SST_1512 - Wrapup for 2015

At this time of the year it's a good time to wrap up the old year and plan what you are going to do next year. At the Archoncad website we like to do the same thing – we wrap up all the topics we covered this year and we plan what topics are important for next year. Wrapping up the year with a review of all the sessions from this year allows users to catch up on anything they have missed. I create a lot of blogs, movies, tips, and manuals – so it's easy to miss something. This session is useful then to go over the most important topics and make sure that everyone knows what we covered.

 

Vectorworks Tip 357 - Moving Associative Dimensions

A couple of my clients have complained about the Associative Dimensioning in Vectorworks. I never seem to have trouble with associative dimensions or with moving them. But then again, I have been using Vectorworks so long that I can sometimes forget what it is like for others that are new to Vectorworks. If you want to move an associative dimension you have to click on the right part of the dimension to move it, otherwise you run the risk of moving the associated object.

Vectorworks Tip 356 - Marionette

Marionette is amazing the way that it allows you to create objects so quickly. Of course, you will have to learn a new skill (Marionette) but it is not as hard to learn as scripting. Marionette is capable of manking huge objects, but I think that for most of us, it is idea for creating a simple objects. In this example you can see a 3-Drawer cabinet and a 4-Drawer cabinet that have been made with Marionette. The first object that I made was the 3-Drawer cabinet. Once I got it working, I edited the Marionette object to add another drawer, creating the 4-Drawer cabinet. While the first object took a couple of hours to make, the second object took minutes. I think that this is going to be the big benefit of Marionette, the ability to edit an object to make a new version. Another way to look at this is this that I might make a 3-Drawer cabinet, but another user might borrow my object, edit the code to make a 2-Door cabinet.

Vectorworks Tip 355 - Copy Viewport Attibutes

If you choose the appropriate settings with the eyedropper tool, you can copy the viewport attributes from one viewport to another. This includes copying layer and class visibility is, render settings, et cetera.

Vectorworks Tip 354 - Print to PDF

On a Macitosh computer you CAN use File > Print > Save as PDF. This is a built in utility in the macintosh OS that basically just takes an image of what you’re printing and slaps it into a PDF. No layers, no classes, no vector info. If you don’t need any of that, it will make a smaller flat PDF and can be useful

Vectorworks Tip 353 - Camera Effects - Depth of Field

The term depth of field describes how much of your photo will be in focus. The camera tool now allows you to control how much is in focus using Depth of Field. But the way that controls how much is in focus is to do with the aperture of your camera. If you're an old school photographer you'll understand how aperture relates to depth of field, but if you're a modern digital camera photographer you may not understand this. In simple terms the larger the number for the aperture (f-22) the more will be in focus, the smaller the number for the aperture (f-2.8) the less will be in focus.

SST_1509 - Getting Ready for an Update

Vectorworks has annual upgrade cycle. This means that every year you'll have to get used to Vectorworks being updated. But what does this mean? In simple terms, You will be working on an older version of Vectorworks and then you will have to update your project and start working in a new version of Vectorworks.

Vectorworks 2016 includes a new Migration Manager that will help you to migrate your default content, workspaces, and libraries from your old versions of Vectorworks to the new version. However, if you have not arranged your libraries, workspaces, and default content correctly, the migration manager will be of little use to you.

Vectorworks Tip 352- Marionette and BIM

When you create objects in Marionette, you add IFC information for the object into the Marionette network. But you can also add IFC information to the object without editing the Marionette network. After you create your Marionette network into an object, you can use the Object Info palette to add IFC information. When you and IFC information to your marionette object becomes an object that will be exported when you export your IFC project. All when you had the IFC information in this way, the information stays on the object even if you enter the Marionette network and edit it. As with other plug-in objects, the IFC information stays on the object when you change the parameters on the Object Info palette.

Vectorworks Tip 351 - Eye Dropper - Copy Graphic styles

The eye dropper tool is used to pick up the attributes of one object and put those attributes down on one or more other objects. You can pick up the graphic attributes by setting the options to pick up the graphics.

Vectorworks Tip 350 - Setting Up a Perspective Section Viewport

If you create a section viewport and place it on a sheet layer, you are limited to using a 1-point perspective. If you want to show a 2-point perspective, you should place the section viewport on a design layer, use a camera to view the section, then use the camera to create a viewport.

Vectorworks Tip 349 - Site model - Site Modifiers (Pads and Grade Limits)

Sometimes there is confusion over the what a pad object is and what a grade limits object is in sitre modeling. The pad changes the site model (it is the 3D object) and the grade limit contriols how much of the site is affected by the pad.

