Movie-based Manuals
These manuals are a downloadable movie based training resource offering fast and easy access to instructive movies, ideal for sharpening vectorworks skills quickly.
Jonathan Pickup, the author, said "a client told me recently 'I'm too lazy to read the manuals, just give me the information. Quickly!' So, I've rethought how to deliver Vectorworks training resources as visual tools. Vector-workout is the result - it's a visual teaching revolution for Vectorworks. As they say, a picture tells a thousand words, and these kits do this brilliantly – movies are the perfect alternative to slogging through endless textbooks"
All prices shown in $US.
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BIM stands for Building Information Modeling and it means that well as creating 2D drawings for plans, sections, and elevations, you can draw walls floors and roofs in Vectorworks and use these to create live plans, sections and elevations, as well as extracting other information from the model like a finish schedule, door and window schedule, and other information like wall areas and glass areas.
BIM is not just a new catch phrase, it is also a more efficient way of creating drawings in Vectorworks. If you want to be using Vectorworks in the most effective way and you are not using the BIM capabilities of Vectorworks, this is the kit for you.
Download sample... -
Guide to Productivity$99.50The ultimate productivity guide for Vectorworks. If you want to know all the productivity tricks, this is the manuals for you, now updated and expanded for Vectorworks 2011.
"Jon-I've been going through the productivity workout and it's fantastic!" - William (MA).
How would you like to be efficient and productive with Vectorworks? Would you like to have a library of movies that shows you the best way to use Vectorworks? Would you like a library of movies that shows you how to solve problems with Vectorworks?
Here it is, the Vectorworks Guide to Productivity. This is the ultimate productivity guide. This is a collection of all my tips and tricks. I have designed this guide for people that can use Vectorworks to a basic level, but want to be really effective. So, you might find there are really basic topics here, and really advanced topics. I have included several basic topics to ensure you are doing the basics well, and the advanced topics for users that need to know much, much more.
There is so much in this guide. I thought about listing all the movies, but the list was too long. Instead I have created a sample of the Guide to Productivity so you can download it and look at the structure of the guide and see several complete movies.Dear Jonathan,Just letting you know how much I appreciate your "Productivity" tutorial.What a help you are to my practice! Many thanks.Sincerely,Judy Coutts, AIA
You can download a sample manual here...
176 pages
162 movies
total running time of the movies: 4:09:14
This manual has been updated for Vectorworks 2011, and expanded.
184 movies, total running time 5:09 -
Guide to Residential Concept Design$99.50Some clients want to know how to get started with an Architectural project, this manuals shows you how.
Many of my clients want to use Vectorworks just for conceptual design. This means that the users often want a cut-down Vectorworks interface that just shows the tools they want, to make it faster to draw. Often these users do not want to draw the walls of the building, they want a quick way of modeling the building, a way to see the building on the site, and they want to be able to check the building with a solar study.
In response, I have made a Vector-workout Guide to Residential Concept design along with an online course supporting the notes.
I have kept these notes as concise as possible. Before undertaking this training you need a working knowledge of the Vectorworks screen. You should have completed the quickstart guide to Vectorworks or the Essential Tutorial manual.
The main topics covered are:
Workspace Editing
Document Set up
Creating Spaces
Site Modelling Visualization
Walls
Quick Doors and Windows
Simple Roof
3D Modeling -
Guide to Quick Conceptural Design$99.50Some clients want to know how to get started with an Architectural project, this manuals shows you how.
This manual covers all the steps from editing your workspace to make Vectorworks quicker to creating a solar animation movie of the project.
Briefly, Vectorworks is very powerful in the early stages of a project. We can use Vectorworks to check our building areas to make sure that the project of this size and bulk, can be placed on the site. This is very effective for small complex sites, and for larger commercial projects where land coverage is important.
Once you have the building area, it is a simple task to add the cost of the building. This can be completed in a short time, so you can see if the project is acceptable. This is like a short feasibility report, where you can tell the client the rough (very rough) order of costs for a building of this area and level of quality.
Using massing models, you can check the sun and shadows on the project, to see if you will have the spaces you think you want.
You can import or create a 3D site model and use this to create 3D planes that show you the restrictions on your site. This is a quick visual way to see how close to the boundary you can build and what height is allowed in the project location.
You can use space objects, or 3D modeling to create a 3D concept model. 3D modeling is now very quick and powerful if you use the Push/Pull tool and working planes. So, I have added these techniques to the manual.
As you model, you can check the model against the site restrictions, and create solar studies for different times of the day, and days of the year.
The Vector-workout Guide to Quick Conceptual Design covers all this, and it covers it with a movie-based format. This format makes it easy to get the information quickly, without a lot of reading.
I have kept these notes as concise as possible. Before undertaking this training you need a working knowledge of the Vectorworks screen. You should have completed the quickstart guide to Vectorworks or the Essential Tutorial manual.
