Taking CAD beyond the drawing Board with Vectorworks

My friend Bill and I have been involved with several Vectorworks clients helping them to integrate Vectorworks into other aspects of their business.

In this case the client sells solar hot water systems and solar PV systems. The client would like to know the orientation of the house relative to the sun, how big the roof area is, and how many panels could reasonably be placed on the sloping roof. We can in fact do far more!

The answer is to get an image from the Internet showing the house and orientation to North. You then use the Vectorworks tools to create a 3-D model of the roof and walls. Using the 3-D model of the roof you  place the solar water and PV panels. When you place the panels on the roof they  align to the slope of the roof, so you know exactly how many panels you can place. 

The panels are linked to a worksheet. With the panels in place, simply update the worksheet  which will show the cost of each panel, the total cost of all the panels, cost of installation, council permits etc. So your 2D drawing  has generated a quotation!

Bill and I have trained several clients to use these reporting and quoting functions inside Vectorworks. Clients like IceBreaker find that Vectorworks can change the way they do business.

For more information please contact Bill…  bill@megabits-ANZ.net
Jonathan at jon@archoncad.co.nz

Novedge Webinar Series Episode 39: Introduction to BIM with Vectorworks Architect

Earlier on today I was presenting a webinar for Novedge, a Vectorworks reseller in America. The topic was an introduction to BIM using Vectorworks architect.  the webinar was recorded and you can now watch this recording on YouTube.

One of the main concepts in using Vectorworks Architect is called Building Information Modeling (BIM). What this means is that as you draw a wall in Vectorworks, it is more than a plan representation of a wall. The wall has texture, knows when a window is inserted, and can have information attached to it. Many parts of the Vectorworks drawing are like this: they are much more than they seem. A door, for example, is more than the plan representation of the door. It has a model part, and you can attach information about the door, door hardware, or even the supplier and cost of the door. This information can be generated as a report whenever you want it.

Many of the topics that I showed during this webinar have been covered in my monthly subscription service.  So if you are a subscriber you will recognize many of the tricks I have shown you, if you are not a subscriber you might notice there are lots of quick tricks that I use.

Almost all of today's webinar is covered in the Vectorworks Architect Tutorial manual sold by Novedge on the website. Check it out here.

Icebreaker Breaks New Ground

I was really pleased to see this case study about Icebreaker.  Icebreaker has been a client of mine for some time,  and so I was really pleasing to see Vectorworks do a case study about how they have implemented the training I have completed with them.

The case study is worth reading. It is amazing to see the changes the icebreaker have implemented by using Vectorworks. It has really changed the way they design the shops, price them, report on the clothing in the stores, and present their proposals to their clients.

Icebreaker started with a new sales team leader, and he wanted to know how best to put Vectorworks in place.  To start with,  I had him attend one of my Essential Tutorial courses so that he would learn the basics of Vectorworks in a structured way. Next we set up a series of ten online sessions that would allow us to work through one project, implementing Vectorworks in a way that they had never seen before. Icebreaker set out several things that they would like to achieve with Vectorworks. Not only were we able to achieve these things, but we were able to do much more.

I thoroughly recommend downloading and reading this case study. I hope it will change the way you think about Vectorworks.

If you would like to change your business like icebreaker did, please get in touch with me, I know I can help you.

Introduction to BIM with Vectorworks Architect

One of the main concepts in using Vectorworks Architect is called Building Information Modeling (BIM). What this means is that as you draw a wall in Vectorworks, it is more than a plan representation of a wall. The wall has texture, knows when a window is inserted, and can have information attached to it. Many parts of the Vectorworks drawing are like this: they are much more than they seem. A door, for example, is more than the plan representation of the door. It has a model part, and you can attach information about the door, door hardware, or even the supplier and cost of the door. This information can be generated as a report whenever you want it.

Time: February 15, 2012 from 11am to 12pm
Location: Online (PDT)
Website or Map: http://www.novedge.com/webina…
Event Type: webinar
Organized By: NOVEDGE LLC.

Register for the webinar now...

Vectorworks Architect Online Test

When you employ staff, wouldn't it be nice to know that the new employee has a good level of Vectorworks skill?

