CompuServe Messages

Joe: First, I wouldn't be too concerned about Imagine Interface from Schrieber… I think they have stopped marketing the product. Second, I don't think you are looking at VL with the proper perspective… but I must first admit that I don't have my copy yet even though I have >some< understanding of what the product does. I haven't been able to play with it yet to see what can and can't be done reasonably. The idea for me is that a draftsman or modeler or architect or engineer or whatever the case may be can make his 3D models that are completed in AutoCAD FOR OTHER PURPOSES translate better to 3DS. It is not to make AutoCAD the modeler for 3DS. All calculation intensive ADS routines are slow in AutoCAD… AME is REALLY slow, for example. To me, using VL should be looked upon as a post processor and much of what is done should be completed on computer time, not user time. I would imagine that alot of VL can be driven by AutoLISP macros so that the process can be automated considerably… (just as can AME). As far as how you create your AutoCAD models, I can say that the method that you use will make your work more difficult in 3DS if you are mapping modular materials… you will either need to detach faces for proper orientation or you will need to create each side of your AutoCAD solids on different layers. That is why exploding the blocks shouldn't make any difference. Let me give you an example… If I am completing a brick building and I have a reference point for all of the brick modules on every same facing wall of the building (something that I do usually do as an architect) then I can put ALL of the same facing walls on the same layer, set the map to the proper size and location (at the reference point) and map all of the walls facing north, for example, at the same time. The bricks align just like they would in the real building in this way. Adesk U is in october and will be in Cadence magazine. C#