Making a Viewport from a Camera

One of the new features in Vectorworks 2011 is the ability to use the camera to create a viewport. If you use this technique, you do not need to create a crop object, and you can edit the camera settings after the viewport is made, if you need to change anything.

Place a camera on the design layer. Remember, the camera becomes part of the viewport (like any crop object). If you want to keep a copy of the camera on the design layer, duplicate it.

Select the camera.
 
 
 
 
 
Go to the Menu bar.
Choose View > Create Viewport…
 
 
 
 
 
 
You will get a new alert dialog box, telling you about the camera object and the viewport.
Click on the Yes button.
Create the viewport in the usual way, choosing the setting that you want.
 
 
 
 
The viewport will be placed on the sheet layer.
You can move the viewport to the desired location on the sheet layer. If the camera view is not the way you want it, you can change it.
 
 
Right click on the viewport.

• Choose Edit Camera.

 
 
 
 
You will get  a dialog box with information about how to edit the camera and you other options.
Click on the OK button.
 
 
 
Edit the camera using the Object Info palette.
The easy way for me, is to click on the Fine Tune Camera View... button on the Object Info palette.
Use the slider bars to correct the camera view.
 
When you are satisfied, click on the OK button.
Click on the Return to Viewport button to return to the sheet layer, and exit the viewport.
Update the viewport to see the finished results of the changes.