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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.

Vectorworks, Inc. has released its third Service Pack (SP3) for the Vectorworks 2020 product line. This Service Pack includes: A large number of performance improvements Partner integrations with Enscape and NBS Chorus NBS Chorus is a benefit of Vectorworks Service Select membership Improved performance and quality fixes in Vectorworks Spotlight BCF improvements that offer greater BIM collaboration With an active membership in Vectorworks Service Select, you now have the ability to stylize images with machine learning in the Vectorworks Cloud Services portal Many of the improvements are focused on the following areas: Vectorworks Designer: This Service Pack includes partner integrations with Enscape and NBS Chorus, as well as improved performance and quality fixes in Vectorworks Spotlight, and BCF improvements that offer greater BIM collaboration. Vectorworks Spotlight: This Service Pack includes quality fixes from the reengineering of lighting devices and their Schematic Views, improving file open time and performance. Further, enhanced GDTF support streamlines the MVR workflow. For additional information about workflow and performance improvements in Vectorworks Spotlight 2020 SP3 click HERE. Vectorworks Landmark: This Service Pack includes fixes to the Site Model and Hardscapes. When you place plant objects in your design, it will now show plant tags automatically. Vectorworks Architect: This Service Pack includes partner integrations with Enscape and NBS Chorus, as well as BCF improvements that offer greater BIM collaboration. Vectorworks Fundamentals: This Service Pack includes a new pattern importer from the Mosa Pattern Generator online tool, performance updates, and speed improvements for opening files. Vectorworks Cloud Services: With an active membership in Vectorworks Service Select, you now have the ability to stylize images with machine learning in the Vectorworks Cloud Services portal. NEW Partner Integrations: Real-time Rendering Connection with Enscape for Vectorworks Free Beta: In keeping with Vectorworks’ dedication to integrating new technology that brings direct benefit to customers, we have teamed up with Enscape, providers of real-time rendering and Virtual Reality (VR) solutions. Enscape goes beyond other real-time rendering applications by developing plugins that work directly inside Vectorworks, so users can accurately gauge the impact of their design decisions as they are being made. Enscape is providing a free beta plugin to all Windows users in the Vectorworks 2020 Service Pack 3. The plugin provides a suite of Enscape rendering tools inside Vectorworks which can control the visualization in Enscape. As geometry, lighting, textures, or views are changed or added in Vectorworks, users will see these changes in real-time in Enscape. For easy virtual reality, the Enable/Disable VR Headset tool connects Vectorworks models directly to a VR headset like Oculus Rift S or HTC Vive with little to no setup. NBS Chorus Building specifications integration: The NBS Chorus integration enables users to access and dynamically link their models to the NBS online specification database, keeping the model as the central source of project information. Users will be able to open a web palette in Vectorworks, letting them work concurrently with their model and NBS Chorus. Any data modified in NBS Chorus via the web palette will update in the data record of the model, ensuring accurate and up-to-date specification information is accessible at all times from the model. The NBS Chorus integration is another step in creating a holistic BIM environment within Vectorworks. *NBS Chorus integration is available to users of Vectorworks Design Series products with an active membership in Vectorworks Service Select and an active NBS license. Additional fixes and improvements included in SP 3.1 Esri login dialog box not functional Stairs and plants not showing in NBS Chorus Additional stability improvements 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). For a full list of improvements in the 2020 SP3 update, please visit this page. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process. To learn more about this announcement, read our press release here.

Vectorworks, Inc. has released its sixth Service Pack (SP6) for the Vectorworks® 2019 product line. This service pack includes multiple improvements in different areas. Project Sharing Project file being completely blank Editing outdated Title Blocks before refreshing Missing objects in the project file Async issues due to corrupted stairs Data Tags broken associations Fixes to Elevation Benchmark text sizes Fixes to Energos crash when including Roof objects in the calculations Adding IFC4 certification support to Vectorworks 2019 Overall stability improvements in different areas This Service Pack is available as a downloadable updater for all U.S. English-based versions of Vectorworks 2019. To install the Service Pack, please select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). For a full list of improvements in the 2019 SP6 update, please visit this page. Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process.

Vectorworks, Inc. has released its second Service Pack (SP2) for the Vectorworks® 2020 product line. This Service Pack includes the release of ConnectCAD 2020 for Vectorworks Spotlight and Designer. From simple to complex, ConnectCAD allows AV system designers to lay out signal flows in an easy-to-read format. With ConnectCAD customers can: Create schematic drawings Effortlessly make changes throughout the iterative design process Diagram rack layouts Check for errors Create detailed reports Communicate effectively with onsite installation technicians Learn more about our ConnectCAD release at vectorworks.net/connectcad. Additionally, Vectorworks 2020 SP2 offers multiple fixes and improvements in the following areas: Text: Elevation Benchmark size changes Black text in Mac's dark mode Displaying text incorrectly in ConnectCAD Rack frame and Equipment items Align issue with Stage Deck Labels Text issues when zooming in/out text blocks Design Layers: After editing the source file, referenced Design Layer Viewports fail to show walls in OpenGL/Wireframe Design layer viewports not visible in edit Viewport visibilities menu or reverting back to old setup Unable to edit the text in symbols Structural Member Structural Member Settings Dialog with multiple structural members selected Length for Structural Members joined end to end Changing 3D attributes of multiple structural members Truss Previewing incorrectly Truss Cross object is not drawn when value above 1 inch Lighting devices not moving with rotated trusses via control points Video screen not moving with trusses attached Converting 3D Rotated Truss into a Hanging Position shows nothing in Top/Plan view Fixes a memory leak when zooming in/out, causing Vectorworks to stop or crash Auto-rotating image props in Renderworks modes not displaying correctly IES custom lights not working correctly in Renderworks render mode OpenGL viewports render black on Windows when using JPEG compression preference Numerous stability enhancements in several areas such as Property line, Schematic Views, Multi-View, Group selection, Section Viewports, Keynote and Label legends, and Worksheets Additional fixes and improvements included in SP 2.1 Hardscape Section Viewport alignment causing Vectorworks to freeze IFC export: Nested items exporting on internal origin Plants offset issues when changing the user origin offset Data Tags for doors and spaces are constantly changing and replacing upon reopening files Crash using the origin mode of the Flyover tool Additional fixes and improvements included in SP 2.2 - NEW Project Sharing Opening project files in a viewer application Project file and Working file becomes out of sync Checking out objects sync issues Rotation of hatches in Viewports Keynote Legend showing exceptionally large after making any adjustment Crashes after editing referenced IFC settings Working Plane fails to activate by double-click Vision 2020 SP2 This service pack includes multiple improvements and fixes in the following areas: Improvements in how materials (Textures) are transferred between Vectorworks and Vision via My Virtual Rig (MVR). Improved stability merging .MVR files into .v3s Palette positions are not saved Editing items from the scene graph jumps to the top upon completion This Service Pack is available for all licenses as a downloadable updater. To install the Service Pack, please select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks or Vision menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). For a full list of fixes and improvements in the 2020 SP2 updater, please visit THIS PAGE. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process. Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions.

