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Vectorworks ArchitectTutorial Manual by Jonathan Pickup

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2008 Jonathan Pickup | Vectorworks Architect Tutorial Manual C

Vectorworks Architect Tutorial, Version 2009

Published by Nemetschek North America

Vectorworks ArchitectTutorial Manual by Jonathan Pickup



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Archoncad

Architecture on CAD, Ltd.

10 Laws PlaceNapier, New Zealand

T +64 217 43470

F +64 684 37760

[email protected]

2008 Jonathan Pickup - Archoncad

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or

mechanical, including photocopying, recording, faxing, emailing, posting online or by any information storage and

retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher. Published in the U.S.A.

Vectorworks is a registered trademark of Nemetschek North America, Inc. in the U.S. and other

countries. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Adobe, Acrobat and

Reader are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems in the U.S. and other countries.

The information in this book is distributed on an as is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been

taken in the preparation of this book, neither the author nor Nemetschek North America shall have any liability to

any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the

information contained in this book or by the computer software described in it.

For more Vectorworks training information, or to purchase more copies of this book, please visit

www.Vectorworks.net/training or call us at (410) 290-5114.



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2008 Jonathan Pickup | Vectorworks Architect Tutorial Manual i

Table of Contents

Introduction .....................................................................................iii

Step 1 Layer and Model Setup...................................................1Document Setup ..................................................................................................1Layer Setup (Model Setup) .................................................................................7

Step 2 Property Line ................................................................ 13

Step 3 Creating the Site Model ................................................ 17Creating the Site Model .....................................................................................19Height in Relation to Boundary ..........................................................................32

Step 4 Quick Bulk and Location ............................................... 43

Creating the Lower Floor ...................................................................................43Creating the Upper Floor ...................................................................................46Linking Spaces to Site Plan ...............................................................................52

Step 5 Creating The Walls ....................................................... 63Creating Basement Walls ..................................................................................63Creating Upper Floor Walls ...............................................................................68

Step 6 Creating The Roof ....................................................... 83Existing Roof ....................................................................................................83

Step 7 Concept Drawings ...................................................... 103Plan Viewports.................................................................................................103

Step 8 Doors and Windows .....................................................111Standard Vectorworks Doors and Windows. ................................................... 113WinDoor Manager ...........................................................................................118Updating the Concept Plan .............................................................................125

Step 9 Site Modifiers .............................................................. 129Roads ..............................................................................................................130Pads and Fences ............................................................................................135

Step 10 Stairs...........................................................................141

Step 11 Annotation...................................................................147Standard Title Blocks (Drawing Border) ..........................................................147Drawing Labels ................................................................................................150Notes, Keynotes and Callouts .........................................................................153

Step 12 Working Drawings ....................................................... 161Drawing 01 - Site Plan .....................................................................................161Drawing 02 - Foundation Plan .........................................................................163Drawing 03 - Framing Plan ..............................................................................167

Other Drawings .....................................................................................................................176Thank You ........................................................................................................................176



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ii Vectorworks Architect Tutorial Manual | 2008 Jonathan Pickup



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2008 Jonathan Pickup | Vectorworks Architect Tutorial Manual iii

Introduction

In this manual we will be working through a domestic project for a client. Vectorworks is really

designed to be used for commercial and industrial work as well.

Our clients live in a 1970 - three bedroom timber-frame house on a concrete block basement

garage. The house is facing north on a gently sloping 1/4 acre section.

The clients have been living in the house for 5 years. They now have two children, one boy, 11

years old, and his sister 8 years old. The children are wanting more separation from their

parents, and in the future they will want to be even more independent.

The kitchen, dining and living areas have not been updated since the house was built, andthey are not big enough for this family. The clients have asked for a renovation and extension

to allow for more open living areas. They want the house modernized and enlarged with a new

entry, a new living area to the north (to catch the sun), a new bedroom, dressing room and

ensuite.

Our first task is to draw the existing site and building. Then we need to draw the proposed

extensions and renovations and present these to the client as a concept plan.

After the client has approved the concept we will prepare the working drawings.

This manual builds on the Essential Tutorial Manual, which is designed to show you basic

concepts of Vectorworks such as 2D drafting, simple 3D modeling and basic file organization.If you are unfamiliar with these concepts, you should get this manual and complete it before

you go any further.

