DoWork

File 1.0 that I sent "was corrupt". So I sent an older copy, File 2.0, to which VW Help said "We have been able to perform the add solids command using each of the objects in the drawing that was attached to your email. Do you have the file when it contains the two objects you wish to add while they are in the exact position that you wish to add them?". The objects were in the correct position, only I copied one object over in hopes of clarifying....this obviously just caused confusion. So I responded to their reply with File 3.0 that contained only the parts that I wanted to perform the add solids command on and asked for them to send me back File 2.0, that they were able to perform the add solids command on, so that I could see what they did. This way I would know if they understood my problem or not (it was a little complicated so I do not blame them if they did not understand), and if they were in fact able to do what I could not. That was one week ago. Still waiting for a response..... -DW Should I email Tech Help again? If I call will I be able to get in touch with the same people that I have emailed?

Got it. Using that Custom Selection menu I was able to choose "Only Select" and then narrow down the criteria until I had what I wanted. Very simple. I wonder why that didn't come up when I was searching through the VW Help menu. Thanks again! DW

In my model I still have quite a few elements from drawing the initial sketches for the solid shapes. I would like to select all the solid shapes with out selecting any of the drawing. I still want to keep the drawing. I guess if there was any way to just view solid objects I could go that route too. I was thinking of moving the drawing to a different layer, but since the drawing is on top of the object it is difficult to select all the drawing without selecting solid objects. Thank you, DW

Went to Workspace editor, found it under Legacy and tried it out. Seems to work fine. Thank you! I remember reading about that Legacy folder in some other post on this forum. Are there any other old tools that people have found handy that I should add to my current Workspace (especially anything relating to 3D modeling)? Are there different tools in the different Workspaces? (I'm using the Machine Design workspace) thanks again, DW

The VW Help says to select the 3D object, then go Model > Cut 2D Section. There is no "Cut 2D Section" option under the Model tab for me. I tried looking everywhere for a Cut 2D Section, but couldn't find it. It doesn't appear to matter if it is rendered as a Wire Frame vs. OpenGL (the pictures along with the directions in the VW11.5 manual show a Wire Frame). I'm using VW2008 Machine Design, I just have the old 11.5 manual for reference. Any suggestions? thank you, DW

That is interesting. Snapping in 3D seems fairly important to me, and while I currently do zoom way in to insure that lines and arcs are closed (which seems, to me at least, to be another problem), I don't really feel comfortable using that technique to align holes and such in 3D. Does anyone else have any images of what they are designing? Thanks, DW

It doesn't seem like having the vertices of two objects coincident should be a problem (if I understand that correctly). Is that a bug in the program? None of the parts in my model are symmetric. I have played around with it some more but I still can not get it to work and continue to get the same error message. I am emailing back and forth with tech help now. Thanks, DW

So I have created a fairly complex solid shape through lofts, extrudes, and adding and subtracting solids. Now as I try to further mold the shape into what I need through adding and subtracting solids the program has a tendency to crash. It has happened about 5 times now. After I select my parts and choose the add solids command, the watch comes up for a little while (5 to 10 seconds maybe), then the VW closes completely. Has anyone else had similar issues? I have the OpenGL setting at high, could this be contributing? The program doesn't lag or seem to have any trouble when rendering the object or rotating it 3D, which made me think that it was not an issue, but I can't really think of anything else. I also get a warning "You have tried to create a solid object which cannot be computed. Edit the geometry to resolve this condition and try again." when I try to add two of the larger more complicated solids. It has added the solids together once and then it crashed before I saved it....so I lost it. Any ideas what is causing this warning? The only thing I could think of was if the solids were not intersecting, but I am fairly certain they are, especially since it did work once. thanks, DW

Pat, I was thinking of starting a new post asking about assemblies and constraints since I couldn't find any information out about assemblies (searching VW Help has nothing). So I'm guessing you just manually move your parts until they are aligned as best as you can tell. I had two 3D objects modeled (one above the other) with a gap in between them. I had a hard time being able to tell the exact distance (the gap) between the two objects. The tools did not seem to snap to anything and I believe I had the proper "Snap to Object" and other options in the "Constraints" window selected. I will have to look into that more I guess. So, grouping the objects locks them to each other in such a way that they can only move in unison, and not relative to one another (I'll look up grouping object on Monday). Not being able to constrain parts has me a little worried though. I would assume then that VW does not have any interference warnings. thanks for the response Pat, DW

