Nemetschek VECTORWORKS LANDMARK GETTING STARTED GUIDE
2011 Getting Started Guide
The contents of this printed guide and
accompanying exercise CD were originally
created for Nemetschek Vectorworks, Inc.
by Steve Hader.
Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................3
Section 1: Program Installation and Setup
Installing the Vectorworks Landmark Program
Exercise 1: Launching the Program and Opening the Starting File .............................. 8
Exercise 2: Adjusting Preference Settings .................................................................10
Section 2: Creating the Base Plan
Exercise 3: Importing a Site Plan PDF File ................................................................14
Exercise 4: Drawing the Property Line .......................................................................18
Exercise 5: Drawing the Site House ........................................................................... 21
Exercise 6: Drawing the Adjacent House ...................................................................31
Exercise 7: Drawing the Paved Areas ........................................................................33
Exercise 8: Drawing Existing Vegetation ....................................................................41
Section 3: Laying Out Constructed Elements
Exercise 9: Drawing the Privacy Fence ...................................................................... 46
Exercise 10: Drawing the Pool ..................................................................................... 52
Exercise 11: Drawing Seat Walls ..................................................................................60
Exercise 12: Inserting Symbols .................................................................................... 63
Section 4: Setting Up Landscape Areas
Exercise 13: Drawing Hardscapes ............................................................................... 68
Exercise 14: Drawing Planting Areas ...........................................................................74
Section 5: Creating the Planting Plan
Exercise 15: Placing Plants .......................................................................................... 80
Exercise 16: Introduction to the Plant Database .......................................................... 85
Exercise 17: Placing Trees ........................................................................................... 88
Section 6: Evaluating the Design
Exercise 18: Evaluating the Current Design ................................................................. 92
Section 7: Editing Landscaping Elements
Exercise 19: Moving and Reshaping Landscape Objects ............................................ 96
Exercise 20: Modifying Multiple Plant Objects ............................................................ 100
............................................................................. 7
............................................................... 7
.......................................................................................13
.......................................................................45
............................................................................... 67
...................................................................................79
.........................................................................................91
............................................................................ 95
Section 8: Creating Documentation ...................................................................................105
Exercise 21: Optimizing the Landscape Plan Drawing ..............................................106
Exercise 22: Creating Annotations ............................................................................. 109
Exercise 23: Working with Plant Schedules ............................................................... 112
Exercise 24: Printing Landscape Drawings ............................................................... 114
Introduction
Welcome to Vectorworks Landmark! This tutorial will introduce you to key tools and
techniques for drawing and editing, as well as a streamlined workow to provide the proper
framework for exploring the full power of Vectorworks Landmark on your own.
Note: Renderworks must be installed for proper operation of all exercises with rendering commands.
Important: For free tutorial updates, exercise checking les, bonus content, and
instructional videos from the Landmark Getting Started website, see
www.nemetschek.net/training/2011/landmark-2011-getting-started-guide.php.
Overview of the Design Process
In this thematic tutorial, you use Vectorworks Landmark to design landscaping for a half-
acre (0.54 acres [0.219 ha]) residential site. You begin with a pre-congured (but otherwise
blank) starting le, and continue using this single le for all design phases and documents. You
complete the project by creating and printing a basic landscaping plan document, as shown.
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 3
As you work through 24 continuing
exercises, you develop the residential
landscape design using a combination of
Vectorworks Fundamentals and Vectorworks Landmark tools to complete the
following design features and documentation processes in order:
• Program setup
• Creating the base plan*
• Laying out constructed elements
• Setting up landscape areas
• Creating the planting plan
• Evaluating the design
• Editing landscaping elements
• Creating landscape documentation
• Batch printing
*You can optionally skip this section (and
Notes:
1) You start with a pre-congured template
le (that you can modify for use in your own
projects) to skip repetitive setup processes and
ensure proper operation of exercises.
2) Starting with Exercise 3 (p. 16), you can
optionally open completed exercise les
(available in the Data Set folder) to check your
model or to skip ahead to the beginning of the
next exercise. For example, open the
GS-VWL x10.vwx le (completed Exercise 10)
to start at the beginning of Exercise 11. See
General Exercise Tips (p. 4) for more
information.
