tom kyler_dup1

Here's a thought that's been discussed before. Clearly there's a resolution setting for both 2D and 3D in VW. The resolution setting is a way for the display code to approximate the internal code representing the nurbs curve. So then, a nurbs curve can have high precision in memory, but be approximated on screen such that it draws on screen faster. I'm guessing Nemetschek has picked an upper limit of how much resolution it will display a nurbs curve on-screen...using the "very high" setting....and it appears that the resolution chosen by Nemetschek is not high enough for some. See the screenshot below. The first three views would indicate that the nurbs curve does indeed pass through all the loci..but when you zoom in, it clearly does not pass through the loci and in addition, the curve is segmented...these screenshots were taken with the all resolutions maxed out to very high. If you've ever found yourself trying to write code to draw a curve on-screen, you'll find yourself drawing a bunch of short line segments to approximate the curve...and if you've ever done a real good job of drawing a curve on screen by using so many line segments, then you'll find yourself trying to explain to end users why your curves redraw so slow. With regards to hard segments on your lofted hull, I can't explain that without seeing the original file...but then again, since the past post was almost a month ago, I could be standing in this room all by myself talking at the walls! [ 10-04-2005, 06:57 PM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

I must have forgot something...seems like I've succesfully done this before Anyways, I'm trying to encrypt a existing command plug-in I wrote.(*.vsm) ..so I can pass it to some others using the "encrypt" command takes me to a dialog box to select a text file; however, the plug-in exists as a *.VSM file and cannot be selected. Selecting a plain text file creates a encrypted VW file...but I don't want a VW file, I want a plug-in that can be put in the plug-ins folder. I want an encrypted plug-in (*.vsm) What as I missing? [ 08-30-2005, 12:09 PM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

Thanks Rick...I caught it in the VW documentation....was looking in the wrong place. Thanks for the reply!

Look on the next page...there's a forum post on "3D snapping"

Steve, read this thread and see if you catch what's going on. Lamberto has a script that will allow you to do this in plan view...here's the link to the forum posting. The only unknown is whether or not the scipt allows a radius of 0, if you have any questions, you can repost and get some help http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000176

A guy who does as much 3D as I do should know this...but when using the pink working plane grid, can you dump the ground grid....it's a real mess in isometric views. If not, then definitely add that option to future versions. [ 03-27-2005, 03:56 PM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

Your 2D polygon that you used to extrude your shape probably isn't closed. Check your orginial 2D polygon to make sure it is closed. There is a checkbox in the object info palette that tells whether or not a polygon is closed. (See image below) You can have a filled polygon and when you extrude it, only the sides will show. It's usually two verticies that are very close together so that you don't notice it until you zoom way way in...that's probably your original problem. [ 03-27-2005, 03:51 PM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

Form-Z has an perspective view that keeps vertical lines straight as opposed to exhibiting parallax. This is the standard architectural photographic technique and would be a great addition to the perspective menu.

Dan, it does do that in the class and layer pull-down menus, but not in the OIP. The idea is to know what classes and layers are visible at the time you are assigning an object a new class/layer as opposed to pulling down a menu to see what's visibile, then going to the OIP to re-assign the class/layer.

A small convenience would be to show the layer / class visibility status in the pull down menu in the OIP when changing an object's class and/or layer.

It's that way many times Mat. I'd bet over 70% of user frustration with Vectorworks doesn't come from the software, but from users lack of knowledge about the software. It's a learning process we all go through though...you did the right thing posting here though next time you might ask before making a conclusion. I've certainly embarrassed myself several times by doing that. [ 12-03-2004, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

Mat, first ..make sure you switch to the 3D cursor and give it a try. Because you mention that you can see the mis-alignment when switching to plan view...without zooming in really far, I'm guessing you might have used the 2D cursor to move the line. Now I will say this in case you did that, that if you do snap one nurbs curve to a point along another nurbs curve (not the endpoints) and zoom in really far, it may appear they the two curves are not connected, but there is an internal numerical representation of the curve and a numerical representation of the curve for the way it's drawn onscreen, kind of like 2D conversion res approximating a curved line. So even though it may appear the two curves are not joined, they are numerically joined for practical purposes, certainly for creating other geometry. Besides, you have to zoom in really close to see this anyways. As far as snapping endpoints of nurbs curves using the 3D cursor, you can zoom in as far as you want and they'll be joined. [ 12-02-2004, 10:50 AM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

