Fix the non-functional default content (Entertainment)

[Kevin McAllister]

So today I tried using some default content from the Entertainment library. I used a round banquet table, a covered chair and a couple of Eurotruss pieces. I put them together into a simple hall layout with seating for 500 (50 tables with 10 chairs each). These are the problems I found -

- chairs and tables are poorly made for rendering well. If you try and do a straight front elevation or section of the room using a sheet layer viewport and hidden line rendering Vectorworks crashes (my system is brand new, top end retina Macbook Pro). If you can only get beauty renderings and not the basic elevations from the model, what's the point?

- the table symbol had its origin centred on its 3D geometry, resulting in the tables being sunk into the floor. Why should I be fixing basics?

- The tables auto generate a "cloth" class but the elements aren't even set to by class in the symbol.

- the Eurotruss pieces (a straight section and a corner) don't even line up in front/side views the way the symbols are built. I should be able to drop it on the plan and it should line up in elevation.

Why is this stuff so poorly built? We, as users, are paying for it. The quality of this stuff needs to be improved to some basic minimum professional standards.

KM

[grant_PD]

I agree. With the exception of the curtain tool, which I believe was ported from Landru Design (an actual entertainment designer) I don't find much in the entertainment package worthwhile. Highlights:

Seating layout tool is extremely difficult to use. Reshaping it is a pain, causing you to loose your focus point. While I understand how great the focus can be for a curving auditorium seating section, when you're doing standard sections for an event it's a lost cause. Better to have the chairs be parallel to the sides of your drawn polygon, with the option to switch between the sides.

Trusses need to have cornerblocks. It's that simple. I shouldn't have to make my own. Trusses should also have bases for upright trussing. Hinge blocks while I'm thinking about it too.

Seating and tables should at least have the common chair types that all event rental houses have: Chivari, folding, bentwood, etch. You should be able to pick whether or not the chair has a slip cover. Tables should be the standard rentals: rectangles and circles, with or without linens. All of this stuff should be auto classed, and ready to go with spreadsheets for making your order list.

There's a huge market out there for this kind of event planning. Not as big maybe as the world of architecture, but big enough that it should warrant some kind of attention from VW. We're not all lighting designers in the entertainment world...