The workspace contains various palettes for creating and editing objects. Depending on the initial settings, some palettes may be hidden when the program is launched. You can customize which palettes display and where they are placed for each workspace.
● Select Window > Palettes > [palette name] to display or hide palettes. Alternatively, right-click on the drawing area, and select Palettes > [palette name] from the document context menu.
● Click the title bar of any displayed palette and drag it to the desired location.
● Most palettes can be resized by the standard Windows or Mac resize method.
● Palettes can be docked to the application window (see Docking palettes).
For some workflows, such as using the Camera Match feature to set the 3D view of a model to match the perspective view of a photograph, sculpting or editing the contours of a site model, editing the 2D or 3D components of a symbol or plug-in object, and others, an additional palette or tool set displays at the point of use to provide specialized tools and capabilities. These context-specific palettes and tool sets are described in the appropriate sections of the Vectorworks help system.
Each time you exit the Vectorworks program, the current palette settings and positions are automatically saved for each workspace in a file in your user folder ([User]\Settings\SavedSettings.xml). The settings in this user file override the initial palette settings in the workspace file. To reset to the original workspace settings, click Reset Saved Settings from the Vectorworks preferences: Session tab.
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Palette / Tool set |
Purpose |
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Snapping |
Contains SmartCursor snapping controls that can be toggled on or off; see Setting snapping parameters |
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Attributes |
Contains a selection of colors, fills, pens, and other object attributes; see The Attributes palette |
|
Object Info |
Lists context-sensitive object information for viewing and editing; see The Object Info palette |
|
Working Planes |
Contains controls for adding and modifying working planes; see The working planes palette |
|
Resource Manager |
Accesses and manages the resources available for use in drawings, such as hatches, record formats, worksheets, scripts, symbols, textures, and more. See Resource Manager. |
|
Navigation (Design Series required) |
Provides access to classes, design layers, sheet layers, viewports, and saved views, while the drawing area remains accessible; see The Navigation palette |
|
Visualization |
Accesses all lights and cameras in the file; see Managing lights and cameras with the Visualization palette |
|
Script Palettes |
Contains palettes with script resources; see Creating and editing script palettes and scripts |
|
Tool Palettes |
The Basic palette and Tool Sets palette have special functionality, as described in Tool palette features |
|
Contains a single set of basic object creation and editing tools; the palette can be customized through the Workspace Editor. The Basic palette contains different tools in different workspaces. |
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Depending on the workspace, this palette includes the following tool sets, whose tools are grouped by similar functionality; the palette and its tool sets can be customized through the Workspace Editor. Each tool set may contain different tools in different workspaces. |
|
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Site Planning (Architect or Landmark required) |
Contains tools for site planning and landscape architecture |
|
Space Planning (Architect required) |
Contains tools for space planning and programming buildings |
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Irrigation (Landmark required) |
Contains tools for irrigation system design |
|
GIS (Architect or Landmark required) |
Contains tools for georeferencing, geolocating, and adding geographic imagery |
|
Lighting (Spotlight required) |
Contains tools for lighting design |
|
Rigging (Spotlight required) |
Contains tools for rigging |
|
Event Design (Spotlight required) |
Contains tools for event design |
|
Schematics (ConnectCAD required) |
Contains tools for creating schematic network diagrams |
|
Layout (ConnectCAD required) |
Contains tools for creating equipment layouts |
|
Building Shell (Design Series required) |
Contains tools for creating building shell elements |
|
3D Modeling |
Contains tools for creating and editing 3D objects, including solids and NURBS |
|
Visualization |
Contains tools for changing the drawing view in different ways |
|
Furn/Fixtures (Design Series required) |
Contains tools for creating common furniture and fixtures |
|
Dims/Notes |
Contains tools for adding dimension and label objects |
|
Detailing (Design Series required) |
Contains tools for adding architectural detail objects, such as tubing |
|
MEP (Architect required) |
Contains tools for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design |
|
Fasteners (Design Series required) |
Contains tools for inserting a variety of fasteners such as nuts, bolts, pins, and screws |
|
Machine Components (Design Series required) |
Contains tools for inserting machine components such as gears, bearings, and springs |
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