Stories with Vectorworks

I have just completed an interview with Steve Scaysbook from Konstrukshon. Steve wanted to talk about the Stories concept in Vectorworks. He recorded the interview and have posted a link below. During the discussion we looked at three sketches that I had draw to explain different situations.


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The first sketch shows the most simple scenario, a single story house. In this scenario, you can use a story. You should always use the fewest number of layers possible. In this case you could have a layer for the foundations, but you could also use a class for the foundations. If the project is simple, I would use a class for the foundations, but if the project is complex, I would use a separate layer to draw the foundations.
Generally, I use the top of the  floor to set out my projects. This allows me to base everything on the top of the floor. In these projects, the top of the finished floor is the same as the top of the structural floor. In large commercial projects this may not be the case, and I would look at which is most important before setting up my layers.

In this scenario we have a two story project. In this sketch I have shown story one including the foundations because this is what I do in most situations. If the project is large with a complex foundation plan, then I would use a separate layer for the foundations. If the project is relatively simple then I would put all the foundations in the same layer as the walls but on separate classes.
The intermediate floor between Floor-1 and Floor-2 could be on a class and included in the upper floor. But this depends on how you want to structure the drawings. If you want to show the upper floor structure being supported on the lower floor walls, that it might be easier to have the intermediate floor in the same layer as the lower floor walls.
 

In this scenario, we have a split level project. This can be accomplished with two stories. The split level does not need to be a separate storey, it can be a separate layer, but is should be part of the Story-1 or Story-2.  The choice depends upon the presentation of the drawings. If the intermediate floor is to be presented at the same time as the upper floor, then you should include the intermediate floor layer in the same story as the upper floor walls. When you change the story height of the lower floor, the intermediate floor will adjust accordingly, because of its connection to the upper floor.
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