jcooper

I've been agonizing over trying to create a realistic paint effect for my projects. It probably ads up to weeks of time over the years. I usually end up with something that's not quite right and having to fix it in Photoshop later. I've been having a real problem creating an automotive style paint effect. The one I'm after is a charcoal color with metallic paint flecks in it. The renderworks texture editor seems to allow you to create "Multilayer Paint" with "Metallic Flecks" but I've never been able to get it to work right. I keep hoping that the finishes will get better every time I upgrade but have yet to find success. Has anyone had success creating realistic paint finishes with RenderWorks?

It seems that Artlantis is geared more towards Architecture. I use VW for Industrial Design only. I downloaded the demo and it doesn't seem that useful for this application and they don't have relevant surface materials available. Does anyone have recommendations on a 3rd party software to improve renderings for ID application?

I did a little testing and discovered something interesting. When I have VectorWorks rendering in the background it only uses one processor at a time (changing processor every second or so). However, If I have the VectorWorks in the forefront, it uses all 4 processors. BTW, I'm running the new Jaguar OS which is supposed to make better use of multiple processors.

I have a Mac Pro with Two Dual-Core processors and 7 Gg of memory. My Activity Monitor shows that I'm only using about 500Mb of that RAM and only one of the Four CPUs at a time while I'm performing Radiosity Renderings. I would think that it would use much more (which is why I got the extra RAM). I understand that VW2008 doesn't take advantage of Multiple Processors (which is frustrating), but is there any way to get it to use more RAM? I evidently have over 4Gb free.

To apply a white silk screen through the RenderWorks texturing tools requires first that I convert the EPS into two separate files, one for the text and another for the mask. Then I can create an image prop using these files. For some reason the image prop always comes in huge so I have to resize it to the original size of the texture file. Even at this point, the file still suffers from being pixel based and as such degrades at closer views. When I import an EPSF file, it imports perfectly at size and looks great no matter how close you zoom in. Plus, there is not tedious mucking about with masks as it's already transparent. This is the reason why I'm asking if the EPSF can be manipulated in 3D.

Now that you mention it, programs I use to perform other design tasks such as Adobe InDesign allow you to select stacked objects by clicking while holding down a command key. Each time you Command-Click, it selects each successive item from the top down. It would be really cool if VectorWorks had such a feature.

Is there any way to move an EPSF in a 3D environment? I want to use graphics I've imported as EPSF as a "silk screen" for a product. The EPS picture looks great in VectorWorks but is always oriented forward (as are all 2D objects). I guess what I want to know is if there is any way to get my EPSF to behave as a 3D flat NURBS surface instead of a 2D. I've tried going down the path of creating Image Props and it's a nightmare for my purposes. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Seems like a pretty complicated solution, especially when the VW12 Help says that the software is capable of creating these objects for you. Since my application is relatively simple it doesn't make sense to expend so much effort creating the objects in such a way but thanks for the info nonetheless. Does anyone know if the inability to create 3D tapped holes from the 2D version just a bug in the software or is it simply a mis-statement in the VW literature?

Greetings, I have a need to create tapped holes in 3D. The "Hole - Tapped" command under the Detailing section is great for 2D. It allows me to specify a screw without actually knowing the intricate details of the screw. This is especially important as my clients usually specify the type of screw they need and I have no idea what size it actually is until I type the spec into VectorWorks. The Vectorworks 12 Documentation says that the "Create 3D Object from 2D" works on the "Hole - Tapped". However, I've not been able to get it to work. The command only seems to work on objects which have a secondary 3D counterpart in a sub-button. The "Hole - Tapped" version doesn't. Does anyone know if I can convert my tapped holes? If not, any other ways I can get a 3D version of a tapped hole? Thanks, jcooper

About the BBEdit solution. It works great. However, there is no longer a BBEdit lite (there used to be) and the download for free version is a limited demo (30 days). Is there another way to fix this problem? I don't need another text editor so $200 is a bit pricey for a "Save As" Command. Thanks.

That did it. Thanks.

I did as you suggested. Once opened in BBEdit there was no line mentioning "DOS" at all. I scanned it automatically as a well as visually and I didn't find anything that sounded like an operating system at all.

Thanks. I'll try this solution.

Yes. I'm Running VW 10 on Mac OS 10.2.6

I am trying to establish a flow of documents between my company's facility here in the US and a Chinese manufacturer. They use ProE and have successfully been able to import the IGES files I have exported from VW10 (trimmed solids, the untrimmed were unreadble). Unfortunately, the IGES files that they supply me are unreadable. I receive the following warning when attempting an import. IGES import failed. The file may be empty or incomplete or it may be that the file is not an IGES file. Suggestions? -Joshua Cooper