AutoCAD to Vectorworks

[Ray Libby]

I would say my system would be very capable for all these programs. The only thing that's budget in my setup is my graphics card which is still very good for VW.

[tails]

Hi Ozzie that's perfect. I had an email from a forum member saying to use the wall tool, when I use this and change from plan view to isometric the wall is 3D which I don't want. They then said to use the rectangle tool. Would you agree?

[propstuff]

Hi its me again

I have read that in vectorworks you should draw with blocks, so use the rectangle tool instead of the line tool.

Yes you should. much quicker and easier to draw and edit with Surfaces.

Anyway I have ignored this advice and used the line tool to draw a wall with a few 90 degree angles in it. I would like to fill the wall with hatch or pattern but cannot.

Do I need to create a type of polyline to do this?

Note also: If you have a series of objects which enclose a space you nominate the specific boundaries and choose Modify> Combine into Surface, or use the Paint Bucket mode of the Polygon tool to make a new surface to fill

[Ozzie]

You could try the Double-Line Polygon tool or perhaps the wall tool with no height

With regard to rectangles as you mention in one of your previous posts - try this

Draw a rectangle and then another with say a corner over the top of the first one

Select the last one you drew first and then the first one you drew and go Modify Add Surface - play with the other Surface commands - Clip, Intersect and Combine

This works with Circles, Polylines, the Freehand tool etc

Remember there is a stacking order in VW with the last object drawn being on top

To see this draw a rectangle and give it a color fill - draw a circle and give it a different color fill and have it a little over the top of the rectangle

Right click the circle and Modify/Send/Send to Back

Play with the Modify Send commands

[tails]

Hi again I haven't used VW for a couple of weeks now but remembered most of what you guys have shown me which is great and can reasonably competently do a working drawing although I am slower than when using AutoCAD.

Where would you guys go next? The 3D walls etc confuse the hell out of me as the model space appears so different to that of sketchUp.

Are you all using custom keyboard shortcuts and s this done in the workspace editor then save as your default template?

[Jim Smith]

3-D walls can be daunting at first but take a few moments to play with some simple floor plans made with the Walls Tool. One important thing to consider is the difference between LAYERS & CLASSES. As Classes are more like AutoCad Layers - use them for graphic info, Layers are more like the Layers of Mylar we used to use to draw on - so a Layer can occupy the same 2-D space, but will be separated in 3-D by whatever value you give to the Layer.

The wall tool can be selected to accept the THICKNESS or delta Z value of a Layer. As long as one sets the Layer's Z value correctly the walls will stack properly.

Try this:

- Create four Layers each with a delta Z of 3M or 10'

- Leave one Layer with a Z value of 0 change the rest to multiples of 3M or 10' (ie 3,6,9)

- Draw a simple floor plan with the wall tool & check the box on the IOP "Link wall height to layer delta Z"

- Select all walls, Duplicate, then move these duplicates to one of the other Layers.

- Repete this two more times to fill the other two layers.

Now create a Viewport & have all three layers active, & change the View in the OIP to Right Isometric & there is your building. If you play with that technique, you should get the hang of the thing in no time.

[tails]

Hi thought I would continue using this topic rather than start another.

I have been asked to plot some bollards on a large area of land, would the 2D locus tool be suitable for this as all I need is a cross to indicate the position?

Also when I click on the eye icon in layers nothing happens?? as it would in adobe.

last but not least when i use the dimension tool to try and figure out an angle I get two squares and no measurement. what have i done? I'm working on a second layer.

[tails]

also can you change the opacity of a fill colour?

[tails]

Solved the opacity bit i new I'd seen it somewhere.

[tails]

I'm back again I have twi layers I'd like to either combine or activate both so i can move them together to fit inside my paper space/print boarders. How can this be done?

thanks for any help.

[Ray Libby]

Hi, Andy. You would get a much better response to you questions if you would start a new thread for each one.

To combine two layer you would need to copy everything from one layer, then paste in place. You can now delete the layer you don't need.

[bcd]

Rather than combining the two layers why not create a Viewport which contains both and place this on your Sheet Layer? Sheet Layers can have multiple Viewports at various scales, projections & renderings.

View>Create Viewport

You can then scale the Viewport through the Object Info Palette to fit your paper exactly as needed.

The inclusion of a Drawing Label has the happy property of displaying the active scale of the viewport automatically.

Dims/Notes Palette: Drawing label

[tails]

Thanks guys I figured out the copy and paste thing after spending a couple of hours trying to figure it out, my brain suddenly went "click" copy and paste!!!

I'll have a look bcd and start a new thread next time.