Visual Link Support
3 messages in this thread
I'm using Autodesk's patch for getting AutoCAD 3D objects over to 3DS – Visual
Link. I've used this program on and off for the past couple of months.
However, tonight I just couldn't figure out why it wasn't finding my
hard-earned and well thought-out AME meshes for export. I was on the verge of
labeling Autodesk's newest product with colorful metaphors after struggling
with it for over two hours. It was with astonishment that I believed to have
discovered an undocumented "bug", and therefore wish to share this with all,
and compair notes.
I had my Layer "0" frozen in AutoCAD. Once this had been "thawed" the program
exported my meshes like a champ! I have attempted to find any info in the
manual and found none. Has anyone else discovered anomolies, bugs, and the
like? =D]
Alan,
You bet I have.
Try arraying (or even copying) a spotlight.
I do architectural renderings (mainly office type environmnents) and I thought
VL would be a Godsend. Wouldn't it be great to create one spotlight, get it
perfect, and then create an ARRAY of 250 of them? IT DOESN'T WORK.
It seems that since all of the spotlight's data (including target point) is
stored as XDATA in the spotlight source block, when you copy or array this
block the copies all contain the SAME TARGET POINT! I am in the process of
writing an XDATA editor that will update the target point in each light, but so
far it's slow going.
I spoke to Autodesk and they asked me for a copy of the fix when I finished it.
If anyone else out there knows of this (or a fix) please pass it on.
Jeff Bradley
AXIS 3D
Visual Link uses XDATA to store extra info? Has Autodesk ever tried to collect
and document the ways that different companies use XDATA? I understand that
its very purpose is "application dependent", but it would be a nice way to
extend DXF into the real world. For example, with standardized XDATA, DXF
files could contain true surface info (color, etc.) plus rotational centers.