Sketch PowerTab. Sketch PowerView. Starting a New Floorplan with WinSketch

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1 Sketch PowerView The Sketch PowerView is your complete interface for digital sketches and their resulting area calculations to transfer into your form. In the Sketch PowerView, you can even access sketches from previous reports. Benefits of electronic sketch By including the sketch as part of your electronic report, you gain several benefits: Floorplan looks professional. Sketch is saved inside the report file with rest of data. Sketch prints on a WinTOTAL form with the rest of your report. Header information transfers automatically to the WinTOTAL form. Areas can be automatically calculated and transferred to your report. Included with the WinTOTAL Professional or Enterprise Edition is the WinSketch floorplan processor by Jammin Software, inc. If you prefer the Apex for Windows product, it can be integrated with WinTOTAL reports through the Sketch PowerView too. Apex for Windows must be purchased and installed separately from WinTOTAL contact Apex for details. Starting a New Floorplan with WinSketch Start in the Sketch PowerView The Sketch PowerView incorporates all of your sketching and floorplan functions on one screen. 1. Click on the Sketch PowerView. 2. Under the Area calculations heading, select the appropriate options for transferring areas back to the other forms in your report. WinTOTAL will remember these for next time. 3. Click the New button in the top, left-hand corner of the window. 4. In the dialog box that opens, select the page style you want to use from the drop-down list labeled Page format 5. Click on OK. You should see the WinSketch application appear on screen. he Sketch PowerView groups together all functions associated with your electronically rawn floorplans. Just click on the Sketch PowerView or select Sketch from the Poweriews menu. Sketch PowerTab Starting a New Floorplan with WinSketch Page 7.1

2 Before you start drawing in WinSketch Here are some things that we recommend you know or check before you start using WinSketch with WinTOTAL: WinTOTAL automatically starts a sketch file for you. To maintain the link between WinSketch and WinTOTAL, you must use that file. Don't use the File New, Save As or File Open options since these will disable the integration. WinTOTAL will also include the appropriate sketch page into your report automatically. For this reason, do not add a sketch page to your report (under the Contents PowerView) before starting your sketch. When you are through drawing in WinSketch, simply choose File Exit and the sketch will be transferred to WinTOTAL. You will be prompted to save the sketch with a predetermined name. At first the default file name may look awkward. This is normal - just use the name WinTOTAL assigns and the integration will work as expected. If you want to edit an existing sketch, click on the Edit button instead of the New button in the Sketch PowerView. Make sure you are on at least version 6.1. You ll see this reflected in the top left hand corner of the WinSketch program once it is started. Hide the header. The header in WinSketch will not transfer any of your report data. WinTOTAL will, however, automatically transfer your sketch into a form in your report, on which the header information will already be transferred. Click on the View menu and uncheck the item that says Show Header. Disable the snap to grid function. This option is designed to automatically draw each line along one of the sketch s gridlines. It will also round any dimensions you enter to the value of the next closest gridline. Click the Object menu and uncheck Snap to grid. This will keep your lines right where you want them. Set scale for drawing WinSketch defaults to 20ft for every inch which is quite large! By setting your scale to something such as 1in for every 10ft., your sketch will cover more of the page. By hiding the header and setting the scale, you can draw more easily in WinSketch Set the scale to something like 1 inch = 10ft. so your sketch will cover most of the screen. Sketch PowerTab Starting a New Floorplan with WinSketch Page 7.2

3 1. Click the View menu, and select the option to Set Scale. 2. Enter something more appropriate, such as 1 inch = 10 ft. The fewer feet per inch, the larger your sketch will appear on the page. 3. Display accuracy is useful for when you draw with the mouse. You may find that a setting such as 1/4 ft. or 1/2 ft. makes for easier drawing than the highest setting of 1/10 ft. WinSketch remembers your settings for next time. You can change these items once you begin drawing. If you decide to reduce the number of feet per inch, you will need to make sure all objects will fit on the new page. You can do this by deleting the area calculations (if any) and dragging all objects to the top left of the page. Essential tools and the toolbar WinSketch provides hot buttons for many of its most common functions. These are found on the toolbar. A few of the most important items are the disk icon for saving, the arrow pointer for selecting objects and the area tool to begin drawing new areas. To find out what a particular button does, simply hover your cursor over the button and its description will appear in yellow. The currently active tool will appear pressed. Remember: Even though there are buttons for New and Open, they shouldn t be used when integrating the sketch with WinTOTAL. Likewise, you don t need the Print function since WinTOTAL handles that too. The WinSketch toolbar gives you one click access to many functions. Save button Select Drawing Objects tool Area tool Line Tool Auto-dimension activate/deactivate Show or hide dimensions Calculate the areas for the current floorplan Drawing the First Floor The perimeter concept in floorplan programs One valuable function provided by an electronic sketch is the ability to calculate the area of your floorplan. In order to do that, you have to tell WinSketch when you are drawing a particular area of the house such as the first floor, second floor, garage, etc. The Area tool lets you select which area you are going to draw. 1. Click on the Area tool in the toolbar or click on the Draw menu and select Area. Sketch PowerTab Drawing the First Floor Page 7.3

