Help article on utilising online resources when creating VW textures

[Christiaan]

I'd like a help page that describes all the different texture resources one might come across on the internet and how they relate to making a Texture in VW, answering this thread:

https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/106873-texture-creation/

 

Or, even better, provide tools for the community to create such a page:

https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/106925-community-vectorworks-wiki/

 

[Jeff Prince]

I don’t see why Vectorworks should invest time in teaching people information that is basic to a person’s career.  This request is like asking them to teach architects how to detail a window or a landscape architect how to develop a regionally appropriate plant list.

 

The Vectorworks help menu, say what you will about its design, provides full descriptions of what each shader does and how to build textures.  It even links to 3rd party texture resources on the internet.  Shouldn’t the user do a little research if they want to use something from a different rendering system?  Or is all expected to be spoon fed to the user as they wait for AI to replace their job?  There are professional associations, publications, classes, and user groups that teach this kinda stuff and keep pace with changes in the industry faster than a single software company can.  Heck, I bet you could prompt Chat GPT to tell you how PBR shaders work and how you convert them to something Vectorworks can use once that webpage you are asking for us built 😉

 

People should just learn Blender and all will be revealed 🙂.  Or just hire a kid in Eastern Europe to make their textures for them.

[Christiaan]

Based on that logic VW should remove all tutorials, VW University, and that link to 3rd party texture resources too.

 

The point isn't to teach somebody how to design a good texture. It isn't even to teach them how to create a texture. They already have video tutorials for that right there in the help pages. The point is to provide a definitive list of what resources can and can't be utilised when creating a texture in VW, distinct from the way other programmes do it. Not just useful for newbies. Texture creation is also one of those things that many of us do only very occasionally.

 

I prefer my second option anyway, but that ain't going to happen any time soon.

 

[Jeff Prince]

4 minutes ago, Christiaan said:

Based on that logic VW should remove all tutorials, VW University, and that link to 3rd party texture resources too.

That’s a stretch.

 

Vectorworks University might be the single most important resource for attracting new customers from other platforms.

 

A company has a vested interest in explaining how to use their products, someone else’s… not so much (unless it is incentivized somehow).

 

 

[Christiaan]

5 minutes ago, jeff prince said:

Vectorworks University might be the single most important resource for attracting new customers from other platforms.

 

A company has a vested interest in explaining how to use their products, someone else’s… not so much (unless it is incentivized somehow).

Agreed, you've outlined a justification for my wish.

 

VW Textures is designed to input resources from third parties. Providing a definitive list of which resources can and can't be input is not the same thing as explaining how to use somebody else's product. It's just basic functionality information.

[Jeff Prince]

15 minutes ago, Christiaan said:

Agreed, you've outlined a justification for my wish.

 

You should ask for a bib to accompany that spoon feeding 🙂

[Christiaan]

Could come in handy when my silicon-based master is feeding me my blue pill 😆