Search Results
| 2010 |
| April |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2010/04/batch-convert-your-old-vectorworks.html |
| I have been helping a friend with setting up the User Folder. I noticed as I helped him, that several of his old library files had not been converted to Vectorworks 2010. This happens to me every time I update my version of Vectorworks. There is a solutions though, Vectorworks has a batch convert command.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2010 |
| January |
| extended podcast |
|
| Why use 3D in Vectorworks.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2010 |
| January |
| extended podcast |
|
| Corner Windows, use Vectorworks windows or Windoor?
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2010 |
| February |
| extended podcast |
|
| Dim Text Tools in Vectorworks Australia and New Zealand
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2010 |
| February |
| extended podcast |
|
| Using the Clip tool on viewports.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2010 |
| January |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Save a Corrupt File and Backing Up
There is a trick you can use to try to save a corrupt file. It often works, but it does not always work. The technique uses Workgroup Referencing to grab all the Design Layers, but you can not get any of the sheet layers, or sheet layer viewports.
If you have a backup, then you can open it and hope that it is OK to use. So, you need to set up the Vectorworks backup and you should have a backup strategy for your computer as well, to keep all your data safe.
tags: workshop |
| 2010 |
| February |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Stacked Layers/Unified View & Setting Up Layers
Stacked layers and unified view allow you see al your layers together, so when you change views, all the layers change. But there are some things to watch for. Setting up your layers correctly is essential is you want to use Vectorworks for BIM, and if you want to use Stacked Layer or Unified View.
tags: workshop, 3D |
| 2010 |
| June |
| vimeo movie |
| http://vimeo.com/12962752 |
| How can you create a residential concept design quickly? Vectorworks several, very cool, techniques that can be used together to create a very fast concept design. If you can create a quick conceptual design, you can improve the quality of your work though 3D visualization, solar studies and checking your concept against site restrictions. |
| 2010 |
| January |
| youtube |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCng-1YLe3A |
| Fixing Mistakes in Polylines, Polygons and so on. I have used this so often, I forget that clients do not know how to use this trick. I used this the other day and my clients wanted to know what it was for.
tags: youtube, movie, podcast, polygon, 2D reshape |
| 2010 |
| January |
| youtube |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXeOa7HXqcE |
| Here a trick I for quick editing of viewport crops objects. You do not even need to enter the viewport to use this.
tags: podcast, movie, podcast, clip, |
| 2010 |
| March |
| youtube |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxFedOKX2Yg |
| I have just finished a new movie based manual for Residential Concept Design using Vectorworks 2010. this is the opening movie for the manual.
tags: movie, podcast, youtube, concept design, 3D model, visualization |
| 2009 |
| February |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJBwYHOdun4 |
| For several years i had clients asking if you can set the angle snaps to work at 15º increments. Until Vectorworks 2009, the answer has been no, not quite. But with Vectorworks 2009, you can set the angle snaps to 15º either side of horizontal and vertical.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, snap, angle, drawing |
| 2009 |
| April |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNVJfemLvN0 |
| Drawing a Site plan This podcast is a small segment from a session of the short sharp training. Each month I run an online training session for clients that subscribe to my SHORT SHARP TRAINING. So, this is a small sample so you can see what the online training is like.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, SST, pdf, tutorial |
| 2009 |
| May |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2Ip-zkoytA |
| I had a phone call the other day from a client. They wanted to know if there would be any advantage in upgrading from Vectorworks 12 to 2009. In particular, was there anything to help you see the information on the screen.
I’m not classed as visually impaired, but I have started to wear glasses, and so this podcast is about the things in Vectorworks 2009 that make it easier to see what you are doing. It may not sound like a big deal, but I have found it useful, and I have found that I’m not so tired at the end of the day.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, selection, pre-selection, tool highlighting |
| 2009 |
| May |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyjTox901bw |
| One of my Landscape clients works with large areas of planting. They find the place plant tool very slow. Much too slow to be useful. An new tool in Vectorworks 2009 makes planting large areas quicker and more powerful.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, landscape area, land use analysis |
| 2009 |
| May |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic-AsXPZ8yI |
| I’ve been using this technique since Vectorworks 2008, so if you are still using Vectorworks 12 you are missing this technique. The Heads-up Display looks really good, but it is much better than just looking good, it really speeds up the way you draw.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, floating data bar
Use the Tool bar to set the options, then you can draw really quickly with the HUD. |
| 2009 |
| June |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKno-CrQt10 |
| Your office library is more than just a few symbols saved in a file. Your office library is really part of a drawing system that includes : Symbol library ; Symbol Libraries for tools; Layer and class standards ; Graphic Libraries ; A default template and so on.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, library, making a library |
| 2009 |
| June |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYmk4iZKoXE |
| I was teaching a client about associate dimensions and moving symbols in walls. It's seemed to be an important topic for him, as it allowed him to design more quickly and sort out the changes later.
In Vectorworks 2009 the associative dimensions have green boxes, in Vectorworks 2008 they are red. The Set Position... option on the Object Info palette is new for 2009, and it gives you a great deal of flexibility in moving symbols (and windows and doors) in walls.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, dimension, doors, windows, move |
| 2009 |
| July |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByJDwOZ3xLU |
| This Movie is from my first short sharp training (monthly). The movie uses Vectorworks 12.5 to show you how to draw simple roofs and how to use the roof framer. If you are using Vectorworks 10, 11 or 12, you should find this useful. if you are using one of the later versions of Vectorworks you might sill learn something about simple roofs and the roof framer.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, roof, roofing, framing |
| 2009 |
| July |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8QqILjfoTc |
| This Movie is is a short extract from this month’s online short sharp monthly. This month we were looking at worksheets. we went through 10 different worksheet examples. Some were easy, some tricky, but all of them were amazing in the way they let you get information from Vectorworks. Worksheets are the most undervalued part of Vectorworks. they are powerful, relatively straightforward to create and edit. You need some training to use worksheets, they are not intuitive.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, worksheets, SST, tutorial, manual |
| 2009 |
| July |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ysn3kSew44 |
| Using Dropbox for Vectorworks file sharing and Workgroup Referencing. One of my clients shared this with me a few weeks ago. This is a really neat trick for storing your Vectorworks files online and sharing them with other you want work with. In this movie I’ll work with a friend of mine in the UK. We will use dropbox (https://www.getdropbox.com/)
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, cloud, online |
| 2009 |
| July |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVnqDBNDPK4 |
| I saw someone on the Vectorworks Community board was having trouble with snapping in 3D. I’ve made this short movie to show you how the 3D snapping works with 3D objects.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie |
| 2009 |
| July |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ85zfO3gSs |
| Here is a simple way to make to 3D text. Some people convert the text into polygons and then extrude it. This method is much quicker.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, type, extrude |
| 2009 |
| July |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO1gLqg-rC0 |
| This Movie is from my February 2007 short sharp training (monthly). The movie uses Vectorworks 12.5 to show you how to draw simple roofs and how to use the roof framer. If you are using Vectorworks 10, 11 or 12, you should find this useful. if you are using one of the later versions of Vectorworks you will find this useful as well.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, roof, edit, sst, tutorial, manual |
| 2009 |
| July |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxRDCiqIKLQ |
| The chain extrude tool makes a really quick job of adding a canopy to building. Watch this movie to see how it works.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, 3D model |
| 2009 |
| July |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWov7Ec-Ws8 |
| I was taking to a friend (http://blog.konstrukshon.com/) tonight and I was showing him some 3D modeling I was playing with today. One of my clients wanted a tricky curving 3D shape and i was asked to think of a way to do it. The answer was to use a few tools and commands. Lines, Duplicate Array, Move 3D... Loft surface, shell solid and so on. All these tools and commands are covered in my new 3D modeling manual from NNA ( http://www.nemetschek.net/training/guides.php ).
tags: podcast, youtube, movie |
| 2009 |
| August |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rljtaVQu3dk |
| I’m pleased to present a new training system I have been working on lately. It is called Vector-workout and it has been designed to make it easier and quicker to get to the information. The training is all movie based, with only a few words. It is based on PDF, so it is searchable. This podcast will give you an introduction to the new system.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, SST, tutorial, Vector-workout, manual |
| 2009 |
| August |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW40PuQ3p_A |
| I saw someone on the Vectorworks Community board asking about drawing walls for an elliptical plan. I have a workaround. It is a workaround because the plan is not really an ellipse, but it looks close.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, drawing, drafting, draughting
the important part is the setting out lines so you can draw arcs correctly. The arcs have to join to each other on a tangent. Watch the movie to see how it’s done. |
| 2009 |
| August |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijrqTqNUIxI |
| I thought there might be few people that would like an introduction to some simple 2D technical drafting techniques. This podcast is how to calculate a fillet corner, using lines.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, drawing, drafting, draughting |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5iWLV4uW7Y |
| I saw someone asking about how to add a heavy line to elevation viewports. This movie shows my trick, it is fast and effective. Of course, this trick is from my manuals...
