Questionable marketing - Service Select content looks different than what is actually provided

[Jeff Prince]

I received an email recently advertising some new content for Service Select subscribers.  There is some cool stuff available in the premium libraries, however I find it strange that the promo images do not match what is actually provided.  Why is this?

 

Here's an example from the kitchen layouts promo, a very nice starting point for a quickie rendering or design project:

 

 

Look at all the lovely details.  Nice materials, countertops, major appliances, and some nice smaller kitchen entourage.  All set in a great display with backdrop and a floor.

 

Here's what you actually get...  Note the lack of countertops and major appliances.  Personally, I would rather get the model depicted in the image above and delete what I don't want rather than the disappointment of opening the model pictured below.  It's a heck of a lot faster to delete the 20 or so items if you don't need them than it is to go retrieve similar from the Resource Manager when you do need them.  I mean someone at Vectorworks or their delegate went to the trouble of making and advertising it, why not hook us up with the result 🙂. Don't get me wrong, all this content is one of the reasons for purchasing Vectorworks and it is appreciated.  Just hoping we could save some time by getting the complete setup.

 

[Jeff Prince]

I think more attention could be given to organization of items as well.

 

For instance, I didn't know there was an extensive collection of Apple devices, great entourage for renderings.

 

I guess I'm foolish for not browsing the MEP part of the Resource Manager.  I figured this is where you would find sinks and air conditioners... not consumer devices that have nothing to do with building systems.

 

Swimming Pools as Furnishings?

 

I'm all for a good treasure hunt, but this is getting a bit ridiculous 🙂

 

 

 

[M5d]

 

 

2 hours ago, jeff prince said:

I received an email recently advertising some new content for Service Select subscribers.  There is some cool stuff available in the premium libraries, however I find it strange that the promo images do not match what is actually provided.  Why is this?

 

Wat!  Not even a spork? 😬

 

[Tom W.]

4 hours ago, jeff prince said:

I think more attention could be given to organization of items as well.

 

The worst thing is that you can spend hours trawling through tons of not particularly good content to extract the useful stuff for future use, then new content gets added without being told exactly what it is or where to find it. It would be great if folders could have a little 'New Content' marker on them or something so you know when new items have been added + can check it out. Like an unread email or whatever. Otherwise you are forced to periodically repeat the trawling operation + check every folder to see if there's any new stuff you've missed.

[Christiaan]

8 hours ago, jeff prince said:

I mean someone at Vectorworks or their delegate went to the trouble of making and advertising it, why not hook us up with the result 🙂.

Dare I say, was it rendered in another programme, which included all the missing items?

[_James]

4 hours ago, Tom W. said:

'New Content'

A "New in 20XX SPX" Folder would be good, like when customising a workspace and there is the "Recent Changes" section.

 

A few suggestions from me:

- A "New Items" section showing all the latest additions to the resources.

- More intuitive filing of items; I think you could make an argument for a bathroom sink being filed under "MEP", "Building" or "Interior". (It's actually in MEP).

- Dimensions on objects would really help! So often I import 8 different baths for example to try to find the right size!

[Tom W.]

5 minutes ago, _James said:

A "New in 20XX SPX" Folder would be good, like when customising a workspace and there is the "Recent Changes" section.

 

I thought of that but what if it's a combination of textures, materials, symbols, etc - we'd have to file them away ourselves? Given I'm fairly sure little of it would be anything I'd want to actually use I'd prefer not to have to do that work 🙂

 

6 minutes ago, _James said:

- Dimensions on objects would really help! So often I import 8 different baths for example to try to find the right size!

 

This is 100% true + the reason why if I ever need a new resource I import it into a blank file first (or like you say, import a number of likely candidates) then examine them, edit whatever I need to (rename it, reassign classes, change its dimensions, textures, 2D geometry, etc), before saving the finished article in my Favorites. I use the tags field to add notes about what it is, the dims, classes + whatever else I need to remember. Not really what it's for but would be buggered if it wasn't there as pointless trying to put all that info in the resource name. I use the VW Libraries only as a repository for searching through if I ever need something new (along with any number of other sources) - all the resources I use day to day are in my Favorites. As a consequence I can go a long time without looking in the VW libraries so quite often new stuff is added without me knowing.

[_James]

1 hour ago, Tom W. said:

I thought of that but what if it's a combination of textures, materials, symbols, etc - we'd have to file them away ourselves?

