Search the Community

In 3DSMax, Microstation, Modo, C4D, .... I always worked in 4 Pane View only. 3 Orthos and an Isometric or Perspective. And I felt so limited with that single View Pane in Archicad or Vectorworks and criticized that heavily. But when I learned about the Num number keys in VW, I soon realized how fast, intuitive! and comfortable I can switch between Views in VW, I got used to it pretty fast. So that when multi pane views were released I just tried that for a while but soon neglected it again. 3D Apps like Modo or C4D allow to quickly switch to a full screen view from one of the 4 panes and back, so this is nearly as comfortable to switch between views. But for VW I also always asked for that preselection, to keep all side views in Ortho Mode 2/4/6/8 (and usually Wireframe Mode), no matter how "shaded" or "perspective" my Isometrics 1/3/7/9 are set. When I seldom need look at two different plan areas of large projects at the same time, I think multi pane views is the way to go and I am happy that VW now has that option.

My experience was that the "Location-History" and potential Offsets between Edit Mode and Reality are some kind of temporary. I don't know what the exact steps were (like Editing another Extrude in between or such) but I experienced that at some point the Edit Mode vs Reality Distorsion comes back into Sync or heal itself. (Which doesn't make it much better but unpredictable) Also I think the 2D Geometry of Extrudes has some kind of own "Plane" mode like Screen Plane ... I think it was called "Extrude Plane" (?) which could be changed (?) but didn't do any good for me (?) either.

Yes, ok. But my approach would have been to copy + rotate the rectangle already in 3D View with Rotate Tool at a time. Honestly, 95% of time modeling I am just in an Isometric View where I pan, zoom and rotate the view. 5% is Top Plan View when creating (2.5D) PIOs and because Top Plan View dragging will not shift in Z. I don't even use multiple View Panes because switching Views by NumBlock keys is so fast and easy. As there was no real control or lock in VW for 3rd Dimension in Side Views I avoided them soon. I usually don't use them for Modeling, just for checking. I would not have even thought about leaving my 3D View for the task you described. When needing something 2D in a Side View I usually would draw 2D on Layer Plane in a 3D View, rotate and align in xyz by help of "T" key, one after the other. My most VW worn NumBlock keys are 0, 1, 3, 7, 9 only.

I don't really know the Minicad/VW time frame. But I started first teaching me CAD seriously by myself with Microstation in 1996. At that time, and still today, it was totally 3D and all Solids without any limits. At least at that time that worked flawlessly on current standard hardware affordable for students. (Just Raytracing made me need to upgrade RAM soon) Could do 2D at about the Autodesk standard and better plus generate Sections too but I was not really interested in at that time. VW, Allplan, Archicad, Autocad Architecture, even Bricscad .... are still somehow 2.5D oriented, preferring XY plane vs Z, as does Architecture in general (gravity!), so this is OK. Still for me Microstation is the 3D reference and showing me what is possible for comfortable modeling and controlling 3D. Or especially controlled drawing of 2D objects - in 3D space. Hybrid Object approach is great. (just missing in XZ and YZ)

Honestly I had not really tested. Just tried the Pink Plane a single time. And it seemed to work at that time. But I think what most typical VW users would like - Top Plan View Look AND Behavior - not only in Top but also all Side Views. No more need to wait to calculate Sections 🙂

^ You mean that screen plane only will reliably keep you from accidentally drift in the third Dimension when snapping in 2D views - even with move by point or tape measure tool ? Edit : That seems to work. In 100% of cases I want "Screen" Plane mode in Top/Front/Back/Left/Right View. In 100% of cases I will never ever have a "Screen" Plane in any non planar Views like Isometrics/Perspektive/Custom Views but Layer or Work Plane. Where Layer Plane for 2D Elements in 80% means that I want Z-Depth where I start drawing and 20% only on "optional" Layer Z=0,00 As for snapping problems, could be that Z Depth snap is deactivated in snapping settings.

