Drawing Straight Walls

The Wall tool creates a hybrid wall object, simultaneously adding both a 2D and a 3D version of the wall to the drawing. Walls can be drawn in Top/Plan or in a 3D view. Standard walls or curtain walls can be created.

Create walls by drawing them with the mouse, or by using a mouse-Data bar combination (see Using the Data Bar). The following directions assume that the walls are drawn with the mouse.

If walls are drawn using the Data bar, the Control Line mode setting determines whether the dimensions entered are for the left, center, or right edge of the wall, or a custom location.

Click the tool, and then click the desired control line mode and either Polygon or Rectangle mode (see Creating Walls).

Do one of the following:

● To use an existing wall style from the resource libraries, click Wall Style from the Tool bar. From the Resource Selector, double-click a resource to activate it. Or, to draw an unstyled wall, leave the <Unstyled> setting as is. Proceed to step 4.

● Click Preferences. From the Wall Preferences dialog box, set the default properties. The properties can be edited from the Object Info palette.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Click Edit Wall Attributes to specify the wall attributes.

The Wall Attributes dialog box opens.

The wall attributes of an unstyled wall are initially set to the parameters displayed in The Attributes Palette. The opacity and drop shadow attributes are always set from the Attributes palette. If fill and pen are changed in the Wall Attributes dialog box, the Attributes palette reflects the changed attributes of the selected wall (after exiting the Wall Preferences dialog box).

Fill and pen attributes can be set by class rather than by the attributes in the Wall Attributes dialog box. If the wall class is changed later, the wall changes to use the attributes of the new class. Wall fill and pen attributes cannot be overridden on a per-instance basis; if a wall style uses class attributes, all walls of that style must use class attributes. However, walls of the same wall style can be placed in different classes.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Click OK to return to the Wall Preferences dialog box. If components are to be added to the wall, click New to define each component (see Creating Wall Components). The Overall Thickness is then defined by the thickness of the wall components.

Wall components can be assigned to a class; this allows maximum flexibility since the component classes can be shown or hidden separately from the wall class. To control appearance and visibility, select a class from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class. Select <Object Class> to place the component attributes in the same class as the wall object. By default, components are assigned to the wall class.

When a component is in an invisible class, its fill and lines are hidden. Invisible components on the interior and exterior of a wall cause the wall’s lines and fill to adjust to the visible components only, making the wall appear thinner than its actual width. This allows walls to show only their structural components, for example. If all components are invisible, the wall displays at its full thickness, without components.

The Auto-display detail levels for design layers preference can be used to show or hide wall components based on scale; see Hiding Wall Components.

Click the Insertion Options tab to set the wall insertion options.

Curtain walls have slightly different parameters; see Creating Curtain Walls.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Click the Textures tab to select textures for the wall parts.

Textures for curtain walls are controlled by the frame and panel settings on the Definition tab; see Creating Curtain Walls.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Click the Data tab to specify wall record information, which is also the IFC data that can be assigned when creating an IFC entity (edits to either the Data tab or the IFC entity edit the data in both locations). This information can be included in a wall style schedule. These fields are optional; enter text only where desired.

When the wall parameters have been specified, and any changes have been saved as a wall style resource if desired, click OK.

A saved or selected wall style is saved as a resource in the file, and displays in the Resource Manager and in the Wall Style list on the Tool bar. See Creating Wall Styles.

If Polygon mode is selected, click at the starting point of the first wall section.

Click to end the first wall section.

To continue creating walls, click at the end of each additional wall section.

Double-click to finish the wall if the start point and end point are not at the same location; otherwise, click at the starting location (a SmartCursor cue displays) to finish the wall.

Alternatively, after completing all but the final click, press the keyboard shortcut to automatically close the polygonal wall network. See Modifying Special Shortcuts to change the shortcut.

When drawing a wall network, move the cursor in the direction of the next-to-last click but press the shortcut key instead of clicking; the software extrapolates the correct alignment and position for a 90° corner and places the final two clicks to complete the wall network.

If Rectangle mode is selected, click at the wall’s start point; this becomes one corner of the rectangular wall system. Move the cursor to the opposite corner until the desired size is previewed.

Click to set a corner point on the wall system. Four walls are created.

When the Vectorworks preference Auto join walls is on, walls drawn in Rectangle mode that overlap or touch each other interact, so complex wall systems can be drawn quickly. See Automatically Joining Walls in Rectangle Mode for the rules that define these interactions.

The properties of a wall can be edited from the Object Info palette; see Wall Properties.

