Styles. And then posted the Spread Sheet in my blog - see below. Enjoy! Cheers, Grethe Renderworks Styles possible to Export Settings into Worksheets or Excel

Hi Gadzooks, thank you for your suggestion, I understand your point of view. The thing is I don't think I have used any of the Reports, Records, ... before on any project of mine. So I have not a clear idea and I'd like to understand them. Mainly what is the difference between them and when to use which for what. Cheers, Grethe

Dear VW aficionados, could anyone please explain to me the difference between the below. Most likely I would understand a 'sketch or visualisation' to it better in comparison to reading the Help menu where I can't digest the content. --> Reports, Records, Databases, Worksheets & Schedules <-- Am getting utterly confused about these ;0)) Any input is appreciated. Cheers, Grethe