Strange Lines and Shapes in PDF Export

[Jim Denault]

I am getting strange results when exporting a pdf from a sheet layer.

 

 

On the left is a PDF exported from the sheet layer on the right. The strange rays seen around the bolt holes in the PDF are not seen in the sheet layer.

 

There is no intersecting geometry in the model.

 

What am I missing? What is the fix?

 

Thanks,

 

Jim

[line-weight]

This may be an annoying suggestion if you've already tried it... but does closing & restarting VW solve it? I occasionally get strange things happening in pdf exports that are fixed by a restart.

[Jim Denault]

Thanks! Not an annoying suggestion.

 

Yes. I tried restarting Vectorworks. In fact, this effect has persisted with this file since VW2019, when I first drew it. The project was in-house at the time, so I just ignored the weird output and got on with the fabrication. Last week I was exporting the plan for someone else to use and was reminded about the effect because it was still there with VW2026. So, I thought I would spend some time to try to get to bottom of the mystery now.

 

I should have mentioned in the original post: the effect occurs only in a Shaded Polygon render--Regular SP, No Lines SP, and Final SP all show the effect. I can get very similar output using Final Renderworks background render with Hidden Line foreground render, and the effect is not there. That was my workaround this time. I like the look of Shaded Polygons, though, so I am trying to figure out what I did wrong, for the next time it appears.

[Pat Stanford]

Can you post the file or at least the pieces that are showing the problem so we can take a look.

[michaelk]

Does it matter how you create the pdf?

 

In years past I used to get slightly different results publishing to PDF vs using Mac OS to Print to PDF.

 

File > Print… 

 

In the Print Dialog box click on the pulldown in the bottom left by PDF and choose Save as PDF…

[Jim Denault]

@michaelk Thanks for the good suggestion. I tried it. No joy there, either. The exact same results either way.

 

Here is the file. The original Shaded Polygon (weird PDF) sheet layer is named "B." It is Shaded Polygon No Lines + Hidden Line so that I can put a sketch style on it, but I have tried every variation of shaded polygon and the results are the same.

 

The Final RW + Hidden Line workaround sheet layer is named "B-x."

 

Thanks for all the help with this little mystery.

 

Jim

Video Cart Battery Rack v2026.vwx

[Pat Stanford]

This is what I see on screen if I hover over the object with Vectorworks Preferences:Display:Accelerate Graphics turned on.

 

 

And this is what I get with Accelerate Graphics turned off.

 

 

Not sure what shortcuts Accelerate Graphics is taking, but at least on my machine that appears to be (part of) the problem.

 

But in an exported PDF, even with Accelerate Graphics off I still get the lines.

[michaelk]

@Jim Denault

 

On your computer do these print better?

 

Video Cart Battery Rack v2026~.vwx

[Jeff Prince]

I believe these lines are triggered by your "Foreground Render Settings" with "Sketch Hidden Line Results" being the culprit. (Nevermind, it still happens when you turn those off)

They seem to be generated 3D triangulation lines based on your Vectorworks Preferences 3D Conversion Resolution (higher settings generate more triangulation lines and a smoother surface as a result).

 

The fix?  Don't use the render mode 🙂

Sounds like a Vectorworks programing issue.  Seems they should be able to turn off the triangulation lines in the render modes, something that probably isn't accessible to us as users.  We see the same problem in the site modeling world from time to time.

Edited December 5, 2025 by Jeff Prince

[michaelk]

I think I got rid of the lines.

 

This is what I did.  Not sure which one of them is the silver bullet or if it's aa combination of them.

 

1. The cut outs in the battery tray assembly had way too many vertices.  Each rounded end had 11 vertices.  I cut it down to 3.
2. The background render mode is Hidden Line.  But in the settings the Smoothing Angle was set to 1º. I changed it to 30º.
3. In the background render settings I turned off Sketch.

 

I think 2 and 3 were what made it work.  At least on my computer.

Video Cart Battery Rack v2026~~.vwx

[Jim Denault]

@michaelk I exported pdfs from the ~~ file and still got the same weird lines.

 

The thing that most puzzles me about this is that the problem shows up in an export to PDF, but not in the sheet layer viewport. Thinking about this, I exported the same sheet layer as a .png and, lo and behold, no weird lines. So it is something specifically about Shaded Polygon rendering when it meets the PDF export process. (I have also tried viewing the file in all the different PDF viewers I own and the results are the same, so it is definitely the PDF and not the viewer.) 

 

@Pat Stanford I think Accelerate Graphics only affects the screen display. It is weird that there are all those odd diagonal lines, though. The shapes are extruded polygons with some minor solid subtractions. I am used to seeing the diagonal lines if there has been some twisting or adjusting of the 3D shapes, and I haven't done that. I thought they were created pretty cleanly. There might have been something I did in the process that caused those creases, though. 

 

So, @Jeff Prince, I think I am with you, it is probably a programming issue. I'll use a different render mode. 

 

Thank you all for your help.

 

[line-weight]

I've always considered these "shaded polygon" render modes as defunct and left over from years ago when VW didn't have what we now call "shaded" renders.

 

I think that's because whenever I've tried using them I get weird problems like this. Do many people use these modes then? I don't see them mentioned very often.

[zoomer]

I liked it.

It looked similar to former OpenGL but was much faster for complex models, even with HL in foreground.

[Jim Denault]

@zoomer I also like the way Shaded Polygon looks compared to OpenGL/Shaded.

[jmcewen]

On 12/8/2025 at 3:47 AM, line-weight said:

I've always considered these "shaded polygon" render modes as defunct and left over from years ago when VW didn't have what we now call "shaded" renders.

 

I think that's because whenever I've tried using them I get weird problems like this. Do many people use these modes then? I don't see them mentioned very often.

I sometimes use them as a fall back if something funny happens in regular shaded, but i typically avoid it.  it seems slower and more resource intensive and doesn't look as good as shaded to me.

 

The difference between lit sides and unlit sides in the shaded polygon for me always seems so stark, and I tend to color code a lot of models.  With the wide range of appearance it makes thee color coding more difficult to read.

Edited December 9, 2025 by jmcewen