The following are real-world system requirements for running Vectorworks 2020. In some demanding cases, we would suggest a more capable machine than is described in these hardware profiles. Likewise, there are some less demanding situations where Vectorworks will perform well on older hardware. General Requirements: Operating Systems: macOS 11.1 (Big Sur) macOS 10.15 (Catalina) macOS 10.14 (Mojave) macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) macOS 10.12 (Sierra) Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) * * Not supported by Vision Windows 10 64-bit Windows 8.1 64-bit Windows 8 64-bit Windows 7 SP1 64-bit Minimum Hardware Profile: Entry-level Profile: For small projects, simple models/drawings with a low level of detail, simple renderings (such as small residential projects, small theaters, small landscaping design) Processor: 64-bit Intel Core i5 (or AMD equivalent) or better RAM: 4GB or more Graphics Card: OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics card with 1GB of VRAM or more Some integrated graphics cards such as Intel Iris graphics are acceptable for simple models/drawings, but a dedicated graphics card is preferable. Vectorworks with Vision requires a dedicated graphics card supporting GL_ARB_draw_buffers extension with 2GB of VRAM or more, preferably released in the past three years (e.g., NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 series, AMD Radeon RX 500 series). Using multiple view panes with different visibilities in all panes requires a graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM. Display Resolution: 1440 x 900 or higher Hard Disk: 10GB free disk space is required for the installation. 30GB or more is required for a full installation with all libraries. Recommended Hardware Profiles: High-end Profile: For large projects, complex and very detailed models/drawings, complex renderings (such as large BIM projects, large entertainment venues, commercial sites, GIS, high-end landscaping design, photorealistic rendering) Processor: 64-bit Intel Core i7 (or AMD equivalent) clocked at 3GHz or better RAM: 16GB-32GB or more Graphics Card: A dedicated OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics card with 4GB of VRAM or more Vectorworks with Vision requires a dedicated graphics card supporting GL_ARB_draw_buffers extension with 8GB of VRAM or more, preferably released in the past three years (e.g., NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 TI series, AMD Radeon RX 5000 series). Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher Hard Disk: 10GB free disk space is required for the installation. 30GB or more is required for a full installation with all libraries. Installing Vectorworks on flash storage (SSD) is recommended. Mid-level Profile: For medium-size projects, complex models/drawings with a medium level of details (such as small commercial projects, mid-size entertainment venues, residential site modeling) Processor: 64-bit Intel Core i5 (or AMD equivalent) clocked at 2GHz or better RAM: 8GB-16GB or more Graphics Card: A dedicated OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics card with 2GB-4GB of VRAM or more Vectorworks with Vision requires a dedicated graphics card supporting GL_ARB_draw_buffers extension with 4GB of VRAM or more, preferably released in the past three years (e.g., NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 series, AMD Radeon RX Vega series). Using multiple view panes with different visibilities in all panes requires a graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM, with 3GB or more recommended for large files. Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher Hard Disk: 10GB free disk space is required for the installation. 30GB or more is required for a full installation with all libraries. Installing Vectorworks on flash storage (SSD) is recommended. Network Requirements for Project Sharing Project sharing requires high-speed network connections. As the network bandwidth increases, so does project sharing performance. Slower network speeds can still provide a satisfactory user experience if you minimize operations that transfer large amounts of data over the network (such as committing changes to the project file or refreshing a local working file). LAN Sharing: Minimum: A Fast Ethernet (100Mbit/s) network connection Recommended: A Gigabit Ethernet (1Gbit/s) network connection is required for large projects. Cloud Sharing: Project sharing using cloud-based storage requires a high-speed internet connection (50Mbit/s or above). This method of sharing works best with small teams or small projects. It is not recommended for large teams or large projects. You can expect significant speed improvements when using Dropbox with LAN sync enabled. It is the preferred cloud-based sharing solution for project sharing and is highly recommended for project teams on the same Local Area Network. Hard Drive: Storing large project files on flash storage (SSD) is recommended. Additional Details Graphics Cards IMPORTANT – Several Vectorworks features have placed higher demands on graphic hardware. Additionally, the performance and quality of the graphics provided by the Vectorworks Graphics Module depend directly on the speed, memory, and supported extensions of the graphics card. These features have the potential to provide a very fast and fluid experience if used on capable hardware, or a noticeably slower experience if used on older or incompatible hardware. Graphics cards should support at a minimum OpenGL version 2.1; cards not meeting this recommendation will have limited functionality and poor performance. In general, the more powerful your graphics card is, the better your Vectorworks experience will be. The amount of Video RAM (VRAM) required to drive Vectorworks adequately depends largely on the size of the display being used and the complexity of the Vectorworks document. Medium-sized displays with a native resolution of 1920x1080 or less should be driven by a graphics card with at least 1GB of VRAM. Larger displays should use a modern graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM, with 4GB or more recommended. OpenGL rendering of shadows and edges are VRAM-intensive and require at least 1GB, with 2GB of VRAM or more being preferable. If you want to take full advantage of OpenGL shadows and edges, especially in situations where you have any combination of the following: - many lights - point lights - image textures - anti-aliasing - high shadow quality - excessive geometry and if you have a graphics card with less than 1GB of VRAM, you should consider upgrading your graphics card. Using Multiple View Panes with different visibilities in all panes can be VRAM-intensive and require at least 2GB of VRAM, with 3GB or more recommended for large Vectorworks documents. We strongly recommend that all users check that their video drivers are current. The majority of display problems reported to our Technical Support department have been traced to older video drivers. In general, a recent graphics card running the latest drivers is preferable to an old high-end graphics card running outdated drivers. Vision requires a dedicated OpenGL 3.0 compatible graphics card supporting GL_ARB_draw_buffers extension, preferably released in the past three years. We do not recommend any integrated Intel video chipset. While Vision may run under these environments, we do not support them due to their lack of performance and speed. We recommend gaming cards over workstation cards for Vision due to the higher clock speed. For the latest information on our graphics card recommendations and other hardware recommendations, go to the Quality-Tested Hardware page. Vectorworks may be used in conjunction with real-time rendering engines which have their own demanding hardware requirements. For example see Lumion: https://support.lumion.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003476753-Which-graphics-card-do-you-need- Remote and Virtual Machines We do not consider remote login environments such as Remote Desktop, Terminal Services, and VNC or virtual machine environments such as Parallels and VMware to be appropriate for regular work, so Vectorworks performance in these situations is not of primary concern to us. They may be appropriate for administrative testing or utility purposes, and Vectorworks is fully functional in these environments. You should not expect high performance in these environments, however, especially with interactive screen feedback. We do support Vectorworks running under Boot Camp on Mac machines. As long as you have appropriate and current drivers for the hardware on your machine, you can expect fast and reliable Vectorworks behavior. Maintenance Releases Unless there is a known problem with a maintenance release of the operating system, we recommend the latest maintenance release at the time we ship a new release of Vectorworks as a minimum because that is what we test with. If you have problems with an earlier maintenance release, we will often ask you to update as an initial troubleshooting step. Optimizing Performance For users who work with large files and complex renderings, we recommend running with at least 8GB of RAM. When RAM runs out, Vectorworks usually continues to function but is slowed significantly by the need to access the hard drive to provide virtual memory. Extreme lack of RAM may cause operations to generate errors in cases where given sufficient RAM they would otherwise succeed. Faster hard drives can have a large impact on system performance, especially when virtual memory is actively being used. Faster or slower processor clock speeds have a predictable impact on Vectorworks performance. Hard drive size requirements are driven by the total size of Vectorworks, including all content files. You can reduce this size by opting not to install some of the larger Vectorworks content files. Project Sharing and Network Bandwidth The performance of Vectorworks when working on a shared project over the network will depend on the available network bandwidth. If the network bandwidth is insufficient, operations that transfer a large amount of data over the network will be slow. We recommend at minimum a Fast Ethernet (100Mbit/s) network connection. For large projects, a Gigabit Ethernet (1Gbit/s) network is required for a fast and fluid experience. Project sharing using cloud-based storages requires a high-speed internet connection (50Mbit/s or above). This method of sharing works best with small teams or small projects. It is not recommended for large teams or large projects. You can expect significant speed improvements when using Dropbox with LAN sync enabled. It is the preferred cloud-based sharing solution for project sharing and is highly recommended for project teams on the same Local Area Network. Although project sharing requires high-speed network connections in general, slower network speeds can still provide a satisfactory user experience if you minimize operations that transfer large amounts of data over the network (such as committing changes to the project file or refreshing a local working file). Examples of data transfer times during commit and refresh operations for different bandwidths and project file sizes are shown in the chart below. Project File Size Network Bandwidth (download/upload) Commit/Refresh Data Transfer Time 100 MB 50Mbit/s ~20s 100Mbit/s ~10s 1Gbit/s ~1s 500 MB 50Mbit/s ~100s 100Mbit/s ~50s 1Gbit/s ~5s 1GB 50Mbit/s ~200s 100Mbit/s ~100s 1Gbit/s ~10s