When you think about training your staff, wouldn't it be great to know where the training was needed?

Now you can.

I have created an online Vectorworks Architect test. This test covers 9 major areas with 63 questions.

I would expect the test to take about 30 mins if the user is very competent.

I completed the test in 18 minutes, but then I knew what all the questions and answers would be.

There are a range of questions using True/False statements, Multiple Choice, Multiple Correct, and questions where the user has to label images.



This test is ideal for:

• employers to test new employee
• employers that want to know where to invest in their staff
• school and university leavers 
• employment agencies

Screen Plane/Layer Plane with Plant Graphics

I am currently making the movies for my new Landmark Tutorial Manual for Vectorworks 2012. I was making a movie showing how to edit the plant graphics and I got caught you by the screen plane/layer plane ability.

When you edit the plant graphics in Vectorworks, one object in the plant controls the Mass Overlapping Plants. If you separate the plant components, you will find that there is a stacking order to the plants. It is important that you respect this order. If you do not, you will find that groups of plant with mass overlapping plant activated do not look the way you want them to.

Read more...  (you have to be a subscriber to follow this link)

Become a subscriber....

Storing Worksheets in your Vectorworks Library

You should use worksheets to count and report objects in your Vectorworks files, but sometimes you forget which file had the worksheets you want. You should store your worksheets in your library so that they are easy to find.

You should store a copy of your worksheets in your library, but if you store the worksheet file in the correct location, you can access the worksheet from any file, without using the Resource Browser to look for it.  In Vectorworks Landmark and in Vectorworks Architect you store the worksheet in the same location, but you use a different menu command to access the worksheet.

If you are not familiar with worksheets, you need to learn about them. There is a good introduction to worksheets in the Vectorworks Essentials Tutorial Manual from Nemetschek Vectorworks. This manual will show you the basics. An older version of chapter is available as a CPD manual on the subscriber web site.

The subscriber web site also has a CPD manual on intermediate worksheets. This manual will show you a lot of the tips and techniques you need to make sophisticated worksheets. This manual is strongly recommended.

Read more... (you have to be a subscriber to follow the link)


You can become a subscriber here.

Did you Get a Kindle or iPad for Xmas

If you got a Kindle or iPad for Xmas, Well Done!

Now you can justify this by filling it up with useful Vectorworks manuals. I have written about 28 short manuals for the Kindle, there are architecture and BIM manuals available.

The kindle reader now has several variants with the greyscale screen and one with a color screen. The greyscale versions are just e-book readers (they do this really well).

There is now a color version of the kindle, called the Kindle Fire. This  has the ability to do a lot more than the standard  greyscale kindle, (but only if you live in USA).

The iPad has thousands of applications, one useful one is the Kindle ebook reader. This app allows you to read all the kindle books on your iPad, if you downlaod the Kindle ebook reader, or if you use the Kindle cloud reader.

Some people have asked me why I have written books for the Kindle system. Many people think that they need to own a Kindle device to read a kindle book. This is wrong, you can read kindle books on many different devices, including your computer, phone, and so on. The books will sync across the different devices, so you will always be up to date.

With many associations requiring Continuing Professional Development (CE), a Kindle or tablet device is a great way keep your books with you.

You Can Attend Online Vectorworks Training From an iPhone or iPad

I use GoToMeeting to run my Vector-workout training sessions.  


Normally uses attend these online sessions from their computer. This allows me to share my computer screen to my online subscribers, and interact with them.  

GoToMeeting have released an application for your iPhone  and iPad.  You can download this from the appstore. This application allows you to attend online sessions without having to go to your computer. 

When you start GoToMeeting, you need the webinar, you just need the meeting or webinar ID, your name and email. 

When you click on the Join button, this app quickly takes you to the meeting. If the webinar is going, you will see the shared screen. If the meeting has not started, you will see this screen. 

When the session starts, you will see the screen of the presenter.  I recommend an iPad, because that makes it easier to see the screen.  I have had a user attend my meetings using an iPhone 3GS.  He found he could keep up with the meeting but because the iPhone has such a small screen he found it hard to see what I was showing. 

When the meeting is closed, you will see this screen. 


For more information about courses, please see my web site.