3) Although other landscaping documentation
is already set up in the template le, this tutorial
focuses on creating landscape plan documenta-
tion for a residential landscaping design project.
review it later) if you can’t wait to explore
Landmark’s landscaping design tools.
How to Use This Tutorial
This tutorial is also provided as an e-Book, in PDF format. You can view the PDF tutorial
on-screen for enhanced electronic benets, including navigation links and search features.
Notes:
1) You can review workow sequencing and
locate specic procedures by scanning the
process lists at the start of each section. The
process lists are also hyperlinked to facilitate
navigation.
2) If you view the tutorial on-screen, look for
the Previous View and Next View tools at
the bottom of the screen (or available in the Page
4 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
Navigation toolbar in newer versions). These
useful tools—available in Adobe Reader and
Acrobat— let you revert or repeat navigational
changes by page controls, bookmarks, and
hyperlinks.
3) The Adobe Reader Search tool provides
more extensive options for searching text than
the Find command.
General Exercise Tips
Use the following tips to facilitate working with your exercise drawing les:
• Read each step carefully and make sure
your results match the gures. If your results
vary from the gures, stop immediately and
review the previous steps. If you can’t nd
the problem quickly, start the exercise over
with the appropriate supplied le.
• Alternate methods are shown for acti-
vating many tools, commands, and modes.
Use the method that works best for you.
• In many cases, you must click in the draw-
ing area after using the Navigation palette
before you can continue with the next step.
• Watch for SmartCursor cues that appear
when you hover your cursor over signicant
drawing object geometry. Pause briey over
snap points to display the red snap box, and
watch for the red conrmation dot displayed
temporarily after you complete the snap.
When too many red snap boxes are
displayed in congested areas, you can
press the Esc key once to clear the display,
or you can temporarily disable all snaps by
holding down the backquote key (`).
• For some operations, additional view
adjustments may be required. For these
cases, press the Z key for the Snap Loupe
shortcut, or use the Zoom, Pan, and Fit to
Objects tools as required. If you have a
mouse wheel, use it to zoom in and out.
• To pan across the drawing at any time
(even if a tool or command is active), hold
down the Space bar and drag the cursor.
• If you inadvertently cleared a selection
required for an active tool or command,
press Space bar+X temporarily while you
select the object(s).
• Many tools have different operational
modes, which you can select in the Tool bar
(located above the drawing window).
• Keep the Object Info palette open. To
open it, select
Info
. It displays valuable information and
provides access to key properties of
selected objects.
• Press the Esc key to cancel any
operation. If you are using a tool, it will still
be active, but you can then start drawing
again or choose another tool. Sometimes,
you must press the Esc key before you use
a keyboard shortcut to activate another tool.
• Use the Undo command in the Edit
menu to revert steps as necessary (both
drawing and view changes are reverted).
Window > Palettes > Object
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 5
• For tools that create multiple segments
(such as the Wall tool) press the Delete key
once while the tool is active to revert a
single segment, or press it repeatedly to
revert to additional segments.
• If multiple les are open, you may need
to click the Resource Browser’s Home
button if your landscape le isn’t active.
• Object artifacts may remain in the
drawing area after some drawing and
editing operations. To refresh the screen
and clear the artifacts, double-click the Pan
tool
(in the Basic tools palette).
Using Metric Units with
Exercises
All exercise data set les for this tutorial are
set to use imperial units. If you want to use
metric values for the exercise steps, enter
the values exactly as shown in [square
brackets, with the unit mark], and Vectorworks will convert the values accordingly. If
you want to measure distances or drawing
objects for reference, use the appropriate
dimension tool and object snaps to create
temporary dimensions, which are set by
default to display alternate units in metric
values. Delete the temporary dimensions
when nished.
• Save your les often to prevent data loss.
Important: Exercise steps in this tutorial
are based on default preference settings
from a new installation of the Landmark
program with Renderworks. Results for
some steps may vary from the gures if your
preference settings differ from the defaults.
6 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
Note: For proper exercise operation—and to
validate your results with the imperial gures— do
not change the document ’s units setting to metric.
Keyboard Shortcuts
All keyboard shortcuts included in this guide
are based on the Windows operating
system. If you’re using a Macintosh, use the
Option key instead of the Alt key, and use
the Cmd key instead of the Ctrl key. Refer to
the Vectorworks 2011 Shortcuts PDF le
(available from the Online Help) to print a
complete list of your own keyboard
shortcuts.