The following are real-world system requirements for running Vectorworks 2020. In some demanding cases, we would suggest a more capable machine than is described in these hardware profiles. Likewise, there are some less demanding situations where Vectorworks will perform well on older hardware. General Requirements: Operating Systems: macOS 10.15 (Catalina) Currently in testing see LINK macOS 10.14 (Mojave) macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) macOS 10.12 (Sierra) Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) * * Not supported by Vision Windows 10 64-bit Windows 8.1 64-bit Windows 8 64-bit Windows 7 SP1 64-bit Minimum Hardware Profile: Entry-level Profile: For small projects, simple models/drawings with a low level of detail, simple renderings (such as small residential projects, small theaters, small landscaping design) Processor: 64-bit Intel Core i5 (or AMD equivalent) or better RAM: 4GB or more Graphics Card: OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics card with 1GB of VRAM or more Some integrated graphics cards such as Intel Iris graphics are acceptable for simple models/drawings, but a dedicated graphics card is preferable. Vectorworks with Vision requires a dedicated graphics card supporting GL_ARB_draw_buffers extension with 2GB of VRAM or more, preferably released in the past three years (e.g., NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 series, AMD Radeon RX 500 series). Using multiple view panes with different visibilities in all panes requires a graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM. Display Resolution: 1440 x 900 or higher Hard Disk: 10GB free disk space is required for the installation. 30GB or more is required for a full installation with all libraries. Recommended Hardware Profiles: High-end Profile: For large projects, complex and very detailed models/drawings, complex renderings (such as large BIM projects, large entertainment venues, commercial sites, GIS, high-end landscaping design, photorealistic rendering) Processor: 64-bit Intel Core i7 (or AMD equivalent) clocked at 3GHz or better RAM: 16GB-32GB or more Graphics Card: A dedicated OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics card with 4GB of VRAM or more Vectorworks with Vision requires a dedicated graphics card supporting GL_ARB_draw_buffers extension with 8GB of VRAM or more, preferably released in the past three years (e.g., NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 TI series, AMD Radeon RX 5000 series). Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher Hard Disk: 10GB free disk space is required for the installation. 30GB or more is required for a full installation with all libraries. Installing Vectorworks on flash storage (SSD) is recommended. Mid-level Profile: For medium-size projects, complex models/drawings with a medium level of details (such as small commercial projects, mid-size entertainment venues, residential site modeling) Processor: 64-bit Intel Core i5 (or AMD equivalent) clocked at 2GHz or better RAM: 8GB-16GB or more Graphics Card: A dedicated OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics card with 2GB-4GB of VRAM or more Vectorworks with Vision requires a dedicated graphics card supporting GL_ARB_draw_buffers extension with 4GB of VRAM or more, preferably released in the past three years (e.g., NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 series, AMD Radeon RX Vega series). Using multiple view panes with different visibilities in all panes requires a graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM, with 3GB or more recommended for large files. Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher Hard Disk: 10GB free disk space is required for the installation. 30GB or more is required for a full installation with all libraries. Installing Vectorworks on flash storage (SSD) is recommended. Network Requirements for Project Sharing Project sharing requires high-speed network connections. As the network bandwidth increases, so does project sharing performance. Slower network speeds can still provide a satisfactory user experience if you minimize operations that transfer large amounts of data over the network (such as committing changes to the project file or refreshing a local working file). LAN Sharing: Minimum: A Fast Ethernet (100Mbit/s) network connection Recommended: A Gigabit Ethernet (1Gbit/s) network connection is required for large projects. Cloud Sharing: Project sharing using cloud-based storage requires a high-speed internet connection (50Mbit/s or above). This method of sharing works best with small teams or small projects. It is not recommended for large teams or large projects. You can expect significant speed improvements when using Dropbox with LAN sync enabled. It is the preferred cloud-based sharing solution for project sharing and is highly recommended for project teams on the same Local Area Network. Hard Drive: Storing large project files on flash storage (SSD) is recommended. Additional Details Graphics Cards IMPORTANT – Several Vectorworks features have placed higher demands on graphic hardware. Additionally, the performance and quality of the graphics provided by the Vectorworks Graphics Module depend directly on the speed, memory, and supported extensions of the graphics card. These features have the potential to provide a very fast and fluid experience if used on capable hardware, or a noticeably slower experience if used on older or incompatible hardware. Graphics cards should support at a minimum OpenGL version 2.1; cards not meeting this recommendation will have limited functionality and poor performance. In general, the more powerful your graphics card is, the better your Vectorworks experience will be. The amount of Video RAM (VRAM) required to drive Vectorworks adequately depends largely on the size of the display being used and the complexity of the Vectorworks document. Medium-sized displays with a native resolution of 1920x1080 or less should be driven by a graphics card with at least 1GB of VRAM. Larger displays should use a modern graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM, with 4GB or more recommended. OpenGL rendering of shadows and edges are VRAM-intensive and require at least 1GB, with 2GB of VRAM or more being preferable. If you want to take full advantage of OpenGL shadows and edges, especially in situations where you have any combination of the following: - many lights - point lights - image textures - anti-aliasing - high shadow quality - excessive geometry and if you have a graphics card with less than 1GB of VRAM, you should consider upgrading your graphics card. Using Multiple View Panes with different visibilities in all panes can be VRAM-intensive and require at least 2GB of VRAM, with 3GB or more recommended for large Vectorworks documents. We strongly recommend that all users check that their video drivers are current. The majority of display problems reported to our Technical Support department have been traced to older video drivers. In general, a recent graphics card running the latest drivers is preferable to an old high-end graphics card running outdated drivers. Vision requires a dedicated OpenGL 3.0 compatible graphics card supporting GL_ARB_draw_buffers extension, preferably released in the past three years. We do not recommend any integrated Intel video chipset. While Vision may run under these environments, we do not support them due to their lack of performance and speed. We recommend gaming cards over workstation cards for Vision due to the higher clock speed. For the latest information on our graphics card recommendations and other hardware recommendations, go to the Quality-Tested Hardware page. Vectorworks may be used in conjunction with real-time rendering engines which have their own demanding hardware requirements. For example see Lumion: https://support.lumion.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003476753-Which-graphics-card-do-you-need- Remote and Virtual Machines We do not consider remote login environments such as Remote Desktop, Terminal Services, and VNC or virtual machine environments such as Parallels and VMware to be appropriate for regular work, so Vectorworks performance in these situations is not of primary concern to us. They may be appropriate for administrative testing or utility purposes, and Vectorworks is fully functional in these environments. You should not expect high performance in these environments, however, especially with interactive screen feedback. We do support Vectorworks running under Boot Camp on Mac machines. As long as you have appropriate and current drivers for the hardware on your machine, you can expect fast and reliable Vectorworks behavior. Maintenance Releases Unless there is a known problem with a maintenance release of the operating system, we recommend the latest maintenance release at the time we ship a new release of Vectorworks as a minimum because that is what we test with. If you have problems with an earlier maintenance release, we will often ask you to update as an initial troubleshooting step. Optimizing Performance For users who work with large files and complex renderings, we recommend running with at least 8GB of RAM. When RAM runs out, Vectorworks usually continues to function but is slowed significantly by the need to access the hard drive to provide virtual memory. Extreme lack of RAM may cause operations to generate errors in cases where given sufficient RAM they would otherwise succeed. Faster hard drives can have a large impact on system performance, especially when virtual memory is actively being used. Faster or slower processor clock speeds have a predictable impact on Vectorworks performance. Hard drive size requirements are driven by the total size of Vectorworks, including all content files. You can reduce this size by opting not to install some of the larger Vectorworks content files. Project Sharing and Network Bandwidth The performance of Vectorworks when working on a shared project over the network will depend on the available network bandwidth. If the network bandwidth is insufficient, operations that transfer a large amount of data over the network will be slow. We recommend at minimum a Fast Ethernet (100Mbit/s) network connection. For large projects, a Gigabit Ethernet (1Gbit/s) network is required for a fast and fluid experience. Project sharing using cloud-based storages requires a high-speed internet connection (50Mbit/s or above). This method of sharing works best with small teams or small projects. It is not recommended for large teams or large projects. You can expect significant speed improvements when using Dropbox with LAN sync enabled. It is the preferred cloud-based sharing solution for project sharing and is highly recommended for project teams on the same Local Area Network. Although project sharing requires high-speed network connections in general, slower network speeds can still provide a satisfactory user experience if you minimize operations that transfer large amounts of data over the network (such as committing changes to the project file or refreshing a local working file). Examples of data transfer times during commit and refresh operations for different bandwidths and project file sizes are shown in the chart below. Project File Size Network Bandwidth (download/upload) Commit/Refresh Data Transfer Time 100 MB 50Mbit/s ~20s 100Mbit/s ~10s 1Gbit/s ~1s 500 MB 50Mbit/s ~100s 100Mbit/s ~50s 1Gbit/s ~5s 1GB 50Mbit/s ~200s 100Mbit/s ~100s 1Gbit/s ~10s

