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VECTORWORKS FREE


lcda

Question

Im a user of this software since minicad 3

an i think vectorworks is becaming unpopular because:

1 it?s expensive because not all people needs the thousands of tools it has

2 interface is difficult for beginners with all of that unused tools

3 every one hates the usb key

so

i think nemetschek should consider to make a free version of the software, maybe just bidmensional like blueprint were once, just look sketchup is wining a lot of users and the 3dwarehouse library is amazing and the plugins library is great

pros

1 new users that became potential buyers

2 piracy combat

3 with a lot of more users maybe the license could be more affordable

4 more plugins development

5 more forumsof training

6 with a basic set of tools beginners are going to learn faster

cons

1 you will need more investment for attending all new users

2 at first i think you are going to lose money because not all of us requires the full version of the software

but you can try with maybe just adding a basic tool set to viewer just to make a research with or with student license

what do you think

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for example apple does?t sells different computers to latinamerica and also the prices are the same

Actually, this has not always been the case ... Apple exports via a Reseller ...which configures and prices the products. Apple will not ship directly to areas covered within the Reseller agreement.

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Well my point is this if you selling software is not like selling computers for example or bananas

to put the price of bananana you may have an operation like this

land for grow

buy trees

people to work

boxes to carry bananas

buses for taking bananas to the marke

seller

taxes, risks, publicity blah, blah, blah, blah

all this divided with the number of bananas

software it?s lke this maybe

rent of a place

buy computers

people to work

servers to put the product on the web

web masters to solve problems and tchnichians

taxes, PIRACY, publicity blah, blah, blah, blah

the point is how many licenses pay all this

but here we have to make a different ecuation

let suposse

1 license costs millon

10 licences costs 100 000

so if you sell 10,000 licenses

they can cost 100

the point of giving a free licence is

to have more users to pay all costs

and when the millon is payed

the rest is utility

is not that easy???

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VW is the only software I use that needs a dongle and I too worry about the cost of replacement. I haven't lost one yet.....(whoops now I've done it) but I would not want to have to re-buy the license again because of absent mindedness.

There must be another way, surely.

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"There must be a valid reason why VW is licensed with a dongle outside the US."

I've a good example:

You should checkout the "software market" in Sofia, Bulgaria.

There are open air booksellers that have piles of looseleaf folders with Xeroxes of software covers. Tell them what you want, they make a phone call and tell you to come back in 30 minutes. 10 to 15 lev per disk. ($7 to $12 depending on how badly the Dollar is doing)

Edited by Woodpecker
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"I want to be able to open old files in previous versions of VW without the risk of modifying/damaging the original file(which does happen with recent editions) on a Mac running an older OS suited to a particular version of VW. Now, I have to shut down everything I am doing and restart each Mac in order for it to read the dongle evry time."

That's quite the string of flaming hoops you set up for yourself. Why not convert everything? I've never had problems with conversion, PLUS you can import or copy and paste directly.

I spent several days last summer (the joys of a dead economy!) converting EVERY old MiniCAD file, some back to MiniCAD 3 (1992?), up to VectorWorks 2008. Sure, it was a process, but now I can open ANY file from EVERY project I've worked on since 1990.

I bought MiniCAD 2 in January of 1990, BTW.

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"For me its the little things and I feel VW has lost its way over the years and is just sucking me dry."

I agree.

Since Nemetschek bought out Diehl Graphsoft upgrade prices have gotten outrageous. With their yearly update scheme, it seems they're more interested in clogging up VW with new features rather than fixing or updating what's there already.

I would LOVE to see Nemetschek do a Snow Leopard treatment on Vectorworks: clean up and modernize ALL the code and make the interface more consistent.

Some examples:

- The fly-thru animation tool literally has not been updated since the early 90's. It reminds me of Swivel 3D (for those who can remember)

- The Workspace Editor has only added the ability to enlarge the window, nothing else, since VectorWorks 8 (or was it MiniCAD 7?).

- The LOATHESOME Align/Distribute dialogue box. It should be a palette and mirror the functionality object grid of the Object Info palette! (I've even Photoshopped solutions and sent them to tech support!)

I teach Vectorworks classes and must continually apologize for and explain glaring interface inconsistencies. Then explain how to deal with them and "get around" them.