Ron, Without getting into real nitty gritty math, I can tell you that using nurbs curve from the beginning will most certainly increase your chances for success; however, you mention that you have sharp angles...Without seeing your shape I can't say for sure, but whenever I have "breaks" or angles between surfaces, I model them seperately and join them later if possible. Good nurbs modeling requires knowledge and some due diligence in setting up the surfaces. You are approaching your surface creation properly by getting the same number of verticies in proper alignment for the lofting tool. The verticies you're thinking of for point alignment that VW uses are generally the control points, so having the same number of control points on each curve in the loft is the best way to create a surface...and alignment (not necessariliy straight) of the control points in each curve will also help ensure success. A nurbs surface is defined by several factors, but the control points are the independent or definable values used to construct the curve. Try these links below to get a little more insight into nurbs....the first link particularly, though not directly addressing control points give some insight into nurbs surfaces. Constructing a good network of curves to loft a complex surface is definitely tedious and where all the work should go. http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/COURSES/cs3621/LAB/surface/knot-insrt.html http://www.rhino3d.com/nurbs.htm [ 12-02-2004, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

I'm not completely sure on this Rick, but I don't believe that the SAT format supports any type of entity heirarchy. Most programs have proprietry type of classification or heirarchical schemes and would be impractical to maintain that info when other programs to which you would import an SAT model would have it's own organizational scheme. But in answer to your specific question, VW does not support class assignments when exporting SAT to my knowledge, and I regularly export SAT format to use for animations in other packages.

G-Pang, I've selected up to 25 lines myself (all at once) and extended them all to another line, with just two clicks total. VW can extend multiple lines with the connect/combine tool.

Tom, The tool works fine on Win XP. I use it to connect, combine, and extend lines all the time, even extending multiple lines at once to a curved boundary, it also combines nurbs curves, bezier curves, and nurbs surfaces. It's a very flexible tool and can do many things...but I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to do. I'm guessing you want to extend one line until it contacts another line, but not necessarily so that both ends of the lines are joined, is that correct? For me, I just select the tool, then click on the line I want to extend and then click on to 'boundary' line and it works OK, it sounds like you're not having such luck. Using the "click-drag" preference works fine too. You just click on the first line....hold down the mouse button and move the cursor to the second line, then let up on the mouse button. Technically, it's just one click of the mouse instead of two and the theory is you get more work done with less clicks, but it's just a preference and I myself don't use it. Tom Kyler [ 11-10-2004, 12:45 AM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

Maybe something like this? [ 11-10-2004, 12:06 AM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

Try creating two sets of stairs, one at 3' and one at 6'. Then you can convert both of them to groups, ungroup and mix and match. Of course you loose your parametric ability and it's messy but you'd have the result you're looking for.

Definitely....we have large multi-page drawings and a Photoshop style navigator would be really great way for panning around quickly.

I use a G5 at work and old AMD 1.2 GHz at home, VW11 at work, and have 10.5 at home. Since I have a 256MB video card in Windows machine, graphics are much faster on AMD machine, but interfaces are identical for the most part...though the windows version has a nice feature where the OIP and resource palettes "windowshade" up and down by just moving the mouse over the titlebar...no clicking, whereas on the Mac version you have to click on these titlebars, not much but I like the feature. I can't think of any benefits of one over the other from a VW point of view....from an OS point of view, of course I like Mac, but the XP enviroment has gotten to be natural for me too. I will say that my total cash outlay for my Windows hardware was less than 1000.00 and it's pretty fast. Since I have a Mac at work though, I don't suffer from Mac envy when using my XP machine. If I didn't use so much engineering software, I'd be Mac only just for the stability of the OS. [ 10-12-2004, 01:20 PM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

The funny thing is I did that, I've actually made many icons, but not since using VW 11 and OSX... I should point out that the icon pastes and appears fine in the properties palette when I paste it in....it just doesn't appear in the tool palette. [ 10-11-2004, 12:54 PM: Message edited by: tom kyler ]

Ok, I figured it out. I created the plug-in and added it to my workspace before I created the Icon. So by deleting the tool and re-adding it to the palette, it worked.

yessir, rebooted, zapped P-ram too! I'm still trying though!

Anybody have any problems getting the tool icons to work when pasting a custom icon into a VS tool. I've tried everything and can't get it to go. Though maybe I was missing something till I transferred the exact same plug-in to my windows machine with VW 10.5 and the icon came up there fine. I'm using VW11 here at work on a G5 with OSX. Not sure why would work on Windows, but not on Mac.

Raymond, I do not explicitly set the font. I do set the alignment, and use a pull-down menu in the OIP to set the size, so I do set some text properties explicitly, but not the font. If I were to change the font on the pull-down menu