Vectorworks 2017

[zoomer]

I think VW 2014 to VW 2015 was no issue.

For me, as VW 2016 changed the Rendering System, the renders looked different

and there was a lot work finding suitable render settings for difficult interior

situations again.

And the client asked for the "same" look as he was presenting these in comparison

to the older renders.

Normally converting a file to a new App version should be no problem.

If there will be a little feature update to the stair tool, your stair should still look

the same.

But as you will never know, it is a good idea to examine the new file copy if it

really works the same until you go on working in the new version.

A more important thing is App SP0 stability.

You should test your workflow, if there are bigger quirks concerning your work

you should wait until fixed.

Like VW 2016 started to kill my Cameras which it still does so maybe I should

have waited until SP5 comes out.

[Kevin McAllister]

Eventually, and I know the first portion of this comes in 2017 but won't majorly affect users for another version or two, our file format rework will be complete and we won't need to have a new VWX version for each year. We will be able to only upgrade the format once every 4-5 years or only as needed. This will eventually mean that you won't need to export back to older versions within a range, only if the format handling was different. This isn't just important for version compatibility, but will also let us add the ability for multiple users to work with the same project concurrently, add automatic compression, as well as other things like that.

This makes me very excited, especially the compression part! My average project file for a theatre show is in the 150-200MB range. Because I keep multiple archived versions and a snapshot copy of each issue file it can make for some large project folders.

For me, as VW 2016 changed the Rendering System, the renders looked different

and there was a lot work finding suitable render settings for difficult interior

situations again.

And the client asked for the "same" look as he was presenting these in comparison

to the older renders.

Yes. All of my renderings were affected too.

Kevin

[gester]

For me, as VW 2016 changed the Rendering System, the renders looked different

and there was a lot work finding suitable render settings for difficult interior

situations again.

And the client asked for the "same" look as he was presenting these in comparison

to the older renders.

another reason not to touch the software in the production environment. i may repeat myself, though.

[P Retondo]

Eventually, and I know the first portion of this comes in 2017 but won't majorly affect users for another version or two, our file format rework will be complete and we won't need to have a new VWX version for each year. We will be able to only upgrade the format once every 4-5 years or only as needed. This will eventually mean that you won't need to export back to older versions within a range, only if the format handling was different.

Wow! Wow. Wow.

[Jershaun]

Hi Jim,

Will it be possible to start a project in vw2016+c4d and then continue it with vw2017+c4d? Will there be any issues with this workflow? Will the work done in c4d unravel when vw2017 updates the model?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[zoomer]

I would be very cautious.

Keep your VW 2016 installation, your VW file as well as the C4D file.

Create copies and try.

As there are announced major changes for C4D exchange, which are highly

needed, I think that can't work.

If it will really work at the end anyway - they did not change enough !!!

I expect that the new exchange will be be so much better than VW 2016 > C4D,

that it might be useful to do the work again and exchange from scratch to

profit from improvements in the projects future.

It depends on which changes you did in C4D.

Changes in Lights, Cameras are no problem, just copy them out of the VW Exchange

Folder/Null Object.

For all organizational or geometry editing, they should be marked as edited and kept

kept in C4D. Which, on the other hand, means that you lost synchronization to VW

counterparts anyway.

For Materials, if you kept the names, you can save all your Materials to an external

C4D file. You can replace all file materials by those in the external file in one go.

(In case VW will not change the way how materials are saved or named in 2017 Exchange

- wich would be very unsatisfying to me)

[carpalmer]

totally agree with Altivec.

I use VW & RW for presentations and main gripe is texturing and modeling. 3D modeling interface is awkward compared to what I've seen in Sketchup (push-pool on the fly, and some organic / fluid shapes are impossible with VW. When I model in VW I need to keep switching between orthographic views and often is frustrating and difficult. Is there a better way? Any good tutorials? I've been using VW since Minicad days, so consider myself an advanced user, but would like to know if there's a better way to model...

No point in having VR with low quality renders.

carpalmer

[Tom Klaber]

It sounds as if you have kept old habits while the software has advanced. Most of what you have mentioned has been vastly improved over the last 3 years.

