#obj info

"How can I change all the kitchen cabinetry to have the same look, all at once?"

"I am unsuccessful at applying a grid to my floorplan. I have used the locus method, but cannot get the grid to mirror on the opposite side. What else can you suggest?"

Before I address the "mirroring" issue, I should point out that you didn't really need to use locus points anywhere except at point B: you needed it there to ensure that the grid line is horizontal, but for the subsequent points you could have simply clicked on the corners of the spaces. In addition, you appear to have clicked twice at the fourth point, resulting in bubbles "D" and "E" being superimposed on one another [1]; at the point "I", you moved slightly when you double-clicked to end the series, so that another bubble, "J", was nearly superimposed on it [2]. You need to redo the series, taking care with your clicks this time. Regarding the "mirroring" of the grid bubbles, re-read the lesson on grid creation: it shows how one first extends the grid to the other side of the building, then turns on an option in the Obj Info palette to get bubbles at both ends.

"Can you explain why, when I attempt to create a grid from my spaces, the grid ends up on an angle? I know it's on the angle of the first 2 points I click on but, why does this happen and how can I make it straight?"

"The window ID I assigned to my symbol window does not show on the plan."

During Viewport validation, one often finds one or more whose name doesn't correspond with what it's actually showing (this is particularly true of viewports created by duplicating existing ones – e.g. "Main Floor Plan-2"). This lesson shows how to identify the viewport, and change its name.

First, locate the viewport in question.

In VectorWorks, the particular combination of tools and menus that you see when you launch the application is known as a Workspace. Unlike most apps, this Workspace is not immutable – there are several varieties to choose from, depending on the kind of tools and menus you need for your work. Better still, you can customise any of these Workspaces, or make one entirely your own, from scratch.

First, choose your preferred Workspace

Depending on which Workspace the program was last left at, you will find the Workspaces menu-item under Toolsְ. For the purposes of this course, choose the Architect Workspace NOTE: not Architect Classic, Architect with Landmark, etc. – just Architect.

When there is no "Tools" menu, find your Workspaces under File…

In some Workspaces, the Workspaces menu-item resides under the File menu – in which case, choose Architect there.

"Architect" Workspace: the menus

The menus in the Architect Workspace are as shown (in the Windows version, there is no VectorWorks menu – that's there due to the Mac OS system of displaying menus in all apps).

"Architect" Workspace: the palettes

The Architect Workspace looks has certain menus, but most notably a collection of palettes, each with its own function, as we shall now describe.

The Basic Tools palette

The Basic Tools palette is just that – a collection of basic tools that you may call upon fairly frequently. These include tools for basic navigation (first five, reading left to right, row by row, from the top left), tools for creating text and basic geometric objects (lines, double-lines, rectangles, etc.), and basic editing operations such as Reshape, Rotate, Mirror, etc. (bottom three rows). NOTE: Most of these are self-explanatory, but if you wonder what any tool means (in this or in other palettes) simply hover over it with your cursor, and after a second or so a tooltip should appear with the tool's name.

Different modes for viewing tools

The default method of displaying tools is by Icons only – to save space. But if you prefer, you can set them to show as Icons and Text, or even just as Text, by clicking on the little arrowhead at the bottom of the palette. NOTE: this trick works with the Toolsets palette, too – see below.

The Tool Sets Palette

The Toolsets palette contains ten different sets of tools, each relating to a different aspect of the design: Site, Site Planning, Building Shell, etc. Click on the name of a Toolset, and its collection of tools is revealed. This allows many dozens of tools to be accommodated in a comparatively small footprint. Here, as in the Basic Tools, you can customise the display from icons to icons and text or text only.

The Obj Info Palette

The Obj Info palette is very important, because it gives you a constant feedback of information about any object or objects currently selected. This information varies according to the selected object(s): a rectangle, for example, will show Width and Height, Perim, Area etc., whereas a circle would show radius information, a door would show settings relating to doors, etc. Nor is this feedback just not a one way street: you can interact with and change the object and change its parameters by typing dimension sizes, angles etc of your choice in any of the white fields that allow text entry, and pressing the Enter key on your keyboard after each one to confirm. The Obj Info palette is your friend, and you should always have it open.

The Resource Browser

The Resource Browser shows all the resources currently available in your file. These might include symbols, hatches, wall styles, gradients, worksheets, record formats, scripts and other resources that you either create or import from other files. This may not mean much to you now, but as we start creating these resources, this is where you'll find them. NOTE: One of the advantages of the Resource Browser is that it allows you to access resources in other files – even ones not currently open – anywhere on your hard disk or on your accessible network volumes. This can also be a source of confusion, though, because you may forget that you are looking at the resources of another file rather than the one you're currently using. So in v2008 and above, there is the option to choose the Active Document in the first pop-down list. I recommend you do so.

The Navigation Palette

The Navigation palette is crucial, as it is perhaps the one that you will use more than any other. It's a one-stop-shop for managing the Classes, Design Layers, Sheet Layers, Viewports and Views in your file. This will become apparent as we go along.

Attributes palette

The Attributes palette allows us manually to assign certain graphic attributes to objects: nearly every object has a surface area that can have a fill of some sort (a solid colour, a bitmap pattern, a hatch, gradient, an image – or indeed, None), and a boundary line that can be a solid colour, dashed, various line weights, with or without an arrow or some other marker at the end, etc. Note: Objects that are only lines – e.g. single lines, double lines – can have no fill, as they have no surface area.

Snapping (Constraints) palette

The Snapping palette (f.k.a. the Constraints palette) allows us to constrain the way we draw in relation to existing objects in the file. The constraints can be used in combination – e.g. Snap to Object (top right) and Smart Points, as shown (the most common configuration). Snap to Object means that any object that we're about to create or place will snap to one of the corners or vertices of an existing object – or to the middle of one of its sides, or to its centrepoint (if it has one). Smart Points means that when you're aligned with a critical point on an existing object – e.g., aligned vertically with one of its middlepoints – a snapline will appear with a screen cue, confirming this. We'll see this in action as we go along.

In the event of a palette being missing...