Not eBooks, vBooks! vbooks are the best way to learn Vectorworks

Some people describe my manuals as eBooks.  I am not sure this really describes my manuals.  I think the eBooks sounds like an electronic book with lots of words and pages. My manuals also contain a lot of video.  So I think of my books as being Video books (vBooks).  I think this describes my books better.

You want vBooks to learn Vectorworks effectively, not eBooks. It is the combination of the written manual along with the videos that make these manuals the most effective way to learn.

One customer said that the difference between my manuals with the movies and other Vectorworks training manuals is like the difference between listing to the radio or watching television. 

Get vBooks from http://www.facade-it.co.uk/,  or http://www.novedge.com/brands/128

Using a Bluetooth Keyboard with iPhone

I bought myself an Apple wireless keyboard yesterday. I really bought it to use with an iPad. But I also found that I  can use bluetooth to connect it to a phone. I'm using an iPhone and it has made typing on the phone really easy.

All you have to is go to the bluetooth settings and connect the keyboard. Once it's connected, you can type away on your phone with a full sized keyboard.

I have started to use the keyboard for writing blogs (this one) and texting. It is very quick to use. Highly recommended.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Thank you to all my customers and blog readers. 2011 was a good year for me thanks to you. Blog visits have gone up substantially, subscribers to my Vector-workout Subscription increased dramatically, manual sales were up slightly, and other work has kept me very busy. The year was not without some major challenges, but since they are being dealt with, I don't want to dwell on them.

I see 2012 being a good year for many parts of the world. Where I live, the city of Christchurch will start to re-build after last year's devastating earthquakes. That will take ten or twenty years to rebuild. Many of my clients around the world are busy, and there is some positive employment data from USA. England and Europe still look fragile, but I hope they have now turned the corner and will start to improve.

At this time of the year many people take the opportunity to make New Year's Resolutions. I'm not sure resolutions work, but I am positive that if you set goals for the year, and plans to achieve your goals, then you will achieve your goals.

I use this time of the year to set goals for my business and personal life. If you are setting your goals or resolutions, I hope you will be including Vectorworks, because I have a way to improve the way you use Vectorworks:

• learning new techniques each month
• joining online sessions to drill down into the details of a topic
• getting access to library files and plug-ins

I'm talking about the Vector-workout Subscription service, a training system to get the best from your investment in Vectorworks. Last year we had a dramatic increase in subscribers, I rebuilt the website for the subscribers, so they could access all the old movies, download old manuals (about 50 of them), have a private blog, and access library files and plug-ins. 

Special Interest Groups for the Vector-workout Subscription (Vectorworks Training)

Archoncad announces Special Interest Groups for the Vector-workout Subscription

Starting in February 2012, the Vector-workout Subscription will be offering Special Interest Groups as part of the subscription. The purpose of the SIG will be to have online sessions that are suited to a particular part of Vectorworks, and will generally follow on from the topics discussed in the workshop sessions. 

For example the Landscape SIG would focus on Vectorworks from a Landscape perspective, so when we look at building your office library, we would look at a library of plants, or hardscapes, for example. If we were looking at libraries with the BIM Special Interest Group, we might be looking at how wall and slab styles can be saved into your library. There will not be a manual, but the sessions will be recorded and linked to the monthly manual. 

The Special Interest meetings will be the week after the interactive workshops so that issues raises in the workshop can be expanded in the group meetings, and explained with examples to suit that group. 

Initially, I am planning a BIM and Landscape Special Interest Group. If these are successful, there will be more groups for 3D Modeling and others as they are needed.

The Special Interest Groups are only available to Vector-workout Subscribers. If you are a subscriber, log onto Vector-workout Subscriber site. 

Become a subscriber here and enjoy a monthly manual, special online webinars, blogs, and extras. 

Using Your iPhone on a Tripod

I have tried to use an iPhone and an iPad to shoot video, but the results are not great. What I really want to  is to mount the iPhone on a tripod. A standard tripod has a bolt to connect a camera, but the phone and tablet do not have the threaded hole for the bolt.

I've made a bracket to connect the phone to the tripod. It is reasonably straight forward to create the bracket.