Section 1: Program Installation and Setup
In this section, you start by installing the Vectorworks Landmark program. Following
installation, two exercises cover the following program setup and interface adjustment
processes:
• Activating the Landmark Workspace (p. 8)
• Opening the Starting File (p. 9)
• Adjusting Vectorworks Preferences (p. 10)
• Adjusting Grid and Smart Point Settings (p. 11)
• Turning Off the Page Boundary (p. 11)
• Setting the Default Font (p. 12)
• Adjusting the Navigation Palette Display (p. 12)
In these exercises, you activate (or reset) the Vectorworks Landmark interface, and then you
adjust program preference settings and adjust the interface.
Installing the Vectorworks Landmark Program
Note: If you have already installed Vectorworks Landmark, start with step 2 below.
1. Follow the installation instructions in the
ReadMe le located in the root folder of
your installation DVD.
2. Start the program. You can do this by
selecting Programs > Vectorworks2011 >
Vectorworks2011 from the Windows
Start Menu.
3. From the menu, select Help > Check for
Updates. If updating is necessary, follow
the on-screen instructions.
4. Close Vectorworks (if it’s still running) to
reset the program.
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 7
Exercise 1: Launching the Program and Opening the Starting File
In this exercise, you launch the application and activate the Vectorworks’ Landmark
workspace. After a brief orientation of the Landmark interface, you then open the supplied
starting le.
Activating the Landmark
Workspace
You start by launching the Vectorworks
program.
1. From the Windows Start Menu, select
Programs > Vectorworks2011 >
Vectorworks2011.
View Bar
Tool Bar
Attributes palette
Basic tools
Tool Sets
Navigation palette
2. From the menu, select Tools >
Workspaces > Landmark. If the Landmark
workspace is already active, select it again
to reset the interface. Position the
Navigation palette where shown, and
examine key areas of the interface identied
in the following gure.
Object info palette
Scroll bar
Message bar
8 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
Resource Browser
Opening the Starting File
Next, you open the supplied starting le. To
save time, this starting le contains many precongured resources, and is already fully set up
for creating a residential landscape project.
3. Close any open les, and then from the
menu, select File > Open. In the Open
Vectorworks Drawing dialog box, open the
Data Set folder and open the read-only
GS-VWLx01.vwx le. The page boundary
is displayed, and it’s ready for importing the
site plan.
4. From the menu, select File > Save As,
and save the le under the name
Landscape.vwx.
Notes:
1) Design layers are used in landscaping
projects as spatial containers for creating
drawing objects and controling object stacking
order (such as trees appearing on top of plant
beds in the Top/Plan view).
2) Sheet layers provide a 2D- only page layout
environment for printing.
3) Sheet layer viewports are individual 2D “live
camera view” objects that reside on sheet layers
but display 2D and 3D drawing objects on design
layers. When you modify drawing objects on a
design layer, the viewport itself doesn’t change,
but it displays the changes in the design layers
4) Classes are used to control display
properties of drawing objects.
5) The starting le contains additional
resources that are not required for this stream-
lined tutorial but are useful in complex landscape
design projects that use Landmark’s advanced
features. After you learn how the le structure
works, you may nd it helpful to modify the starting
le for use in your own landscaping projects.
Important: As you start the tutorial, do not be
concerned if you don’t fully understand the
le structure. As you progress through the
exercises, you will see how the le structure
works in context of a landscaping project. For
more information about the le structure from
the Landmark Getting Started website, see
www.nemetschek.net/training/2011/
landmark-2011-getting-started-guide.php.
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 9
Exercise 2: Adjusting Preference Settings
In this exercise, you verify and adjust program preferences.
Adjusting Vectorworks
Preferences
Next, you verify or adjust key application
preference settings to ensure proper
exercise operation, turn on scroll bars to
facilitate navigation, and increase the
maximum number of undos so you can
revert exercise steps if necessary.
1. Click
bar and select Vectorworks Preferences.
In the Vectorworks Preferences dialog box,
select the Edit tab, and then verify or adjust
settings as shown (keep the dialog box
open for the next three steps).
