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JimW - thanks for the exteriors tip on using grass with AO, not indirect. That's very good to know.

So if you were going to do an interior with a thick shag rug, could you use grass for the rug with indirect lighting and accept the slow render time, or would you be better off with displacement and indirect lighting? Thanks.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Probably a noise shader coupled with indirect lighting in that case, unless its the shaggy style of run where you need the little yarn tendrils to stick out and bend/kink to get the right effect, then grass is still a better bet even with a long render time.

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Another note I forgot on this, combining Indirect Lighting and Grass will increase rendering time SIGNIFICANTLY, since it has to calculate all the bounces between each blade of grass, especially if you have wetness enabled and lots of light sources.

Generally you'll use grass outside, so disabling indirect lighting and using ambient occlusion instead often works just fine. Interior renderings rely much more on indirect light.

Thanks JimW. Your tip ^^^ would be useful to include in the online help file section about Optimizing Rendering Performance

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
Another note I forgot on this, combining Indirect Lighting and Grass will increase rendering time SIGNIFICANTLY, since it has to calculate all the bounces between each blade of grass, especially if you have wetness enabled and lots of light sources.

Generally you'll use grass outside, so disabling indirect lighting and using ambient occlusion instead often works just fine. Interior renderings rely much more on indirect light.

Thanks JimW. Your tip ^^^ would be useful to include in the online help file section about Optimizing Rendering Performance

I will recommend that it is!
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I've just started working in 2016 this week, and I have run into a few bugs that are really slowing down my productivity.

The attributes pallet is hit or miss as to whether I can even see it or not (always checked to be open in the Window menu). And even when it does show up, I can't change any colors, because the color selection tool doesn't pop up, even though my computer acts like it is up.

There are were a few other things, but this is by far the worst one, and I can't figure out how to fix it or if it's something I'm going to be forced to go back to 2015 until a SP is released...

Thanks in advance for any replies and advice!

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

I've just started working in 2016 this week, and I have run into a few bugs that are really slowing down my productivity.

The attributes pallet is hit or miss as to whether I can even see it or not (always checked to be open in the Window menu). And even when it does show up, I can't change any colors, because the color selection tool doesn't pop up, even though my computer acts like it is up.

There are were a few other things, but this is by far the worst one, and I can't figure out how to fix it or if it's something I'm going to be forced to go back to 2015 until a SP is released...

Thanks in advance for any replies and advice!

It will be fixed in an SP, but for the time being get in touch with support directly, they should be able to get you squared away.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Service Pack 1 for Vectorworks 2016 has been released. You can get it here:

http://www.vectorworks.net/downloads/ServicePack.php?major=2016&servicepack=1

Specifics on what was added/fixed in the pack can be found here:

http://www.vectorworks.net/downloads/notes/2016SP1_Notes.php

The names are a bit cryptic since they come right from bug reports, if anyone would like clarification on any of them, please let me know, I have access to the full reports.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
Hi have this same issue with attributes. I can see the palette but when I want to change a colour for example, the colour menu does not pop up. Sometimes this is fixed with a restart but not always. Was happening before and after I installed the SP.

What operating system and hardware are you using? If you make your signature similar to mine, it will help speed up future troubleshooting.

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That is a standard behavior everywhere else and has some advantages too.

It is just not compatible with the typical architectural BIM Model.

You will have similar problems when you Export your geometry into other

3D packages for Hidden Line, Cartoon Rendering or things like materials

that fake rounded edges/fillets.

So I think it is difficult and there will be more a workaround than a solution.

You can see it as two separate behaviors of the model,

divided for BIM and CAD Exports or,

everything touching that has same Material will be seen as "Add Solid" (temporarily)

combined for internal rendering or Visualization Exports.

Like it makes sense for BIM/IFC that a Window/Door is grouped into a wall,

while it doesn't make any sense in a 3D Rendering App like C4D for

Visualization purposes.

