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Do you need a PHD to use vectorworks?


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With any floor/slab, windows, doors etc... to use I always need to look into the help without ever finding the response to my "simple" need. The slabs extend beyond the boundary of the polyline, the elevation benchmarks don't work in 3D

I am getting quite frustrated with vectorworks. IT's becoming so complicated without working really, like it used to be. What should I do, use the 2d only or move to another software? Please advise

Thanks

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i FEEL your pain. Im and old time VW user that used Chief architect for awhile. Everything is so automated in chief its wonderfull...when you put a window in it automatically goes to a schedule. you never have to deal much with visiblities of layers and so forth. But with that said, VW is still a lot better. There is more control with VW and the graphic output is outstanding. I just wish some things would be come more automated such as the floor thing you talk about. In chief architect you dont have to ever build a floor, you just hit a button and its built for you.

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On the mac you are limited to VW and Archicad.

I bought into the flexible workflow moniker that Vectorworks is promoting. I see it now as a weakness.

At times I enjoy using VW.

Other times, VW feels disjointed - it lacks a lot of missing "bits".

Eg.

1) Live sections

2) 3D hatching (or materials)

3) Live hidden line rendering

4) Elevation benchmarks which propagate into elevations

5) Limited training resources

6) Convoluted workflows

Many users have recently expressed their frustration with the lack of these (and other) features. It will be interesting if NV have listened to any of these requests with 2013, as the drum is beating loudly now.

It is my personal belief that Vectorworks will continue to be "dumbed" down so as not to hinder Archicad sales. It is as if VW is designed to hook users into Archicad.

My recommendation to you is:

If you are on the mac, there are presently limited choices. For a tool designed more for Architects try out Archicad.

If you are interested in VW because of it's price, forget it. Any savings will quickly be eaten up in lots of wasted time in trying to get things to work.

If you are on Windows, Revit all the way.

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My recommendation to you is:

If you are on the mac, there are presently limited choices. For a tool designed more for Architects try out Archicad.

If you are interested in VW because of it's price, forget it. Any savings will quickly be eaten up in lots of wasted time in trying to get things to work.

If you are on Windows, Revit all the way.

I hope you don't mind my asking, and I do so sincerely without intent to criticize. With this advice you're providing (as well as many other comments and suggestions you've made elsewhere on the site), I'm curious why you're still using Vectorworks?

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With any floor/slab, windows, doors etc... to use I always need to look into the help without ever finding the response to my "simple" need. The slabs extend beyond the boundary of the polyline, the elevation benchmarks don't work in 3D

I am getting quite frustrated with vectorworks. IT's becoming so complicated without working really, like it used to be. What should I do, use the 2d only or move to another software? Please advise

Thanks

Hi Balitog,

I guess you want to understand what's going on with that Elevation Benchmark. It's just a 2D graphic tool, that's used in the Annotations of the Sheet Layer Viewport -- so if you set up the layers, one for each floor, and have Elevation Viewports on the sheet, then you just note away there (not on the design layers).

This is true for Vectorworks and Revit: it's easier to draw walls first, and then create the floors from the walls' boundary.

Anyway, I hope this addresses those two issues, and you can find your way around the program better.

Edited by Bob-H
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I'm surprised no one answered your question. Slabs: draw four walls closed, chose slab from tool set, select slab type. on top bar menu of working window you'll see a check mark, hand, some lines with red dot buttons and a tool setting button. pick the hand, select all four walls and press the check mark. Your floor is made. If you want to edit the floor choose the tool setting button for slabs and on the floor frame item select "Edit" and you'll see "edge offset" this setting is the offset of the floor edge. If it is "0" then it won't offset. Experiment with different styles and you'll get the hang of it. Just remember when saving the changes always choose "save preferences" button first.

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