Missing Smart Cursor in Vectorworks

Even though I made a list of mant of the hot keys, I still get phone calls and emails saying that the smart cursor cues (Point, Object etc) are missing. 

First of all, make sure that the constraints are turned on, then hit key Y to make the smart cursor cues show up. 

VectorWorks Keyboard Hot Keys

Here is an incomplete list of the VectorWorks hot keys (keys on the keyboard that will do something if you hit them). You can find the complete list in the VectorWorks help. Search for keyboard...

2D Locus tool                                                              0 (zero)

2D Polygon tool                                                           8

2D Reshape tool                                                          - (minus)

2D Selection tool                                                         X

Angular Dimension tool                                               . (period)

Arc tool                                                                        3

Ellipse tool                                                                   6

Fillet tool                                                                      7

Line tool                                                                       2

Mirror tool                                                                    = (equal)

Pan tool                                                                       Z

Polyline tool                                                                 5

Rectangle tool                                                              4

Split tool (2D)                                                                L

Text tool                                                                       1

Wall tool                                                                       9

Zoom tool                                                                     C

Top/Plan view                                                            Command+5 and0 on numerical keypad

Front view                                                                  2 on numerical keyboard

Left Isometric view                                                     1 on numerical keyboard

Left Rear Isometric view                                            7 on numerical keyboard

Left view                                                                     4 on numerical keyboard

Rear view                                                                   8 on numerical keypad

Right Isometric view                                                   3 on numerical keypad

Right Rear Isometric view                                          9 on numerical keypad

Right view                                                                   6 on numerical keypad 

Top view                                                                     5 on numerical keypad

Mode modifiers/buttons-1st group                              U

Mode modifiers/buttons-2nd group                              I

Mode modifiers/buttons-3rd group                               O (letter)

Mode modifiers/buttons-4th group                               P

Unconstrained Line Dimensioning tool                        M 

Constrained Line Dimensioning tool                            N

Radial Dimension tool                                                 , (comma)

Constrain Angle constraint                                          S

Constrain Perpendicular constraint                             R

Smart Points constraint                                               D

Smart Edge constraint                                                 F

Snap to Distance constraint                                         E

Snap to Grid constraint                                                A

Snap to Intersection constraint                                    W

Snap to Object constraint                                            Q

Use Floating Datum (in Smart Points constraint)        G

Use Floating Edge (in Smart Edge constraint)            T

Toggle SmartCursor Cues  (screen hints)                   Y

VectorWorks Crashes On Opening

This hasn’t happened to me on my Macintosh but on my Windows machine it has, where you start VectorWorks and as it loads up the program it crashes. This is caused by a corrupt workspace.

If you can remember what your active workspace was:

•    in Windows find the VectorWorks folder
•    find the Workspaces folder
•    delete the active worksace
•    replace it with the worksace from the backup folder. 

now your VectorWorks should start up without crashing

Large Projects in Vectorworks

If you have a large project how should you set up the drawings? Should you have each drawing as a separate file, or not? Should you use Workgroup Referencing to join files together?
The first step is to put as many drawings as you can in the same file. There was a discussion on the Nemetschek North America Tech board (http://techboard.nemetschek.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?Cat=0) about batch printing 100 drawings in separate files. VectorWorks will not batch print 100 drawings that are in separate files.

Another reason to have all the drawings in one file is so that with 100 separate files, editing and updating the title blocks and issuing the drawings is a nightmare. If you have all the drawings in one file you can batch print the drawings, you can update and manage the title block information.

Having all the drawings in the same file does not mean that you only have one file for the complete project. With Workgroup Referencing you can have several people on the project adding to the design layers and this information will update on the drawings.