I would have thought these would be properly filed also, but a new file every service pack just to show you whats new (and perhaps where it is permanently filed). Every service pack a new file is generated showing you whats new, but only as aliases/shortcuts of the real, properly filed thing.

 

I agree with the sentiment though that there is so much stuff in the resources (of which I probably use 0.01%) that it makes it very hard to use and when you find what you want, so much processing is required that I probably don't get a lot of value from the VW-provided resources, despite them probably being quite resource intensive to generate from VW's perspective.

[cberg]

I used to log in to the customer portal to see what is new, but the website hasn't been updated since January.  I've seen a couple of notifications for new content, but I wasn't able to figure out what is new.  The kitchen layout in the photo above was introduced in 2020!

 

In each VSS content release, there are about 30 entertainment-focused products and gadgets, one or two landscape elements, and one or two chairs, or amenities to improve renderings. The numbers in the screenshot below tell the story of where VW is heading.  The VSS content is certainly geared toward the Entertainment side of things, even though Landscape and Architecture probably comprise well over half of VW's user base. 

 

I struggle with a door catalog that lacks basic things (I had to make my own six-panel door).  Basic architectural lighting (commercial and residential).  Ceiling grid systems.  Quality cabinet hardware.  Plumbing fixtures (they haven't been updated since 2019).  Appliances (Not everybody has the budget for Wolf and Subzero).  

 

Luckily we can pull in other resources from BIM Object and the like, but some parity between the VW user groups would be much appreciated!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by cberg
typo

[Tom W.]

6 minutes ago, cberg said:

I used to log in to the customer portal to see what is new

 

I never did this before! This is precisely what I was missing thank you! You can see what's new + where to find it in the libraries. Not that any of it is much use but that's not the point: at least I know I'm not missing anything now!

[JustinVH]

I will chime in here just to give some clarity to the amount of content released per industry. It is very difficult to get landscape and architect focused companies to agree to be included in the available resources. Often, our emails go unanswered, our phone calls ignored, or we are told outright that they are not interested so please stop contacting them as they want to host the content themselves in their format or use another hosting site such as BIM Object. The entertainment companies are completely opposite. They are in a word "beating the door down" to get included and the fact that some of those same companies release new products every other week we are constantly being asked by them to keep the selection in VW as current as possible with their new offerings. There is just a larger pool of content from which to pull as the entertainment companies are so much more willing to work with us and even seek us out through emails and trade show correspondence. We definitely try to get more to pull from for architect and landmark but it is difficult to get over the hump so to speak.

[cberg]

Maybe VW needs the equivalent of the Sketchup 3d Warehouse where content can be shared outside the VSS format.

[Jeff Prince]

1 minute ago, JustinVH said:

It is very difficult to get landscape and architect focused companies to agree to be included in the available resources.

 

Thanks for the explaination!  Though it is a shame.  Perhaps if they realized that landscape architects like me are more likely to spec their product if I can easily represent it in my models they would change their tune.  I've passed on several stone veneer and paver companies because they would not make their textures available beyond what was shown in their catalogs.

[M5d]

7 hours ago, jeff prince said:

Thanks for the explaination!  Though it is a shame.  Perhaps if they realized that landscape architects like me are more likely to spec their product if I can easily represent it in my models they would change their tune.  I've passed on several stone veneer and paver companies because they would not make their textures available beyond what was shown in their catalogs.

 

That's true, but @JustinVH has just painted a stark picture of .vwx's standing in BIM, which I assume boils down to ROI?  

 

From the site he referenced: bimobject downloads 

 

[Peter W Flint]

9 hours ago, cberg said:

Maybe VW needs the equivalent of the Sketchup 3d Warehouse where content can be shared outside the VSS format.

I know the Marionette section of the forum is doing this so seems very achievable 

[Christiaan]

12 hours ago, JustinVH said:

It is very difficult to get landscape and architect focused companies to agree to be included in the available resources. Often, our emails go unanswered, our phone calls ignored, or we are told outright that they are not interested so please stop contacting them as they want to host the content themselves in their format or use another hosting site such as BIM Object.

I've come across this from the other end, as a user trying to get companies to make their content more available. It does my head in how short-sighted they can be, and I have actually suspected that our industry is a bit slow on the uptake for some reason.

 

Another little habit that does my head in is to force us to register on their site before we can see any technical data (fine in of itself), but then to force us to wait for a human to review the registration before we can access the content, quite often a week later, when we were on a deadline. I love companies that are open with their technical data and put effort into providing clean data in multiple formats. I go out of my way to make sure their products make it into a building.