VectorWorks Designer 2008 with Renderworks

Reviewed by Robert Pritchett

Nemetschek Riverwood Drive Columbia, MD 21046 410-290-5114 FAX: 410-290-8050 7150 http://www.nemetschek.net/ http://www.nemetschek.net/upgrade/ http://www.nemetschek.net/training/library.php?movie=2008movies http://www.nemetschek.net/designer/new2008.php?feature=interface Renderworks Feature List: http://www.nemetschek.net/renderworks/featurelist.php http://www.nemetschek.net/renderworks/new2008.php?feature=presentation

Released: September 13, 2007 Service Pack 1 Updater: October 10, 2007 Upgrade  - $665 USD, New - $2,395 USD. Training: http://www.nemetschek.net/training/index.php Training CDs: $450 USD http://www.nemetschek.net/training/trainingcd.php Webinars: http://www.nemetschek.net/training/vlearning.php Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.10 or later, QuickTime 6 or later, PowerPC G4 or later, DVD-ROM, 2 GB RAM, 6 GB hard drive space. For Windows – XP SP2 or later, QuickTime 6.5.2 or later, Pentium IV or newer and same DVD-ROM and space requirements as Mac. Comes with: Two Books (Fundamentals and Design Series), TwoDVDs and One CD (Installation, Upgrade Companion and Professional Learning Series – Core Concepts Training).   Strengths: It beats the socks off AutoCAD. Cross-platform.   Weaknesses: The setup process is a bit of a pain, but that could be my machine and not a VectorWorks issue.   Community: http://www.nemetschek.net/community/index.php Gallery: http://www.nemetschek.net/gallery/ Useful Sites: http://www.nemetschek.net/community/addons/other_links.php 3rd-Party Plugins: http://www.nemetschek.net/community/addons/plugins.php Symbol Sets: http://www.nemetschek.net/community/addons/symbols.php Textures: http://www.nemetschek.net/community/addons/textures.php   Earlier Review: Version 12 - http://www.maccompanion.com/macc/archives/january2006/Software/VectorWorks12.htm Installed on a 1.5 GHz iMac G5 with Mac OS X 10.4.10 and 1 GB DDR SDRAM.

 

Introduction

 

For the designer or firm who does it all, VectorWorks Designer has it all. It combines the exclusive technology in our sophisticated design programs—Fundamentals, Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, and Machine Design. VectorWorks Designer 2008 is the most comprehensive and user-friendly solution for all your design needs, allowing you to use one program for everything, from conception to completion. Enjoy advanced production, superior presentations, and streamlined collaboration features.

 

Dream it, design it, dimension it, detail it, and deliver a powerful presentation with VectorWorks Designer.

 

RenderWorks seamlessly integrates into all VectorWorks solutions to provide you with sophisticated photorealistic and hand-rendered effects. Whatever your objective—realistic or artistic, you can create stunning presentation materials to help you sell your ideas.

 

Set Up

 

The package I received is an NFR (Not For Resale) version that expires in one year.

To get started, you need Internet access to get assigned an authorization to configure the setup for VectorWorks Designer 2008. I found it to be a bit of a pain to run what should have been a cut&paste activity that turned into a retype-and-hope-I-got-it right activity - Four times six with dashes in between. And the website-based authorization was four lines of 4 letter words I had to type in by hand because I was unable to copy/paste. Well, it is a nearly$2,000 software package after all and I’m sure Nemetschek would rather do this than use a dongle for anti-piracy efforts.

Above you see a whole bunch of links to pages related to VectorWorks Designer 2008 that has all the other modules as well as Renderworks.

 

Comparing it to Version 12 of VectorWorks and the review I did in January 2006, I would have to agree that this is a complete rewrite of the program and is worth the upgrade cost for those who have been using VectorWorks in the past.

 

If you want to get away from AutoCAD, you can, because this app works cross-platform. And if you use a Mactel box, Nemetschek also programmed for that, so you can indeed have the best of both worlds because VectorWorks 2008 is still Universal Binary.

 

Some Gotchas

 

There are a few things that can and cannot be done with VectorWorks when dealing with no-VectorWorks environments for Computer Aided Design, such as DXF/DWG files (AutoCAD). And that is because there are no equivalents to what VectorWorks offers. One would be the worksheets that are generated off the drawings. Others would be such things as textures, rendered views, image props, lights, some EPS or vector PICTs, graying of layers and classes, individual layer scales, record format info attached to arbitrary objects, RenderWorks background images, oblique cavalier and oblique cabinet projections, object names attached to arbitrary objects, layer transfer modes other than Paint, design layers with perspective view and some layers and classes, depending on export options.

 

Some things don’t import into VectorWorks from DXF/DWG files, such as named views, lights, tables, rtext, SHX fonts, gradients, textures, cropping block and images, the user coordinate systems ( UCS), custom line styles and shape files, DXF groups (named selection sets,), certain objects from industry-specific variations of Auto CAD if they do not have proxy graphics saved in the files.