4 2. In the Area Properties window, click on the name of the area you wish to draw. Notice that WinSketch indicates to what general area your selection will calculate (Subtotals), whether the area will modify the square footage of another area (Modifies/Sign). This comes in handy for drawing open stairways or attached garages which we will discuss later in Attached Garages and Negative Areas on page Note below the area list are items for line width, line style and fill. These should be self-explanatory. 4. The auto-dimension item is what indicates if the length of a line will be placed as you draw. You can add, move and delete line dimensions anytime you want after finishing an area. Just leave this checked for convenience. 5. WinSketch also lets you set up your own areas. That will be discussed later in Defining your own areas on page 16. For now, click once on First Floor and then click OK. 6. Your cursor will then turn into a pencil. For best results, you should draw in a clockwise motion. Therefore, pick an area near the top left of your page to begin your drawing. Take special care to make it far enough from the margins so that any part of the area that goes to the left or above that point will fit on the page. Rest your cursor over the desired starting point and press ENTER (or click once) to anchor the pencil. Your cursor will now change to crosshairs, and the QuickDraw Mode box will appear. You are now ready to start creating some walls! Drawing basic walls The easiest and most accurate way to draw an area is to use your keyboard. You can use the mouse to draw by clicking and dragging, but we recommend using the keyboard for more control. WinSketch uses very few keystrokes to actually draw your basic lines. You simply type the dimension and press an arrow key for the direction. Enter the following keystrokes for a demonstration of how to draw. Note that you do not press ENTER after each entry. Just start typing: 25 RIGHT ARROW 5 DOWN ARROW The QuickDraw Mode box shows you both the current value you have entered for your line, as well as the current distance from the starting point in X and Y values. To draw angles using the Rise and Run method, first tap the A key on your keyboard to display the Arcs & Angles dialog. An angle can then be drawn by typing the length of the rise, followed by a direction; then the length of the run, followed by a direction; and then tapping the ENTER key. Ex. Typing A, 10, Up Arrow, 15, Right Arrow, and pressing ENTER will draw a an 18 line up and to the right. Sketch PowerTab Drawing the First Floor Page 7.4

5 6.2 RIGHT ARROW 5 UP ARROW 6 RIGHT ARROW Bay windows For bay windows, it s easiest to use the rise and run method instead of trying to measure the angle. Drawing angles using rise and run requires the following keystrokes/variables: A - Invokes Arcs & Angles mode [Distance 1] - Rise (or Run) [Direction] - Use one of the arrow keys [Distance 2] - Run (or Rise) [Direction] - Use one of the arrow keys ENTER - Anchors the angled line The following keystrokes will draw a bay window with sides that have a run of 2.5 and a rise of 3.5. You ll see that WinSketch calculates and draws the hypotenuse. A 2.5 RIGHT 3.5 UP ENTER Notice, we enter each value, followed by a direction to populate the fields for the rise and run and ENTER to complete the line. Let s draw the face of the window. 6 RIGHT Now we need to draw the other side of the window. A 2.5 RIGHT 3.5 DOWN ENTER It doesn t matter in which order you enter the rise and the run (rise first, or run first). A shortcut to drawing 45 degree angles (which are common) is described a little later. Let s do another bay window for practice. 7 RIGHT 10 DOWN A 3 RIGHT 4 DOWN ENTER 5 DOWN Sketch PowerTab Drawing the First Floor Page 7.5

