Introduction to CAD CAD stands for Computer Aided Drafting or Computer Aided Design. It means…
Education_003 – Introduction to Vectorworks
Introduction to Vectorworks
Firstly Vectorworks is not a cheap or low-powered program. It is a very powerful program as well as being good value for money
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Vectorworks can be used to create: simple 2D drawings for joinery, a whole set of contract documents for a large commercial building, landscaping design, a virtual 3D model of the building that you can walk around or fly through.
2D – This contains a huge selection of drawing tools and menu commands to provide solutions to all of your drawing needs. The software provides screen hints as you use the tools and highlights relevant snap points as you draw.
3D – Models can be created quickly to represent your design which you can then interact with by adjusting the design, flying or walking through. You can create small objects or very large buildings complete with floors, windows and furniture.
Database/Worksheet – This can be used to track and schedule items like doors, room finishes, planting etc. It can be used to analyse the design by checking such things as the site area coverage, and can also be used to create smart symbols like title block symbols.
VectorScript – Vectorworks comes with a powerful program language built in. It’s a structured language that can be used to create custom tools to automate regular tasks. There are also many custom tools that you can buy from the Internet.
Finding Your Way Around
Open Vectorworks either from the Start menu if you are on a Windows machine or by double clicking on the Vectorworks icon if you’re on a Macintosh. When VectorWorks opens you should see the standard VectorWorks interface.
Workspaces
The arrangement of the Menu Bar and Tool Palettes is called a Workspace. There are workspaces for Architects, Landscapers and Engineers. You can choose from a range of Workspaces by going to the File Menu, click on Workspaces then click on the Workspace that you want.
- Go to the Menu bar.
- Choose Tools > Workspaces > Standard.
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Windows machine the WorkSpace should look similar to this:
On a Machintosh machine the WorkSpace should look similar to this:
VectorWorks Parts
Menu Bar
These are the menus for the Standard Workspace. These menu commands instruct the computer to carry out the required action such as opening a document, rendering an object etc. Menu commands are generally simple commands.
Refer to what I said in the last section about Workspaces. Using a different Workspace will make the Menu Bar look different and you will not find the things you are used to finding.
When you click on a name in the menu bar the commands in that menu pop down. You will see that some are black and some are grey. The grey ones are called “grayed out” as these commands are unavailable or are inappropriate for the current tool or mode that you are presently working in. All of the available commands are shown in black. As you move the pointer down the list of commands they highlight. To choose the highlighted command just release the mouse button on a Macintosh, or click on the desired command on a Windows machine.
Some commands have a small triangle on the right hand side. This shows that there is a sub menu for additional choices. To select one of these, move the pointer into the sub menu, highlight the desired command and release the mouse button.
This is standard Macintosh and Windows interface so far. If you are currently using a computer all of this will be familiar.
Other commands are followed by 3 full stops called ellipses. These commands will open a dialog box for you to enter information required for the command to progress.
On the right hand side of many of the commands you will find a symbol followed by a letter. These are the keyboard shortcuts, which can be used instead of searching through the menu commands for the one you want. They are called shortcuts because they really do save a lot of time.
Help Menu
The last Menu on the menu bar is the Help menu.
• From the Menu Bar choose
Help > Contents ( on a Windows machine)
Help > VectorWorks Help… (on a Machintosh)
You will find a command that will open an on-line help guide, an electronic copy of the thick VectorWorks manual.
You get a list of topics.
Click on the topic, click on the Index, or click on the search button to give you the ability to search for a specific word or phrase.
Context Sensitive Help
You can now get help that is aware of where you are in VectorWorks. Try pressing F1, Help or CMD+? (CTRL+? On a Windows machine). This means that if you are in the middle of using a tool you can hit F1 and VectorWorks will launch your web browser and show help about that tool.
You can also use the command What’s This? from the help menu. Choose What’s This?, then click on an object. Your web browser will show you a help page for that tool.
Data Display Bar
There is a data display bar at the bottom right of the drawing window. The Data Display Bar is located directly below the title bar of the drawing window. It tracks the position of the cursor in the drawing area if you are not actively creating an object.
If you are actively creating an object, there is a Floating Data bar to allow you to enter dimensions directly into the fields using the keyboard. This allows you to accurately control the size of the object you are drawing.
To access the Floating Data Bar use the Tab key. Pushing the Tab key once gets you into the first field of the bar. Pushing the Tab key again gets you into the second field and so on.
If you type information into a field use the Tab key to move to the next field and VectorWorks will accept the dimension that you typed in.
Use the Enter key (on the far right hand side of the keyboard) to accept information and move you to the next field. Use the Return key (the Enter key near the letters on the keyboard) to accept the information and get you out of the Data Display Bar. If you are using a laptop computer you may have to use a function (Fn) key to access the Enter key.
The Data Display bar uses X and Y coordinates.
X are horizontal dimensions and Y are vertical dimensions.
The angular dimensions do not follow surveyors bearings; 0º is across to the right, 90º is up the screen, -90º is down the screen.
If you type in a dimension on the data display bar it will be in your current units. If you want to type in a dimension using different units just type the dimension followed by the unit mark. For example, to enter 3 feet and 6 inches type in 3’6” and then hit the Return key. You can also use simple arithmetic, e.g. plus (+), minus (-), divide (/) and multiply (*).
Tool Bar
The Tool bar tells you what tool mode you have selected and sometimes has instructions about what to do next. The options or modes are displayed by icons in the mode bar along with a brief description of each mode as it is selected.
When you select a tool you also have to check the mode bar to see what mode the tool is in. It may not be appropriate to what you want to do.
The Tool Bar displays different modes depending on the tool selected. For many tools the last button on the Mode Bar is a preference button for that tool or object.
Class Button
The Class Button shows you the active class that you are currently working in and is used to open the Class Setup Dialog box or is used to change the active class that you are working in.
It is not used to assign a class to an object. You should use the Object Info palette for that.
Layer Button
The Layer Button shows you the active layer that you are currently working on and is used to open the Layer Setup Dialog box and is used to change the active layer that you are working on.
It is not used to move an object to a different layer. You should use the Object Info palette for that.
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