Shape tab

Style

In the Vectorworks Fundamentals product, all walls are unstyled. A Design Series product is required to be able to select wall styles; see Using Wall Styles.

Type

Indicates whether the wall is a standard wall or a curtain wall

Thickness

Thickness

Displays the overall thickness of the wall; the thickness of a wall without components is determined by the wall attributes. The thickness of a wall with components is defined by the sum of the component thicknesses.

Vis Thick

Displays the visible wall thickness, while accounting for component visibility settings. Invisible components on the interior and exterior of the wall cause the wall to appear thinner than its actual thickness, for display purposes.

Height

Height

Directly sets the desired height of the wall. When the wall height is determined manually by this method, the Top Bound property of the wall is automatically set to Layer Elevation, and the Top Offset value is modified accordingly.

When the top of the wall is bound by the layer wall height value, the wall height displays automatically.

Top Bound

Sets the vertical reference that determines the top of the wall.

The Layer Wall Height value is set by the design layer (see Setting Design Layer Properties).

Additional options are available for the Vectorworks Architect product; see Creating Walls. The top of the wall can be bound by one of the story levels defined for the story or the story above it. By setting the top of the wall to a level type, if the elevation of the associated story changes, the height of the wall changes automatically to match. Select Stories to access the Stories tab of the Organization dialog box if needed.

Top Offset

Sets the offset of the top of the wall from its specified Top Bound height.

Bottom Bound

Sets the vertical reference that determines the bottom of the wall; Layer Elevation is the only option available unless the Vectorworks Architect product is installed.

Additional options are available for the Vectorworks Architect product. The bottom of the wall can be bound by one of the story levels defined for the story or the story below it. By setting the bottom of the wall to a level type, if the elevation of the associated story changes, the height of the wall changes automatically to match. Select Stories to access the Stories tab of the Organization dialog box if needed.

Bottom Offset

For the bottom of the wall, sets the offset from the layer elevation

Caps

Select whether a wall segment is capped at the start point, the end point, both ends, or has no caps at all

Attr

(standard wall only)

When the wall is capped, specifies whether the wall cap attributes comes from the wall line attributes or the component line attributes

Components

(standard wall only)

For unstyled walls, edits the wall components; for styled walls, edits only the Component Top and Component Bottom settings to customize heights of individual wall components (see Creating Wall Components).

Cut Plane

(curtain wall only)

Sets the height for the display of the Top/Plan appearance of the curtain wall; when the design layer cut plane is enabled (Vectorworks Architect required), the elevation of the curtain wall cut plane is set to the same value as that of the design layer, ensuring a uniform cut plane appearance for the layer.

Curtain Wall Grid

(curtain wall only)

Opens the Curtain Wall Grid dialog box, for editing the curtain wall frame and panel settings as described in Creating Curtain Walls

Bel Attr Cls

(Architect required)

Specifies the Below Attributes Class for unstyled walls, and displays the Below Attributes Class for styled walls.

To control appearance and visibility of unstyled wall attributes when the design layer cut plane is enabled, select a class from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class. Select <Object Class> to use the wall’s class.

The unstyled wall’s pen settings (set from the Attributes palette) determine the appearance of the cut plane contour.

Reverse Sides

Reverses the direction of the wall sections (see Wall Direction); walls should be drawn in a clockwise direction

Energos

(Architect required)

Individual exterior walls can participate in Energos energy analysis calculations (see Energos Energy Analysis Module)

Include in Calculations

When selected, the wall is eligible to be included in energy calculations, depending on the energy analysis settings for layer/class, element inclusion, and so on.

If the wall contains any valid building element objects, like doors and windows, that can also participate in energy analysis calculations, you are asked whether to include or exclude those objects when you select or deselect this option for walls.

When this option is not selected, the remaining Energos parameters are hidden.

Object Boundary Type

Only exterior walls participate in energy analysis calculations; select the type of exterior wall.

The system list can be modified; see Specifying System Sets. Editing the system parameters, or adding new ones, allows the exterior and interior RS (surface resistance) values to be specified. If the selected boundary wall calculations are not satisfactory, edit the system list to be extremely specific about the wall surface resistance parameters.

For a finer level of detail about the boundary wall material, click Advanced. The Advanced Settings dialog box opens. Specify advanced settings and then click OK.

●    Wall Relation: Select the relationship between the wall and surrounding walls. Ambient refers to a wall that does not touch the ground, while a Ground wall does touch the ground. A Partition wall connects two homes, apartments, or buildings.

●    Exterior Material: Indicates the thermal properties of the material finish. The system list can be modified; see Specifying System Sets. The Absorptivity and Emissivity factors are automatically calculated and displayed.

●    Reduction Factor Shading: When the wall is shaded (especially during the summer), enter a shading reduction factor between 0–1, where 0 (zero) indicates total shade and 1 indicates no shade.

Calculated R-Value/U-Value

Based on the components and the location of the wall within the building (boundary type) and orientation of the heat flow (surface resistance values), the wall R-Value/U-Value is calculated and displayed. This value, along with the length of the wall, is critical for a correct assessment of the building envelope in energy calculations.

Override Calculated R-Value/U-Value

Select this option to override the calculated R-Value/U-Value and enter a manual value for the wall instead

Render tab

(standard walls)

Mode

Select whether to texture the wall according to textures defined for the wall (By Object) or according to textures defined for the components (By Component). See Applying a Texture to an Object, Applying Object and Component Textures by Class, and Creating Wall Components.