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Tom G.

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Posts posted by Tom G.

  1. The home builder doesn't have much interest, likely, in spending hours developing a CAD drawing. If he/she can interest a homeowner with simple top plan views and some 3D exteriors derived from same and some nice kitchen cabinet drawings (a strong point of CA), while handing the project off to you, then those things can be easily exported into Vectorworks via DXF/DWG and the drawings can then be taken to permit stage using only Vwks. I doubt the builder cares about file compatibility, frontwards or backwards. Far more important is your ability to create accurate, complete drawings in a timely fashion.

    It might be nice on occasion to have a 3D object unique to CA exported out in .3ds such that you don't loose textures, colors and so can bring it into your model with greater success.

    Tom

  2. When I dbl click to edit a Viewport, I get a palette with a checkbox which presents the option to check Display Using Viewport Attributes. I take this to mean that if the Viewport had been previously set to show certain layers in combination, that those would show when editing the Design Layer.

    In Vwks 2013 Designer, Mac (current build), when the Display Using Viewport Attributes box is checked, only the current, top-most layer is displayed, and not the underlaying layers.

    This used to work, but now I'm not sure what to do to get my layers to appear as originally grouped, after initiating a Design Layer edit.

    Thanks

    Tom

  3. Bearing Inset is a function of whether the roof is hand-cut (stick-framed) or is created from trusses. Is there a birds-mouth (in the local vernacular) cut out to create a minimum (or more) bearing surface or does the roof sit directly atop the wall with no rafter cut as it would for a manufactured truss?

    The above roof type and the decision of how the member bears atop the wall typically requires the Bearing Inset field to be one of the first settings I address.

    Tom

  4. Are you rendering on a Design Layer or a Viewport? A Viewport will show a red box outline with a red X through it if the view has been changed since the last rendering.

    If you can't see what should have been on a Design Layer, do a Select All and click on the centering icon Fit to Objects. Make sure your Layer setting includes all of the Layers you wish to see as checked for visible, and that the viewing options shown on the top of the palette are set to Show/Snap Others. (Make sure one of your Layers has been selected which puts a checkmark in place, otherwise your viewing options will be grayed out.) Lastly, to see your 3D objects on their various layers stacked, click on the icon Unified View (looks like stacked sheets of paper).

    Lastly, make sure your Classes are set to (and almost always set to) Show/Snap/Modify Others.

    Hit Command 5 to put things in order, use the Flyover tool to check things out.

    Hope this helps.

    Tom

  5. Christian: I tested again, setting by Eaves Height, and found your same result. Then I noticed that Vwks had auto-filled the Bearing Inset box with a number that I had not noticed. I zero'd this out and the roof once again showed correctly when regenerated. Could this be your issue?

    Tom

  6. John:

    In the process of creating a Viewport, you are given the opportunity via the first offered palette (Create Viewport), to set the scale of the drawing. Then, once you are into the Annotation mode or pane, when you insert the Drawing Title, it will automatically set the scale to match what you had previously set.

    I've said the same thing as Kevin, just a little differently.

    Tom

  7. The door PIO and libraries also need looking at as they were constructed without regard to rotating textures across parts. In experimenting with a library door, it became clear to me that the door was constructed for the ease of the creator--polygons were stretched and shaped to fit as much surface as possible. They are not made from individual pieces the way a real-world door is.

    Optimum texture rotation requires doors to be constructed of stiles, rails and panels. Now it starts to get complicated.

    Tom

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  8. On the home rendering front, make sure you are rendering off of a Viewport, not a Design Layer. I assume you are rendering an exterior view. You might try using the pre-sets that come with the rendering option of Renderworks Style>Realistic Exteriors Final rather than employing your own settings which may be overdone (such as Blur set high, other options set to Very High instead of High).

    Set your Viewport dpi to 150 to 250. I prefer 300 dpi but I'm generally happy with my rendering times.

    Tom

  9. Just to be clear, to add a TEXTURE to an extracted surface, select the Extraction tool, then go to the settings toolbox and check Select Faces. Don't check Create Planar Surfaces. Use the right-most option--the one showing the filled, red, top surface of the box icon. When you have extracted your surface, give it a fill. You can then drag textures to this new surface. You can also do this with OpenGL rendering selected for instant texture-viewing feedback.