I've gotten used to such things, but new users are aghast and confused! It's a huge waste of time and productivity killer to boot!

So, our upgrade fees should reflect something more than feeding the feature-itis beast.

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it seems they're more interested in clogging up VW with new features rather than fixing or updating what's there already.

I would LOVE to see Nemetschek do a Snow Leopard treatment on Vectorworks: clean up and modernize ALL the code and make the interface more consistent..

Nice to see I'm not alone in my wish for a clean up and streamlining in VW, fewer bells and whistles, more essentials that work as required, simply and efficiently.

With regard to opening old files in recent versions of VW, many of the objects/symbols created in earlier versions just won't translate and are represented by generic cubes and require total rebuild/draw from scratch.

Edited by AndiACD
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http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=12602821&siteID=123112

this is the future and we need that on vectorworks, not better rendering not faster renderings not animations not bulding modeling

we need a real tool for sustainable analysis

We do need better/faster rendering animations and building modelling!

Tools for sustainable analysis would be welcome too........

Edited by Vincent C
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TOTALLY AGREE WITH WOODPECKER

I think we should start first to fix what we have and then make whishes

VectorWorks need testers i mean develop architectural projects to see the errors

but let's make them work

i made a list of my fixes divided on bugs, easy, and major

bugs

auto join walls crashes program on all versions since MiniCad 6: on a very specific situation, when you make a wall after other wall aligned it makes like an infinite line and crashes

when

very simple and unfixed

Why can not fix objects positions and rotation with cursor in ISOMETRIC view and objects in x,y,z, lilke all 3d software cinema, sketchup, acad i mean like the tool for manipulating nurbs but just for moving or rotating an object

why can not fix a point a vertex or a face in mesh tool with cursor

why can not touch face an move it like in 2d view

why can't make a window like making a wall i mean with a line or fix it without number i mean with blue points

why is different to make round window wall of simple round wall who puts criteria

why we do not have polyline double lines

why cant make a hand rail with control line mode an also window wall

why we do not have multiple view like all cads

why is so difficult to use the extend tool and it does't work almost for anything

is it too difficult to put auto join walls and zoom line thickness on main page i mean i use both of this all the time and i have to go preferences etc etc

why can not divide a 3d face with a line like Sketchup with just one line

why is not attributes tool integrated with info tool i mean why do we have to use a 3d texture and a 2d fill i mean double work

major

why render is so bad and slow

why we can't not have vray, supodium or maxwell plugins

why we can't export to obj, skp or export to obj

is it too difficult to put the cities on solar tool instead of we to have for latitude an longitude

Dongle alternative or vectorworks free

64bit adressing and multi processing

do you have another fix?

Edited by lcda
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lcda, maybe this can make your life nicer:

1. auto join walls crashes program on all versions since MiniCad 6: on a very specific situation, when you make a wall after other wall aligned it makes like an infinite line and crashes.

Solved in Vw 2010.

2. Why can not fix objects positions and rotation with cursor in ISOMETRIC view and objects in x,y,z, lilke all 3d software cinema, sketchup, acad i mean like the tool for manipulating nurbs but just for moving or rotating an object

2.B why can not fix a point a vertex or a face in mesh tool with cursor

Solved in Vw 2010. (works like a charm).

3. why can not touch face an move it like in 2d view.

Use the "protrusion tool", and in some cases use 3d reshape.

4. why is so difficult to use the extend tool and it does't work almost for anything

I use it constantly:

Extend Tool work with Lines, Arcs and Polylines, also with Nurbs Curves and Nurbs Surfaces.

5. is it too difficult to put auto join walls and zoom line thickness on main page i mean i use both of this all the time and i have to go preferences etc etc

I use a script to toggle them... it's an easy one (published some years ago by Robert Anderson):

Auto Join Walls (On Off):

{BEGIN VECTORSCRIPT}

PROCEDURE Boolean_Pref_Toggle;

CONST

kPref = 33;

BEGIN

SetPref(kPref,NOT(getPref(kPref)));

END;

RUN(Boolean_Pref_Toggle);

{END VECTORSCRIPT}

For Zoom line thickness: Change 33 with 9...

6. why can not divide a 3d face with a line like Sketchup with just one line

Use the protrusion's extrude curve mode. It will do exactly that. In Vw 2010 is even better.

Hope this helps!

Edited by Mr. Gog
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