Architect_079 Architect Special Interest Group October 2015 (am)

The main topics covered:

• importing and upgrading an old project
• default attributes
• unified view and unified view options
• creating a corner stair and stair tools
• adding tools to your workspace
• locating old (legacy) tools and adding these to your workspace
• editing and managing workspaces

Upgrading a Project
in this session we looked at upgrading an old project into Vectorworks 2016. The general rule is to be careful about upgrading your projects into the latest version of Vectorworks. If the project is nearly finished – finish it in the old version. After upgrading your file you can check it and run a few utilities to make sure that everything is up-to-date. When you upgrade a project into Vectorworks 2016 you will see several options, and we discussed these in the session.
Attributes Palette
The Attribute Palette often causes confusion, because there Are two levels of defaults. If nothing is selected you can change the default attributes and this will control the creation of new objects, but there is also the ability to store the defaults so that they can be recalled or applied to an object. While we were looking at the attributes palette we looked at quick ways to apply line types. When line types were introduced it made it slower to apply line types to objects. Using the Resource Browser can make it faster to apply the required line type.
Unified View
Some users have been caught out by the unified view and the unified view options some of these options will make layers disappear or make screen objects vanish. We looked at these options and the implication of each option.
Viewport Options
When you exit a viewport you have the option to Keep Edit View on Exit. We looked at this option because it has caused some confusion.
Stairs
A user wanted to make a stair that wrapped around the corner. The first tool we looked at was the standard stair tool, but that will not make a stair that will wrap around the corner. The standard stair will not allow you to split the stair unless you ungroup it, and then you lose parts of the stair. The Custom Stair will allow you to use the split tool on it but the custom stair tool is missing from the workspace so it has to be added. After adding the tool to the workspace it can be split with the split tool to create one half of the corner stair. You can then use the mirror tool to create the other side of the corner stair. Using the Split Tool has some advantages – it creates a solid subtraction that can be edited (allowing easy changes). The only downside is that in plain view this is no longer a solid object but you can use Auto Hybrid to create your solid fill. If you need to add any handrails you can use the extrude along the path command.
We also looked briefly at all the stair tools including the tools that are hidden away in the legacy area. Some of these tools will have to be added manually to your workspace.
Architect 079 October 2015 am (m4v file)
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