[reduce the awkwardness of subdivision modelling]

I have worked quite a lot with subdivisions, and yet I often feel disoriented and annoyed, when I interact with the tool set.

 

I find, that there are only two reasons for this:

 

1. When instinctively  use the Flyover Tool and the Translate Tool to get a better angle,  I exit the Edit Subdivision mode. Now I have to reactivate it in order to progress. This is a stop that breaks the flow. The boomerang mode is no fix – we all know it only works half the time. So I wish for you to make it so, that I can use the Flyover Tool and the Translate Tool from within the Edit Subdivision mode. This would be a huge boost to my productivity.

 

2. Every other time I wish to edit a subdivision, I hit the Reshape Tool instead of the Edit Subdivision tool. This has been going on for years now – and still I instinctively do this. And why wouldn't I? Logic dictates that I should be able to do this. Disappointingly, the Reshape Tool has no function whatsoever with subdivisions – except as a decoy. Please make it so, that the reshape tool will in the future activate the Edit Subdivision mode.

 

Thanks.

[Go away – Component Edit palette!]

Why is the Component Edit palette/Bar the only one, that I cannot make disappear – when it is also the only one, that I am never ever going to use?

 

There is this menu item called Palettes, where every other palettes can be turned on and off. Please include the Component edit palette in this menu.

 

Be gone Component Edit Palette – and good riddance.

[Resolve Image Background issue, please]

There has been an annoying issue with the Image Background since the start: It requires the PNG image compression setting in Vectorworks Preferences in order to work. With the JPG image compression all  free edges of any foreground object or image prop looks jagged and poorly.

 

But I do not want to work with the PNG compression setting as a default on a daily basis, it makes the VW files huge and heavy.

 

And I cannot use a setting, that applies only to one document – or one viewport. 

 

The result is that I avoid using image backgrounds – and when I finally do, I forget about the compression setting and is disappointed with the result.

 

I am sure, you can fix that, so please do 🙂

 

 

[More uses for the 3D Dragger :)]

There may still be a few issues with the 3D Dragger, but basically it is a great design.

 

Please use it for the Attribute Mapping tool. I have never been able to utilize the present version of the Attribute Mapping tool with any certainty, so it really needs the upgrade.

 

Also: Please add a "Move 3D tool" to the Basic Tool Palette, that invokes and uses the 3D Dragger for positioning any selected object. This would be extremely useful for accurate positioning of image props and furniture without the sometimes-annoying 'stick to the ground plane' feature that the ordinary selection tool seems to invoke.

 

[Files has disappeared from my Vectorworks Cloud folder]

14 hours ago, inikolova said:

Best regards,

Iskra Nikolova

Thanks Iskra, I must be getting old - and I feel somewhat embarrassed for the inconvenience. Turns out I deleted the files in both instances and forgot. As with most macs, my flash drive is too small, and I need the space. When I tried to restore the folder, my drive maxed out and I had to redelete the files, but I do have a backup.

[Files has disappeared from my Vectorworks Cloud folder]

I do not remember deleting them. Is there a backup somewhere?

 

Update: I found the files in the trash folder and were able to restore them. Still a bit of mystery as to what happened.

[Oops – you forgot the 'Look at working plane' button in the view bar in VW 2024.]

Bump. Can I get some forthcomingness on this issue from someone working at VW?

[3D dragger oversight is killing me]

8 hours ago, line-weight said:

...and what is strange is that it seems it is possible for me to access that centre "ball" even if it is a bit fiddly.

 

Then I am able to snap to the midpoint of the curve (I think)

 

 

Screen Recording 2023-10-27 at 12.42.29.mov 7.35 MB · 1 download  

 

Thank you. Inspired by your video, I restarted everything - and there was the centre ball. Fantastic. Then I worked for a while, and it was gone again, so there appears to be some sort of bug. Also sometimes the entire 3D dragger disappears and has to be coaxed into re-existance.

