The Mainstage Template that you have been using has elements that have 3 demensional information imbedded in them.
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In general we look at three, TOP (plan), Front (elevation) and Side.
There are a couple of view which show all three demensions at once. Isometric and Oblique
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| Stair Front (Showing X and Y) | Stair Front (Showing X and Z) |
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| Stair Side (Showing Y and Z) | Stair Isometric (Showing X, Y, Z) |
Open up a 1/4 blank Page Theater Template. The scale and Preferences should already be set.
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| Ones options to manipulate a vectorworks object diminishes once it is extruded into a three demensional object. | Keep in mind your view when an object is converted into 2 demensions. The depth is into the screen. A 2 demensional object remains in its orientation. |
| Draw the following rectangles (platforms)
a) 20 feet wide 8 feet deep. b) 20 feet wide by 2 feet deep align to the upstage corners) c) 20 feet wide by 2 feet deep d) 24 feet wide by 6 feet deep e) 12 feet deep by 3 feet wide. (allign to the down right corner of the first platform) |
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| a) Select an the 20x8 rectangle
b) [Control + E] is the command to extrude an object. c) enter the height of the platform in the Extrusion box. d) Click 
The object becomes transparent as an extruded object. |
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| Select each of the rectangles in turn an Extrude them [Command + E]
to the following heights.
b) 12" c) 18" d) 24" e) 18" |
Drag your cursor around the platorms and group.
[Command + G] |
From the View Menu
Standard views
Right Isometric allows you to see what the platforms look like.
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The platorms are displayed in "wire frame" While that is the fastest the many lines may be confusing.
Selecting one of the shaded options make the drawing clearer.
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"floating" platform.
| Draw a new rectangle 4 feet wide x 5 feet deep.
from the corner of the 6x 24 plaform. Extrude that platform to 36". Draw a 4' x 4' plaform with the corner aligned to the upper left of
the 18" plaform (c)
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| Make sure the 4" platforms is selected.
Under the View Menu Bar Select "Standard Views" and Front. Note that the Axis is drawn in Red. |
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| The Platform may be raised to the desired height by using
the Move Command.
[Command + M] When in Front View, the Y axis is the vertical direction. Type in the value of 36" to mover the platform. |
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| Front Elevation of platforms. |
| The value of the integrated 2-D & 3-D feature of Vector works is
that you can see the results of your development of plan and elevations.
Select Right Isometric from the standard view menu.
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Platform
| This is one method of creating a raked platform.
This platform is going to rake from 4" to 16" (slope of 1" per foot) a) Create a rectangle that is 12' wide and 6' deep. |
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| b) Extrude that platform to a height of 4". |
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| c) Switch the View to Front
d) Move [Control + M] to raise the platorm 12". (Note: the top of the platform is 16" as the thickness is 4". |
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| e) Using the Rotate tool from the Edit menu
Select the lower corner of the onstage side of the platfrom. Click on the offstage bottom corner and rotate down to the floor. |
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| Right Isometric View of the Rake |  |
This is a second method of creating a ramp and in this example we will create a ramp six feet wide and going downstage in the floor.
It is important to pay attention to which view.
| Using the attributes pallette I have changed the line color of the
previous rake to red.
In the front view, I have created a green guide rectangle, six feet
wide and snapped it to the height of the rake.
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| Switching to Right view.
Create a guide rectangle (in Yellow) that is 10" high. To keep the 1" per foot rake, the length of the guide rectangle is 10'. |
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| Using the single line polygon tool, snap to the corners of the guide rectangle to create a right triangle. (filled in blue) |  |
| Extrude the Selected Triangle to 6'.
The extrude always works into the screen. Again, the fill color goes away. For clairty, the ramp has been changed to blue line. |
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| Switching to Top/Plan View
The "blue" ramp needs to be moved into its proper location in plan. The yellow and green Guide Rectangles can be deleted. |
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| Switching to an Isometric Rendered view the ramps appear as illustrated.
The fill attributes are rendered in this view. Note how the blue triangle is a solid wedge where the red rake is only as thick as a platform. |
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Method 1
To create a escape stair case 3' wide from the 24" platform.
| In Plan View:
Create a series of rectangles. 3 feet wide by 1 foot deep. (Duplicate Array can be a time saver) |
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| Extrude each rectangle in turn to it's height.
Each step is in a 6" increment. Group the rectangles together. |
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Method 2
This profile of this staircase is drawn from the side and then extruded.
| In a Side view: (Right or Left)
Create a series of rectangles, 1 foot wide and the height of each stair. |
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| Select two rectangles and from the the TOOL menu, add surface.
Include the sequential rectangle and repeat ADD Surface. Extrude this shape to 36". |
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Note the vertical lines in the top drawn method.
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| Stairs Drawn from the Top | Stairs drawn from the Side. |
| A designer frequently uses a floor treatment on the stage
deck. This is a demonstration of how to create the sense of tiles
on the floor.
Create a rectangle and duplicate squares. (or random if that choice fits your design) Leave about an inch of space between your tiles. |
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| Create a new Class for Tiles | |||
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| Extrude the tiles to 3/4" thich. |
| Duplicate more tiles.
Use the free form drawing tool to create a clipping profile for the tiles. Hold down the shift key and select the tile and the cutting shape and then Clip Surface from the Tool menu. |
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| Clip the range of tiles and the broken tiles may be used as well in conjunction with the NUDGE tool to slightly offset the tiles. |  |
| Select the tiles and extrude them. |  |
| This is a rendered isometric view of the floor tiles. |  |
In the same way that the steps were created, a simple shape can be created in plan view and extruded to its height.
| Set up a new Class for walls.
I have drawn basic shapes.
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Often it is the details of a molding that help make the set seem less computer, stark and clean-edged.
Moldings may be added to give the mass of the walls detail.
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Go to Plan view: Create each element. Extude to its height. |
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| In Front view each layer of detail is selected and then moved to its appropriate height using the Command + M function. |  |
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| Front Elevation / Shaded Solid | Isometric / wireframe | Isometric / Shaded Solid |
It is fairly easy to create a wall with profiles in Vectorworks.
Instead of creating a wall in plan and then extruding the wall, the
wall is constructed in elevation and then extruded to its depth.
| The first step is to create a quick block style wall from plan to get a sense of scale. |  |
| Switch to Front view and create a rectangle over the guide wall.
Add surface, clip and shape the new profile wall. Recomendantion- Copy and Paste that duplicate of this wall in another part of the drawing. It can become the elevation for this wall. An extruded wall is not easy to change. |
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| Extrude the wall to its depth. |  |
| Go to Plan view and make sure the wall is situated in the proper plan location. |  |
| Shaded Rendering of the profile wall. |  |
A perspective drawing shows how the set would look from a given observation point.
To a director or designer this is a more important view than the isometric that we have been using.
(Save View)
| This is an important feature to come back to the way the drawing was
constructed.
As your drawing becomes more complex, you may be making elements in visible or you may want to return to the same vantage point. For a reasonable perseptive view I have set those elements and Vector works will return to the profile that I have selected. The Save sheet is found under the Page menu, or may be accessed at the lower left of the bottom command bar. |
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Vectorworks should allow you and the director to explore options.
So changes like seeing the set rotated can be accomplished in just a
couple of minutes.
Or if they would like to see that ramp shorter or steeper.
Save versions! You may want to come back to what you had before.
