January 2017

File > New... | Find and Modify... | Organization...

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File > New...

 

Hello everyone and happy new year!

 

This year I have made a few "resolutions" that I hope will push me to be a better draftsman.

 

The first is that I want to use Vectorworks for projects I normally wouldn't. And just this week I've accomplished that task by drawing and rendering the front of my house to compare new paint and landscaping ideas.

 

Second, I wanted to do a Workspace and Plugin refresh. It's very easy to get stuck into what's most comfortable within Vectorworks, but I want to make sure there aren't any techniques or tools that I'm missing out on. Specifically, since I have my own custom workspace that I've been working in since 2015, the new Cable Tools have been stuck in the "What's New" menu since I downloaded 2017. Having quicker access to them may help me use them more often.

 

Lastly, I want to strive to be a better teacher of Vectorworks and drafting practices. I've noticed in situations prior that I either over-instruct or assume too much of those I am troubleshooting with or helping. I will try harder to listen and access where the other person is starting from, before I move forward. It will not just help me understand, but also will create better communication and productivity.

 

What drafting resolutions have you made for yourself? I'm curious to know!

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Find and Modify...

Submit your questions to Dustin.Miller@TLSProductionsInc.com

 

Question

I must be missing something, but is there a way to add a blank, customizable Report or spreadsheet to my project?

 

Answer

Yes! 

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In the Resource Manager, right click anywhere in your document's resources and Navigate to "Add New Resource..." and click Worksheet.

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A pop-up will display to name your new worksheet and define its size.

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After that, I would jump over to Vectorworks Help and look up Worksheets.

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There are tons of things you can do with them, and I suggest exploring and seeing what you can do!

 

Question

I know that Vectorworks has an auto-backup feature, but is there a way to auto-save the project as well?

 

Answer

Indeed there is!

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Navigate to Vectorworks Preferences and click on the “Autosave” tab.

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Here you’ll see a few different ways to customize the way the application auto saves and backup your document.

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Personally, I like the file to backup every 5 minutes, no confirmation (so I don’t get the pop-ups), and autosave a backup in a folder in the same location as the original file.

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This way, I only lose a max of 5 minutes of work if there is an issue with the file, and I can go back to when I started by simply opening the original file.

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Hope this helps!

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Organization...

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Keyboard shortcuts have singlehandedly saved me hours of time accomplishing projects in Vectorworks.

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A few of them are probably the standard for everyone like Ctrl+v (Cmd+v on macOS) to Paste, but did you know you could do the alternate Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+v to Paste In Place, and allow what your content to be pasted in the same X,Y & Z coordinates it was copied from?

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Also, the simple keys X, H, 1, 2, Alt+=, activate the Pointer, Page Pan, Line, Text & Rotate tool respectively.

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Another one I use is holding the ~ key to temporarily disable snapping. This allows for quick, precise placement of an object, which is sometimes critical.

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A useful Spotlight based shortcut is Ctrl+/ (Cmd+/) which refreshes the currently selected instrument(s). This has become a very quick way for me to see any changes I may have made to the Symbol, Label Legend or Object Info data with a simple keystroke instead of going through the menu bar.

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Finally, one of the random hotkeys that I use, and actually found on accident, was holding the B key enables a temporary "X-ray" mode so you can snap or select an object that is behind other objects. I find this incredibly useful when trying to find the end-point of a truss that is filled with fixtures overtop of every bit of the truss.

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Other than that, you can jump over to Vectorworks' Keyboard Shortcuts on their website, or navigate to Workspace Editor in Vectorworks to change any of these shortcuts to your liking.

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