DesignSeries.pngDimensioning exterior walls

Command

Workspace: Path

Dimension Exterior Walls

Architect: AEC

Landmark: Landmark > Architectural

Spotlight: Spotlight > Architectural

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

Dimension relative to either walls or core components.

Dimension along either outer sides or centerlines of the walls or core components.

Associate the dimensions with the wall geometry.

Dimension only visible wall components.

Dimension windows and doors either to the center or the edges of the wall opening.

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:

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.

Select the command.

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

Click to show/hide the parameters.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 Relative to

Specifies whether to dimension relative to the walls or the core components

Dimension to

Specifies whether to dimension to the outer sides or centerlines of the walls or core components

Dimension to Openings

Specifies whether to dimension to the center or edges of 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

Always places 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.

The exterior wall dimensions are drawn automatically.

DimExWalls_ex.png 

Using wall styles

Dimensions

 

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