Vectorworks 2016 SP2

I Just noticed that Vectorworks 2016 SP2 is now available for downloading. I was checking my VSS Downloads page and I noticed that it has been updated to show Vectorworks 2016 SP2 as the latest release. Those of you that have been waiting for this, now is the time to get started with 2016. Those of you that have already been using 2016, get the new version.

If you haven't used Vectorworks 2016 yet, prepare yourselves for some new technologies, some new abilities in the old tools, and some subtle changes that will speed you up.

If you are a subscriber, you can see what is new in Vectorworks 2016, we covered the important part on these webinars...

 

1508 - Roading in Vectorworks

This manual is the last manual on the series on site modelling on site modifying because the roading tools quite often used as site modifiers. Don't forget to refer to the previous two month's manuals (1506 and 1507) for more information on site modelling. This manual looks specifically at the six different roadway tools:

Roadway (Tee)
Roadway (Straight)
Roadway (Curved)
The Roadway (NURBS)
Roadway (Custom Kerb)
Roadway (Poly)
The last two tools are very powerful and most of the manual will focus on those.

The roading tools in Vectorworks are not designed to let you to become a road designer. They are there to allow you to add writing to your concept drawings, but they do not have sophisticated roading controls such as camber, tilt, roundabouts, etc.
The roading tools will allow you to draw a large range of road designs, and the road objects can be site modifies. If you need a refresher on-site modifiers for networks, look at the manual 1507 Site Modifiers. You do not need to use a site model if you want to draw a road, you can draw roads without it.
To refresh your memory, there are normally two parts a site modifier and a grade limits. When you create a road, you have the choice to Use Site Modifiers and a separate choice to Use Grade Limit.

Find the manual here...

iPad Stylus 2 - Pencil by 53

This is supposed to be a great stylus and my friend Neil says that his works really well. But I have had terrible results with it. I got it to connect at first, but now it won't connect to my iPad. Even when I did get it to connect, I found that the fatness of the stylus made it hard to see where I was drawing.
The design of the stylus is to simulate a buider's pencil. That means that it will not roll away, like all my other styli did.

It is beautifully engineered, well balanced, and it was nice to hold.
It is an active stylus, which means that it has a battery that needs recharging. The battery is accessed by pulling out the tip of the stylus. This a a great way of charing the pencil, you do not need any special cables, you plug the battery straight into a USB port for charging. There is a charge light on it that will show greeen when the battery is fully charged.

I have two main problems with this pencil:
I can no longer get this to connect to any of my sketching apps.
When I did get it to connect, the fatness of the stylus prevents me from having fine and accurate control of the tools. I often found that i would start drawing a line away from my desired location. I would have to Undo and try again.
I have ordered a new pencil, to try this out again in case i have a dud pencil. I will let you know how it goes.

Vectorworks Tip 348 - BIM and IFC

BIM is the activity of modelling, IFC is the format to exchange information. When you are creating objects and loacting them in the project, that's BIM, but when you want to pass that information to another person, you can use IFC to export your project and the information attached to objects.

Posted with Blogsy

Architect_081 Architect Special Interest Group November 2015 (am)

Topics covered:

• inserting a custom door symbol into a wall
• hybrid symbols
• dimension standards
• stake object
• fixing a bad file

Vectorworks Tip 347 - Align and Distribute From the Contextual Menu

This commnad allows you to select objects and line them up based on thier location, but this command uses the selected objects as the controlling obejct, the other object will line with the object that you right-click on.

Vectorworks Tip 346 - 3D Modeling - How To Make an Object That Turns a Corner

This is not the only way to do this (cehck out tip 349 comming later) but it is one way. The challange is to get an object to turn the corner. If you extrude an object, split it, then mirror it, you can create teh object you want.

Interactive Workshops November 2015 (1511) - Marionette

Vectorworks 2016 includs a new visual scripting language called Marionette.
Marionette works by connecting nodes together with wires. The data flows from left to right, from one node to the next down the wire. Each node does something simple and then passes its output to the next node. To create a script, you drag and drop the nodes to create a series of steps, at the end of this you get the object that you want. It might look complex, but once it is set up you can look at different variations by editing any of the node inputs. Each node is a Python based script (allowing you to edit the script) and you can turn the marionette object into a plug-in object if you want.
Some other CAD programs have had this kind of visual scripting language available for several years, and the feedback from the users is that this is a very powerful way to create your designs. It might look complicated to use this technology, but it does mean that you don’t have to understand the programming language, you just have to understand what simple steps you want your objects to go through. You might say that it will allow complex programming for everybody.

Vectorworks Tip 345 - Auto Join or Not Auto Join

When you join walls, there is a huge difference between walls joined with Auto Join turned off and walls joined with Auto Join turned on. Make sure you use the correct option for your work.