Matt Panzer

Thanks Mark. So, essentially, hole cutting can only be done (with these objects) in wall and slab objects. I thought (hoped) maybe there was a way to cut into the other object types I mentioned. Maybe some day. :-)

Thanks Mark. I just tried placing the Marionette object into the modifiers group of a slab and it works! Very nice! Now the bigger questions: 1. How do you get it to cut holes in roofs? 2. What about roof faces and floor objects? Can it also work in those?

Hi Robert, Very cool examples! Some questions: What exactly is the "Set as Hole Cutting Obj" node for and how is it used?

You can also use class attributes to control the opacity. This will allow you to control it's opacity at the viewport level (using class overrides).

It's been awhile since I've done this but I think you can set the transparency of the PDF object itself.

Now this is pretty cool! Weihenstephan University in Germany had their students model a specific bus stop design and then integrate it into a photo or picture. There's one placing it in a Van Gogh painting, a Star Trek scene and several others. Creative Photomontages with CameraMatch and Vectorworks! (original page) Creative Photomontages with CameraMatch and Vectorworks! (Google-translated to English)

While I cannot say I've done scientific testing, I do use it in all of my CameraMatch renderings. When the exact location and date & time ( from the photo) are entered, the shadows always match up the the photo perfectly.

Have you tried editing the symbol's Hole Component instead of using 3D loci? If you place an extrude (wider then the wall) with the profile of the opening, it should work. More info here: Adding a 3D Wall Hole Component to a Symbol Definition

Actually, the texture map is more then 3 bricks wide. The preview object in the Edit Texture dialog was only set to a 16" cube. The preview shows 6 unique bricks across. The dialog also shows the image map to be about 7 feet long. I think there's only one darker brick so that accents the repetition along the arch. The video is quite old so I'm not sure where the file is to check for sure.

Thanks guys and you're welcome!

Here's one solution:

Well that doesn't help my theory! :-/ BUT, the interesting part is that it still seems to be related to the workspace. This is certainly one of the more bizarre bugs. And, AFAIK, it effects ALL plug-in objects that contain text objects. I have some custom plug-ins that exhibit the same problem.

Thanks for trying Mike. If you've never seen it happen before, your workspace is probably not affected. I haven't thoroughly tested all this in VW 2015, the problem is still evident in my project files. You might see it if you use a copy of the Designer workspace and add a bunch of menu items to it. As I mentioned (for VW 2014), just adding one menu, two submenus and 12 commands was enough to trigger it.

Thanks for the feedback Kevin. Hi Mike, LOL! It's all in a days work or, in this case, it WAS a days work. ;-) If any of you who see this problem occur want to give this a whirl, it will help confirm my theory: 1. Create a new VW file and insert a drawing title object. 2. Duplicate array the object in 10 rows of 5 so that you have 50 title objects. 3. Make the text size of the title text far larger than the scale text (This is makes it easier to see when the text flips). 4. Select All and Move by 0, 0 and look to see if any flip. Repeat this step up to 20 times or until you see some flip (whichever comes first). 5. If any flipped in step 4, change to a standard workspace and repeat step 4. If you cannot get any to flip in step 5, the results help support the theory. I've gone further than this by uninstalling all third party plug-ins, using a copy of a standard workspace, then adding menu items to it until the problem occurs. In VW 2014, I found adding One new menu, two submenus and 12 commands (all instances of the "Copy" command) to a copy of the Designer workspace triggered the problem.

This is a known (and submitted) bug. One aspect of the bug that seems very odd is that it seems to be somehow related to the number of menu items in the workspace. Out of curiosity, are any of you experiencing this problem using a custom workspace? I have a test file consisting of an array of 50 title drawing title objects. I select them all and move them by 0, 0 to trigger a regen. While using my custom workspace, I usually see the flipping occur after regenerating them anywhere from 1 to 10 times. Deleting a certain number of menu items from my workspace would allow me to regenerate them 20+ times with no flipping. Bizarre but I've been able to consistently demonstrate this.

