Real People Props for Vectorworks

A collection of props for Vectorworks using pictures of real people.  To use them just load the file and select the symbol to place it in your drawing.  Props take up very little file space and they always face the rendered view.  To purchase them click on the link at the right; the cost is $49.95 for 35 props.  Use just a few of them once and the savings in time over making your own pays for them and you can use them as many times as you like.

Review of Vectorworks Cloud Service

With some notes about Hyperlinks

By John Helm Architect

It seems the whole computer world has become somewhat cloudy these days.  There is a move by most of the giants in the software business to put their programs in the cloud, in other words on some big server or servers in some unknown place.   I say it’s cloudy because it’s all in a transition phase and I think there will be some resistance on the part of users to commit themselves to having to continually pay an ongoing fee in order to use particular software.  Vectorworks (VW) hasn’t gone to the cloud with their CAD program yet but they have introduced a yearly subscription which entitles users to yearly updates and some special programs such as their online cloud service.

I will join the complainers and say right off that I think it’s too bad that a handy program such as this Cloud Service can only be used by subscribers to their “Select Service”, which is their yearly subscription service to the VW programs and not cheap. 

So what is their cloud service.  In a few words it is a service whereby a VW user can upload drawing files and then have them available anytime, anywhere on any computer or even on smart phones and tablets.  It’s a great idea, one that really changes the way architects and designers can work with clients, and contractors while on the go.  Assuming you are a subscriber you download a little program and install it on your office computer.  Then you open up the program log in with your user name and password then upload any files you like.  The service then converts the files to PDF and will also render your 3D work online.  Pretty cool right.  The rendering service comes with a price.  It’s based on a point system.  Each user of Select Service starts out with a yearly 100 points and more can be purchased.  You can avoid the charge if 3D views are rendered and saved before uploading.  And there are no points lost for and 2D work uploaded.  At this time I don’t know how points are charged or how much additional points cost.

The whole program even though it works on both Mac and PC seems to have been first designed for the MAC, which is kind of a reversal, and then made to work on the PC.  That should make the MAC users proud.  So what can we do with this?  Once you upload a file you can go to the special Cloud web site, log in and have access to your files remotely.  You can view them, download them, print them and share them.  You cannot revise them online.  You can however download or share both the PDF and the actual Vectorworks VWX files.  But only the Select Service subscriber has the ability to upload revised files.  Which brings up an interesting point, it’s very easy to create a PDF file while in VW and there are a number of other Cloud servers out there many of which are free to use.  So you might ask yourself why do I need this.  Good point and a reason why I think it should be free for all users of VW. 

There is a nifty little addition to the system which they call Nomad.  This is the app, originally made for the Ipad and Iphone, see what I mean about MACs coming first, but now available also as an Android app.   With the app after logging in, you can also make notes, measure distance, and angles and upload the notes, etc. to the cloud for later use back in the office.  That’s a handy tool, too bad it doesn’t also work on the website version.  Hopefully that will be added later as it’s much easier to use on a laptop vs a smartphone.  It’s also only available to the Select Service subscriber so you couldn’t give it to the contractor for example to use for asking questions or highlighting problem areas online.

Here’s a quick look at how to use the Cloud service once uploaded

   

Now I wanted to talk a bit about Hyperlinks.  I wrote about them in my review of VW 2013; in fact I wrote that they could revolutionize the way architects work.   I am sticking with that but with some new reservations.  At the writing I had not used the hyperlink tool.  I imagined that making them would be similar to the way they are made in other programs, such as Microsoft Word, that is you just for example select a bit of text then select hyperlink.  A dialogue pops up where you write in where you want to go with the hyperlink.  Instead VW has a much more awkward way of making them.  You have to open up the tool then select create a new symbol then select an icon to represent it and enter the destination of the link then save it and then you can paste it onto the drawing.  I suppose there is some advantage in that you can use the symbol once created as often as you like.  However even that seems to require a bit of a learning curve to effectively use it.  Hopefully future versions will make this tool more intuitive as I think it can be very useful.

Using hyperlinks in a file put up on a cloud presents some different issues.  For example if you access the PDF file in the cloud from the web browser you can click on a hyperlink and it takes you were it’s supposed to go.  But if you use the app to access the file nothing happens.  That’s too bad since it’s out in the field where those links on a tablet might be most useful.

In conclusion, the cloud service is a great addition to the VW program.  It will make the architect and designer’s life easier. In fact this addition along with the Hyperlinks tool (assuming they make it easier to use) are the type of features which have the potential to really change the way we work in the office and in the field.  We might imagine a day when a digital file becomes more important than the paper prints which today are the general end product of our work.  A building construction document might mainly consist of a BIM with links to floor plans, details, installation videos and manufacturer’s specifications that can be used in the field on laptops and tablets even carried in the tool belts of the onsite workers.  With today’s ease of setting up a jobsite wireless LAN with internet access every person on the job might have access to every bit of project detail whenever needed without having to sort through plans often only avail after stopping work, walking back to the construction office and waiting for a chance to look at the plans.  Think of it, architects, no more excuses for not following that important detail you spent hours studying.
This addition of VW Cloud service has a way to go before offering all of the above but it is a worthy start.

 

PRO’S

Files can be loaded onto the cloud server and are available anywhere for viewing and printing.

Files are easily synchronized from computer to cloud server.

Using Nomad on a tablet or smartphone one can view files anywhere and can make markups and notes that are automatically saved onto the cloud server and downloaded to the office computer.

