Creating Wall Components

Wall components define the sections that make up a wall. For example, to indicate that a wall is made up of studs, inner drywall, outer sheathing, and then a siding material, define a component for each of these items to illustrate their location.

The overall thickness of a wall is equal to the sum of its components. Component fill and line style are only displayed in Top/Plan view (except for section viewports in the Design Series).

Use the Eyedropper tool to copy wall component settings from one wall to another (see Transferring Attributes).

Additional wall capabilities are available in VectorWorks Architect.

Wall components can be defined prior to drawing the wall in Wall Preferences mode, or after drawing the wall, from the Object Info palette.

Wall components can also be edited from Wall Preferences mode. Editing a component from wall preferences does not affect existing walls.

Defining Components for New Walls

To define a wall component prior to drawing the wall:

1.	Select the Wall tool or Round Wall tool from the Walls tool set, and then click Wall Preferences from the Tool bar.

The Wall Preferences dialog box opens.

2.	On the Wall Definition tab, click New.

The Component Attributes dialog box opens. Specify the component thickness, name, and parameters.

 

Parameter	Description
Definition
Thickness	Specifies the component’s thickness; the thickness of a wall is the sum of its components. A component must have a thickness greater than 0.
Name	Provide a name for the component, which displays in the Components list in the Wall Preferences dialog box
Class	Displays the component class; this setting can be changed in VectorWorks Architect (see Creating Walls in Architect). VectorWorks Fundamentals can display classes set in Architect. <Wall Class> indicates that the component assumes the same class setting as that of the wall.
Fill
Use Class Attributes	Sets component fill attributes by class rather than by the parameters in the Component Attributes dialog box. If the component class is changed later, the component changes to use the attributes of the new class.
Style	Specify the wall fill attributes, or select None for no fill. Selected hatch, gradient, or image fills, if not already present in the file, are imported and added to the Resource Browser (default resources are automatically imported into the current file at the point of use and display in the Resource Browser). See VectorWorks Fundamentals Default Resources and Fill Attributes.
Left Pen/Right Pen	Class attributes can be used for the left and right pen parameters. Otherwise, select a style, line thickness, and dash style for the left and right sides of the component; see Line Style Attributes Component lines are no longer shared between components as they were in Version 12.

3.	Click OK to create the component and return to the Wall Preferences dialog box.

The wall’s Overall Thickness value changes to be determined by its components. As components are defined, they display in the preview. Click and drag a component in the # column to change its order.

4.

Click OK.

Defining Components for Existing Walls

To define or edit wall components for an existing wall:

1.	Select the wall(s).

2.	From the Object Info palette, click Components.

The Components dialog box opens.

 

Parameter	Description
Preview	Displays a preview of the wall structure, including the defined components; the preview wall is drawn from left to right, so the “top” of the preview, by default, indicates the left part of the wall as it will be drawn. The arrow shows the wall direction.
Overall Thickness	The thickness of a wall with components is defined by the sum of the component thicknesses
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.
New	Click to define the components of the wall as described previously in this section
Edit	Opens the Component Attributes dialog box to edit the selected component’s thickness and attributes (you can also double-click on a component to open the Component Attributes dialog box)
Delete	Deletes the selected wall component; the wall thickness is adjusted accordingly

3.	Click New or Edit, and define or edit the components as described previously.

4.	Click OK to return to the Components dialog box.

5.	Click OK. The new component definition is applied to the selected wall(s).