jamesmise

Thanks! I didn't realize I could select where my folder is kept. Awesome.

When saving a view, there are so many great options, like Render Mode etc.. Why can't the current working plane be included in the saved view? This would be a good time saver.

Let's say I go to a saved view. But I turn off a couple classes and would like to save that view with the same name. I have to select "save view" and retype the name exactly. I'd like for an option to "update current saved view". I know I can edit views in the navigation palette also. But overwriting an existing view without having to type it in would be convenient.

I'm not able to keep my custom workspaces on Dropbox. The workspaces must be kept in the same folder as the application. I have to physically copy the workspace files from one computer and put them on my other computers. Since my workspaces don't change that often, I guess its not a problem.

And in 2012, you can section a viewport on a sheet layer.

One tip. When importing a Sketchup model, do it in a separate document. That way you can edit classes and such before using it in your drawing. Some models have tons of classes.

If you want bettering rendering and textures in Open GL, go to your Open GL options and select Textures, High or Very High Detail, anti-aliasing and so forth. But then you've negated the purpose of Open GL!

So that's why my camera views are disappearing all the time! I like to keep views set up from various seats in our theatre. I use these same camera positions show after show. So deselect the camera right before I create a viewport. Thanks!

The viewport shows the layers and classes that were visible when the viewport was created. To change these, you can select the viewport and use the OIP. Or you can use Tools>Organization. Select the Viewports Tab. Select Visibilities at the top right.

I guess that's not too bad. Thanks!

Is there any way to have the working plane remembered in a Saved View?

I tried the hard drive and in some ways it wasn't more reliable. (Or should I say "I" wasn't reliable). I would have to remember to take it from place to place. As soon as I got home, I would have to update my computer with the hard drive. Same when I got to work the next day. VW Cloud is probably the best, but I use Dropbox because its free. These programs update the files on your computer. The actual files are still on your computer. But there is also a copy of them online which then updates your other computers with the most recent version of your file. Try sending a 100mb drawing file and renderings to someone via email. It's much easier to put it in a separate folder on dropbox and email them the link to that folder.

Just tried it! Thanks. It does save a couple steps. Now if I could find a way to easily make a 2d representation of a 3d model. For instance, a stairway. To represent it in 2d, I guess I have to draw it from scratch over my 3d model. I tried extracting the geometry from my model which still gives me 3d objects. I tried converting a copy of the top view of the model to polygons, but that gives me many extra lines representing the top, bottom and edges of my 3d shapes. There are standards for the 2d representation of an object. For instance, a doorway has a dashed line representing the opening. (a horizontal section of the door unit) In the future I hope Vectorworks has tools to create the 2d component of a hybrid symbol from the 3d model.

After editing the 3d component of a hybrid symbol, I need to adjust the 2d component to match. This is difficult to do since you can't see the 3d objects when you are editing the 2d component. Am I missing something here? Do I need to recreate a whole new hybrid symbol? I guess I could select "edit 2d component", cut the 2d component, exit, paste the 2d component over the remaining 3d component, adjust the 2d to match and create a new symbol.

Woah Nellie. Where is this Class & Layer Mapping thing? I don't have it under Tools. Jim

Or copy and paste directly from the character map in Windows.

Can you rename the classes on the original file and then import them? Line weights shouldn't be a problem since you can specify those by class at any time later. I think the way you are doing it might be the way. Jim

No solution for this that I've found. It's extremely annoying if an elaborate rendering takes forever to render the first time and then you have to wait again when you hit print.

Place any lighting onto a separate layer. (call it "lighting") When you turn this layer off, you have the basic VW ambient lighting. Turn this layer on and select Fast Renderworks or better and the difference is amazing. Also remember that if you use textures, you can specify if individual objects cast or receive shadows. Sometimes I'll have a big ugly shadow and rather than play with lights, I'll just turn off the cast/receive shadow options for that texture.

I export many files as jpegs and pdfs and have never encountered a problem. If I'm exporting an image of a large, fully rendered file, I might have to walk away for a couple minutes. I'd be glad to try your file if you can share it with dropbox or such.

I use dropbox also. All of my current projects are kept in there as well as any linked files, and my collections of VW resources. So at home or at work, I'm accessing the same file. I'll have to try keeping my workspace files in there. I've noticed my workspaces are slightly different at home and at work.

Alt 0176 worked, but not in a callout. I had to do it in a textbox and cut and paste it into the callout. Thanks!

Yes, that was it. The default opacity is too light, but only for Windows 7 users. Thanks Pat. I also heard from Gunther at Nemetschek who also confirmed this. -Go to Tools > Options > Vectorworks Preferences > Interactive pane and click the, ?Interactive Appearance Settings? button -Choose, ?General ? Page Boundary? on the left -Then, increase the, ?Opacity? slider on the right

Thanks. When I switched my background to black I can see the page breaks on a sheet layer. I've attached two images. The first is a sheet layer view with a white background and the second with a black background. So the page breaks are there. I'm just not seeing them with a white background. This is not a problem on design layers. For now I can switch to a black background to make sure my layouts are correct. And I can draw page borders that will be seen when I have a white background. Jim

Mike: What version of Vectorworks are you using and what operating system? I'm trying to narrow this problem down. Maybe I need to do a reinstall, but this seems unlikely since its two different computers that have the problem. Thanks, Jim