Architect Special Interest Group January 2019

In this session, we covered joining wall components, demonstrated a fix for a WinDoor problem, experimented with creating various lighting sources, and reviewed how to change the look of an object in a viewport by using the Class Override function.

Topics Covered:

• 00:30    We started the session by looking at some wall issues. One challenge was adapting a standard Vectorworks wall style made for stories to a drawing setup without stories. Opening up the wall style, we could see that the bottom and top bounds of the components were defined by story levels. So, to start, we tied the bottom bound to the Layer Elevation and the top bound to the Layer Wall Height, then we went into the settings for each component and made sure that the top and bottom were relative to the wall, not a story. Next, we demonstrated the difference between having the Always Auto Join in Capped Join Mode option selected and not selected. There is also a Capped Join Mode on the Wall Join tool. If you have some wall joints that aren’t behaving, the Component Join tool can often fix that.

• 12:19    Working in WinDoor, someone wanted to show window details in 2D and 3D, but was having a problem with windows being shown as open even when the Open in 3D setting was set to None. Some experimentation showed that it was the Direction Arrows setting that controlled this and that selecting the 3D Only Rev. option—instead of 3D + 2D Outside or 3D + 2D Inside—resolved the issue. If you put the window openings and door swings on a class, you can easily turn them on or off.

• 17:10    Someone had constructed a light housing but was having difficulty putting a light source inside, so we quickly built four walls and a lighting track to snap some lights onto. We made a 2D light and turned it into a symbol, then added a 3D spotlight to that—now, we had our track light! You can also build a 3D housing and attach the 3D light to it. I find it works best to put the light at the housing opening and then add a point light source inside so that the light looks like it is turned on.

• 33:10    Next, we looked at how to do linear lighting, such as a thin strip of LED lighting along the underside of a cabinet. We built a small cabinet so that we could see the effect of the lighting. Sometimes when you’re working in an environment with lots of objects, it is easier to group the objects you’re immediately concerned with and then work on them within the group. We put a line under the cabinet and used the Convert to Line Light command (under the Convert tab). That gave us our light, we just needed to reposition it in a plan view. We found that increasing the lumens got rid of the “patchy” quality of the line light. Other methods for creating this kind of lighting is to use the Convert to Area Light command or to create a texture where the Reflectivity is set to Glow. Because OpenGL only recognizes eight lights when it renders, adding an area light to a room can be very useful for achieving a soft glow.

• 48:25    We ended the session by looking at how easy it is to change, for example, the way that a beam looks in different plans simply by using Class Overrides to adjust its graphic attributes in each viewport. That way, you’re not messing with how the object looks on the design layer!  You can also change the stacking order of the layers to change a viewport’s look.

Architect January 2019

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