VW includes a lot of resources and facilitates customized user-preferred standards. Now the however. The out of the box organization is less than self-evident. For new users, it's like hunting for Easter Eggs, but not as fun being an inefficient use of time. Too much drilling in and out of folders to explore what's buried in each folder. If you want to add a resource to your library, one has to decide whether to add to a type of objects or by vendor or some other way.
What would be of tremendous help, especially in the USA and I believe Canada is to use CSI's Master Format numbering to categorize resources. Not sure how other Countries do this, but I imagine it's something well-documented like an ISO standard. Perhaps a development goal would be to offer a localized VW Architect tied to regional best-practices and workflows.
Drawings and Specifications work together to form Contract Documents. Using the same naming and organizing conventions between the two is common sense, a big productivity gain, and an industry standard for decades in the USA.
Of course AutoDesk Architecture offers excellent out of the box industry standards for the USA Commercial AEC workflow. But notice Graphisoft's ArchiCAD does this as well, and they are owned by the same parent company as Vectorworks. I was surprised how thorough Archicad is localized to the USA's AEC practices. It uses CSI's Master Format for resource classification, and like AutoDesk, it uses National CAD Standards for Class, Model and Sheet naming. So easy to find things. Perhaps your relatives at Graphisoft might help somehow. Using the same standards between consultants makes collaboration much easier. Same concept as IFC, a common standard...
Yes, AIA/NCS is an option in the Naming Standard. I've tried it. While it's a nice start, there are too many resources which have VWArch class naming embedded. In not time at all, the two naming conventions are fighting each other in the same project. For now, the only sane thing is to use VWArch standard. It's too much for each user to rename all the resources. Only to have to do it over and over with each new release. This is why Autodesk and Graphisoft began to use a well documented industry standard.
A localized version of Vectorworks would reduce the learning curve overhead of USA firms who want to make the switch to Vectorworks. Even the training material should be localized. As much as I admire the superior metric system, it distracts from the subject matter having to stop and make the conversions. Perhaps for now, publish both side by side. The 2012 Getting Started Guide for Architect switches, unannounced, between Feet/Inches and Metric in one Step of an Exercise.
Such a wish would require a lot of developer work, but the long-term benefits and marketing potential should be evaluated.
You can post now and register later.
If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.
Question
Clint Alderman
VW includes a lot of resources and facilitates customized user-preferred standards. Now the however. The out of the box organization is less than self-evident. For new users, it's like hunting for Easter Eggs, but not as fun being an inefficient use of time. Too much drilling in and out of folders to explore what's buried in each folder. If you want to add a resource to your library, one has to decide whether to add to a type of objects or by vendor or some other way.
What would be of tremendous help, especially in the USA and I believe Canada is to use CSI's Master Format numbering to categorize resources. Not sure how other Countries do this, but I imagine it's something well-documented like an ISO standard. Perhaps a development goal would be to offer a localized VW Architect tied to regional best-practices and workflows.
Drawings and Specifications work together to form Contract Documents. Using the same naming and organizing conventions between the two is common sense, a big productivity gain, and an industry standard for decades in the USA.
Of course AutoDesk Architecture offers excellent out of the box industry standards for the USA Commercial AEC workflow. But notice Graphisoft's ArchiCAD does this as well, and they are owned by the same parent company as Vectorworks. I was surprised how thorough Archicad is localized to the USA's AEC practices. It uses CSI's Master Format for resource classification, and like AutoDesk, it uses National CAD Standards for Class, Model and Sheet naming. So easy to find things. Perhaps your relatives at Graphisoft might help somehow. Using the same standards between consultants makes collaboration much easier. Same concept as IFC, a common standard...
Yes, AIA/NCS is an option in the Naming Standard. I've tried it. While it's a nice start, there are too many resources which have VWArch class naming embedded. In not time at all, the two naming conventions are fighting each other in the same project. For now, the only sane thing is to use VWArch standard. It's too much for each user to rename all the resources. Only to have to do it over and over with each new release. This is why Autodesk and Graphisoft began to use a well documented industry standard.
A localized version of Vectorworks would reduce the learning curve overhead of USA firms who want to make the switch to Vectorworks. Even the training material should be localized. As much as I admire the superior metric system, it distracts from the subject matter having to stop and make the conversions. Perhaps for now, publish both side by side. The 2012 Getting Started Guide for Architect switches, unannounced, between Feet/Inches and Metric in one Step of an Exercise.
Such a wish would require a lot of developer work, but the long-term benefits and marketing potential should be evaluated.
Examples
Webpage with Master Format Numbers
http://www.archtoolbox.com/representation/specifications/60-csidivisions.html
PDF Document
http://www.csinet.org/numbersandtitles
Link to comment
1 answer to this question
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.