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Is the 'Nomad' app still alive and does anyone use it?


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  • 3 weeks later...

Trying Nomad in the wild today (for a client presentation) after not touching it for some time.

 

First problem - I have to remind myself what the process is for exporting the model so I can get at it on my ipad. So I go to here:

https://cloud.vectorworks.net/portal/help/pages/generate-3d-models-from-vwx-files/?app=VECTORWORKS

 

and it tells me

 

987151726_Screenshot2022-07-05at14_22_31.jpg.aa542f6711ba94c5317430bcb514fb93.jpg

 

But in VW2021 under File > Export I see no option for "Export VGX".

 

Am I just going blind/crazy?

 

1912953831_Screenshot2022-07-05at14_23_52.jpg.2666878679df543323a216e6cb583046.jpg

 

(in the end I managed to get it exported via the cloud services desktop app instead)

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In the iPad app (viewing a VGX model):

 

- clear glass is transparent, but appears to cast shadows. So I can have either (a) directional light & shadows on the exterior of the building but only ambient light inside or (b) directional light on the outside & inside but without any shadows

 

- another glass texture (reeded/obscured glass)I have set up as semi transparent to look as I want it in shaded view in Vextorworks shows as completely opaque (as far as I can tell) in the ipad app

 

Are these things working as expected/intended?

 

The addition of ambient occlusion is welcome; makes interiors look a little less flat/featureless although I'd still like the ability to turn edges on.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

@line-weight,

The Export VGX command is available in Vectorworks 2022 SP3 or later. I will make sure to include this in the Help. Thanks for pointing that out! I am glad you managed to export the model via the Vectorworks Cloud Services desktop app.

 

Yes, transparent objects cast shadows currently. We are looking forward to fixing this it as we implement a "white model" functionality. It will require marking which objects are transparent so we don't make them white, so we can use that to also disable shadows.

 

Reagrding your glass texture that appears opaque, please send me a message with a test file so we can evaluate this specific case further. We are aware of some issues with displaying transparency. 

 

Draw edges is coming soon, along with white model. 😉

 

Best regards,

Iskra Nikolova

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

After holding off of Nomad for some time based on poor reviews, I decided to experiment with it this morning after reading comments on this thread. 
 

Overall I am pleasantly surprised at ease of use. Navigating in model space felt a bit buggy. Model disappears if zooming in and out too fast or screen turns black, but easily corrected by navigating back with Home button, just a little frustrating.

 

I would echo the comments about including saved views, particularly as you can only control layer visibilities at the moment. For high dollar presentation work it seems the best approach currently is to set desired class visibilities then save as a separate file (now as i’m writing I assume this is what exporting as a .vgx is for). I would also echo comments about hiding clip cube edges, or preserving the clipped view after hiding the clip cube. 
 

Its not clear to me yet whether this is feasible for sharing with clients for use on their own, but definitely looking forward to using this tool to generate discussion during design sync. 
 

PWF

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3 hours ago, Peter W Flint said:

It’s not clear to me yet whether this is feasible for sharing with clients for use on their own, but definitely looking forward to using this tool to generate discussion during design sync. 
 

PWF

Hi Peter, if you’d like to share designs with clients you can send them the QR code you can generate when exporting as webview (vgx). The client only needs to download the Nomad app on their device to scan your QR code. No need for them to create an account within the app. 
 

This method is exactly how I review my students interior designs. Ahwait, I have an account myself. I mean: exactly how my colleagues would be able to review the designs… 😇

 

HTH!

 

Cheers, JB

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On 8/20/2022 at 8:56 PM, jbtroost said:

Hi Peter, if you’d like to share designs with clients you can send them the QR code you can generate when exporting as webview (vgx). The client only needs to download the Nomad app on their device to scan your QR code. No need for them to create an account within the app.

 

I'm guessing @Peter W Flint was not talking about the mechanics of sharing the model, rather the question of whether the app is sufficiently user-friendly that a client can be left to navigate around it by themselves. I think it is somewhat improved on previous versions, but probably not at this stage yet.

 

For clients (ie laypeople who may have no prior experience of interacting with 3d models) I'd say there are two important things - firstly, is the navigation intuitive enough that they can navigate the model easily and without frustration/confusion, and secondly, do I have enough control over what they see - for example, can I be sure that they won't accidentally press a button that changes how things look or what is shown, or can I limit them to only exploring parts of the model that are complete, so that they don't gain a false impressions of what I'm proposeing.