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, manual, polygon, tutorial |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE1q5eIvqMQ |
| I have had a few clients asking for clarification about setting the wall heights. The walls are set to Link Height to Layer Delta Z, but the walls have no height in 3D. What is wrong?
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, wall, height |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tbeR7v_TKI |
| If you dimension in Viewports carefully, you can make the dimensions associate to the objects. This means that if you change the drawing in the design layer, the dimensions in the viewport will update automatically.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, dimension |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR064pEPqYI |
| The constraints in Vectorworks don’t seem to be used very much, but they can be really useful. In this example you can can see what happens with a dimension constraint. When you move the wall, the door moves as well.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, wall, door, edit, snap, constrain |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7SqrkrUlIA |
| The unified view looks a lot like the the Stacked Layers view in earlier versions of Vectorworks. After all, it has the same icon. Do not be fooled, this is a big improvement in dealing with your building.
MacNN (http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/09/11/due.within.weeks/) tells it like this:
A primary addition is the Unified View, which lets users work in 3D while retaining normal class and layer structure setups. The view also introduces VW09's snapping technology into the 3D realm, including cursor queues and automatic guide and extension lines.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLErFW_Usys |
| The new Parking Area tool is a really fast way to create a large area of parking. It is fast, flexible and it counts up all the car parks dynamically as you edit the area. Only available in landmark and Designer.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddc6Zha6Gt8 |
| This is a feature I’m very excited about. Interactive dimensioning will allow you to know up a quick plan, then after you have dimensioned it, you can adjust all the dimensions that you don’t link. This will move all the objects with associative dimensioning.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, walls |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tsWrR--5-o |
| In the past it was tricky to have the dimensions in the places you wanted. If you used chain dimensions, it was fast to place the dimensions, but it was hard to move the dimensions without ungrouping. Now, you can easily move the dimension text to suit.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie
|
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2tMlhA0RZI |
| When I first read about this technique, for selecting objects while using some tools, i was dismissive. Why would you want to do that? Surely everyone knows how to select an object before calling the rotate tool.
Today I was teaching the rotate and mirror tools. While I was explaining how to select the object before mirroring, I realized that NNA were spot on, this new technique will really speed up productivity.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, selection, selecting |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xom6XPc9IjE |
| This is another of the small improvements NNA have made to Vectorworks 2010 that I didn’t see the advantage of. It really is a small thing, the ability to see and control the Bottom Z of an extruded object, but I think many users will find this really helpful and very productive.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, Object Info palette, 3D, model |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w05w02yLzI |
| Many of my clients have been waiting for this, it is the ability to have keynotes across several layers, and the ability to to have move than one block of ntoes to keynote. You gotta watch this one if you use the callout tool. If you do not use the callout tool, start using it today.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, text notes, |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmTIvTqn7UI |
| When you change the crop area of a viewport, it can be a real pain, because you do not know how big to make the crop. If only you could see the drawing outside the crop... Well, now you can, and you can see it in grey so you see where the crop is, and where it should be.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, crop, clip, viewport, edit
|
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3229qXnJ9-8 |
| I have just finished my online user group, which I call Short Sharp Training (monthly). This month we looked at the Camera Match Plug-in from Matt Panzer (http://www.panzercad.com) This is a fantastic addition to Vectorworks, it will let you combine a photo and a 3D model in a very short time. If you need to show your clients what the 3D model will look like in place, this is the tool for you.
With out this tool, you can spend hours getting the photo montage to look right. With this tool, you can do it in 10 - 15 minutes!
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, 3D, render, camera match |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoglnqiEXmg |
| This is something I have long wanted, the ability for the symbol to know if it should be inserted in the wall or not. In Vectorworks 2010, on of the Insertion Options is to turn off the wall insertion mode. This will stop the symbol from accidentally jumping into the wall. If you set up your symbol library correctly, this will be a huge bonus.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, symbol, library |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvLpD0ehtjk |
| I client emailed today to ask about the custom line styles. I’m not sure if this is exactly like the AutoCAD custom line style, might it is a line with a symbol in it.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, dxf-dwg, import
|
| 2009 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=261ZXElz_4Y |
| This is really cool. If you set up your wall styles correctly, you can auto join the structural components of the walls. The setting is on wall style preferences, just tell Vectorworks which component is the core.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, wall, wall-style |
| 2009 |
| October |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEhOJqTSV2Y |
| This is the opening movie from my Vector-workout Introduction to BIM in Vectorworks 2010. I have added an intro to explain it and it ends with the web site link where you can purchase the training. I am trying this as youtube movie I can embed on my web site.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, productivity, manual, tutorial |
| 2009 |
| October |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0xa9rQP6U4 |
| One of the things I hate about associate hatching is that there is no way to control the insertion point of the hatch, or the angle, or scale. Well, that was until Vectorworks 2010. Now we have the ability to move the origin of the hatch, rotate the hatch and even scale the hatch, and still the hatching is associated to the object. I like this a lot!
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, hatch, edit, insert, scale |
| 2009 |
| October |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvEzmm26SvI |
| When you use tools in Vectorworks 2010 that require an object be selected, there is a new option to select objects, without leaving the tool. I must say, i wasn’t that happy about this change at first. I’ve gotten used to it now, and I say, “Thanks NNA. That is much better!”
Many times I have tried to use the offset, mirror or rotate tools, and I’ve forgotten to choose the object. Now it is easy to select the object in the middle of using these tools. I reckon you will save a few minutes a day with this alone.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, selection, select |
| 2009 |
| October |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7l0Mk_2fw0 |
| Vectorworks put on a webinar today showing 10 top tips for Vectorworks 2010: Tips and tricks from our industry specialists at Nemetschek North America. Check it out. http://download2CF.nemetschek.net/www_movies/2010/Tips&Tricks_Arch2010.mov Some of these you will have already seen here on the podcasts and youtube movies. One of the tips looks so cool
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, webinar |
| 2009 |
| October |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUcVnZnlZUw |
| 3D snapping has improved a lot in Vectorworks 2010, and it is easy to find smart cursor snaps, mid-points on the edge and centre points of 3D objects.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, model |
| 2009 |
| November |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXtYzVL_mUA |
| Haven’t you ever wanted a manual that shows you all the tricks you need to make Vectorworks really fast? This is it! The ultimate guide to Vectorworks 2009. get it from: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/training/vector-workout.php#productivity2009
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, productivity, manual, tutorial |
| 2009 |
| December |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCAIbj35eHU |
| Here is a tip for using the Visibility tool to check the classes of the objects on the screen. Thanks Bruce for showing me this.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie |
| 2009 |
| December |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L978E1LoXbY |
| Here is a tip for using the Move by points tool to draw floor joists, or anything repeating.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, framing, drawing, repetitive unit |
| 2009 |
| December |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhwyJPsjOTQ |
| I have just finished my Vector-workout Guide to Productivity for Vectorworks 2010. Over 160 productivity movies. Get the Guide from http://www.archoncad.co.nz/training/vector-workout.php#productivity2010
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, manual, tutorial |
| 2009 |
| January |
| extended podcast |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#epodcast075 |
| How to find the intersection of two curved roofs.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| February |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to deal with importing a CAD file from a manufacturer.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| February |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to use guides for setting out planting.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| March |
| extended podcast |
|
| How can you use a generic plant at the concept stange and change it to different specific plants for construction.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| March |
| extended podcast |
|
| How can you count up the hardscape areas on the same worksheet as your plants.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| March |
| extended podcast |
|
| How can you count up the hardscape areas on the same worksheet as your plants.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| April |
| extended podcast |
|
| I was showing one of my clients haw they can make plants for concept and construction plans, without having to re-draw the plants.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| April |
| extended podcast |
|
| I read of this trick the other day on the Vectorworks Community Board. It’s a way of renumbering all your symbols using a worksheet.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie
|
| 2009 |
| May |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to create 3D text for logo, animations and presentations. I also thought it might be fun to create 3D text that follows a curve.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie
|
| 2009 |
| May |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to export a site plan to a surveyor. I’ve just helped a client a client to do this with a file that had a few issues.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| June |
| extended podcast |
|
| How can I update my title blocks easily?
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| June |
| extended podcast |
|
| Could you use Vectorworks for visualizing a wind farm? I think you could do this easily, watch this movie to find out.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| July |
| extended podcast |
|
| Did you know you can make your own custom tools. It’s rather easy if you know how...
