Socram

yup, thought so - stupid mistake this time. somewhere in the process i deleted the site model. no site model=no texture beds... fixed it and it looks like it works! Thanks so much for your help this morning - I really appreciate the quick responses.

Is there a separate place to turn class visibilities on/off only for the camera? I don't see a place for that. I can see everything, including my texture beds, in the 2d/plan view (class is set to show/modify others). hmmm. i know this is something stupid i'm forgetting.

As I am unversed in the arcane, I tried the camera - I agree: brilliant! No problems with view now. Is there a way to get the camera to see things besides the layer its on? As it is, I have to copy/paste the separate layers I want onto one layer (a small price to pay). Of course new problems crop up - now I can't get my hardscapes (texture beds) to show up in the camera! I trudge on...

I'm afraid I don't understand. I have tried new viewports before, I have about 6 on my current one, all of which I've set the view up in wireframe but then it doesn't render the same view when I switch to RW. I think I messed around with the camera view only briefly - I could try that again. What is the difference between viewport and camera then? It looks like the camera view is updatable - can the view be moved to a sheet layer separate from where the camera is? Appreciate the help.

it zipped to 25MB.

I haven't used the oblique projections much. perspective is the projection that gives me trouble - i can see the perspective (wireframe only so far), but its soooo stretched out, it doesn't quite look normal. And it looks like its above me. i've tried normal, wide, narrow. Most of my elevation points are between 94' and 100' - could that have anything to do with it? Is there a place to set the elevation of the view of the viewport? i'll try zipping. thanks.

actually, the file is 33Mb. I don' think gmail supports over 10mb for attchments. is there a way to shrink it down?

ok, i'll do that. Guess I'm not really sure the problem isn't me...

Ok...no replies. Too many words maybe? What are some common mistakes with viewports and perspective view in general? Why, when I switch from wireframe to a rendered view, does the view change slightly (and sometimes more than slightly) whether in a viewport or in the design layer? Thanks folks.

Also, while the problems I've described above happen in orthogonal view, I also have a hard time getting perspective views to work in viewports. Even if I make a new file with just one simple extrude - the ortho viewport looks great; the perspective one just seems too "close up" on normal, wide or narrow perspective, with either top being cut off or the object being pushed out of the viewport. Maybe I just have a fundamental misunderstanding of what viewports are. Or views. Or VW? Yes, yes, and yes. Thanks for the help.

In my viewports, why is there a disconnect between my wireframe and RW renderings? When I'm on wireframe, I make the view how I want it, but when i change to a RW rendering and update the viewport, the view is different. Sometimes the object is so far out of the viewport that I'm left with a blank viewport. Seems like shaded/unshaded polygon work ok, but fast/final RW don't. Anything come to mind that I'm obviously doing wrong? I have all the proper layers/classes selected and, like I said, it looks great in wireframe but when I try to get a nice rendering it is either off center or rotated different or both. Any ideas?

I get it I get it, I'm whiny. You know, I was feeling pretty whiny the day I posted. Image props might be just want I need. Thank you.

Vectorworks comes with a decent library of 3D tree symbols, but its shrub library is severely lacking and its perennia/annual library is nonexistant. What are my options to getting a library of shrubs/perennials/annuals without spending $450 at xFrog for 3 separate libraries? When I bought VW I assumed it came with most of the plants I use most often... Any ideas?

I'll take that as a 'no'...

I'm sorry, I don't mean symbols, I mean the photo-realistic rendering. All of my plants have 2D symbols which work fine, but only the trees and some shrubs have nice looking 3D renderings. Are there any 3D perennials? Thanks.