Kaare Baekgaard

Dear Programmers I have reported this issue since the first version of VW2016: It is still not resolved – and the error continues to cause hours of extra work for me every week. Now more issues seem to accumulate: The undo command sometimes doesn't undo, but does something completely else. Fillets are suddenly failing in open documents. Bezier spline smoothing sometimes creates erratic results and deletes random vertices. I get spinning color wheels a lot. Adding to that: Very basic, very sensible, very reasonable wishes from the wish list are not granted. Like never. Are all the BIM/Marionette/bloatware/cloudfart aspects of Vectorworks getting so complex to program, that basic functionality is ignored or even allowed to deteriorate? It is a real question, not just a rant. (But also a rant.)

Hi Matt Sorry, it is sort of confidential. I will create a file for you as soon as I can. Is there a video tutorial anywhere?

I am a product designer. I am trying to suspend a square lamp in a stock photo of a large hall of unknown proportions. I can place reference lines in the photo, but not along any cubelike entity. I can sort of guess at the length of one of the reference lines. But when I press set view to match, the reference object does not even remotely match the vanishing lines, that I have set. Which is odd, since the left and right vanishing points are clearly correct. Is this tool only meant for buildings, or have I misunderstood its use? Is there a how-to video out there somewhere? Any pointers are welcome

It is still there, and as annoying as ever.. All screen objects are automatically deselected, so I have to select them again, then change them into layer plane, then taper-extrude them once more. I would settle for a solution, where the 2D objects remained selected at the very least...

It is a great tip, thanks

"and you only get slightly better control converting it to a generic solid and lose all abilities to edit your object later. " There is no reason to convert it into a generic solid. Just add-solid the subdivision to any object like a small cube placed inside the subdivision. If the cube is the backmost object, textures will automatically use one of its edges for alignment – which makes it easier to map with the mapping tool.

Thanks again, jim. The geometry may adhere to the cage, but the complexity of the mesh will be many times bigger, so I cannot reverse the proces. The core need is compatibility. I want to start a subdivision in VW. Convert it into its mesh cage. Make adjustments to the cage mesh, that cannot easily be done in a subdivisions. Export the cage mesh into Strata 3D (or Cinema 4D or Blender) to do some detailing like seams or button depressions on a chair. Import the cage mesh back into VW and convert it into a new, more refined subdivision, that will be used in solid operations. Etcetera. If I can go back and forth freely without loss of information, I can kiss the stars. I want to kiss the stars.

Thanks Jim, but I may not have been sufficiently clear on this: From mesh to subdivision works perfectly. From subdivision to mesh is a oneway street. I need the cage of the subdivision, not the resulting geometry – for obvious reasons. That is the wish.

It is nice, but actually I find it easier to just mirror the half chair using the normal mirror tool and add-solid the two halves. My favorite by far is the bridge tool. I can now delete any part of the geometry and then built new geometry using the extend edge mode and the bridge mode. It has a minor bug or two, but in general it is difficult for me to get my hands down.

No, I believe, that they could be made entirely compatible. The cage of a subdivision resembles a mesh in every way. If I create a mesh which is identical to a cage in a native subdivision – and then change that mesh into a subdivision, the result would be identical to the native subdivision.

I have just used two days to model a chair using subdivisions. The improvements in VW 2017 are massive. As one of the few remaining general purpose users of VW, I often feel snubbed by new releases, since many basic drawing tools have not been improved in more than a decade. But with this release, subdivision has become truly workable It is great, that I can change meshes into subdivisions. I wish, I could go the opposite way as well: By clicking in the OIP, I would like to be able to change the viewing mode of any subdivision, so that I would only see the cage. Then, if I changed it into a mesh, I would only get the geometry of that cage. Ideally I would then be able to go back and forth between mesh and subdivision in order to refine the design. So the question is: Can I get that?

I second that. Also: To manipulate the weight of a particular node in a nurbs surface – or to move it accurately using a keyboard – I have to click several times in the OIP to select it. It is an entirely separate selection method used only for these two types of manipulations. I hesitate to ask for the obvious improvement: Simply click on the node and change its weight – or reposition it through the OIP– because I fear, that VW will remove the weight adjustability of nurbs since architects don't use it. (Please don't.)

Congratulations with VW2017, there are some nice features, that I will use. I think there is a slight problem with the render tab in the OIP on a Mac: When I select an object textured with an image shader – and then click on the render tab of the OIP, I get the spinning color wheel for 5-20 seconds before I can access the mapping options.

Well, I use the standard english version, but all versions must be flawed. I have reported this problem –here – shortly after the first release of VW2016. I have re-reported it after each new update. What more do you want me to do? Now I am looking at SP3 and the issue has not been fixed here either.

But you are my tech support rep, Jim I do not know any other way to report it.

Please

This still a huuuge problem for me. ... but I suspect not so much for architects, since it has not been addressed in two updates. So I need to push here for a fix in SP3. Not being able to render layers separately with different lighting settings is not a flaw – it is something for which I would be fully justified to use a much stronger word. Please get it done!

+1

Thanks for the suggestion, Pete, but as you can see, there is no simple way to find the radius of the fillet. Trig is a distant memory, alas, so I would not know where to start.

I have encountered a few variations of this problem – and I have not yet found a proper solution. VectorWorks has no tool to solve it directly: I need to fillet two arcs with a third arc. I know the tangent/starting point of the fillet on one arc, so now I need to find the tangent/end point on the other arc. It seems simple enough, but I do not know any method, that allows me to do that with complete accuracy. Can anyone take a look at the image link and suggest a viable method? The selected fillet on the image is 99,9% accurate, but I need 100. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxL3Oyph55RRa0E2TGJSR3RrMHc/view?usp=sharing I suppose, there is a wish list item here as well, Jim.

Actually it is kinda a flaw. The geometry is not really occluded, but the setting ignores the clip cube and treats the now visible geometry as if it were still hidden...

I found the setting: I had the 'Use occluded selection and snapping' setting on in VW preferences under the 3D tab. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Hi Jim The problem remains after restarting the program. But it is only in OpenGL – wireframe is fine.

I can only get a few random snaps in clip cube mode. Is there some setting I have overlooked?

If I extrude a shape along a path, I can see and edit the points of that path with the reshape tool. This is a great little feature. But as son as I exit the reshape tool, those points disappear and are not available for snapping. It is surprising how often I need those snaps. So my wish is, that they remain 'snapable', even if they are invisible – or that I can make them visible in the OIP.