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| July |
| extended podcast |
|
| Using the Resource Browser.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| August |
| extended podcast |
|
| Working Planes in 3D Modeling
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| August |
| extended podcast |
|
| Importing a DXF file that has oversized arrows.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| September |
| extended podcast |
|
| Importing a Shape File.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| September |
| extended podcast |
|
| 3D Primitives.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| Oct |
| extended podcast |
|
| Getting Plants in a rectangular array to be parallel to your site. You have to rotate the plan before you place the plants.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| November |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to use Windoor to show demolished windows
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| November |
| extended podcast |
|
| Moving dimensions, using the 2D selection tool and using nudge.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| December |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to use the Renderworks Camera tool.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| December |
| extended podcast |
|
| Pillar.. Command. What use is it?
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2009 |
| January |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Making an Asset Database
In this workshop we will learn how to make objects into symbols. Then we will learn how you can attach information to the objects.
In the first example we will use furniture and computers as the example. We want to record the type of object, the size of specification of the object and then create a report on these objects, sorting them by type.
In the second example we have a site plan with plants. We will use standard VectorWorks plants, and we will add our own information to them. We want to know when the plants were planted, who gifted the plants, when do they need fertilizer, and when to they need pruning.
tags: workshop, worksheets, report, plants |
| 2009 |
| February |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| In this workshop we will learn how to draw a deck in Vectorworks using a few different methods so you can create drawings for a deck, and which method makes it most productive to draw and quantify the timber in the deck.
If you have Vectorworks Architect or Designer, you have a tool that makes it very fast to draw a deck, and to quantify all the timer in the deck. |
| 2009 |
| March |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| I often find that the standard Vectorworks roof will not make the roof I want. So, in this workshop we will look at a couple of roofs, and see if we can make the standard Vectorworks roof do want we want. Then we will look at using the roof face command an how we can use this to make the roof we want. I will show you a technique for making it faster, and we will look at roof faming and creating a truss roof.
tags: workshop, roof, roofing, |
| 2009 |
| April |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Creating Drawings for a Building Project
In the past the user group has covered layers, classes and viewports. The feed back I am getting is that this is still an area that people are confused about.
When should you use a class, when should you use a layer? How do you create drawings from the stuff you create on the design layer.
I have created a drawing with enough information to create a set of contract documents for a simple building project. We will learn how to create the drawings from this information. We will use viewports and sheet layers to create our drawings.
tags: workshop, drawings, sheet, viewports |
| 2009 |
| May |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| have seen many tips and tricks on creating drawings, but not many on creating construction drawings. When I was writing the last manual on creating drawings, I wanted to cover creating construction details, but I felt that would have made the manual too long.
So how do you create details? That is what we will be covering. We will need components to assemble into details. These could be pieces of timber, flashings, weatherboards (siding), fixings, hatching, and so on. Where do you make this stuff and where should you store it?
tags: workshop, details, drawing |
| 2009 |
| June |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Creating and Managing your Vectorworks Libraries
Your office library is more than just a few symbols saved in a file. Your office library is really part of a drawing system that includes : Symbol library, Symbol Libraries for tools, Layer and class standards, Graphic Libraries, A default template, and so on.
tags: workshop |
| 2009 |
| July |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Intermediate Worksheets
Worksheets are very powerful, but to most people they are a mystery. This workshop will open your eyes and unlock the power of worksheets. If you are interested in BIM, then worksheets are the way to access the information attached to objects. If you want to count, quantify or schedule information in Vectorworks, worksheets will do it for you.
tags: workshop |
| 2009 |
| August |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Editing the Vectorworks Plug-ins You might think that the Plug-ins that come with Vectorworks are locked. It’s true that you can’t see the computer code and change it, but there is still a lot you can edit. We will also look at a plug-in object that I have made (a bracing object), and we will look at how to edit the code of the plug-in object to remove bracing options, add bracing types you want to add, and update the bracing units on each brace as they change.
tags: workshop, customize |
| 2009 |
| September |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Camera Match is a 3rd Party Plugin to Vectorworks. This means that is doesn’t come as a standard. You have to buy it. I think you will find that this Plug-in saves so much time with visualization, that it pays for itself the first time you use it. I know when I bought it, it saved me a couple of hours on the first project. Available from http://www.panzercad.com
tags: workshop, 3D, render
|
| 2009 |
| October |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Vectorworks 2010
I’ve been spending the last couple of months updating my Vectorworks manuals for 2010. I have several clients asking if they should upgrade to the new version of Vectorworks. If you are working on Vectorworks 12.5, then yes, upgrade right now. There are so many advances in Vectorworks since you last bought Vectorworks. If you are using Vectorworks 2008 or 2009, then look at these notes. You might find that there are enough reasons to upgrade.
tags: workshop |
| 2009 |
| November |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Annotation With out text and dimensions, your drawings are pretty sad. Annotation is a fundamental part of drawing.
Annotation is more than just putting text and dimensions on the drawing, although I will be covering this to make sure you are doing it correctly, there are note tools, tools to store a database of notes and tools for labeling
dimensions, title block, text, notes, keynotes
tags: workshop |
| 2009 |
| December |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Best Practice For Importing and Exporting DXF/DWG Files We often have to work with consultants and clients that do not use Vectorworks. DXF or DWG (AutoCAD) is usually the best way to do this. It will allow the you to use their information in Vectorworks, or it will allow them to import your work.
There are several things you need to consider.
|
| 2009 |
| January |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2009.php#cadmovie250 |
| Making the Database (Record Format)
So, lets start with the end in mind and design our database. We want to record the type of object (computer, desk, chair, etc.), the make or model, object size, date purchased, and location (room or floor). Tags:record format, database, schedule
A database in VectorWorks is called a Record Format. You use the Resource Browser to create a new record format. Before you do that, let’s open a file to start with.
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2009 |
| January |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2009.php#cadmovie250 |
| Making the Symbol
Now we have our record format we can attach it to objects. Usually you attach record formats to symbols, but it doesn’t have to be a symbol. You can attach a record format to any object. Tags:record format, database, schedule
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2009 |
| January |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2009.php#cadmovie252 |
| Attaching the Database to the Symbol
We have made the database, and we have made the symbol, but they are not connected. The next step is to connect the two parts together. Tags:record format, database, schedule
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2009 |
| January |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#cadmovie255 |
| Editing the database attached to a symbol. tags: record format, database, editing records
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2009 |
| January |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#cadmovie256 |
| editing record format attached to a symbol. tags, record format, editing records, database
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2009 |
| January |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#cadmovie257 |
| editing the record format attached to a symbol. tags, database, record format, editing record format
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2009 |
| January |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#cadmovie258 |
| Making the report is straight forward. VectorWorks has a command that will do a lot of the work for you. After we have made the report, we can sort the report by room, by date, by type and so on.
Tags: database, report, worksheet, spreadsheet
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2009 |
| January |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#cadmovie259 |
| The current order may not suit you. The sorting order can be changed so you can see all the objects in a specific room. Tags: database, records, sorting records, worksheet, sorting worksheet.
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2009 |
| January |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#cadmovie261 |
| creating a plant report from your custom records. tags: plants, database, report,
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2009 |
| February |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#cadmovie264 |
| Now we have a buidling we can add the deck. In this part of the workshop we will look at 2D information only, so all the joists, bearers and footings can be drawn as lines and rectangles. We will start with the outline of the deck and then work our way down to the foundations.
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2009 |
| February |
| movie |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#cadmovie265 |
| Duplicating the joists to make a floor. Tags: duplicate, duplicate array, joists
Only Subscribers are able to see this movie. to become a subscriber, please visit http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| 2008 |
| January |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA2rlHa4GhQ |
| i saw someone on the Nemetschek North America tech list asking for help setting the extent of the site model. Use this technique, it’s fast and easy.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, site model, boundary |
| 2008 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltlWD5L3q7U |
| One of the interface changes with VectorWorks 2009 is pre-selection. This means that object highlight as you move your cursor over them. it is a big improvement and it will help new users to learn Vectorworks. the old uses will quickly get used to this.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, selection, selecting, interface |
| 2008 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VN8luVd4sI |
| VectorWorks 2009 has several interface changes. I found this one really useful, it is called the snap loupe and it allows you to zoom in temporarily. it is like putting a zoom loupe on your drawing so you can snap in a complex drawing.