One of the main concepts in using Vectorworks is called the Building Information Model. What

this means is that as you draw a wall in Vectorworks, it is more than a 2D representation of a

wall. The wall has texture, knows when a window is inserted and can have information

attached to it. Many parts of the Vectorworks drawing are like this: they are much more than

they seem. A door, for example, is more than the 2D representation of the door. It has a 3D

part, and you can attach information about the door, door hardware or even the supplier and

cost of the door. This information can be generated as a report whenever you want it.

Live sections and elevations are a development of the Building Information Model that allowyou to keep the sections and elevations up to date as you change the form of the building.



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iv Vectorworks Architect Tutorial Manual | 2008 Jonathan Pickup

How to Use this Manual

Here are some recommendations that will help you to use this manual better:

Spend the time to work through the manual. The information in this manual wil l not find

its way into your head if you dont complete the exercises. Reading the manual is good,

reading the manual and watching the movies is better, reading the manual, watching the

movies and completing the exercises has the best results. Watch the movies, try the

exercise and then play the movie again.

Instructions for you to complete are shown like this.

Tips: Useful tips are shown like this.

Measurements are shown in both metric and imperial. Metric measurements are shown

first, imperial measurements are shown in brackets. If you are using metric, dont type in the

imperial measurements; if you are using imperial, dont type in the metric measurements.

Just use the measurements inside the brackets.

This manual comes as a hard copy with one CD. There are two exercise folders on the CD.

One is called Architect Exercises, and the other is called Completed Exercises. Copy both

folders to your computer. Copy the exercise folder to a location that will make it easy to find.

Save any training files that you work on to your exercise folder.

When you want to play a movie that is shown in the printed manual, insert the CD into your

computer and double click on the file on the CD called Architect Tutorial Manual.pdf. This

is your electronic copy of the manual, and it contains links to all the movies. To play a movie

from the electronic copy of the manual, move your cursor over the movie icon (the cursor

changes shape) and click once. When the movie is finished it will automatically close. Use

Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the manual and play the movies; use Vectorworks to do the

exercises.



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2008 Jonathan Pickup | Vectorworks Architect Tutorial Manual v

When you start Vectorworks 2009 Architect, it looks like this on a Windows machine.



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vi Vectorworks Architect Tutorial Manual | 2008 Jonathan Pickup

When you start Vectorworks 2009 Architect, it looks like this on a Macintosh.



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2008 Jonathan Pickup | Vectorworks Architect Tutorial Manual 1

Step 1 Layer and Model Setup

Document Setup

We will set up the file from the beginning, from a blank document. Vectorworks has set up

commands to make it easier to set up the file. When you have set up the file, it can become a

template file that you can use to start every new job, saving you a lot of setup time.

Go to the Menu Bar.

Choose File > New...

This opens a dialog box for you

to choose Blank Document.

A blank file opens with a layer

scale of 1:1 and a letter-size page.

We should set up our page first.



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Go to the Menu Bar.

Choose File > Page Setup...This opens a dialog box for you to set up the page size.

This dialog box allows you to setup the printer that you are using.

Click on the Printer Setup... button.

This dialog box will vary depending on your printer.

On a Macintosh the dialog box will look similar to this

picture. Set the printer, page size and page orientation.Click on the OK button.

On a Windows machine the dialog box will look

similar to this picture. Set the printer, page size

and page orientation.

Click on the OK button.



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This takes you back to the Page Setup

dialog box.

Our drawings are going to be set up

using Viewports, so the page boundary

wont be meaningful on our design layers.

Turn off Show Page Boundary.

Turn off Show Page Breaks.


Vectorworks shows the

new drawing area.

The reference grid may not appear on

the screen due to the density of the grid

at a particular scale and page size.

Go to the Menu Bar.

Choose File > Document Settings > Document

Setup...

Document Setup is a quick way to set up the drawing

when you are starting a new project.



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On this dialog box we get the opportunity to check the

setup of the project as a whole: the units, layer scale,

drawing area, grid setting and the title block size.

Click on the Drawing Units: Change... button. This

will open the Units dialog box for us to set up the

drawing units, primary dimensioning, secondary

dimensioning and area and volume units.

Set your General Display units to

the settings that you want.

Set the Dimension Objects

(Primary) to the settings that you

want.



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The settings might start in feet and

inches.

Set the Dimension Objects(Secondary) to the settings

that you want.


