Horst M.

I use Photoshop Elements to prepare jpgs for Textures and finalise some renderings (just little colourshifts and so on) . It has all the functions that I need for these things. I always have a hard tim using photoshop, for some reason I cant memorise the concepts behinds this pixelacrobatics. (my problem :-) ) But I gave up using free Software like Gimp Inkscape and so on. I had also invested in Canvax OS X until they stopped to support the Mac branch... For me it was all wasted time and money.

I would support Peters statement. I doubt that upgranding your mac specially with VW2008 in the graphicscard Area will give a noticeable speedup. On the other hand, if you buy a new Mac, you will get OSX 10.6, and your VW shoud be upgraded as well. If I'm not totally wrong, VW 2008 is not Certified to work with OSX 10.6 so it might work, but the combination will be unsupported.

Hallo, During evaluation of some Symbols that I imported from dwg Files, I dicovered the following: The Symbol in the example imports as 70 NURBS Surfaces which slows down all Pan Zoom and 3d Display Operations a lot, even in Wireframe. (there were 8 of these Symbols in the file) I opened the symbol(s) and executed "Stitch trim surfaces" from the 3d Powerpack. The result is 2 CSG Solids which can be cut, and modified with the Push pull tool and so on. If I execute the "Add Solids" comand on the 70 NURBS Surfaces, I get 1 Solid addition, which can hardly be modified with the Push pull tool and can't be cut. Is there any explanation for these Effects, or can somone explain the differenc of the results? In both cases VW gets speedy and smooth in Pan Zoom and other 3d Display Operations, if I do this to Symbols that are imported as NURBS Surfaces Bunches. Horst M.

Chad, does the crashing it really happen with every File that you try to convert? I'm asking, because I had troubles migrating 3d Elements with more complex Geometry over more than one VW Version, but I can't remember that VW crashed. Mostly the unwanted geometry was ignored or converted to a rectangular Block I never had troubles with 2d Geometry. The Step from VW12 to 2011 is huge, because since Version12 VW has gone through major changes of core Funktions like Parasolid and the new Render Engine. You could try exporting your Files from VW12 as .dwg's and import the dwg's in VW2011 open it. (sounds stupid, but some complicated 3d Stuff I did a longer time ago could be saved by this method.) :-) If you like, post File, I could try to open it in the Versions between VW12 and VW2011.

I found the source of my Problem also. Its caused by a different effect than the slow down that mk was experiencing with the defective Geometry of an instrument. The second rendering with the "build List ... Geometry" Stuff after OPEN GL is displayed, starts only if I have 2d Geometry visible in Layer Plane View, Like a rectangle on the Floor to illustrate an outline. It seems to happen in some Cases, were 2d and 3d Elements are visible in "Layer Plane View", that Renderworks tries to do some hiddenline or whatever rendering with the old render Engine..... After I deleted the 2d geometry or switched to "Screen Plane" the second rendering wasn't caused.

Its simple enough, so it could, but why are you suspecting that? I couldn't find a hint in the article.

Hi Bob, Did you try to "CMD K" to convert the PIO Object to a Group?

Youre right, the initally described Problem must be caused by something else. I took the Chair Symbol from the buggy File (which is the only element in there besides Text and a rectangle) and placed 400 Instances in a new File Open GL Renders in seconds... No "build List ..... "... lack of Memory..." action

michael May be the probelm is caused by Symbols that are made with a previous Version of VW and converted to 2011. The chair is from VW2009 converted to VW 2010 and now to 2011. I suspect, that your instruments are originally drawn with an older VW Version ?. so it could be some geometry that RW2011 doesn't like... I had approx. 1400 Rivets on Posts that I created with the hemisphere tool in the File of the Steel Plant. They seem to be Zombi Geometry for the render Engine. I had to delete them. Open GL rendering crashed .... Horst M.

