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The latest TRXL Podcast with guest Dane Stokes had a good remark about Revit that would also apply to Vectorworks. He mentioned that in the university they had to delete their projects and draw them from scratch again. The result were better designs, because the initial problems were solved. Autodesk should have deleted the old Revit code and written everything anew. Maybe the same should apply to Vectorworks. 🤔 It's basically the same issues plaguing us architects with our design. In Germany we say: "Hinterher ist man immer schlauer" or in English "Hindsight is always 20/20".

Yes, but you always had to hold the alt/option-key down while doing it. Now it works automatically if the command is enabled.

We are a big design company, but we are always very hesitant to update the OS, because Apple is prone to release "beta"-Versions of their OS. We are still running High Sierra on almost all our iMacs, because it runs most VW-Versions we need run on it. The new things Apple introduces are hardly worth the upgrade for us.

Regarding that, we can see at least a slow approach from Microsoft. Satya Nadella is going to speak at the Bentley Year in Inrastructure 2020 conference. I think Microsoft Azure is already running their ProjectWise platform, one of the biggest cde. If they acquire access to that data, they could leverage Microsofts machine learning expertise to improve the whole process.

Living in Italy and working remotely for others sounds like a very nice deal. My wife and I (she's form the piemont region, I am from near cologne) are also dreaming about it. Maybe once the kids are grown up and out of the house. 😃

Hope you guys don't mind if I inject myself here in your conversation 🙂 Generally it is possible to draw in Vectorworks on the design alyer without stories. You can than assign the design layers to stories in the export dialog. Yeah, so far the IFC-File format is not the most straight forward in terms of usability. But it's worth the effort.

Hi, I just saw that the geometry in the shapr3D app for iPad is based on same the parasolid technology as Vectorworks. It apparently can also export s_t files, which Vectorworks is capable of importing. Does anyone have experience with that? Best regards!

That sounds very much like it used to be in the soviet union. Here in Germany with have what's been called "Plattenbauten" in the former GDR. Highly standarized building systems, that are a pain to maintain. The gaps between indivual concrete parts were huge and had to be filled with bitumen or other elastic material. We definetly don't want that back...

@JuanP Thanks for the clarification. You are probably not in the position to devulge a timeline? Like VW 2021 SP3? Nod twice for "Yes"! 😉

And another is in regards to Solibri. It was mentioned that a better integration is in the works. What does that mean?

My other question was about the automation process for plan production. What is the road map here? So far 2D Plan and horizontal sections are a mess. I can edit design layers to have a height for the section plane. But so far the tools are barely making use of it and haven't been touched since a while. Horizontal sections are no good because we can not work in them like in 2D Plan. A concrete answer here would be helpful.

I am with @Christiaan here. Posted that question as well. The answer in the live stream was disappointing. We need a clear commitmend from VW on this.

I posted that question as well. Was not shown in the list. Two of my questions that were shown, were not answered.

I am not sure how much it is marketing material for now. Didn't try yet to get a license. But I am curious.

The BlenderBIM Community is gaining traction. With all the positive publicity blender.org recieved lately no surprise. It could turn into a viable alternative.

That would be basically the final edition of ifc. At least I think that's what they are going for at building smart. But given the time it takes to develope a file format that is agreed upon by all parties involved and is natively translated by all programms/apps, we are already working in the cloud. In terms of apps that are seemlessly interconnected via api, I agree with you that it will take a generational shift for it to become a standard workflow. May sound utopic. The problem with interrupted work is already happening between vectorworks, excel, email, telephone, photoshop, etc. We should programm an AI to take care of the important work so we can focus better on the distractions. 😉

To an extend we all are already doing it. I think it's a level of degree when it comes to standardization. The most extrem I have seen so far is from Katerra: LINK They provide a software for architects/developer that starts with site analysis, down to choosing your faucets.

Stumbled on this article: Link Very interesting read, especially about the AEC Delta Mobility project. It is puzzeling, that I can use a budgeting app on my smartphone and get my bank account synced in real time, because of an open api, but the same for our building models is not possible. There is so much potential for productivity gains and workflow improvements.

