Vectorworks Tip #042 - Preferences - Save Viewport Cache

This is a document Preference that tells Vectorworks to save the rendered viewports. The advantage of this is you do not have to update the viewports each time you open the drawing, which could save you a lot of time. The disadvantage is that saving the rendered viewports can make your files much, much larger. In a simple example, turning on the viewport cache made the file grow from 7MB to 12MB.


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Vectorworks Tip #041 - Preferences - Create Dimensions in Dimension Class

This is a Document Preference that tells Vectorworks to place all dimensions into the Dimensions class. This is OK as long as you don't want to have dimensions for different drawings on the design layer. In that case, turn this off and have different classes for various viewports.


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Vectorworks Tip #040 - Preferences - Associate Dimensions

This is a Document Preference. It is so important. It makes the dimensions associate with the objects so that when the object moves or changes size, the dimensions update automatically. This can save you from making dimensioning errors, it has saved me so many times. If you do not activate this preference, you will have to manually check all your dimensions if you change anything.


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Vectorworks Tip #039 - Basic Tools - Usefully Name Viewports

It is easy to create a set of drawings with a lot of viewports and Vectorworks will automatically name them for you, but if you let Vectorworks do this for you, the viewport name will not let you see where that viewport has been used. In this image you can see some of the viewports have the viewport number/sheet number. Other viewports tell you what they are. This makes it easy to know where these viewports are located.

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Vectorworks Tip #038 - Basic Tools - Consistently Use Classes

It's so important to consistently use classes when you creating drawings. if you're not consistent about using classes, you going to have a lot of trouble making sense out of your drawings. You will find that things you want to appear don't, things you want show up won't. Then you'll say that Vectorworks is difficult to use. It's not Vectorworks's fault, it's your fault for not being consistent with your classes.


For Vectorworks manuals, visit:
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Vectorworks Tip #037 – Basic Tools – Select Similar

I use is so often I’ve lost count of how often I use this each day. This tool is designed to select all the objects that meet the chosen criteria. The tool has saved settings so that you can save … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

Vectorworks Tip #036 – Basic Tools – Select Coincident

Sometimes, you have objects are very close or on top of each other. It can be difficult to get Vectorworks to select the right object. Vectorworks has the ability to select coincident objects, this will open dialogue box for you … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

Vectorworks Tip #035 – Basic Tools – Reshape Tool (Move Edge)

The second mode is for moving edges of polygons. This allows you to grab the middle of the edge and relocate it but keeping the edge parallel. This is useful for moving the corner of a polygon, landscape area, roof, … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1036 – Introduction to Planting – Part 5

Plant Database – When you install Vectorworks, the installer will place the default version of the Vectorworks Plant Database in the application folder and in your User Folder. visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

Vectorworks Tip #034 – Basic Tools – Reshape Tool (Move Vertices)

The first mode is for reshaping vertices. This allows you to grab the corner handle of the object you are re-shaping and relocate it. This is useful for moving the corner of a polygon, landscape area, roof, etc. visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

Vectorworks Tip #033 – Basic Tools – Reshape Tool (Introduction)

This tool is so useful for reshaping parts of your design you really have to learn how to use it. When you reshape a wall, polygon, polyline, callout, landscape area, hardscape, site modifier, etc. you use this tool. It has … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1031 – Introduction to BIM – Part 11

Reports – Another major benefit of BIM is the ability to create a multitude of reports, e.g. about objects, areas, and many other data. Vectorworks has a built-in worksheet system that you can use to create these reports. If you … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1030 – Introduction to BIM – Part 10

The core of BIM is that you can create most of your drawings directly from the live model. To do this you need to use Sheet Layers and Viewports. If you do not know anything about viewports, please have a … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1029 – Introduction to BIM – Part 9

There is more than one way to create the roof, but an easy way to create the roof is to use the walls. visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

Vectorworks Tip #031 – Basic Tools – Trim Tool

Use the Trim tool to remove parts of objects up to a boundary object. With this tool, you just click on the part that you want to delete, and Vectorworks will shorten the object back to the nearest boundary object. … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1028 – Introduction to BIM – Part 8