I drew it, to be able to place it in Renderings its the one we have in our venue as Audience Seats, and its desgined by a very friendly designer.... Before I drew it myself I asked her for a 3d Model to use it in Renderings for the Venue, and received the answer from a lawyer.

hallo michealk, you describe it better than me, but thats exactly what I have. I have one File 7MB which does it all the time now. Unfortunately it shows just 256 instances of a Chair, with a very strictly protected Design, so I can't post it for inspection by others. I'm working in the Moment on a bigger File (3d Recreation of an industry memorial part of Steel Plant), (80MB) which has shown thi effect twice, but it went away after rebooting the computer. Now I'm very very afraid, that the effect will stay and the File (40+ hours of work) becomes unuseable, so I decided to backup this every day with a new Filename. I don't like to be afraid using VW .... :-((

Hallo, I have (sometimes) a wired effect in open GL Render. I set a View, switch the Render Mode to open GL. RW renders the View very fast, diplays it, and starts right away with a second rendering, wich starts with "built List" and takes ages to finish or aborts (if I'm lucky) with a "Lack of memory" Message. Isn't this "built List" stuff from RW2010 ??? because I can't remember that I ever saw it in RW2011 except in the Cases the Programm goes Crazy as descibed above.

What SQE discribes happens (to me) mainly, if there are symbols in the drawing. If you select all elements in the drawing and execute a rescale the Symbols jump arround, as Symbols can't be rescaled wihout editing them. Mostly this happens with Files that are imported from Autocad (dwg). In this Case I avoid that, by importing the File in a Scale that is usefull for me.

have a look at Videoscreen 4 http://www.landrudesign.com/DefaultFrameSet.htm?index.htm~LandruMnFrm I had good success simulating single LED Pixels in LED Walls using the Method Benson Shaw describes in this thread http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=148401&Searchpage=1&Main=30263&Words=rambler&Search=true#Post148401 For colors it will work perfect Its giving good results even for Images, if you scale the jpeg according to the Pixelcount of your LED Curtain.

Hi, Some things that make the Export to C4d that is now part of VW2011 for my point of view unusable (hopefully only for now): - The new "Send to C4d" Command throws, witout any information or chance to interact, a kryptic named File in the Programm folder of Cinema 4d !!!!!!! (I've not seen something like this since the days of DOS).... _ Symbols are exported as Groups with instances (as Grant states) but if you have this Symbol in your File slightly rotated or on different hights you get an extra group for each time the Symbol is used in the VW File. - due to this, you get a bazillion of Groups each with a deep Stucture of Subgroups. Example, If you have Seating Layout on a Tribune with 12 Rows of 20 Chairs, the First Row of the Chair Symbols is represented by Insances. The other 220 Chairs appear as 220 Groups! - Cameras are not exported There are some good Points - the Polygons are exported with UVW Tags, (hopefully we can once get benefit from that) - Maxon still supplies an export plugin that Exports symbols and produces a reasonable (and 10 times smaller) File-structure - you can do a lot of rendering inside VW because of the C4D render engine. I would say: get the Trial ....

Hi, The way to focus lights in VW that I find easy to use is to set Fouspoints. To change the direction of the Light you just move the Focupoint to the place you want.

I confess, that i had to do a google search on that oftenused HTH - Happy to Help but may be it means Hope that Helps I did a Google search on "Yawza!" as well.... ;-)))

Oh man that's sad! It's all based on the capabilities of the shaders from the C4D Render engine. I've tried to export and open the File in RW2010. The MIrrorball texture is exported completely unusefull, as RW2010 doesn't have any similar Funktions. The rendering shows Shadows in the darkness :-(( THe only solution I see for 2010 ist to create Image Masks and Images for the refelctions, the Bump, and the Tranparency Channel with Photoshop or Illustrator or Inkscape... not my world. I'm Sorry :-( Even if you get the texture done I hardly see a chance with RW 2010 to get a result besides headache

Here is the File, have fun, and let us know where you get! We are very curious :-)

I couldn't resist.. as we are faking it anyway, I used a Tile shader with sqaures in the Bump and the Reflections Channel and with little circles in the transparency Channel. Stuffed one Light inside. Lit Fog enabled... Custom Renderworks Just a rough sketch the Rendering is not otimized I sent it to C4d to compare the rendering Qualitiy (which should be the same) It works wonderfull, but the rendering result ist differrent. No Idea why, I tried Custom and Final Quality renderworks, and both give me those "freaky Lines", as if there is something wrong in the transparency channel. The rendering in C4d is much smoother, without the Lines. Any suggestions how to get the rendering cleaner are welcome.