Well, I successfully avoided the "Crop Perspective View" since many years by adapting all of my templates. In the past there was even a bug at some time that arbitrarily activated that unwanted feature while working again, but that was quite some years ago. So I do not know if there were any improvements to this in later VW versions. But I always hated it in that past. I think it was because you could navigate the Crop Geometry as well as you could accidentally manipulate its content at the same time. AFAIK the "Crop" also opened for me also at a random size on my Monitor when i activated a Camera. (Which I also avoided to use since VW 2016 when Cameras tended to arbitrarily lose their position and move back to file origin. I didn't even bother with VW Cameras again and did them in C4D from scratch) But maybe I mixed that up with the insufficient blue crosses alternative, that always only used to use only a fraction of my monitore estate. And I found no way with any VW Settings like View Window DPI and such to bring the blue camera corner symbols to using a reasonable size in my drawing window. But as I did no more use VW Cameras, I may have missed any later improvements with these (fat) blue angles on screen either ....

I am not so familiar with or sceptic about using/manipulating the VW User Origin. But I have seen that the German VW localization has a Panel, like our custom Work Plane Panel, where they can switch fast between different User Origins ! So User Origin at Geolocation Center to work along your Building Axes (rulers) and temporarily switching to User Origin for geolocation - for Exports. (While I do not really get this 2nd option, as i prefer Geolocation Center at 0,0,0. As even for DWG exports, it does geometry center same AND seems to get in Geolocation too !)

Am I the only one that sees issues with IFC Exports ? - Many Geometries a bit dislocated or offset ! (scaled Symbols) - Many Geometries a even rotated ! (Symbol instances in a Group) - VW Window's (not Door's) Jambs and/or Sashes rotated by 90° (from vertical to "Layer Plane ?) while Glass Panes appear as expected. - Strange 2D (axes) geometry from Walls at "Wall Layer Height", for Walls that use smaller manual heights. Not File related, beside that all my Files may have migration background from previous VW Versions. Maybe Window issues a little bit Window Type related, like Simple Sash Window vs Sliding Window. Problematic Walls appear all in a File without Story Settings, Layer Heights and Layer Wall Heights only. Here, IFC 2x3 tested only. At first I thought about a IFC translation error between VW and Bricscad. But it appears also in Open IFC Viewer or even when re-imported into VW. So if anyone is motivated to IFC Export his project and bring it back in by IFC Import and can take a look if it looks reasonable, very welcome.

It looks like for me it made SL Viewport Rendering better on my M1. Memory pressure gets brown but it seems to get green and free memory after each finished viewport before it gets brownish again. I am not totally sure but it looks like there is better swapping for "too" large files too. It gets brown and slow when it does a task that needs more than available RAM. But once finished M1 went back to green and navigation is fluid. VW 2022 SP4 still does not give all memory free. (VW started, sub 1 GB - VW working, then closing all files, VW 4GB) And just with my ugly RVT import projects, 250 MB file size is ok. but with 360 MB it would need more RAM just for showing the Model on screen, then switching between Palettes, Selection and view Navigation does lag. But when you wait until Mac and VW switched and shifted memory to the current task, it works relatively fluidly. Not much fun to work but at least possible. (But just early tests on M1 and I want to see in Windows with AMD too)

Normally the Wacom monitor reconnects after I switched it off and back on. AFAIK I had rare cases where I had needed to pull the USB out and back in or even a restart too. Unfortunately when switching Wacom off/on, or after awaking, sometimes it has a wrong and lower screen resolution. Most times a single off/on again helps but in rare cases it may need 2-3 or more off/ons. And if you add that my (many) 27 QHD(s) awake with a green tint, when the room temperature is 20°C or more, so you have to off/on, it is even more annoying that the Wacom re-starts with a non-tinted screen again but wrong M1 resolution. 🙂

But will still not work when in SLAB Editing Modes. Or when in Edit Mode of rotated SYMBOLS Or working, but very irritating when in EXTRUDE Edit Mode, which was either rotated after or created in any other Plane than XY.