2. Select the Display tab, and enable the
Scroll bars option, and then verify or adjust
other settings as shown.
3. Select the Session tab, and then enter
100 in the Maximum number of undos
eld. Verify or adjust other settings as
shown.
10 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
on the far right side of the Tool
4. Select the Interactive tab, and then
change the cursor’s Selection box size and
Snap box size. Verify or adjust other
settings as shown. Click OK to save the
settings and close the dialog box.
Adjusting Grid and
Smart Point Settings
5. Press Ctrl+8 to display SmartCursor
Settings dialog box. If a tip is displayed,
click OK and then select Grid from the
Category list. Clear the Show Grid Lines
and Print Grid Lines checkboxes, and
verify or adjust other settings (.01’
[actual=3.18mm based on .125”], .04’
[actual=12.70mm based on .50”]) as shown
at left. From the Category list, click Smart
Point, and verify or adjust settings, as
shown at right. Click OK to close the dialog
box and save the changes.
Turning Off the
Page Boundary
Next, you turn off the page boundary for
clarity in the drawing area.
6. From the menu, select File > Page
Setup. In the Pages section of the Page
Setup dialog box, clear the Show page
boundary checkbox, as shown. Click OK to
save the settings, and notice that the page
boundary is no longer displayed in the
drawing area.
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 11
Setting the Default Font
Next, you adjust the default font.
7. From the menu, select Text > Font >
Arial to set the default font (if it’s not set to
Arial already), and then select Text > Size >
12 to set the default font size to 12 point
(if it’s not set to 12 already).
Adjusting the Navigation
Palette Display
8. If your Navigation palette is not already
displayed, from the menu, select Window >
Palettes > Navigation. If necessary,
expand the Navigation palette by dragging
the lower right corner to resize it.
9. In the Attributes and Navigation palettes,
turn on Auto Hide
you’re in a hurry to explore Landmark’s
landscaping design tools, skip Section 2
(Creating the Base Plan) and continue with
Section 3 (p. 45).
(Windows only). If
12 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
Section 2: Creating
the Base Plan
In six exercises, this section covers the following processes in the landscape design project:
• Importing the Site Plan by Dragging and Dropping (p. 14)
• Scaling the Site Plan (p. 14)
• Indexing the Site Plan with the Drawing Origin (p. 16)
• Tracing the Property Line (p. 18)
• Tracing the Easements (p. 20)
• Saving a Rotated View (p. 21)
• Drawing the House Walls (p. 22)
• Drawing the House Doors and Windows (p. 24)
• Creating the House Roof From Walls (p. 26)
• Creating the Garage Roof from a Rectangle (p. 28)
• Creating a Massing Model (p. 31)
• Drawing the Driveway (p. 33)
• Drawing the Front Porch (p. 35)
• Drawing the Sidewalks (p. 36)
• Drawing the Straight Road Segment (p. 38)
• Drawing the Curved Road Segment (p. 38)
• Drawing Existing Trees for Removal (p. 41)
• Drawing Existing Trees to Remain (p. 42)
In these exercises, you use a variety of tools on design layers to document existing site
features, which are maintained throughout the landscaping design project.
Note: If you’re in a hurry to start the design process and explore Landmark’s landscaping tools, you
can skip this section and continue with Section 3 (p. 45). If you skip Section 2 now, you should at
least review it later. You will nd it worthwhile because it covers best practices for documenting existing
site conditions, in a workow that returns the highest-level 2D and 3D benets with minimal 2D input.
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 13
Exercise 3: Importing a Site Plan PDF File
In this exercise, you import a PDF site plan that also serves as a site inventory markup. You
then scale the imported PDF le and move it into the desired location. The completed
exercise is shown in the following gure:
Importing the Site Plan by
Dragging and Dropping
You start the exercise by opening the Data
Set folder via your operating system; you
then drag and drop the site plan le to
W
import it to your drawing.
46.97'
23°12'14"
S
1. If you did not complete Exercise 2—or
you are unsure of your le’s accuracy—
open the GS-VWLx02.vwx le.
2. Open the Data Set folder with Windows
from
Engineered
for obtaining
Explorer or Macintosh Finder. Drag and
drop the PlotPlan_InventoryMarkup.pdf
le in the approximate center of the drawing
area. In the Import PDF dialog box, click
Import to accept the defaults, as shown at
left, and import the PDF page, as shown at
right. Leave the PDF page selected for the
next ve steps.
