Working in 3D - Views and Navigation

[Kevin McAllister]

I'm curious to know how other people are working in 3D. Are you -

- working in a true 3D view most of the time or a projected view (top/front/side etc.)?

- do you work in Vectorworks standard 3D (what Cinema 4D calls parallel) or in perspective (the cropped perspective "viewport" Vectorworks creates)?

- do you class or group so you can easily isolate components?

I've been working on a 3d model for a project that involves modular scaffolding running diagonally across the stepped audience risers of a stadium. I've found that its essentially to get right "into" the model to check interactions between the stadium structure and the scaffold. If Vectorworks had dynamic clipping planes this would be easy (see my wish in the Wishlist Forum) but unfortunately its more of an adventure than I'd like. Today I discovered that I could somewhat do what I needed by working in the perspective viewport and using the translate tool to move in and out of the model. Perhaps there is a better way but I haven't found it yet....

Kevin

[CipesDesign]

I generally do this sort of "proof" by cutting sections at various critical places. Sometimes this involves many many sections...

I do work in 3d all the time. Mostly in Open GL and using the Flyover Tool to look at the exterior of a structure; often in Open GL in perspective (set by RW Camera) and using the Walk Through and Translate tools...

[willofmaine]

To minimize and even eliminate the cropped perspective "viewport," you can use a very wide angle lens on your camera. This won't affect the perspective - how "flat" or "exaggerated" the subject is - since perspective is a function of the distance between the camera and it's subject, not of the length of the lens. After you've set up your camera as you normally do, just shorten the lens before you start orbiting around.

[Dieter @ DWorks]

I'm curious to know how other people are working in 3D. Are you -

- working in a true 3D view most of the time or a projected view (top/front/side etc.)?

- do you work in Vectorworks standard 3D (what Cinema 4D calls parallel) or in perspective (the cropped perspective "viewport" Vectorworks creates)?

- do you class or group so you can easily isolate components?

I've been working on a 3d model for a project that involves modular scaffolding running diagonally across the stepped audience risers of a stadium. I've found that its essentially to get right "into" the model to check interactions between the stadium structure and the scaffold. If Vectorworks had dynamic clipping planes this would be easy (see my wish in the Wishlist Forum) but unfortunately its more of an adventure than I'd like. Today I discovered that I could somewhat do what I needed by working in the perspective viewport and using the translate tool to move in and out of the model. Perhaps there is a better way but I haven't found it yet....

Kevin

- I work mostly in a 3D view, but projected views are still needed and faster for some actions.

- I work in standard 3D because it is faster and clearer to see.

- And I group objects because the push/pull tool otherwise doesn't work that good.

I also find that working in OpenGL with edges on is much clearer to work with, but slower.

I agree that dynamic clipping planes should be a great improvement.

[VincentCuclair]

I work mainly in 2D and check in 3D, I guess mainly because I'm afraid walls aren't placed exactly on top of each other (and I don't really trust the snapping in 3D), i guess I would work in 3D more if VWs had multi-window capabilities. I could then draw in the 3D view and have top/plan as a control.

Much is force of habit too, however this thread is infact an incentive to start drawing in 3D more .

Edited March 13, 2012 by Vincent C

[Dieter @ DWorks]

I work mainly in 2D and check in 3D, I guess mainly because I'm afraid walls aren't placed exactly on top of each other (and I don't really trust the snapping in 3D), i guess I would work in 3D more if VWs had multi-window capabilities. I could then draw in the 3D view and have top/plan as a control.

Much is force of habit too, however this thread is infact an incentive to start drawing in 3D more .

I think I misunderstood the question here. I draw in 3D for 3D modelling, but when I'm building a BIM model, I draw in 2D/Plan view for my plans and just edit some things to get my 3D model.

[grant_PD]

I work in 3d and 2d. In 3d I will often engage the flyover tool and move about my model, something I picked up from c4d. This works great with the push pull tool and drawing off of a working plane. It takes a little getting used to, but once I did I found it much faster than starting my extrusions from a standard view.

It's necessary with this method to work in groups, as you can't always select the right face as there's often times a lot of clutter.

OpenGL is great except it tends to be slower and make my program prone to crashing on my laptop.

Dynamic clipping planes would be great.

Being able to create new groups/classes/layers on the fly would be great too.

Being able to isolate the faces you select for push/pull or working plane tool by preselecting an object would be a huge help.

[Christiaan]

I do most of the heavy lifting in 2D projection and most of that in plan view. Checking and refinement in 3D. But I'm swapping a lot between all of them. Multiple views would be great.

In 3D I prefer perspective and OpenGL with lines, but swapping between that and Top Plan can be a pain so I usually stick with orthogonal 3D. That and perspective can be a problem if your objects are not centres on the origin of the page.

We Class everything and use Classes to control the attributes of everything. Because it's the only thing that scales well and stays consistent when working in teams. But I do tend to group as well, even if temporarily, to isolate things.

[Bruce Kieffer]

I work in 2D, and proof in right ISO, then I do my final views in perspective. I plan to change my habits (if I can) and start in 3D.

I use classes to isolate objects. The navigation palette is a must for me.