Table of Contents:
Workspace Editing
What is the Workspace
Editing the Workspace - Creating a New Workspace
Editing the Workspace - Changing Menus
Editing the Workspace - Changing Tools
Document Set up
Creating A New File
Setting Up The Page Size
Setting The Smart Cursor Settings For Faster Drawing
Setting Up Units For Primary And Secondary Units
Creating Custom Dimension Standards
Setting Up Layers for the Concept
Setting Up Classes for the Concept
Save As Template
Getting Started
Importing the Site Plan Image
Importing the Site Plan - Survey File
Draw the Site and Existing House
Creating Layers and Classes for the Concept Drawing
Creating a Worksheet for the Existing Areas
Creating the New Site Areas and Worksheet
Changing the Building Areas
Costing the Proposed Project
Quick Visualization
Creating A Quick Massing Model
Creating Massing Models for the Surrounding Buildings
Site Modelling
Site Model From a Survey
Edit the Site Model Data
Edit the Extent of the Site Model
Pads and Boundaries
Recession Planes
Texture for Recessions Planes
Massing Models on the Site Plan
Massing Models Can Modify the Site Model
Creating Spaces (Rooms)
Creating a Space Object
Creating a Space Object from Polygons
Editing a Space Object
3D Modeling
Creating an Extrusion
Creating a Tapered Extrusion
Push/Pull Tool 1
Working Planes
Push/Pull Tool 2
Split Tool
Editing The Concept to Match the Site Model
Visualization
Viewing the Layers Together
Set 3D View
Renderworks Camera
Flyover Tool
Walkthrough Tool
Set Sun Position
Live Solar Study
Printing a Solar Study
55 pages
51 movies
total running time of movies 2:17:35 -
Guide to interiorcad and interior xs$149.50Some clients want to know how to get started with interiorcad and interior xs, this manual shows you how.
This manual is designed to teach you how to use interiorcad for drawing kitchens, and is for people that want to get the best from interiorcad and interior xs .
interiorcad is a powerful addition to Vectorworks, and to get the best from it, you need to understand how it works. That what this manuals is designed to do, to show you, in an easy way, how to get the best from interiorcad and interior xs.
The manual starts with drawing a kitchen. Many of my clients need to learn how to draw a kitchen, and place doors an windows accurately, so that when they design the kitchen and place cabinets, they know that the design will work. There are 3 exercises that gradually show more detail on drawing the kitchen and placing cabinets.
The final exercise is more complex kitchen. This will build on the wall drawing skills you have and expand your ability to draw the walls and place the doors and windows accurately. This exercise starts by placing units from a library, but as we place some units, we edit the to suit our design. interiorcad and interior xs have powerful tools, and you need to learn them gradually. In this exercise we keep placing units and we learn how to edit more and more parts of the cabinets. Finally, we learn how to take our kitchen design and create drawings (plans, elevations, and a perspective) from it.
The last part of the this manuals is to customize interiorcad and set up your own library, by editing the master data, learning how to create cabinets that suit your methods of construction, and learning how to save our favorite constructions and designs.
Table of Contents:
Introduction to Interiorcad and interior XS with Vectorworks 2011- Basic Concepts
• Menu Bar
• Tool Bar
• Class Button
• Layer Button
• Selecting and De-Selecting
• Selecting More Than One Object
• Deleting Objects
- Drawing The Walls for a Kitchen
• Placing a Door
• Placing a Window
- Drawing The Walls
• Placing a Door
• Placing a Window
- Drawing The Walls
• Placing a Door
• Placing a Window
• Placing a Corner Unit From a Library
• Placing Units From a Library
• Adjusting a Unit to Fit
• Creating a 3D View of the Kitchen
- Existing and Proposed Plan
• Step 2 - Drawing The Existing Walls
• Step 3 - Adding a Door
• Step 4 - Adding Windows
• Step 5 - Adding a Doors Opening
• Step 6 - Placing Two Cabinets To Make A Corner
• Step 7 - Placing A Fridge
• Step 8 - Placing A Drawer Unit
• Step 9 - Viewing Our Design in 3D, and Making Changes
• Step 10 - Placing More Under-bench Units
• Step 11 - Placing an Oven Unit
• Step 12 - Creating a Pantry Unit
• Step 13 - Setting Out For The Island Units
• Step 14 - Placing The Island Units
• Step 15 - Editing the Front Design to Create a Wine Rack
• Step 16 - Creating a Dishwasher Unit
• Step 17 - Adding Finished Sides And Backs To The Island Units
• Step 18 - Creating the Island Benchtop
• Step 19 - Creating the Plan Drawing
• Step 20 - Creating Elevation Drawing
• Step 22 - Adding a Perspective Viewport
- Step 1 - Master Data management (boards, edges,coverings and finishes)
• Step 2 - Creating a Carcase
• Step 3 - Setting up Back Construction
- Basic Concepts
Vector-workout kits are structured in a logical way, and can be used sequentially. This allows the user to start with basic principles and work though the kit in a structured way, as you would do with a textbook manual. Alternately, they can be used non-sequentially - just use Acrobat Reader to find the specific movie you want and work smarter.