Newbie Help: Difference in basic objects and wall/hybrid

[CKY]

Hi,

I am coming from Autocad and was wondering why basic objects like line & circle etc don't attach to the ground plane like a wall does. When i rotate the view my lines and text from the plan looks straight at me while the hybrid components and in their rotated view. Do these objects only draw on the printable page?

How do i draft simply to create plans. Or must everything in vectorworks be made from walls and windows, rather than the free drafting that cad allows (when not doing 3d)..

This question came up as i was trying to rotate my plan and had to go to a view other than top/plan. and i noticed it was drafting flat on the ground plane

[russh]

Unlike AutoCAD, lines, arcs and such in VW are purely 2D. Annoying isn't it? If you want to view them as you would in AC then you must convert them to 3D polys. The best way is to learn that VW just doesn't work like AutoCAD. In some ways it's better and in some ways it's worse but in most ways it's just different.

[Guest]

Additionally, if you draw simple shapes such as polygons, lines, arcs, etc., you can quickly convert these as wall objects using the Modify > Convert > Objects from Poly menu.

With that said, the wall tool, amongst others, work in the same fashion as simple shapes and you get the 3D model/data all the while drafting in 2D.

It's a good idea to get in the habit of using the wall tool, window tool, and other architectural tools for architectural plan needs. They will end up saving you tons of time in the long run.

[brudgers]

For me the differences in drafting methods between autocad and VW are substantial.

Unlearning years of thinking takes time.

Training and study are critical for me.

The biggest payoffs for me is for me are low viscosity workflow and better output as a byproduct of that workflow.

[Benson Shaw]

Hi, CKY

If you have a 2d floor plan on a design layer, for instance, and you draw 3d walls on top of it, and make a sheet layer viewport of all that, and enable Project 2d Objects in the OIP (when viewport is selected) . . .

Then all those 2d objects will behave and display as if they were planar 3d objects residing on the ground plane. Colors, fills, etc are intact. If you change the view (with Flyover tool in the crop mode of the viewport, for instance), the floor plan and other 2d objects will rotate and foreshorten, retain location under the 3d walls, etc . . .

But the 2d objects will appear on top of the 3d objects in wire frame or rendered. If this is not desired, Duplicate In Place the viewport and use class visibility to turn off 3d objects in one VP and the 2d objects in the other. Send or Move Back the 2d one. Or put the 2d and 3d objects on separate layers and create separate viewports of the separate layers. Change the view, you gotta dupe the VP again.

It is often advantageous to place annotations (text and 2d objects) in the viewport (Annotation Mode - dbl click the viewport to enter its modes), rather than on the design layer.

VW offers lots of options to get the results you want.

-B

[CKY]

Thanks for all your help.

The project 2d on the viewport and having 3d and 2d objects on different layers seems nice.

Although i know its slack, i like the flexibility of acad and being able to draw whatever i want, like windows in plan that do not have sills and all this other stuff.

But i really like vw as i find the dims and scale bars etc really useful as well as hatching and just drawings.As well as the classes. So at the moment i don't want to produce 3d models but just 2d draft quickly