2D/3D Object Conversion

[stancilent]

Hello,

 

I currently use Vectorworks Spotlight for my show designs, but then use Capture.se for PreViz. Specifically for the reason that they support fountains, I use a lot of universes, and I have a full license for them. Will eventually move to Vision.

 

Usually you would use a DWG file exported from Vectorworks to import into Capture. What I am noticing is objects that are considered 2D and 3D (shows this when you select the object), come up as flat images in capture. But if the object is ONLY a 3D image and not also a 2D object, it works perfectly. 

 

My current drawing has a combination of these objects (2D/3D and 3D Only), but Im not sure how they got assigned as such. Some identical truss is 2D/3D and some is 3D only.

 

How do you make an object in Vectorworks a 3D Object only?

 

Thank you!

[Jesse Cogswell]

I wouldn't jump from Capture to Vision just yet.  I've owned a Vision license since they were acquired by Vectorworks, and I'd say it's the most basic of previs softwares (compared to Capture, L8, Depence2, and WYSIWYG).  It's buggy, poorly optimized, and lacking in features like transparent/translucent materials and reflections.  The only leg up it has on the competition is that it is relatively simple to get a plot from Vectorworks into Vision, and even that sometimes gets messy with having to mix MVR and ESC exports (and WYSIWYG beats it in this category as no exporting is necessary, the process is automatic).

 

But to answer your question, the easiest way to convert 2D/3D hybrid symbols is to select the symbols you want to convert, go into a 3D view (such as Top instead of Top/Plan), and click Modify - Convert - Convert to Group (or use CTRL+K if on PC) and make sure "Convert nested symbols and plug-in objects" is selected.  This will decompose the symbol while retaining the 3D components.  Just know that this will also strip all data associated with the object (like lighting fixture info or hanging position data).  This can be done to an entire drawing in one go, keeping in mind that lighting fixtures will lose their focus in the process.

 

This is caused by having 2D geometry saved in the symbol definitions, VW will automatically convert a 3D Only symbol to a 2D/3D hybrid if ANY 2D geometry is present.  If something is a plug-in object, whether or not it is 3D Only or a 2D/3D hybrid is determined by whether the referenced symbol has any 2D geometry or not (in the case of Lighting Device objects and Hanging Position Objects, though using a 3D only symbol for a lighting fixture will cause the fixture to be "invisible," with just the Label Legend being visible).

 

All that being said, if your goal is to get a clean 3D only DWG export, the easiest way I have found that doesn't change the VW drawing too much is to be in a 3D view when doing the DWG export.  Keep in mind that it will only export the 3D geometry on objects on the active layer, so it would be worth exporting one layer at a time or to put all the things you want to export onto a single layer temporarily.  But at least you are not stripping data from your original drawing.