When running the Vectorworks Updater, the Update may fail. This may be caused by incorrect permission settings, especially on Mac OS X/macOS. To fix this, try changing the permissions on the Vectorworks folder, in the Applications folder. Right-click on the Vectorworks folder and choose "Get Info". At the bottom of the window, you will see "Sharing & Permissions". You should see your current user name listed here, followed by (Me). If you do not see this, click on the + button on the bottom left of the window and add your user name to the list. Once it is added, change the permission to "Read & Write". Next, you will want to make sure those permissions are correctly applied to the items inside of this folder. To do this, click on the Gear icon at the bottom and choose "Apply to enclosed items". Once the permissions are applied, run the Vectorworks Updater again and it should complete successfully.

Vectorworks, Inc. has released Service Pack 4 (SP4) for the Vectorworks® 2019 product line. This service pack includes multiple fixes and improvements in the following areas: Fixed numerous issuesImplemented various corrections for with cropped bitmaps Numerous stability enhancements in areas such as Viewports, Section Viewports, Selecting Walls, Roofs, Extrude Along Path, Project Sharing and more Improved DWG import, IFC Export and export PDF performance This Service Pack is available as a downloadable updater for all U.S. English-based versions of Vectorworks 2019. To install the Service Pack, please select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). For a full list of improvements in the 2019 SP4 update, please visit this page. Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process.

Vectorworks, Inc. has released a minor update in the form of Service Pack 3.1 (SP3.1) for the Vectorworks® 2019 product line. Below is a full list of issues corrected between Vectorworks 2019 SP3 and Vectorworks 2019 SP3.1: · No more repeated alerts during product shutdown · Design Layer Section Viewports and Section Viewport through a referenced Viewport will now show component fills · BIM workflow not working anymore because referenced viewports can’t be sectioned · Section Viewport through a Viewport will now show walls with components · Detail Level for Slabs in Section Viewport will be available · Section Viewports will show objects from Referenced Viewports · Cloud-based project sharing support for Dropbox Business and Box Drive is added · Distance in floating data bar will no longer be stuck on 0 when moving the object inside a Clip Cube This Service Pack is available as a downloadable updater for all U.S. English-based versions of Vectorworks 2019. To install the Service Pack, please select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). For a full list of improvements in the 2019 SP3 update, please visit this page. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process. Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions. Respectfully, Juan Almansa Customer Success Director Vectorworks, Inc.