The push-pull is not quite as good as SketchUp - but it's pretty good.

Organic modeling is MUCH better than SketchUp now with the sub-division objects.

You can model while staying in 3D most of the time. Sometimes you can not get the snap you need - so you might need to switch to orthogonal.

Check out their Youtube channel - they have been releasing a pretty robust modeling and rendering video series recently.

[carpalmer]

thx Tom, I knew they had been improvements, will search them out to better my process.

carpalmer

[barkest]

The push pull is 'ok' and in actual fact I quite like it.

Sub-D is 'ok' but will get better in the next release with the ability to use existing objects. Su has Sub-D that someone has written and its pretty decent so yes you can do organic stuff.

Sub-D in VW is awful for texturing and it is its massive downfall and means it cannot be used in all seriousness.

VR will be interesting but agreed that without decent texturing it could look quite poor but I am super optimistic about it.

[twk]

Quote

 

3rd of September

... a countdown is overdue, is it not?

[zoomer]

I think that was the time in 2015 when we got first feature information teasers for VW 2016,
which we got in may this year.

I would not have problems to see everything 2017 revealed from today.
I don't think the competitors can copy all these features in a 2 week time frame to release
their products one day before 9/14 and make the deal.
(Given the fact that they have released their products already)

[twk]

18 minutes ago, zoomer said:

I think that was the time in 2015 when we got first feature information teasers for VW 2016,
which we got in may this year.

I would not have problems to see everything 2017 revealed from today.
I don't think the competitors can copy all these features in a 2 week time frame to release
their products one day before 9/14 and make the deal.
(Given the fact that they have released their products already)

Yep,

also, your signature is set to VW2017 already!? Thats forward thinking right there.

[Andrew Davies]

So - when does anyone expect / think / know 2017 will be out??

[Art V]

18 minutes ago, Andrew Davies said:

So - when does anyone expect / think / know 2017 will be out??

As per September 14 you cannot upgrade to a new version of Vectorworks if it is more than 4 versions back from the then current version, so it is not unlikely that the VW2017 will be released on or shortly after September 14.

Edited September 6, 2016 by Art V

[PVA - Admin]

I am not able to provide an exact date at this time.

However, the previous few years we have released mid September and I do not expect this to change this year.

[Andrew Davies]

Ohhhh.... maybe about only 10 sleeps!

[zoomer]

I can't sleep until it is released

[zoomer]

Beside that I would love nothing more than use these last days to prepare and learn for VW 2017,
as most projects are stalled because of problems and potential workarounds that may be
unnecessary by the release of VW 2017 (Walls, C4D Exchange, ...) at best,

I don't think so.

First, at Summit, there was more unveiled than last year at this time,
second, that would provide a lot of unnecessary forum traffic for questions caused by the fact
that people can't examine new features by itself,
third, beside the little "spare time" Jim got for the forum switch, he and his team will be happy if
they get their videos ready for release day

Edited September 6, 2016 by zoomer

[Neil Barman]

While this may not reveal any _more_ features than have been previously known, this article appeared on Planet Vectorworks today. It and its videos may shed some new light on the features we've heard about so far.

-Neil

[zoomer]

We are just speculating.
I also welcome an answer from Jim.

[PVA - Admin]

I doubt it. A LOT of internal changes (so far all good!) have been going on that didn't slow release, but definitely ensured there was no "extra" time to prep things like that.

Going forward I hope to have public a bit more of development and not just have it in two big spoonfuls each year. Earlier involvement of feedback from users in the development process would aid design immensely in my opinion.

Also, I should soon have much more time allotted to answer questions here, but always feel free to ask anything anytime regardless!

[Kevin McAllister]

VW2017 must be imminent..... 2017 serial numbers have appeared in the license list for my Service Select account.

KM

[zoomer]

I think same happened last year - for 2 weeks or so

[PVA - Admin]

Yeah there was a snafu a few years ago where VSS subscribers got their serial numbers AFTER users who were subscribed to Service Select got them. Not gonna let that happen again.