Referencing for Productivity

Referencing seems like a big complex topic, but referencing can be easy to use, and can be very productive if you understand it. I often use referencing to bring in PDF files from consultants or for large areas of text. In simple terms, referencing is when you link external files to your current Vectorworks file.

Referencing the structural engineer's drawings is useful when the drawings might change. When you import PDF drawings, you have the option to reference the PDF. Choosing the reference option allows you to quickly update the structural drawings when they are updated.




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044-2012 Conceptual Modeling in Vectorworks

New Kindle manual for Vectorworks available

Vectorworks is extremely good at creating conceptual models, especially for urban designs. Vectorworks allows you to import a plan of a city (using Shapefiles) then quickly build the 3D parts of the city for you to check your urban design against. You can then add a sun to create solar animations, fly around your design, and so on.

3D Modeling in Vectorworks is a lot of fun, and it is extremely productive if you apply the basic tools and techniques we covered in 027-2012 Introduction to 3D Modeling (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JCUTTY). Some people use other software to create conceptual models, but I believe that Vectorworks has powerful techniques for this as well.

SST_1205 Creating a Conceptual Model in Vectorworks - Now Online

Vectorworks is really good at creating a conceptual model, especially for urban design. Vectorworks allows you to import a plan of a city (using shape files) then quickly build the 3D parts of the city for you to check your urban design against.

You can put in a sun, create solar animations, fly around your design, and so on.


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Vector-workout Subscription June Sessions

Referencing is where you link your current file to another Vectorworks file, image file, or PDF file. You use referencing to bring in the information you want, allowing you to split the workload with other people. It is also a good way to keep consultants work separate from yours.



Many people do not understand referencing, but it is very useful. The other day I taught a client to use referencing to link a survey file and a shape file from two different sources. Not only did the two files have origins, but for some reason, they had been rotated. Using a reference allows the client to import more shape files and see the information on the survey file accurately.

Other clients need to have more than one person working on a project. Referencing is how you do that.



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Penultimate

I have been using a great app on my iPad lately called penultimate. It allows you to create several notebooks, and you can see a thumbnail of the plast page you viewed. I have tried a few handwriting programs on the iPad, and this is my favourite.



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Purge... (delete unused objects) in Vectorworks

In earlier versions of Vectorworks there was a command called Purge Unused Objects... In later versions of Vectorworks this command has been replaced with a new Purge… command.
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SHORT SHARP TRAINING (monthly) 1203 Creating a Landscape Budget Plan in Vectorworks

If you use the correct techniques, it can be very quick to create a landscape budget. One of the nice things about Vectorworks is that if you create a landscape budget in one file you can then save this to your user folder and have it available on every project after that.
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Also available as a Kindle manual.More information...

Extended Podcasts Movies for Vectorworks now on line

Each month we have Special Interest Group meetings for BIM and Landmark,  and each session is recorded. These movies are a great way to catch up on the Vectorworks training. The movies record interactive online sessions. The sessions often have several people interacting to discuss a particular topic.

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SHORT SHARP TRAINING (monthly) issue 1202 Introduction to 3D Modeling in Vectorworks

The manual for Short Sharp Training issue 1202 is now online. The topic is Introduction to 3D Modeling in Vectorworks.

Vectorworks has several ways to work in 3D, but there are some basic principles that you have to understand.

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SHORT SHARP TRAINING (monthly) issue 1201 Setting up Layers in Vectorworks

The manual for Short Sharp Training issue 1201 is now online. The topic is  Setting up Layers in Vectorworks.

Setting up your layers correctly is essential if you want to use Vectorworks for BIM.

Vectorworks 2012 has a new organizing concept called Stories which will require you to think carefully about how you organise your project into layers and stories.

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Using Evernote

I use a program called Evernote. This is a great little program. I use it to collect together notes. For example when I am teaching my online webinars, users quite often suggest things that would be useful. 

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Simplifying Polygons in Vectorworks

One of the tools I use a lot is the polygon from inner boundary. But when I use imported polygons, they often have thousands of vertices. With so many vertices the polygon from in a boundary works very slowly because it has so much to calculate.

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I'm Constantly Surprised by Vectorworks

I'm constantly surprised at what Vectorworks is able to achieve. There seems to be nothing that Vectorworks cannot do. A few months ago i blogged about a case study that Nemetschek Vectorworks had produced on one of my clients (icebreaker). They have really taken to Vectorworks (and my training) and completely changed the way that they do business. 

This month I was asked by a client to build a special tool that would take site measurements and convert them into a Vectorworks drawing. Without this tool it takes between five and ten minutes to draw the cross-section, then you have to double-check the drawing. 

With this tool, it takes seconds. More importantly, the tool removes the possibility of drawing error. When you consider that there might be between four and six sections on each project, this tool saves between thirty and sixty minutes on every project. This is a huge saving. 

I have been teaching some users how to use Vectorworks for urban design (and this will be the basis of the May 2012 Short Sharp webinars). Vectorworks allows you to import the kerbs and building lines from GIS (there are websites for this) and use these files to create a city map. There is a really cool command in Vectorworks that will use the GIS building height data to automatically extrude all the buildings. This command has so many uses for commercial architecture and urban design, it can do much more than just extruding information. 

I have been to a major client to see how I can migrate them from 2D drafting to modeling and using the model to extract the plans, sections and elevations. This shouldn't be amazing, but many clients of not work this way, nor do they understand how to make this work. When they are shown it is amazing for them to have so much drawing work automatically generated. 

Having the model information generate the drawings has a more important feature, reducing the risk of the drawings being wrong. I have a client that has several people working each project. Using modeling techniques and Referencing, they can ensure that the errors in the drawings are kept to a minimum. All they needed was a little help.