Ray, thank you for the quick reply. I believe I saw that gallery when I was looking into VW MD2008. While I find some of those projects to be very impressive (such as Paul Cheng's tripod), some seem (to me at least) to be more "show" than "go". I'm not interested in special lighting or putting a realistic wood grain skin on a part. I'm more concerned with being able to accurately model my parts, constrain many parts into an assembly, and then check for interference/clearance issues. I don't know if Paul Cheng uses this forum but I would love to see detailed and different views of the more difficult/interesting/complex parts that went into the tripod assembly. I'd love to see some of the stuff that people using the forum are modeling! Thank you, DW

I am curious what other people are designing with VectorWorks (specifically MD2008/Mechanical). I understand if you don't want to post your file, but maybe post a jpeg if possible or just a link to an image of something similar. Perhaps there is already a gallery somewhere on this site that I have not found yet?! I did find one small gallery on www.novedge.com. I was unsure if I should post this in 3D Solids or MachineDesign, but more people seem to post here. I will be finishing up my first real 3d project using MD2008 within the next couple weeks and will hopefully post some pictures. thanks, DW

islandmon, There are no sharp corners, all corners have fillets. So I guess technically there aren't any vertices (is this correct?). Unless the ends of the fillets are also considered vertices, in which case there are different numbers of vertices between the two profiles as you mentioned. When you say "breaking the common plane", you mean the plane that connects two sides of the profiles that I am attempting to loft, right? This would describe the "more complex side" with arcs that I was referring to. I tried lofting with just fillets in the corners (same # of vertices, no offset vertices) and no other arcs and got a similar result (twisting). Again I understand how to have general control over the twist, but not how to accurately control it. thanks, DW

I created a working plane that is parallel to the ground plane. I click the "working plane mode" button in the working plane window. Then click the "view working plane" button. I draw a 2d shape (a simple circle or square) on my working plane (or so I think). Then try to extrude it, however it extrudes the shape from the ground plane. Next I try converting my 2D shape to NURBS before extruding. I try to extrude, but the extrude option is grayed out. However the Tapered Extrude is an option. So I did that and set the angle to 0?. Now it extrudes off the working plane. If my working plane is not parallel to the ground plane I do not need to convert to NURBS, and the extrusion goes as I expect (off the working plane). Is this always necessary to convert to NURBS (when the working plane is parallel)? It seems like this is a glitch to me as I am in working plane mode (yet it extrudes off the ground plane) and since it is not necessary in working planes that are not parallel to the ground plane. When I convert something to NURBS before extruding, does anything change? Do I lose any power over modifying that object later? I'm still trying get a grasp what converting lines to NURBS actually does. thanks, DW

B, That was my back up plan, but since I already had the two surfaces drawn with the protrusions I was hoping to get the loft working correctly. I guess at this point I have spent more time trying to get the loft to work than it would have taken to go the add/subtract solids route. I'm still interested in figuring out how to get the loft to work how I want it, if it's even possible. thanks, DW

First I tried lofting a simple shape: I drew two rectangles of different sizes (one slightly off center of the other), each with rounded corners. I converted to NURBS. Moved the smaller of the two rectangles +3" in Z (using the 3D Move command). Then "loft with no rail". Worked great. Next I try the same thing only added some detail to one side of the smaller rectangle (IE: now the upper and lower rectangles do not exactly match). The details are some partial arcs protruding out and coming into the rectangle. At first when I attempt to "loft with no rail" I either got a warning "this loft can not be done" or when it does loft, the whole thing is twisted. I found out how to somewhat control the twist. In the Loft Creation box I got the arrows on each rectangle pointing the same direction (using the reverse button) and adjusted the Alignment by Percentage until it looked as straight as possible. But then when I previewed it, that particular part where the bright red line was (indicating the angle or twist) was the only part perfectly straight. Everything else had a slight twist away from it. Is there anyway to get no twist what so ever? Could this all be due to the fact that my rectangle at the ground plane (Z=0) does not have the same details as the one that is above it(Z=+3)? If that was too confusing please let me know and I can try to clarify or post files. thanks, DW