Creating a Garden Shed (walls, foundations, roof)

In which we design a 10'x10' garden shed, using Building Shell tools – a kind of one-stop summary introduction to the application for new users.

Create a new file and do a basic setup

Follow the procedures set out in the lesson Creating a new file in VectorWorks, or use the template that you made from it.

Set your Drawing Area to 11"x17".

Click Drawing Area: Change… [1]
Turn on Choose size unavailable in printer setup [2]
Choose One Printer Page [3]
NOTE: This will allow you to create a PDF, for example, of the drawing of the desired size, without dividing it into "tiles".
Click Printer Setup… [4], where you'll tell it the size of the drawing you want.

Set your Printer Setup to Tabloid

First – since your printer may not have Tabloid as an option – choose Any Printer in the Format For: popup [1].
Then choose Tabloid from the Paper Size: popup [2].
Finally, choose a landscape Orientation, if that's what you want [3].

Resulting Drawing (Printed) Area

If you zoom out you'll see the outline of the Tabloid-sized drawing area you've just defined.
NOTE: In reality it's the Printed Area: you can draw beyond it, but only things within the grey area gets printed.

Customize the default design layer.

Click the Design Layers icon [1] to access the Organization dialog.
Double-click the default, Design Layer-1 [2] – or click it once and click Edit [3] to open an editing dialog.
Type in Main Floor instead of its current name [4].

Make three other layers in similar fashion.

Click New… to create a new Design Layer called Roof, and twice more to create Foundation and Footings, respectively.
Note how they all emulate the same display scale as the Main Floor.

Rearrange the order of layers

Visually, it makes more sense for Foundation to be below Main Floor, and Footings to be below everything else. You can do this by dragging a layer by its number in the # column down or up to where it should be.
NOTE: This is the only column where you can drag a layer to move it to a different location in the list.

Save the file.

Name it 1104-Garden Shed, or something similar [1] (1104, because it's the fourth project in 2011), and save it in a new folder of the same name [2].

The logic behind "Z" and "∆Z"of Design Layers

So far, we haven't defined where each layer "begins" and "ends" in the third (z) dimension. This is important, since the design we're about to create will be made in 3D. The logic is simple:
– the Z of a layer is its starting height in relation to the grade (ground) (which is usually counted as zero)
NOTE: starting heights below grade are given as negative numbers.
- the ∆Z of a layer is the vertical extent allocated to it.
Users sometimes differ in how they divide up the building into layers: some allocate a separate layer for each floor slab, some incorporate the floor slab into the ∆Z of the design layer below it. We will use the latter convention, to cut down on the number of layers.

Allocate Z and ∆Z of the layers according to the scheme above

This means that:
- The Footings layer has a Z = -2'8" (-32"), and a ∆Z of 8"
- The Foundation layer has a Z = -24", and a ∆Z of 36"
- The Main Floor layer has a Z = 12", and a ∆Z of 8'
- The Roof layer has a Z = 9', and a ∆Z of 8'
Double-click each layer to access the dialog where you give it its Z and ∆Z.

Create a square measuring 10' x 10'

You can create any old rectangle and then change its dimensions in the Obj Info palette, but a quicker way is to :
- Click to start the rectangle, then
- Press tab on your keyboard, leave the mouse alone, and type in 10' in the light blue readout that pops up beside it.
NOTE: Don't forget the type the apostrophe: without it, VectorWorks will assume you mean inches.
- Press Enter to confirm the dimension, and a dashed snap line appears,
NOTE: This confirms that whatever happens, the ∆X (horizontal extent) of the rectangle you're drawing is sure to be 10'0".
- Press tab again – repeatedly, if necessary – until you get to the ∆Y field in the readout, and type 10' , then press Enter again.
Now return to the mouse and click to finish the rectangle, which is guaranteed to be 10' x 10'.

Move it to the Main Floor layer, if necessary

If you find yourself in the Roof layer or something other than the Main Floor layer, simply select the square and tell its Obj Info palette that its Layer should be the Main Floor. This effectively "transports" it to the other layer, without the need for Cutting-and-Pasting.