Hi df For a realistic construction process this could be a way: http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=29418&Number=143615#Post143615 Instead of the Cube use a small plate like a piece of Mirror. So Peter is right it's some work. The Catch in your question is this: "..render realistically.." For that Part you need "Caustics" which is built into the C4D Render Engine. But we would need some light sources that have the possibilty to emit Photons which we don't have (yet). Without that you won't get this nice little light spots on the Wall, Ceiling and Floor. Which are most important to make Mirrorball ... The effect could be faked with a Lightsource inside a ball with holes, but I don't have a concept for the Moment how to get that fake Dot-Projector out of the rendering. May be somone else has an idea. Horst M.

Hallo Ryan, Without renderworks I doubt that you can do that, but I'm not shure it's too long that I have worked without Renderworks now. But with Renderworks in 2010 I would suggest to start with a smoked Glass texture and modify that for your needs. I did some Plexiglas (satinated) a while ago with C4D, and as VW2011 has the CD Render engine I gave it try. It works! The VW Material editor has all the settings we need to get what we want. The Texture in the Example attached is Plain colour, with a Noise Shader in the Tranparency Channel set to 30% the option backlit is also enabled The C4d Examples show some results with different settings of colour and noise. May be it is a good Idea to uprgrade, the value of RW2011 is great!

Hi Shaun, Thats bit of complex question, There are some Threads related to that topic http://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=30421&Number=149319#Post149319 The Render Engine is the advanced renderer with all the capabilities of Global ilumination The difference ist the interface for the Lighting, render Settings and the Material editor. The send to C4d Comamnd produces results that is very different from the result the Maxon plugin creates! http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=30240&Number=148266#Post148266 I havent yet tested the Send to C4D Command with VW2011 SP2, But I got good results using the 3ds export as Bases of work in C4d. There is also a new plugin on the Maxon Webiste, that supports the Export of Symbols, and produces a usable (and known fom previous versions) File structure in C4D. Unfortuately the export of Camera Objects from VW to C4d ist gone with Maxon plugin. My Opinion is, that for the production of Stills, and if you don't miss the Material Editor of C4d Renderworks 2011 is whats needed, as you get the C4D 11.5 Advanced Render engine. The new and very surprising feature called Linear worklflow is a feature of C4D 12 (I love that!) it produces very smooth looking renderings "out oft the Box" with a minimum of try and error for the settings. An advantage would be the C4d Visualize, as it has a huge Library of very good textures, and Scenic elements, and some advanced Features for animations and walkthroughs. So, the main problem for the Moment is, that the C4D render engine in VW2011 is hidden undter the Interface of Renderworks, that is hardly explained in the Helpfile. But for most Users this is for shure a big advantage, as VW Users don't need to learn a complete new interface.

Hallo Peter, The Domes in the Image attached are from Cinema4D via 3DS imported in VW, from 2 different segmented Spheres. There is a Video Tutorial from the German/Swiss Manufacturer of VW where rather similar Structure is created with VW! http://www.computerworks.de/service/vectorworks/schulungen/schulungsfilme/3d-modelling/das-runde-passt-ins-eckige.html Unfortunately it is in German, but you can at least see how they construct it. Have Fun.

There is a thread that shows workarrounds for the "lost text in Rendered Viewports" Problem: http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=30412&Number=149252#Post149252 but the rotated and mirrored Dimensions in Christaan's imgae are really "funny".... I've tried to get it on a Design Layer or in a Viewport and couldn't. and even with the duplicated Viewports Workarround I'm so happy to be able o use 3d DImensions