 

Why VectorWorks is Valuable

 

One of the “secrets” of VectorWorks is that it does worksheets for tracking data, creating cost and material lists, performing calculations and generating reports and these can be added to drawings and printed with them or separately. Tables may even be imported from MS Word, if necessary, but the worksheet functionality is integrated in VectorWorks, so no external apps are really needed to do the job. It is a real timesaver and all architects and designers who use VectorWorks know this.

 

VectorScripts are also another time-saver and can be used without needing to become an expert in the VectorScript language. If necessary, the VectorScript Guide is included in the Help menu and also as a PDF.

 

And what Computer Aided Design program would be without also having the capability of animation and going back and forth between 2D and 3DF easily? How about hybridizing 2d and 3D in the same drawing and then animating that into a realistic movie? VectorWorks uses QuickTime for capturing animations. You’ve probably seen a few of these “walkthroughs” in virtual facilities on the Internet and TV that have us stepping or gliding through hallways, up and down stairs, circling around inside rooms, etc. This is accomplished in 3D with either the Orbit Point or Move Along Path tools.

If you work with other programs besides AutoCAD, such as Google’s SketchUp, 3ds, or KML, those files also can be imported and VectorWorks can export to them. Energy cost implications can be addressed to the Department of Energy analysis engine as a DOE-2 export file. Converting drawings to PDF is also possible using Adobe Acrobat in Windows systems or the Print function in Mac OS X.

 

Another time-saver is the Adjacency Matrix. This is a spreadsheet item that architects use to specify spaces and area requirements in a tabular format. Worksheet data can be exported as a tab-delimited file and then imported back to create the matrix. I don’t know why it can’ be done entirely within VectorWorks, but at least that option to export and import is there so it looks nice. At the same time, bubble diagrams (graphical view of data from space planning) space links can be established as well as adjacency scores (layout efficiencies) and stacking diagrams (floor-by-floor representations).

 

In Machine Design, there is a animated cam tool for seeing how cams work as well as a Geneva Mechanism (it produces intermittent rotational motion of the driven part while the driver rotates at a constant speed).

 

Project Management is also integrated in VectorWorks with a full set of features for managing and creating complete and fully-referenced annotation of project files. This is done with callouts and keynotes issue mangers, and batch printing.

 

Drawings can be “improved” by adding Stipple Objects (random patterns resembling hand-drawn shade effects), vector-based sketch effects using wobble points (offsets from trueline) anywhere from careful to tentative, hatching (sketch style), viewports, chain extrudes(multiple polygon/polyline profiles for 3D), figure attributes (humans in different poses) among other items.

 

Training

 

The package I received has the Core Concepts Training CD that gives an overview of what is found in VectorWorks such as the drawing environment and interface, selection and navigation, snap constraints, units and scale, 2d an d3D objects and creation, parametric types and resource libraries, rendering and file organization, worksheets, databases and scripts, importing and exporting files and additional help. It also provides a taste of the other training CDs covering Essentials, Architect, Landmark, Spotlight and RenderWorks. Those come in a package that costs another $450 USD, which I did not receive.

 

Why Bother?

 

I’ve been working on the Three Rivers Renewable Energy Resource Center project. A typical architectural firm can take a percentage of a project anywhere from 5% to 10% or more of a project from conceptual to management to completion. I worked for years in an architectural firm that milked projects to death by “Hanfordizing” (what we used to derisively call turning a relatively simple project a career) projects with AutoCAD. It drove me absolutely nuts watching this process and making me feel powerless and the customers nearly penniless, because I used a better computer and better tools to get in, get the job done and get out but I was constricted by the process and was stuck using the modus operandi.

 

With VectorWorks, we are given the ability to turn on a dime, so to speak and do exactly what I wanted to do years ago by speeding the process exponentially, doing the job better and providing a rendered product that looks much better than professional, in less time than it takes to break a sweat. The tools are there for the taking by any architectural firm and the “little guy” can compete with the major architectural firms on the same ground and can d o the job quicker, better and for less money using VectorWorks. I’ve seen it happen.

 

Conclusion

 

Nemetschek has a package that is near perfect, designed for architects and designers that plays nice with others, in both 2D, 3D or a combination thereof. VectorWorks is the epitome of “enabling” technology.

 

Recommendation

 

The architects I know make a comfortable living using VectorWorks and keep this app a closely guarded secret and laugh at those (quietly) who still use AutoCAD to make a living. They were there, and did that too. Now they don’t, so take their lead and follow them. With VectorWorks 2008, you can’t go wrong. Get the best tools for the job.

 

By the way, while reviewing this, an update was released within weeks of distribution that handled a few issues I personally did not experience. The programmers Nemetschek uses do an excellent job with the product. They listen to their user base and act on the suggestions. Because of that, they have an ever-growing loyal following of an application that more than competes favorably with other Computer Aided Design programs. The best thing they did was never abandon the Macintosh - which not only shows they have good taste, but that they were open to innovation and acted on it much more thoroughly than their competition. For that, they have my vote of confidence.