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Image Export Resolution


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Since upgrading to VW2015, I've encountered a problem when exporting image files. The resolution of circular arcs is extremely low. They are represented as a very small number of line segments. For example, an arc of 270 degrees is represented as a series of 9 straight lines segments. I've searched through both the Vectorworks and document preferences, to find export resolution settings, but can't find anything that fixes this problem.

Prior to this, I was using VW2009, and export resolution was very high.

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Thanks. I eventually found those settings, and changed them.

As I mentioned in my last post, the problem only seems to occur for arcs with arrowheads when you're exporting at or near screen resolution (72-150 DPI). So, it's rather obscure, but still annoying. I've submitted a bug report on it. The workaround for now is not to put an arrowhead on the arc, but rather make the arrowhead as a separate object.

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Yes I did. The problem goes away when the resolution is above about 300 DPI, but then this results in a much larger file size than I would like. So, I have to post process the file to reduce the DPI back to about 75. These are diagrams that I post on the web, so I prefer to keep the DPI close to screen resolution.

For some reason, your 150 DPI export looks a lot better than mine. At 150 DPI, my arc was composed of only 8 line segments and consequently looked really bad. It may be because my arcs were 270 degrees compared to the 180 degree arcs in your example. The attached export file shows what I get. Note that the figure on the left without the arrowhead is very smooth. The others with the arrowhead are very rough.

Edited by BobWeaver
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I'm pretty puzzled by your example. Is this in a viewport or a viewport's annotations? Or is it on a design layer? Is it possible to upload the file?

In my experience DPI shouldn't affect the smoothness of the curve itself per se. Resolution affects the raster conversation (ie. the jaggies when converting to a bitmap). The smoothness of the curve (ie. the facetting) should be controlled by Conversion Resolution (either 2d or 3d). In Vectorworks this can be found in the main Preferences and within certain rendering modes or Viewport controls (ie. Section Viewports).

I would send your file to Jim to see what's going on.

Kevin

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Confirmed, it looks like the further in you're zoomed, or the higher your display's resolution, the less obvious the issue is. However the issue is definitely there and related to adding markers to the arc ends, not STRICTLY related to image export but that also makes it more obvious.

Submitting as a bug now.

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Confirmed, it looks like the further in you're zoomed, or the higher your display's resolution, the less obvious the issue is. However the issue is definitely there and related to adding markers to the arc ends, not STRICTLY related to image export but that also makes it more obvious.

Submitting as a bug now.

Jim, there is possibly a similar issue with the T-roads, the line thickness of bends/curves of the T-roads end up being thinner than the other road outlines. This happens in PDFs too unless you zoom in a lot. It seems to be a display issue but it ends up in prints as well.

Could it be that this faceting bug somehow also affects the above mentioned issue with the T-roads?

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