 

I'd imagine that satisfying both of those demands is actually pretty difficult so I think the app should probably walk before it can run, and I'll be happy for it initially to get to the stage where it allows me to walk people around a model during an in-person meeting.

 

In the meantime, I find the best way to share a 3d walkaround with clients is just to do a screen recording of me moving around the model (in shaded/openGL view) manually. (Of course there's also the option of producing something in an external application like Twinmotion. Sadly Vectorworks inbuilt animation/walkround tool is completely hopeless and is impossible to produce anything vaguely professional with)

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6 hours ago, line-weight said:

I'm guessing @Peter W Flint was not talking about the mechanics of sharing the model, rather the question of whether the app is sufficiently user-friendly that a client can be left to navigate around it by themselves. I think it is somewhat improved on previous versions, but probably not at this stage yet.

 

Yes this is my concern. The U/X feels like it requires some understanding in how modeling applications work in order to get around some of the visual bugs. I 100% derive conversational value from it during an in situ design review, but I'm reluctant to use it as a resource for clients to view independently at this moment. Best case scenario for me would be a "presentation mode" or some such way to set up a variety of "scenes" with different environmental qualities such as lighting pre-set, and let clients explore the model that way, as opposed to giving them full access to a model that still has in-progress visual elements. 

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Just stumbled across this fairly lively thread from a couple of years back, and wondering if there has been any further development?

 

Is anybody using Nomad regularly, and if so how are you finding it? Wondering if its worth the time and effort experimenting with in 2024..

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I have shared models in the last few months with some of my tech-savvier/enthusiastic clients and not heard any complaints. There are some UI improvements that address the learning-curve, notably the `?` Help icon with some simple graphic instructions. Classes can also be toggled on and off, those are the improvements addressed over the course of this thread.

 

However, there seem to be some issues in the course of introducing those features that have now made the app less set-up friendly on the deisgner end. For instance, I'm not getting consistent results with availability of higher level PIOs in .vgx files generated after the latest series of updates. Ie doors, windows, landscape areas, fences, or texture beds will not display or be available in class selection. That is a significant step back. Layer organization also seems somewhat arbitrary, meaning layers will not be arranged according to the order in which they are specified in the original file, but they are also not arranged alphabetically so I've not tracked the logic on that. In defense of the developers, I am still drawing in v2022 and the issues above may be related to that. 

 

Overall I would say it is still a useful tool provided its limitations are understood, maybe at the conceptual phase when still playing with massing and spatial arrangements. But it now requires more time and energy to set up at more advanced stages of design and I suspect is ultimately more confusing for an end user or client. As an example, I am preparing for a review next week and do not anticipate introducing it as a presentation tool.

 

PWF

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
On 8/20/2022 at 12:06 PM, Peter W Flint said:

I would also echo comments about hiding clip cube edges, or preserving the clipped view after hiding the clip cube. 

I submitted an entry in our project tracking tool for consideration.

 

7 hours ago, Peter W Flint said:

For instance, I'm not getting consistent results with availability of higher level PIOs in .vgx files generated after the latest series of updates. Ie doors, windows, landscape areas, fences, or texture beds will not display or be available in class selection.

We would appreciate if you share a test file that describes the behavior that you are describing. We can work on addressing it once we have a good understanding of what you are seeing.

 

7 hours ago, Peter W Flint said:

Layer organization also seems somewhat arbitrary, meaning layers will not be arranged according to the order in which they are specified in the original file, but they are also not arranged alphabetically so I've not tracked the logic on that.

Yes, we are aware of this problem. We will be working on preserving the sorting type that is set in Vectorworks at the time of export.

 

To improve the usefulness of the viewer as a presentation tool, we are planning to introduce Saved views. Class visibility which was just recently released was an important building block for us to be able to support saved views. 

 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread! We appreciate the feedback and it is taken into consideration as we are developing our plans for future product improvements.

 

Best regards,

Iskra Nikolova

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26 minutes ago, inikolova said:

We will be working on preserving the sorting type that is set in Vectorworks at the time of export.

 

To improve the usefulness of the viewer as a presentation tool, we are planning to introduce Saved views

Thank you!

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