Click on the Layer Scale: Change... button.

This will open the Layer Scale dialog box for

us to set the scale of the current layer.

Set your Layer Scale to 1:100 for metricdrawings or1/8 (1:96) for imperial drawings.




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Click on the Drawing Grids: Change... button. This

will open the Set Grid dialog box for us to set the snapand reference grids for our file.

Choose Grid on the left hand side.

For metric drawings set the snap grid

to 100mm and the reference grid to1000mm .

For for imperial drawings set the

snap grid to 4 and the reference

grid to 3.


The reference grid may not appear on the screen due to the density of the grid at a particular

scale and page size.

The Document Setup dialog box now

shows you your setup...




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Layer Setup (Model Setup)

We need to break up the project into a series of manageable chunks to make it easier to drawthe building. These chunks are called layers, and at the beginning we will have a layer for

each storey of the building, a layer for the site plan, a layer for the site survey data and a layer

for the contour plan.

If you are not familiar with layers please refer to the Vectorworks Essential Manual, which has

a series of exercises to explain layers.

We can create a few layers now to draw the existing building, then add more layers later as

we need them. There is a way to have a file set up with most of the design layers and sheet

layers, called Layer and Class standards. This allows you to grab a few layers when you want

them. For more information on creating a Layer and Class Standard, refer to the Vectorworks

Productivity Manual available from www.archoncad.com or www.Vectorworks.net.

One way of creating the layers is to use the Model Setup Command. This will create some of

our layers for us and input the correct heights. Its also a graphical way of creating the layers

at the right height, so it will make it easier to understand layers and their heights. Our building

is similar to this sketch, and we will use these dimensions for our model setup.



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Go to the Menu Bar.

Choose File > Document Settings > Model Setup...

This command is for setting up the project as a model,

setting the number of floors, the heights of the floors, etc.

We had a house with foundations (400mm high), ground

floor slab (100mm thick), a lower floor with a stud height

of 2464mm, an upper floor with a stud height of 2490mm

and a roof.

The Model Setup dialog box can be used to set up all the model layers for this project, but we

will still need to add other layers to help us make this project. When you use this command ona new file, you get the first dialog box to set up the number of floors.

2 floors (the basement will be the lower floor).

No basements.


On the next dialog box, set the layer

heights for each layer of the project.

For this project we will not be using the

correct project levels for the layer heights.

We will use the upper floor as the main floor.

This will be set at Z=0, and all the other

floors will be related to this.

The foundation should be below the ground

floor slab. The foundations will vary due to

the site conditions, but enter an elevation

value of-2864mm (-95) (so that the

foundations are 400mm (14) below the

lower floor).



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The lower floor, Mod-Floor-1, has its

Elevation set to -2464mm (-81) (so that it

is below the main floor).

The walls will go from the top of the slab to

the top of the floor above, so the Ceiling

Height need to be 2464mm (81).

The slab thickness for this project is 100mm

(the floor is a concrete slab).

Turn off the option to create Slab Layers,

which would give us extra layers that we

dont need.

The upper floor, Mod-Floor-2, is the main

floor, and we want to set its Elevation to 0.

The walls will go from the top of the floor to

the underside of the roof above, so the wallsneed to be 2490mm (82).



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Finally the roof has its elevation set at Z=0.

This allows us to use the bearing height ofthe roof to control the 3D height of the roof.

This is the easiest way to control the roof. You

can use the bearing height of the individual roof

planes to control the height rather than the

layer height.

Click on the OK Button.

You can see all the new layers in the Navigation palette.

We can edit the layers in the Navigation palette, but the

Organization dialog box gives us additional information.

Before you do anything else, make sure that you save your file.

Get into the habit of saving your file on a regular basis.

From the Menu Bar choose File > Save...



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Save the file into a job folder where you

store all your other projects.

Open the Organization dialog box byclicking on the Layer button. The Model

Setup command is not perfect and needs

some help to set up the project we want to draw.

Notice that for the floor and roof

layers there is no ability with the

Model Setup to make 2 roofs. If you

had a project that needed an upper

roof layer and a lower roof layer, you

would have to add a new roof layer.

Select the layer Design Layer-1.

Click on the Edit button.

Type in the name of the new layer:

Mod-Site Plan.



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Click on the Scale button.

Change the scale to 1:200.


Now the layers have the

settings that we want.


