Massing Models can show shadows in the shadows based on a document preference called Plane Shadows. You can also set the option on your plants to use the same shadows so that massing models and plants all show the same shadow direction, graphic style, and size.
This is where you take two or more three-dimensional objects and you join them together. The strategy with 3-D modeling is to break your object up in the simple manageable chunks, then use Add Solids to join them together. In this image you can see that I created several different colored objects. When when added together you get a single object.
If you ever need to create text that follows a curving path, use this command from the Text menu. as well as creating 2-D text that follows a curving path, this command will also create 3-D text that follows the path.
This is a great way of creating utility scripts in your files. This command will create a custom script that can control the text, symbols, layers, classes, snaps, etc. to set up the utility script for your snaps, set the snaps you want first, then go to the menu bar and choose Tools > Custom Tool/Attribute. Fill in the settings on the dialog box and choose the option to create a script. Give you a script in your file that you can use to reset the snapping whenever you need it. 
Time to wrap up the yearAt the start of this year I started posting regular tips and tricks on my website. I call these my 10 second tips because they only take 10 seconds to read. I try to make them so that you will be able to read these tips each day without spending a lot of time...
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If you are a subscriber then you do not need to buy the kindle version, you already have access to these manuals on this website. Your manuals have the movie links in them (which the kindle books do not).
I have been working on a project that requires quite a 3-D modeling. To make this quicker I is a combination of Add Solid, Subtract Solid, and Intersect Solid. Using these tools made it extremely quick to model this complex situation. somebody asked me why do i use these particular techniques when I could use other techniques like Taper Face or Section Solid. The Intersect Solid is an interesting technique. It is fast, but more importantly it allows you to go back and adjust your work quickly.
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Vectorworks 2015 allows you to create blocks of text with variable spacing for the tab settings. This is new. In the past, all of the tab settings were the same width. Now you can create blocks of text with different width settings with the tabs.
Vectorworks allows you to select objects based on a series of custom criteria. This would allow you to select all the walls of a certain wall style, or select all objects of a certain line weight, line color, or a combination of these.
3D Polygon Tool - Vectorworks has some really cool 3D tools, and it's tempting to always look at these instead of some of the basic 3D tools that Vectorworks Has. The 3D polygon tool can be used to draw a polygon between 3D objects. You don't need to use automatic working planes, you don't need to set working planes, you just need to draw the 3D object and snap to the 3D geometry you already have.
Saved views are very useful for restoring a view of your project. They control the view, layers, classes, zoom, rendering, etc. It is a really quck way to jump from anywhere in the project to a specific view. 
Loft Surface – One Rail mode. In this mode you need to have a cross-section through your object and around the want to move it along. This allows you to create very complex shapes very simply.
Vectorworks has a spellchecker allowing you to check the spelling of individual blocks of text, all the selected text, all the text in the entire drawing.
This is a great command for selecting objects that join each other. You will find this command in the contextual menu, so when you right-click on an object you can select all of the objects that join to the selected object. 
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