Tamsin Slatter

Try updating the driver for your graphics card...

Hello Jan! I recommend you use File > Batch Convert. This will enable you to convert a set of files within a specific folder. It also handles references for you. All the best

I would put the structure on its own design layers, and change the elevation of those design layers rather than Send to Surface.

Hi Susan No - you are not stupid. I have filed this as a bug (but not recently!) In our testing this year, we found that it was not happening all the time - and in fact when required to make it happen, we could not. If you have an example, please send it to me and it will help us get this fixed. All the best Tamsin

Susan Take a look at the VSS portal - there's a tutorial in there... and, you have our course notes right? Ask us for help. As a customer of ours, we WILL support you.

Christiaan Just a suggestion, have you looked at the Create Stepped Wall command? It may help you - it may not, but it will take a straight wall and step it for you. You can also offset different components within the wall and get them to follow the stepping. HTH

Susan You are welcome to send the file to us. In my experience though, the reason the message is generated is... because you've got intersecting pads! I agree it would be a very nice feature if VW could highlight where the problem lies visually - and I have already wish-listed this. All the best

When you edit the viewport and choose to edit the design layer, uncheck the Add Reference Crop option. HTH

A texture bed can overlap other modifiers, because the only modification it is making is to the texture of the site model surface - in other words, it is painting the triangles with a different texture.

Hi Stephen Are you trying to make a Hybrid object? Or trying to show the gradient in a 3D view? The Extract tool has a preference whereby you can extract a planar surface instead of a Nurbs surface, so I can save you that part of the process. 2013 has an Autohybrid command (I know you went for 2012 in the end!) I need to understand more about what you are trying to achieve with the extrude and planar object really before answering further... Off out now, but will take a look later.

Hi Philip Yes - we put together a handy migration guide for users moving from old Renderworks to new Renderworks. You can download a copy from our web site here: http://www.vectorworks-training.co.uk/buy-vectorworks/renderworks/ I hope you find it useful, but please do come back to me if you have questions.

Hi Take a look at this Knowledgebase article. It will explain how to resolve it. http://kbase.vectorworks.net/questions/1056/Tab+key+not+working+properly+in+dialogue+boxes.+%28OSX+Only%29

I'm delighted to hear it! Let us know if you need anything else.

The Autohybrid command will do just that. You can select objects from your model, run Create Autohybrid and then determine the cut plane. You can specify how objects should look below the cut plane and above it. You can also choose to represent objects as a reflected ceiling plan. For windows in walls, you can also specify dashed lines for clerestory windows above a cut plane height. Hope that helps

Hi Stephen No - not with the eyedropper. However, you can use the operating system colour picker to pick up colours from the image. I just imported an image, and then drew a rectangle to the side. With the rectangle selected, I click the colour picker on the Attributes palette and chose the OS color picker. On the Mac, I can then select any colour on the screen, including those on the image. Hope that helps. T

Page units are useful in a hatch if you always want it to print the same size, regardless of scale.

Lovely! The line is the lovely cloud cover on the horizon. You could try changing the rotation of the background to see if you get a different view. Alternatively, why not edit the background and make it totally cloudy?! After all, you are in the UK, so it will make your clients feel totally at home and not give them any false illusions about the space! (Before anyone starts shouting at me - I'm having a laugh...)

How about putting the Site Model into a 3D view and setting its 3D Style to 3D Contours. Make sure you are showing the Proposed model (if that's the contours you want!) Copy the model (because you are about to lose it completely otherwise.) Then, choose Modify > Ungroup. You will be asked if you want to ungroup high level objects. Answer Yes please! The result will be a bunch of 3D Polygons that represent the contours.

Lovely! Can we see?

Matt To get it to work in the old file, you probably need to edit your Renderworks Style to make sure it uses the Physical Sky background instead of the one that used to work with the Renderworks Exterior Final style. Try also editing something on your Heliodon to refresh it - try typing something like Sunset in the Time field - it can work out the time for sunset for the given date. And I am sure you have already thought of this... but do you have a Heliodon in the 2012 file. It's the Physical Sky and Heliodon combination that performs the magic. Let me know if you still have problems. I'll be happy to help. It really does look good and we have it working on old files just fine. It makes all the difference with exterior renders. Particularly with some of the lovely new water textures.

If you have 2013, you can create a Custom Line Type, which can comprise any 2D geometry you like, including custom arrows. If you are using an earlier version, how about creating the arrow head, creating the path for it, and then using Edit > Duplicate Along Path?

I've had a look at the file John and I can see the ghosting, but I am not sure what's causing it. It seems only a screen issue though and unlikely to cause problems with printing. The gapped lines issue I will look into further for you. To change a plant symbol to have new graphics - it's now really easy in 2013! Just edit the plant definition as usual, and you have a new button "Copy from Symbol" with which you can copy 2D or 3D geometry from any other symbol. Very cool and so much easier for swapping image props for 3D. Let me know if you need more help! And I hope you and Bryan have a nice lunch!

Hi You need to import the dwg file into Vectorworks first. Then, you can reference that file using a Design Layer Viewport. You would need to re-import and replace the source file if the dwg changes.

Lec The reason the lights stay put is because their Z value is the same as the Z value of the Light Position. This is why you need to use the Design Layer Viewport method. That way, you are rotating the view of the truss and lights, not the truss itself. I'm sorry you don't like the answer - I am just trying to help you achieve what you need with the tools available. Simon I will take a look at your file. I'm a bit pushed today, but will get to it. Best Tamsin

I appreciate all your concerns - and these are of course going to be seen by Nemetschek who I hope will address them on your behalf. My purpose here was simply to explain how to do it with what you have in Spotlight. In a nutshell, standard hybrid symbols will only rotate about the Z axis, because all hybrids are parallel to the design layer plane - that's the case throughout Vectorworks. For Spotlight, you need to be able to show hybrid objects (light positions and their lights) at other angles while still displaying them laid down, in 2D for the light plot. Therefore you use Create Plot and Model view to create design layer viewports of those elements. The design layer viewports can be used to display things laid down or angled, and you then use class and layer visibility controls to determine what shows in a particular sheet layer viewport. This gives you accurate 2D and accurate 3D. The worksheet functionality also takes this into consideration because it can exclude things in design layer viewports (and not mess up your counts by counting duplicates. I'm going to bow out now, because I am on Andy Dunning's domain here and I believe he has now provided the sample that Simon needed. But that's the best way to achieve what you want, with Spotlight. Have fun!