David Ormsby

How are you exporting to C4D? Via the VW exchange plugin? Also, more out of curiosity, what are you needing to do in C4D before getting to Vue? I use the VW exchange plugin, and it seems in general to convert the VW objects to meshes. One thing you can look at is your VW prefs - setting 3D coversion resolution to something other than High might help. C4D does offer (at least in version 10) several tools that might optiomize your models. Under the Function Menu, you could try Connect and/or Optimize. You could also try dropping your VW object under a Hypernurbs object, play with the settings and then "Make Editable". Also, I recall coming across a C4D plugin somewhere that helps optimize meshes, you could try googling that. I also recall something called MeshLab that might help. Good Luck!

I create the Floor position so that VW will autonumber the fixtures. Even if the the fixtures are not "touching" the position, the autonumber command does work as long as the position exists. I usually don't bother with inserting them on the position and moving away, but just enter the Position manually into the OIP.

Out of curiosity, do you have a lighting position called Floor in your file? It sounds strange the VW won't let you change it to a new position. FWIW, when I have floor units, I create a lighting position called Floor using a very short line somewhere to the right of unit 1.

Gog I made a mistake, seems I was still using the old VW12 export, I get the same result you are with the new one on the 2009 disk. It seems to be a different product than the VW Export that I bought with C4D, and does not seem to offer the same export control. There is an updated version for 2008 on the Maxon site that seems to be working with 2009, but this only includes the VW component, and not the C4D import files. Sorry about the misinformation.

The new one - Is there a problem you are having?

The plug in is working well for me. It works as it always has, export by classes, color, fill, etc. There used to be documention at maxon.net. It is a third party plug in. I don't know if anyone has taken responsibility for support, but after the first couple of versions it's always worked well. For scaling, there is an option in the C4D prefs. Look in Preferences/Import-Export/Vectorworks and there is a default scaling option. C4D uses "units" rather than any real world dimension. Personally, my VW docs are using "Feet and Inches", and I have C4D set to "Inches" (preferences/units) with a scaling of 1. These settings let my C4D space work in "scale", i.e. moving something by 12 units results in a 1' move. Hope this helps

Kevin? Anyone? This is a bit of a pain, any ideas on a fix? Thanks

Pat Thanks for the reply - I have looked at Sheet Layer dpi (this was the critical setting in VW12.5). I have also tried various settings with Document Prefs and the settings in the print dialogs. I have narrowed this down to the Titleblocks though. I can import an image file into the current drawing and it prints to pdf fine. It's an image in the Titleblock that always comes out at a lower quality. Again, this worked fine in 12.5, but not in 09. Thanks

I recently upgraded from 12.5 to '09, and I am having problems with the print quality with imported image files embedded in titleblocks, especially with pdfs. I had imported high res files (client logos) into my custom titleblocks, and scaled them to fit. In 12.5, as long as I had the Sheet Layer dpi set high, I would get nice crisp images. In 09, they come out looking very low res. I have tried turning off GDI, and this helps, but it is still noticably lower quality. I have been banging away at what dpi setting I can find to no avail, and wanted to se if anyone here has an idea. FYI, using either Acrobat 8, primoPDF, or Export to PDF gives the same problem. Thanks

Actually, I have found that VW09 will snap to pdfs, provided they were created within a vector based program. That with the new Scaling tool have saved me a lot of time.

Wow, right you are, same thing here.

That would be "in my honest opinion" Have a look at maxon.net. They offer a number of packages, the base package being 895, and the VW plug 95. Not knowing your industry, they have a new Archtechtural package as well. I use the base package and it has been fine for me. There is a thriving C4D community out there, with lots of great plug ins, tutorials and resources avaiable. You can download the demo there as well, and although there is no demo for the VW plugin, you could export dwg or 3ds to at least get a feel for it. The plugin allows for easier updating of your models from VW. Note that it is a one way street though. i.e. all modelling is done in VW, and lighting and rendering in C4D. The unique thing about C4D is it's use of "tags". Other packages I had used in the past had always bound the texture to the model. C4D connects attributes by dropping a tag on an object, and the tag controls scaling and wrapping attributes; i.e. you could have one wood texture, and have it spherically mapped on one object and cubically on another. Then, should you change your mind and want to use maple rather than oak, updating the one material would then update every object it's assigned to via it's tag. The lighting controls are also fantasic. One of my favorite being (although it is so completely a cheat) is the ability to exclude objects from any given light (or to include only certain objects). It's a huge time saver for the work I do. I know Christiaan here is a user of Artlantis, which has a tight interface with VW, and it sounds like a good package so that may be worth a look as well. At the time I bought into C4D, Artlantis didn't have everything I was looking for but it has come a long way. HTH (hope this helps)

