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What is the easiest way to copy a rendered viewport and turn it into a bitmap. I do not want to re render every time I print so I reset my viewports to wireframe and keep them off to the side in the sheet layer and only update them when I have time. I want to keep the perspective viewports so don't just want to flatten them. Thanks in advance.

Hello, I was wondering whether anybody else has been having issues with design layer/reference viewports after converting 2016 to 2017. We have a set of drawings where the crop is not working. As we zoom in we can see the other objects outside of the crop. (see screen grab) This happens whether we are using the existing crop or a new crop. I have tried using different classes etc.. but this doesn't seem to help. If you have any ideas it would be gratefully appreciated. Many Thanks James

Is there a way to use a referenced drawing in black & white only? I want to bring in the architect's backgrounds into my drawings as a reference, then annotate viewports with my own information (position of light fixtures etc.). To make my own drawings clearer, I want to set the architectural drawings to black and white only, then annotate them with my information (position and shape of light fixtures & circuit references) in a colour, so that this information stands out on screen (but still gives me the option to print everything in black & white) However, if I set a viewport to black and white (in the Advanced settings), then all annotations are automatically black and white, too. If I go back to the referenced drawing, and set the document preferences to black & white, then this seems to affect the on-screen display of that file only, as when I then reference or update the drawing into my file, all of the class/layer colour information faithfully returns & I am back to where I started. This is maddening me; surely there must be a simple way to display the referenced drawing in black and white, without manually editing the architect's file to set all layers & classes to black and white & I am just missing it?

Hi I'm trying to show 4 viewports from inside a room i've modeled. I remember seeing in vectorworks there is a tool i can use that has 4arrows(Up , Down, Left, Right) and i place it in the room and it will generate the 4 viewports automatically. The only issue is I dont know what it's called and i cant find it in the tool sets. I'm hoping i didn't dream this up and one of you know what i'm talking about. Thanx

Hi there, Does anyone know the export settings (I'm on 2015 designer) to export a DWG with both 2D & 3D elements? I have 5 viewports to 3d objects & they dont seem to be exporting , only the annotations. I would like to keep the format of the sheet, with all the annotations etc. Thanks, Liz

Hey, I am setting up quite a few working drawings in sheets. I have all of my comments I need already drawn up in 3D. When I go to change the view in the viewport from plan to left, right etc - the object I am trying to capture disappears off into the distance somewhere meaning I have to edit the crop on my viewport. Sometimes its moved so far I can't even see it. This is time consuming & frustrating - anyone have any ideas as to how I speed this work flow up? Thanks all Liz

Looking for the best way of drawing the above. Using 'interior elevation viewports' I tend to draw the lines in annotation which is fine, but must be an easier way. Have used 'extrude along path' previously for decorative profiles which works well but is fiddly around doors. Is there away of utilizing wall tool for these profiles?

Hi there. I'm having a persistent issue with my viewports in sheet layers I have set up. The files are set up as follows; DESIGN FILE: SECTIONS PLOT FILE: SECTIONS The design file contains the drawn information and the plot file contains the sheet layer (plot sheet) with the design file referenced into it. I will set up my plot file correctly with my viewports referencing the relevant layers and it will appear to work for some time. After coming back to the file after a couple of day, the referenced information will of appeared to move miles out of location, meaning I need to either redefine my crop extents and drag the information back onto the sheet or simply redo the viewports from scratch. The design file isn't moving location. This can happen again and again, despite however many times I set up the viewports and don't alter the design file. Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this to happen? I've only noticed it since updating to vectorworks 2017 and converting my drawing files to 2017. I have the 2 service packs installed as well. Any help would be much appreciated. Regards. Sam

I am looking for the best way to set up views of elevation drawings in my orthographic model views; front, rear, etc. These are drawings from a designer with different; CAD, workflows. I hoped I might do them as viewport references in a vertical working plane so that when he makes an update change in elevation in 2D, I can then compare to with the model, and ensure its coordination. Thanks!