Vectorworks, Inc. has released its third Service Pack (SP3) for the Vectorworks® 2019 product line. This Service Pack includes not only larger than a normal number of performance improvements, but many new features have been made available to users. New Features: Cloud Presentations via Vectorworks Cloud Services: With the new Vectorworks Cloud presentation feature, you can generate presentations of designs with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. This unique presentation capability helps to communicate and connect your design ideas with your clients’ expectations, including interactive 360 rendered panoramas that can be linked together to create a holistic, immersive experience, as well as a shareable web link. All that’s needed is an active Vectorworks Service Select membership and Vectorworks Cloud Services. Lumion LiveSync Plug-in: Perform real-time rendering while making design changes in Vectorworks. The LiveSync plug-in is developed by Lumion and is the first partner plug-in to use a new Vectorworks Graphics Sync (VGS) API, that provides live access to the Vectorworks 3D scene and enables third parties to connect the software to any 3D visualization engine imaginable. Lumion and the LiveSync plug-in are available on the PC (Windows) and for English language users on the Lumion website. MVR Workflow from Spotlight to Vision: Discover a better way to work with My Virtual Rig (MVR). The MVR file format creates a two-way connection between planning, previz and console systems that implement the support needed for a seamless workflow. Further, the MVR format contains the 3D model, texturing, position information and GDTF information from the design in Vectorworks Spotlight. Create a more efficient and connected workflow between design planning and previz, merging the iterative changes of the model between Spotlight and Vision without re-importing and redefining the performance cues each time. To learn more about this announcement, read our press release here. Many of the improvements are focused on the following areas: Section Viewports, macOS Mojave, Spaces and the Scaling of Symbols. The specifics on these topics are listed below: Section Viewport: ● Significant speed increase in switching between sheet layers that contain section viewports ● Corrected a large number of redraw problems related to section and edit views ● Section Lines, Elevation Benchmarks and other associated geometry will appear as expected ● Improved the effectiveness of Merge Cross Sections ● Reduced the high number of checkouts needed when using Data Tags in conjunction with Project Sharing and section viewports ● Significantly increased the reliability of section edit and update functions macOS Mojave: ● Users should no longer encounter freezes when selecting Extrude Along Path and other geometry types ● Quality of Pattern export to PDF improved on macOS 10.14 ● Corrected many dialog boxes and other UI graphical issues ● Increased response speed of keyboard arrow navigation in text fields ● Fonts for Wall Data Tags are controlled now as expected Space: ● Direct control over space and label component visibility has been restored ● Creating Space objects should now occur as fast or faster than in prior versions ● Volume calculations corrected ● Corrected a large number of stability issues related to Space objects ● Significantly increased the speed of many operations related to spaces General: ● Scaling of symbols including multiple types of geometry should now work as expected. This was not a single report but a number of related issues and requests. ● Dragging many resources from one location into the Resource Manager to another should now affect all selected resources as expected Rendering: ● Corrected issue that caused grouped objects under the Render tab to become locked ● Fixed many problems related to the display of Roof Face textures ● OpenGL scaling of Wall textures matches the expected appearance as Renderworks does ● A large number of causes for black viewports and missing geometry have been removed or corrected ● Publish should now update rendered viewports on command ● Corrected many issues that would prevent animation transitions between saved views from playing properly Project Sharing: ● Corrected issues that caused Project Sharing to take longer than it should ● Corrected an instability related to text style conflicts ● Speed improvements in certain slower use cases ● Corrected a problem that would prevent the placing of specific object types in Offline files ● Fixed an issue related to symbol replacement in VWP files Spotlight and Vision: ● Fixed an issue where the Instrument Summary could become inconsistent ● Flipped Symbol Edit Mode should now display instruments properly ● Corrected many instabilities related to Hanging Positions ● Load objects can now be attached as expected in 3D views ● Auto numbering should now increment as expected Landmark: ● Improved the responsiveness of site model sculpting highlighting ● Replacing a Hardscape offers the default Hardscape Content as well as content from within that file Architect: ● Stairs should no longer position loci erroneously ● Some stair dialogs are now showing an indicator for values that cannot be calculated ● Walls that did not convert properly from 2018 and prior versions into 2019 should now do so ● Data Tags no longer rotate along with the rotated plan ● Corrected many issues related to custom IFC presets This Service Pack is available as a downloadable updater for all U.S. English-based versions of Vectorworks 2019. To install the Service Pack, please select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). For a full list of improvements in the 2019 SP3 update, please visit this page. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process.

Fixes in SP6: Corrected an error related to memory use 3D Loci should now appear as expected in 3D Improved file handling stability Increased stability with editing Line geometry Improved speed of Project Sharing save and commit operations This Service Pack is available for all licenses as a downloadable updater. To install the Service Pack, please click here or select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). To learn more about the fixes and improvements in the 2018 SP6 updater, please visit this page. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process. Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions.

Vectorworks, Inc. has released its second Service Pack (SP2) for the Vectorworks® 2019 product line. This Service Pack includes multiple fixes and improvements in the following areas: Heavy focus on correcting issues related to the Undo command Numerous stability enhancements in a number of areas such as: Multiple Views, Class Overrides, Attribute Mapping, Project Sharing Extensive improvements to VGM display of Annotations, Fills, Textures and more Large number of improvements to the behavior of the Data Tag object Improved the performance and quality of Generating 2D Graphics from 3D Components This Service Pack is available for all licenses as a downloadable updater. To install the Service Pack, please select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). For a full list of fixes and improvements in the 2019 SP2 updater, please visit THIS PAGE. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process. Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions.

Update as of 11-01-2018 Vectorworks 2018 SP 5.1 has been released. For more additional information click HERE Vectorworks, Inc. has released its fifth Service Pack (SP5) for the Vectorworks® 2018 product line. This service pack was released specifically to address compatibility issues between Vectorworks 2018 and macOS 10.14 Mojave. This Service Pack includes multiple fixes and improvements in the following areas: Compatibility with macOS 10.14 Multiple user interface appearance issues corrected Improved file translation from older Vectorworks (VWX) file formats Fixes to BIMobject imports Fixes to stairs Fixes to Railing/Fence objects Speed improvements Project sharing reliability improvements This Service Pack is available for all licenses as a downloadable updater. To install the Service Pack, please click here or select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). To learn more about the fixes and improvements in the 2018 SP5 updater, please visit this page. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process. Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions. Respectfully, Juan Almansa Customer Success Director Vectorworks, Inc.

