replacing rendering engine

[Hunter B]

Does anybody Know of a program I can buy that would allow me to create what I need in VW and then transfer it to a better rendering engine.... I'm trying for months now to get an annimation to work but it keeps frezing and VW tech folks are of no help as of yet(it seems I can just wait until the next release, one of the resons I bought VW was the annimation capabilites) Now my boss and I are trying to figure out what else we can do to solve this problem

[Kevin]

Hi Hunter

I know both you and I have been trying to resolve this annimation issue. I feel your pain. Here is what I have found to date.

Maxon, (parent company of Vectorworks), has a program called Cinema. The base program is around $600. They and VW sell a plug-in that allows Cinema to work interactively with VW.

I downloaded the free Cinema demo. The roadblock at the moment is that I have to buy the plug-in. I have not pursued this any further as I am annoyed at having to pay money to VW for a plug-in in order to try out a free demo of Cinema, all because my VW Renderworks does not work.

Go to the Maxon website and you will see how this all works.I think the plug-in is called Vectorworks Special Edition. It appears that this may be a good solution. I am just so fed up with the whole situation that I have put the issue on the back-burner for now.

Good luck

[Guest]

Hunter,

The "tech folks" can fix technical issues. When something is a bug, we can't fix it. The engineers need to fix that. If the bug is in the actual rendering engine itself, they need to fix it and then we can incorporate it in the next version.

Any fixes that are made are included in an update. They do not usually make updates for one single thing and are generally released at an even interval between major releases.

Due to security reasons not to mention company policy, I cannot nor can any other employee here disclose any information as to when an update will be available or what version of VW something will be fixed by. Usually that's speculation as nothing is final until the final release is available. There are many things that can go wrong at the last minute. This is why nothing is definite until the period is placed.

I would hope you can respect I, in tech support has done everything that I can possibly do to help you and the non-disclosure agreement I've been bound to keep. I have repeativly reassured you our engineer is working on fixing the problem.

As kevin has suggested, CInema 4d has tremendous rendering capabilites - far beyond RenderWorks and at a much more expensive ticket price. There is an additional plugin that can be purchased from Sales that will allow you to save the VW file in a format Cinema 4D will be able to read and then render. You can also purchase Cinema 4d from our sales dept.

More information can be found by contacting one of our sales reps at 1-888-646-4223 or sales@nemetschek.net. Support for the program is provided thru Maxon, the creators of Cinema 4D.

The plugin is created by Maxon as well. Support for the plugin within VW is availablel thru Maxon.

There is also ArtLantis. Another application that you must buy and then buy the plugin for VW.

All of the decent rendering applications compatible with VW either support dxf/dwg files - which can be a pain to work with for rendering purposes on their end .. or you need to purchase an additional plugin for VW to export the file to that file format for better compatibility.

[ 05-07-2003, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: Katie ]

[Hunter B]

Katie, I appreciate the help... I feel kinda ripped off ...I'm surprised that the animation capabilites of this program are not tested enough to know that there is a problem before release. I cannot imagine anything other than a software company to allow a product to be touted for it's capabilites and then fall so far short of the promises... at least a company that wants to stay in business. Again.... thanks

[Guest]

I can understand the frustration you are experiencing. However, you cannot blame tech folks for it. All we do is support the program and do what we can to provide alternatives, when an alternative is avaialble, while something isn't working properly.

[Hunter B]

Katie... If I knew how to post these issues to an engenering BB I'd be happy to. Unfortunatly you are the only target that we out here in the real world have. If you'd give me the email address or the phone number of somebody else I'd love it.

[Kurt Magness]

Artlantis is a great program, easy to use and to learn. The animation part of the program is way better than vectorworks funky path generator. I would seriously think about forgoing renderworks and buying artlantis. the cost is not that much more.

[Guest]

The engineers are aware of the issues and the inconvenience these issues serve. Unfortuantely, they too are only human and err does occur once in a while.

Add to that all the OS's we support along with the never-ending changes of Apple's OS X .. and it's pretty difficult to be in the shoes they are in. I assure you they are doing everything they can to keep on top of addressing these issues while working on developing the next version of VW.

[Kevin]

Hi Katie;

Thank you for understanding. Thank you for all of the great help that you offer on this BB. I hope that the rest of the users on this BB understand that you are only trying to help.

I hope that these messages are getting passed up to the engineers and sales people. They need to hear our frustration, not you.

Thanks again.

[Bryan_dup1]

With Art*lantis, the VW plugin is free.

http://www.abvent.com/us/software/artlantis/update.asp

I use RW for quick renders and Art*lantis for presentations.

[Kurt Magness]

Keep the engineers working on the problems and not wasting time ( like me ) in these forums ( I should be doing something more billable ). Katie can take the heat if we are half way nice to her.

[David Ormsby]

Gents

I just made the move to Cinema - I'm a lighting and scenic designer and really need volumetric lighting in my proposals.

I can't tell you how happy I am. The renderer looks so good! Sure, there's a bit of a learning curve getting wrapped around Cinema-speak, but it is very flexible and powerful.

I just used it on a proposal, and although my client only needed 2 hi res stills, I was able to create a very nice quicktime move with just a glance at the manual.

The process of revision was also quite painless via the plug in. After years of going the dxf route, this was a cakewalk.

The plugin disc also includes a folder full of architectural textures.

Also, I purchased from Maxon direct - they gave me a discount, and the total with the plugin was under $600 - contact Rafi Barbos [r_barbos@maxon.net] she was a big help.