4/12/07
Serving the Seattle VectorWorks Users Group and Northwest VectorWorks users.
An archive of past newsletters can be found at http://converttolines.blogspot.com/
In this issue:
• Webinars come to the User Group
• Treasure trove of 3D objects
• Hear the top 7 VW productivity tips
• Pickup’s latest tip. I had no idea you could do this.
•New plugins being offered
•Amazing 3D printer
Greetings VectorWorks users! Our next meeting is Thursday, April 26th, from 6:00 to 8:30 EITHER at the Seattle Central Community College OR at my office in the Roosevelt District of Seattle. I will follow up later on with confirmation of the location. My office may be preferable due to the difficulty of getting through the college’s firewall since we’ll need a high speed internet connection. If we meet at my office, I’ll need an overhead projector. CAN YOU BRING OR LEND ONE? It needn’t be particularly powerful. Please let me know asap. (Alternatively, if you have access to a projector that has to stay put, can we meet at your place?) Note that were we to meet at my office or that of another we will start at 6:00 PM sharp, instead of the usual 6:30 PM.
Nemetschek is doing something really nice for the user groups. They have developed a webcasting “webinar”
>http://www.nemetschek.net/training/vlearning.php
which you can either take on your own time and pay for OR have it delivered to you free just by attending our user group meetings. Nemetschek hopes to provide ten of these webinars per year, just for us. The first few sessions are on the following topics:
April--Worksheets and spreadsheets using formulas, schedules, etc.
May--Viewports, basic and advanced and how to create plot files and send them to a commercial printer.
June--Survey input and and the DTM tools (terrain modeling) and processes.
I expect the session to last an hour. Afterward we would either follow on with additional discussion or more likely explore other topics and/or answer general questions. I can even see polling you beforehand to see if a homemade tutorial on textures and lighting might or might not be preferable to a webinar focusing on configuring doors and windows, for instance. The bottom line is webcasting brings in more experts. Each new webinar will be live so there will be a chance for direct questioning. If we miss one due to scheduling conflicts, we can still get the webinar beamed to us minus the interactive aspect.
Since we’ve not linked to a webcast before, there may be a few moments of chaos. Please bring a sense of humor. Any time not allotted to the webcast will be spent looking at applying textures and lighting to objects and scenes.
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He who dies with the biggest collection of 3D objects wins. Of course, I don’t buy into those kinds of notions--that’s crazy talk. I only want a few thousand objects for my library folders. And now I know where to find them--for free.
>http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse
This is a site where you can obtain objects meant to populate models created in Sketchup--Google’s recently acquired 3D app--yet can be imported with one command into VectorWorks files, no problem. These are free models created by Sketchup users, including a copy of Remmy the K’s Seattle Public Library or the Louvre (!) which you can download and import into your next backyard deck-with-trellis rendering. I’m more interested in playing with the cool trampoline I found in the Landscape Architecture section in the Recreation Folder along with a 3D man falling (or bouncing) through space located in the Other Libraries section under 3D People.
The models within are Spartan, much like the app itself, so you won’t find loads of textures, or any textures, really, which would otherwise allow for more realistic renderings. This is not a problem because you can apply your own textures if you have just a little more time to explore VectorWorks. Simply click (or double click for groups) on a polygon and give it a texture from either the VectorWorks textures collection via the Resource palette or apply another texture imported from the web or perhaps one you’ve created yourself. To get get some shadows going, add a big, flat extruded polygon (or use the Floor tool) and place it below your object, then add a single light source pitched to cast a preferred shadow. Use the Flyover tool to tip your creation to the right angle and then render. Since this was so simple, try multiple rendering options including, for those models with textures, Custom Renderworks.
There are other free sources of models such as those made in .3ds format. One site you might check out is Turbosquid.
>http://www.turbosquid.com/3d
Unfortunately, the FREE models, especially architectural types, seem to be few in number. If you want guns or outer space creatures, you’re in luck. The 3ds pay-per-model option is frustrating because of their typical high cost, even allowing for included textures and higher polygon counts. The fun goes out the virtual window when you find that a dozen run-of-the-mill residential objects can equal the cost of a new VectorWorks license.
Cadtoday offers bundled sets of VW formatted, DWG/DXF or 3ds models
>http://www.cadtoday.com/
>http://www.cadtoday.com/gallery.shtml
at what seems like reasonable prices. You can see portions of models from each set, rendered, via the gallery link. There is also a link at the topmost part of their home page that allows you to download the entire model catalog so you can see the full range of their offerings. I was surprised at the number and quality of their models. I saw lots of appliances--a ton of ranges--many lighting fixtures and high quality furnishings. The advantage of Cadtoday models, it seems to me, is in their variety. While one site would be content with one generic model, another, such as Cadtoday, might push to have their models represent a truer view of the product. If you visit the site, be sure to also note the 2D A/E/C details catalog.
While it will always be true that you get what you pay for, Sketchup 3D Warehouse is going to really put pressure on other model providers to lower prices on individual models and bundled sets or to improve content. Google has found a way to harness the excitement and the talents of their members for the benefit of the user base by providing easy-to-use tools and a platform for display and distribution. But it is the users who have made this site what it is. Power to the people. Right on.
PS. Before you leave the warehouse, be sure to check out the monotone or colored 2D people outlines. They’re a perfectly simple way to add scale to your next 3D rendering or 2D elevation view.
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The following is a must-hear. Tune in to PodCAD Podcast 704 and listen to Top 7 VW Productivity Hints
>http://www.podcad.tv/podcad/home.html
>http://www.podcad.tv/podcad/podcast/podcast.html
As I’ve already stated in a previous post sent to the VW Listserv, please listen
to Stanford, Jansenson and Levy’s podcast, then pass the link onto other VW users.
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Jon Pickup has a new podcast out that shows you a cool, quick way to
turn a group of overlapping lines into a single 2D polygon with one command.
>http://web.mac.com/jpickup1/iWeb/Site/Podcast/Podcast.html
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Several new plugins are available from former senior VW programmer Charles Chandler. They can be seen via the link below.
>http://www.softwarecustomizationservices.com/default.php?page=products
If you do landscaping or site work design, check out the substantial Land Planning plugin. If you import 2D architectural files from others, there is one plugin that will convert all parallel lines to walls with one command.
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You’ve got to see this to believe it-- a new “printer” can produce scaled, true 3D objects as prototypes, both architectural, geologic and machine, from 3D CAD files.
>http://www.ideal.com/contex/default.asp
Don’t miss the movie:
>ftp://ftp.ideal.com/dave/contex_2000k.wmv
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That’s all for now!
Tom Greggs
(206) 524-2808
Thursday, April 12, 2007
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