My wish: VW2026 to have no new features. Please.

[line-weight]

***edit:

Originally this thread was titled 'My wish: VW2018 to have no new features. Please.'

Shortly after the release of VW2018 it was changed to: 'My wish: VW2019 to have no new features. Please.'

Shortly after the release of VW2019 it was changed to: 'My wish: VW2020 to have no new features. Please.'

It is now changed to: 'My wish: VW2021 to have no new features. Please.'

Update in 2024: now changed to "VW2026 to have no new features"

***

 

Instead, all resources should be put into making already-existing features work properly.

 

Doors, windows, stairs, structural members. I'm sure everyone can add their own things to this list. Anything else in the "known issues" list. Wishlist items that relate to existing features and which obviously are important to many users.

 

I don't actually care what new features are offered in VW2018. I won't really be interested in paying for them because I won't really trust that they'll work in practice, even in the SP2 and beyond versions. Much more valuable to me would be the ability to reliably use the tools that are supposedly there already, but which I don't use because either a bug or a crucial dysfunctionality means they aren't useful in real practice.

 

One of the best "features" of 2017 was the revamped resource browser. Something everyone has to use all the time but which was horrible to use. I actively avoided going near it and it discouraged me from trying all sorts of things. It's not now completely perfect but it's loads better and it changes the way I use VW. It wasn't a flashy new toy but its real world benefit is much higher than, say, the Structural Member tool which still doesn't seem to be usable.

 

I think this is a serious issue with VW. Please vote this up if you agree. I am worried that we'll get left behind as the rest of the world transitions into proper BIM, not because they've got fancier features but because they have software that works properly and reliably in its core functions - something VW does in 2D but not in the context of BIM/3D.

 

 

Edited September 20, 2024 by line-weight

[line-weight]

*Update October 2022*

 

I started this thread in 2017 and had been updating the thread title each year to request that the next version of VW would be the one where we got nothing "new", just a load of old stuff fixed.

 

Unfortunately at some point the ability to edit the first post and title disappeared; this is why it's still stuck on VW2021 but really I'd like the title to be

 

"My wish: VW2024 to have no new features. Please."

[E|FA]

I used my lunch break to get a list started.  I believe all of these are improvements or fixes to existing tools, rather than new features, and all have been discussed elsewhere on the forum.  Comments & additions welcome:

• Fix known bugs
  • Make known bugs list viewable by users
• Stairs - general updates including
  • Generate holes in Floors/Slabs
  • Fix text/arrows interface
• Windows & Doors - https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/64381-window-and-door-tool-maturity/ 
• Walls - general updates, including
  • Stacked walls
  • Caps
• Structural members
• Materials available for ALL objects & PIO
• Interior Elevation Marker place in Annotations, not Design Layer, like all others
• SLVP drawing label movable outside of Annotations
• None Marker Style - https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/92770-2022-class-marker-style-no-none/ 
• Edit Call Outs, etc in place
• Merge Move & Move 3D
• Add OzCad plugins - Detailer, Fence, other? (I'm considering these to be "existing tools" rather than a new feature because they already exist)
• Support ticketing - https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/93660-service-select-support-add-a-ticketing-system/ 
• Workspace Editor improvements - https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/71125-workspace-editor-wishlist-items/ 

Edited October 13, 2022 by E|FA

[line-weight]

Could add roof faces to that list.

 

Walls, roofs, structural members, windows, doors and stairs. The most basic and fundamental elements of any building. And all of them have problems and limitations that have been discussed for years.

[line-weight]

On 8/11/2022 at 11:19 PM, line-weight said:

This is actually one of the main reasons I've not started using 2022 (despite having paid for it):

 

https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/87645-vw2022-shaded-view-flickering-hatches-patterns/

 

It's not just the problem itself that's annoying but the way it's initially acknowledged and then just completely ignored, which is the pattern with so many things with Vectorworks.

 

September 2021: VW2022 released and I start that thread. A helpful VW employee requests a test file, I send it. A "fix" (workaround) is suggested - I post a video of a test file demonstrating that the "fix" doesn't solve the problem.

 

No response. I put VW2022 on hold, hoping it might be fixed in an SP.

 

December 2021: SP2 released. The problem is somewhat improved but still there. I post another video demonstrating this. I ask if anyone from VW can comment on whether we can hope for any improvement.

 

No response. A week or so later I ask again. No response.