    You don't need to extrude. You can simply nudge the newly created surface away from the original object to avoid the stripey effect Tamsin mentioned. That has worked for me in the past. Nudged amounts are relative to your zoom so get in close to nudge or else it will be moved off too far resulting in a shadow.

    Tom

  10. Does anyone have direct experience with Vwks Cloud rendering? How does it work for you? I'd love to see an NA video by a working professional showing us the reasons why he or she gets good to great returns on their use of the Vectorworks Cloud Services.

    Sonny: Check it out and report back!

    Tom

  11. I like your technique! Use the Extract tool!

    Does the extracted plane, however, really need to be extruded before it accepts a texture? Mine accept textures without needing to be extruded, as I'm currently playing with one of the Library doors and this seems to be the case.

    I was locked into my cumbersome process since I more often wanted a door design that wasn't in the library and so was extruding door parts rather than modifying what was already there.

    Glad for the tip.

    Tom

    Vwks 2013 Designer, Mac

  12. Also noticed, in v2013, Designer, that when inserting a Drawing Label into a drawing, it won't accept a fill, at least not behind the text forming the title of the drawing. Oddly, the circle holding page number/detail numbers (which can be customized via the OIP) WILL accept a fill, just not the main body of text.

    Tom

    PS. I have turned both of these in as bugs.

  13. Textures get shed when imported and the polygons also seem to lose their fill. Ungrouping and going down, down, down, into the groups of the model, trying to fill and color/texture dozens to hundreds of polys, is impractical. Plus models vary wildly in how they transfer in depending on the author's habits.

    I suggest, if the warehouse models are important enough to you, that you buy Sketchup Pro which allows export of the model as 3ds which keeps the textures intact and which Vwks can import.

    At least that has worked for me in the past. Anyone else with better info?

    Tom

  14. Short of having a door which can have rails and stiles and panels each individually textured, with grain running in the correct direction, try this:

    Place a standard door into the wall. Use this for 2D Top Plan view only. Place this door in a new class (called Hide 2D Door).

    Create a second door out in space near the standard door and edit (add 3D elements, add textures) as far as you can. Ungroup and edit textures of the various parts to suite. Nudge these parts into the opening of the standard door so you know they are aligned correctly. Gather up these pieces and place them in a new class (called Hide 3D Door), then send them to a layer holding other misc. 3D parts that don't fit well with 2D Top Plan visualization. Everyone should have a layer to hold odds and ends.

    Create your viewports and set the door view on the OIP depending on whether you have your viewport set to show a 3D view or 2D Top Plan.

    Then ask the engineers at NA to do this same task 50 times.

    Note: Under Door Settings>3D Visualization, in v2013, you have to set the 3D Detail Level to Medium and above. In Low, which I believe is the default setting, a multi-panel door will not show any panel parts, just a blank slab.

    Tom

  15. Draw your main walls with the siding (assumed 7/8" thickness) held up 36" or whatever (Offset from Wall Bottom), and add a second wall 7/8" thick against the main walls. They should flush up if you lay down your walls following the gray inner lam of the siding line. The thinner wall is of course your shingle layer. I would create a new class for these new "walls".

    Prior to drawing them, set the Class Options to Gray/Snap Others so you don't have conflicts of one wall bonding to the other.

    Use the OIP under Render to add your shingle or lap siding to your walls by importing the texture from the Resource Palette. Water table or belly band drip trim goes on using Extrude Along Path.

    Test your worksheet to confirm you are getting area volumes for the siding types.

    Don't forget to turn your Class back to Show/Snap Modify Others.

    Tom

  16. Even having a sidelight with a bottom rail that matches the door bottom rail would be an improvement. As is, the sidelight glazing has no entry field and always starts at the level of the door threshold, unlike any sidelight I've ever seen.

    A quick scroll through a hundred door views on Google Images (entry door sidelights) shows exactly ONE sidelight where the glazing goes to the floor.

    Tom

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