This is a big improvement. I’ve gotten so used to zooming in all the time, it took me a little while to break the habit. but trust me, it is worth it
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, zoom |
| 2008 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Swb-rQvyc |
| there is a new option in VectorWorks 2009, the ability to show other objects while in groups, but to show them in gray. I thought this was a nice trick, and one that will help me out heaps.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, group, show others |
| 2008 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSpdfxL15k0 |
| This is an old VectorWorks trick. if you use layer colors on a multistory build it makes it easy to see what floor information is on.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, layer color, layer colours |
| 2008 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN_FZT-Cj4M |
| In the past, when I have been working on a complex worksheet, I have sometimes found I can not read the text in the worksheet. Until now there has ben no way to make the worksheet easier to work on.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, worksheet, zoom, enlarge
Now with Vectorworks 2009 there is a new command to zoom a worksheet to make it easier to work on. |
| 2008 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmSLPLWg_KI |
| in Vectorworks 2009 you can drag worksheet columns to re-order them. It used to be easier to re-create the worksheet rather than try to re-order the columns. with Vectorworks 2009 you can drag the worksheet columns to get the order you want.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, worksheet, edit |
| 2008 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRyEPs4LKM0 |
| A big improvement in the general use of Vectorworks is the improvement in snapping. At first it did not look much to me, but as I started to use Vectorworks 2009 more I noticed how useful the new snaps are. combined with the pre-selection highlighting, you can see where the snaps are, not like older versions of Vectorworks when you had to guess where a centre point would be.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, snaps, constraints, zoom |
| 2008 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnZ-vND84K0 |
| Vectorworks 2009 has new settings for the interaction with objects on screen. I have covered the pre-selection in a previous podcast, but I wanted to show you that the color of the pre-selection is editable. The Vectorworks preferences now allow you to edit all the interactive settings. this will let you change the color, size and opacity of the preselection, smart cursor and so on. You can make Vectorworks more your own....
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, customize, workspace, interactive settings
|
| 2008 |
| October |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IZv-Eu7KgI |
| Vectorworks 2009 has a new tool for setting the visibility of layers and classes. I used to have a tool that would do part of what this tool does. This tool is highly recommend for controlling information on complex drawings.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, visibility tool |
| 2008 |
| October |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEtEQ1v8wog |
| I have heard of this trick before, but I had not used it. This podcast will show you how to remove several vertices from a polygon. this makes it fast to remove a large part from a polygon or polyline.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, 2D reshape, edit |
| 2008 |
| October |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM9jhVrXSes |
| The Character Palette for the mac is similar to the Character Map for the windows machine, it shows you all the odd symbols.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, text, type, symbols |
| 2008 |
| October |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWL16ocA5aw |
| While I was teaching a client the other day, I showed them this trick. they thought it was a fast way to create objects in VectorWorks. This works with VectorWorks 2008 and 2009.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, floating data bar, quick data entry |
| 2008 |
| February |
| extended podcast |
|
| This podcast will show you how to make a 2D/3D Symbol. You will need this podcast if you want to carry out all the instructions in the Q&A
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| February |
| extended podcast |
|
| This podcast will show you how to make a picture frame and apply a image (texture) to it.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| March |
| extended podcast |
|
| I have made a movie where I discuss options for using layer and classes. |
| 2008 |
| March |
| extended podcast |
|
| Drawing a Road. What road tools can you use, will they all fit to the site model.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| March |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to use VectorWorks for presentation applications like a business card or a calendar.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| May |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to use VectorWorks for presentation applications like a business card or a calendar.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| April |
| extended podcast |
|
| Using Spaces to create an urban design
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| April |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to use VectorWorks for importing plants into your new plant database, how to filter these and check for duplicates
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| June |
| extended podcast |
|
| Export to Google Earth. If you ever wanted to send your file to your clients to look at, try this method. You can send your clients a version of your file that they can open with Google Earth (a free program).
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| June |
| extended podcast |
|
| Dealing with the Resource Browser
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| July |
| extended podcast |
|
| Stairs with winders. How can you add winders to stairs.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| July |
| extended podcast |
|
| Creating and formatting general notes
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| August |
| extended podcast |
|
| Making symbols for architects and interior designers.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| August |
| extended podcast |
|
| Using Photoshop to merge scanned images.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie
|
| 2008 |
| September |
| extended podcast |
|
| Texture beds on site models can be really useful. you can use them to color part of the site model to show the stages of a project, you can make quick roads, or you can add textures to a site model.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| September |
| extended podcast |
|
| I have had a request from several people, not just landscapers. How can you take an image and get it ready for an image prop. You need to use photo editing software. I will show you how to use PhotoShop Elements (approx$145NZ) to cut out a tree photo to make an image prop. |
| 2008 |
| October |
| extended podcast |
|
| Following on form the Solar Study workshop, this podcast shows you how to make a solar study to check your roof eaves or solar shading
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| October |
| extended podcast |
|
| Using custom selection to select specific lines.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| November |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to make a dishwasher symbol from an image.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| November |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to use the Polygon tool.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| December |
| extended podcast |
|
| Using Send to Surface with symbols, extrusions and objects.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| December |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to set pen thicknesses on the Attributes palette and on the the Pen Palette that comes with VectorWorks ANZ.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2008 |
| January |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Productivity Techniques I thought it would be a good idea to start the new year making sure that you are using the best techniques for productivity.
Look through these techniques to make sure that you are getting the best that you can from your investment.
|
| 2008 |
| February |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Drawing a Landscape Plan I thought it would be a good idea to start the new year making sure that you are using the best techniques for productivity. Look through these techniques to make sure that you are getting the best that you can from your investment.
tags: workshop, landscape, plan |
| 2008 |
| April |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Zone of Visual Influence This topic will teach you how to analyse the visual effects of project on a site.
If you are building on a sensitive site you might need to know which parts of the site are visually effected by your project. You might need to prove that your project can’t be seen from some areas.
We’ll start by importing a DXF/DWG file that has some problems. I’ll show you how to fix the problems and make the Site Model.
tags, workshop, landscape |
| 2008 |
| May |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Windoor is a 3rd party plug-in for VectorWorks. This means that you might have to go to the internet an buy this from the producer.
If you are in NZ or Australia you will have this already. If you are located in another part of the world then you will have to visit this web site to purchase it:
http://www.ozcad.com.au
I have been using Windoor for several years and I like it a lot.
tags, workshop, window, door |
| 2008 |
| July |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Workgroup Referencing for Architects and for Landscapers
Workgroup Referencing is a powerful concept that allows you to link two files together so that more than one person can work on the project. What if you are working on your own as a landscaper, is Workgroup Referencing still useful?
tags, workshop, x-ref, xref |
| 2008 |
| August |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Solar Study
When you are designing a building or a landscape feature, you may be concerned about the affect of your structure on the surrounding buildings and landscape. Some of my clients have been asked to provide evidence that the building design does not adversely affect the neighboring properties.
tags, workshop |
| 2008 |
| September |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Room Finishes Schedule If you are working on a commercial project you might have to make a room finishes schedule. Of course, you could use word or excel to do this, but you could also use VectorWorks. If you use VectorWorks, you can have the room finishes linked to the room names.
tags, workshop, |
| 2008 |
| October |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Creating an Animation
tags, workshop, 3D, modeling, render, movie |
| 2008 |
| November |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Mechanical Services VectorWorks comes with several HVAC tools for adding ducts and HVAC components to your drawings. I can understand if you let others do this for you, but if the project was small, you might consider adding the HVAC components yourself. If you are not an architect you might be in the profession where you add the HVAC components for the architect. We are going to import a drawing, add some HVAC components and then we will learn how to quantify them.
tags: workshop, worksheets, report |
| 2008 |
| December |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Site modeling can be relatively easy, and a site model can be edited in several ways. For this workshop we will create a site model in a few different ways.
We will edit our site model to make it suit the existing site better, then we will change the site using site modifiers, 3D loci and landscape walls.
tags: workshop, site model, site modifier, roads
|
| 2008 |
| March |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Setting up a Kitchen Plan I wrote a Kitchen Design manual some years ago and it needs updating. I thought this would be a good place to update the manual. Even if you are not interested in the design of kitchens you might learn something from the way I carry out this exercise. We will be using the base cabinet and other cabinet objects and we will make our drawings using Section viewports.
tags: workshop
|
| 2008 |
| April |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Where can I get support for VectorWorks?
There are several places where you can get help while you are working on VectorWorks, you can even get on-line training.
tags: workshop |
| 2008 |
| September |
| Short Sharp Manual |
| http://www.archoncad.com/site-model-tutorial.html |
| This tutorial will lead you through importing a DXF/DWG file and making a site model from it. The two main ways to create a site model are covered. You are then shown how to edit the site model using roads, site modifiers, landscape walls and spot levels.
tags: site model, site modifier, pads, boundary, manual, tutorial
You should buy this tutorial if you wanted to know more about site modeling, or if you wanted to know how to modify site models.
|
| 2008 |
|
| Short Sharp Manual |
| http://www.archoncad.com/drawing-a-landscape-plan.html |
| Many of my clients want to see how to draw a simple landscape plan from start to finish. This manual is the result. We will start by importing a simple survey plan. Many projects start this way, so you need to have effective ways of importing a DXG/DWG file. When the Drawing has been imported, it may not suit your drawing aims or style. So, we will edit the imported drawing to suit. Then we will use native Vectorworks tools and techniques to draw paths, grass areas and an area for a fountain. Placing plants will complete the plan. We will also count the plants and schedule the grass and path areas.
tags: landscape, plant, planting, manual, tutorial
Finally, we will create an overall plan and a detail plan of the fountain area. |
| 2007 |
| January |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://web.me.com/jpickup1/archoncad/Video/Entries/2007/1/26_026_-_How_To_Use_archoncad_Manuals.html |
| A few people have asked me for clarification on using the archoncad manuals. There is a read me file on the CD that tells you how to use the manuals, but it’s often better to see what I mean. This podcast will show you how to use one of my new manuals, how to play the movies and how to change applications to VectorWorks to carry out the instructions.