Parameter	Description
Wall Style	From the Resource Selector, double-click a wall style to apply it (see Using Wall Styles). If a selected wall style's parameters are edited in the Wall Preferences dialog box, the wall style automatically changes to unstyled, indicating that the edited style must be saved as a new style to save changes (alternatively, the changes can be applied as an unstyled wall, and they are not saved).
Convert to Unstyled	Converts a styled wall to unstyled
Save Preferences as Wall Style	Saves the current preference settings as a new wall style. The Assign Name dialog box opens; enter a wall style name (see Creating Wall Styles).
Wall Type	Select whether to create a standard wall or a curtain wall. Standard walls are described in this section. Curtain walls are described in Creating Curtain Walls.
Preview	Displays a preview of the wall structure, including any defined components. The arrow shows the wall direction (see Wall Direction).
Overall Thickness	Displays the thickness of the wall. The thickness of a wall with components is defined by the sum of the component thicknesses. When components have been defined, this parameter becomes read-only. If a wall contains no components, enter the wall thickness.
Edit Wall Attributes	Opens the Wall Attributes dialog box, to specify the wall fill, pen, and cap settings
Components	Lists the components that form the structure of the wall, in order from left to right as displayed in the preview. To change the order of a component, click and drag within the # column. If multiple components are selected, changing the order moves all selected components to the new location.
Core	One of the wall components can optionally be designated as a core component by clicking in the Core column. A check mark indicates that the component is the core component. When the Auto join walls Vectorworks preference is enabled, components also automatically join based on the core component specified for each wall.
Other Component settings	The remaining columns in the component list display the current settings for the wall, from the Wall Component Settings dialog box
New	Opens the Wall Component Settings dialog box to define the components of the wall; see Creating Wall Components for information on creating components
Edit	Opens the Wall Component Settings dialog box to edit the attributes of one or more selected components; changes are made to all selected components. Alternatively, to edit a single component, double-click the component to open the Wall Component Settings dialog box.
Duplicate	Duplicates one or more selected wall components; the duplicates are added to the component list right below the originally selected components
Delete	Deletes one or more selected wall components; the wall thickness is adjusted accordingly
IFC	Assigns or edits IFC data; see Viewing and Editing IFC Data

Parameter	Description
Fill	Specify the wall fill attributes. Select a fill style, or select Class Style to set the fill attributes by class. Depending on the Style selected, select a color, pattern, or resource (hatch, image, gradient, tile) for the wall.
Pen	Specify the wall pen attributes. Select a pen style, or Class Style to set pen attributes by class. Depending on the Style selected, select a color, pattern, or line type resource for the wall.
Thickness	Select the line thickness; to use a custom thickness, select Set Thickness from the line thickness list (see Line Thickness Attributes)
Make All Attributes By Class	Sets all fill and pen attributes by class. Wall caps attributes are not affected.
Remove By Class Settings	Removes all class settings for fill and pen attributes. Wall caps attributes are not affected.
Attributes Below Cut Plane (Architect required)	To control appearance and visibility of the 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 Pen settings determine the appearance of the cut plane contour.
Wall Caps
Use Wall Line Attributes	Uses the attributes of the wall line for the wall caps
Use Component Line Attributes	Uses the attributes of the components (left line) for the wall caps

Parameter	Description
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 updates 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. 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. The default wall styles automatically assign a top bound level type to the wall, assuming that stories will be used in the file. However, this can be changed by selecting a different option.
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. The default wall styles automatically assign a bottom bound level type to the wall, assuming that stories will be used in the file. However, this can be changed by selecting a different option.
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
Class	Specifies the default class for the walls
Control Offset	If using the Custom Control Line wall mode, enter the offset value for the control line
Energos	Exterior walls can participate in Energos energy analysis calculations (see Energos Energy Analysis Module). Vectorworks Architect is required to conduct an energy analysis; however, energy-related parameters can be specified here for informational purposes.
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.
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. ● 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 in Manual R-Value or Manual U-Value

Parameter	Description
Use Component Textures	Uses the textures defined for the wall components to texture the wall. This option can also be selected for an existing wall from the Render tab of the Object Info palette.
Use Object Textures	Uses the textures defined below for the wall parts (see Applying a Texture to an Object for information on applying textures to an object with parts)
Part	Applies the texture selected in Texture to the selected parts of the wall
Revert to Overall	If a part was assigned a texture but it should inherit its texture from Overall instead, select the part and click Revert to Overall. The part moves back below the divider, and (from Overall) displays as its texture name.
Texture	Applies the selected texture to the selected Part. If Class Texture is chosen, uses the texture defined by the wall’s class; see Applying Object and Component Textures by Class. Any walls with that wall style use the texture defined by the wall’s class for that part of the wall (unless overridden). If Texture is chosen, from the Resource Selector, double-click a texture to apply it to the selected Part. The texture set here overrides the object class texture. Textures can also be set from the Render tab of the Object Info palette. Textures applied from the Object Info palette override the textures set here.