[3D dragger oversight is killing me]

8 hours ago, Tobias Kern said:

Hi Kaare,

 

your Nurbs-Kurve is degree: 3 and the Nurbs-Surface is degree: 2,

I don't know, but I think a mixture of degrees can't match perfect.

 

But in the center of the Dragger is a "ball" you can also pick

that ball to move the object/part of the object.

 

Maybe this helps you?

 

Greetings

Tobi

Thanks Tobi

[3D dragger oversight is killing me]

1 hour ago, line-weight said:

For some reason I see something different to you @Kaare Baekgaard. I do get the central node, which highlights yellow when I use it. It is quite small though, and almost hidden by the blue square handle before I start using it.

 

Are you mac or windows?

 

 

Screen Recording 2023-10-27 at 10.01.19.mov 3.05 MB · 0 downloads  

 

I am on an iMac M1, Ventura 13.5.2

[3D dragger oversight is killing me]

Unless you operate in a strictly planar context, you cannot avoid to reproduce it because the toolset is missing a component. I have attached an example file.

Example file.vwx

[3D dragger oversight is killing me]

Am I missing something - or did I just find a fatal flaw in the design of the 3D dragger?

 

Something that used to be the easiest thing in the world turns out to be virtually impossible due to an oversight by the designers of the new 3D dragger.

 

Is there some sort of fix for this that I am missing – or do I actually have to reinstall an earlier version of VW just to move some vertices?

 

Unless I am much mistaken, there used to be a central blue ball in the subdivision 3D dragger, that would just snap onto anything. Turns out that ball is a rather important feature.

 

 

 

[Oops – you forgot the 'Look at working plane' button in the view bar in VW 2024.]

Thanks, but I use the numerical keyboard for standard views.

 

Here is where it goes:

 

[Oops – you forgot the 'Look at working plane' button in the view bar in VW 2024.]

When I reached for it, I got the 'align working plane to view' which look deceptively similar.

 

I never use that, because I work almost exclusively in the 'legacy' screen plane mode.

 

But I do use the 'Look at working plane' button quite often.

 

Please put it back as soon as possible.

 

(I put quotation marks around 'legacy' because it remains the only dependable mode for freeform drawing, so please do not remove stuff that enables this mode)

[Transforming subdivisions to nurbs surfaces: Kudos to an unknown programmer at VW!]

Transforming subdivisions into nurbs surfaces used to produce messy outputs with far too many vertices and every surface trimmed.

Not any more. Now the resulting surfaces are mean, clean and untrimmed.

Beautiful!

For perfect conversions use an iteration setting of 1 – higher settings will not produce smoother nurbs, just more vertices.

Kudos to an unknown programmer at VW.

This is the way!

[Serious bug in the translate/rotate tool]

I am sorry if it seems rude, but kindly consider to remove your comments as they muddle the message - that there is a serious bug in play here. I have included a second video to demonstrate the workings of the 3D grabber in relation to the bug. Please notice that I do not at any point click the gray point in the center of the 3D grabber, but the small, square part of the arrow, which enables snapping to other points.

[Serious bug in the translate/rotate tool]

I love the new design of the tool, but it has a serious bug.

 

I include a video, that demonstrates the bug:

 

 

 

[The 3D-dragger presentation video: How was the resulting shade sculpture actually achieved?]

 

After further experiments, I am happy to discover, that I have seriously underestimated the capabilities of Surface Arrays. The array item of this example is a single, rectangular nurbs surface – with a U degree of 25 and a V degree of 1. The surface is duplicated 3 times at 90° angles to form a box and the ends of the box are closed with square nurbs surfaces.  The resulting shape can be grouped and scaled, but not add-solid'ed within the array item. I have added a 3D locus to function as a spacer, but there may be a smarter way to achieve this.

 

When the repetition mode Y of the surface array is set to 1, the nurbs surfaces in the array item will stretch and bend to follow the base surface. If the U degree number is reduced, the curves should become less pliable.