If you don’t have any of my manuals and you want to buy one, check out his web site:
http://www.archoncad.co.nz
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, manuals |
| 2007 |
| February |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://web.me.com/jpickup1/archoncad/Video/Entries/2007/2/23_028_-_Making_see-Through_People.html |
| I have been working on a big rendering project. One of the things I discovered was this trick for making people see-through. This podcast shows you briefly how to use the grey people, but it is not a complete tutorial.
For the complete tutorial on how to make the grey people you’ll need to belog to my user group as the extended podacst was part of the February user group news letter.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, render, image props, people, 3D |
| 2007 |
| March |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://web.me.com/jpickup1/archoncad/Video/Entries/2007/3/10_030_-_How_to_change_the_colour_of_a_texture.html |
| At the last user group meeting there was a question about how to change the colour on a texture. With VectorWorks 12.5 and Photoshop you can extract the image from a texture, import it into Photoshop (wher you would edit the image) then import the altered image into VectorWorks. This is a quick podcast to show you the VectorWorks step, the extended podcast for the user group shows you all the steps.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, render, rendering |
| 2007 |
| March |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://web.me.com/jpickup1/archoncad/Video/Entries/2007/3/16_031_-_Drape_Surface.html |
| One of my clients wanted to have a site model, but he wanted it to be very smooth. One option is to use the Drape Surface command to make a site. Once you have the draped surface you can use the other 3D tools to cut out the part you don’t want or you can project 2D shapes onto the draped surface, even texture the drape surface with a map...
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, texture, image |
| 2007 |
| April |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://web.me.com/jpickup1/archoncad/Video/Entries/2007/4/22_034_-_Counting_the_Planting_on_Several_Sites.html |
| I was helping one of my clients recently to count planting and landscaping on several sites together. I suggested that you do this using layers and classes. Layers could be used to break the project up into different sites and the classes could be used to count the different products (grass, topsoil etc).
This podcast gives you an introduction on how to achieve this. For a more detailled movie on how to make this project you need to join my user group. This podcast is extended in the on-line user group newsletter issue 0703 so that you can see every step explained.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, report, plants, landscape |
| 2007 |
| March |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5KX_qXUgF4 |
| At the last user group meeting i showed a few tricks for editing viewports, which I though most people knew. It tuned out that most people didn’t know these tricks, so there they are. This podcast is extended in the May 2007 on-line user group newsletter if you want to know more.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, viewport |
| 2007 |
| May |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_kdMBcxL1s |
| I saw someone asking about the color and lineweight in a section viewport. The look of your sections is controlled by a class called Section Style. The section style class can be edited and when you edit it, it wll change the look of your sections.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, graphic, sections |
| 2007 |
| May |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB-CwAAfj-4 |
| I saw someone on the Nemetschek North America tech forum asking about moving a window (or door) in a wall. There are a few ways to do this, and this podcast shows you a couple of options.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, door, window, editing, moving |
| 2007 |
| May |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOwnO2r5uzY |
| one of my clients just asked about making superscript characters on a Macintosh. This podcast shows you how.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, type, text |
| 2007 |
| June |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChVIo-CK1Oc |
| I saw someone asking about using grey layers in a viewport and how they didn’t like the density of the grey. My preference is to use grey classes, and this podcast shows you why.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, layer, grey, gray, class overrides |
| 2007 |
| June |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZocECfhuO2M |
| VectorScript is the built in prgramming language in VectorWorks. VectorScript allows you to make your own tools and commands. This podcast is going to show you a quick way to use VectorScript that requires no programing skill, so watch it, enjoy it and get faster at VectorWorks.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, program, customize
|
| 2007 |
| June |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgjsndVsaHg |
| I was with a client the other day and they wanted to know if there was a quick way to import a survey plan and turn it into a site model... there is. First you need to have VectorWorks Landmark, Architect or Designer. Then you import the file and make the site model.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, import, survey, landmark, architect |
| 2007 |
| June |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYS_iphPMv0 |
| I’ve shown this trick to a few people lately, how to make quick hardscapes. This trick can be used for more than hardscapes though, you can use this same technique to make ceiling grids, spaces and all kinds of things...
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, hardscape, object from polyline, productivity
|
| 2007 |
| August |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrVcFDbZP5c |
| How to Make a chain extrude. Chain extrudes are very cool as they can create some complex geometry very quickly. In this podcast I show you how fast it can be to make a canopy that goes on two sides of a house. The chain extrude will space the structural ribs, the corner ribs and it will turn the corner for you. Watch this to see how easy it is...
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, 3D model, canopy |
| 2007 |
| August |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu3lisaEq8U |
| How to Make a solar animation. I have had a few clients lately that have been interested in making Solar Animations. These are easy to make, they can be very effective. They can be used at an early stage to test your design or you can use them later on to show other the effect your building will have on others.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, light, lighting, sun, solar study |
| 2007 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoW9LxZ0LTg |
| Several people have asked me how to add line textures to a rendered view. I haven't got a really quick way, but I do have a way that will work if you are willing to put in some effort. Watch this podcast if you want to see how this works.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, lines, building |
| 2007 |
| September |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zCpb_5gstg |
| I was teaching today and showed them this trick, using the ceiling grid to draw hatching on elevations. Hatches can be good for elevations, but if you are using sheet material then try using the Ceiling Grid. The Ceiling grid is fantastic for sheet type cladding because you can move the start point of the sheets easily to see the best place to start the cladding.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, elevation, texture |
| 2007 |
| November |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTKZgNlq0pM |
| If you have a complex plan with rotated parts, you might find, like I do, that drawing the plan in the rotated parts of the building can be a pain.
VectorWorks 2008 has a new plan view called rotated plan. This new view option allows you to rotate the view without rotating the information on the plan.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, rotate |
| 2007 |
| November |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qY5j2GL_wY |
| VectorWorks 2008 makes it easier to create your own custom dash styles. Earlier version of VectorWorks where a pain to make specific dash styles. VectorWorks 2008 makes it easier because you can type in your own dash and gap lengths.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, dash, lines |
| 2007 |
| November |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PgKWnnlmAg |
| This video shows the difference between using layer links and design layer viewports in VectorWorks. This is a shortened version of the extended podcast that will be available to the members of the cadsupportonline user group.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie |
| 2007 |
| November |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzlaas_4vhk |
| If you have a complex plan with rotated parts, you might find, like I do, that drawing the plan in the rotated parts of the building can be a pain.
VectorWorks 2008 has a new plan view called rotated plan. This new view option allows you to rotate the view without rotating the information on the plan.
Watch this podcast for more information.
This will be covered in detail in my updated Architect Tutorial Manual for VectorWorks 2008 due late October 2007.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, manual, tutorial |
| 2007 |
| October |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2007/10/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-12.html |
| Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 12 (upgrading to 2008) Customizable HUD (Floating Display Bar)
I really like the new Floating Display Bar, sometimes called the Heads Up Display (HUD):
It’s easy to find because it’s right where you are drawing.
It tries to show the most useful fields first.
It’s customisable.
On the Mode Bar, or tool bar, there is an arrow pointing to the right. Click on this and you can choose options for the HUD.
You can choose to not use the Floating Data bar. And you can show the data on a fixed data bar. This is like the old VectorWorks.

I’ve tried it because it was familiar, but it is not as nice as the new Floating Display bar.
You can choose to have just the main fields... or you can choose to have all the fields shown.
The other nice trick is having instant access to the HUD by using the numeric keypad. This works really well and it’s quick.
tags: blog, written, article
|
| 2007 |
| November |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2007/11/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-13.html |
| Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 13 (upgrading to 2008) Orange Exit Button
This may seem like a small reason to upgrade, but it’s surprising how quickly I have gotten used to this. When you edit a symbol, group, or other object, you get an orange border and a large orange button that you click on to exit.
If you edit a symbol, the orange button says Exit Symbol. This should help you to see that you are in a special editing area. You are not in the main drawing area.

If you edit a group the orange button says Exit Group. This will really help because some people get confused when they are inside a group.
You can change the size of the orange button to a small button (a very small button). You do this in the same place that you edit the HUD (see the last blog).
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2007 |
| November |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2007/11/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-15.html |
| Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 15 (upgrading to 2008) Custom Dash Line Styles
VectorWorks 2008 makes it easier to create your own custom dash styles. Earlier version of VectorWorks where a pain to make specific dash styles. VectorWorks 2008 makes it easier because you can type in your own dash and gap lengths. |
| 2007 |
| November |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2007/11/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-16.html |
| Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 16 (upgrading to 2008) Foreground and Background Rendering
Until now, you could only choose one sort of rendering for each viewport. The workaround for this was to create a copy of the first viewport directly on top of the first viewport. This works OK, until you want to change the view on the viewport.
