grant_PD

And if you jump over to any of the 3d modelling rendering programs like C4D, and see how they set up their view panes, it really becomes a question of "why can't it be like this?"

So much helpful information in this thread! @Claes Lundstrom I totally agree with your assessment of the pros and cons of these methods.

Very helpful! Thanks. It looks like a great reference tool and certainly worth investigating, if only to provide background for a rendering.

@Claes Lundstrom how accurate was the overall scan? In my case I'm looking at verifying things like position and size of an electrical outlet on a wall from the model.

just played with vectorworks' cloud service "3d model from pictures" and thought the result was pretty cool. But apparently the engine they are using is more geared towards objects or large outdoor things? I couldn't get strong clean lines.

@jeff prince all very helpful. As it turns out I have used @EAlexanders company before, for some external work. Which I thought was great, seeing as how I needed a city block. Inside studios and theaters there is just all sorts of weirdness, like rooms not being square and time consuming things to figure out, like the rake of an audience floor. I too, did find that dealing with the CAD file from the scan weighed down my file a lot, but it might be worth it to have the closest thing to being there.

I'm looking into 2023 and I see a lot of new venues on my horizon: theaters, office/studio buildouts, etc. One thing that has always been a pain is doing a site survey and not capturing all the data needed, eventually the design relies on some part of the room/building where information is incomplete. In discussions w/ my clients we have talked about doing 3d scans to create CAD files from. I know there are companies out there that do this, but they seem to have proprietary software/interfaces that make yet another workflow issue. Do other users have experience in getting these types of files? Pros/cons? I'd love to hear...

Found it thanks all!

I'll look there. My signature is wrong!

I need to make a legend of symbols for a plan (not lighting instruments) but I can't seem to find the create legend option?

This is doable in c4d with mograph, but I don't think bringing the result into VW would be a good workflow. The polygon count would bog down the file.

If you go through the trouble to name your viewports something understandable you can retroactively adjust this quickly using the organization dialog and switching over to the visibilities pane. But if you are not naming your viewports it's pretty much alphabet soup. Along with Andy's suggestion of setting defaults, I really wish VW would let you set up naming tokens like you can for exported pdfs. Mine would be : "Sheet Number"_"Sheet Name"_"Dwg Number"_Dwg Name"

I can't get the videoscreen tool to take different fonts when setting up the classes in the PIO. I can change them in the text menu at the top of the screen. Does the newest version from Landru Design solve this?

They need to be dynamic. And by that I mean fixed to a slider which allows you to move it from sheet border edge to sheet border edge. We can't trust the extents of the viewport because sometimes those are all over the place. So how do we know when we are aligned to the edge of the geometry in the viewport, or the center? By using the snapping guides a la photoshop, which make this kind of graphic design work a breeze.

yes, thanks! I knew it was somewhere!

I have a file with a bunch of classes, that I would like to add the prefix "main-" to, in order to get them subclassed. Is there a way to do this without manually going through each one?

I would propose something like c4d does, which is to give the layer the ability to be locked (amongst other options). Zoomer is correct, the workaround is to grey out the layer, but that doesn't work for bitmaps or pdfs.

I read the issue as not just flat objects, but wanting to do more mural type wall coverings. VW does not have the greatest of UV mapping tools.

Edit the symbol to change their attributes globally, cmd K to explode the symbols one by one and change locally.

I've done these before using lofts and/or extrude along path. In your case the middle part where there is no curve could be built as 1 pc, then the top and bottom joined up to it. Play with the options in the extrude along path dialog, those are helpful in keeping the profile oriented. Another good trick is to build the extrude along path with the curve flat on the ground, and then after it's built you can manipulate the points of the path curve to get it to move upward whilst curving.

I make a "draft" layer. Isolate the symbol and rotate it so it may be drafted using orthogonal projection.

Aren't M1 Imac's integrated graphics processing? Shaded render is an openGL (graphics process). Maybe that's the speed bump for you?

I'm chatting w/ my hardware vendor and he's pointing out the on the tested hardware section of vectorworks.net it shows that these cards (used to be quadro) are tested and supported by vectorworks testing. Is this the case? I'm thinking about an a5000 card but have been burned way in the past by trying to use a quadro with VW.

crazy but I use a piece of bond paper taped over my wacom tablet. That way I can draw on top of the tablet and get a better feel, and the bond paper works great as a mousepad. when I travel I'm fond of manila folder as my mousepad. Guess I'm a paper guy.

We need some dedicated tools for theatrical productions, live and taped.