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Architectural Technologist – Interbuild

October 22, 2009 in CAD, Vectorworks

Tamsin Slatter setting up on the Vectorworks stand
Image by Scays via Flickr

Is this the way to spend a morning, did I get what I wanted from my visit to interbuild, not a chance, it was the most poorly set up and badly attended show I have ever been to, is it a result of the market place, or are manufacturers looking for alternative ways to spend their advertising money. A little of the alternatives and a huge pinch of the market conditions I think, but overall I thought it was a particularly huge waste of my time. Perhaps the only redeeming feature was the IT area, and the CU stand, were I managed to see the Vectorworks 2010 presentation from Tamsin Slatter.

Can I claim any CPD, well yes, but not a lot, I did see some products that might just qualify, such as a very poor stand on solar PV panels with a chap so board, no thinking on it, I will not claim any CPD from this trip.

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Source: Konstrukshon CPD Weblog – Architectural Technologist – Interbuild
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archoncad releases old user group manuals

October 17, 2009 in CAD, Vectorworks

Each month SHORT SHARP TRAINING uses online training with a concise manual to cover a single task of Vectorworks, allowing you to drill down to the details of the task, along with movies that show you exactly how to complete the task. When you join the subscription service you can access up to a year of back issues. But what happens to the notes after a year?

Several of my subscribers have now asked to be able to access the older back issues, more than a year old. It was suggested by the subscribers that they be able to buy them. Following that suggestion, I have embedded all the movies into the notes. This means that you do not have to subscribe to the Short Sharp Training to see the movies, and it also means you do not have to be online to see the movies. At the end of the year I will convert the old notes and sell them as a downloadable set. You can see a list of the topics covered and when you purchase the notes, you will be sent a link to download the notes.

This was the year the online user group got underway with just a few subscribers.

List of Topics
0701 – Simple Roofs
• Roofs are easy to build and they are very flexible (editable). Using the standard VectorWorks roof you can make most of the roofs that you want. Once the roof is made you can make the roof framing for the roof. I also wanted to show you how you can edit all the framing sizes for the roof framer.
0702 – Introduction to 3D Modeling
• Before you can do any sort of complex 3D modeling you have to understand some of the basic 3D modeling concepts. That’s what this workshop is all about, learning the simple 3D stuff that you need to learn in order to make your 3D stuff.
• Layers for 3D modeling
• Extrusions
• Multiple Extrusions
• Tapered Extrusions
• 3D Primitives
• Solid Modeling
0703 – Building a Library
• There are a few ways to build your office library. This workshop contains valuable information about making your library.
0704 – Intro to Textures and Rendering
• Rendering in VectorWorks is where you start to enjoy your 3D Models, where you make them come to life. This workshop is an introduction to rendering (which is pretty easy), but rendering is nothing without textures which can make your models into something special.
0706 – Customising Vectorworks
• VectorWorks works really well, but if you edit the workspace, and customise the arrangement of the tools and menus you can work faster and happier. We will learn how to edit the workspace and add commands to the right mouse button.
• VectorWorks also has a built in programming language called VectorScript that lets you make your own tools and commands. We will learn how to do some basic programming and learn how to start to make your own tools and commands.
0707 – Annotation
• Annotation is more than just putting text and dimensions on the drawing, although I will be covering this to make sure you are doing it correctly, there are note tools, tools to store a database of notes and tools for labeling.
0708 – Introduction to Worksheets
• Worksheets allow you count and schedule stuff in VectorWorks. For example you can count all the trees in a site, schedule all the doors on a particular floor of a project, even find the weight of a bracket in a 3D model.
• Worksheets are an under used area of VectorWorks and this workshop should open your eyes about what you are able to do with them.
0709 – Making Drawings
• We use classes, layers, viewports and sheet layers. This workshop shows you how to use these concepts to make drawings
0710 – Dealing with Roofs
• Roofs for standard houses are easy, but what if you donÕt want a standard roof. This workshop will cover how to create a standard roof, how to edit a standard roof and what yo do when the standard roof wonÕt do what you want.
0711 – Graphics in 2D and 3D
• This workshop topic will cover 2D graphics such and hatches, gradients and images and 3D graphics such as textures and image props.
0712 – VW2008 – Plants and Wall Styles
• Plants have been substantially improved in VW2008. This workshop shows you how easy they are to use and how easy plants are to edit.
• You could re-use your version 12 wall style library in VW2008, but as I show you in this workshop would be better to update your library to use the new wall style capabilities.
• These two topics are based on VW2008. They will not work on older versions.

you can purchase all these notes here: http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/previous_topics.php


Source: archoncad – archoncad releases old user group manuals
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Architectural Technologist – Vectorwork offset tool video from Archoncad

October 16, 2009 in CAD, Vectorworks

Architectural Technologist
Image by Scays via Flickr

I have seen Jon Pickup use this several times since the release of Vectorworks 2010, and I think it’s realy useful trick to know, so I and very pleased that Jon has made another short video to show the offset tool working.

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Source: Konstrukshon CPD Weblog – Architectural Technologist – Vectorwork offset tool video from Archoncad
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Architectural Technologist – Vectorworks Archoncad training

October 16, 2009 in CAD, Vectorworks

Population growth of European countries
Image via Wikipedia

Is it that time of the month already, Jon Pickup of Archoncad has just sent me this months invite to his short sharp training, there is one specifically for Europe, ie the times good but I can’t make it so I am attending the Friday night session, (16th Oct 2009) a bit late but its one of those must attend trainings.