It is pretty standard to add doors and windows to your project. For a BIM project the doors and windows have to be inserted into the walls. If you place them correctly Vectorworks will insert them into the wall and … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1027 – Introduction to BIM – Part 7

Like walls, slabs can have components, so you can make slabs and ceilings that have several components. The slabs can link to walls and slab components can link to the wall components. So it is really important that you create … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1026 – Introduction to BIM – Part 6

If you store your wall styles in your user folder or workgroup folder, they can be selected directly from the pop-up menu on the Tool bar. visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

Vectorworks Tip #031 - Basic Tools - Trim Tool

Use the Trim tool to remove parts of objects up to a boundary object. With this tool, you just click on the part that you want to delete, and Vectorworks will shorten the object back to the nearest boundary object. This is a great tool for quickly removing the parts of the drawing you do not want.

cadmovie1025 – Introduction to BIM – Part 5

Top Level Walls. The top level walls are similar to the rest of the walls in the file, but they need to be set up so that the top bounding is not the Finished Floor (Story Above). The top level … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1024 – Introduction to BIM – Part 4

Lower Level Walls. These walls can be more complex than the foundation walls, we can add components to allow us to see the walls more accurately, in plan, elevation and section. You might be used to just showing the framing … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1023 – Introduction to BIM – Part 3

Foundation Walls. We can start with these walls, because they are the least complex. The foundation walls can use the graphic style of the class they are assigned to and they can be set up to link to the finished … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1022 – Introduction to BIM – Part 2

Layers and stories are the keystones of your BIM workflow. Layers are used to divide the project and stories are used to group layers. Stories are an organizing concept that groups design layers to make it easy to adjust different … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

cadmovie1021 – Introduction to BIM – Part 1

There is a lot of talk about BIM these days, so this manual will introduce you to the concepts. To start, we will use a blank file. This movie will show yo how to start with a blank file and … Continue reading → visit http://ift.tt/1hjblTM

Vectorworks Tip #030 - Basic Tools - Split tool Settings

There are three modes on the Tool bar, choosing the right mode makes the tool so much easier to use. If you want to split a single object, use the first mode, if you want to split multiple objects, use the second or third mode.
If you use that Split tool in the last mode, it will only split the objects that are selected. You can also achieve this by holding down the alt or option key when you split objects.
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Vectorworks Tip #029 - Basic Tools - Split

The Split tool is extremely useful cutting and splitting objects. For example you could use the Split tool to cut a line, a rectangle, a site modifier, or even a viewport.

 

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Vectorworks Tip #028 - Snap Loupe

The Z key is used to temporarily zoom into a part of the drawing. This is the quickest way I can think of to draw in Vectorworks. Of course you could zoom in and out again if you used the scroll wheel on the mouse, but it's not as easy as the snap loupe. This image shows the screen zoomed in with the snap loupe.

 

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Vectorworks Tip #027 - Delete Key to Remove Last Click

When you are drawing multiple click objects like walls, polygons, etc. it is easy to make a mistake. To fix the last click, use the Delete key on the keyboard, it will remove the last click. Keep deleting to back to the start of your object. This works on almost every tool and command.

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http://store.archoncad.com

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Vectorworks Tip #026 - Preferences - Interactive Appearance Settings

I often find when I teach new users that they get confused by the Interactive Appearance settings. They can sometimes confuse users about which objects are selected and which objects are preselected.

 

 

Vectorworks Tip #025 - Preferences - Auto Save settings

I have tried several options over the years, but now I use these settings. I use 30Operations because that way I only get the AutoSave after I have completed 30 things, rather than a time interval (which always seems to come up at the wrong time). I like to save several versions of the old files so I can go back and find a good version of something that I might have changed.

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http://store.archoncad.com

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Vectorworks Tip #024 - Preferences - X-Ray Mode in OpenGL

When you use Occluded Selection and Snapping you might want to snap to, or select objects inside the model, but that preference makes it hard to do. This image shows the model in OpenGL rendering.