AutoTURN Online - does anybody use it?

[Tom W.]

I needed to check my site for articulated lorry access so spent a bit of time investigating AutoTURN Online, registering an account, preparing + sending a drawing to the website, etc + then was a bit disappointed to find there were only three vehicles at my disposal + they were all cars! The simulator looked really good + would have been perfect for my purposes but I can't justify paying £99 for a month's subscription just so I can access a vehicle suited to my needs (an articulated lorry) for an hour or two's work. It just feels like if something is included as a tool with the software it needs to be slightly more flexible to use than this to be a worthwhile feature. Or perhaps plenty of other people are using it in the free form + getting benefit from it? I don't know, maybe I'm just bitter because I didn't get to drive a HGV around my model... 🙂

[unearthed]

I use two different tools for this:

 

For cars I use the freeware https://www.glamsen.se/BricsTurn.htm which uses my install of BricsCAD as an engine

 

I have the spreadsheet this is written for

https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=engschmecart

You probably know, but truck turning is quite complicated to work out

[Jeff Prince]

@Tom W. I don't do this frequently enough to justify a software solution, and I do a fair amount of site design and layout.

When needed, I lay out the travel path by hand using common conventions and templates.  If it's really specialized or particularly tight, I have the Civil Engineer run a travel simulation of my design as part of their services.

 

In terms of AutoTurn charging for their services, they gotta paid like the rest of us, though they could do a better job of explaining their charges before becoming a customer.  Their website is not exactly forthcoming with the information until you click on their buy hook, kinda shady IMHO.

[Tom W.]

22 minutes ago, jeff prince said:

In terms of AutoTurn charging for their services, they gotta paid like the rest of us

 

Sure but then maybe VW should bill the tool as a free sampler rather than a fully-fledged part of the tool set.

 

To quote VW Help: "Swept path analysis is a specialty of Transoft Solutions Inc., creators of AutoTURN Online. Vectorworks and Transoft have partnered to make this solution available to Vectorworks designers."

 

Sure, but only if you're interested in three particular models of car.

 

If instead of three fairly similar cars you were offered a choice between one car, one medium truck + one large lorry then it would just be a lot more useful as it would allow you to compare access in different scenarios, albeit it in a fairly general way. If you needed a different vehicle or a specific model then fine, you can subscribe + carry out really detailed analysis. But at the moment the VW tool seems of limited use, hence my wondering how many other people were using it regularly + benefitting from it. 

 

[Jeff Prince]

21 minutes ago, Tom W. said:

Sure but then maybe VW should bill the tool as a free sampler rather than a fully-fledged part of the tool set.

I agree with you @Tom W..  I could never treat my clients the way software companies treat us, nor would I want to.

Unfortunately, it seems every software vendor is moving towards subscriptions, backdoor "in app purchases", and other marketing hooks to augment their revenue.  Imagine what they are doing with your data...

[Tom W.]

It appears with VW2024 we have free access to the full library of 1000+ vehicles:

 

 

For 5 months that is...

[LDraminski]

Hello all,

We are looking for customers who use Autoturn as part of their workflow.  Can you please reply here if you are familiar with the platform and use it for your projects?

Thanks so much!

Lee

[unearthed]

I have a desktop solution (see my comment upthread), but I would like to use AutoTurn but it needs to support all VW users, including older versions (or at least back to 2016), I probably have a vehicle situation about once a year, anything from cars to articulated trucks / B-Train system. As a service could be worthwhile but bot too many hundred of dollars. 

 

Many of us want to avoid subscription models. I often live remotely and need desktop tools for reliability.

[twk]

On 9/18/2023 at 2:49 AM, Tom W. said:

It appears with VW2024 we have free access to the full library of 1000+ vehicles:

 

 

For 5 months that is...

Hmm, this was for 2023 before 2024 came out correct?

 

Has anyone got the free promo to work? it isn't clear in the customer portal.

It says click promo code, but that just takes you to a help file location on loggin in. No promo code provided.

 

@Gunther any idea how to test this?

Cheers and happy new years!

 

[Gunther]

18 hours ago, twk said:

Hmm, this was for 2023 before 2024 came out correct?

 

Has anyone got the free promo to work? it isn't clear in the customer portal.

It says click promo code, but that just takes you to a help file location on loggin in. No promo code provided.

 

@Gunther any idea how to test this?

Cheers and happy new years!

 

@twkWhen you click on the, "Get Promotion Code" button, the following is returned:    get-autoturn.vectorworks.net   once you've created an account, I suspect this is your promotion code.  You should also receive an email with the promotion code.

[twk]

@Gunther no place to enter promo code, and no email received either.

Keen to see if anyone has actually got the promo to work.

[LDraminski]

@twk there is no promotion code, you must access Autoturn within Vectorworks as directed by the link to the help menu.  If you don't have an account, you register one 'inside' Vectorworks, or if you already have an account you simply login.  All vehicles should be enabled for free if you access Autoturn in this manner.

[twk]

Works now, cheers @LDraminski

[Christiaan]

2 hours ago, twk said:

Works now, cheers @LDraminski

Let us know how it goes.