25'
25'
N 57°09'28"
28.37'
ELDER
ELDER
BLDG LINE
BLDG LINE
W
STREET
STREET
128.00'
EASEMENT
S
68°35'18"
14
14
116.9'
E
185.22'
N 32°50'32"
Family Room
Library
Living Room
Foyer
Dining Room
25.4'
25.4'
R
R
=
=
L=69.22'
L=69.22'
425'
425'
-
50'
50'
0.54
Kitchen
Garage
23'
E
15
17'
17'
EASE
acres
44°49'10"
S
173.69'
We
information
Subdivision
EASE
10'
10'
EASE
EASE
W
16
16
PLOT
PLAN
hereby
certify
that
the
foregoing PLOT
PLAN
was prepared
provided
by
the
client
and
data
obtained
from
Plan.
This Plot
Plan
is
to
be
used by
the
a
Client
Building
Permit
and
for
other
site
related amendments.
14 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
Scaling the Site Plan
Next, you scale the site plan to the full size
by snapping to property line vertices.
3. From the Basic tools palette, click the
Zoom tool
Marquee Zoom Mode
active), and then draw a marquee from upper
left to lower right, as shown, to zoom in.
4. From the menu, select Modify > Scale
Objects: Enable the Symmetric By
Distance option, and then click the Current
Distance button
in order (when your cursor is over each
vertex, press the Z key for the Snap Loupe
shortcut to temporarily zoom in—see Tip), as
shown below to specify the Current Distance.
. In the Tool bar, enable
(if it’s not already
and snap to the vertices
Enter 128’ [39.014m]
for the New Distance,
as shown at right (see
Notes), and then click
OK to scale the PDF
page. Press Ctrl+6 for
the Fit to Objects
shortcut. The zoom is
adjusted so that the
resized PDF now lls
the drawing area.
Tip: For best Snap Loupe per formance, press
Ctrl+8, select the General Category, and then
disable the Zoom Line Thickness in Snap
Loupe option.
Notes:
1) Verify that your Current Distance value is
within 0.5’ [.152m] of the value shown above. If
not, then repeat the snapping process and make
sure you position your cursor over the correct
vertex before you press the Z key to activate the
Snap Loupe.
2) Make sure the Scale text and Entire
drawing options are disabled.
vertex 1
vertex 2
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 15
Indexing the Site Plan with
the Drawing Origin
Next, you use the Move by Points tool to
reposition the PDF page by indexing one of
the property line vertices with the drawing
origin (0,0).
5. Zoom in on the
area shown at right.
From the Basic tools
palette, click the
Move by Points tool
. In the Tool bar,
make sure Move
Mode
property vertex (SW corner shown below,
press the Z key, and make sure you snap to
the vertex). Then move your cursor and
press the Tab key ve times to highlight the X
value in the oating data bar. Enter 0 (zero)
for the value, and then press tab and enter 0
(zero) for the Y value. Press Enter twice to
move the PDF page, and then press Ctrl+6
to see the entire PDF page. The SW vertex
is now aligned with the drawing origin (0,0).
is active. Snap to the lower left
6. In the Attributes palette, click Opacity,
and set the slider to (or type in) 20% as
shown above and then click Set Opacity to
save the changes. The site plan now
appears lighter, as shown below.
16 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
7. From the menu, select Modify > Lock.
The PDF page selection highlight turns gray
to indicate it is locked, as shown at right. In
the Object Info palette, select the Shape tab
(if it’s not already active), and notice that it
also shows that the PDF page is locked, as
shown below.
8. Save the le.
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 17
Exercise 4: Drawing the Property Line
In this exercise, you trace the property and easement lines from the imported PDF le. The
completed exercise is shown in the following gure:
1. To ensure proper operation of the
remaining exercises, close your Landscape.
vwx le (if it’s open), and then rename it.
Open the GS-VWLx03.vwx le. From the
menu, select File > Save As, and then save
the le under the name Landscape.vwx.
2. In the Navigation palette, select the
Saved Views tab, and then double-click the
07-Working-Base Plan view to activate it.
