Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 12 (upgrading to 2008) Customizable HUD (Floating Display Bar)

I really like the new Floating Display Bar, sometimes called the Heads Up Display (HUD):
It’s easy to find because it’s right where you are drawing.
It tries to show the most useful fields first.
It’s customisable.

On the Mode Bar, or tool bar, there is an arrow pointing to the right. Click on this and you can choose options for the HUD.

You can choose to not use the Floating Data bar. And you can show the data on a fixed data bar. This is like the old VectorWorks.

I’ve tried it because it was familiar, but it is not as nice as the new Floating Display bar.

You can choose to have just the main fields... or you can choose to have all the fields shown.

The other nice trick is having instant access to the HUD by using the numeric keypad. This works really well and it’s quick.

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 11 (upgrading to 2008) Customizable View Bar

VectorWorks 2008 looks like it is much more flexible than any of the previous versions of VectorWorks. If you are like me, you like to change the workspace, the tool hot keys and the keyboard shortcuts.

Now we can change the view bar.  The standard view bar works well if you jhave a lot of screen space.

But if you have a smaller screen, you might prefer to turn off some of the options, This might suit you better.
Really, it’s not that this suits you, it’s that you can change the view bar to suit the way you work.

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 11 (upgrading to 2008) Customizable View Bar

VectorWorks 2008 looks like it is much more flexible than any of the previous versions of VectorWorks. If you are like me, you like to change the workspace, the tool hot keys and the keyboard shortcuts.

Now we can change the view bar.  The standard view bar works well if you have a lot of screen space.

But if you have a smaller screen, you might prefer to turn off some of the options:
Really, it’s not that this suits you, it’s that you can change the view bar to suit the way you work.

Setting a Border for a Site Model

You can set a border for a site model easily in VectorWorks 12.5 and 2008.
Create a site model.

Trace over the site boundary, or some other shape that you want to use as a boundary.
Cut the shape that you want to use.
Select the Site model.

Go to the Menu Bar.
Choose Modify > Edit Group.
At this point you can see all the 3D loci used to create the site model.
Go to the Menu Bar.
Choose Edit > Paste in Place.
Click on the Orange button at the top right of the screen to exit.
You are back at the site model. The site model does not show your boundary yet.
Go to the Object Info Palette.
Click on the Update button to see the site model stopping at the boundary.

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 10 (upgrading to 2008) Keyboard shortcuts.

I’ve never been that concerned with a printout of my keyboard shortcuts, but i know a lot of other people really want a printout of the keyboard shortcuts. When you edit your workspace in VectorWorks 2008 there is an export button that will export your complete workspace to a text file. This will show all the commands and tools, which menu or toolset they are in and what their keyboard shortcut or hot key is.

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 9 (upgrading to 2008) Cropable Layer Links (Design Layer Viewports)

There have been many times when I’ve wanted to use a layer link that I could crop. VectorWorks 12 does not allow you to crop the layer link, so everything on the linked layers appears. I often have things that I wish I could hide, I could use classes to hide to things, but there must be an easier way.

In VectorWorks 2008 there is a much better way. instead of Layer Links you can use a design layer viewport. A design layer viewport works like a layer link. You place it on the design layer. You can move it or rotate it.

But you can do so much more... For example, with the advanced properties you can choose to turn the Black and white only on for this viewport. The rest of the design layer stays in colour, but the viewport is black and white.

As well as all these things that you can do with the design layer viewports there are other cool tricks....






When you create a layer link it’s not easy to unlink parts. You have to select the layer link that you don’t want and then delete it. Re-linking the layer that just deleted can be done, but if you have rotated and moved all the other layer links it can be hard to line them all up.

In this example I have turned two layers off in the design layer viewport. I can turn the layer on again very easily if I want to. No worries about alining the layer links...

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 8 (upgrading to 2008) Move/Copy from Point to Point

a much asked-for tool in VectorWorks 2008 is Move Point to Point. Many of my clients that have moved from AutoCAD have asked me where this tool is.

In the past there was a free tool available from
http://www.vectordepot.com
but now this tool is part of VectorWorks.

If you select something that you want to move or copy....

Click at the first point that you want to use.

Click at the second point.
VectorWorks will then move (or copy depending on the settings you choose) the object from its current location to the new location.

The new location will be the relative distance from the first click to the second click.

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 7 (upgrading to 2008) Inserting Windows in 3D Walls

As well as being able to draw the walls in 3D, you can also insert windows and doors into the walls in a 3D view.

Start with a 3D View.