The following are real-world system requirements for running Vectorworks 2019. In some demanding cases, we would suggest a more capable machine than is described in these hardware profiles. Likewise, there are some less demanding situations where Vectorworks will perform well on older hardware. General Requirements: Operating Systems: macOS 10.15 (Catalina) macOS 10.14 (Mojave) macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) macOS 10.12 (Sierra) Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) Windows 10 64-bit Windows 8.1 64-bit Windows 8 64-bit Windows 7 SP1 64-bit Minimum Hardware Profile: Entry-level Profile: For small projects, simple models/drawings with a low level of detail, simple renderings (such as, small residential projects, small theaters, small landscaping design) Processor: 64-bit Intel Core i5 (or AMD equivalent) or better RAM: 4GB or more Graphics Card: OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics card with 1GB of VRAM or more Some integrated graphics cards such as Intel Iris graphics are acceptable for simple models/drawings, but a dedicated graphics card is preferable. Vectorworks with Vision requires a dedicated graphics card with 2GB of VRAM or more, preferably released in the past three years (e.g. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 series, AMD Radeon RX 400 series). Using multiple view panes with different visibilities in all panes requires a graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM. Display Resolution: 1440 x 900 or higher Hard Disk: 10GB free disk space is required for the installation. 30GB or more is required for a full installation with all libraries. Recommended Hardware Profiles: High-end Profile: For large projects, complex and very detailed models/drawings, complex renderings (such as large BIM projects, large entertainment venues, commercial sites, GIS, high end landscaping design, photorealistic rendering) Processor: 64-bit Intel Core i7 (or AMD equivalent) clocked at 3GHz or better RAM: 16GB-32GB or more Graphics Card: A dedicated OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics card with 4GB of VRAM or more Vectorworks with Vision requires a dedicated graphics card with 8GB of VRAM or more, preferably released in the past three years (e.g. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 series, AMD Radeon Vega series). Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher Hard Disk: 10GB free disk space is required for the installation. 30GB or more is required for a full installation with all libraries. Installing Vectorworks on flash storage (SSD) is recommended. Mid-level Profile: For medium-size projects, complex models/drawings with medium level of details (such as small commercial projects, mid-size entertainment venues, residential site modeling) Processor: 64-bit Intel Core i5 (or AMD equivalent) clocked at 2GHz or better RAM: 8GB-16GB or more Graphics Card: A dedicated OpenGL 2.1 compatible graphics card with 2GB-4GB of VRAM or more Vectorworks with Vision requires a dedicated graphics card with 4GB or VRAM or more, preferably released in the past three years (e.g. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 or 1060 series, AMD Radeon RX 500 series). Using multiple view panes with different visibilities in all panes requires a graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM, with 3GB or more recommended for large files. Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher Hard Disk: 10GB free disk space is required for the installation. 30GB or more is required for a full installation with all libraries. Installing Vectorworks on flash storage (SSD) is recommended. Network Requirements for Project Sharing Project sharing requires high-speed network connections. As the network bandwidth increases, so does project sharing performance. Slower network speeds can still provide a satisfactory user experience if you minimize operations that transfer large amounts of data over the network (such as committing changes to the project file or refreshing a local working file). LAN Sharing: Minimum: A Fast Ethernet (100Mbit/s) network connection Recommended: A Gigabit Ethernet (1Gbit/s) network connection is required for large projects. Cloud Sharing: Project sharing using cloud-based storage requires a high-speed internet connection (50Mbit/s or above). This method of sharing works best with small teams or small projects. It is not recommended for large teams or large projects. You can expect significant speed improvements when using Dropbox with LAN sync enabled. It is the preferred cloud-based sharing solution for project sharing and is highly recommended for project teams on the same Local Area Network. Hard Drive: Storing large project files on flash storage (SSD) is recommended. Additional Details Graphics Cards IMPORTANT – Several Vectorworks features have placed higher demands on graphic hardware. Additionally, the performance and quality of the graphics provided by the Vectorworks Graphics Module depend directly on the speed, memory, and supported extensions of the graphics card. These features have the potential to provide a very fast and fluid experience if used on capable hardware, or a noticeably slower experience if used on older or incompatible hardware. Graphics cards should support at a minimum OpenGL version 2.1; cards not meeting this recommendation will have limited functionality and poor performance. In general, the more powerful your graphics card is, the better your Vectorworks experience will be. The amount of Video RAM (VRAM) required to drive Vectorworks adequately depends largely on the size of the display being used and the complexity of the Vectorworks document. Medium-sized displays with a native resolution of 1920x1080 or less should be driven by a graphics card with at least 1GB of VRAM. Larger displays should use a modern graphics card with at least 2GB of VRAM, with 4GB or more recommended. OpenGL rendering of shadows and edges are VRAM-intensive and require at least 1GB, with 2GB of VRAM or more being preferable. If you want to take full advantage of OpenGL shadows and edges, especially in situations where you have any combination of the following: - many lights - point lights - image textures - anti-aliasing - high shadow quality - excessive geometry and if you have a graphics card with less than 1GB of VRAM, you should consider upgrading your graphics card. Using Multiple View Panes with different visibilities in all panes can be VRAM-intensive and require at least 2GB of VRAM, with 3GB or more recommended for large Vectorworks documents. We strongly recommend that all users check that their video drivers are current. The majority of display problems reported to our Technical Support department have been traced to older video drivers. In general, a recent graphics card running the latest drivers is preferable to an old high-end graphics card running outdated drivers. Vision requires a dedicated OpenGL 3.0 compatible graphics card preferably released in the past three years. We do not recommend any integrated Intel video chipset. While Vision may run under these environments, we do not support them due to their lack of performance and speed. We recommend gaming cards over workstation cards for Vision due to the higher clock speed. For the latest information on our graphics card recommendations and for other hardware recommendations, go to the Quality-Tested Hardware page. Remote and Virtual Machines We do not consider remote login environments such as Remote Desktop, Terminal Services and VNC or virtual machine environments such as Parallels and VMware to be appropriate for regular work, so Vectorworks performance in these situations is not of primary concern to us. They may be appropriate for administrative testing or utility purposes, and Vectorworks is fully functional in these environments. You should not expect high performance in these environments, however, especially with interactive screen feedback. We do support Vectorworks running under Boot Camp on Mac machines. As long as you have appropriate and current drivers for the hardware on your machine, you can expect fast and reliable Vectorworks behavior. Maintenance Releases Unless there is a known problem with a maintenance release of the operating system, we recommend the latest maintenance release at the time we ship a new release of Vectorworks as a minimum because that is what we test with. If you have problems with an earlier maintenance release, we will often ask you to update as an initial troubleshooting step. Optimizing Performance For users who work with large files and complex renderings, we recommend running with at least 8GB of RAM. When RAM runs out, Vectorworks usually continues to function, but is slowed significantly by the need to access the hard drive to provide virtual memory. Extreme lack of RAM may cause operations to generate errors in cases where given sufficient RAM they would otherwise succeed. Faster hard drives can have a large impact on system performance especially when virtual memory is actively being used. Faster or slower processor clock speeds have a predictable impact on Vectorworks performance. Hard drive size requirements are driven by the total size of Vectorworks including all content files. You can reduce this size by opting to not install some of the larger Vectorworks content files. Project Sharing and Network Bandwidth The performance of Vectorworks when working on a shared project over the network will depend on the available network bandwidth. If the network bandwidth is insufficient, operations that transfer large amount of data over the network will be slow. We recommend at minimum a Fast Ethernet (100Mbit/s) network connection. For large projects, a Gigabit Ethernet (1Gbit/s) network is required for a fast and fluid experience. Project sharing using cloud-based storages requires a high-speed internet connection (50Mbit/s or above). This method of sharing works best with small teams or small projects. It is not recommended for large teams or large projects. You can expect significant speed improvements when using Dropbox with LAN sync enabled. It is the preferred cloud-based sharing solution for project sharing and is highly recommended for project teams on the same Local Area Network. Although project sharing requires high-speed network connections in general, slower network speeds can still provide a satisfactory user experience if you minimize operations that transfer large amounts of data over the network (such as committing changes to the project file or refreshing a local working file). Examples of data transfer times during commit and refresh operations for different bandwidths and project file sizes are shown in the chart below. Project File Size Network Bandwidth (download/upload) Commit/Refresh Data Transfer Time 100 MB 50Mbit/s ~20s 100Mbit/s ~10s 1Gbit/s ~1s 500 MB 50Mbit/s ~100s 100Mbit/s ~50s 1Gbit/s ~5s 1GB 50Mbit/s ~200s 100Mbit/s ~100s 1Gbit/s ~10s

