2010 Initial Impression

[Linicks]

Just upgraded from VW2009, and can say that VW2010 is definitely an improvement over 09. That being said, I can sympathize with other posters on the board that are frustrated with Vectorworks releases that fall just short of their expectations in functionality and quality. In general, I've been happy with my significant investment of both time and money in Vectorworks, but wish they would kick it up a notch.

VW2009 was clearly a transitional piece of software with allot of quirks, and 2010 essentially tries to eliminate many of them and smooth others out. 2010 is probably what 2009 should have been, but as we all know, businesses like Nemetchek have allot of overhead that forces them to push out products ready or not. Unfortunately, they seem to miss allot of low hanging fruit that would make things better for everyone. For example, after receiving my 2010 upgrade I thought I would go through the getting started guide to refresh my skills, and get up to speed on some of the new features. Unfortunately, the guide, with the exception of the spotlight tutorial was a disappointment. After moving on from the printed guide, I thought it would be a good idea to work through the full Architect getting started guide. To my disappointment, after starting the tutorial, I found that they hadn't included the needed files for the tutorial on the Getting started DVD that was shipped with my software, nor was the URL to the down-loadable files accurate. It's hard to believe that such a large company ,with one product, can ship without getting these simple details right. Clearly this is a small example, but you can find them all over the place. Just like the duplicate entries for the ?Enhanced Wall Joining? feature found on the 2010 features page (http://www.nemetschek.net/library/index.php). Hopefully they will clean this up soon, as it makes it look like the're searching for good things to say about their product.

I would say 2010 is worth the upgrade, but be prepared to deal with the quirks. Hopefully, they will get all the stars to align for 2011.

[michael john williams]

Good job I did not pay for 2009 and waited until 2010.

You are right about the guides and tutorials being poor - they are a kind of afterthought and miss chunks out. The vidios are a good resource but they lack consistancy and can be of poor quality besides taking ages to download. Why is there not links from the help section to the vidios? Why is the guide and vidios not on a DVD shipped with the software?

[Rossford]

When you use VW, there is always that shred of doubt about why you didn't just go with AutoCad, I know.

That said, we all have to remember how we got started with VW. In my case, I hired a guy who had used it in ways similar to the way I wanted to use it (back about VW10.5 or so. I tried to force the staff to go ACAD, but VW was both easier AND a lot of value for the money - just the included worksheets vs having a separate plug in for ACAD was a good enough reason for us to use it.

Over the years, they are moving more towards the full featured drawing set from the discount program, but are still among (IMHO) the best values - that is the combination of features per dollar you can find. I am quite aware that for every VW feature, there is a program out there that probably does it better. But, is there a program that does some much relatively well in one package?

In that light, why complain about it not being the pre-eminent program?

[michael john williams]

I am not complaining - the main reason I got it some 10 years ago was it was good value for money. I had the training, bought the guides and tuturials, etc. But obviously each upgrade brings lots of new things, new approachs, etc and all I am saying is why they are not all on video cross reference from the help section and on a dvd shipped with the sw.

[Rossford]

MW,

I was responding more to the idea in the first PP of the OP, and not the main focus on the tutorials. I had no trouble downloading the separate one for Landmark, and I haven't gone through the excersizes yet.

I can certainly agree that from time to time, key info I need to understand VW is not in the manuals or vids, or part of what VW presumes its users know and glossed over. Hey, I figure they leave them out as incentive to use their $200 per hour trainers! (insert smiley)

[JuanP]

I apologize for the inconvenient, we are working on fixing the links as soon as possible. In the mean time you can access the exercise files directly from the DVD: either through the getting started DVD UI or open DVD>Content>PDF>data set.

If you need further assistance please contact tech support at 410-290-5114 or tech@vectorworks.net

Thank you for your understanding,

Juan Almansa

jalmansa@vectorworks.net

[Linicks]

I apologize for the inconvenient, we are working on fixing the links as soon as possible. In the mean time you can access the exercise files directly from the DVD: either through the getting started DVD UI or open DVD>Content>PDF>data set.

If you need further assistance please contact tech support at 410-290-5114 or tech@vectorworks.net

Thank you for your understanding,

Juan Almansa

jalmansa@vectorworks.net

Thanks for addressing these issues! It's nice to see prompt and professional support/service. I also noticed that the duplicate "Wall Join" link has been removed on the web site, well done (+1).

Edited October 2, 2009 by Linicks

[Linicks]

After using VW2010 for a couple of days I'm really starting to appreciate the new features, especially the unified view. In addition to the unified view, all the other little tweaks, bug fixes, and new features really make VW2010 much nicer to use than VW09. However, I have had it crash a couple of times during some renders, and other odd issues like tool pallets not opening after I launch the app. I'm sure the service packs will take care of these issues . Hopefully, they will keep rolling in enhancements along the way as well. BTW, I have crash/use logging turned on, and will submit as many bugs as time allows.

In response to an earlier poster, I think the main point in the "OP", is that big gains in usability, customer satisfaction, and over all quality can be gained by fixing all of the little things that don't require allot of work, and in many cases skill to resolve. In general, Vectorworks does allot of things very well, but there are many ways in which it can improve. Giving good feedback is one of the best favors a user can do. I know I value, and encourage feedback from my customers. In essence when people post feedback, submit bugs, and turn on the logging feature, they are working for Nemetchek for free. That's one heck of a value added feature for Nemetchek IMHO.

Additionally, I would like to say that I didn't buy Vectorworks because it was the cheapest tool out there, in fact it was/is more expensive than the alternatives that I reviewed including Autocad + Revit (based on annual maintenance projections and initial investment). I did buy it because it's cross platform, and is versatile in a number of design disciplines like mechanical design, Architecture, etc. I would like to add, that it's my belief that quality is about the philosophy of the people involved, and not just money. Many non professional athletes work tirelessly to win a gold medal in the olympics, or state championships without making a penny.

[Andrew Davies]

I agree re: VW2010 - I like the new features (though am a little disappointed with some of the event planning features in Spotlight - they feel like existing symbols / commands packaged up as something else and renamed - nothing special.

Never really got to grips with stacked layers (all my design layers are the same scale) and can't really see the difference between stacked layers and unified view.

From the way I use VW - why even have the option of turning unified view off?? I have it on the whole time. But maybe I'm missing something.

[Guest Wes Gardner]

Unified View quite possibly has the most impact on the architectural community where layers have significant elevational implications ? particularly in multi-storey buildings. This is where Unified View can really shine providing the user with the ability to work ?across? layers with Show/Snap/Modify Others turned on. Every element within the drawing becomes available and pre-selection can give you a visual clue as to whether you?re on the Active Layer or not. Very handy, very quick?