[Running two copies of VW]

If, like me, you're tired of waiting for that rendering to finish before you can do anything else in VW, you may wish to run a second copy of the app. To do so in OSX, simply open Terminal and type:

open -n

Then drag the application you wish to run another copy of into the Terminal window. Done. You can create a script or workflow of this Terminal command for faster usage later.

[Which mouse]

The old Mighty Mouse was great if you didn't mind losing scroll functionality after the first hour of use.

Magic Mouse however is rather good so far, after a little tweaking with BetterTouchTool. Whether it's worth the price tag is up to you, but it does seem like Apple finally produced a mouse worth using.

[VW 09 and Snow leopard?]

Every time I use it with VW's it seems way too sensitive and ends up zooming seemingly all on its own, and I cannot figure out how to stop it.

Until we have a way to disable/configure MM functions on a per-application basis, I would suggest disabling single finger scrolling using BetterTouchTool. You may also add an additional swipe gesture/hotkey to enable/disable this on-the-fly if memory serves.

[VW 2009 SP5?]

Yes, we are sticking with VW '09 under Snow Leopard. Generally it's working fine but having to keep a VMware installation purely to open VW under XP to import a DWG is getting a little frustrating. We are also not going to write sentences with three acronyms so close together ever again, but that's a different story altogether.

[Autocad imported callout arrows]

Just tested (3). ACAD '02 reads it as two objects.

[Script to randomise Z-height within a certain amount]

Forest Simulator... Gold! That looks like a great tool.

Sent to Surface? No sir, this was purely for artsy renderings wherein a row of duplicated bush symbols are not all exactly the same height, producing a much more natural look.

Thanks for the code snippet and direction MullinRJ.

[OSX Finder: Coverflow support when browsing File dialogs]

I meant any File dialog that VW initiates such as Create Image Prop, Import Image, select image for RW texture, etc. Indeed this includes File dialogs initiated by the Resource Browser.

[Script to randomise Z-height within a certain amount]

How would one go about scripting such a thing?

Usage in example:

Ten image prop symbols of a bush are placed at Z0. The user selects the symbols, executes the script, and is asked for a minimum and maximum Z height along with a direction constraint (lower only for example). The script then randomly moves the symbols up or down on the Z plane.

[OSX Finder: Coverflow support when browsing File dialogs]

If this is included with VW 2010, then never mind. Otherwise, why on earth isn't it in there yet?

Browsing through libraries of textures/cutouts etc using this is bliss.

[Part of rendering clipped?]

Aha - clever git! Will keep this in mind for the future, thanks.

[Tip to adjust perspective in RW.....]

Do you not use the "Renderworks Camera" tool from within the visualization palette?

[Exporting into Piranesi]

Ian,

I'd like to see that, assuming it contains info not already discussed in this topic.

[which is the best mouse for Vectorworks]

Once you get used to the rather touchy method of scrolling, I found the new Apple mouse quite decent. Probably not worth the price tag as equally good or better wired mice are available much cheaper.

The nice thing about the Magic Mouse is that you can assign gestures to anything, whether a script, workflow, key commands, etc etc using a tool like MouseWizard. Obviously not any faster for us keyboarders, but perhaps useful to you. Note this mouse does not work in Windows, as far as I know.

[VW 2009 SP5?]

Aha, thanks.

[VW 2009 SP5?]

I thought this was due out at the beginning of November, did I miss it?

[Part of rendering clipped?]

Turning the brightness of the lights down solved the problem my end.

[Part of rendering clipped?]

Thanks so much for spending the time to look at it.

Yes the second extrude is an attempt to fix the problem - but it sees right through both extrudes.

The rectangle: place it behind the viewport on the sheet layer, not in annotation or the design layer.

[Part of rendering clipped?]

Hi Peter,

The mask object is to the right of the soffit problem. If you draw a coloured rectangle and send it to back, behind the soffit area, does the colour pop through as in the attached image?

[Part of rendering clipped?]

I've no doubt I buggered it up somehow (and do seem to remember an odd shift happening last night), yet can't get it back to square one.

The file looks like any other; it has an icon with a title. Just kidding, here's a link (too big for File Manager): http://www.mediafire.com/?aewnyjdutjm

Thanks

[Part of rendering clipped?]

Thanks, it'll look a hell of a lot better in final quality I must admit; preliminary and unpolished currently. But yes, the soffit at the far end with the tell-tale VW page box showing through... what on earth causes this? I even tried modelling another soffit beyond the first one to see if that fixed it, but no.

PS Congrats on that quad core - apparently we couldn't wait the 5 days for it to be released and ended up with the 27" dual core model. Oh well, lighting fast nonetheless.

[Part of rendering clipped?]

Can anyone tell me why part of this rendering clips through to nothingness beyond?

The same thing happens on all render modes except OpenGL.

VW 2009/OSX 10.6

[Exporting into Piranesi]

A fellow called Ian here has been helping me with the same issue. The key is to set the exported image size (from within the export to Piranesi window) to an amount that provides a good dpi. For example, an 11x17 export should be roughly 5000 pixels wide.

[Tool Set Icons]

Oh, I suppose I should've looked at your image before replying...

The wrench is the default for new custom tool sets. Did you customise the icons previously?

The "Set tool set icon" is to use your own PNGs instead of the wrench. I don't believe any supplied icons are accessible.

[Looking to create a texture that could represent light]

Try the solid polka/polka* shader with suitable reflectivity settings. You can either mask the background colour or have an additional object with subtracted holes over the top.

Alternatively an extrude with 5/8" subtractions and a white 3d poly with suitable reflectivity settings set back from the extrude face would work.

If memory serves, creating the unit as a symbol before duplicating will cut down on performance loss in both navigation and rendering.

[Tool Set Icons]

I would suggest deleting your VW preferences before going through a reinstall. Also, try loading one of the other default workspaces and see if they suffer the same problem (I would guess they do).

Kudos to Kool Aid for the spanner in the VWorks attempt. Not bad. Not bad.