The topic this month is Vectorworks 2010. Should you upgrade? Vectorworks now upgrades on an annual cycle, so every year we look at the new version. ONLY you can decide if the upgrades are worth it, but I wanted to show you as much as I can to help you decide. There are some fantastic new features, and some that look small, but i think will save you a lot of time and aggravation.

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Source: Konstrukshon CPD Weblog – Architectural Technologist – Vectorworks Archoncad training
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How do you Change the Name of a Viewport?

October 12, 2009 in CAD, Vectorworks

When you upgrade to Vectorworks 2010, you will find that viewports can have a name and a drawing title. The Drawing Title is the name that Vectorworks will use in the drawing label placed in the Annotations portion of the viewport.

When you update your drawings to Vectorworks 2010, you will have to check the drawing title on every viewport. To do this, you will have to select each viewport, then check the Drawing Title in the Object Info palette.













This could be a real hassle, so I’ve made a special tool that will make it easy to change the Drawing Title.






To use the tool, you click on the viewport.

This will open a dialog box. Type in the new Drawing Title.












Click on the OK button, and Vectorworks will update your viewport Drawing Title and the drawing label if you have used one.


How can you get this tool? This month, my Short Sharp Training (a subscription service) will be covering the upgrade to Vectorworks 2010, and I will be giving this tool to all my subscribers.





If you want this tool, subscribe to my Short Sharp training…
http://www.archoncad.co.nz/usergroup/join_int.php

Source: archoncad – How do you Change the Name of a Viewport?
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Architectural Technologist – Vectorworks printing two sheet layers side by side

October 12, 2009 in CAD, Vectorworks

Architectural technologist
Image by Scays via Flickr

I saw a twitter recently on the subjects of printing two Vectorworks sheet layers side by side, and thought I would do a short video to  show how I would do it. Why you might ask do it this way, well perhaps you want to give an exhibition of your work and show two or even three sheets on a continuous banner . My method is simple and it works, with the least amount of bother.

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Source: Konstrukshon CPD Weblog – Architectural Technologist – Vectorworks printing two sheet layers side by side
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Architectural Technologist – Tom Greggs Convert to lines

October 1, 2009 in CAD, Vectorworks

Tom Greggs has issued yet another really good blog on his site convert to lines, it’s packed with useful Vectorworks stuff, a list of items includes:
• Refreshed video group: newest video added
• How Transom and Clerestory windows work
SketchUp expert puts Cheney WA on map
• Official Guide “Getting Started with Vwks 2010” gets it right
• Digital Terrain Modeling advice
• SketchUp on steroids: the future of Vwks?
• More Resource Library points of view

You really should not miss Toms Seattle news letter, its always interesting and just good fun to read. I can easily see a good 1/2 hour CPD just reading and following the links Tom provides, but follow up correctly and do a little more research, and an hour of quality CPD is easily established.

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Source: Konstrukshon CPD Weblog – Architectural Technologist – Tom Greggs Convert to lines
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Architectural Technologist – Dropbox ap for the iPhone

October 1, 2009 in CAD, Vectorworks

Dropbox App
Image by Funkbreaks via Flickr

Well at long last, I saw a note via my Email to say that the new Dropbox app is out for the iphone, I am very pleased this is a long awaited app that will help on the move, logging in is so simple, just entre your email address, and your password and all my files are shown. Just as a test I dropped a multi page pdf generated by Vectorworks into my drop box and seconds later its there, I opened it up and all pages are working fine, zoom in in the normal way and line come into focus within less than a second, excellent, and a great way to have all your current project pdf drawings live.

Want to try it out, link via the advert on the side,  its well worth the small effort to gain access, and for a small user its free.

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Source: Konstrukshon CPD Weblog – Architectural Technologist – Dropbox ap for the iPhone
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Architectural Technologist – Vectorscript for plugins

September 29, 2009 in CAD, Vectorworks

Vectorworks File Names
Image by Scays via Flickr

Should we get involved with Vectorscript, I think so, looking at the work Jon Pickup has done recently on new scripts for Vectorworks 2010, although listening to jon, he has been using it for some time to automate several small but labour intensive actions within Vectorworks. My last video we looked at the insertion point with a new plugin for vectorworks 2010, and to make this work just right for your class list, you will have to get into the script and change a line of code, this is not difficult, Jon has kindly gone through it and in this small video, he shows exactly how to access the script, and which line to change.

Remember if you want to receive the Vectorworks 2010 plugin to change the insertion point go to the link below and leave your email address, and I will send as soon as its available.

Link

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Source: Konstrukshon CPD Weblog – Architectural Technologist – Vectorscript for plugins
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Architectural Technologist – Archoncad free Vectorworks 2010 plugin download

September 29, 2009 in CAD, Vectorworks

As part of an ongoing set of posts for the Archoncad Vectorworks plugins, I am pleased to announce the first offering is a very easy to use plugim for changing the insertion point for objects in Vectorworks 2010  Jon Pickup of Archoncad has kindly allowed me to upload this little gem for free,  just follow the link to the form page, fill in the 3 basic questions and I will forward you the file as soon as its made available and Vectorworks 2010 ships. For instructions on how to load and use, and plugin see my short video on both Youtube. I also load up a lot of my longer videos to Viddler.

Form link

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Source: Konstrukshon CPD Weblog – Architectural Technologist – Archoncad free Vectorworks 2010 plugin download
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