Select the door object.
Move near a wall.
Click once to place the door.

Click once to finish placing the door. This works with windows as well.

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 6 (upgrading to 2008) Drawing Walls in 3D

I’m excited about this new ability in VectorWorks 2008. You can now draw walls in a 3D view.

This means that you can change to a 3D view, like this isometric, and start drawing a building. Notice that the floating data bar (heads-up display) shows you where you are in 3D.

using the HUD you’ll be able to draw all your plans in 3D if you want.

Archoncad Releases Essential Tutorial Manual for VectorWorks 2008

archoncad has realeased a major update for the successful Essential Tutorial Manual for VectorWorks 2008. This update has completely re-written substantial parts of the manual to make it faster for you to learn VectorWorks.

The VectorWorks Essentials manual is designed to take you from no skills in VectorWorks through to a competent beginner level. It is designed to teach you all the things that are need to give you a good, solid foundation in VectorWorks.

This manual comes as a text book with an included CD-ROM. The text book is written in a conversational style, and is designed to be easy to read and understand. The manuals uses pictures to show what is going on and often uses diagrams to explain concepts that people find hard to understand. This manual is designed for visual people.

The manual starts with very simple VectorWorks concepts because these are the foundations to mastering VectorWorks. Then there are a series of 2D drawing exercises finishing with a drawing exercise that brings all your skills together.

the manual is available from my new web site:
http://www.archoncad.com

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 5 (upgrading to 2008) Select Multiple Object In Walls

How many times have you tried to select more than one window in a wall so that you could edit it? I’ve tried so many times and I’d finally given up. With VectorWorks 2008 you will be abel to select all the doors in a wall ad change them. 

Unfortunately, you can’t use the align/distribute command on them, but you can change the door size all at the same time. 

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 4 (upgrading to 2008) Import and Export AutoCAD 2007/08

I’ve had a few phone calls lately from clients. They have received an AutoCAD drawing from the engineer or architect and they can’t import it into VectorWorks. They are upset and confused, because in the past they were able in import these drawings from the consultant.

The answer is that the consultant has updated AutoCAD and now VectorWorks is not able to open the new DWG format.

It’s not all lost. VectorWorks 2008 is now able to import and export AutoCAD 2007/08 files.

So, if you are having trouble with importing and exporting new AutoCAD files your answer is to upgrade to VectorWorks 2008.

Landscapers should buy VectorWorks Designer

I teach a lot of people, some architects and some landscape clients. Some of the landscape clients want to be able to count all the parts of the project. This means counting all the piles, bearers, joists and decking. 

VectorWorks architect has a joist object. This object makes counting all the joists, bearers and decking very easy. Because of the way this object is designed, you can place joists of different sizes and then ask VectorWorks to count up the joists, sort them into sizes and then count all the parts.

The joist object also makes 3D objects. So, with the joist object you can solve 2 problems with one object.  In this picture i used the joist object for the decking, joists and bearers. 

Along with the joist object is the rafter and roof framing objects. Perfect for making roof framing for pergolas. 

As well as these objects, VectorWorks Designer has some commands that will create all the joists for a floor, or all the decking, with just a few clicks.

If this is the sort of thing that you want to do, get VectorWorks Designer. You will pay for the extra cost by the time you save. It will only take a few jobs to pay for the extra cost, but the savings will be on every job from then on. 

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3 (upgrading to 2008) Export Google Earth

In VectorWorks 2008 there is a new export command that will export your 3D model to Google Earth...

I had a play with this command and it worked really well. You need to know the location the location of your model very accurately. Of course you can use Google Earth to find the accurate location of you site.

This might sound like just some fun. But there is more to it than that. You could email your client the exported file. They can open the file in Google Earth which will show them the house in 3D on their site. They can turn around and look at the house from any angle.

Your clients can look at your designs wthout using VectorWorks.

Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 2 (upgrading to 2008) Classes For Wall Components

Wall components now have their own classes. For Architects this is a real step forward. Until now Architects have avoided drawing the complete wall (cladding, structure and lining) and have mainly drawn the structural part of the wall. After all, this is the part that the builder really wants to know about.

Now with VectorWorks 2008 we can draw the complete wall showing the cladding, the structure and the lining. If we assign different classes to each component of the wall then we can turn off some components for some drawings but turn all the components on for other drawings.

This has been a request since we first changed to using the new wall style system and I’m really glad that we have this new ability.

This will be covered in detail in my updated Architect Tutorial Manual for VectorWorks 2008 due late October 2007.