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FREE-FORM STARTING POINT
But back to the beginning once again. Start off by drawing a series of rectangles and trim them to create a typical floor plan. Create an offset inside the outer polyline to produce a 2D representation of walls, and then switch the view to isometric and extrude the walls to produce a 3D model. Using Vectorworks automatic face selection, you can click on and draw on any face, and then extrude that shape to create openings for doors, windows or to add further solid shapes.

A neat feature here is the ability to select faces you can't even see, behind the model, just by holding down the alt key, and replicate a bit of modelling without having to rotate the model.

It's not just geometry either. Clicking on an element brings up its dimensions, allowing its volume to be calculated - to be used, for instance, as a guide to concrete requirements or for outline material costing. As models become more complex, another couple of Vectorworks tools can be brought into use - the Clip Cube, for example, which can be used to isolate parts of the geometry and X-Ray Selection Mode that follows the cursor over the rendered model, showing the wireframe design behind the render. This allows elements within a model to be isolated and selected, without turning off layers.

Another time saver: having carried out the above, elements can be selected and copied to another part of the model. The history tree, having recorded each design process, allows the steps inherent in that element to be applied elsewhere in the model, but constrained by and conforming to the local geometry. This is easily accessed by double-clicking the model.

THE FUN STARTS
Instead of extruding a representation of walls, filleting or chamfering the extruded 3D shape and then hollowing it out using the Shell tool allows more interesting shapes to be created, without losing the ability to select and modify each of these shapes, including the fillets. The shell tool, along with a couple of other complex tools, however, blocks the history tree. This minor inconvenience can be circumvented by bypassing the steps and restoring the history after shelling.

Then we come across the Deform tool. Create a 2D hexagon, for example, and then extrude the shape to produce a tall structure, which can be tapered and given a twist! An axis is created across the topmost face of the tower and rotated.

We'll play about with each of the faces in a minute. But first of all, imagine using the software like a pastry cutter - creating a rectangle with some thickness to it, like a wall, and drawing a series of polygons on it.

Right clicking on the Clip Surface Command removes the polygons from the surface, creating a patterned fascia wall, allowing a glass texture screen to fill the openings.

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