You need to go from Layer Plane, forcing to draw everything on XY Plane, to Automatic Plane. The Shortcut to switch Automatic Plane on/off should be "#" (german keyboard here) or by dropdown in top tool bar. As Mike said, it is worth to examine the help files for that and there should be illustrative Videos. If activated you can draw 2D geometry directly on your 3D Geometrie's Faces. After completion the 2D Face gets marked in red and by pressing "ALT" you can Push/Pull the surface in, to subtract or out, to add. But you have to try a few times as there is a strange timing when you have to press "ALT" and when not There are also Videos that try to explain that. If you missed the red marking and its Push/Pull option, you can also do it later by using the Push Pull Tool, I think its the 3rd Mode needed.

The 27" Cintig is the perfect screen size for my arm movement. But it has large bezels around. If you put a keyboard in front the screen is too far away. At the sides even worse. I built a stand an mounted my keyboard over the top border. Vertical Monitor : back and neck aches no body, just wrist movement hand screen disconnetion missing muscle memory Horizontal Pen Display : back and neck aches (not for me) content occlusion by hand and arm (cursor coordinate fields, RMB option menus, quad menu (Bricscad)) potential hand drag on screen without glove or screen foil screen pollution low nib drag, depending on nib type or foil hard to double click accidental double clicks

I avoid that too. Still did not get why screen plane needed at all. Do 3D, make a (2D) view port and all your labels, annotations, ... will be "screen plane" anyway. How ever, many people have the problem that 2D element creation will not stay reliable to Layer Plane, even when set to Layer plane only in VW preferences. Same as setting Attribute Palette to by Class Only when no element is selected and Use Class Settings, will not hold Attribute Palette from switching to local assignment when creating objects from time to time.

I thought it is because I usually have rotation lock on. Yes, I finally rotated the iPad 180°. But I was wondering a bit why I could not rotate the model on screen. Usually when you reach the "north or south pole" of a Panorama (or standard view ?), it will stop, but you only need to slightly rotate around the pole to re-rotate for Z about X or Y axis. That did not work at all in this case.

Usually in automatic mode, Apple will scale the Monitor to 200%. So you will get about the same space for Palettes like a standard 27" Monitor with 2560x1440 resolution. But it will be double as sharp. Like for my 24" 4K Monitor on Windows it will recommend a 200% scaling. As it is so sharp, I allow myself to scale at only 175%, to get some more screen space for Palettes. You can do the same on Mac with manual scaling. Just that uglier numbers than full 100%, 200%, ... scaling will cost a bit of crispness.

From the signs and rumors, I expected Ton Roosendaal from Blender somewhere at the presentation. But had already a smile in my face when there flew an VW App Icon on Screen, followed by Ruby 🙂

I am quite a defender of TM ... with all its imperfections. First because of its reasonable price and no forced Subscription. (You get it most time offered for free anyway, just for loading a Beta version or by using VW and such) The easiness of spreading entourage and foliage, even animated (less is more), offering Quixel, the not un-tedious GUI but which allowed anyone to enter Twinmotion very fast and easily. TM always talks about being UE - but with an accessible UI, (UE itself and its UI is a terrible monster) and PBR Materials - which I would not have thought when I look at my results ... So you still need to ad Reflection fake Volumes to get away with screen space only Reflections. Or Path Tracer for GI, instead of just rasterization. But even PT is there, and it came fast. Like their development speed is astonishing. For me TM is the Blender of real time rendering. Not sure how long it will take to support Apple ARM SoCs ... (which they do although the Apple Store War)

Well, I also realized that cropped 3D Viewports on Design Layers (DLVP), which you want to reference stuff into your Design to avoid a real import, do simply not work. A crop is always a 2D Element on "Screen Plane" 🤢 So it will uncontrollable hide things in your 3D View Navigation. You can only either renounce of the Crop or do a real Geometry Import.

