OpenGL renders up to eight lights in a drawing. Why this limit?

[Huug 2]

OpenGL renders up to eight lights in a drawing; additional ambient light, directional, point, or spot lights have no effect. 

 

=> I built myself a computer with a more than capable graphics card, could it be possible to create an option in preferences to have more than eight lights? 

 

http://app-help.vectorworks.net/2016/eng/VW2016_Guide/Rendering/OpenGL.htm

 

[Jim Wilson 2,057]

Currently the underlying engine that drives OpenGL in Vectorworks is hard limited to 8. Increasing this limit has been filed as a wishlist item.

[Huug 2]

Why is this hard limit still not "upgraded" in VW2018? 

 

I like working in OpenGL because of speed and instant results with good textures, but the lighting limit is cumbersome... 

 

 

[Brendan Gray 10]

I'm just going to add my voice in here.  Working in Open GL is so fast and makes texturing very easy, but the 8 light limit is incredibly restrictive and makes it basically useless for tryout to show a lit stage scene. 

[Charlie Winter 13]

On 5/22/2017 at 9:29 AM, Jim Wilson said:

Currently the underlying engine that drives OpenGL in Vectorworks is hard limited to 8. Increasing this limit has been filed as a wishlist item.

 

Has there been any traction on this issue? Is this improvement something we could expect to see in v2019?

 

[Jim Wilson 2,057]

15 minutes ago, cwinterLD said:

Has there been any traction on this issue? Is this improvement something we could expect to see in v2019?

 

We want to remove the limit yes, but it will not be happening in 2019 unfortunately. The focus this time around was elsewhere, I'll be able to share some details in the coming weeks.

[Jan-Burger TROOST 13]

Maybe it has something to do with the end of OpenGL support by Apple? It is said ‘that OpenGL is woefully out of date for current needs’: 

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/06/the-end-of-opengl-support-other-updates-apple-didnt-share-at-the-keynote/

 

Last WWDC Apple showed (again) their own Metal as a more modern platform. 

 

Will VW2020 support this rendering method as well instead of OpenGL?

[Huug 2]

So far I can survive with Open GL and create something decent for small projects. With larger projects, the lighting limit is a pain. 

 

I hope that at some point a decent real time rendering engine wil be implemented in VW. 

I have been playing around with unreal engine, just wish you could have this in your VW workflow instead of open GL.

 

In 2018 its hard to impress a client with the clunky VW web viewer. 

[Jan-Burger TROOST 13]

What is your definition of cluncky? When you have a good story and impressive (hardcopy) renderings, the client is amazed with yet another way of being impressed. Maybe for now we shouldn’t present it as top notch, just a way of a virtual 3D walkthrough…