CADD Nark

there are many things to consider before creating animations....too many to go into... check out the rendering message board for more info on this. myself and others have many posts there on this topic.

Machine and configuration make all the diff in the world. When i started producing models, animations, and renderings, i used a 266 G3 w/ 96 mb of Ram. i would work all week on the document and start the rendering/animaton process at the end of the day on Friday. by Sunday evening it would be done. Now, i use a G4/500 w/ 640mb of RAM and can render an entire building in RW in less than a minute and can generate a 900 frame animation in just a few hours using RW, and in about 15 minutes using QD. a trick i've learned over time to help speed this process is to be disconnected from our network and i have a custom set of extensions that i use when creating the animations. we are in the process of a server upgrade and when it's done, we will have our renderings and animations for all to see.

that has been my work-around and it gets close.....but not as precise as our needs.

the length of chord for arcs word be a great help.

Amen.

i can't say that i know of any CAD package that will translate raster information to vector (perhaps CadMover will). however, there are several image editors out there that will. if you're stuck with using VW for this logo, you best bet is to trace over the logo. at least, this is what i've had to do. if you have the option, import the image into the document using the destination program (AutCad, Microstation, etc). i'm sure someone around here know more about this.....??

decide on what you need.... do you need an image or a cad document?? export an image as an image. export a cad document as dxf/dwg. the dxf/dwg export process of VW doesn't support raster images so they must be exported as an image. that's what i get from your question anyway...

we are just starting to put work on the web.....and we are still learning http://www.fredward.com/footstar/ the file is very compressed to be managable for the web but, theuncompressed version is very nice. there is more to be posted there so keep an eye out.....

to import and export..... importing is much easier than exporting. something to keep in mind is that most AutoCad work is done using Model Space and Paper Space. Read an AutoCad book to understand tham :-) my experience is that VW reads model space quite well and paper space rather poorly. which is no big deal since the primary use of paper space is for borders and titleblocks. before starting an import process, allocate as much Ram to VW as you can. start out with a blank document to import the DWG into. set the layer scale to 1/8. you you probably get a message about drawing extents and layer scale not being compatible so it will ask you if yu want to set the layer scale, and of course you want to to do this. important step here; notice what scale is the default (it will be something wackey like 1"= 4.9576'), at this point, resassign the layer scale to the nominal layer scale. in this example it would be 1"= 4' or, 1/4 scale. the line weight translation is next and you are prompted to assign line weights which i've found it easiest to do once the file is imported. now that the file is imported, chances are that it will be really small on the 1/4 scale layer. determine what the scale of the drawing is supposed to be and reassign the scale to the layer. this will probably make the entities even smaller and may appear as a speck or be so large as to be off the page in the drawing. at this point all the entities will need to be scaled in oder for the drawing to be to scale. chances are the the entities will need to be scaled by a factor of 12. if the difference in scale is significant, do the scaling in 2 parts (i.e.- scale once at 6 times and again at 2 times) to achieve 12 times. hope this helps.

the reality here in America is that in order to be competative, you must be compatible. this doen't mean in anyway the you must use AutoCad to produce drawings. here, at the firm i work for, we deal with this in one of two ways. 1) for those who need to print the file is given a plot file or a PDF file of the Cad document. 2) for those who need a Cad file (i.e.- contract requires us to funrish them or a consultant needs our file to do their work), we provide an AutoCad document. the process to do either of these is much less expensive than a) the cost difference of the software, b) the time effectivness of the software, c) the usefulness of the software. all of which VW wins, hands down. don't be fooled by industry blindness in using AutoCad. government contracts are being awarded to firms who don't use Windows or AutoCad. if you need help in achieving this type of compatibility, all you have to do is ask and most here will be glad to help, including myself. hope this helps.

MP support......check out the interview with Sean Flaherty. no plans to support MP but, it will be a Carbon native application. read the interview for the full story. it's in the "more news" section andwas posted on 00-8-01

we painted ourselves into a corner some time ago in the same situation with HP DesignJet 600's. we bought 2 of them and skimmped on the PS module and now we need it and it's not even available anymore. now we have to get 2 new plotters at about 6 times the cost of adding PS to the original plotters. save money upfront, spend alot more later. and that's even if you will still be able to get the PS module for your plotter. you may not need it right away but, i'll bet the day will come when you do.

here at the company i work at, we do this all the time. any print shop worth using can read HP/GL2 print files. create print files from your Mac and send the print files (.cmds extension) to the print shop. you will need to use something like MacPlot Pro (which we use) to create HP/GL2 print files. run a few tests with the print shop (which they will do if they want your business). there will be at least 2 setting that the print shop will have to set on thier end. if they're using ReproDesk and Oce` plotters, the Merge setting will probably need to be "On" and the Transperancy setting will have to be "On" as well. by the way, don't forget to turn off colors before creating the print files. hope this helps.

oops, i forgot to explain about the paths. in creating an animation, you have 2 options; Orbit Point and Move Along Path. the Move Along Path option uses a series of saved sheets. the time of the animation needs to be set first. then, select the move along path option. since you are creating the animation in segments, you must create a new path for each segment. my experience is that if you reuse a path, it will crash as soon as you edit the path. in case you're not familiar with this option, the idea is to get the alogorythm to be as smooth as possible. it helps to plan ahead when creating the saved sheets. in this example of a 1 minute animation in 4 segments 15 seconds each, each segements shouldn't consist of more than 15 saved sheets. keeping all this in mind will result in a very crisp and smooth animation to rival some of the best animators out there. i hope this helps.

the problem seems to stem from QD memory consumption. my animation at 30 fps, timeline of 1 minute comes out to 1800 frames. the standard pixel ratio of 1:1 is okay but a higher ratio is much better of course. instead of creating one animation of 1800 frames (1 minute), break it up into 4 segments and render at a higher ratio like 4:1 or even 9:1. plan your "Saved Sheets" with segments in mind (i.e.- segment 2 begins with the last saved sheet from segment 1). use a third party software like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premier to put the segments together. QT Pro may be able to do this as well.

after experiencing severe rendering problems on a brand new G4/500 with 512 mb RAM, and reading all the posts about memory allocation and still having severe rendering and animation problems, and working closely with tech support (thanks to Rodger and Kevin), i would like to share the resolve. 1) leave the minimum memory allocation at the preferred setting (12288k) with virtual memory on. if you have mega RAM, you should only need about 60 meg allocated to VW. 2) the VW preference setting under the 3D tab to retain 3D Model should be all the way to the left (never position). this alone icreased rendering speed by 4 times. 3) when creating an animation of a large complex 3D model (mine is a master plan for an office complex...trees, cars, buildings, terrain, and roads....over 50,000 polys in this one), break the animation into segments and use different paths of animation for each segment. this has allowed me to increase pixel ratio up to 9:1 for a very clean and smooth animation. i hope this information can be helpful to those who read it. having learned this lesson, i say once again, VectorWorks rocks!!!! (on a Mac of course;-)

i've read the post about Rendering and RAM allocation and polygon counts...etc. low polygon count in my case is not an option....we're doing a master plan for an office complex. with 5 buildings, trees, cars, roads, and terrain, the file size is still only 2.7 megs. no textures, just colors. 1 light source and rendered in QD3D.....on a G4/500 (384mb RAM w/ 385mb of Virtual Memory), it takes 40 seconds to render. untill i turn off the class with the cars on it, then it takes over 6 minutes to render. which is backwards in my logic. i've added more memory, up to 640 mb, and it still is VERY slow. i've also noticed that if virtual memory is set too high, rendering speed is unacceptable. does anyone have a clue??