6 A 3 LEFT 4 DOWN ENTER 4 DOWN Backing up and correcting mistakes If you make a mistake while drawing, you can use the DELETE key to remove the last line you ve drawn. Press DELETE and you ll see the line that went down 4 disappear. Press DELETE again to remove the side of the bay window. Okay, now replace those two walls by re-entering their dimensions. Here they are again: A 3 LEFT 4 DOWN ENTER 4 DOWN Drawing arcs Drawing arcs in WinSketch requires a few extra variables: A - Invokes Arcs & Angles mode [Distance] - The distance between the beginning and ending points of the chord [Direction] - Use one of the arrow keys (Note: If your arc is to be drawn on an angled chord, you will need to enter the rise and run as two separate distances and directions) [Orientation] - (L for left or R for right) The direction the arc will curve in relation to the previous line of the sketch D - To enter the degree of the arc [Degrees] - The actual degree of the arc ENTER - Anchors the arc You ll notice the term chord used above. Thinking back to your Geometry classes, you may remember that a chord is a straight line joining two points on a curve. This chord is the determination for the length of your arc. You can enter just a chord length for the arc if it is in one of the four cardinal directions (the Distance and Direction above). If the chord is at an angle, however, you will need to treat it as any other angled line within Diameter - The length of a straight line segment passing through the center of the circle. Radius - The line segment extending from the center of the circle to the circumference. Chord - The line segment which joins two points on the circle. Arc - A degree measurement on the circumference of the circle. Also, the section of the circle between the two endpoints of a chord. Sketch PowerTab Drawing the First Floor Page 7.6

7 the arc formula (enter rise and run for the angle as two separate Distances and Directions) before entering the next variable. Let s try one. The radius of this circle is 4, and we want a 90 degree arc going to the right and down from the last line we have drawn in this sketch. Type the following: A 4 DOWN 4 RIGHT R D 90 ENTER In this case, the chord for the arc is at an angle to the last line drawn, so we needed to enter the rise and run (4 DOWN 4 RIGHT). The R indicates that the arc will be drawn to the right of the line. Now type: 5 DOWN A 3 DOWN 3 LEFT R D 90 ENTER 10 LEFT Now let s draw an interior arc. We want the arc to be a semi-circle with a diameter (chord length) of 6. Type the following: A 6 LEFT L D 180 ENTER In this case, we choose L to indicate that the arc will curve towards the inside of the drawing. Next type: 10 LEFT Easy 45 degree angles WinSketch allows you to use the number pad on the right side of your keyboard for drawing 45 degree angles. Most keyboards have up, down, left and right arrows on the 8, 2, 4 and 6 keys respectively. Imagine the 7, 9, 1 and 3 keys have diagonal arrows on them to draw in NW, NE, SW and SE directions respectively. Make sure NUM LOCK is activated on your keyboard. 7 SHIFT+7 (on number pad) We just drew a line 7 ft. long at a 45 degree angle. That s easier than rise and run. Be sure to activate NUM LOCK on your keyboard and use the numbers on the keypad when drawing easy 45 degree angles. Sketch PowerTab Drawing the First Floor Page 7.7

8 Laptop users: Use the SHIFT in conjunction with the HOME, PgUp, End and PgDn keys for NW, NE, SW and SE directions, respectively. Let s go up 15 ft. now. 15 UP Using the XY indicators In the QuickDraw Mode box, you ll see X and Y coordinates indicating your current distance from the starting point of your sketch. This is useful for cases where you don t know how far it is to actually close an area. We can see on our current drawing that to square up the current wall we need to go 25.3 feet to the left LEFT Closing the area with C Now, we can also see in the QuickDraw Mode box that we are 19.1 feet from the top, We could type the dimension and direction, but we can also use the quick keystroke of C to close the area. Press C now. We ve now completed the first floor. Click on the diskette icon to save the drawing. It s a good idea to save often. Moving and hiding dimensions You can easily move the dimensions that WinSketch automatically places. 1. Click on the Select Drawing Objects tool - the one that looks like an arrow - to ensure it is active. 2. Click on one of the numerical dimensions that WinSketch has automatically placed. you ll see a border appear around it. 3. You can drag this dimension to a new place with the mouse. Or, you may use the DELETE key to delete it. The Show/Hide Dimension tool can hide and reveal wall measurements. The button looks like a question mark with a line through it. 1. Click on the Show/Hide Dimension tool. 2. Click on a wall with a dimension showing and you ll its dimension disappear. The Show/Hide Dimension tool is a great way to pick and choose which wall have their length next to them. Sketch PowerTab Drawing the First Floor Page 7.8