In the View bar, notice that the Base Plan
layer is now active. From the Basic tools
Tracing the Property Line
You start the exercise by opening a starting
le, and then you draw a polyline, traced
from the PDF page. You then convert the
polyline to a property line object.
Note: To try this exercise with your own le (com-
pleted Exercise 3), keep your Landscape.vwx le
open, skip step 1 and continue with step 2. If you
encounter inaccuracies in any subsequent step(s),
start over at step 1 and use the supplied le.
palette, click the Polyline tool
Tool bar, enable Corner Vertex Mode
and then snap to the vertices shown at left
(as highlighted locus points for clarity) in
order. After snapping to vertex 6, enable
Point on Arc Mode
, then snap to any
point on the arc between vertices 6 and 1,
and then snap to vertex 1 to complete the
polyline, as shown at right.
4
5
6
1
3
2
. In the
,
18 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
Note: You can snap to the PDF in this exercise
because it was created from a vector-based
source le. If you can’t snap to a PDF in your own
designs, or if you have to impor t a raster le, you
can draw individual arcs, and then draw
coincident lines by entering length and bearings
in the oating data bar’s L and A elds. You can
use the Select Connected Objects command to
select the lines and arcs, and conver t them to a
polyline or polygon with the Compose command.
You can then follow the steps below to convert it
to a property line.
4. In the Attributes palette, select None
from the Fill Style drop-down list, as shown
at left. You can now see through the
property line, as shown at right.
3. From the menu,
select Modify >
Objects from
Polyline. In the
Create Objects from
Polyline dialog box,
adjust settings as
shown at top left.
Click OK to display
the Object Properties
dialog box, and then
adjust settings, as
shown at bottom left.
Click OK to create
the property line, as
shown at right.
Next, you check property line segments and
correct them as necessary. You can choose
to optionally follow the next step, or to save
time, you can close your le and open the
GS-VWLx04-Step06.vwx le (with the
property line segments already xed) and
skip ahead to step 6 (p. 20).
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 19
5. Zoom in and check all property line
Bearing and Distance values against the
light-gray PDF values (see Note below
gure). If any segment doesn’t match,
double-click the property line object, and
then click the Next button until the incorrect
segment’s values are activated. You can
then edit the values to match the values of
the imported site plan and click Update to
save the changes. Continue clicking Next as
necessary to correct other segments. Click
OK to save the changes, then press the X
key twice to clear the selection and examine
the completed property line, as shown.
Note: To save time and avoid repetitive cor-
rections, you can skip this step and open the GS-
VWLx04-Step06.vwx le to start the next step.
Tracing the Easements
Next, you use the Line tool to trace easement lines that lie inside the property line.
6. From the Basic tools palette, click the
Line tool
Unconstrained Line Mode is active,
and then snap to consecutive endpoints to
trace the three easement lines (highlighted
for clarity), as shown.
. In the Tool bar, make sure
20 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
Note: To save time in this exercise ignore
easement lines outside of the property line and
skip the process of recreating site dimensions.
7. Save the le.
Exercise 5: Drawing the Site House
In this exercise, you save a rotated view, and then you draw a simplied version of the site
house. The completed exercise is shown in the following gure:
2. Zoom in on the house area shown at left.
Saving a Rotated View
You start the exercise by rotating the view,
and then you save the view to ensure consistency when you draw objects orthogonally in
other exercises later in the tutorial.
1. If you did not complete Exercise 4—or
you are unsure of your le’s accuracy—
open the GS-VWLx04.vwx le.
In the View bar, click Rotate Plan
to exterior endpoints (pause briey over
each vertex to display the Endpoint
SmartCursor cue) in the order shown at
center to rotate the plan view. Notice the
indicator in the drawing area, and in the
View bar conrm that the Current Plan
Rotation angle is 35.80º (if not, press Ctrl+Z
to undo the view rotation and try again).
Press Ctrl+6, and then zoom in on the area
shown at right.
. Snap
endpoint 1
endpoint 2
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 21
3. In the Navigation palette, select the Saved
Views tab, and then right-click the blank area
to the right of the list and select New. In the
Save View dialog box, adjust the settings as
shown at top right (make sure the Save
Layer Visibility and Save Class Visibility
options are disabled), and then click OK to
save the view. If necessary, resize the
Navigation palette so all saved views are
visible, and notice the new saved view’s
rotated view icon, shown at bottom right.
