lineweight

Thanks for your response. So, what i just did was a polygon outline of the peeling skin in plan. I then drew a line of the height of the panel that is peeling back. Then, extrude along the path (height). Now, what would the difference be between that technique and what your are talking about with lofting and then shelling? Would your technique be particularly better for a curved (nurbs) peel and extrusion/loft? Thanks again!!

Is there a reason you extruded an open poly instead of closed? Until this is extruded, i don't think it will be a grouped object (it's not one right now). I think part of my problem may be that it is a poly that exists in orthagonal planes in 3d space. as such, the extrusion will be odd. i think i may just have to build two planes, extrude and go from there. but i was hoping for another method of doing this (in the event that i need to do something similar but more complex in the future).

Hi, thanks for the reply. I have converted the object to nurbs and now have the object selected. However, i cannot shell this thing for the life of me. With this poly (now a nurb) i seem unable to select the face. Perhaps this has to do with the creation of my object. I set 6 points (3d vertices) and then created the 3d poly out of that, as opposed to creating two 3d polys rectangles that exist on two separate planes and then selecting each face and shelling them separately. Do you think this is the preferred method of performing this function? How would i merge the two individual rectangles after i shell them so that they appear as one cohesive bent panel?

hi, i'm curious, if i have a 3d polygon made (in this case, a rectangle with an angular bend in it), how would one extrude this? Extrude Along Path doesn't like the 1/4" line i try to extrude it along and Shell won't work either. I can think of other ways to complete this command, but in this particular instance, i need this rectangle extruded from this poly. thanks. attached is an image capture of the rectangle i am trying to extrude or create a thickness of.

Hi! I am curious if there is a way to do a plan section cut (i.e. instead of cutting a plan @ 4', cutting it at 8'. Do you just set your workspace to Classic and then do a 2D section from the side at the desired height?

Sorry for the delay. For some odd reason, my personal settings to be "notified of response" never took...and i had issues getting the forum preferences set again. The forum software has been quite problematic for me....but i digress. Good thing i haven't experienced the same number of problems with Vectorworks. SP2 has fixed the problems for me. In answer to other posts, i have approached my editing of layers/classes through selecting the layer in the Navigation window and "Ctrl-Clicking" the layer, then selecting "Details." That is how it worked for me. However, now with the 10.5.2 and VW 2008 SP2 i have NOT been able to duplicate the problem with the particular (problematic) file. Perhaps things are fixed? Hope that helps.

Badarian: I've tried putting end caps on the wall, to no avail. Is that what you were talking about? Seth / MG: The disabling of auto-join walls is what worked for me. Thanks for that little gem. archoncad: When you do the "Pillar" command, and you are trying to extract a drawing in plan, does that not give you some issues?

I am just about to open up the new version of 2008 (sp2?) that i downloaded yesterday. Hopefully that solves some of the weird wall problems i am facing (in terms of joinery). I just am getting weird mitered joints where i shouldn't be. Thanks for your thoughts.

I'm just curious how many people actually use the wall tool when modeling. It seems a bit wonky for me to use - i.e. the joinery isn't always correct and i have to toy with it for a while, or redraw walls in order to get it to work the way i want. Do you all tend to extrude rectangles or the like to make walls? Do you "subtract" for fenestration? Thoughts? Advice for a student?

Hmmm.....no luck. I've tried a couple of different ways and with certain joins it extends the wall infinitely on the Y-axis. A bit weird to say the least. Perhaps i need the latest update, though it's probably something that i am doing wrong. ...It's just not clear what that is right now.

I am curious how to resolve some of these odd miters when using the wall tool. I have two walls meeting at 90 degrees at 12'. Another wall comes off this at 8', but the joint is mitered. Is there a way to make this a butt joint?

i feel really, REALLY stupid. especially since i don't remember changing that over the course of the day. thanks Katie. i was stressing out there. *shakes head* ...ahhh to be a student......

... and i can't select 2D elements either. this is bugging me. it "aligns" and when the cursor is over the object, it says, "object" but i can't touch it.

i thought the only difference between the keyboard layouts was that they reversed the "r" and the "e" keys... which would account for why you cats spell "center" all funny like.

Something happened between about 3 hours ago and now and i don't know what i did. I have a 3D model and i cannot select any elements of it any more. I may have accidentally hit a quick key or something, but this is pretty frustrating. My layer is active and i can't select anything on that layer. All my classes are enabled. It's almost as if i somehow "locked" my 3d model (which is spread out over several layers....it's a rowhouse project for school). Does this sound familiar to anyone?

You rock. I'll give that a shot in the morning....it's sleepy time.

Maybe i am glossing over it somewhere, but is there a way to extrude text into a 3d object?

I started up working on this school project today and the stairs are now magically rendering in hidden line mode, for some reason. I just opened the same file as the one last night that i was having problems with and didn't change any prefs or anything. Hmmm.... Leopard issue perhaps? Here's another question for you though: How do you get stairs to show up in section cuts? They aren't rendering in my section viewports.

2008.

i have two sets of stairs that are "locked" in 2D. i rotate the model in 3D and i see the "volume" that they occupy rotate, but after the view is set, they are displayed as a drawing. they are on the correct layer. thoughts?

I would imagine you might also want to "Set Perspective" too, yeah? Sometimes the "regular" perspectives are super whack. I've found i like the perspective set to 30-45. Thoughts?

Has anyone else running Leopard had issues with Vectorworks '08 "unexpectedly quitting" when attempting to use the Organization Window? I have reported this, but now i am just curious.

Thanks Pat, i forgot to refresh the page when i posted that.

Disregard. Solved the problem.

Does anyone know how to turn off lighting objects so they do NOT appear in renderings? I would like the light object to keep shining, but not see the little lighting cone in final renders. Thanks in advance.