9 3. Likewise, you can click the wall again to make it reappear. Summary of basic drawing functions Here is a summary of what we just demonstrated: Use the Area tool to let WinSketch know which area you are drawing. Start at the top left corner and draw clockwise. Basic Lines: Type a number, then press the direction key. Bay Windows: Use rise and run method instead of angle measurement. You need to enter a dimension followed by a direction for both the rise and the run. Use SHIFT + 1, 3, 7 and 9 keys on number pad for 45 degree angles. Use DELETE key to back up and delete lines. To draw an arc, use A to invoke Arcs & Angles mode. Type a chord length (rise/run if the chord is at an angle to the last line drawn), followed by an L or R to indicate the orientation of the arc to the line. Tap D to enter the number of degrees for this arc, and tap the ENTER key. Use C to auto-close an area. The Show/Hide Dimension tool hides/reveals dimensions. Dimensions may also be selected with the mouse and dragged to a new location. For more advanced drawing topics see Other Area Functions on page 16. Area Calculation Three different calculation formats 1. Click the Area Calculation tool. (It looks like an = sign.) 2. Select the page on which you want the calculations. 3. Select the format in which you wish to display the calculations. All calculate the same, just showing more/less detail. Proof positive can illustrate functional obsolescence of poor floorplan. Experiment to find which one works best for your reports. 4. Click OK. You should see your calculations at the bottom of the page you designated If you place them on a page and they overlap your WinSketch has three modes for displaying your area calculations. If the calculations overlap your sketch, activate the Area Calculation tool again and select another page. You can jump to the different pages in your sketch by clicking on the page icons at the bottom of your screen. Sketch PowerTab Area Calculation Page 7.9

10 drawing, you can just click the Area Calculation tool again and select the next page. Or, you could try a more summarized format. Note: If you had to put them on a different page, you can switch to one of the other five pages in your sketch by clicking on the page icons in the bottom left portion of the screen. Now that your areas are calculated, you can select Exit from the File menu, accept the default file name and go back to WinTOTAL where you will see your drawing transferred to the Sketch PowerView. To go back and continue editing this sketch, click on the Edit button in the Sketch PowerView. Removing area calculations and re-scaling The area calculations are grouped together as one object. By default, they cover the entire width of the screen. If you find you need to rescale a drawing so that it covers more of the page, you ll need to delete the area calculations altogether. To delete the area calculations: 1. Activate the Select Drawing Objects tool. 2. Click on the area calculations. 3. Press the DELETE key. Now, you can rescale the drawing by choosing the Set Scale item from the View menu, Attached Garages and Negative Areas Subtracting one area from another When plotting a floorplan with an attached garage, sometimes it s easier to measure all the way around the house, then measure the garage from the inside and subtract it from the total for the First Floor. The Attached Garage area definition acts in just this way. 1. Click on the Area tool and select Attached Garage. You ll notice the Area Description indicates that this area Subtotals: to Garage Area, Modifies the First floor, and has a negative Sign. This indicates that it will subtract the Garage Area from the calculated First Floor area. Select a gray fill pattern, disable Auto-dimension, click modify and then click OK. 2. Move your cursor into the upper left portion of the sample sketch. Phrases operate in stamp mode. After clicking on a phrase, it will remain active until you select another one. This makes it faster to place text such as Bedroom multiple times on a single sketch. Sketch PowerTab Attached Garages and Negative Areas Page 7.10

11 3. Hold down the CTRL key and press the arrow keys until the pencil is exactly in the top left corner. (This feature is called auto pop-to.) 4. Press ENTER to anchor your cursor. Now just type the following dimensions, followed by the arrow keys to draw the garage. 25 RIGHT 19 DOWN 25 LEFT 19 UP (or C for Close) You ve now drawn the attached garage. Click the Area Calculation = button and you ll see the garage area subtracted from First Floor total area. In a later section, we ll discuss how to create custom areas to subtract stairwells and atriums. We ve now covered the basics of drawing. The rest of this chapter will discuss all the other things you can do to dress up a floorplan and maximize the capabilities of WinSketch and WinTOTAL. Text in Floorplans Using stored phrases 1. Click on the Draw menu and select Phrases or use the CTRL+F shortcut key. A Phrases pick list will appear. 2. Click on the text you want on your floorplan. 3. Click the position in your floorplan where you want the text. 4. Click in a different place and the same text will be placed again. WinSketch s stored phrases work in stamp mode. This makes it easy to mark all baths or all bedrooms at one time without re-selecting the stored text. The same text stays selected until you pick another phrase or click another tool in WinSketch. Adding, deleting and sorting custom phrases 1. Click on the Edit menu and select Edit Phrases. A dialog will appear listing all your saved phrases. 2. To add a new phrase, first type it into the field at the bottom of the dialog. Select Edit Phrases from the Edit menu to add your own comments to the Phrase list. Sketch PowerTab Text in Floorplans Page 7.11