Vectorworks, Inc. has released its third Service Pack (SP3) for the Vectorworks® 2018 product line. This Service Pack includes multiple fixes and improvements in the following areas: New features: Vectorworks Cloud Services and Bluebeam Studio Integration Vectorworks SP3 will be the first CAD application with a direct cloud integration into Bluebeam Revu via the Bluebeam Studio API. This integration expands the drawing management power of Vectorworks Cloud Services by leveraging the Bluebeam Studio Prime API to sync Studio Sessions, folders, and files between Bluebeam Revu and Vectorworks. Users will be able to create Bluebeam Studio sessions, invite others to participate, and launch Studio sessions from within the Vectorworks Cloud Services portal. A Bluebeam Studio Prime subscription will be required to enable the integration. The Photos to 3D Model feature is a new reality capture innovation that leverages the latest in optical technology interpretations and the processing power of Vectorworks Cloud Services to generate usable 3D models from digital photographs. This is an exciting new area of development that can have substantial impacts in documenting as-built conditions at the beginning of projects. Web view VR has also received updates that improve the quality and broaden the ability of Vectorworks users to communicate their designs in groundbreaking ways. The latest update adds improvements to shadow casting, and an interactive clip cube to allow web view users more control over interactively sectioning or isolating parts of the model. Plus, for those with access to higher-end VR gear, the web view feature now also offers support for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Google Daydream. Fixes for existing issues: Significant overall application stability improvements Corrected issues related to Project Sharing synchronization IFC export fidelity improvements Corrected multiple redraw issues related to multiview capabilities Multiple improvements to Braceworks object visibility Improved title block border formatting, alignment, and field access Various Marionette node improvements, as well as newly included nodes This Service Pack is available for all licenses as a downloadable updater. To install the Service Pack, please click here or select "Check for Updates" from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). To learn more about the fixes and improvements in the 2018 SP3 updater, please visit this page. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process. Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions. Respectfully, Juan Almansa Customer Success Director Vectorworks, Inc.

Vectorworks, Inc. has released its fifth Service Pack for the Vectorworks® 2017 product line. This Service Pack includes multiple fixes and improvements in the following areas: Compatibility with macOS 10.13 High Sierra Project Sharing stability improvements Corrected a library installation issue affecting specific Mac hardware Improvements to IFC export This Service Pack is available for all licenses as a downloadable updater. To install the Service Pack, please click here or select Check for Updates from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows). To learn more about the fixes and improvements in the 2017 SP5 updater, please visit this page. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process. Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions. Respectfully, Juan Almansa Customer Success Director Vectorworks, Inc.

Vectorworks, Inc. has released its second Service Pack (SP2) for the Vectorworks® 2018 product line. This Service Pack includes multiple fixes and improvements in the following areas: Vectorworks 2018 SP2 now supports the import of Revit 2018 format files Improvements to Project Sharing stability and reliability Corrections of issues related to the position of lighting instruments Improvements to the Title Block Border tool Correction of errors related to site model memory management Better support for Structural Members in rotated or mirrored views Improvements related to Braceworks and attaching objects to truss Overall stability improvements Compatibility with macOS High Sierra (X 10.13) NOTE: Users updating from SP1 to SP2 may also see a message when launching for the first time after the update that states: "One or more preference values could not be loaded." This is simply the result of a new preference value added to correct an issue with the option to Autohide docked palettes, click OK to continue using Vectorworks as expected. This Service Pack is available for all licenses as a downloadable updater. To install the Service Pack, please click here or select Check for Updates from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or Help menu (Windows), and click Check for Updates. To learn more about the fixes and improvements in the 2018 SP2 updater, please visit this page. Contact us at tech@vectorworks.net if you have any technical questions or problems during this process. Please note this Service Pack is currently available for all non-localized English versions. Respectfully, Juan Almansa Customer Success Director Vectorworks, Inc.

Building Information Modeling, or BIM, authoring software, such as Vectorworks®, allows architects and other professionals within the AEC industry to create complex, data-rich 3D models for the purpose of exploring and documenting a design. This continually growing technology also allows for new ways of sharing information among all consultants on a project. As a result, it is essential to establish an agreed-upon method and file format for information exchange between the different disciplines on a team who are each utilizing different software. In some cases, a traditional 2D line drawing exchange, such as a PDF or DWG, is needed to support those who have not entered the 3D realm. Other times, exchange of only geometry in the form of a 3D DWG may be needed for clash detection and as a background for referencing. However, if the file exchange needs to support Building Information Models and the sharing of geometry and data, then the IFC file format should be considered. Download All Project Files

This document outlines a recommended Vectorworks® workflow for creating demolition and phased construction plans. Download All Project Files

This tutorial will step through creating a "housekeeping" worksheet that can be used for quality control and assurance for data reporting such as Finish Schedules. Download All Project Files