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LightGuy145

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Everything posted by LightGuy145

  1. Does anyone know anything about this for VW 2023? This still seems to be an issue with Hidden Line and Dashed Hidden Line renders. VW 2023 will at least let you keep trying to work while those renders happen but it still seems like they are doing way more work than they need to for a cropped viewport. This still majorly bogs down my workflow.
  2. Adding to this. Creating standard third-angle projected views of parts is unnecessarily cumbersome... still in VW 2023. In short, this should work a lot more like the VIEWBASE command in AutoCAD. The viewports should be auto-cropped to the selected objects and be orthogonally constrained to one another on the sheet. If you need to add a view, you should be able to drag it off one of the existing viewports. You can currently add an additional view to a third-angle projection layout by copying one of the existing viewports and changing the view, but this is also unnecessarily cumbersome... when you change the view the objects visible in the crop can end up really far away from the crop object and you have to manually re-center them... and then orthogonally align them with the existing views. At the very least, it would be helpful if when you change the view of an existing viewport the objects already visible in that crop were automatically re-centered in the crop when the view is changed. I have similar issues with annotations. When a new viewport is created the drawing label is placed down in the corner, then I crop the view way down, and now the generated drawing label is extremely far away from the crop and has to be manually brought into that viewport's new field of view. Unnecessarily cumbersome. This is all less of a problem when you are able to isolate every individual object you want to draw in its own layer/class... but you often can't do that. I often have a layer full of different, spread out parts I need drawings of. A project I just did took a lot longer than it needed to because of these cumbersome qualities of creating standard views of certain parts and assemblies. To be fair, I much prefer the way VW handles sheet annotations to AutoCAD. That VW consolidates viewport annotations into a special component of the viewport that moves/scales with it, I much prefer... but getting those views created in the first place really needs some improvement.
  3. Thanks for the replies. I would definitely consider myself a power user of Classes, I'm very familiar with the hierarchical display and the dash naming. I frequently generate my own sub-class structures for controlling visibility of different lighting positions, or different components of scenery. Many people I know, however, are not power users, which is why I think all the components of an object should default to the class assigned to the overall object. This way the class assigned to the object serves an attribute control function AND a visibility control function, which would be expected by a less adept user. The Soft Goods reliance on the separate Texture-based "3D Curtain Options" currently breaks that expected functionality. If I understand correctly, the Soft Goods object sub-classes do default to the overall object class (<Soft Goods Class>)? This drop-down is what I was particularly confused by, especially juxtaposed underneath the default prefix "SoftGoods." An object and it's default class prefix having the same name makes sense but it is also a source of confusion. I think <Soft Goods Object Class> or just <Object Class> would be more clear. The "Use Standard Classes" button I also found confusing until I tested it. The help description says "...to the predefined default classes using the specified prefix..." What predefined defaults? Predefined in settings somewhere? I didn't realize the fields listed in the dialog box were what was meant until I clicked the button. Overall, I do really like having the sub-class functionality built into more objects because there is less work for me to do in creating visualizations and drawings... I just think there are some presentations/explanations that could be a little more clear and some of the functionality could be improved to retain some classic behaviors users may be expecting.
  4. Thank you for your help and all your work on these tools. I understand the desire to use Textures in lieu of fill colors for more realistic 3D rendering... and I see how I can achieve basic fill coloring by editing the Texture. I'll play with it some more. I do think it would make a lot more sense for the color selection under "Opaque" to have a class referenced option. Having a color assignment that isn't reference-able doesn't seem like the best practice. And I apologize, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the increased degree to which the latest versions of VW are using sub part classes for objects... making the actual class assignment of the object as a whole somewhat meaningless in certain situations and respects. The changing functionality of some of these objects is confusing.
  5. I am having a related problem, VW 2019. I created a hanging position from a rigging pipe object (converted to symbol). Turned the hanging position label on but the control point on the label doesn't really make any sense and the text isn't rotated the way I want. The "Label Control" X and Y does not move the control point of the hanging position name, just moves the whole label around. Eureka... I edited the 2D component of the hanging position and was able to move the name text relative to the position, even rotate the text! Except... now the label won't update when I change the name of the hanging position. It also won't go away when I deselect "Show Name." It appears to just be fixed, un-referenced text now. If I completely delete the text and cycle "Show Name" the name is restored with the same control point/orientation issues as before but... moving the control point won't move the text at all... so it's still broken. Any ideas? Is this how I should adjust the name label text? Does the name label break for anyone else? Is this fixed in VW 2020?