12 Click the Sort button to sort your phrases alphabetically. Click the Delete button to remove the currently selected phrase. Clicking Replace will replace the currently selected phrase with the new one you have entered. Clicking Insert will put it in the list above the current entry. Clicking Append will put it at the end of the list. 3. Click OK when you are through. Entering free form text 1. Click the Text tool in the toolbar to enter free form text. 2. Click in the place you want the text. 3. Type the desired text. If you have multiple lines of text, you will need to click once on the floorplan to start the first line of text, type the first line, and then click again to start the second line. 4. Click anywhere else on your floorplan to continue typing. The free form text tool will remain active until you choose another item with which to work. Change the default font 1. Click on the Text menu and then select Font Use the standard Windows font dialog to select the style and size. 3. Click on the item labeled Set as Default Font, and click OK. Modifying text on the screen WinSketch allows you to manually change the appearance of your phrases, typed text, and even dimensions in your floorplan. 1. Click on the Select Drawing Objects tool. (It s the one that looks like an arrow.) 2. Click on the text you wish to change. You ll see a border appear around it. 3. Use items from the Text menu to change the appearance like size and formatting. Use any True Type font in a sketch. Sketch PowerTab Text in Floorplans Page 7.12

13 By selecting the Font... item from the Text menu, you can choose an entirely different type style. You can drag the text to a new location. Delete the phrase by pressing the DELETE key. Cut, copy and paste the text using these standard Windows functions from the Edit menu. Note: The Flip and Rotate commands from the Object menu will not carry through when a sketch is integrated into WinTOTAL. This is due to the format in which the sketch is exported to the forms program. Interior Walls Drawing interior walls with the Line tool is similar to drawing areas. A line can have the same attributes such as dimensions, line styles, and line thickness. One difference is that areas are not calculated for objects drawn with the line tool. When drawing interior walls you should take advantage of WinSketch s Auto Pop-To function which allows the drawing pencil to automatically pop to an intersecting wall or end-point. Once the line tool is active, just press CTRL with an arrow key until your cursor lands in the desired location. Press ENTER to lock it in. When drawing interior walls, it s best that Snap to Grid and Auto- Dimension are disabled. Both of these items are in the Object menu. Let's practice drawing a few walls now. Drawing a wall with the mouse 1. Select the Line Tool from the toolbar. 2. The cursor should look like a pencil ready to draw. Click or press ENTER on the position where you wish to start drawing. 3. Drag the mouse to draw the line. That s it! Drawing a wall using the keyboard Using the keyboard for adding interior walls is a little different, but more exact. Use the Line tool to draw interior walls. Remember to auto pop-to walls by press CTRL+ an arrow key. Sketch PowerTab Interior Walls Page 7.13

14 Instead of using the mouse to try to click exactly on a wall, a short cut is to use the Auto Pop-To function to pop the pencil to the next intersecting wall or corner. To pop the pencil to a wall or endpoint, hold down the CTRL key followed by any direction arrow key. Now with the pencil positioned exactly in a corner, it can be moved in exact increments from that point by simply entering a dimension followed by the direction. It s like a tape measure. When the pencil is positioned exactly where a line is to be drawn from, press the ENTER key first, followed by the dimension and direction. Here is an example of how to draw a wall 10 feet away from a corner and 10 feet down: 1. Select the line tool from the toolbar. 2. Position the pencil cursor in the middle of an area such as level one. 3. Use CTRL+arrow to Auto pop the pencil to a corner. 4. Once positioned in the corner, type 10 on the numeric keypad followed by a direction. 5. Now, press ENTER to anchor your cursor. 6. Draw the line by typing its length and dimension. Remember: To draw interior walls using keyboard entry you must first press the ENTER key to start the line. If you omit pressing the ENTER key first, the pencil will simply move the desired length and direction without drawing the line. Deleting and modifying interior walls To perform an action on an interior wall or other object, first activate the Select Drawing Objects tool - the one that looks like an arrow. Press the DELETE key to delete an object. Use Cut, Copy, Paste commands if needed. Change line style by using the Style menu. Change the fill pattern of a shape by choosing items in the Fill menu. You can use the mouse to drag the object to a new location. Multiple objects may be selected and modified by dragging a box around them using the Select Drawing Objects tool. The Fill menu has options for the appearance of the selected area or shape. Select lines and then use items from the Style menu to change their thickness or look. Sketch PowerTab Interior Walls Page 7.14

