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Drawing Elevations

Hi all,

Preface:

Our firm only uses the program to draft with, so there is no modeling, or BIM taking place at the moment. I am a new user and trying to figure out how to adapt old school (i.e. hand drawing; AutoCAD) techniques with VW(2008).

The technique we use for drawing interior elevations is to insert the floor plan as a reference, and then use line work to "project" the walls and other items in the elevation. The problem I have is that I am using the entire plan for small rooms and I only want to see a portion of the plan. In ACAD, I would simply crop the reference file so it only shows the area I am interested in using. Is there a way to do this in VW?

Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Mitch Brooks on February 8, 2012 at 4:29pm

Matthew,

I am not an AutoCad guru, but it is the same process. Go to your floor plan, draw a rectangle over the area you want to see as a reference, select it to create a Viewport and send it to your elevation Design Layer, and away you go.

The better VectorWorks way, or at least using the tools even in the simplest 'BIM' way without going to the extreme, would be to use the power of VW to draw walls, doors, windows, even cabinets, etc. as 3D objects in your plan and to use the section viewport tool to start your interior elevations. At the very least, use walls and doors as objects! You are not drawing everything as lines, are you?

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Permalink Reply by Steven Shorter on February 9, 2012 at 5:12am

...Or, create the design layer viewport, by referencing the floor plan (from within or external to the file), then use the clip tool, to 'crop' the design layer viewport around the room.

One thing Mitch did not mention is that you need Vectorworks Architect to do this.

Regards

Steven

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Miles on February 9, 2012 at 11:09am

Thanks Mitch and Steven.

The viewport on the design layer worked. I did not realize I could do that, as I was thinking that a "viewport" was only used to place a view onto a sheet. I have not quite figured out how to use the clip tool for this, but we do use VW ARchitect (2008). However, to answer your question Mitch, we do not use walls, doors, or windows. so, yes, we are drawing everything (yikes!), but I am new to the firm, and the program, and I am hoping to change the mindset. Interestingly enough, I have placed windows to create (i.e. draw/trace) a symbol for windows in elevation - which is a little like running backwards, with my shoe laces tied together.

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Permalink Reply by Lee Calisti on February 13, 2012 at 5:34pm

Matthew, you got good advice from these others, they beat me to the punch. Don't feel bad for using VW as a digital drawing board for now. It's more efficient than hand drafting and sometimes, it's quicker for me to just draw some things the old way. I am just starting to really use VW as 3d/BIM myself and I've used VW since MiniCAD 3 in 1995.

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Miles on February 14, 2012 at 6:51am

Thanks, Lee. Our firm has been using the program for many years, too. My background is with Revit and AutoCAD so I have experience with both the drafting aspect and modeling. Learning a new tool to do things I have taken for granted is the real challenge for me. I will say that using objects to build drawings from is where I hope to help move this firm in terms of production.