Some of my line markers are not displaying when shown via a viewport in a sheet layer. They display perfectly in the design layer, but disappear, or are turned white?, in the viewport in the dismay layer. What should I do? peterfrc

Hi -- I am referencing Part "P" into Assembly "A" I have classes / layers in "P" that I want to hide / show in different viewports in "A". How do I go about this ? When I go to the "Layers" or "Classes" visabilites in the Viewport dialogue box - I don't see the referenced layers / classes. Only the local ones. I don't want to control from the referenced viewport object of "P" - as I don't want it to be for ALL viewports in "A". Hope this makes sense Thanks!

ADDED: Scroll down to see a video of this issue in action I have a number of booms in my plot. These are shown on my lighting plot layer with viewports created by the Create Plot and Model Views tool. I have the definition and model layers for all of the booms hidden. This setup correctly shows the boom in plan view with instrument symbols. When I pan around the document however (holding down [Space] and dragging with the mouse), the viewports boom viewports all suddenly show the 3D model of their respective booms, including the full width of the pipe and the 3D mesh for the instrument model. If I change the visibility of any non-active layer, the viewports pop back to the (correct) plan view, even if the layer whose visibility I changed has nothing to do with booms (such as my softgoods layer). Toggling the active layer's visibility does not fix the rendering. I assume that this is a bug of some form? If not, what am I doing to cause this behaviour? Edit: I can cause a similar behaviour as well: If I edit the definition layer for one of the booms, then hit the Previous View button to go back, all my default layers get shown (such as lighting, softgoods, venue, notes), however only the selected layer (lighting) is shown on screen. If I toggle the visibility of any other layer, all of the missing layers snap back into being shown.

Hi I have a structural model, and I've done section viewports in a plan view, to be rendered as hidden line. I have 3d conversion set to low for speed, and they have a depth set (not infinate) I render the section, and it looks lovely... when I go to annotate it, on entering the viewport it displays as hidden line, with tonnes of unnecesary extra lines making redraw very slow and difficult to annotate. When you exit, you need to update the viewprt and then it displays as expected. Previous versions of VW always allowed you to annotate the hidden line render, and not go to wireframe.... anyone else with this issue? PC, Win 8.1, Nvidia graphics Cheers

I am currently working on a multi unit development. Currently there are 12 individual units (~100m² each). Each file has its on VW file. There is also one VW file which has a referenced VP for each of these units. This "master" file is ~550mb and is quite sluggish and prone to crashing. Soon will be adding another ~20 units for the next stage and I am concerned that the file will become unusable. Is this the correct approach? I think my comp specs are above recommended? The units aren't particularly complex, simple monopitch roofs, two cladding types. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I am new to using Viewports. I have modeled an object on a design layer and have now begun building viewports on sheet layers. When i attempt to dimension objects in the viewports (after first double clicking the viewport to edit annotations) i encounter the following problems; 1. If i want to show the angle of something, i find i first have to draw two lines over the objects and then use the angle tool to get the angle of those 2 lines. 2. Similarly, if i want to use the radius tool on a curved piece of geometry, i have to find it's center, and draw a circle out to it, use the radius tool on the circle, disassociate the dimension from the circle and delete the cir cle so that it doesn't show up in my drafting. 3. anything curved seems to be a real problem for viewports, displaying it properly, (increasing the 3d conversion resolution in Vectorworks preferences) and as i said above dimension-ing it, finding it's center. So is this the way these things are supposed to work? or am i really missing something? I've been using V-Works for about 9 years now, having started with V-Works10 / moving up to 2009 / 2011 and now a big jump to 2016. I work in the entertainment industry, drafting scenery for movies and TV, not alot of standard doors or windows, lots of curvy sci-fi things, typically i am building the objects myself, but now I have to draft them for others, love the idea of viewports, but feel i am missing something as relates to dimesioning and displaying them efficiently. Thanks for reading this. Paul