Edited by zoomer
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Having everything touching that has the same material to be considered as one solid (or continuous) surface would probably work well enough for most people to be added as an option in the renderer.

At least it would work for me, but my needs are relatively simple compared to building architects I guess.

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Another 3D App has a feature for the round edges material to not round

edges between meshes when both use the same material.

So I think it will be possible to solve this selective for the Renderer only

without touching the model/geometry level.

But I like the idea that there could be geometry level appearance settings

or even "physical" changes for different purposes, even just for cleaning

geometry for VW work.

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I think you can run 2016 in the old 2015 mode when you deactivate docking of the palettes. Window > Palette Options > uncheck all

Then you should be able to switch between multiple drawings.

Correct, disable palette docking and it will behave like 2015 did.

Hmmm...not sure what I'm missing, but I can't find a "Palette Options" in the menu. Under Window I see "Palettes" (which just allows me to select which ones are viewed), "Data Bar Options" and "Edit Group Options," but no "Palette Options."

I'm having the same problem as stueey, where I can't get multiple files to open as additional windows. When I first opened 2016, I undocked the palettes manually (didn't know where the menu option was), but that doesn't change the document behavior.

Now, I did go through the migration process to import my 2015 settings to 2016; might that be a problem? Do I need to trash preference files and start over?

Jeff

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Hmmm...not sure what I'm missing, but I can't find a "Palette Options" in the menu. Under Window I see "Palettes" (which just allows me to select which ones are viewed), "Data Bar Options" and "Edit Group Options," but no "Palette Options."

I'm having the same problem as stueey, where I can't get multiple files to open as additional windows. When I first opened 2016, I undocked the palettes manually (didn't know where the menu option was), but that doesn't change the document behavior.

Not your fault, the option often has to be added manually. In some circumstances, especially pre SP1, Migration Manager wasnt adding the newer options (like Project Sharing and Palette Docking) to imported workspaces. You can add the menu commands manually via the workspace editor though.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Jim,

Which of the changes and improvements to Renderworks would be ones that lead to longer render times (when compared to rendering the exact same file & the same settings in v2015)?

Obviously new features in 2016 will add rendering time, so I'm not thinking of those features.

Thanks,

-Neil

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Off the top of my head, Indirect Lighting was changed significantly and as a result you get better quality at the same settings, but can often lower the quality to get the same speed and same results in 2016. Similar case with Antialiasing.

Unintentionally, there seems to be something going on with Lit Fog that may not have been intended, I've had quite a few cases where lit fog was slowing render times entirely too much, but haven't been able to pin it down so far as to an issue in Renderworks or one in file conversion.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I can't believe that there is still no way to draw curved solids analogous to the double-line tool. The entire list of "improvements" is mostly, if not all, enhancements that are not critical. I can't tell you how many times I've needed a curved solids tool. Sometimes I try to use the round wall tool as a workaround, but walls are so clumsy to use (if you aren't building wall that is) it becomes useless. What is so hard about taking the Arc tool and all its ways of creating arcs and making it work for solids of any thickness? THAT would be something worthy of a list. VW2016 is nothing more than VW2011 v.5. Big deal. Disappointed here.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
I can't believe that there is still no way to draw curved solids analogous to the double-line tool. The entire list of "improvements" is mostly, if not all, enhancements that are not critical. I can't tell you how many times I've needed a curved solids tool. Sometimes I try to use the round wall tool as a workaround, but walls are so clumsy to use (if you aren't building wall that is) it becomes useless. What is so hard about taking the Arc tool and all its ways of creating arcs and making it work for solids of any thickness? THAT would be something worthy of a list. VW2016 is nothing more than VW2011 v.5. Big deal. Disappointed here.

Where is your wishlist post for it? Link it here and I can make sure it gets/got filed properly.

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I think I posted it on the wish list in the late 1990s, so I'm not sure it would still be there. It would be better to post it again. I would be very, very surprised if this request is not already on the list. It seems pretty fundamental, especially since there are two tools—double line tool and wall tool—that are very close.

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