kneightx

Hi All, I'm selling my VW 2013 license which includes Spotlight and Renderworks. The license is eligible for half price upgrade to 2016 until July 29...so, you can get VW 2016 for less than full price if you purchase this license and upgrade before July 29. I spoke with Nemetchek and they suggested a sales price of $1,200. Nate

i sort of figured it out after posting last night...what i had been dong was mostly right, were it not that he hybrid symbol i was using was not a base symbol, but rather a grouped symbol referencing a base symbol...that created some headaches...I think the drawing of the boom may be very helpful...but it looks like it's VW 2008 and my 12.5.3 doesn't know how to open it...anyone know where to find a compatible version?

The loci trick...I like it, but I'm wondering how you build it. In the example of your lighting tower, do you start by placing the 2D portion or the 3D? I started to play around with it a bit and it seemed like a tremendous pain in the a**. If I'm indicating a boom, I have to create the boom as symbol with the 3D offset from the 2D, then create each lighting symbol with a 3D offset in a similar fashion, then I have to offset the record information to match the 2D portion...am I missing something? That seems like a lot of work to draw a boom.

hmmm...seems to be yet another reason to update to 2008. I actually do agree on z height...it seems useful but as I review my drawings of various spaces I've only used it in a very few instances. As I work on this problem this morning, I have nailed down one of my primary issues: multiple 2D views of the same symbol. I do this quite a bit (shaded instruments on the floor, unshaded overhead, or if I'm modifying a house plot, black for instruments already hung, blue for stuff I'm adding). I've accomplished this in the past by duplicating the symbol and hatching the copy...but this makes it more complicated to keep track of inventory. For coloring "added" instruments I've dumped them into their own layer and turned on layer colors...but then I lose object specific coloring information because layer coloring overides *all* coloring, not just for one type of object. Classes seem like the way to go, but I can't figure out how to get the base of the symbol to live in multiple classes (the ETC S4 body symbol as opposed to the ETC 26, 36 symbols which simply reference the body symbol) so that the body hatches instead of just the text.

Very cool. I might be with you on abandoning layers altogether were it not for the opacity setting and overall z height available on layers but not in classes. I find it quite pleasing to give my catwalks and overhead architecture a texture in plan mode so that they're easier to distinguish from everything else...but I still need to be able to see through them to what's underneath. So I put those in their own layer and crank the opacity down to 20%...

General theatre question: I'm revising a drawing of the black box that I work in that I drafted several years ago. I've known for awhile that the drawing was in serious need of reorganization...so today I jumped off of the deep end and began trying to figure out the best way to organize a drawing that I use both to create lighting plots as well as working drawings of scenic designs for our shop to build from (small regional, many hats). So...wondering how everyone else organizes their drawings. Do you use more layers and fewer classes? The other way around? How do you deal with symbols that might be living in one class but comprised of objects that live in other classes? If you hatch lighting instruments that live on the floor, do you duplicate the symbol and hatch the copy or is there some uber-sexy way of pulling it off with classes and layers that I haven't figured out yet? For me, I've started moving towards fewer layers. Right now my only layers are: -Theatre floorplan -scenery -catwalks (so I can turn the opacity down to 20%) -light plot -the odd layer link or two for presentation Everything else is in classes. I find these particularly useful when I need to create a viewport of a piece of scenery so that I can make a working drawing from it. I've also begun to make liberal use of the "lock" function to keep permanent architecture from being accidentally moved around. If you have something that works, I'd love to hear it!

Ditto the two workspaces...you just have to remember to switch workspaces before you unplug your second monitor. Otherwise it will move your palettes around and save their *new* positions. As far as finding your missing palette, the only way I've found that works when Mac OsX positions something off of the screen is to reset the resolution of your screen (if you're working in 1680x1050, resetting to 1280x1024 or some such). You should be able to see your missing palette, then you just need to reposition it somewhere more useful and switch your resolution back to whatever you had it at before.

Alright. I feel like this is a stupid question...but after extruding a 2D polygon, is there any way to use the 3D reshape tool to move individual vertices in views other than the view from which the shape was extruded? I've tried converting to nurbs, mesh, 3D polys...pretty much anything I can think of. In every instance the only parameter I can alter is the height of the extrude.

want to add my $.02 if there's any developers reading this. Working on a Mac laptop as indicated in my sig. While at work I plug in a second monitor and move all of my palettes onto the second screen so I have a full screen for drafting. Problem is that every time I unplug the second monitor, all of my palettes go sort of wherever they feel like...and save their new position as the default for the workspace. I never seem to remember exactly where I had them so I spend time the next day fumbling around trying to find the stuff that I don't know the keyboard shortcut for. I went so far as to create two workspaces...but if I don't remember to switch workspaces before I unplug my 2nd monitor then the damage is done. Grrrrrr.

Hadn't thought of making symbols out of the various items...I already do that for many items...even if I don't care whether they look different from 2D to 3D, it prevents lots of orphaned 2D objects roaming around in my 3D views. Converting to a symbol might help tremendously. Thanks for advice!

Thanks. Updated sig. line. Using flyover is a good idea...it may help with parts of this. It just seems to be much clunkier than drafting drafting in 3D as opposed to strictly 2D. I'm actually fighting with this as I type. I started with an extruded polyline which represents the general shape of the thing I need my shop to build. Then I used the double line tool to represent some of the inner structure so my carpenters know how to build the thing. Trying to drag the vertex of the 2D polygon over the edge of the 3D object to make one side parallel to the 3D object. When I drag it over, I notice that my +Y has moved, so I tab to it and enter zero so I know that I'm horizontal. Now I try to find a handle on the 3D object that is parallel to my vertex but on the line...no luck. Nothing snaps. So I have to go back and draw a line I know to be parallel to the 3D line so that my 2D has something to snap to. There has to be an easier way.

Been using V works for awhile...but mostly as a 2D Lighting Plot application. Recently I decided to make the leap to 3D drafting. After many hours of swearing I think I'm getting the hang of it...the biggest problem I'm having is with snap-to functions in 3D. Pretty straight-forward in 2D...but once something is extruded it seems to be much more difficult to communicate to the program which #$%^ vertex I want to click on...especially if there's a mix of 2D and 3D objects in the drawing. I've learned with this program that almost nothing is intuitive (who would have thought to double click the snap-to-edge button to find the hidden "snap to 3d edge" option)...so I guess I'm just looking for general advice to avoid chasing .003" around the drawing all day.