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VW Viewer - new user needs help


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Guest SAMIAM

For a home renovation, my architect is using VectorWorks and has given me a design file of my project to study in VW Viewer but I've not made much progress with it. My architect has gone through a few commands to get into 3D views and flyover options so I know the file I have can do all that but, frankly, I'm stuck.

I have searched the web for a User Guide for VW Viewer but only found the VW Getting Started Guide, which covers much of VW that I cannot access in VW Viewer and really don't need.

I am a knowledgeable computer user and have a MacBook Pro at OS X 10.7.3

Any and all help will be appreciated.

Sam

Edited by SAMIAM
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Samiam, you could try asking your architect to do a quick screen capture movie showing you what to do.

If it is the model you want to view then he should have sent you the file with the appropriate layers switched on:

- Make sure unified View is on.

- Render the model in OpenGL.

- Use the Flyover tool to view the model. When you have the mouse button down you can rotate the model.

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It looks like I may be leading you astray Samiam. I've just learnt that the Viewer version doesn't include Unified View thus making the viewer version next to useless to anyone wanting to show their design to a client in 3D.

Your Architect has several options:

- AR-works.

- CadFaster.

- Resorting to the old Layer Linking methodology to provide a single 'whole of model' Design Layer and using Saved Views to navigate you through various views of the Design Layers and model.

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It looks like I may be leading you astray Samiam. I've just learnt that the Viewer version doesn't include Unified View thus making the viewer version next to useless to anyone wanting to show their design to a client in 3D.

I just learnt this on the mailing list too. It's such a daft restriction you have wonder whether anyone has actually thought about it.

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Well, Unified View is missing from Fundamentals so its not really a surprise. Not sure how exactly you use Fundamentals for 3D in a meaningful way without it.

This was exactly the need that should have been filled by the Vectorworks iPad app. Unfortunately we got a 3rd party PDF viewer repurposed for closed networks use. The only feature of interest is the measure tool it provides, but it doesn't recognize Vectorworks snaps making it less than accurate.

The most successful company in the world right now is based on the principle of user simplicity. The Vectorworks Viewer is based on developer simplicity. These two principles are polar opposites, its no wonder one approach is successful and the other is not.

Kevin

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The most successful company in the world right now is based on the principle of user simplicity. The Vectorworks Viewer is based on developer simplicity. These two principles are polar opposites, its no wonder one approach is successful and the other is not.

Couldn't have said it better myself! This applies for large parts of the whole program at the moment, not only the viewer btw.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oops, I came to the "Let's Trash Vectorworks" forum.

It seems to me that your architect could provide you with a file for each layer. Or merge certain layers together for you.

After many years of learning Vectorworks, I can't imagine someone sitting down with it and navigating classes and layers and viewports and sheet layers and saved views etc. in a short amount of time.

I provide a walkthrough or fly around video for people and provide different plan views as pdfs.

Maybe your architect could link his layers which was the way it was done before unified view and design layer viewports. VW still supports layer linking I believe.

The Vectorworks Viewer is far too complicated for the people I'm dealing with anyway.

Jim

Edited by jamesmise
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