Architect Special Interest Group September 2018

In this session, we explored a problem that someone was having with the Create Interior Elevation Viewport command and then covered several new features in Vectorworks 2019: filters, the Extends Before Cut Plane setting for sections, the option to turn a Clip Cube view into a section viewport, the horizontal section, the Data Tag tool, and textures from the mtextur website.

Topics Covered:

• 00:18    We started by discussing the new filtering capability that Vectorworks 2019 has. Not only can you filter your class list so that it’s easier to search through, but you’ll notice that on your list of drawing sheets and design layers, there are also filters now at the bottom of the list. We opened a file to show a plan view of our 2-Floor design layer, selected the Create Interior Elevation Viewport command, and clicked inside a room. The challenge was that the command would work in one room, but if the marker was copied and moved to another room, the command didn’t appear to work for the second room. We copied the marker to a second room and then opened the Section Lines window. Sure enough, the section lines had stayed in the first room. We had to move them over to the second room and adjust them to the size and shape of that room—then the viewports updated properly.
• 07:13   In the Advanced Section Properties dialogue box for a section viewport, we looked at the Extends Before Cut Plane setting, a new option in Vectorworks 2019. This setting gives you the ability to see things behind the cut. We demonstrated how this might be useful with our building model.
• 10:55    We discussed the new BIM workspace, which groups the tools in a different way from the Architect workspace. Personally, I’m not a fan of the new workspace, although I can see that there’s more blank space, which might help organizing things. But, I’ve used the Architect workspace for years, which probably explains why I like it more.
• 13:24    Next, we looked at the new ability to turn a Clip Cube view into a section viewport. After you have the viewport, you can right click, go into the design layer, and reactivate the Clip Cube so that you can revise the cut. Two things that we tend to underrate are the Edit Section in Place and Saved View features. The horizontal section is also a new feature.  You can have the section show infinitely above and below the cut—we opened the Object Display by Class dialogue box so that we could turn on the classes of the objects above the cut that we wanted to show in section.
• 22:06   We went into the Annotation window on an elevation viewport to demonstrate the new Data Tag tool. The tags read through the viewport to the real data behind. If you tag your windows, for example, and then have to move them, the tags will move with the windows. I like to use sections to create my elevation viewports. You can save the section lines in your template so that you don’t have to recreate them on each project. From a plan view, we used the Data Tag tool in Select Eligible Objects Mode and attached tags to all the windows on the floor at the same time. You can specify the kind of information that you want the tag to include and how you want it to look. You could make the tag show the height and width of the window, or its tag number and lintel size. We demonstrated the steps for changing the parameter names and controlling the information in the tag by changing the code in the Current Tag Field Definition field.
• 43:40    At the end of the session, we briefly looked at the new Import mtextur command, which takes you right to their website so that you can add a texture. We gave a wall a beautiful violet color!

Architect September 2018

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