15 Use of Auto-dimension for interior walls The Auto-dimension feature is functional for interior walls as well. Most people don t use dimensions for interior walls. You can turn this feature off by unchecking Auto-dimension in the Object menu or by clicking the Auto-dimension icon (a line with an X over it in the toolbar) so that it s off. Dimensions may be placed on the walls the same way you would for exterior walls, just activate the Auto-dimension tool in the toolbar, then click on the line for which you want to show a dimension. Use shapes to draw quick rooms Another quick way to draw rooms is to use the shapes from the Draw menu. 1. Click on the Draw menu. 2. Choose from either Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse or Arc. 3. In your floorplan, click in the location you want the shape to be, then drag your mouse to properly size the new shape. Release the mouse button once the shape is drawn. Once a shape is drawn, you can resize it by clicking on one of the corners, drag it to a new location or change the line style using the instructions in the Deleting and modifying interior walls on page 14 section. Auto-dimension is great for exterior walls, but should be disabled for interior walls. At the bottom of the default symbols list are eraser icons that you can use to create gaps in walls and create a white background for text on a textured object. Symbols and Icons How to use existing symbols WinSketch comes with a library of symbols for your floorplans. From the Draw menu choose Symbols, or press CTRL+Y to open the symbols palette. To place a symbol, click on its entry in the palette, and then click in the position on your floorplan where you want to place it. Once a symbol is placed, you can drag it into position or even resize it by clicking on it and dragging a corner. You may rotate and flip a symbol using options in the Object menu. Sketch PowerTab Symbols and Icons Page 7.15

16 The eraser symbols At the bottom of the default symbol list are a couple of erasers. These are simply white, borderline boxes. Use these to open portions of walls for things like doors and windows. You can also place an eraser symbol in the middle of a filled area to create a white background for text placed in that area. The eraser symbols can be stretched and moved by clicking and dragging an edge - just like any other symbol. Creating custom symbols You can add your own symbols into WinSketch. Symbols you create will have the same properties as the ones that ship with the program. Reinstalling WinTOTAL will delete any custom symbols you ve made. 1. You can draw a new object using text, lines, shapes and existing symbols. 2. Use the Select Drawing Objects tool and drag a box around the object you drew. You ll see handles appear on all the corners. 3. Click on the Edit menu and select Make Symbol. 4. Type in your symbol name and click OK. It will appear at the bottom of your symbol palette. Symbols, even the ones that ship with the program, can be deleted from the list by simply clicking on them in the list and then pressing the DELETE key on your keyboard. Create custom symbols like this one by drawing an object, selecting all lines in the object and choosing Make Symbol from the Edit menu. Other Area Functions Defining your own areas As mentioned earlier, you can set up your own area types in WinSketch and tell it to which level you want to subtotal or modify. 1. Click on the Area tool. Instead of picking one from the list, type its new name into "Area name". 2. Decide to which area type it should contribute by choosing it from the drop down list. You can set up any number of custom areas to meet the needs of your floorplans. Sketch PowerTab Other Area Functions Page 7.16

17 3. Choose whether or not its square footage modifies another area like the First Floor, Second Floor, etc. Remember, an attached garage or stairway can modify the first floor. Or, there could be an open area that modifies the second floor. Note: You have to manually type First Floor if something is to modify the First Floor. 4. Indicate a +, - or 0 sign for its area calculation. 5. Select defaults for dimensions, line style, thickness, and fill. Then click Add This area type will now be available for use in all your sketches. Existing area definitions can be modified by selecting the area, making changes to its attributes, such as line width, and then clicking Modify. Duplication handy for basements, second floors Whenever the perimeter of one level is similar to one that you ve already drawn, you can use Copy and Paste to save time. 1. With select tool, click on an outside wall of the area you want to copy. 2. Click the Edit menu and choose Copy. Or press CTRL+C. 3. Place your cursor where you want duplicated area - even a different page of sketch. (You can switch pages by clicking on the page icons at the bottom left of the screen.) 4. Click the Edit menu and select Paste. Or, press CTRL+V. 5. The area dialog will appear. Select the area description for the duplicated area. Then, click OK. Re-opening an area WinSketch allows you to re-open an area to correct mistakes or even take out items like a bay window. This is handy when you ve duplicated areas and need to remove items. 1. Click on the scissors icon in the toolbar. 2. Click on the place where you wish to open the sketch and that line will disappear. 3. Click on the place where you wish to start drawing. You can now press DELETE to begin deleting lines in the order which they were drawn. Auto pop-to, and Close functions are active. It s as if you were drawing the area for the first time. When carefully click on an outside wall, it selects the entire perimeter of that area. Sketch PowerTab Other Area Functions Page 7.17

