Dimensioning Exterior Walls

The exterior walls of a building can be automatically dimensioned with the Dimension Exterior Walls command. The command can:

●    Dimension exterior walls by outside edge or center line

●    Associate dimensions with walls

●    Dimension only visible wall components

●    Dimension all windows and doors in the exterior walls by the center line or the edge of the openings

For window objects, the rough opening is calculated as the unit size plus two times the shim gap. For door objects, the rough opening is calculated as the leaf size plus two times the jamb width plus two times the shim gap.

The exterior wall dimensioner uses the dimension standard specified on the Dimensions tab of the document preferences (File > Document Settings > Document Preferences) and the unit selection and precision settings in File > Document Settings > Units.

To generate exterior wall dimensions:

1. In a file with exterior walls, determine whether you wish to dimension to the structural or non-structural components of the wall. To dimension to the structural components, such as framing components, make the classes of the non-structural components invisible.

The wall styles available in the Vectorworks Architect product contain pre-classed components, making it easy to show and hide the desired portions of the wall.

2. Select the Dimension Exterior Walls command from the appropriate menu:

●    Architect workspace: AEC > Dimension Exterior Walls 

●    Landmark workspace: Landmark > Architectural > Dimension Exterior Walls 

●    Spotlight workspace: Spotlight > Architectural > Dimension Exterior Walls 

The Dimension Exterior Walls dialog box opens. Specify how to dimension the walls.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Source Layer	Specifies the location of the walls to be dimensioned
Options	Specify the dimension methods
Dimension T-joins in exterior walls	Interior walls which intersect with the exterior walls are dimensioned
Make dimensions associative	Associates dimensions with the wall or wall component; dimensions move and update with the wall or wall component
Dimension to Wall	Specifies whether to dimension to the wall extents or center lines
Dimension to	Specifies whether to dimension to the edge of the openings or to the center of the openings Rough openings are automatically defined in door and window objects. To add a rough opening to a symbol inserted in a wall, draw an invisible polygon (line weight 0, no fill) with three vertices to the extents of the rough opening.
Text Options	Specifies dimension text properties
Rotation	Controls the orientation of the dimension text ●    Horizontal keeps text always horizontal ●    Aligned places text according to the dimension angle ●    Horiz/Vert places text horizontally for horizontal dimensions and vertically for vertical dimensions
Location	Specifies whether the text should be centered between the witness lines if space permits, or always placed outside the witness lines
If forced outside, distance	Indicates the offset for text forced outside the witness lines
Above Dim Line	Select to always place text above the dimension line
Offsets from Building	Specifies the distance of the dimensions from the building, walls, doors, and windows
Small Dimensions	Specifies the limit for drawing small dimensions, which can help detect inaccuracies in the drawing; dimensions less than the value specified will be considered “small.” Select Draw in red to detect problems such as minute misalignments in layout; to overlook any inaccuracies, select Do not draw.

3. Click OK.

The exterior wall dimensions are drawn automatically.

Click here for a video tip about this topic (Internet access required).

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Using Wall Styles

Dimensions

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