VectorWorks Designer 2008 with Renderworks
Reviewed by Robert Pritchett
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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 |
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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.