The layer scales can be changed at any time.

Right mouse click on any layer in the Navigation

palette to edit, duplicate or remove layers.



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Step 2 Property Line

When you want to draw a property line (site boundary) you will notice that surveyors usually

use 0 for North while Vectorworks uses horizontally across to the right as 0.

You may think that this causes us a problem. It doesnt because we have a tool that will

translate the surveyors information into native Vectorworks information. This tool is called the

Property Line Tool.

Make sure that the Active Layer is Mod-Site Plan.

Select the Property Line Tool to draw the site.

Go to the Tool Bar.

Click on the Preferences button.

Choose the Simple Dialog option.


In some countries, surveyors always assume that the

bearings are measured from north through east so that

true north is 0 and true east is 90. The simple dialog box

works very well for this method. In other countries you will

need to use N_E or N_W depending on the bearings fromthe surveyor.



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Click once in the drawing area, near

the bottom, to start.

The Create Property Line dialog box

will open.

Type in the surveyors bearings from

the plan. You can use a decimal point

between the degrees, minutes and

seconds, or you can use DMS for the

degrees, minutes and seconds.

Type in the bearing, 19.01.10 (19d01m10s).

Type in the bearing length 41.855m (137.32).

Click on the Enterbutton or hit

the Enterkey and you should

notice a line on the screen.

Vectorworks draws the first

boundary line.

Type in the second distance and bearing.


Type in the bearing length 16.278m (53.41).

Click on the Enterbutton or hit the Enterkey.



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Vectorworks draws the next boundary

line and connects it to the first

boundary.

Sooner or later though, you will find that

the surveyor has measured the boundary

in the opposite direction to the way you

are drawing it. Dont worry about this.

Type in the bearing normally but type in

the distance as a negative distance. You

will find that it works out OK.


Type in the bearing length - 39.269m (128.84).

Click on the Enterbutton or hit the Enterkey.

The site is complete if you click on

the Close Shape tick box.

Click on the Done Button.



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The Object Properties dialog box appears asking for information

about the Site Name and Number.

Use this as an example of what to enter.


Your site boundary is completed.

This is an easy way to create the

property line. For information on other

ways to create a property line refer, to

the Vectorworks Productivity manual

available from www.archoncad.com.



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Step 3 Creating the Site Model

Creating a 3D site model and a 3D building is an area of Vectorworks that really shows the

advantage of working in 3D. With the site model we can visualize the site, the height to

boundary or recession line constraints, the sun position relative to the site and the shading

that other buildings, trees and parts of the site will have on your building.

Building a site model gives you the ability to see on the screen what the constraints on your

site are. You can use the site model to help sort out the bulk and location on the site, which is

what we will be doing with our project.

Think of it this way. You have a tricky site with tight height to boundary problems. You build a

site model so you can quantify the constraints. You can build a mass block model and sort outexactly how much you can build and where you can build it. Using a site model can help you

to resolve the levels on the site as well as resolving the area that you can build. When you

have sorted out the bulk and location, you can refine the design and use the recession planes

when you submit your drawings to the local planning authority.

What is a Site Model?

A site model is a way of looking at 3D data (spot levels or contours) in a way that allows you to

see complex 3D models and 2D representations. Vectorworks uses the 3D information to create

the models based on the data to help you understand the 2D and 3D nature of your site.

How Does It Work?

First you have to put in 3D data, such as spot levels, contours or surveyors data file. Then

you ask Vectorworks to create a site model from this data. Vectorworks uses a set of

algorithms to analyze the information and then creates the 2D and 3D representations. The

algorithms can be thought of as a set of mathematical assumptions that are used to calculate

the 2D contours and 3D model. Because of these assumptions you may get some odd shaped

contours, or 3D models that dont look as you expected. A site model is not reality; its a

mathematical model of the data you give Vectorworks. The better data you provide, the better

the site model will be.

When you create a site model, Vectorworks will make a plug-in object that can show one type

of information in a 2D view (2D contours) and a different type on information if you are in 3D

view (3D contours, extruded contours, etc.). Using this hybrid object is a good way of

combining the 2D contours and the 3D site model into one object. If you are used to earlier

versions of Vectorworks then this will be a very different way of working. The plug-in object

allows you to turn on or off the existing and proposed site models.



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What Can You Do With Site Modeling?

