ProjectionViz 1

In order to use the plug-in at the student rate, you must use the free, watermarked, educational Vectorworks license. 

Educators with a standard Vectorworks license must purchase a standard license as well. Please contact us if you would like a time-sensitive demo code for demonstrating a plug-in to your class.

If you have a CAD lab of five or more seats, please contact us to see if you are eligible for a free license.

All JBLD plug-ins are platform as well as version independent. You may use your license with any version of Vectorworks from the minimal supported version up.

They are, however, linked to a specific seat of Vectorworks, meaning you may use them with a specific Vectorworks serial number and its subsequent upgrades.

Savvy Series licenses are linked to a specific version of Vectorworks. For example, if you have the 2020 Savvy Subscription Series, it will work in perpetuity with Vectorworks 2020.

If you enter a registration code but the “OK” button remains grayed, please double check the following:

1. Make sure you have installed the latest version of the plug-in.  You can download the current release any time from the Downloads page.
2. Make sure you are matching the correct registration code to the correct product.
3. If you purchased a student version (registration begins with “A”), it will only work with an E series, free educational license of VectorWorks.  You can purchase an upgrade to a full version of the plug-in.
4. If copying and pasting in your registration code, make sure there are no spaces or carriage returns at the beginning or end of the field.  If you use the arrow key to move to the ends of the field, you may catch the extra characters.
5. The code is case sensitive.
6. All “0” are zeros. (Except for the Savvy Section product code, SO.)
7. Make sure your Vectorworks seat registration is correct.  In your plug-in registration, nnnn-nnnn-XXXXXX-nnnn, XXXXXX should match the last six characters of your Vectorworks serial number.

If you have tried all these steps, and your registration code still produces an error, there will be a 5 digit code next to the registration field. Please follow this link and enter it into the troubleshooting formfollow this link and enter it into the troubleshooting form.

If you do not see the error code, make sure you have updated to the latest version, and have entered your user name.

If there is still no error code, you have entered a registration with too many or too few characters.

Projected images utilize Vectorworks’ render lights, which you can control via several methods.

Distance Falloff

In Rendering Options, ProjectionViz provides direct access to the light’s distance falloff settings, how much the intensity drops with distance. 

Smooth – linear falloff

Realistic – intensity diminishes with the distance squared, which models real-world behavior

None – no intensity degradation with distance For planning purposes, choosing None will improve brightness and flatness of the image.

Lumens

If you are rendering in Renderworks or Redshift, the light’s intensity will be set by the Lumens field in the Lens and image section of the ProjectionViz object. 

Note that rendering is not an accurate gauge of how bright the projection will appear on site. Renderworks, Redshift, and shaded render modes handle brightness values slightly differently, and the render will also depend on render and camera settings. Using the computed Luminance field is a better practice.

When controlled by lumens, brightness will also be affected by the Emitter Brightness setting in Lighting Options.

Using the Visualization Palette to affect intensity

The projected image’s light source will appear in the Visualization Palette. If the palette is not visible, select Window>Palettes>Visualization.

ProjectionViz objects will have their lights prefixed with “PV-.” You can further identify a light by entering a unique name for the projector in the at the bottom of Object Info.

The On setting synchronizes to the ProjectionViz object’s setting in Object Info. If you right-click or use the hamburger menu to select Edit…, you can further adjust the light’s brightness and color temperature.

Notice that setting the Dimmer/Brightness(%) value above 100% is possible. (Yes, you can take it up to 11).

If you have a Lumens value set in Object Info, Use Emitter and the Brightness Value will always be overwritten. In order to compensate for the round light source, you will notice the lumens value to be higher in the light’s properties.

You can use the Visualization Palette in Sheet Layer Viewports to control the projected image for only that viewport, overriding the design layer settings.

See: The Visualization Palette in Vectorworks help

See: Light source properties in Vectorworks help

Ambient light settings

You can increase the contrast of your projected image, change the ambient light brightness in Lighting Options. The ambient light setting effectively sets the black point for unlit surfaces.

Design layers’ Lighting Options are accessible through View>Set Lighting Options… In addition, viewports and Renderworks Styles can contain their own lighting options.

See: Setting lighting options in Vectorworks help