AFAIR that is because some Windows default Classes created by VW. AFAIK it was the "Sill" Class (?) Which I usually remember from unwanted white lines around Windows with Opening only, in Renderings. On the other hand I am a bit concerned why it happens for you exactly at section plane (?) But why a Opening ? Why not interrupt the divided Wall and connect to the Oriel Walls ? (but I am sure you have a valid reason)

Sure, but that is basically just like oldschool Layer Heights usage. Beside that with Stories, and Layers bound to Stories have the only advantage, if a middle Story gets a height change, you can control/automate how neighbored Stories will react. Like Move away vs adapting their height. Not sure if I really got the problem Most times I would duplicate the Wall Style and assign another Level to top or bottom. Or, you could use a Level specific for controlling Walls only, which you can (tediously, as I always rant) adapt/change for that special Story. Or you can just overwrite that special Story's Wall (at least since VW has the option of keeping modified heights when replacing or updating Styles) There are many possibilities, you jaust have to carefully organize everything for your special project's needs. Just like when organizing nesting Symbols and/or sorting/separating geometry by Layers and Classes. (And however you decide, the client will bring changes in a way that they contradict to your special organization for change flexibility) As said in the other thread, all geometry from collaborations sits on Layers at Z=0.00 or file origin. The problem is that in VW Top Plan View, you always draw on Layer height. Z=0 in that case. And to draw for other "Stories" you would need to either always draw in 3D with Auto Plane access or draw and manually adapt Z in OIP later manually. So my conclusion is, either use - zero Layer Heights overall - oldschool Layer Heights + Layer Wall Heights - Styles+Stories+Levels If you use a Story System, better use it completely. Levels belong to Stories. They will only be accessible for Layers that belong to a Story. So you would need at least a single Story Container for your Levels but as you proposed, you would need Level duplicates for each virtual "Story", which a) wouldn't be that fun to work with by scrolling in an endless Level Dropdown and b) you would need Wall Style duplicates for each virtual "Story" to assign the correct related Levels.

I tried that. The trick is to not direct cursor near the potential snapping point as you would normally but to hover the cursor over the suited face to get correct Auto Plane's Orientation. Somehow the Snap will prefer the wanted corner point although it displays a snap option at an edge that is much less far away from cursor. Also you can set a workplane in second mode by simply clicking on a face and that plane will stay there. You can even draw elements by snapping to any point at any Z distance to that plane, and the 1st creation point will be projected onto that plane.

I wonder why VW has chose a different VP aspect ratio other than your Screen View anyway. But the general workflow of any Viewport creation is that, without custom crop, generated 2D VPs size dynamically to fit the content in which can be annoying for your Sheet Layer Layout, after adding new geometry. You can add or change any VP Crop later by VP Edit Crop. (any closed 2D Shape but only 1) But the trick is to draw a suitable Rectangle in Screen Plane Mode - before you Create>VP. VW will recognize that selected Rectangle and ask if you will use that Rectangle as a Crop for the new VP.

I repaired that with my love button ... I don't think it needs a split. I worked with CAD software unlimited in 3D long ago, which still allowed all 2D Goodies like Element Stacking, Hatches, Fills and all. It is the 2d porting to 3D approach that is limiting. I mean 2,5D is fine for Architecture as Architecture is 98% 2,5D. That you can be sure that your 2D will be drawn on XY plane only. But even thinking about a "Screen Plane" is horrible. And it really appears in many Objects . It is just a XY (so 2D) plane with a granted Z of 0.00. And the only meaning is setting a potential frame for a Viewport - where you can see it as a Workplane, where Z is oriented to viewer. And there are some Islands in VW that behave true 3D like SubD's and Gizmo but a lot of legacy 2D stuff. And a lot of inconsistency. You can do more than expected with 3D Modify Tool, but if you want to change height of an extrude in a side view, you will need to use the drag tool and such things. Drag Tool will keep Z in a orthogonal side View, move by points not ...