 

Now I get a perfectly smooth result similar to the video. The individual staves of the array are not solid, but I suppose the array can be ungrouped and the staves add-solid'ed individually.

 

[The 3D-dragger presentation video: How was the resulting shade sculpture actually achieved?]

https://res.cloudinary.com/vectorworks/video/upload/q_90/vc_vp9/w_1920/c_limit/pages/launch/2024/vwx24-3d-dragger-improvements-230815.webm

 

The video appears redacted to suggest, that the Surface Array tool could actually easily produce the resulting shade sculpture with nurbs precision.

 

In my experience it could not.

 

Have I missed a feature or a method/procedure, that I should know?

 

If the video is indeed a nice fantasy, how was the end result actually modeled? 

 

The approximation that I could think of uses a mesh cube as the array item – with a 3D locus included to create the gaps.

 

 

[A one-liner View Bar in VW2024?]

After removing all the unused stuff from the view bar, I now have a huge empty gray bar over my drawing area, that somehow still needs to be divided over three lines on top of each other – plus the menu items, where most of the stuff is repeated, but apparently it is now 'old fashioned'. Customizable indeed. The attached illustration are the items, that I need plus a few, that I cannot avoid.

 

Could I have them in a single line, please?

 

I tried the autohide feature, but it does not work in real life. Every time I reach for the bottom line - which does not auto-hide - I inadvertently trigger the auto-reveal of the middle line, which then covers the bottom line. This seems to be designed by someone, who does not draw for a living. Could they both autohide? Or could you expand from the top, so that one does not cover the other?

 

Now, under the bottom of the drawing area, there is still a long grey bar, that used to harbour the snaps. Now it is almost empty save for some irelevant X- & Y coordinate information - but the bar is still there in all its glorious emptiness, taking up precious space. I kinda liked the snaps in the bottom bar, but I suppose now they are customizable.

 

I think all of this needs a slight rework.

 

Sorry for the rant, I am sure there is going to be a lot of exciting new features as well.

 

 

 

 

[Parametric 2D arrows, stars, waves, flowers and spirals]

It is not hard to draw a 2D arrow for a presentation, but I must have made hundreds of them over the years.

Powerpoint or Keynote have built-in parametric arrows, and simple 2D-CAD apps like Easydraw have a complete set of parametric shapes. And it is really helpful.

I wish VW would finally get this and implement a full set of 2D parametric tools. 🙂

[Insert a row of U- or V nurbs points into a nurbs surface]

I am still in awe of the new interface for manipulating nurbs – taken from the equally great subdivision tool set.

 

But more wants more:

 

It should be possible to migrate one more function from subdivisions: To insert a single row of U- or V nurbs points into an existing surface without changing the position of the existing lattice

 

There is no simple way to do this today except to start over. In order to do this with confidence, you may also have to add a button to the OIP, that makes the lattice permanently visible. Today it is only visible while points are being moved.

 

If you get this right, and hopefully also add a way to batch-change the weight of visibly selected nurbs points, VW will become a very powerful modeller, and my life will be complete 🙂

 

[I wish I could include normal maps in textures]

I wish I could include normal maps in textures.

 

Is that a possibility in a foreseeable future?

[Fix the loft surface single rail mode, please]

I was never able to produce reliable results with the loft surface single rail mode. 

 

So I stopped trying and just checked it for every new version of VW.

 

It still fails to produce anything useful, and even the VW help article on the subject seems to reflect this.

 

Do anyone have an insight, that I have completely missed, or is it fair to request VW to finally fix it?

 

 

[Viewport size warning is wrecking havoc when publishing a set og PDF's]

Thanks for the answer.

 

I do not.

I have full page viewports at 216 dpi, but I have used this setting for more than a decade.

I will try to reboot/reinstall unless it is a new "feature"

If that is indeed the case, i will have to revert to an earlier version of the program.

 

So is it likely to be a "feature"?

 

Best regards, Kaare