Editing wall attributes

The wall attributes of an unstyled wall are initially set to the parameters displayed in the Attributes palette (see 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.

From the Definition tab of the Wall Preferences dialog box, click Edit Wall Attributes to open the Wall Attributes dialog box.

Parameter	Description
Fill (standard walls only)	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. See Setting design layer properties and Wall display with design layer cut plane enabled. The Pen settings determine the appearance of the cut plane contour.
Wall Caps (standard walls only)
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

Wall display with design layer cut plane enabled

The Vectorworks Architect product allows a cut plane elevation to be set and enabled for the design layer; see Setting design layer properties and Editing wall attributes. The layer cut plane applies to several drawing objects, including standard walls, curtain walls, wall features, and objects inserted into the wall.

● Walls are drawn only to the extents intersected by the layer cut plane. The contour at the cut plane is drawn as an outline only, using the Pen attribute, emphasizing the cut plane while still allowing the components to be seen.

● Low walls (with tops below the cut plane) and wall features below the cut plane are drawn with the Below Attributes Class selected from the Attributes Below Cut Plane list in the Wall Attributes dialog box, or by the extents attributes set for below the cut plane for wall features.

● Walls seen from above are always drawn with caps and do not show the divisions between components.

● Wall breaks (joins) are drawn only when both walls in the join area intersect the cut plane.

● Windows and doors inserted into a wall are drawn normally when they are at the cut plane elevation, and with a simplified, non-breaking appearance when they do not intersect the cut plane elevation. Windows can have a different “clerestory” appearance when the Clerestory option is enabled (see Window settings: 3D Visualization pane).

● Objects inserted into the wall that are at the cut plane are shown drawn in the wall. Objects that are inserted below the cut plane, but that do not intersect the cut plane, are drawn with dashed lines.