Draw a wall around the perimeter of the square

In the Building Shell toolset [1], click the ordinary Wall tool [2], and – making sure that the Snap to Object constraint is turned on [3], draw a sequence of four segments by snapping to each of the four corners of the square.
Note that, by default, the wall is being drawn by its "top" line – that is, by its outer face, assuming you're drawing in a clockwise direction. That happens to suit us, but had we wanted to draw by its notional centreline or by its inner face, we could have chosen that mode in the Wall tool's Mode Bar [5].

Change the walls from a "generic" to a more realistic wall style

Shift-select them [1–4], then choose Replace… from their Style popdown in the Obj Info palette [5].

Replace Wall Style with another

This is the dialog where you tell one wall style to be replaced with another: in this case, the existing wall style is a "generic" 150mm thick wall, with no indication of its composition [1]. Click on the popdown on the right [2] to choose a wall style of your choice from a long list of pre-made Ext(erior) and Int(erior) wall styles.
Say we choose Ext-2x6-Siding. The next question is, how will the new wall sit in relation to the existing wall, given that it's a different thickness? The convention is that the outside face of the generic wall refers to the outside face of the 1/2" sheathing sheet. Assuming we drew the walls in a clockwise motion, the outside face of the wall is its "Left Line" – so we click the Left Line of the existing wall [3] to line up with the Left Line of the 1/2" Sheathing of the new wall [4]. And OK.

Change walls' height to be that of the layer's ∆Z.

While the walls are still selected, click Link Wall Height to Layer ∆Z.
Notice how the walls' height change from the default 8'2.425" (2.500 metres) [1] to the 8' that we assigned to the Main Floor layer [2].

Copy the walls for pasting into the Foundation layer.

Select them [1] , Edit > Copy [2], go to the Foundation layer [3], and Paste in Place [4].

Change the walls' style from whatever it is now...

Similarly to how we did before, Replace… their Style from their current wall style...

... - to plain 8" concrete

In the Wall Styles list, it's under Ext-CIP [Cast in Place] Conc 08"-Plain. Make the Left Line of the sheathing of the existing wall correspond to the Left Line of the concrete wall.

Note how the new walls have automatically assumed the appropriate height

Since the height of the copied walls was Linked to the ∆Z of the layer where they were copied, the height of the pasted versions are also linked to their local layer, which in this case is 3', so their height is adjusted automatically (circled).

Zoom in to see check the alignment of the stud wall on the concrete

To do this, your Layers list in the Navigation palette [1] should be set to Show Others or Gray Others [2], and the Main Floor layer set to Gray [3].
You should then be able to see the composition of the stud wall of the Main Floor superimposed in grey on the concrete (circled), with the sheathing aligned to the outside edge of the concrete.

Copy-paste the foundation walls in the Footings layer

When you've done so, Replace their Wall Style to Ext-Conc 12" Plain in a similar fashion as the two previous occasions.
NOTE: In truth, they should be 16" wide, but 16" concrete walls is not a ready-made option in the list -- we'll learn how to make a new wall style for the purpose later.
Since these walls are also Linked to the ∆Z of their local layer, they are now only 8" high.
If you switch to a Right Isometric view [1], you should see the result [2].
Note, however, how when you do so, the other visible layers (Main Floor and Foundation) remain in Plan view [3]. This is because the layer orientation is not "synchronized".

"Synchronize" the layers by turning on Unified View

By turning on Unified View (through its icon in the View bar [1] or in the View menu [2]), all layers that are currently set to be visible [3] are shown in whichever projection you have chosen from the current active layer [4]. As long as Unified View is turned on, if you change the projection (from plan to isometric, to elevation, etc.), all visible layers will change to suit, neatly piled on top of one another, in accordance with their Z settings in the Organization dialog.

Prepare to make a roof

To add a roof to the structure, switch back to your Main Floor Plan using your Saved View.

Create a rectangle covering the structure

You can do this in one of two ways: use the rectangle tool and click from outside corner to outside corner [1]
– or get VectorWorks to do it for you, based on the walls themselves: select the walls, then AEC > Create Polys from Walls [2]

Create Roof...

