suddenly lost all snapping - anyone?

[3dworks]

after normally editing some geometzy in my scene, i've suddenly lost every snapping. i didn't change any parameters in the settings to do so. all layers are snappable, precision is not changed, all snaps can be individually set on or o, no change. i've also tried to create an empty scene and add the scene to it, same issue. i've reverted to an older build of FZ, same issue. i have no idea how i can continue to work. anyone having an idea how to fix this?

 

EDIT: if i create an empty scene and model from scratch, snapping is available as usual. i also noticed a 'bumpy' zoom issue with the 'corrupted' scene. i will check if there is a small hidden object totally out of the usual drawing area, maybe.

 

EDIT2: no 'out of boundaries'geometry. at least when i make all layers visible and set zoom all, i cannot see any irregularity.

[3dworks]

ok i found out what caused the error: i added an imported DWG as referenced object which caused the issue. after removing this layer, all snapping is back to normal. btw. the malign object passed object doctor before being merged as 'reference object.

 

i am having issues again and again with imported DWG's - but need them all the time as references for modeling. i have the impression that these DWG importing issues are never fixed - as an alternative it would be handy if we could use directly PDF's as backdrops. but this is yet not possible and backdrop placement is not easy as it was with pylon's plugins anyway.

 

on the longterm this will push me to look for another software, because all the issues with these cost so much time. nowadays, 50% of my modeling experience is dealing with crashes and bugs related also to these issues. not fun.

[3dworks]

unfortunately, the issue is still not solved. after reloading the project a second time, again no snapping. i also tried to reset all prefs, no chance.

[setz]

I know you are a long time user and have probably tried lots of methods to solve this problem.  I am racking my brain for possible solutions.

 

You can try:

 

1.   Opening the dwg, save the file, open a new file and then open the dwg.fmz file using "open add to project"

2.   Opening the dwg, export as dxf (or other format), then import that or use "add to Project"

3.   Opening the dwg, if the file is very large, parse into smaller parts and re-save using only portions of the file at a time.

4.   Opening the dwg in Illustrator, save as eps (or as Illustrator V8) then import that file.

5.   Opening the file, print to pdf, and then use that as an underlay.

 

My gut instinct though suggests that attributes for the lines in the incoming files is most likely causing the problem.  I have experienced this issue myself.  If this is true in your case, you can open the dwg, select all objects, and then set the attributes for line widths and for line styles to the FZ default ones.  Dwg can also import Layer Override Attributes as well which can be problematic.  Purging the weights/styles can solve these issues.  If you need to retain the look for some of the lines, say for custom-dashed or for colors, you can create your own, new attributes and reassign the line's to these new clean ones.  "Select By" is useful for this.  Save the file and then reimport into your project to purge the old imported styles.

 

I know that some of the issues with FZ are frustrating, but FZ is so much faster/cleaner than other packages, that the time saved in finding workarounds for the little problems will be much better spent than the even greater amount time spent modeling (and often cleaning up) projects in other programs.

 

[3dworks]

hi setz, thank youvery much for the good tips. in the end i removed all referenced objects from the file (which previously didn't cause any issues) and now it's all snapping again. i'm still puzzled because this kind of issue never happened before. hopefully it will stay a single case.

 

i agree with you that FZ in other areas is very straightforward compared to other modellers. the strongest argument for FZ is still the quality of output geometry. the two main issues i see - which are not getting better but worse, at least over long term - are stability and import modules. i can live with the UI limitations and the sometimes extremely slow speed, but the crashing irate s a no go for a professional app in this category imo.

 

cheers

 

markus

[Hugo]

The problem described I know very well too, because of that I bought also AutoCad LT as a tool to pick only the geometry I need in FMZ. It works well and compare to the time you be loosing using FMZ, it's not that expensive.

 

The main issues I have with FMZ (using it now since 1994) are print out, export to, layout, etc. 

[Hugo]

oh, and stability!

[GilZ]

ok i found out what caused the error: i added an imported DWG as referenced object which caused the issue. after removing this layer, all snapping is back to normal. btw. the malign object passed object doctor before being merged as 'reference object.

 

i am having issues again and again with imported DWG's - but need them all the time as references for modeling. i have the impression that these DWG importing issues are never fixed - as an alternative it would be handy if we could use directly PDF's as backdrops. but this is yet not possible and backdrop placement is not easy as it was with pylon's plugins anyway.

 

on the longterm this will push me to look for another software, because all the issues with these cost so much time. nowadays, 50% of my modeling experience is dealing with crashes and bugs related also to these issues. not fun.

I strictly use jpg backdrops, ("billboards") generated from my client's pdfs all the time to model with. There is no need for the plugin. For me it's much faster  

to model with in every way over dwgs.