This article is a detailed guide to creating kitchen and bath symbols using a VDCI Fundamentals Template. The guide goes through the step-by-step process of creating a refrigerator symbol, including creating a new layer, drawing rectangles of specific dimensions, using the Quick Measure tool, and introducing tracking for precise symbol placement.
Key Insights
- In the VDCI Fundamentals Template, new layers are created for different items. For kitchen and bath symbols, the 'A-Fixed' layer is used which stands for fixtures.
- The article explains the process of creating a refrigerator symbol using a rectangle of specific dimensions (2 feet 6 wide and 2 feet 3 tall). The Quick Measure tool is used to verify the correct measurements.
- To place symbols precisely, tracking is introduced. This feature allows to place coordinates without doing mental math. For instance, the refrigerator symbol is placed 1 inch away from a specified point using tracking.
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In this video, we will begin with our kitchen and bath symbols. I suggest that you have your PDF open or you print your PDF so that you can follow along with the kitchen and bath symbols.
We're going to begin with the refrigerator. So the first thing we want to do is go File, New, choose our VDCI Fundamentals Template, Open, and let's go File, Save. This one's going to be named Refrigerator.
I’ll hit Save. And for our kitchen and bath symbols, we will use the Fixed (which stands for Fixtures) Layer. I'll go to Layer Properties.
I’ll make a new layer. This will be A-Fixed, F-I-X-T, which again stands for Fixtures. I’ll change my color, and once again, we’ll use a color of 120,1-2-0.
And I’ll make A-Fixed my current layer. You’ll notice that the refrigerator is a simple shape. It is a rectangle that is 2 feet 6 inches wide and 2 feet 3 inches tall.
When drawing objects, especially fixtures, it is important to understand the biggest bounding box that they're in and then work inwards. It’s much more effective and efficient to work outside in rather than inside out. In this case, we see a small dot on our handout, which locates 0,0, and we can see the refrigerator is 1 inch away, and it’s centered.
Now, when we draw a rectangle, we don’t know where each corner will be relative to 0,0, but we do know where the rectangle will be moved. So for now, let’s draw a rectangle anywhere on our screen. I'll go to the Rectangle tool, specify by clicking on my screen, dragging my mouse away, and in this case, I will use the Dimensions option, D-Enter.
My length is 2 feet 6, so I will go to apostrophe 6, Enter, and my width, which is up and down on the PDF, is 2 feet 3, so I will go to apostrophe 3, Enter. Remember that when we are drawing a shape, we have to choose a quadrant, so I’ll choose the positive-positive quadrant and click here, and you’ll notice that the rectangle is quite large. I’ll hit my Zoom Extents with a double mouse wheel and roll back, and just to make sure I’ve drawn the right size, I’ll go up to my Quick Measure tool in the Utilities panel, and when I bring my mouse inside, I can see that I have a 2 foot 6 width and a 2 foot 3 height.
I’ll hit Escape to cancel. I want to do a point-to-point move with my rectangle, but I want to introduce tracking. Again, we would know that if the midpoint here is 1 inch up from 0,0, we know that the absolute coordinate of that point is 0,1, but tracking will allow us to place some coordinates without doing mental math.
I’m going to pan and move my mouse down so I can see this on the screen, and I want to move this rectangle using a point 1 inch away from the midpoint, which is around here, so I’ll go to Move. It says Select Objects. I’ll pick my rectangle using the pick box.
I’ll hit ENTER to lock it in. The base point will be 1 inch below the rectangle. In order to lock in tracking, I can type T-R-A, Enter, and you’ll notice my command prompt changes to say, Tracking, First Tracking Point.
This is like establishing a base point, so I will go Shift-right-click, Midpoint, and choose the midpoint here. Now, you’ll notice that you’ll either have a horizontal dashed line or, if I bring my mouse back to that point and move down, a vertical dashed line. If I try to make a horizontal line when I’m locked into vertical or vice versa, it won’t work.
I first have to wiggle my mouse over that point, then I can choose a new direction. But in this case, I’ll show a vertical line going down the screen, and I’ll type 1, Enter. Now, you’ll see the new point is 1 inch from the bottom of the rectangle.
That is where I want to track to, so I can hit ENTER to lock it in. Now, when I move the rectangle around the screen, I can see that it is 1 inch away from the midpoint. We can move this to 0,0 and hit ENTER. Zoom Extents.
Now, I know that my rectangle is 1 inch away from 0,0. I’ll Control-S to save. The only thing left to do in this refrigerator is to put a right here. I know that the line is 2 feet 1 inch away from the bottom edge, and we know from our earlier project that we first need to explode this rectangle before we can do an offset.
So I’ll go to Explode, choose my rectangle, and hit ENTER. And now, when I hover over my lines, I can see that they’re individual line entities. And now I can go to Offset, and in this case it is 2 foot 1 inch, which is a total of 25 inches.
So I’ll type 25, Enter. I’ll choose the bottom line, show anywhere above that line, and click Enter to say that I’m done. Zoom Extents, Control-S to save.
In the next video, we will work on the shower stall. See you there!