Drawing the House Walls
Next, you draw rectangles from the house
outline for tracing purposes, and then you
use pre-congured wall styles in your le to
draw the existing house walls.
4. Zoom in on the house and garage. From
the Basic tools palette, click the Rectangle
tool
. In the Tool bar, make sure
Rectangle Mode
snapping to the top right outside corner of
the garage wall, and then complete the
rectangle by snapping to the point where the
front garage wall meets the house wall, as
shown at top. With the Rectangle tool still
active, snap to top right outside corner of
the house, and then snap to the bottom left
outside corner to complete the second
rectangle, as shown at bottom.
is active. Start by
Notes:
1) You draw rectangles to ensure the house
walls and roofs will be square. In your own
designs, make sure the rectangle edges are
collinear (it’s not necessary for this tutorial
because you can use a supplied le with this
xed, later in Exercise 14).
2) If you don’t have a oor plan to import in
your own designs, refer to the Getting Started with
Vectorworks Architect (current version) tutorial for
an efcient workow for drawing oor plans.
22 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
5. Press the X key twice to clear the current
selection. In the Navigation palette, select
the Design Layers tab, and then turn off
visibility of the Scan layer, as shown (only
the rectangles are now visible). In the
Resource Browser, scroll down and open
the Wall Styles folder (if it’s not open
already). Double-click the Ext-Siding-
Framing wall style. Open the Building Shell
tool set, and notice that the Wall tool
is
now active. In the Tool bar, make sure Left
Control Line Mode
is active.
6. Snap to the four corners of the house
rectangle in clockwise order (starting on any
corner), and then snap to the start point to
create four walls, as shown left. With all four
walls selected, in the Object Info palette
change the ±Z value to 17.00’ [5.182m], as
shown at right, and then press Enter.
7. With the Wall tool
still active, snap to
the four corners of the garage rectangle in
clockwise order. Start at the top left corner
(when the house wall highlights), and when
the house wall highlights at the bottom left
corner, click to create three walls, as shown
(do not change the ±Z value for the shorter
garage walls).
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 23
Drawing the House Doors
and Windows
Next, you temporarily adjust the display so
you can see the PDF page through the
walls, and then you create doors and
windows with the Door and Window tools
and by inserting pre-congured symbols.
8. Press the X key
twice to clear the
selection. In the
Navigation palette:
• Turn on visibility
of the Scan layer, as
shown. Notice that
the rectangle and walls block objects in the
PDF page.
• Right-click the Base Plan layer, and
select Edit from the context menu. In the Edit
Design Layers dialog box, change the
Opacity to 20%, as shown at right, and then
click OK. Notice that you can now see
objects in the PDF page.
• Select the Saved views tab, and then
double-click the 07-Working-Base Plan
saved view to activate it. Notice that the layer
opacity doesn’t revert to 100% because the
pre-congured saved view is set to only
control the visibility state of layers.
9. Zoom in on the
house and garage.
From the Building
Shell tool set, click
the Door tool
.
Click the center of
the foyer door (click once) in the PDF page.
Move your cursor, and notice how your
cursor position ips the door side and swing.
Click when the preview matches the
orientation in the PDF page to place the door
plug-in object as shown. In the Object Info
palette, verify a “Door In Wall” is selected. If
not, drag the door to reinsert it in the wall.
Tip: You can nudge a selected door, symbol, or
window to incrementally adjust its position. To do
this, hold down the Shift key and press any of the
four arrow keys as necessary.
24 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
Note: The Door tool was pre-congured for this
le. The Door Settings dialog box would normally
be displayed for the rst door object inserted in a
le. For subsequent insertions in your own les,
click Preferences from the Tool bar before
placing the door to set default door parameters. If
you change Door Settings dialog box settings, all
subsequent insertions are affected.
10. With the Door tool still active, insert
another door in the rear garage wall,
matching the orientation in the PDF page,
as shown.
11. In the Resource Browser, scroll down
and open the Symbols/Plug-In Objects
folder (if it’s not open already). Scroll down
the list and double-click the Door-Patio
symbol. In the Basic tools palette, notice
that the Symbol Insertion tool
is now
active. Click once in the center of the rear
door of the PDF page, and then click
outside the wall to orient and insert the
symbol, as shown.
