Thoughts on remapping/matching shortcuts....

[hollister design Studio]

I'm in the process of moving over to VW from 20plus years on AutoCAD and MAYA.

I'm loving all the landscape specific features in Landmark, although I'm finding the workflow a bit restrictive compared to ACAD.

I will learn and I'm sure it will all flow within VW constrains soon enough!

 

But I have to say "4" for rectangle and "8" for polyline makes little sense compared to 'rec' and 'pl'.

 

Honestly, after years of ACAD and MAYA (both of which do have odd and competing shortcuts) I would have thought a mac based program would have more mnemonically sensible shortcuts!

 

I'm a one person office and will only be purchasing 1 seat, so I'm not worried about other people getting confused, but what are you're all thoughts on remapping keyboard shortcuts?

 

Cost / Benefits analysis?

[Pat Stanford]

You are right about the shortcuts no longer making sense.

 

Originally (around 1985) Minicad the number keys were set to match the physical location of the basic tool palette. The Snaps palette was layed out as two horizontal rows of 5 buttons and given the keyboard shortcuts of qwerty/asdfg. This physical mapping made perfect sense in those simpler times.

 

But as Minicad became Vectorworks and the number of tools and menu commands grew, items were moved but the keyboard shortcuts never changed. Mostly due to the muscle memory (and very vocal complaints when they tried to change them) of long time users.

 

I always recommend that people think carefully about modifying workspaces.

 

Pros:

  Make more sense to the way you think.

  Make simple shortcuts to the tools you use most often.

  May increase your productivity.

 

Cons:

  Harder to support. I have seen lots of posts here with suggestions to "Cmd-A" or "Ctrl-Alt-M". Those won't work in a custom workspace.

  Harder to upgrade. While a custom workspace will move forward, it may not contain any of the tools/menu commands of a new version. You will have to take special care that you are getting the newest tools.

  Possible problems. We have seen numerous problems over the years due to corrupt workspaces. Usually ones that have been brought forward several times. If you are using a custom workspace make sure it it included in your backup plans.

  There are not enough good shortcuts. If you set L for Line, what do you set for Locus? M for Mirror or Move by Points? There are always going to be things that don't make sense. You will learn those or you can just learn the standards for the ones you use often. We have all learned ctrl-X for cut. Except for being next to C on the keyboard does that make sense?

  Time. How much time are you going to spend customizing your keyboard and then relearning the shortcuts? I almost guarantee it will take more than one try to get a configuration you like.

 

Many people customize their workspaces. Many people stick to the defaults. Your choice. I stick to default as it is easier to do training there. If you do customize don't delete the stock workspaces they are useful for training and troubleshooting.

 

HTH

[Guest SMannVW]

Hello and welcome to Vectorworks! We're glad to have you onboard!

I train architects on the software most days of the week and recommend against changing the shortcuts. The program is complex and will take some learning and getting used to, but I think you'll find that it's a very powerful toolset.

That means there are a lot of shortcuts and remapping one shortcut will have an impact on another. It can be a rabbit hole that is impossible to sort out if you are unfamiliar with all of the tools. I'd recommend watching the Architect Essential Seminar on our Vectorworks University to start.

Some things to get used to when coming over: Clicking Behavior and snapping is important to master and you can find this topic thoroughly covered in the Core Concepts class on the University; Use tab instead of enter/return when scrolling through dialog boxes or when drafting to be exact.

 

There's also a shortcut document available through the help menu. I recommend bookmarking the document or printing it out to have as reference. Some special shortcuts to learn: 'J' to select coincident objects, 'B' to look behind objects (x-ray mode), and the modifier keys are also going to be helpful (option, control, command, shift).

 

We do offer custom online training if you need specialized help on a workflow or sorting out a file.

Best wishes with the new software! We're here to help.