Once you have the rectangle (or any polygon defining a building's outline), get VectorWorks to make you a pitched roof automatically by choosing AEC > Create Roof.
NOTE: "AEC" stands for "Architecture Engineering & Construction" – meaning, this menu is for operations specific to professionals in those three fields.

Create Roof dialog

Here's where you give the intended roof its parameters.
Choose Vertical from the Eave Profile [1].
VectorWorks will warn that a vertical profile is not recommended if your Eave Overhang is nil, so set the Eave Overhang to something appropriate, such as 18(") or 24, or whatever is recommended in that region [2].
The next question is what will the roof's Bearing Height be [3]. If we were to create this roof in the same layer as the walls, we would say that the Bearing Height is the height of the walls (8', in this case),
but since we're placing it at the Roof level [4] – whose Z is already set to be 8' above the Main Floor floor finish,
we can leave the Bearing Height at zero [5].
Finally, click Create Accessories… [6].

Create Roof Accessories

• This allows you to create an Attic (don't click if you want an open-space roof, as in this case); a Soffit [2] and a Fascia [3].

The resulting roof

This is what the roof looks like in plan [1].
Note that the Obj Info palette allows us to tweak some of the aspects that we customized in the Create Roof dialog [2].

In Right Isometric

Note that each hip end has a blue handle at the midpoint of its bearing line.
Click on a blue handle to call up the Edit Roof Settings dialog, where you can turn an Eave into a Gable [2].
Note that, by default, the gable's overhang is the same as that of the rest of the roof, but you can change it to something else [3].

Result.

Turn on all layers, and render

Make sure all other layers are turned on (made visible) [1],
set Layer Options to Show Others [2]
then render in OpenGL [3]
NOTE: OpenGL (Open Graphic Language) is a quick efficient rendering method that shows colour, a sense of the material texture, and shading.

Result.

Give the roof a more realistic rendering

Choose a material for the Top (roofing) surface

Select it, and in the Render section of its Obj Info palette [1], select the Top from the Parts popdown [2], and choose a texture for it from the Texture popdown [3].

Repeat the process for the gable end

This comes under the Walls part of the Roof [1].
If you allocate it to the same texture as the walls in the Main Floor [2], then the gable will look like a natural extension of the wall below.

Save this view.

To make it easier to return to this view at any time quickly, without having to reconfigure the Layers setup, etc., save it by choosing Save View… from its popdown menu in the bar [1].
In every view you save, specify the orientation and what part of the structure you're showing – e.g., Right Isometric - Whole Garden Shed. It then appears in a growing list of saved views beneath the Edit View… menu command [2].

Switch to a plan view of the main floor.

This means switching to a Top/Plan view [1], then turning off all layers except Main Floor [2], and deleting the square that we made earlier as the basis for the new roof [3]. 

Save this view as "Main Floor - Plan"

Similar to how we saved the Right Isometric two steps ago.

Switch to Front view, and render.

Change to Front view [1] and – since elevations need to be shown not in wireframe – choose a rendering mode, such as OpenGL in the Rendering popdown [1].
By default, OpenGL doesn't show the edges of objects with a drawn line, but you can change that by choosing OpenGL Options… [2] at the bottom of the Rendering list, and turning on those options [3].

Render in Artistic Renderworks.

Another option is Artistic Renderworks [1]. This is actually not one, but twelve different modes of rendering in a manner that is "artistic" inasmuch as it is not neutral, colourless straight lines. The list of options is available at the bottom of the list [2] once you've chosen Artistic Renderworks as your renderer. In the dialog that follows, choose the option you want from the popdown. The default setting is Cartoon, which is similar to OpenGL with Edges, only with finer lines (which ironically makes it less cartoon-like).
NOTE: All Renderworks options are available only if you have the Renderworks module installed.

Render in Hidden Line mode.

Perhaps the most common mode for rendering elevations in particular is Hidden Line: this produces a plain black-and-white rendering with the lines that should be hidden, hidden.