@Rick BergeI can live with setting the line thickness per class, but my issue is that walls interfere with components in drawings. We would like to switch between a simple plan representation and a detailed one. That workflow does not work. We have our walls setup to be black/grey and having a thick outline. Our components have different line thicknesses, like you said with structural and cladding/insulation, but the wall line thickness always interferes here. We always have to change the line thickness back and forth for the walls. A script is only semi-helpful. Users tend to forget using it. We never have the case that we want to use simple walls in unison with components. It's one or the other. The software should react to it. And so far I don't see materials helping us with that. Maybe it's also not the purpose. I feel like materials have been introduced because they also exist in the other bim authoring tools.

From my experience teaching and consulting offices the last few years, I have to staunchly disagree with VW Inc. here. That's an old paradigm. Until a few years ago architects using Vectorworks scoft at predefined setting, when it came to their workflow. They wanted to define everything in terms of visual appearance of their drawings. Class structures where as unique as the offices. But now I get constantly asked if I can give them a predefined standard class structure, where they have to set up very little. With the growing demand for little bim and big bim, people have less and less time focusing on plan production. A proper bim project involves lots of information management. And the time it consumes in your daily business is growing. The only way to solve this is a standarized workflow that produces drawings automatically with minimal manual input from the architect. So far I don't see the software heading in that way. But I am rambling on...

@_c_ That is a point that is rarly broad up here. Since a few versions we have now horizontal sections. And to me it is quiet unclear where VW Inc. is heading with that. The inconsistency in the tools does not give an indication. Will 2D plan view disappear completely and we work only in 3D and create our sections when needed, that end up on sheet layers? I hope not. I don't see that workflow happen for another 5 to 10 years in Germany. Maybe if section viewports become instantenous and I can work in them if needed. What we lack is a vision of how VW Inc. sees us professionals be doing our job in the future. Not necessarly what features will be developed but more of a general workflow approach to designing and building. Similar to how we as architects first show the overall concept of a building and the feelings we want to evoke with our design. And the next step than is flashing out how we want to achieve this. I am lacking the design phase 😉 Something like this: Maybe next week would be a good time to do that, or ask questions about it.

I have to say that I have to yet come across another cad software producing nice drawings as Vectorworks. So far only exporting dwg files to adobe illustrator has resultated in something better for me. So far Vectorworks has been our multitool for all kinds of use cases, from massing models to diagrams to booklets and construction drawings. Non the less I feel that VW Inc. and its german reseller need to ramp up the development. I hope each one of us that is actively participating here is using the oportunity next week to ask questions about the future development. They need to feel the urgency of the situation for us.

Since the last version of the stepsister software in the nemetschek family I am no so sure that lots of offices will change. They added not much in terms of functionality. A workflow that only applies to a very small set of projetcs. And the other features are cloud related and add additional cost to the software. They have good marketing and word to mouth. And which office would openly admit that they made a mistake switching. I am more excited about the guys from belgium. They leverage AI in a interesting and useful way and seem to be very nimble in terms of development of new features.

They showed some stuff related to this in a video at the design summit. It looked already very promising and I am wondering why it was dropped for 2021. My guess is that something substantial was not working yet. Or the pandemic screwed up the time line.

Thanks for this thread. It's nice to read something related to Vectorworks in a big picture way. I think it's also for us architects important to think about were we are headed and what the future should/might look like. @Diamond Nice to hear from another TRXL listener. Even though I am sitting in germany and some of the topics are more us-centric, I still find it enlightening to hear the interviews and ideas expressed. That's only part of problem. I talked to some people, who switched or are in the process. One big advantage of switching software is leaving old habits behind. Lots of offices start in 2D in Vectorworks and keep those habits. They are always tempted to fall back into this ingrained paterns, when the going gets hard. And it will get hard. The biggest factor to any change is the human factor. No matter if it's the software user (us) or the software developer (vw). And those young, skilled people all leave university knowing Revit or Archicad. They than constantly sing the praises of these software packages and are also the only ones willing to switch to 3D/BIM.