Jump to content

Vectorworks / 3D / Normals / VR


PO4

Recommended Posts

dear forum

 

our architecture firm is experimenting with VR since the first oculus rift dev kit in 2013. back then we modelled all our 3d content in rhino, simply because modelling in rhino is much more efficient. vectorworks has luckily improved a little in that respect (although there is still quite some way to go). to achieve a better workflow, we would really love to do as much in vectorworks as possible. unfortunately, there are still some big issues with vectorworks that prevents a smooth workflow. we really love vectorworks for 2d work (I've been working with it since around 2004), I'd love if vectorworks became as strong for 3d work.

 

the most issues I have with vectorworks are:

 

navigation

navigation in 3d space is simply horrendous. please look at how rhino does navigation, or blender, or any other self respecting 3d software for that matter. I don't need a context menu and would much rather like to use the second mouse button for navigation. I bought a space mouse which is the only way to make working in 3d space bearable.

 

texture mapping

texture mapping isn't transparent at all. also, why is there no way to cube map objects? I love the 3d hatches but they don't work if I try to project a texture top down (onto terrain for example).

 

modelling

as far as I know there is no projection mode, so moving 3d objects in 2d space often moves/snaps objects onto a different z-axis. very annoying... modelling is generally very unintuitive and frustrating, lots of steps to create simple objects (again, rhino...).

 

3d export

cinema4d and fbx export works ok. but it would be nice to be able to have more options (for example merge all meshes with the same texture instead of having thousands of individual objects (look at how rhino handles for example .obj-export). rhino3d-export doesn't work if the project gets too large. very lucky that we have rhino import export at all.

 

and by far the biggest issue

NORMALS. it frustrates me so much that normals still aren't solved. there are posts about this topic going back to at least 2013 about this topic. there is no way to display reversed normals in vectorworks itself, so no control whatsoever. also mirrored objects get exported with reversed normals, and there are various random objects where there are normal errors. this creates so much working cleaning up the geometry.

 

vectorworks is really becoming a very strong software package, also for 3d and BIM and I really hope that these issues are taken seriously and under consideration.

 

thanks :)

  • Like 4
Link to comment
9 hours ago, PO4 said:

please look at how rhino does navigation

yes it's a beautiful thing flying around in the Rhino3d world, and how good would it be to have a gumball like in Rhino 👍

Also in VW you cannot import a V6 Rhino file, you have to save your Rhino models as V5 files , annoying ! 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
2 hours ago, milezee said:

yes it's a beautiful thing flying around in the Rhino3d world, and how good would it be to have a gumball like in Rhino 👍

Also in VW you cannot import a V6 Rhino file, you have to save your Rhino models as V5 files , annoying ! 

yes, gumball would be amazing! also, push and pull for edges and points! in rhino I can select a collection of edges or polygons and adjust them directly. this is very efficient if you have custom objects you need to adapt quickly. example: creating a sloped slab takes a second in rhino. in vectorworks you would have to do a series of boolean operations or construct a slab out of polygons to create the same result. 5 seconds vs. 10 minutes at least.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...