Contours. If you input in a series of 3D spot levels, you can use your site model to providethe contours, setting the height between the major and minor contours.

Visualization. You can create a 3D Mesh of the site to help you see the building sitting on the

site. Then you can use this to place your building, trees and landscaping. Or you could use

the model to show the client how the site looks from different angles.

Height to Boundary. You can use the 3D mesh and analyze the height to boundary planes to

see how close to the boundary you can come by cutting a section through the site, or you can

place the building model on the 3D mesh and create your height-to-boundary planes to see if

the building passes through these plans. If it does, you can see by how much.

Cut and Fill calculations between an existing site model and a proposed site model.

Different Methods of Making a Site Model

These are three main methods for creating a Digital Terrain Model:

From 3D points. There are different methods for placing the 3D points. You can place them

manually on the site plan, you can place the points on top of a 2D survey plan, or you can

place them over a scan of a survey plan. You could also trace over a scan of a site plan,

which would provide places for the spot levels using either 3D locus points or 2D polygons

and converting these to 3D information using a simple command.

Using a grid method. This method works when you have been to the site and taken spot

levels at grid positions.

Importing a data file. You can get your surveyor to send you the spot levels in a simple text

file that has the x, y, and z coordinates. Make sure that it is an ASCII text file, not a Word

Document. You may also have some trouble with the carriage returns (the thing that tells

you it has reached the end of the line). A PC uses one method, a Mac uses another, and

Unix uses a different method. If you have trouble, open the text file with a simple text

editor, WordPad or BBEdit and check the file. Save the file as plain text.

We will be using the first method to create our site model. We will import a scanned image of

the contours so that we can trace over the contours to make our 3D information. This method

is useful because you can use it in any situation where you have information to trace over. For

information on other ways to create site models, refer to the Vectorworks Productivity Manual

available from www.archoncad.com.



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Creating the Site Model

We are going to make our site model from a scanned image. It is very important that youmake sure that you know what scale the scanned image is. Sometimes people will scale the

drawing down so that it fits in the fax machine or the scanner. Make sure that you work out the

actual scale of the scanned image that you are importing.

When you use a scanned image of a site plan,

Scan the contour plans as Line Art (the image files will be smaller).

Scan the plans to a lower resolution, say 150dpi. This will stil l be adequate to read and it

will also keep the file size down.

Make sure that the plan that you scan is to correct scale. If the drawing says that the plan

is 1:200, make sure that it is 1:200 (check some of the dimensions).

Set up a layer for the scanned image at the same scale as the scanned image. Place this

layer with the scanned image at the bottom of the layer list. This will ensure that anything

you draw will be on top of the scan.

Set the bit depth to 1 bit when you import the image file. This makes it easier to deal with

the bitmap inside Vectorworks.

Remember that you cant snap onto the contour lines because the scan is a bitmap. This is

true for all image files in Vectorworks. You can snap to the edges of the bitmap but not the

individual lines in the bitmap.

There are two ways to deal with the next part. We have to place something to represent the

3D points in space. You can place 3D loci along the contour l ines, or you can use 2D polygonsalong the contours and use Vectorworks to convert these to 3D information.

Placing 3D loci along the scanned contours is very similar to the method that we are using,

but you have to lift the 3D loci to the correct height.

Creating a Layer for the Scanned Image

If you have followed the notes so far you will have a layer for the scanned image and can skip

over the instructions for creating the layer. However, be sure to pick up the notes again where

we edit the layer. If you dont have a layer for the scanned image follow the notes on creating

a new layer.

We can use the Navigation palette to create our new layer.

If the Navigation palette is not open, go to the Menu Bar.

Choose Window > Palettes > Navigation.



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When the Navigation palette opens, change

to the Design Layertab.

Right mouse click in the Navigation palette.

Choose New...

Name the Layer so that you know

what will be on the layer: Site scan

Tick the option at the bottom to

Edit Properties After Creation.Click on the OK button.

The Edit Design Layers dialog box opens.

Change the Stacking Order to 6, which will place this

layer at the bottom of the layer list, placing our

scanned image underneath our site plan.



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Make sure that the layer for the scanned image is the

active layer (it has the tick in the Navigation Palette).

Go to the Menu bar.

Choose File > Import > Import Image File...

Double click on the SiteScan.jpg file fromthe exercise folder.

Choose the compression method.


Documents

Sample Architect 2009