A Simple Thing... A Picture on the Wall,,,,???

[preston bircher designs]

This should be basic... but I might not be searching the right words.

On this set piece I have created a 5'h x 8'w picture frame. And within it I would like to place this jpg/png image.

Easy! NOT!

1) I imported the image--and resized it to fit in the frame. In Wireframe--looks good! Once I render to GL or any other it disappears.

2) I imported the image into the ResBrowser as an Image Prop-- attempted to place it to the working plane of the "flat" behind the frame... no good.

3) I imported it into the Images browser and attempted to apply it from the Attributes>Fill>Image... nada.

I can't find the references in any of the Help or Knowledge Base -- but I might not be using the right terms to make it happen.

I've spent nearly 6h on this today... and am totally frustrated beyond belief for something that should be completely basic Vectorworks-101!

Ideas?

Thank y'all!

[Kevin McAllister]

Hi Preston,

I think option 2 is the fastest and easiest to do what you're describing. I've used this a lot in visualizing museum exhibits. What happened when you tried it? I like that the image prop holds its proportions when you change its size. I also like that the Z value is its height off the ground. The trick is the place the image prop a small distance in front of the wall or surface you want it to appear on. I usually offset it by 1/16" or so. Make sure Auto Rotate to Viewer is turned off.

Option 1 is not reliable as you've seen.

Option 3 can be fiddly. Its best if you create the extrude with the face of the flat you want to put the texture on facing up in top/plan and rotate it into place after you apply the texture.

Kevin

[preston bircher designs]

Hey Kevin... Well, when I try #2 nothing happens. I don't see an image at all.

The only time I actually see a image is when I do #1 -- but that's only in Wireframe. And def not in Renderworks Viewport on the sheet layer. (visual via Camera Viewport)

1) I build the Picture Frame (elaborate extrusion) (open in the center....

2) Created a 5x8x.25 extrusion for the image to attach to... working plane (?) upstage of the 'frame'.

3) then attempted and attempted to get the image to be there... in any shape or fashion.

I tried everything to make sure it's not behind the other scenic elements... except the frame opening.

I'll try again in daylight hours here in Miami.......

Thank you -- Preston

[Kevin McAllister]

Preston,

You know that when you create an image prop it appears at 0,0,0 in the drawing by default? You'll need to move it to where you need it. I'll try and put together an example.

Kevin

[Benson Shaw]

Some things to check:

•Any 3d surface receiving the image texture should have a fill other than None.

•A 3d surface will not display or render an image fill applied via the attributes palette. 3d surfaces need texture applied, eg through the render tab of the OIP.

•OGL defaults to not showing textures, so if OGL is the render mode, enable the OGL texture option.

•Your #3 (image fill from attributes) should work for 2d surfaces even when placed on 3d surfaces and displayed in rendered views.

Image prop is good. The image decal from an image texture is another option.

Or, I often create an image texture as a new resource from the image in the Resource Browser (size the texture for the picture dimention when the texture is created), then apply the texture to a 3d surface, eg a 3d polygon, thin extrude, or a surface extracted from some other 3d object. Image only shows up in rendered views.

Here's little example of an image of a mosaic face as a texture on a thin extrude and as an image fill in a 2d rectangle. OGL render, texture enabled.

-B

Edited March 18, 2015 by Benson Shaw

[preston bircher designs]

Thank you... got it to work--once in the light of day! :-)

[Kevin McAllister]

Benson saves the day again. He always has the best examples.....

Kevin