I have found the hard case I needed for the iPad, so now I can use the ipad on my tripod to shoot video. The iPad cover just needs to be a hard case, so you can stick the velcro to it.

All the instructions are on my subscribers web site.



You can become a subscriber here.

Building a Vectorworks Gingerbread House

Every year I create a gingerbread house to share with the extended family over the holiday season. For the past several years I have been using Vectorworks to create a model. This is a great way to make a complex gingerbread house. You can design your own dream gingerbread house. 

Start by, creating your model in Vectorworks. 

Use viewports to get the plans and elevations.

Cut out the parts, and use these to cut the gingerbread.

Assemble the parts.

Decorate, and Enjoy.



The Vectorworks part of the process uses BIM principles to create the model and extract the elevations and plans, so I thought this would be fun way to learn about BIM. The Vector-workout Subscription used this as the basis of the meetings and manual in November (giving users time to create their own gingerbread houses).

Unified View in Vectorworks 2012

This is the normal view of a building when you change the view with out Unified View. 

If you wanted to see a complete view of your project, you can use Unified View, it allows you to see all the visible layers in your file, and when you move the view around, all the layers look like they are joined together. 

There are several options for Unified View. For a detailed description of the Unified View and the options for it, log onto the blog at the Vector-workout Subscriber site. 

Become a subscriber here and enjoy a monthly manual, special online webinars, blogs, and extras. 

Creating Hedges in Vectorworks

My friend Bill has been playing with this new tool that he found on vectordepot.com. It's called the Siepe (Hedge) Tool.  From the  same author of Frangisole plugin. When I first looked at this tool I wasn't sure that I could find a use for it.

But Bill has been playing with it,  and he showed me how useful this could be.

Here is the scene with a small house and all my rendering is set up but the background and foreground just look a little plain.

So here's my suggestion. Use the hedge tool to fill in the foreground. The way the hedge tool works, is that it uses several polygons and two textures to create the look of a hedge. You don't have to use all hedge, you can add a flower texture if you want. You could use two different greens to give you a hedge with a green effect rather than flower effect.

Here is the same scene with a hedge around the back of the house as well. I think the hedge tool is great for filling in the background quickly.

The tool is $25US, which I was happy to pay. This tool only needs two clicks to place a hedge.

In this image I created a low hedge that mimics a buxus hedge border, with wildflowers inside, all created with a few objects from the Hedge tool, about two minutes work.

Area Lights and Renderworks in Vectorworks 2011-2012

In the past we used to use area lights to replicate light coming in window, and Vectorworks 2011/2012 we don’t have to do this the other, more realistic ways of creating lights

In previous versions of Vectorworks, we used to use area lights on Windows to replicate sunlight coming in to the window. This wasn’t perfect but it did a reasonable job in Vectorworks 2010 and before. you might notice that the area light in front of the door stop you seeing the door. So while the effect of the light is reasonable the downside is that the area light prevents you from seeing out the window, or out the door.

In Vectorworks 2011/2012, we have a better way. in this image there are no light sources other than an environmental light called HDRI White. HDRI White is a standard Renderworks environment like that comes with Vectorworks. when you use it as an environment light, it brings in white light through every window, giving you rendering a nice glow. I have also added indirect lighting that creates the bouncing light in the room. 

If you add a sun, the results are even better.

Read more... (you have to be a subscriber to follow this link)

Become a subscriber...

Site modeling manual updated for Vectorworks 2012

I have updated my site modeling manual on the Kindle store for Vectorworks 2012. This manual covers how to create a site model from imported 2-D information, imported 3-D information, and scanned or PDF images.  This manual is designed to show you the quickest ways to create site models, and how to modify them using the site modified tools.

 You can find the manual here on the Kindle bookstore.

Quickstart manual Available for Vectorworks 2012

I have updated my QuickStart manual for Vectorworks 2012 on the Kindle bookstore. 


This quick start manual is designed to get people started quickly, it is not designed to teach you everything you need to know about Vectorworks. what this manual does cover are the basic concepts about how Vectorworks  behaves.


If you have been using Vectorworks before, this is not the manual for you. If you have never used Vectorworks before and you have just  received Vectorworks 2012 then this would be a good introduction to the basic concepts.


See the manual here...