With VectorWorks 2008, you can now set background and foreground rendering modes. This makes it easy to set up the viewport you want, with the rendering you want. If you change the view, the viewport can be easily updated.
My updated and revised Architect Tutorial manual for VectorWorks 2008 shows you this technique, available from http://www.archoncad.com
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2007 |
| November |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2007/11/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-17.html |
| Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 17 (upgrading to 2008) New Color Palette
With earlier versions of VectorWorks we were limited to 256 colors in the color palette. You could get around this by tricking VectorWorks with gradients, but with VectorWorks 2008 you don’t have to. The Color Palette has been completely overhauled. You are no longer limited to 256 colors.
You could have less that 256 colors if you wanted. This would allow you to set up an office standard that just had the colors that you wanted to use.
If you turn on the standard VectorWorks colors you can use any of them, and there are more standard colors now than ever.
You might notice that there are several palettes that you can choose from. You can choose Resene, Benjamin Moore, Pantone and so on.
If this isn’t enough, you can even make your own color palettes.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2007 |
| November |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2007/11/reasons-to-be-cheerful-part-18.html |
| Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 18 (upgrading to 2008) Black/White Viewports
In the past you could only make the whole drawing show color or black/white. This limited the way that you could show your drawings.
Now with VectorWorks 2008 you can choose which viewports show color and which viewports show black/white. This will allow you to be much more flexible when you create drawings.
This ability also applies to design layer viewports. this will mean that you could have a site plan in color with a black/white design layer viewport of the house plan.
tags: blog, written, article
|
| 2007 |
| April |
| extended podcast |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| This podcast shows you how to import one page from a muilt-page PDF file, scale it to the correct size and then make a viewport of the detail to place on the window drawing.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| May |
| extended podcast |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| This podcast shows you how to set your dimensions and units so that you can
measure areas for a worksheet in one unit type but put dimensions on the page in a
different unit.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| May |
| extended podcast |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php |
| This podcast shows you how to quickly edit viewports. At the last user group
meeting I showed some quick ways to edit viewports, and it seemed that not many
people knew these tricks...
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| February |
| extended podcast |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#epodcast027 |
| This podcast shows you how to use the Connect/Combine tool on more than one
object using the modifier key. It also shows you some of the other tools that use the
modifier key to expand there use.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| February |
| extended podcast |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#epodcast028 |
| This podcast shows you how to make grey see through people for renderings using
image props.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| March |
| extended podcast |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#epodcast030 |
| This podcast shows you how to extract the image from a VectorWorks file, edit the
image in Photoshop and then bring the image back into VectorWorks as a texture.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| March |
| extended podcast |
| http://www.archoncad.co.nz/cadsupport/2007.php#epodcast031 |
| This podcast shows you how to make a drape surface over your site models to give
your site model a more curved look. I also show you how you can project a road
outline onto the draped surface.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie
|
| 2007 |
| June |
| extended podcast |
|
| This podcast shows you how you can edit the look and style of Section viewports,
and how you can change the extent of a section viewport.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| June |
| extended podcast |
|
| This podcast shows you how to move symbols in a wall, how to move them to a
known place and how to place the symbols in a wall accurately
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| July |
| extended podcast |
|
| In this podcast I’ll be showing you have to import a 3D DXF/DWG file from a
consultant and quickly turn this into a site model.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| July |
| extended podcast |
|
| In this podcast I will be showing you what I wanted to show you last month, how to
quickly make and edit hardscapes.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| August |
| extended podcast |
|
| In this podcast I will show you how the chain extrude tool. The chain extrude tool makes it really quick to draw the cross section through a balcony roof or varandah roof and extrude it.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| August |
| extended podcast |
|
| In this podcast I will show you how to make a solar animation.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| September |
| extended podcast |
|
| How to add hatching to a 3D model so that you can see line textures rather than colour textures.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| September |
| extended podcast |
|
| There is a command called Objects from Polyline... This command is really useful for a many reasons.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| September |
| extended podcast |
|
| There is a command called Objects from Polyline... This command is really useful
for a many reasons.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| October |
| extended podcast |
|
| We have a look at the new rotated plan view in VectorWorks 2008.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| October |
| extended podcast |
|
| Stacked layers. How do you use them, when should you use them. Do they replace
the need of layer links?
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| November |
| extended podcast |
|
| Can I Re-Use my VectorWorks 12 Wall style Library for VectorWorks 2008?
The answer is well, yes and no. I need to explain my thinking...
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| November |
| extended podcast |
|
| Plants are designed to behave differently in VectorWorks 2008. Watch this podcast to see more.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| December |
| extended podcast |
|
| How can I cut the ends of my steel sections. Watch this podcast to see.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| December |
| extended podcast |
|
| What use are spaces? Should I use spaces for domestic projects?
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
| 2007 |
| February |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Simple Roofs and Roof Framer
Roofs are easy to build and they are very flexible (editable). Using the standard VectorWorks roof you can make most of the roofs that you want. Once the roof is made you can make the roof framing for the roof. I also wanted to show you how you can edit all the framing sizes for the roof framer.
tags: roof, roofing, gable, roof face, |
| 2007 |
| March |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Introduction to 3D Modeling Before you can do any sort of complex 3D modelling you have to understand some of the basic 3D modelling concepts. That is what this workshop is all about, learning the simple 3D stuff that you need to learn in order to make your 3D stuff.
Layers for 3D modeling
Extrusions
Multiple Extrusions
Tapered Extrusions
3D Primitives
solid Modeling
tags: workshop, manual, 3D, model
|
| 2007 |
| April |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Making Your Office Library There are a few ways to build your office library. This workshop contains valuable information about making your library.
tags: workshop, manual, library, hatch, symbol |
| 2007 |
| April |
| Short Sharp Manual |
| http://www.archoncad.com/creating-and-managing-libraries.html |
| Your office library is more than just a few symbols saved in a file. Your office library is really part of a drawing system that includes: Symbol library, Symbol Libraries for tools, Layer and class standards, Graphic Libraries, A default template, and so on.
If you manage these libraries, you will find it easier to use Vectorworks, you will not have to sort through resources you do not need, and you will find it easier to locate the resources you want. You could easily save yourself fifteen minutes a day. That might not sound like much until you realize that is over an hour a week, five hours a month, or sixty hours a year.
tags: Short sharp manual
|
| 2007 |
| May |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Introduction to Rendering and Textures Rendering in VectorWorks is where you start to enjoy your 3D Models, where you make them come to life. This workshop is an introduction to rendering (which is pretty easy), but rendering is nothing without textures which can make your models into something special.
tags:workshop, render, texture |
| 2007 |
| June |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Introduction to Customising VectorWorks VectorWorks works really well, but if you edit the workspace, and customise the arrangement of the tools and menus you can work faster and happier. We will learn how to edit the workspace and add commands to the right mouse button.
VectorWorks also has a built in programming language called VectorScript that lets you make your own tools and commands. We will learn how to do some basic programming and learn how to start to make your own tools and commands.
tags:workshop, program, customize |
| 2007 |
| June |
| Short Sharp Manual |
| http://www.archoncad.com/cadsupportonline-vectorscript-manual.html |
| This manual is designed to be in introduction to using the scripting language built into VectorWorks. It is intended as a primer, a getting started manual for you to easily start to use this powerful part of VectorWorks. VectorScript allows you to make tools and commands that suit you. You can make tools that will save you hours of repetitive work. |
| 2007 |
| July |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Annotation is more than just putting text and dimensions on the drawing, although I will be covering this to make sure you are doing it correctly, there are note tools, tools to store a database of notes and tools for labeling.
tags:workshop,notes, text, dimensions |
| 2007 |
| August |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Worksheets allow you count and schedule stuff in VectorWorks. For example you can count all the trees in a site, schedule all the doors on a particular floor of a project, even find the weight of a bracket in a 3D model .
Worksheets are an under used area of VectorWorks and this workshop should open your eyes about what you are able to do with them.
tags:workshop, worksheets |
| 2007 |
| September |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Making Drawings We use classes, layers, viewports and sheet layers. This workshop shows you how to use these concepts to make drawings.
tags:workshop,drawings
|
| 2007 |
| October |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Dealing with Roofs Roofs for standard houses are easy, but what if you don’t want a standard roof. This workshop will cover how to create a standard roof, how to edit a standard roof and what yo do when the standard roof won’t do what you want.
tags:workshop |
| 2007 |
| November |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Graphics in 2D and 3D This workshop topic will cover 2D graphics such and hatches, gradients and images and 3D graphics such as textures and image props.
tags:workshop |
| 2007 |
| December |
| Workshop Manual |
|
| Plants in VW2008 Wall Style Library in VW2008 3D Modeling
Plants have been substantially improved in VW2008. This workshop shows you how easy they are to use and how easy plants are to edit. You could re-use your version 12 wall style library in VW2008, but as I show you in this workshop would be better to update your library to use the new wall style capabilities.