 

March 2022. SP3 released. Not fixed (I say as much on the thread). No comment from anyone from VW

 

June 2022. SP4 released. Still not fixed. Again I directly ask if we can be given any info. No reply.

 

So, now I wait and wonder whether it'll be fixed in VW2023, which might not reach a stable version until some time next year.

 

This example is relevant to this thread because it's not even an old bug that's not been fixed. It's not a bug in a new feature. It's a bug in something that not only previously worked OK, but it's totally core to my day-to-day working in VW. It's the 3d shaded/OpenGL environment that I spend hours in each day when I'm working on stuff.

 

And then there's stuff like this. Core functionality that gets broken and then there is no urgency in fixing it. The problem I describe above appears to persist in VW2023. There's another thread about it, not started by me, specific to VW2023:

 

https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/101453-strange-shaded-mode-artifacts/

 

Same pattern as my VW2022 thread - initial interest from VW representatives, requests for sample files, promises it will be looked at etc. Then silence and tumbleweed.

Edited October 14, 2022 by line-weight

[Katarina Ollikainen]

So, I've done a bit of digging in this issue and contacted Justin, who is the Research Manager. 

There are several bugs going on here but the z-fighting has a fix and it will be out in SP2, Nov 9th, unless they find something while going through testing. There's always a caveat.

I know it can be awfully frustrating when basic functions suddenly not behave as you're used to and especially when it is core functions, and it can seem like nothing is happening from our end. Often the engineers are working on solutions but not really discussing them outwards until they have something solid to test.

I know you're listing a lot of issues in your posts here - it would be very useful if you could send over some sample files that demonstrates the individual problems, and I'll forward them to the correct desk. 

If you would like to, I'm happy to meet up on a Zoom and go through your problems as well - sometimes that can be easier than documenting things in text. You can send me a direct message and we can set up a time.

 

[line-weight]

On 10/14/2022 at 8:36 PM, Katarina Ollikainen said:

So, I've done a bit of digging in this issue and contacted Justin, who is the Research Manager. 

There are several bugs going on here but the z-fighting has a fix and it will be out in SP2, Nov 9th, unless they find something while going through testing. There's always a caveat.

I know it can be awfully frustrating when basic functions suddenly not behave as you're used to and especially when it is core functions, and it can seem like nothing is happening from our end. Often the engineers are working on solutions but not really discussing them outwards until they have something solid to test.

I know you're listing a lot of issues in your posts here - it would be very useful if you could send over some sample files that demonstrates the individual problems, and I'll forward them to the correct desk. 

If you would like to, I'm happy to meet up on a Zoom and go through your problems as well - sometimes that can be easier than documenting things in text. You can send me a direct message and we can set up a time.

 

 

Thank you for your reply - it's much appreciated.

 

I'm going to put a link to it on the thread that deals with the specific problem, so that it is easier for others to respond to:

 

https://forum.vectorworks.net/index.php?/topic/101453-strange-shaded-mode-artifacts/

 

[Michael Siggers]

On 4/20/2017 at 5:44 PM, line-weight said:

All I can say is that from a user point of view, it feels like there are too many things pushed out with bugs, and too many things that just don't quite match how people actually need to use them.

I think this is a common trend amongst companies now, to keep issuing new versions with more features. "This one is better than last years one." Really? Look at companies like Apple and the iPhone and Samsung and the Galaxy. "Must have a new faster better model every year", when in reality, it's just for the sake of it and to try look like they're better than the competition. It's almost a case of who can release the latest version first. Look at Samsung and Apple with their OS's for phones. Marvellous, but still rubbish phone call quality when stood in the middle of London.

 

For years I had all Apple products, and I remember one year when the new MacBook Pro was released, the main marketing point was the touch bar at the top of the keyboard and how it made it easier to insert emojis! Wow! Not the most requested feature for professionals I'd imagine. Not long after that, I slowly came away from apple. Don't get me wrong, Microsoft is as bad. I constantly get e-mails promoting some new Surface Pro, that now has a screen with 1 gazillion pixels and is brighter than the sun. Still has bugs in the software though.

 

I'd much rather pay a subscription for a reliable product that just works. Not interested in some new tool that produces floating marshmallows, which, 'gasp', with another dialogue box can be randomised and made to rotate.

 

I think the resource should be put into ironing out all the bugs and streamlining the tools, reducing the amount of option dialogue boxes for the same object but in different places, and making navigation easier.

 

Mike