18 Drawing arbitrary angles Our previous tutorial covered the rise and run method of drawing angles. This method is preferable because it s more accurate and accommodates the discrepancies between a low resolution screen display and the high resolution required to draw floorplans when you have to represent 10 feet in one inch of screen space. When drawing with the mouse, the default angle is 45 degrees since that is the most common situation. By holding down the shift key while dragging the mouse, you can draw any arbitrary angle. This should be most useful for drawing interior walls. Here s how to draw angles with the keyboard: A - Invokes Arcs & Angles mode [Distance] - The distance between the beginning and ending points of the chord [Orientation] - (L for left or R for right) The direction the line will be drawn in relation to the previous line of the sketch D - To enter the degree of the angle [Degrees] - The actual degree of the angle ENTER - Anchors the line Working with Objects Aligning objects You can line up two or more objects for a cleaner appearance in WinSketch. 1. Select the objects you wish to align. You do this with the Select Drawing Objects tool. Just drag a box that intersects the objects. 2. Click on the Objects menu and choose Align. 3. Select the vertical and horizontal alignment options. Items will be aligned with the left-most object in the selection. Grouping objects Grouping objects allows you to perform operations on items as a group. This is useful when moving multiple items that you want to keep aligned You can improve the appearance of your sketches by aligning objects in them. Sketch PowerTab Working with Objects Page 7.18

19 or for keeping text or symbols with a particular area or for scaling multiple objects. 1. Activate the Select Drawing Objects tool. 2. Drag a box through or around the items you wish to group. 3. Click on the Object menu and choose Group. 4. You ll now see one set of handles on the corners of the object as a whole. The Ungroup command in the Object menu will naturally ungroup objects so that they can be modified separately. You can use this on symbols to modify and resave them. Arranging objects Since WinSketch allows you to have one object on top of another, it naturally lets you decide which one is to be on top. Use Bring to Front from the Object menu to bring the selected object on top of another. Use Send to Back to put an Object menu all the way in the background. More Integration Options Importing a sketch from an existing report 1. Click on the Sketch PowerView. 2. First, you must remove the old sketch pages. Click on each page displayed and then press the Delete button. 3. Click on Old Reports. 4. Select the report from which you want to copy the sketch. WinTOTAL will indicate if no sketch exists in the selected report. 5. Click OK. You ll now see the sketch preview on screen. Use the scale slider to see the sketch in a larger or smaller view. Changing the sketch page layout You can change the style of sketch page used at any time. 1. First click on the sketch page you wish to alter. The Sketch PowerView makes it easy to import sketches from old reports. Now you can save a library of sketches for future use. Sketch PowerTab More Integration Options Page 7.19

20 2. Choose a new sketch page style from the drop down list. The sketch itself won t be changed, just the page on which WinTOTAL places it. Area calculation options WinTOTAL provides greater flexibility when it comes to transferring the area calculations back to the form. These items are in the Area calculations section of the Sketch PowerView. The Transfer building areas into form checkbox tells WinTOTAL whether or not to read areas from the sketch into the form. The option for Transferring blank entries into forms exists because sometimes an undrawn area doesn t exist and you would want the form cleared; or sometimes, a particular area isn t drawn but the user still wants something in the form - that way it isn t cleared out. You can override the sketches calculations by typing into the cells provided on the Sketch PowerView. Those cells are overwritten each time you edit the floorplan and calculate areas in WinSketch. The Sketch PowerView gives you complete freedom with calculations transferred back to the form. Here, you can override the calculations determined by the sketcher. Sketch PowerTab More Integration Options Page 7.20

