The Fillet Edge tool from the 3D Modeling toolset is used around the corners of 3-D objects. It also allows you to change the radius of the edge as it goes along, creating a variable raduis edge.
The leader in Vectorworks training and manuals: http://learn.archoncad.com
Vectorworks Has the ability to show the strings of light coming into the building. This ability is a preference called Lit Fog You'll find Lit Fog in the preferences for the environmental lighting and it adds a beautiful quality of light. Use this to improve the quality of your renderings.
The leader in Vectorworks training and manuals: http://learn.archoncad.com
Interactive Settings – Background Colour. The standard settings for the background colour are to have a white background colour for Top/Plan view, and a slight minty colour for 3-D views. The reasoning for this is that it helps you to see when you change from a Top/plan view to another view. But you may not like this idea, so you can change it using Interactive Settings.
The leader in Vectorworks training and manuals: http://learn.archoncad.com
The third mode of the Project tool is quite different to the first two. In this mode the project tool will project a shape onto another NURBS surface. You could think of this as being like an extrude to the NURBS surface
The leader in Vectorworks training and manuals: http://learn.archoncad.com
The Visualization palette show the lights that are in the current scene, and if a viewport is selected, the Visualization palette shows the lights that are in the viewport. This allows you to edit light, shadows, the intensity of the light, etc. in this viewport, without affecting the lighting in other viewports.
The leader in Vectorworks training and manuals: http://learn.archoncad.com
The Tangent Snap is really useful when you need an object that starts or stops at a tangent to circle or arc. This snap is the only way to ensure that your object is tangential.
You can find more information about this and other snaps on the Guide to Productivity.
The leader in Vectorworks training and manuals: http://learn.archoncad.com
The interactive settings are designed to give you control over the way Vectorworks looks, not the way that it behaves. There are numerous settings here allowing you to change such things as the screen colour, the background colour for perspective views, and preselection colour, to name just a few. Changing these interactive settings can speed up the way you work by making it easier to see the things you want
You can change the sky and ground colours using the interactive settings.
The leader in Vectorworks training and manuals: http://learn.archoncad.com
The second mode of the Project tool is similar to the first mode except that it cleans up the area where you have split the original NURBS surface. In other words the NURBS surface is trimmed to the shape of the planar object. This makes a very quick to create a NURBS surface and then trim it to the shape that you want.
The leader in Vectorworks training and manuals: http://learn.archoncad.com
Animationworks - Create Rotating object. Animationworks has a tool that will create a rotating object, so that as the movie plays, the object rotates.
The leader in Vectorworks training and manuals: http://learn.archoncad.com
Sn
aps - Snap to Distance. Use this snap when you want to snap to a percentage along an object.
You can find more information about this and other snaps on the Guide to Productivity.
The leader in Vectorworks training and manuals: http://learn.archoncad.com
I'm a big fan of using the Project tool, because it so powerful for 3-D modelling. You can use it to trim a NURBS surface to suit a planar shape, you can also use it to project planar objects onto a 3-D object. In my recent 3-D Modelling Special Interest Group, the topic of the project or came up. Many of the users were surprised at how powerful this tool can be.
The standard Vectorworks preselection colour is orange. The standard Vectorworks colour for selected objects is also orange, Which makes it hard to see when object is selected and when it is preselected. This can cause some confusion. If you change the preselection colour it to make it easier to see the difference between selected and preselected objects. 
The projection tool has three modes. In the first mode you can use a planar object to split a NURBS curve. In the picture I have used a rectangle to split a curving NURBS surface. In the final image you can see that I have separated the original NURBS surface from the split one. Notice how the rectangle has split the NURBS surface so that the plan view is still a rectangle but in 3-D it's still a curving surface.
Unlike the standard Vectorworks animation, Animationworks allows you to create moving objects inside your Vectorworks files. This means that you can create a walk-through movie where objects move as you walk through. There are several options for this, the first option is when you get an object to move along a path. For example in this scene there is a truck that moves across the front of the building just before the walk-through starts.
The Smart edge snap is very powerful, but it is not one of the snaps that you should leave on most of the time. The Smart Edge allows you to create objects that are parallel to an edge, allows you to create offsets from that smart edge. 
The snap box is the area around your cursor that allows Vectorworks to snap onto objects. If you go to your Vectorworks preferences you will find that you can change the size of the snap box and change the size of the selection box(this is the area around the cursor allows you to select objects). Changing the snap and selection boxes can make it easier to draw, but you must try these out, because changing them too much can make it more difficult to draw.
I use the Extract Tool to extract the faces of 3-D models. You can then use the extracted face to apply planar graphics. In this image you can see that I have applied hatching to the walls and roof of the building. This is using the extract face option from the extract tool.
One of the things that I really like about animation works is the ability to use multiple cameras along the path. This allows you to set some cameras that look along the path and some cameras the focus on a particular point. For example, you could create a walk through a project where you followed the path for some distance then changed to a camera that focused on a particular part of the design as you flew around this part, then change back to a camera that followed the path again.
Snap to object is one of the snaps that you absolutely must turn on if you want to draw accurately in Vectorworks. If you do not activate the snap you cannot draw accurately relative to other objects and you will not be able to dimension accurately. If you double click on the snap to object it has several options for you to choose from. If you reduce the number of choices, you can speed up your dimensioning. Reinstate all these choices for accurate designing.
The Extract tool can be used for several different things, one of the things I use this tool for is to extract the edges from 3-D objects. This can be a really useful way to get a path that you can then use with Extrude Along Path. You'll find this tool used in my 3D Modelling Manual available from Vectorworks.
For many of my clients, this time of the year is when they come back to school and work after the summer holidays. So, if you have been having a holiday (lucky you) welcome back. It is time to get your Vectorworks up to speed again. If you are (like me) enjoying your mid-winter work, maybe its time to invest a little time to make your Vectorworks run better. This is the theme of the newsletter this month.
If you double click on the Snap to Grid you will see a dialogue box with all the snap to grid options. I do not use Snap to Grid very often, usually because I'm drawing relative to other objects. But when you need to draw a objects,like this wall, and you want control the length of the quickly, use the snap to grid with a large grid setting so that you can draw the wall quickly. In this example I have used a wall, but this equally applies to other situations like set design and landscape. If you want more information about Snaps, have a look at my Guide to Productivity available here.
Windoor is a Vectorworks plug-in from Australia that allows you to create custom windows and doors. Unlike the standard window or door object, Windoor allows you to put doors and windows in the same frame, much like you would do in reality. Unfortunately, this plug-in is only available to users in Australia and New Zealand, but if you do have a copy that you have previously bought and you live outside these areas, you are able to upgrade it. I find Windoor to be very powerful when creating doors and windows.
When you combine the instant push/pull technique on planar objects with Automatic Working Planes, you get a very quick way to do 3D modelling. In step one you draw your planar object on the automatic working plan. In step two you move to the planar object, it should highlight. In step three you pull your planar object through your model. In step four hold down the alt/option key and click. Vectorworks will use your new extrusion object to subtract from the original object.
Posted with Blogsy
