Is it Possible...

[Kizza]

Is it possible to obtain a similar graphical style to the attached screenshot with VW?

Basically a hidden line render of a plan view with shadows.

[mar schrammeyer]

artistic render line & shadows, tried that?

[Dieter @ DWorks]

Yes, there is a preset renderworks style that renders all the surfaces in white with shadows, then use hidden line as foreground rendering.

[Kizza]

I've used two viewports, one with a hidden line render and one with Realistic Colours white.

The building on the left is a massing model, the building on the right without a fill is a solid addition. I can't seem to get the solid addition to render with a white fill.

All attributes and classes are fine.

Cant solid additions have a solid fill in Hidden Line??

[mike m oz]

Kizza if I am reading your post correctly then your solid addition doesn't have a fill which means it will always show as wireframe. If you want it to render as a solid then you have to give it a solid fill.

[Kizza]

Yes it does. The class it's on also has a fill.

It just doesn't render as a solid fill.

The building on the right is made up of multiple additions, I've also gone through each of those and made sure they all have fills.

[Kizza]

This is a little closer, Artistic Renderworks with hidden line foreground. But because the view is now Top, the site renders with triangles.

[Kizza]

Same viewport, just Artistic Renderworks.

Now the roof profile doesn't show.....

[Kizza]

I guess it's not possible. Or my geometry is corrupt.

Curious then, what technique do you use to create your solar studies?

Edited June 30, 2013 by Kizza

[mike m oz]

If you post just that building in a file I'll have a look at it and try and figure out what the problem is.

[Kizza]

OK I've attached a stripped down version.

Check out the saved views - they should tell the story.

[mike m oz]

Kizza, by including the Roof and Roof Faces in a solid addition you lost the hybrid nature of them. That is why you could see through them in Plan View and see the DTM contours. In the attached file I have used Groups instead of Solid Additions and that seems to fix the problems.

Solid additions and subtractions will always show as wireframe objects in Plan View, as do all 3D only objects. In Vw 2012 and earlier versions the only way to get a correct 2D view in Plan Views is to draw the 2D view (Convert Copy to Polygons in Top Plan View will do this) and then create a Hybrid Symbol from the 2D and 3D parts. In Architect 2013 you can do this very simply using the Auto Hybrid command.

The Auto Hybrid command draws the 2D part by itself and creates an object that will show its 2D only in Plan View and its 3D only in 3D views. It is a very clever and useful functionality.

[Kizza]

Aahh, I see. Never would have thought of that. Which explains why the ground floor roof shows correctly when rendered, as it wasn't included in the upper floor solid addition.

Although the upper floor roof was actually part of the massing model, not a separate roof per se.

Many Thx.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Kizza

[Peter van der Elst]

But still it's too bad you can't have vectorized shadows. If you export this as a pdf, you get a big file as there's a vector part (the lines, etc.) and a bitmap part (for shadows)... The same goes for elevations..