21 Examples of Drawing Arcs Overview The following are some examples of the steps to draw some common arcs. All of these examples start with a 16.5 foot straight wall. These examples also assume you are drawing in the clockwise direction which is preferred by the WinSketch program. Example 1 - Arc that curves to the right Here is how you draw an arc that adds to the square footage (on the outside) of the property using the height of the arc: 1. Select the area tool and click a point from which to start drawing. 2. Type 16.5 and press the Right arrow key. 3. Press the A key to enter Arcs & Angles mode. 4. Type 10 for the chord length of the arc and press the Right arrow key. 5. Press the H key to activate the height formula. 6. Type 3 for the arc height. 7. Press the [ENTER] key to draw the arc. Example 2 - Arc that curves to the left Here is how you draw an arc that subtracts from the square footage (on the inside) of the property using the height of the arc: 1. Select the area tool and click a point from which to start drawing. 2. Type 16.5 and press the Right arrow key. 3. Press the A key to enter Arcs & Angles mode. 4. Type 10 for the chord length of the arc and press the Right arrow key. 5. Press the L key to indicate that the arc is oriented to the left. 6. Press the H key to activate the height formula. 7. Type 3 for the arc height. 8. Press the [ENTER] key to draw the arc. Arc Example 1: Outside arc using height. Arc Example 2: Inside arc using height Sketch PowerTab Examples of Drawing Arcs Page 7.21

22 Example 3-45 degree corner arc: 1. Select the area tool and click a point from which to start drawing. 2. Type 16.5 and press the Right arrow key. 3. Press the A key to enter Arcs & Angles mode. 4. Type 10 for the chord length of the arc and press the [PgDn] key. 5. Press the D key to enter the degree of the arc. 6. Type 90 for the arc degree. 7. Press the [ENTER] key to draw the arc. 8. Type 5 and press the Down arrow key. Example 4 - Drawing a turret arc: 1. Select the area tool and click a point from which to start drawing. 2. Type 16.5 and press the Right arrow key. 3. Press the A key to enter Arcs & Angles mode. 4. Type 5 for the chord length of the arc and press the [PgDn] key. 5. Press the D key to enter the degree of the arc. 6. Type 270 for the arc degree. 7. Press the [ENTER] key to draw the arc. Arc Example 3: Corner Arc using degree Arc Example 4: Turret Arc using degree Sketch PowerTab Examples of Drawing Arcs Page 7.22

23 Example 5 - A corner arc using height and chord length 1. Select the area tool and click a point from which to start drawing. 2. Type 16.5 and press the Right arrow key. 3. Press the A key to enter Arcs & Angles mode. 4. Type 14 for the chord length of the arc, and press the [PgDn] key to indicate a SE orientation. 5. Press the H key to activate the height formula. 6. Type 5 for the arc height. 7. Press the [ENTER] key to draw the arc. Example 6 - Right-oriented arc using the degree of curvature Here is how you draw an arc that adds to the square footage (on the outside) of the property using the degree of the curvature: 1. Select the area tool and click a point from which to start drawing. 2. Type 16.5 and press the Right arrow key. 3. Press the A key to enter Arcs & Angles mode. 4. Type 10 for the chord length of the arc and press the Right arrow key. 5. Press the D key to enter the degree of the arc. 6. Type 180 for the arc degree. 7. Press the [ENTER] key to draw the arc. Arc Example 5: Corner Arc using height Arc Example 6: Outside Arc using degree Sketch PowerTab Examples of Drawing Arcs Page 7.23

24 Example 7 - A left-oriented arc using the degree of curvature Here is how you draw an arc that subtracts from the square footage (on the inside) of the property using the degree of the curvature: 1. Select the area tool and click a point from which to start drawing. 2. Type 16.5 and press the Right arrow key. 3. Press the A key to enter Arcs & Angles mode. 4. Type 10 for the chord length of the arc and press the Right arrow key. 5. Press the L key to indicate that the arc is oriented to the left. 6. Press the D key to enter the degree of the arc. 7. Type 180 for the arc degree. 8. Press the [ENTER] key to draw the arc. Arc Example 7: Inside Arc using degree More Chapters Click here to go to the online Table of Contents where you can access additional chapters in the WinTOTAL user guide. Or, view the other parts of the manual by selecting Contents from WinTOTAL s Help menu. You will find more tutorials on all of WinTOTAL s PowerViews. The more you know about the software, the more efficient and competitive you can be. Sketch PowerTab Examples of Drawing Arcs Page 7.24