12. In the Object Info palette, verify a
“Symbol In Wall” is selected. If not, drag the
symbol to reinsert it in the wall. In the
Resource Browser, scroll down the symbol
list and double-click the Door-Garage-OHD
symbol. Insert two garage doors to match
the position and orientation of the PDF
page, where shown (highlighted for clarity)
in the front garage wall.
13. Zoom in on the house’s front wall. From
the Building Shell tool set, click the Window
tool
. Click the center of the window on
the left side of the front door, and then click
outside the wall to orient and place the
window plug-in object, as shown. In the
Object Info palette, verify a “Window In
Wall” is selected. If not, drag the window to
reinsert it in the wall.
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 25
Note: The Window tool was pre-congured for
this le. The Window Settings dialog box would
normally be displayed for the rst window object
inserted in a le. For subsequent inser tions in
your own les, click Preferences from the Tool
bar before placing the window to set default
window parameters. If you change the Window
Settings dialog box settings, all subsequent
insertions will be affected.
14. With the Window tool still active, insert
the remaining 16 windows by clicking the
center to position them and then clicking
outside the wall to orient them, as shown (all
17 windows are highlighted for clarity).
15. In the Navigation palette, select the
Design Layers tab, and then:
• Turn off visibility of the Scan layer.
• Right-click the Base Plan layer, and
select Edit from the context menu. In the
Edit Design Layers dialog box, change the
Opacity to 100%, and then click OK to save
the change.
16. In the Resource Browser, scroll down
the symbol list and double-click the
Window-Floor2 symbol. Click the insertion
point of each existing window, and then click
outside to orient the symbol (see Note
below). Start with the rst window you
created, and continue in a clockwise
direction to insert a total of 17 window
symbols (in the same positions highlighted
in the previous gure).
Note: After inser ting each window symbol, verify
that a “Symbol In Wall” is selected in the Object
Info palette. If not, drag the symbol to reinsert it
in the wall.
Creating the House Roof
from Walls
Next, you create a roof object from the
house walls.
17. If necessary, adjust the display so you
can see the entire house and garage. Press
the X key twice to clear the current selection
and activate the Selection tool
down the Shift key and click the four house
walls (away from the windows; avoid
selecting the garage walls) to add them to
the current selection set. In the Object Info
palette, verify that four walls are selected.
. Hold
26 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
18. With the four walls still selected, select
Landmark > AEC > Create Roof from the
menu. In the Create Roof dialog box,
change settings (.53’ [.162m], .46’ [.140m],
17.00’ [5.182m], 1.00’ [.305m]) as shown at
top. Click OK to create the roof, and then
press Ctrl+5 and Ctrl+6 to adjust the
display. In the View bar, notice that the
Upperstory layer is now active (so you can
see the roof). Also notice that Vectorworks
created a hip roof by default, as shown at
bottom.
Next, you modify the roof to create the
desired gabled ends.
19. Select the roof’s center left control
point, as shown at left. In the Edit Roof
Settings dialog box, select the Gable option,
and then click OK to create the gabled end,
as shown at right.
Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide | 27
20. Repeat the process to change the
center right side to a gabled end, as shown.
Creating the Garage Roof
from a Rectangle
Next, you use the garage rectangle (that you
drew earlier) to create the smaller roof over
the garage.
21. In the Navigation palette, activate the
07-Working-Base Plan saved view. Notice
that the roof is no longer visible because the
Upperstory layer visibility is turned off in the
07-Working-Base Plan saved view.
22. Zoom in on the garage, and then press
the X key and click in the middle of the
garage to select the rectangle. From the
menu, select Landmark > AEC > Create
Roof. In the Create Roof dialog box, change
settings (.53’ [.162m], .46’ [.140m], 10.00’
[3.048m], 1.00’ [.305m]) as shown at left,
and then click OK to create the roof.
Press Ctrl+5 and Ctrl+6 to adjust the display,
and examine the roof, shown at right.
Notice that the garage roof now appears on
top of the house roof— even though it’s
lower in elevation—because of the object
stacking order (in this case, the display order
is based on the order of object creation).
28 | Vectorworks Landmark 2011 Getting St arted Guide
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