Introduced in Vectorworks 2020, Schematic Views were a welcome improvement over plot and model views. But because of some deficiencies, you couldn’t hit the ground running. Label legends in Schematic Views did not display consistently. Schematic Views were updating every time the model was edited, slowing down your workflow. More visual context was needed to easily edit model objects while working in Schematic Views, and more visual feedback was required to properly snap lighting devices to rigging objects. Reengineering in version 2020 Service Pack 3 (SP3) has addressed these issues, bringing significant improvements to the performance and stability of Vectorworks Spotlight.
Faster Schematic Views:
It’s a common part of your workflow to make a series of edits to a lighting device. You frequently update the device, whether it be changing the channel, adding an accessory, or even repositioning the device on the truss. Prior to SP3, each of these individual edits caused the Schematic View to regenerate, disrupting your workflow while you waited. Now, Schematic Views have an Update Geometry button, similar to the Update button for viewports. Each time the model is edited, its Schematic View is outlined in red. When the edits are complete, you can update the Schematic Views once and get the results of all prior changes. This quickens the pace of all Schematic View operations because the view is not updated with every change.
Correct label legends:
In the initial release of Schematic Views, the schematic label legends did not always look right. This was the result of a few bugs that were introduced when converting from the 3D model object to the 2D Schematic View. In SP3, schematic label legends support all options, containers, right-reading labels, and non-rotating layouts. Any update to the 2D label legend in the model is applied automatically to the Schematic View.
More context when editing model objects from the Schematic View:
With a Schematic View selected, you can click the Properties button on the Object Info palette to edit the properties of the corresponding model object. The feedback from many of you indicated that more visual context was needed; you could not immediately see the object you were editing. For SP3, clicking the Properties button automatically selects and fits to the model object, making it visible and graying all other previously-shown objects. If the object supports sub-classes, your user settings are preserved. Now you will have more context while making changes in the Properties dialog for the selected model object.
Improved load attachment:
With the initial release of Vectorworks 2020, issues with auto positioning sometimes made it difficult to attach lights to rigging objects. When inserting lights, there was no visual feedback to indicate the light’s position on the snapped truss (unlike when dragging lights). Sometimes, Auto Position picked the wrong truss in 2D or didn’t find a truss in 3D. Major improvements to auto positioning have fixed these problems. An improved search algorithm makes it faster and easier to attach lights at the correct position, and the AutoConnect highlighting from Braceworks now provides interactive feedback when inserting lights. When lights are attached to a truss with a hanging angle, they now assume the more precise Z height of the truss.
Greater stability of Vectorworks:
The improvements in SP3 have made Vectorworks faster and more reliable, especially when working with large files. Changes related to Project Sharing have also enhanced the stability of Vectorworks.
Performance improvements:
Performance of the lighting device object has notably improved. Depending on the file, Refresh Instruments is up to 50% faster than in 2020 SP2 and up to 100% faster than in Vectorworks 2018. Moving multiple lighting devices in Vectorworks 2020 SP3 finishes in half the time or less than in Vectorworks 2020, Vectorworks 2019, or Vectorworks 2018. Similar results occur when duplicating multiple lighting devices, except when using the Paste command.
The Schematic Views workflow in Vectorworks 2020 made plot and model views obsolete. Removing the obsolete functionality has further increased performance, especially for design layer viewports.
We are seeing performance improvements with all file sizes. Larger files show significant increases in performance.
File open times for ~1,000 lighting devices:
2019 53 seconds
2020 SP2 26 seconds
2020 SP3 16 seconds
Creating Schematic Views:
2020 SP2 40 seconds
2020 SP3 20 seconds
Changing the view of a Schematic View:
2020 SP2 50 seconds
2020 SP3 25 seconds
Moving ~1000+ lighting devices:
2020 SP2 5:00
2020 SP3 16 seconds
Duplicating ~1000+ lighting devices:
2020 SP2 5:16
2020 SP3 18 seconds
The Vectorworks 2020 Service Pack 3 is available as a downloadable updater for all U.S. English-based versions of Vectorworks 2020, including Vectorworks Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, Designer, Fundamentals, Braceworks, ConnectCAD, and Vision. This Service Pack is available as a downloadable updater for all U.S. English-based versions of Vectorworks 2020. To install the Service Pack, please select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). To find out more about this release, read the Vectorworks 2020 SP3 tech bulletin. Contact tech@vectorworks.net with any technical questions.
Edited by JuanP
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