  6. This does seem somewhat convoluted and I am a bit confused. Is the "3D Curtain Options" the only way to assign a fill color to the curtain (viewable in 3D)? Which cannot be altered through any referenced means (class, texture, etc)? If I want to use a reference for the curtain's color in 3D is it REQUIRED to be a texture rather than a fill color? The thing I don't understand about "3D Curtain Options" is why there isn't just an option, under "Opaque" for example, to get the desired color from a class... the way most other appearance attributes work in VW.
  7. A couple questions about how the Soft Goods tool is working in this drawing: 1) How do I get the soft goods object to take its color from its assigned class? The object is assigned to the class, the attributes are referencing the class, the class is assigned to all categories under "Classes..." in the object info... and yet it only seems to be obeying the "3D Curtain Options" setting in object info. There doesn't seem to be any way to clear that setting. "Update" button in object info doesn't seem to do anything. I'm not really understanding why there is a "3D Curtain Options" that is totally disconnected from the class assignment... it seems to defeat the purpose of classes to begin with. If someone wanted to change the 3D texture assignment on a bunch of curtains later on, for example, they would have to go into "3D Curtain Options" for every object? 2) One thing I liked about the old curtain object was when a traveler curtain is open it shows the curtain material stacked up with a tighter pleat spacing. I like this because it emphasizes visually that the curtain is open in 2D/plan. Is there an option I'm missing to create this behavior?
  8. Thanks everyone for the help. I think my best course of action at this point is to just re-make all the objects. Happy new year!
  9. I've never used third party plug-ins that I'm aware of, just what came with VW. My understanding is VW used to have the Curtain Object tool and that at some point it was upgraded to a more sophisticated Soft Goods tool. I would not have expected that upgrade to break existing curtain objects; I was expecting them to be rolled into the functionality of the new tool. So I guess the best solution is to rebuild all my curtains with the Soft Goods tool.
  10. This is one of the existing objects that I can't edit. I don't seem to have any issue making new curtains with the 2019 soft goods tool.
  11. Possibly, but I'm skeptical because I have the same issue going on with another computer running a new install of VW 2019 opening completely different files (from VW 2018 instead of VW 2016). I guess maybe I just need to re-build all my curtains with the 2019 tool.
  12. Not that I am aware of; I've always been running the educational license for the full VW Designer plus Renderworks.
  13. No, have never used any third-party tools to create objects, just the standard VW tool sets.
  14. After opening VW 2016 files with VW 2019 I am noticing that my curtain objects are broken. I am able to change Class, Layer, and Rotation but all other features of the curtain objects are not editable. Is there some fix for this that doesn't require every curtain object to be re-built from scratch?
  15. That was it! Back to normal! Never would have guessed that an option called "Draw Edges" would affect the environmental lighting to such a degree. I don't recall ever having such an issue previously. Thanks for your help!
  16. I have two different computers running 2019; on one computer when I render in OpenGL the lighting gets very dark. On my other computer, no issue. I've explored the most obvious things, such as "Set Lighting Options..." and the Renderworks background settings... nothing seems to make much of a difference. Cranking the emitter brightness past 100% helps a little bit, but not much. In other render modes it is then too bright. I've been rendering in a shaded polygon mode as a workaround just to get something that looks similar to what I'm used to seeing in OpenGL. I don't see any substantial differences between my lighting settings on the two computers. I'm not using any light objects in the drawing, just trying to use a global ambient light to see my model. Does anyone have any idea what might be going on here? I don't have layers or classes grayed. I'm not working with a black background. I'm using Unified view but I don't think that would be pertinent, all layers have the same scale and Renderworks background. Help!
  17. I was having this same problem and then finally realized that it was because the transparent area did not wrap completely around and encapsulate the area that I did not want to be transparent. The area that I wanted transparent was only near the bottom and right edges of the image. If I tried to use only that area as a mask I would still see these little annoying borders in all render modes (OpenGL, Fast RW, Final RW). I went back and added a tiny little border to my transparent mask that went all the way around the image and suddenly the border I was seeing was gone. This seems like a software problem... it shouldn't be a requirement that the transparency wraps completely around the image. It seems to work fine if you want to make a region in the middle of the object transparent. It seems to work fine if the image is entirely surrounded by transparency. But it doesn't work if both the image and the transparent regions go right to the edges in different places.
