Quantity Reporting for Landscapers

This course will introduce you to the concept of quantity reporting in Vectorworks. The course will start by looking at the concept of worksheets, how they find information, and how we can make a worksheet report the information that we want.
Vectorworks is very powerful for landscape design. I have created reports that would count up all of the planting, landscape areas, mulch, grass areas, edging, etc. Set up correctly, your projects can report everything that you need to deliver. Vectorworks can count objects, quantities, volumes, and budgets. This makes Vectorworks extremely powerful for reporting the quantities of your projects.
To achieve this, of course, you need to understand how Vectorworks finds information and reports it. I have been asked to put together a course that will cover reporting quantities with Landmark. This course is going to be a brand-new one; it will be online and live only. Because it will be run live, it will not be a course that you can take on your own time, although it will be interactive. This will allow you to ask me questions as we work through a series of lessons. These lessons will be recorded so that you will be able to watch them again.
The cost of the course is $150 US/person. (in New Zealand the cost of this course is $210/person+GST).
To register for this course, email me using the contact page…

Module 1 – Introduction to Worksheets

Worksheets are the basis of reporting in Vectorworks. This module will introduce you to the concept of worksheets, show you how to format worksheets, explain how Vectorworks finds information, and show you an example where the worksheet can find all the required information for a landscaper.

Lesson 1.1 – What Is a Worksheet

In this lesson, we will learn the basic concepts of worksheets. Worksheets are the concepts that we use for reporting objects in Vectorworks. We will start with an existing drawing that contains some objects for counting.

• Learn how to create a worksheet.
• Learn how to locate worksheets if they are not open on the drawing.
• Learn how Vectorworks locates information in the drawing through the worksheet.
• Learn how to create a worksheet that locates information on the drawing to calculate impermeable surfaces.
• Learn how to copy worksheets from one file to another.

Lesson 1.2 – How to Use a Preformatted Worksheet

In this lesson, we will start with an existing drawing that contains plants and landscape areas.

• We will learn how to create a preformatted report that will count up all the plants, as well as creating a preformatted report for the landscape areas.
• We will learn how to edit the plant report. Instead of using the preformatted reporting items, we will learn how to change these to report the prices for each plant, as well as learning how to find the total cost of the plantings.

Lesson 1.3 – How to create a Custom Worksheet

In this lesson, we will start with an existing drawing that contains plants and landscape areas. Instead of using a preformatted report, we will create a custom report that will locate the parts of the plants that we require (plant image, size, price, etc.).

• We will learn how to create a custom report that reports the required information from the plants.
• We will format the report so that it locates plants based on their category.
• We will create more reports that locate clients based on their category and add them to the first report.
• We will create reports that locate information about landscape areas and add them to the first report, creating an overall budget for a project.

Module 2 – Creating Parametric Objects

Vectorworks has several parametric objects. These parametric objects are so called because the size and volume of these objects is controlled by parameters that you can access through the Object Info palette. These parameters can also be reported in worksheets. That makes these objects extremely useful for reporting quantities. In this module, we will look at several parametric objects and show how we can report information from these objects.

Lesson 2.1 – Creating Parametric Objects

In this lesson, we will look at several parametric objects to see how they can be used for landscape quantities.

• Learn how to use walls for landscaping.
• Learn how to use columns for landscaping.
• Learn how to use the framing member tool.
• Learn how to use several parametric objects and how information is assigned to them.

Lesson 2.2 – Reporting Parametric Objects

Now that we have looked at parametric objects for creating information, we will look at how we can use the information attached to these objects to create a report.

• Learn how to create a custom worksheet that will report information from our landscape walls.
• Learn how to add to that worksheet by reporting information from the columns.
• Learn how to add to that worksheet by reporting our framing member objects, separating them between bearers, joists, and decking.
• Learn about other parametric objects and how they can be reported.

Module 3 – Introduction to Objects with Data Attached

Parametric objects are extremely useful, but sometimes they don’t go far enough. When you want to create objects and there is not a parametric object that can do the job, we can achieve the required result by attaching information to objects. This is an extremely powerful and flexible way to create reports in Vectorworks.

Lesson 3.1 – Working with Record Formats

Record formats are an extremely powerful technique in Vectorworks reporting. In this lesson, we will learn the basic concept of record formats, how to create them, and how to assign them to objects.

• We will learn how to create a record format.
• Learn how to locate a record format in the Resource Manager.
• Learn how to add default values to record formats.
• Learn how to assign record formats to objects.

Lesson 3.2 – Creating Objects with Data Attached

In the previous lesson, we looked in simple terms at how to assign record formats to objects. In this lesson, we will look at this concept in detail.

• Learn how to add record format information to specific objects.
• Learn how to add record formats to symbols.
• Learn how to connect record formats to the text inside a symbol.

Lesson 3.3 – Creating Viewports from Objects with Data Attached

As well as using record formats to attach information to objects, we can also use them to control parts of viewports. In this lesson, we will look at how to change the graphic style of objects based on their record format information.

• Learn how to create viewports.
• Learn how to change the graphic style of objects based on the record format information (data visualization).

Module 4 – Reporting Objects with Data Attached

In this final module, we will learn how to create a worksheet that finds the objects with data attached and convert those objects into the required information. For example, we might need to find the volume of concrete for a post. We might be able to use a parametric object, but if this is not acceptable, we can create an object with information attached and use a worksheet to calculate the volume of the concrete based on the information that we attached to the post object. We might want to calculate the length of edging to a garden and add in the cost of a clothesline, or add in the price of something that has not been used before.
In this module, we will work through an exercise, finding the objects that we require and ensuring that they report correctly.

Lesson 4.1 – Creating the Required Record Formats

In this lesson, we will look at how to create the record formats we need so that we can achieve the required report.

• Learn how to design the required report.
• Learn how to calculate the required record formats.
• Create the required record formats based on the design.

Lesson 4.2 – Reporting Objects with Data Attached

In this lesson, we will attach the created record formats to the objects to report the required quantities.

• Learn how to create a report that lists the required objects.

Lesson 4.3 – Creating the Final Report

In this lesson, we will create the final report, bringing together all of the techniques and concepts that we have learned in the previous lessons.

• Learn how to create a report that lists all the required plants, areas, volumes, and objects.

 
Course Dates: August-September 2018
Module 1: Thursday, 16th August, 8:30 am – 10:00 am NZST (Wednesday, 15th August, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm)
Module 2: Wednesday, 22nd August, 8:30 am – 10:00 am NZST (Tuesday, 21st August, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm [pacific time zone])
Module 3: Tuesday, 28th August, 8:30 am – 10:00 am NZST ( Monday, 27th August, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm [pacific time zone])
Module 4: Wednesday, 5th September, 8:30 am – 10:00 am NZST (Tuesday, 4th September, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm [pacific time zone])
Course Dates: October 2018
Module 1: Tuesday, 2nd October, 8:30 am – 10:00 am NZST (Monday, 1st October, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm [pacific time zone])
Module 2: Wednesday, 3rd October, 8:30 am – 10:00 am NZST (Tuesday, 2nd October, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm [pacific time zone])
Module 3: Tuesday, 9th October, 8:30 am – 10:00 am NZST (Monday, 8th October, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm [pacific time zone])
Module 4: Wednesday, 10th October, 8:30 am – 10:00 am NZST (Tuesday, 9th October, 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm [pacific time zone])