These two topics are based on VW2008. They will not work on older versions.
The last topic shows you how you can create a site and building just using the 3D tools in VW.
tags:workshop |
| 2006 |
| January |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://web.me.com/jpickup1/archoncad/Video/Entries/2006/3/8_podcast003.html |
| Constraints. The constraints palette contains a series of buttons that can speed up your drawing if you know what they do. They can make your drawing hard and slow if you don’t know what they do. In this podcast we look at a few of these constraints to see how that can be useful and I show you which constraints you should leave on for most of your work.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, snaps, constraints, grid, smartcursor |
| 2006 |
| August |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://web.me.com/jpickup1/archoncad/Video/Entries/2006/8/19_014_-_Placing_Plants.html |
| Using the Place Plant Tool. In this movie I show you how to make a plant and place it. This movie uses custom plant symbols for the 2D part of the plant and a custom image prop for the 3D part of the plant to give you a quick way to create a planting plan and visualize the planting.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, planting |
| 2006 |
| November |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://web.me.com/jpickup1/archoncad/Video/Entries/2006/11/2_019_-_Lines_With_Text.html |
| There are some people that want to draw site plans with lines that include text. There are some people that want to draw site plans with lines that include text, I know I often do. This can be done using the Repetitive Unit tool. The advantage of this tool is that you can have lines and curves with text on them, and they can be edited.
This podcast shows you how to use Repetitive Unit tool for this and how to edit the line once drawn.
tags: podcast, youtube, movie |
| 2006 |
| November |
| Youtube Movie |
| http://web.me.com/jpickup1/archoncad/Video/Entries/2006/11/24_023_-_Emailing_a_Compressed_File_-_Mac.html |
| I’ve had a few clients that want to email me files, I’ve had a few clients that want to email me files, but they don’t know how to compress the files before they send them. Compressing files is useful because there is a limit to the size of email attachments that you can send, the emails get sent quicker and the attachments are unlikely to get damaged in transit.
Watch this podcast to see how to compress and email files on the Macintosh...
tags: podcast, youtube, movie, door, wall, symbol |
| 2006 |
| May |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2006/05/new-manual-for-landscapers.html |
| Vectorworks Manual for Landscapers
I‘m really happy to tell you all that I have just put the finishing touches on my new VectorWorks manual for landscapers. This manual is specifically designed to get you going quickly with placing and counting plants (Landscapers have been telling me that they want to do this as quickly as possible). I show you 4 different projects and with each project you will learn a more about how you can use VectorWorks for landscaping.
The manual starts with placing and counting basic plants on a scanned plan. The next project we learn to import the scan, add some custom plants and count them. The third project shows you how to import a DXF/DWG file and add the plans and landscape areas and it also shows you how to count those areas.
The final project starts an empty file and works through setting up the file, creating a 3D site model, placing a 3D house on the site, adding plants, roads, adding site modifiers and creating a drawing.
The manual also contains an appendix where some topics are covered in greater detail.
This manual is available now from :
http://www.archoncad.com
tags: blog, written, article, landmark, Vectorworks manual, landscaping, landscaper |
| 2006 |
| June |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2006/06/upgrading-to-vectorworks-12.html |
| When you upgrade to VectorWorks 12, especially if you are upgrading from a older version of VectorWorks (pre-11). One of the major changes that we have been using since VectorWorks 11 is viewports. Viewports are really powerful and will change (should change) the way you draw and set up your drawings. For example, before we had viewports we used to need to use layers with different scales to show the same information at different scales, now with viewports you can draw the information once and use two viewports at different scales on the same drawing. You can have different class settings on each viewport, something that was impossible without viewports.
It’s a bit hard to explain the implications of using ViewPorts in this blog, but if you are upgrading look for a good manual that will explain these new concepts to you. I have had some clients recently that upgraded from VectorWorks 9 to VectorWorks 12 and we discussed how they need to review my Essential manual so that they can get a grasp on the new concepts in VectorWorks 12.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2006 |
| February |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2006/02/why-upgrade-to-vectorworks-12-part-1.html |
| I spent two days recently on-site with a client setting up their VectorWorks 12 and I was really amazed at the amount of customisation that you can do with VectorWorks 12. Most of the default resources can be edited so that they appear on every new project. For example, when you make stairs now in VectorWorks you can use a starter stair, one that has most of the setting the way you like. This stair (and many others) can be saved to a special folder and then it becomes available in every job. This means that you can create several stairs and have them available in every project. It will make it a lot faster for you to use the new stair objects in VectorWorks 12.
There are other reasons, and I’ll cover these as I have an example to write about.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2006 |
| February |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2010/01/have-you-just-started-with-vectorworks.html |
| If you have just started with VectorWorks The next step for you is to practice VectorWorks every day. You learn VectorWorks by practicing it. I wish there was a magic way to learn, but there is not. Practice is the best thing that you can do. If you have the Essential VectorWorks manual, then work through it every day. Start off with the 2D exercises and practice these until you become fast. Then move onto the other chapters These will help you to make drawings and create the type of project information that you want. All the chapters in the manual are there to teach you a skill or a technique, that’s why it’s important for you to work through the manual.
Now you should work on a real project. Working on a real projects will put you under pressure to finish. This will help you to apply the skills that you have learned.
To improve your skill you should attend user group meetings and courses. The VectorWorks users that attend the user groups get better every month.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2006 |
| February |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2010/01/drawing-complex-shapes.html |
| I had a phone call yesterday from a friend of mine. He was having trouble with the compose command. He’s tracing over the site plan with lines then filleting the corners and composing the shape.
I suggested to him that it would be a lot easier to use the Polygon tool to trace over the shape and then use the fillet tool, or use the 2D Reshape tool, to modify the shape to suit the site plan. It would be quicker and it removes the need to compose the shape at the end.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2006 |
| March |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2010/01/when-you-use-roof-framer-vectorworks.html |
| When you use the roof framer, VectorWorks calls a text file that contains your standard roof framing sizes. This text file can be edited outside VectorWorks which makes it quicker to edit, and you can copy and paste between files. On a Mac this file is stored in:
your user name > Library > Application Support > VectorWorks > 12 > Plug-ins > VW_Arch > Data > here are the files.
I opened up the files in a simple text editor and edited the file. I got rid of all the sizes that I didn’t want and added the sizes that I wanted. Now it has al my standard sizes in it, and when I reinstall VectorWorks, I still have the sizes that I want.
I haven’t found these files on a windows machine but I will look today. If someone wants to email me and tell me, I’ll update this blog.
tags: blog, written, article
|
| 2006 |
| March |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2010/01/drawing-details-in-3d.html |
| A good friend was wondering if it was easy to make 3D details in VectorWorks. I used to this is all the time for small details that would be easier to understand as a 3D view.
We should be asking the building component manufactures to supply us with 3D CAD details. Some of them are starting to look at this but we need to ask them specifically for VectorWorks details so that they learn how many of us there are.
To quote my friend:
“The rational of this being, that as so many details in NZS 3604 are shown as 3D drawings to be able to easily create 3D details like post/beam junction complete with Bomac brackets, washers, bolts & nuts, would be very advantageous. And further, with the greater attention to flashings in E2, to be able to create these little darlings as 3D models in VectorWorks would also be wonderful. Like figure 13 from NZBC E2/AS1. (parapet to wall junction including saddle flashing). It will make it easier to get approval for the drawings, as it will be easier for the approving officer to see what you mean.”
And I guess this means it will be easier for the builder as well...
tags: blog, written, article
|
| 2006 |
| March |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2006/03/how-important-is-training.html |
| Some of you might know that as well as writing manuals and blogs, I also provide VectorWorks training and support for my clients and I run the VectorWorks User Group in New Zealand. How valuable is this support?
I was recently chatting to an overseas client on the internet. He has been using VectorWorks for a while but he has decided to invest in some training. After about ½ an hour training he said, “Oh, that’s cool. You’ve just saved me about 20mins a day!”
Think about that, 60 mins invested, 20min/day return. In the first week the return is 1hr and 20 mins. In the first month the return is 6 ½ hrs! Now, not every training session has such good returns, some training sessions will teach you how to do something new, some will reinforce that you are working in the right way.
I have some users that have been coming to the User Group for several years. They still get one or two tips from the User Group meetings. If you came to a user group once a month and and learned how to save 10 mins a day, it would save you nearly 3 ½ hours a month! Isn’t that worth it?
tags: blog, written, article
|
| 2006 |
| April |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2006/04/macintosh-tricks.html |
| Here is a trick I have been using a lot lately. Often when you’re working in VectorWorks you want to edit the plug-ins, edit the defaults libraries, edit templates and so on. All these things require you to find the VectorWorks folder. If you don’t know a shortcut, you have to open the hard-drive, find the Applications folder, then find the VectorWorks folder...