  18. I have recently encountered a problem when trying to display beams on lighting fixtures in VW 2013 SP5. I import a fixture from the library, assign a Z height, assign a focus point, and turn on the beam but I see only a straight line rather than a cone. If I switch from top/plan to a side view I see the cone I am expecting. Looking at the beam and field angle information for the fixture the "Beam Angle 2" and "Field Angle 2" fields are set to 0. If I fill them in to match the "Beam Angle 1" and "Field Angle 1" fields everything is good. This is happening with fixtures I am importing from the library and have not modified in any way. Has anyone else experienced this problem? How do I add the second beam and field angles to a symbol in the library if it is missing? Thanks!
  19. I just had the same problem occur. I had the lights twofered by channel in VW but with no channels yet assigned. I then assigned channels in LightWright. The data for each light refreshed in VW but none of the twofers refreshed; their data labels were just blank. I found that any modification of a twofer caused it to refresh and its data to appear. If I moved a twofer label that would cause it to refresh, or if I just selected it and cycled the label on and off that would cause it to refresh. Anyone know if there is a quick way to select all twofer objects? I didn't see anything in the "Find & Modify" tool. I am still running VW 2013, tried to install VW 2014 but my machine can't handle the new graphics requirements.
  20. I opened VectorWorks 12.5 in Windows XP Mode this morning and you can't snap to an Object/Object intersection between an extrude and a 2D shape in that version either. This does seem like a rather simple thing that you should be able to do. Otherwise you have to create extra temporary reference lines in order to achieve the desired snaps.
  21. Has no one else experienced this problem or has it been resolved in VW 2014?
  22. If I draw a rectangle and a line that crosses through it and then try to move another object to the intersection between that rectangle and line I have no problem using the "Snap to Intersection" feature. If I take said rectangle and extrude it I suddenly lose the ability to "Snap to Intersection" between the 2D rectangular representation of the extrude and the line. This makes it extremely difficult to do basic alignment of extrudes with lines or even extrudes with one another. All objects in question are on the same layer and class, layers and classes are set to "Show/Snap/Modify Others". Nearly all snap options are turned on. Working in 2D/Plan view. Am I missing something here? I feel that this has not always been the case. I am running VW 2013 SP5.
  23. I am using VectorWorks 12.5 and Lightwright 4. I was just going about my business in VectorWorks when I noticed all of my instruments were no longer displaying label data correctly. Instead of the unit number, channel, dimmer, color, etc there are just these weird squares, lines, and tildes in place of the text. I tried refreshing instruments, reassigning label legends, replacing instrument symbols, nothing makes the data appear correctly again. When I select the light the object info shows all the correct information, it just isn't being displayed. I tried making a new label legend from scratch but when I go in to edit the layout instead of seeing the words "Unit Number", "Purpose", "Channel", etc I just see the same blank squares in place of the text. Nearly every font I try to use (except for really weird ones like Symbol and Wingdings) shows up the same way, just squares instead of text. Does anyone have any idea what went wrong? The crazy part is I wasn't even doing anything pertaining to the instruments, I was working on scenery and drawings! Please help!
  24. What do you mean by lighting position inventory? Do you mean the position summary for the lighting position, where you can sum insts, sum colors, sum circuits...? Do you know how to change the formatting of the position summary? (Font style and size, text positioning, etc). I am having a problem where the "Num Required Circuits:" is too big to fit in its container. The titles like "Instrument Summary" and "Color Summary" are shifted down slightly and also do not fit in their containers. I am using VectorWorks 2009.
  25. You won't believe this but the problem seems to have rectified itself. What is strange is that I really did not change anything. All I did was to try the import from Lightwright a third time, this time bringing the Accessory field along with all the other fields (I had left that one out on the second try). This doesn't make sense though because the first time I had the problem with instruments not updating I had included the Accessory field along with all the others. I did figure out what the non-updating instruments have in common though; After the instruments would not update I exported the VectorWorks data and took a close look at the exported file in Excel. I figured out what the relationship is between the instruments that would not update. Every other instrument in the VectorWorks export file had a Lightwright ID (meaning it was a successful import from Lightwright). So when the instruments were sorted according to the VectorWorks UID every other instrument was updating successfully. I have no idea why but this is the pattern I found between those that would update and those that would not update!
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