carpalmer You may take a stab at searching the forums, as there have been several indepth threads weighing the pros and cons of different rendering platforms. Personally I use VW with Cinema constantly and am very happy with the work flow (scenic design for corporate events). Cinema has a unique interface that takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get it, IMHO it totally rocks. Fantastic lighting control, and super fast renderer. Good luck, and feel free to ask specifics

What's up JT? What's going on - trying to open a 12.5 file on another machine?

Try entering Edit Crop on the viewport then Select All, see if the handles appear. It's possible the Pen got set to none or a 0 thinkness.

From what I can tell, the C4D origin (0,0,0) corresponds to the VW 3D origin. Not to be confused with the drawing origin, look at you VW model in 3D and find it's position relative to the 3D origin - that offset is what will appear in C4D. My best guess is to copy the model components required into a blank VW file, and make sure it's position is near the VW 3D origin, then export. HTH

I have to mention this; while I understand the plugin is under Maxon's wing (and who ever they subbed it out to) - I cannot upgrade VW until that plug in is released. I count on these programs working together for my daily bread. What's frustrating is that Maxon has the same attitude - they tend to say it's another developers issue and when we see it, we'll see it.

There was a discussion about this recently - basically a Position must have 3D attributes to have a height. Do a search and you will find some tips for this.

I see you found it, but it's under the Organize heading. (Doesn't really make sense to me either)

Steve We may want to move this over to the Spotlight Forum - but here's a quick answer. You need to edit the symbol before using the Inst Insertion tool. Once you have used that tool, the instrument is not really a symbol anymore, but a Plug In object. I would recommend creating a separate 750w symbol. Open your symbol repository drawing, find the inst in question in the resource browser, right click and select Duplicate. Then rename it to xxx_750w. Then edit that symbol, tweak the wattage value as described, exit the symbol and save the drawing file. Now you have an instrument Spotlight will load as a 750. On a side note - Spotlight has a fairly decent Find and Replace function. Should you need to replace a value in 200 fixtures this menu command can come in handy. Also, have a look at AutoplotVW.com - some top'o'the line plugin command there....

It is a great feature - actually works anywhere in VW; move, dimension, duplicate, anything in the OIP. Also, you can enter formulas anywhere as well (+,-,*,/) - handy for moving something half-way, i.e 217'6"/2

Steve There are 6 User Fields, as well as a Weight field, available in the standard Spotlight record format (Light Info Record). Most of the Spotlight symbols already have the weight field filled in. You may want to stick with the standard record, as much of Spotlight's functionality revolves around it. ( like the Inst Insertion Tool, and the Generate Paperwork commands). I think what you may want to do is use one of the user fields for cost, (by editing the SL symbols as described earlier) and then create a couple of custom reports to get the weights and costs out of your drawing. HTH

Object Info Pallette - this is the area you enter information into. When I tried it, I entered 10' into the length box, then selected Spigoted truss. I measured the object and came up with 10'6", the spigots being 3" long on each end. I went back to the OIP and entered 9'6" as the length, and the resulting object was exactly 10'. If you enter 3847.6 in the length box, it seems you should end up with 4000 on the object. FYI, many of the plugin scripts included with VW are locked and uneditable - sorry.

Rick is correct, you need 2D data. When you convert a 3D object into a Lighting Position, it becomes a Hybrid Object, and the only 2D data in your are the text. Actually, if you edit your symbol in 3D, from the top view, you can draw a rectangle directly over your 3D pipe. This way you will be sure the 2D and 3D are aligned with each other.

I am guessing you are using the Truss tool? I get a similar result with the spigot option; the spigots are added to the length of the truss. I am also guessing that this Eurotruss length of 4000mm includes the spigots? If you want to use the Truss tool I would suggest you subtract 152.4 mm from the length in the OIP and that should give you the right size. HTH