audioviual integrator tools please

[ro2]

Hello

I work in France in the integration of audiovisual installation (sound, video, light). I use vectorworks spotlight and connectcad. I have to renew my service offer, but I have a problem.

Vectorworks puts a lot of energy into sticking to the AV rental market and less for integration buiness.

 

-the cable tools are not configurable: choice of connector, cable (as with the connectcad preferences), start point, end point, the goal is to make a cable book for the subcontractors.

 

-I do a lot of sound PA and it is not possible to magnetize the cable with chain cable on loudspeakers, the goal is to make hp lines (all the line has the same ID)

 

-the cable tray tool is strange, a cable tray does not look like a line, it has a width, a wing height.

 

in short I find that the software is more oriented for rental and not much hope in the roadmap (truck tool!!! before cable).

why pay for tools that are not suitable.

thank you

[syber_jedi]

I work for an integrator as well and we are looking to switch away from 4 software packages to Vectorworks with connectCAD. Do you still feel integrator needs are not being thought of? I'd love to know if your view has changed or if you have found workarounds. 

[Conrad Preen]

Hi @ro2

 

Reading your comments I realise that my French would certainly fall far short of your English. But there are many aspects to what you say that are lost in translation. So here's what I propose. Send me your thoughts in French as a personal message and I will find someone who can help me understand.

 

In as much as I can understand the points raised owing to the language barrier, let me reply:

 

"the cable tools are not configurable..." are we talking about Spotlight Cable Tools or ConnectCAD? I would say that in ConnectCAD one can configure all the parameters mentioned. I'm happy to explain how. Perhaps the online help in French is not well-translated?

 

"not possible to magnetize the cable with chain cable on loudspeakers" - I can only guess at the meaning here - are we talking about specific support for 100v line speakers?

 

"the cable tray tool is strange" - there is no cable tray tool ! - there is a cable path / cable route tool which provides a way to establish the length of cables in an installation. In fact you can edit the profile group of cable paths to give them width and height if you like. But it is not a published feature - and here's why... Most of the time audio-visual contractors do not design cable tray systems in a detailed way. Electrical contractors do that. Modelling cable trays ( and ducts and conduit ) is a whole other story. To do this properly it wouldn't be enough just to have tray-like objects, you would need to be able to inventory all the parts needed like bends, joins etc. Quite simply that involves entering a whole new market. You can understand that we have to draw the line somewhere.

 

Obviously it is a concern for us that you feel this way. However in fairness I must also point out that many integrators find our products extremely useful and now cannot imagine life without them. @syber_jedi ConnectCAD which is my invention has been on the market for around 20 years. Our entire basis is in integration - in fact we are often criticised for not supporting rental !!! Does anyone really think that ConnectCAD would have survived so long if it was "not suitable" as suggested above?

 

Conrad

[Conrad Preen]

@ro2Dear Rodolphe,

 

From a conversation yesterday I gather it is you. As you are aware from the many years we have known each other, I have always listened very carefully to what you have to say. But do realise that we have to please a very large number of people simultaneously, and keep our product simple and approachable to newcomers. That as you can imagine is a difficult path to tread. I believe that ConnectCAD does a good job overall. If you have found that other software does a better job do let me know.

 

And again do please to write to me in French so that your issues are stated as clearly as possible. I will find help in our company to interpret. There is no need to have problems communicating.

 

Regarding 100v line speaker systems, you may not know that you can use ConnectCAD schematic tools at any scale. Perhaps this will help. If you start with an empty document and import your floor plans at their normal scale, you can then start using our schematic tools directly on those layers. The trick is to set the snap grid to a suitable size first - for 1:50 I suggest using 125mm grid. Then as you create devices they will come out at sensible sizes and spacings. You can connect them up with circuits and use the perimeter of the circuits directly as a length estimate. All this works because as ConnectCAD imports its symbols from default content they get scaled to match the current snap grid.

 

I think you might find this particular workflow a big help for your PA designs. Let me know if I'm right. @AChekir FYI

 

It is not very motivating when someone denigrates the work of our team and discourages others from buying our product ! But we are Vectorworks, and we do not allow this to affect our commitment to supporting your work as designer.

 

Sincerely yours

 

Conrad