#2d selection tool

Import, paste in, or draw a profile for a coving

You can find these online, or just sketch one yourself, and import it or cut-and-paste it in.

Traceover with a polygon tool

Instead of trying to mimic the curves with tiny straight increments, draw a series of right angles, as shown...–

Convert straight corners to radial arcs

– then double-click the completed polygon to activate the 2D Reshape tool [1], then, using the Convert Vertex mode [2], converting to radial arcs [3], click on each of the relevant right angle corners [5, 6, 7].

Fill the resulting polygon

– if for no other reason than to see what its shape is, as far as VectorWorks is concerned.

Then make it up to a right-angle object

Draw a complementary polygon [1], then select both and Add Surface them together to make the final profile [2].

Measure the result.

Chances are, it's the wrong size for a coving (I used the tape measure tool, but you could also use a dimension tool, or just select and see the Obj Info readout). So it needs to be rescaled.

Scale Objects...

Select the profile and Modify > Scale Objects...

Use Symmetric by Distance

Click the built-in dimensioning button [1] to return to the drawing and quickly measure an aspect of the profile [2], and return to the dialog, where it gives you the measurement that it's found [3]. Then type in the dimension you would like it to be [4], and OK. The item is scaled accordingly.

Change the lineweight and colour of the object to

Now that we've finished tracing over, there's no need for its extra-thick line, or special fill colour. Change these to a thin and a white fill.

Draw path(s) of intended coving along perimeter of the space.

Now that you have the profile of the coving (or baseboard, or whatever it is), you only need to outline where it goes. For this purpose, select the profile [1], the Chain Extrude tool [2], and draw the path where you want the profile to run. Double-click to indicate its end. NOTE: The Path must be a polygon – i.e. at least three points – so if you want to do just one wall, make it out of at least two segments that make up a single straight line.

Assign coving to its own Class

Accept the default settings

Flip the result.

This is because this tool was conceived originally for exterior coving features, so the profile is projected outwards, instead of in. Simply click Flip in its Obj Info palette to project it inwards.

Result.

Odd corners [1] are a sign that the end and beginning don't quite meet: fix this by double-clicking and editing the path, so that they do.

View it in elevation -- and move up.

Zoom in for accurate placement

To edit the coving...

– double-click it. A dialog appears, offering you to edit the Path, or the Profile.

To edit the Path...

You get a view similar to that of editing the profile of a floor: double-click it to modify it much as you would any polygon – including Clipping, Adding Surfaces, relocating or converting any of the vertices, etc. When you're finished, click Exit Path at the top right.

To edit the profile...

– you can do much the same. In our case, for example, we need to apply Flip Horizontal to the profile [1], to make its straight back go up against the wall, instead of inwards into the room [2].

Result.

Create a Camera View to see the result in perspective.

Result.

Customize OpenGL options to show edges and shadows

Render with OpenGL [1] , and you'll find this dialog at the bottom of the Render dropdown list once you've rendered in OpenGL [2].

Result.

Result in elevation.

For those who are completely new to the software.

Examine where you are

You'll note a grey portrait-oriented (taller than it's wide) rectangle. This is your drawing area, and it corresponds to the size of a standard Letter-size sheet of paper (8.5" x 11").

Zoom out and in a little

Roll the middle-button on your mouse, or – if you don't have one – click the Zoom tool at the top of the window, while pressing the option / alt key on your keyboard.

Try drawing a few things.

To your left there should be a palette called Basic, which is the Basic Tools Palette, containing the most common graphic objects and operations. Try creating a few objects, by clicking on a tool – e.g., the Single Line tool [1] – then clicking somewhere within the drawing area to start [2], dragging to pull out the line, and clicking to mark the endpoint [3]. This is known as Click-click drawing, and it is the first default in the VectorWorks Preferences dialog (menu Tools > Options) Then try drawing a rectangle, a circle, an ellipse, etc. By default, rectangles are formed by the diagonal within them; circles by their radius, ellipses by first one axis, then the other.

The 2D Selection tool: resizing an object

Like most software apps, VectorWorks is deaf and blind, and non-telepathic. To attract its attention to a particular object, we must select it, which means clicking on it with the 2D Selection Tool, which is the first tool in the Basic Tools palette. Since it's so fundamental, there is a single-key keyboard shortcut to it: x. Notice that when we select an object, it becomes highlighted in pulsating orange, and with one or more tiny blue squares, which are its selection handles. Clicking and dragging on any of these squares will resize the object manually.

The 2D Selection tool: moving an object

To move an object by a particular corner rather than resize it, you must hover with the cursor near a selection handle, but not actually on it. The cursor then turns into a "Greek cross", indicating that the software understands that you wish to move the object by that corner – typically for snapping purposes to another significant point.

Anchor handles and resizing through Obj Info palette