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Saturday, November 29, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #182 - Preferences - Clip Cube with Saved View

image118 If you set up a saved view while you have the clip cube activated, when you restore that saved view, the clip cube will be reactivated. This is a very handy way to save your clip cubes.

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Friday, November 28, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #181 - 3D Modelling - 3D Polygon

image117Vectorworks has some really cool 3D tools, and it's tempting to always look at these instead of some of the basic 3D tools that Vectorworks has. The 3D polygon tool can be used to draw a polygon between 3D objects. You don't need to use automatic working planes, you don't need to set working planes, you just need to draw the 3D object and snap to the 3D geometry you already have.

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Thursday, November 27, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #180 - Text - Find/Replace Text

image116Find/Replace Text is a fantastic command for finding and replacing text in your drawings. I once had a client that had to change all of the notes that related to the roof strap bracing. Using this command meant that it will be done at once without having to look for every reference in document.

 

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #179 - Basic Tools - Custom Modification

image115This command allows you to select multiple objects and modify them. It uses the same concept as the custom selection command, will you have a dialog box to set the criteria for selecting the objects. After making your choices and clicking OK on the selection criteria, you then get the Properties dialog box with all of the objects selected. This dialog box allows you to edit all of the selected objects at the same time.

 

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #178 - Preferences - Clip Cube

2014-11-08_11-02-20The clip cube is a fantastic technique for filtering your model in 3D. The clip cube will allow you to filter out the parts of your model that you do not want to see. The easiest way to create your clip cube is to select an object before activating it. You can see from the image how it takes away all the information that you don't require. The clip cube can be adjusted after you activate it using the selection tool.

 

Friday, November 21, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #177- 3D Modeling - Loft Surface - Loft With Birail Sweep

image_20_010Loft Surface – Bi-Rail Sweep mode. In this mode you use a cross-section through your object and two rails to control it. This allows you to create very complex shapes very simply. As the rails move closer together to further apart, the profile stretches to match.

 

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #176 - Text - Variable Tab Widths

2014-11-08_10-57-45Vectorworks 2015 allows you to create blocks of text with variable spacing for the tab settings. This is new. In the past, all of the tab settings were the same width. Now you can create blocks of text with different width settings with the tabs.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #175 - Basic Tools - Custom Selection

2014-11-08_10-48-35Vectorworks allows you to select objects based on a series of custom criteria. This would allow you to select all the walls of a certain wall style, or select all objects of a certain line weight, line color, or a combination of these.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

podcast 202 - 3D Ploygon Tool

2014-11-08_14-51-363D Polygon Tool - Vectorworks has some really cool 3D tools, and it's tempting to always look at these instead of some of the basic 3D tools that Vectorworks Has. The 3D polygon tool can be used to draw a polygon between 3D objects. You don't need to use automatic working planes, you don't need to set working planes, you just need to draw the 3D object and snap to the 3D geometry you already have.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #174 - Saved Views

2014-11-08_10-32-02Saved views are very useful for restoring a view of your project. They control the view, layers, classes, zoom, rendering, etc. It is a really quck way to jump from anywhere in the project to a specific view.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #173- 3D Modeling - Loft Surface - Loft With One Rail

image_20_007Loft Surface – One Rail mode. In this mode you need to have a cross-section through your object and around the want to move it along. This allows you to create very complex shapes very simply.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #172 - Text - Check Spelling

2014-11-08_10-38-25Vectorworks has a spellchecker allowing you to check the spelling of individual blocks of text, all the selected text, all the text in the entire drawing.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #171 - Basic Tools - Select Connected Objects

2014-11-08_10-27-32This is a great command for selecting objects that join each other. You will find this command in the contextual menu, so when you right-click on an object you can select all of the objects that join to the selected object.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

podcast 201 - Loft Surface Tool

2014-11-08_10-22-47This tool is so useful for creating complex curving shapes. There are three modes, No Rail mode, One Rail mode, and Birail Sweep. Each mode has a use, and they have very different results. Watch the movie to find out more. In the fist mode you use series of cross sections to create the object, in the second mode you use a profile and a single rail, in the third mode you use two rails and a profile.


Saturday, November 08, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #170 - Document Preferences – Associate Dimensions

2014-11-08_14-48-36Associated dimensions can be quite powerful, but if you don't want to use associative dimensions there is a document preference that allows you to attend this on or off.

Friday, November 07, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #169 - 3D Modeling - Loft Surface - Loft With No Rail

image_20_002Loft Surface - Loft With No Rail. The Loft Surface tool creates a 3-D object based on NURBS curves or 3D loci. You need to have a series of cross-sections through your object, then you can use the Loft Surface tool to create a skin across these.

 

Thursday, November 06, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #168 - Dimensions - Notes with Dimensions

2014-11-01_15-23-49Dimensions – Notes with Dimensions. In Vectorworks 2015 they have added the ability to attach notes to your dimensions. The dimension note will always appear on the opposite side to the dimension. It will also seem to the note on the dimension, which means when you move the dimension text relative to the dimension line, your will move as well.

 

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

Vectorworks Tip #167 - Basic Tools - Select Similar Objects

2014-11-01_15-18-18Select Similar Objects – this tool allows you to click on an object, and based on the criteria chosen, select all the objects that match this criteria. This is extremely useful when you want to select all walls of a particular class, wall style, etc.

 

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Landmark_SIG_059 Special Interest Group October (pm) 2014

In this session we looked at Keeping accurate time for a job whilst working in Vectorworks, the new site modeling features in version 2015, creating the banks of a pond that have a constant slope, and how to create underwater steps for the pond.

podcast 200 Site Modeling Changes in Vectorworks 2015

Vectorworks 2015 has several new site modeling improvements. The three main improvements of the changes to the visual appearance of errors in your site modeling and 2 new road tools. The changes to the visual appearance of errors in your site model are such a timesaver, several clients have pointed out how much time the small edition has saved them. The two new roads of very powerful and will certainly speed up your site modeling. The new Roadway (Custom Kerb) is really powerful, and allows you to make roads of various shapes. I recently use this tool to create a car park where each side of the car park sloped to a drain.

Saturday, November 01, 2014

Landmark_SIG_058 Special Interest Group October (am) 2014

2014-10-31_09-36-41In the session we focused on site modifies and site modeling in Vectorworks 2015. There have been some important changes in Vectorworks 2015. One of the most important is the ability to see errors in your site model visually. This may not sound like much in improvement, but everybody who sees it comments on how important this change is. We also looked at two of the new road objects, one of which we used to build a car park.