Landru Design Tools Updated!

[C. Andrew Dunning]

Happy September 17th!

 

We are happy to announce that all of our tools have been updated to make them Vectorworks 2021®-compatible.  In addition to getting things ready for Vectorworks 2021®, we've been working on the usual "under-the-hood" refinement and on adding a few features.  Here are a few things to note:

• All of the tools run in ALL "flavors" of Vectorworks® - not just Spotlight® or Designer® - 2018 > 2021.
• Several of the tools have new data fields, like "Position," "Purpose," and "Drape Clips."
• The OIP "lb" and "kg" weight fields have been replaced with the easier-to-use Structural Units fields.
• The VideoScreen tools and SoftGoods 2 are now Braceworks®-aware.
• SoftGoods 2's "Raw Materials" weight system has been greatly simplified and a new "Raw Materials Options" dialog has been added, enabling raw material weights to be managed much more simply and resulting weight estimates to be seen more easily.
• The Audio ToolSet tools' "Symbol"/"Library" system has been refined, making the feature much more straight-forward to use.
• The tools now take advantage of the Vectorworks® Resource Selector, allowing you to download and use Cloud-based Resources (like speakers and Textures) on-the-fly.

 

For current license-holders, updates are available free-of-charge for licenses purchased on or after March 1, 2019.  For older licenses, we believe that you'll find our upgrade offers to continue to be quite generous.  All license pricing (new and upgrade) remains unchanged relative to last year.

 

See our VW Tools page for more info..  Feel free to Message me directly if you have questions regarding the tools.

[C. Andrew Dunning]

A regular question...which I received again yesterday...is along the lines of "With the release of the new VW version, what is different in the Landru Design version of the tools?" I'd offer 4 things, 1 regarding all of the tools and 3 regarding specific tools:

 

1) All of the tools work in all versions of VW, 2018>2021 - whether you own Spotlight, Designer, or Fundamentals. This means that, as long as everyone on your team has current licenses for our tools, instances of our objects work equally well, regardless of everyone having the same VW version.

 

2) All of the video tools offer 3D Text blocks, meaning you can display select data (like LED array size and make-up) superimposed over the array's image.

 

3) VS4-LED includes on-the-fly weight estimating, allowing you to input a single panel's weight and get an estimate of an array's overall and distributed weight.

 

4) SoftGoods 2 has a "Weights From Raw Specifications" mode that allows you to enter spec. for fabric, pipe, chain, track rollers, etc. and be given an estimate of the curtain's an array's overall and distributed weight - both of which change as you re-size the object. Also, SoftGoods 2 has the same "Text Bubble" feature that some of you have seen in the audio tools.

 

 

 

I hope this helps those of you who are asking...