A really quick way to do this is to hold down the apple key on the keyboard then click on your copy of VectorWorks in the dock. It takes you straight to your VectorWorks folder.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2006 |
| April |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2006/04/stay-in-touch.html |
| Now that you are set up to work on your computer you should make sure that you keep your diary and contacts up to date. I don’t mean that nice black diary that you got from a supplier last year, I mean using your Mac for your contacts and calendars.
There is an Address Book for your contacts and iCal for your diary. They work OK but they are not designed for professional use. The Address Book is not a contact manager that can keep track of 1000’s of contacts, nor can it link to the calendar so that as you add notes to the meeting, the notes are linked to the contact file. That’s what a true contact manager would do, but it is really easy to use. So if you want to have better control over your contacts what can you do?
There are at least two options:
Now Contact and Now Up-To-Date
Daylite
Now Contact and Now Up-To-Date
NUD (Now Contact and Now Up-To-Date) are two separate applications that work together to give you a contact manager and a calendar.
Now Up to Date
I have been using NUD for several years and it has some great features, but it also has some ommisions. One of my favourite features is the way that it can link to my palm pilot and keep all my categories in tact. When I tried this with the standard Address Book and iCal the results were unpleasant, they would not keep the categories that I wanted and I found that the syncronsing was very slow. This is when I changed to NUD.
Connecting my Palm to NUD took a short time to sort out (a conflict in the conduits) and once sorted it has been fast and reliable. So reliable that I have come reply heavily on it. You can’t tell if a contact has been created on the computer or the Palm, and detailed meeting notes can be created on the computer and edited on the Palm. When I have synchronised you can’t tell where the notes were created or where they were edited.
With NUD you can link meeting
with a contact.
When you do this, NUD then adds the meeting to the contacts details. This is a great way to have a detailed record of the meetings that you’ve had with a client, especially if you’ve had the client for several years.
This is pretty neat, but the best part of this is that if you add notes to the meeting on the calendar, the notes are added to the contact. I have used this function many times to record the minutes of the meeting on my laptop. The minutes are then added to the notesof the contact. When you go back to the client some time later, you can see what you discussed last time, the action you should have taken (normal meeting stuff really) and so on, but the neat part is that it all appears in the notes for the client. You could have many years of notes… It has become a habit now to write the minutes of the meeting direct into the calender while I am on site, or to write them later when I have a moment (either on my laptop or my palm pilot).
NUD has the ability to dial a phone number but it will only use the internal modem on your computer, it can’t be switched to use your mobile phone for example. I think that this is a glaring fault and one that NowSoftware “are looking at adding to a future release…” But then they also said that when I got my fist copy of OS X, 3 years ago. The Apple address book has the ability to dial your mobile phone and send SMS.
NUD has the ability to store the contacts and calendar on a server and let everyone in the office synchronise to it. You can even set this up so that you can be off-site and still sync contacts and meetings. I have been doing this for the last 3 years with a server in a different town. Unit the last version of NUD it worked very well, but they really mucked up the upgrade and now it’s not working. I have spoken to the NZ distributor and they are unable to resolve this with the people that make NUD. I suspect that if you started with NUD now (without the legacy issues) it would work fine. It’s a shame really, it was a nice bit of software, so I have started to look at another contact manager that will be able to do all that NUD can do, and more!
Daylite 3.0
I will tell you more about Daylite 3.0 next month now that I have started to use it. It’s going to take me a while to get used to it.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2006 |
| April |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2006/04/how-long-does-it-take-to-learn.html |
| I often get asked “how long will it take me to to get good at using VectorWorks?” The answer may surprise some people, it depends on how much effort you put in.
I have some clients that want to get started, and will put in a whole day of training, they will even pay me to be there for the whole day. While I’m there I get them to agree that they will use VectorWorks every day but when I leave they don’t use VectorWorks for weeks. When I call to see how they are getting, they tell me how hard it is to learn VectorWorks. “Are you using VectorWorks every day?” I ask. “Well, no,” they say “I’ve been busy...”
Learning VectorWorks is the same as learning anything. Keep using it. Use it every day. Work through the training exercises every day if you don’t want to work on a project. Really, it’s the training exercises that you should work through. My Essential Manual has gotten 100’s of people trained to use VectorWorks effectively. I have some clients that always use my manual to train their staff because it gives them a good foundation in VectorWorks...
So how long could it take? I have some clients that get their staff up and running in a couple of weeks, because they use my manual (with the exercises and movies) and because they use VectorWorks every day.
Some people benefit from a personal training. A day or two of personal training (combined with my manuals) and they are off and running. The personal training is really important for people that need help with sorting out the concept in their head of how VectorWorks makes drawings.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2006 |
| May |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2006/05/need-for-foundations.html |
| The picture above is from a one of my manuals. The reason I’m using this picture is to demonstrate an issue that come up recently with a client. The client wanted to draw something like this but they hadn’t read my Essential Manual, so they were having trouble with basic concepts and they were missing basic skills. After some telephone chatting the client has been using the Essential Manual to improve and to build a basic knowledge (or foundation) in VectorWorks.
The Essential manual is like building good foundations before you a house.
Would you start to make the roof or make the windows of a house before you put the foundations down? Of course you wouldn’t, you’d do things in order and put in some good foundations first. Then you’d put in the floor structure and the walls and build up the house. That’s what the Essential Manual is designed for, to give you a foundation for your VectorWorks knowledge. All the other manuals will build on the knowledge that you get from going through the Essential Manual.
I know when you start the Essential Manual you might be thinking “I don’t see the relevance of this...” But stick with it. To understand the relevance try working on an office project or try working through one of the advanced manuals, you soon see that you need these basic skills, the foundation knowledge...
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2005 |
| September |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2005/09/how-far-can-you-go-with-vectorworks.html |
| If you are wondering how far you can go with renderings from VectorWorks have a look at last month’s MacGuide magazine. In this issue I show you how to take 2 animations from VectorWorks, and make them into one movie with a sound track and voice over...
In the next article I will be showing how to get this movie into iDVD to name a DVD presentation for you clients.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2005 |
| September |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2005/09/tips-right-mouse-click.html |
| I have been teaching a lot lately and one of the issues that I’ve noticed is how much faster you can draw if you add frequently used commands to the right-mouse click (ctrl-click if you only have one button).
One of the commands I use a lot is Add Surface. I used to have a keyboard shortcut for this, but that means taking your hand off the mouse. I added this command to the right-mouse using the Workspace Editor. Now when I want to use Add Surface, I can right-mouse click and choose Add Surface straight away. |
| 2005 |
| October |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2005/10/what-are-preferences.html |
| Preferences in VectorWorks are user choices that can change the way that VectorWorks appears to work, can change the way that drawings appear and can control some of the keyboard shortcuts.There are two sorts of Preferences in VectorWorks, VectorWorks Preferences that affect all the files and Document Preferences that control settings specific to a file. To find preferences, go to the Menu Bar and choose:
File > Preferences > VectorWorks Preferences..., or
File > Preferences > Document Preferences...
There are several preferences to choose from and the choices depend on your way of drawing. So try out different preferences and see which ones suit you.
tags: blog, written, article |
| 2005 |
| October |
| blog |
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2005/10/how-to-get-better-at-vectorworks.html |
| If you are just starting with VectorWorks you might be wondering how to get better, how long will it be until you understand this new program. The answer lies in Perseverance... You have to keep working on VectorWorks everyday and you will get it.
tags: blog, written, article
For some people using VectorWorks is the first time that they have drawn with a computer. Do you remember how long it took you to learn to draw the first time? This is no different. You are learning a new way to draw, so you need to learn a new way to think about drawing. Keep at it! |
| 2005 |
| December |
|
| http://archoncad.blogspot.com/2005/12/vectorworks-12-architect-manual.html |
| I am just putting the finishing touches on the revised VectorWorks Architect manual for version 12. You may think that it’s just an update of the old manual, but no, the manual has been substantially re-written. The manual has a new structure and covers topics in the order that you would if you were drawing a 2 storey house renovation project on a sloping site:
drawing the site
site modelling
drawing the house and checking against the site constraints
creating the existing and proposed roofs and finding how the old and new intersect
setting up the concept drawing that shows the existing building, proposed house, site plan, 2 elevations and a perspective.
then there are notes on how to complete the working drawings (construction documents).
tags: blog, written, article |
| 209 |
| October |
| extended podcast |
|
| The working planes palette. If you want to use working planes this will be useful. In Vectorworks 2009 working planes were easier to use, in 2010 they are much easier.
this movie was for subscribers only. To become a subscriber see this web site: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php
tags: user group, movie |
|
UA-2105271-4
| 
