Offset Duplications or Duplicate in Place

I had a discussion the other day with a  client. He really loves using the duplicate command from the Edit menu. He especially likes the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+D (Windows), or Command+D (Macintosh). But he only likes to use this command when the object does NOT jump up to the right.

By default, Vectorworks will offset the duplications so you can see that the object has been duplicated. To change the default, you need to change one of the Vectorworks Preferences. You access these preferences from the Menu bar.

• Go to the Menu bar.
• Choose  Tools > Options > Vectorworks Preferences...
• Click on the Edit Tab. 
• Click on the option for Offset Duplications. If you want your duplications to jump up to the right, turn this option on. If you want your duplications to remain in place, turn this option off. 

But why use offset duplications. It is about more than just the duplications movie up to the right. If you turn Offset Duplications on, and you use the drag a copy trick, the next time you use Duplicate, the duplications will jump the same distance and angle as your drag.

Here is an example. Drag a copy of an object. To use drag a copy, drag the object with the Ctrl key (Windows) or the Option key (Macintosh) held down. Keep the key held down and release the mouse button.

Vectorworks will remember the direction and distance.

When you use the Duplicate command from the Edit menu, Vectorworks will duplicate and move the object the same distance and direction as you drag a copy.

Now you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+D (Windows) or Command+D (Macintosh) to duplicate as many of these objects as you want.  This a a quick way to create several objects at the same setting out. There are other ways, such as the Move by Points tool. I will cover this tool in another blog.

So, what happens if you want to have you duplicate directly on top of the original object? I use the same technique as drag a copy, but I do not drag the object. Ctrl+click (Windows) or Option+click (Macintosh) on the object to make a copy. The copy will not move.

In Vectorworks 2011, there is a Vectorworks preference that you need to turn on if you want to use this trick. Turn on the option to Allow Ctrl (or option) click in-place duplicates. If you do not activate this, you will not be able to create duplicates on top of each other.