You're welcome Tui, The update procedure would be built into the plugin's code. You would only need this in special cases. If the plugin was named the same, all placed plugins would retain any parameter values as long as they exist in the new plugin version. So updating would basically be automatic. In the case of having a new plugin name, I think you would need to write a separate script to replace the old paced objects with the new ones and have it transfer all parameter values. Definately consider keeping the plugin name consistent between versions in the future. :-)

Ok. I admit my comment may be a bit cryptic. That's what I get for typing on my iPad. Basically, if the plug-in name is the same between versions the plug-ins will simply use the installed version. When you install a new version (or open in a new VW version using a newer version of the plug-in), any plug-ins in the file will suddenly become the new plug-ins. As I mention in my previous message, there are cases where you might need to make adjustments to bring the old plug-in version over to the new version. In that case, you can use an internal procedure to do that (assuming you store the version number in a parameter). Hopefully that makes a little more sense.

The best way, IMO, is to keep the plugin name identical between versions so that the plugin automatically updates when new plugins are installed. The plugin can store its own version number in a hidden parameter. This way the plugin can check to see if the stored version matches it's current version. If not, it can even run some type of update procedure if needed to convert the old version to the new. After the first regen, the version parameter will then be updated to the current new version so any update procedure will only run on the first regen.

Hi Sam, Another thing to consider is the number of menu items in the workspace. If you rebuild you workspace. Maybe do it in chunks and test your script between chunks. I've had other strange issues with plugins after adding a certain number of menu items. Reducing the number of menu items would fix the problem. Not the same problem as you, but since you add a lot of commands, it could be a similar issue.

It really was an amazing time and I'm already waiting for details about the next one. The presentations and breakout sessions were great and only wish I was able to go to more of them. It was a real pleasure meeting so many people I've known, but without a face (or true personality) to put them to. Unfortunately, I managed to not meet many who attended. Jim, you were very high up on my list and I somehow missed you. I'm not good at recognizing faces and probably walked right by you several times. Luckily I was able to meet mk and both curly masses. :-)

I see. So you're using scripts on a script palette. Script vs plug-ins (menu commands, tools, and objects) both have their advantages. Having the script stay with the document (document specific) certainly is an advantage of not having to install plug-ins, but it also means that updated scripts won't be available in older documents unless you import them in. Since plug-ins are application specific, they are immediately available to all documents (new and old). This means updates to the plug-ins only need to be installed once (to the application) rather than importing to each document. Then there's the added advantage of assigning keyboard shortcuts to the tools and commands in the workspace editor. That all said, I think your biggest need is to have the scripts stay with the document so they're available to anyone you send the file to. In that case, I certainly see your point and understand the challenge. Unfortunately, I cannot think of anything except (the obvious) trimming down your code as compact as possible. You asked about replacing space characters with tabs in your original message. If you're replacing multiple spaces with each tab then that should help. You could also copy the script to a decent text editor and use grep to strip out tabs, comments, extra lines, etc. This can help to considerably reduce the size. Obviously, it will be harder to read and edit the code, so make sure to keep the original for editing. You could use a script with the include file while developing the code, then trim a copy of the file down to paste into another script for distribution. Unfortunately, trimming the script down will most likely be a short term solution and the problem may rise every time you want to edit the script. If any better ideas come to mind, I'll let you know.

If you're referring to locking plug-ins. Using a ".px" extension for the include files tells VW to add them to the locked plug-in file. This means the locked plug-in files will not require the ".px" files for distribution. Just be sure to keep an unlocked copy of the plug-in file for future development. To be honest, I rarely ever develop scripts in the Plug-in editor and much prefer BBEdit or Text Wrangler (on the Mac) for coding. Most of my plug-ins simply point to one include file for the main script. That main script usually points to several more includes. As for other problem you see with includes, can you explain them?

Thank you, Dieter. I'm glad your enjoying the plug-in! :-)

Alan, The key is to map the water texture on the panels so that they tile seamlessly tile between panels. I should also mention that Julian Carr came up with the "falling panels" idea. PS: I'm glad you're enjoying CameraMatch! If you even have any questions, let me know. Best, Matt

Hi Alan, I used moving objects in AnimationWorks. In the model, there's a planter just above the water feature. I placed maybe 30 moving objects made up of one thin extrude all in the same location hidden in the planter. The extrudes were the full width of the water feature and maybe 24" tall. I had the objects drop from the planter one by one (like a garage overhead door). LOTs of experimenting, but it worked very well.