Surface Hatches not aligning with Renderworks Textures

[Markus Barrera-Kolb]

Is anyone else regularly having trouble getting Surface Hatches to align with the Renderworks Textures they're assigned to, in spite of them aligning perfectly within the definition? I'm getting all sorts of different results based on the object type (parametric, e.g. walls, generic solids, extrusions, etc.) and the Map Type (Plane, Auto-Align Plane, etc.). Only rarely do the geometries coincide as expected when switching between, say OpenGL and Hidden Line render modes. See the attached example with an extrusion – here the pattern jumps horizontally for me when switching between the render modes. This is really frustrating our efforts to go fully 3D and get both our 3D and 2D views from the same model, as one uses OpenGL or Renderworks, and the other Hidden Line...

 

Cheers,

Markus

surface hatch alignment.vwx

[AlanW]

@Markus Barrera-Kolbhi have a look at your textures and make sure they are set to auto and not parimeter.

HTH

[Markus Barrera-Kolb]

Thanks Alan, I've done that, and I often get misaligned surface hatches regardless of whether the mapping is set to auto or not. In the attached file, for example, it's set to Auto-Align Plane, but the Texture and Surface Hatch still don't align when you switch between OpenGL and Hidden Line rendering (let me know if you get a different result with it)...

[AlanW]

@Markus Barrera-KolbHi, I think the issues lies with the fact your objects are in an obliqe rotation. I drew in top plan view and when i changed the offset to a number then back to 0 all realigned, but with yours they didnot go back aligned.

Try that, HTH

[Markus Barrera-Kolb]

...I can't imagine that the intent is for surface hatches to only align with their respective textures when in Top/Plan view rather than in a 3D view, or am I misunderstanding? Here's the file with an extrude I just created in Top/Plan view, with no H or V offset, and the hatch still doesn't align with the texture, regardless of the map type. I think this whole feature is either buggy as all get-out or insanely difficult to use correctly. Wish it'd get fixed!

surface hatch alignment 2.vwx

[RogueDesigner]

I, too, am frustrated with what I believe should be default behavior: Surface hatches should align from the bottom up (default zero Z height for hatches in architectural objects). The hatches in wall components seem to align only when the wall component is set to follow the horizontal plane (i.e., no top wall peaks). See two exhibits attached. I've looked in vain for a silver bullet parameter setting in the hatch definition, the texture and in the wall object. My assumption was that the mapping would be per the wall definition "Auto-align plane" and/or "Use World Z for origin." Neither helps. If anyone reading this can point me to the right recipe, I'd be thrilled.

 

Misaligned Surface Hatches Exhibit A.pdf

Misaligned Surface Hatches Exhibit B.pdf

[BG]

This misalignment of surface hatches is a massive pain, and something we encounter regularly.  It takes a lot of trial and error or touching up with annotations to correct.

If you could specify in the object info pallette the origin point for the hatch on each wall or surface, that would make it easy.

[NHJ]

Same issue here with a current project. Either allow us to separately apply surface hatches and textures for rendering. Completely different set of controls for each. And then we can adjust them as needed. Or they should perform and align the exact same. Otherwise why have them associate? Very frustrating.

[CipesDesign]

The Surface Hatches feature has always behaved really badly (and I have complained and filed bugs). Here's hoping the engineers make fixing these flaws a priority.

[NHJ]

I did get one to work and align last evening finally. But I had to create a texture from scratch using the brick shader and I made it so it worked and was to the exact dimensions for the project. Then I had to make a custom hatch for the bricks to the exact same dimensions and then adjust a few times within the resource browser to make it work. The logic to create all this was not very logical, or straight forward, but it works! Then apply the textures to the walls and adjust the texture offsets and such.

However this all took a long time to dial in. about 4-6 hours. Not counting all the time lost trying the presets and textures and hatches provided. I am hoping I can remember and refine the process more and use this base brick texture with its surface hatch for creating more textures and surface hatches with better alignment. However I am not convinced yet that what I made is "fool proof" but it works for this project. That being said there was not logical connections between the texture and the surface hatch when editing them. I actually have the surface hatch off set from the brick surface texture w/in its resource browser settings. And somehow these two being offset in that environment makes it so the brick and its surface hatch pretty much align in 3D space. Not sure why its working, lol but its working for now. Kinda just eyeballed it until it was doing what its supposed to.

And creating hatches from scrach, thats an interesting one as well. Not user friendly for sure. Anyways, here is what I came up with and its look in model space.
 

Screen Shot 2019-07-14 at 12.48.48 PM.tiff

 

Edited February 4, 2020 by Nick Jon

[Andy Broomell]

I tried using Surface Hatches today for the first time within a project. They literally DO NOT WORK.

 

You can align a texture up perfectly on an object, and have the Surface Hatch definition aligned perfectly with the texture definition, but then Hidden Line viewports display the surface hatches on some objects in completely arbitrary alignments. I've wasted too much time today trying to get this to work...

 

 

[Andy Broomell]

If Surface Hatches aren't meant to work with the "Plane" texture mapping type, then Surface hatches should be completely omitted from objects mapped that way. Otherwise there's way too much room for error which is scary.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by Andy Broomell

[JMR]

I agree. The surface hatch controls are mentally complicated and simply do not work properly. Impossible to get hatches to align with others.

 

 

[JMR]

These mysterious surface hatch misalignments are still happening in VW 2021...if someone figured this out I would be most interested in the solution.

 

Both walls are set to world zero for texture origin, both walls are same height, no component overrides etc.

 

The texture controls actually don't have any effect on the problematic wall (on the right).

 

The settings are the same on both walls as far as I can tell.

 

[Andrew Woolman]

It is such a simple concept (and by that I mean, "I'm no programmer, but....this is basic"), and one so critical to a functioning BIM workflow.  Vectorworks' ongoing indifference to this fundamentally disruptive jank is deplorable.  Not sure how much longer their users will put up with it.  There are other products.

[Andrew Woolman]

As it is, I find the hatches to be too much on Elevations anyway, so I may just delete them from the Texture definition and apply them manually as annotations in the Elevation Viewports.  That way I can align the textures on the model for "lineless" 3D viewing (pretty easy), and I have more control over how busy my 2D Elevation drawings appear.   If, one day after a sleigh ride in Hell, VW fixes the problem, then perhaps I'll reconsider this method.   Meanwhile I won't be holding my breath.

Edited October 1, 2021 by Andrew Woolman

[BG]

Is this still an issue in VW2022?

[Christian Fekete]

I am sorry to say but it seems to be the same in 2022, 

[Guest Wes Gardner]

This might help in some scenarios...select the wall, on the Render tab of the OIP, select "Use world Z for origin"

 

Wes

 

 

[Matt Hall]

Had the same issue, The use world origin did it

 

Thank you