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Vectorworks 2016


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Even the English version as distributed in the Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) used to need some reworking from the local distributor and both the (Benelux) English and Dutch versions were released at approximately the same date. Last year the (Benelux) English and the Dutch version came out almost simultaneously with the US version if I remember correctly. The Dutch localised version will take some 4-6 weeks from release of the US version this year so I am expecting the same to apply to English version over here.

Should the Benelux IE version come out shortly after the US version this year while the Dutch version takes 4-6 weeks longer this time then maybe I should consider moving to the IE version after all. Otoh, if the dual language interface does get implemented .... (hint)

LOL, last year was the first time it was that quickly! The years before we had to wait for months! The longest was the end of Februari!

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LOL, last year was the first time it was that quickly! The years before we had to wait for months! The longest was the end of Februari!

Yes, last year they made an effort to match the US release time also because they felt that the previous year's delay was an embarrasment (issues with programmer's getting ill and one leaving halfway and some other problems)

It seems that this year the updates are of such numbers and/or magnitude that they could not match the US release date this time, which might be good news in a way when it comes to added functionality. (I hope)

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We are disappointed.

Been really hoping that this time you would take into account the various wish list requests rather than simply coming up with your own idea of what we 'need', it seems that you have concentrated on esoteric 3D features and overlooked much longed for improvements to the basic 2D drafting capabilities.

FOLDING DOORS

No change at all here even though it's been on the wish lists for years to be able to have an uneven number of leaves. We need to have a custom leaf option just like the custom sash option for windows, we are still stuck with 4 leaves so if we have say 6m wide doors each leaf is 1.5m wide which is useless. This type of door is used on 75% of ground floor residential extension projects in the UK., as well as commercial projects such as restaurants. Please arrange to fix this in the first 2016 service pack.

STAIR TOOL

Sadly the horrible stair tool still hasn't been improved, we still have use to old basic stair tool as for all is draw backs it's still relatively easy to use.

DORMER WINDOWS

This is still a very inflexible tool without any editing possibilities, again it's been on the wish list for a while

ROOF TOOL

This is tricky to use particularly when joining various roof shapes, I don't see any improvements so far.

INSULATION BATT

Still not possible to join it, no option to insert into an unsettled wall??

ATTRIBUTES PALETTE

A slight improvement here as the buttons are marginally larger, the Line Type command is still 'hidden' though, it needs to back to where it was in VW 2014 as it's accessed a lot in 2D drafting

We will have to think very carefully whether or not we continue with VSS for our licences for VW2017 now.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

I'm sorry those specific requests were not included in this version if they were what you were hoping for the most, but to state that we did not take into account wish list requests is simply incorrect.

The large majority, something like 75%, of the full feature list for 2016 (which isn't covered in the videos or brochure but you can find here:

https://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=215222

Apologies for not having this ready before you made your assessment) is directly from wishlist items, nearly the entire Rendering section and the majority of the other sections as well.

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Jim.

First, congratulations on releasing VW2016. It looks like NVW has made some great improvements and I'm looking forward to digging in and exploring.

However, I was also wishing for greater improvement in the door, window, and stair tools. Can you give us some insight into why NVW hasn't paid more attention to those tools? It seems like anyone who uses VW complains about the door, window, and stair tools but they haven't been improved nearly enough (in my opinion) since I started with VW12.5.

I've really appreciated the rendering, drawing coordination, and other improvements made since VW12.5 but I'm always surprised when a new version comes out and those basic tools (doors, windows, & stairs) don't seem to get the attention they need.

Is it that there aren't enough people asking for improvements in those tools, that the effort required to fix them is too great, or something else?

Thanks.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

The issue actually stems from how integral and important those features are, and how many things they interact with. I can't speak to specifically why or why not a change was included in a version, those decisions are made way up the chain. However, we DO have to be much more careful when touching highly integrated tools and objects compared to something like introducing Subdivisions, which would be tied to nothing. So the cost of failure if something goes wrong with a Subdivided surface would be very low and the reward for an entirely new modeling object very high.

It isn't that we ARENT upgrading these tools, but yeah they will take a lot longer due to how much more work it is to change them, how much more integration testing they need, and making sure that any changes do not disrupt established workflows.

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Thanks Jim,

I don't get why the thickness of glazed units has been added when the basic door geometry functionality is still stuck in time from years back. The full feature list is great and I'm sure we are all very grateful, it would just be nice to get the basics of 2D right. For architectural projects windows, doors and stairs are basic. We can't even add a window to the side of a door only a full height glass panel, we should be able to customise that sidelight same as we can with a single window in a wall. As has been pointed out previously we need Windor capability integrated there should not be a need to buy additional software.

Sorry to go on but unless we press hard for these simple changes seems like nothing will happen.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Here:

https://techboard.vectorworks.net/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=12

Any threads posted there with the wish and a description of what is needed or wanted will get my direct attention and they will be converted into feature requests in our tracking software. This process is very manual (well, for me) for the time being, but is intended to prevent us missing requests that were placed all over the board for years that fell through the cracks.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
I first want to commend the vectorworks team for some amazing stuff in this release. Lots of new stuff that I couldn't even imagine.

But:

I know everyone is going around saying its missing this and its missing that and I know its not your fault and that you can't answer this any better then you've answered everyone else:

For the last decade I've been requesting and waiting update after update for that magical day where we get can some basic functionality in texture mapping.

We have all these new fancy ways of modelling and all these cool new effects (which I love by the way) but now lets texture them. Clearly when making your marketing material someone realized holy cow, we can't make a texture look good on these models unless its just a solid color. All I'm asking for is independent x y z scaling found in even the most basic decades old rendering programs. How to this day vectorworks management believes that only having symmetrical scaling on one axis is not archaic is beyond mind boggling to me.

Its just not this one feature. To see development in niche things such as point cloud when basic functionality remains in the stone age is very frustrating. As the saying goes, learn to walk before you run.

I'm at my wits end requesting these basics and I promised myself if I didn't see improvements in at least one of them in v2016, I would start looking at other alternatives. It just appears VW and me are not going in the same direction and after over 20 years, its time for us to go our separate ways. I truly appreciate you running these boards and I thought that I at least owed you my thoughts.

True, a lot of the texture specific feature requests have not yet been implemented. Many people are not concerned with this, but others (myself included) want to see greater control. Many users currently use the Vectorworks/C4D hybrid workflow because of exactly the issues you describe, which certainly isn't inexpensive to maintain and ideally, we would want everything all in one package. It's sort of our thing.

I'm sorry to see you go, but good luck! I hope we advance enough to win you back one day.

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Hi

Looks like a lot of nice new features, but got to agree with Altivec, it would be preferable, rather than focussing on new niche tools, a focus is made on fixing and or adding basic functionality that has been missing for some time. Others can probably list a lot of items, but for us architects, why do we still wait for sloping walls to be added? and the number of times people talk about the stair tool...then there's 3D hatching - when adding hatching to walls & roofs, there is no option to individually specify the start point for the hatch on each surface. This basically means we often can't use that feature.

Thanks

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Bummer. I just posted a little piece echoing Altivecs sentiments and it didn't get posted. Oh well. Not going to retype that out.

In short I was saying perhaps the next release could just focus on some of those basic, core functions we all want, rather than the glitz and the glam. Make the stuff already there, better.

That texture result by the way Altivec is indeed awful. We want people to focus on the "Chair" not the weird texuring that is not at all acceptable.

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