Using the app dimensions and angles can be checked in the field.

Hyperlinks offer a chance to streamline access to sheets, details, websites and more.

Potentially, using a jobsite wireless LAN anyone with a tablet, smartphone or laptop could instant access to referenced plans, details, internet links and even how to videos.  This isn’t so much a feature of the Could service now but a feature of having a PDF file available.  

CON’s

In order to use the service one has to subscribe to the yearly update service, Select Service, which is not cheap.

Some of the potential is lost in the present state where access is limited to the Select Service subscriber.

Much of the same things can be done using a free cloud service.

Downloading files to a smartphone or tablet can consume a lot of time and file space.

The program is not very intuitive.

Hyperlinks are time consuming and confusing to set up.

Tools available on smartphones and tablets are not available using a laptop.

Links:

www.vectorworks.net The VW main site

www.vectorworks.net/cloudservices/ The VW Cloud website

http://serviceselect.vectorworks.net/ The Service Select website

http://architosh.com/2013/03/product-review-vectorworks-architect-2013/ Review of VW2013

www.hm-architects.com  Our office website

www.helpudesign.blogspot.com Our blog about design and architecture

 

Review of Vectorworks 2013 at Architosh

Click on the link to read my review of Vectorworks 2013

http://architosh.com/2013/03/product-review-vectorworks-architect-2013/

Vectorworks Review on Architosh

Have a look at my review of Vectorworks 2013 on Architosh

http://architosh.com/2013/03/product-review-vectorworks-architect-2013/

What Architects do in their spare time

Besides going to museums, trade shows, seeking out wonderful buildings to study and appreciate, architects tend to like to cook.  Having spent most of the last 7 years living and cooking in Italy I decided to write a couple of cookbooks.  Check them out here:

http://booksbyhelmmelacini.blogspot.it/

You might also like my book on how to use PowerPoint to produce your own book. 

VW 2013 review comments

Give me your comments about the review, is it too one sided, did I leave out your favorite new feature, are you having problems with the program, etc. 

REVIEW OF VECTORWORKS 2013

REVIEW OF VECTORWORKS 2013

By John Helm, Architect

www.hm-architects.com

Vectorworks (VW) is a wonderful program and every year it gets even better.  What makes it great is its ease of learning, its flexibility and its wide range of dedicated fields.   It is truly a designers program that can be used to design just about anything, from stage sets, to buildings, furniture, landscapes, theatre lighting, and even industrial products.  A preliminary design can be taken without using any other programs all way to construction drawings, and a detailed BIM model that can be exported to most other programs using IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) and several other export options. 

The first thing I want to mention is an area that does not depend so much on the program itself. 

Customer Service

Let’s talk about customer service.  CAD programs are complicated and no matter how much time we have used a program or how much study we do questions and issues still come up.  VW has made it easy to resolve issues, with a good amount of phone up customer service.  But what I am most impressed with is their continuing support of the online user technical forums and the one that I have used for many years now the Vectorworks User Discussion List.  I subscribe to the digest which arrives in my email nearly every day and includes questions asked by users and user responses.  What is so impressive is that these lists and forums are actually read by the technical staff and managers of the company.  Sometimes when they see a need they reply. For example I recently posted a message about importing dwg files and got a response from the person directly responsible for that part of the programing.

80 New Features

There are 80 new features or improvements this year.  That’s what they say, I haven’t actually counted them. The best way to find out about them is to visit the VW website.  There you will find videos and lists pointing them all out.  I will just write about a few that impressed me the most.  And towards the end of this review I will mention a few of the things they didn’t fix or do yet.

Just Call me Frank

Gehry that is, here is my favorite new feature.  You know all those nice buildings he does with the warped surfaces requiring the use of a super high end computer and CAD program.  Well now you can come pretty close to doing the same thing or even do the same thing, with little ol VW.  Yes really, the new surface array feature lets one put windows, structural elements, surface treatments or even pictures of your kids on just about any surface shape you can come up with.  Create a surface using, an arc, circle, oval, polygon, polyline, rectangle, rounded rectangle or nurbs surface, then create a second object to be placed across the surface make a few decisions and clicks of the mouse and instantly the design is distributed across the surface.  One can then still make various changes and the array changes accordingly.  Once done the original surface can be left in place or turned off to create a transparent affect.   This really opens up some possibilities not just in creating exciting new designs for buildings, but in many other areas like furniture design, interior design and product design.

 

 

Surface array, one with the surface on and the other off

Auto Hybrid

This a great tool for anyone doing complex objects, walls, etc. and drawing them in 3D. The normal plan view would cover up too much of the ground plane.  The Auto Hybrid tool lets you cut the object at any level you chose and only show what is below the cut line.  And if you make the hybrid view into a symbol only the hybrid view shows up in plan view, but the whole object shows up in 3D.  I wish one could take an existing symbol and turn it into a hybrid symbol.  I tried it and it seems it can’t be done, but one can always edit the 2D component of a normal symbol.  It just takes longer.

 

                     

Two plan views of the surface array objects show above.  The one on the left is how it would show up normally and on the right the Hybrid view with a cut line at 2’ above the ground line.

 

Non-blocking RenderingThis is a feature that lets you keep on working while your view ports are rendering.  It has potential, but you can imagine that with a weak computer everything is going to slow down.  Anyway it’s high on the list of time savers given the proper computer. 

Hyperlinks

If you use the internet, who doesn’t, you are familiar with hyperlinks.  This feature has the potential for really changing the way we produce drawings.  Of course they don’t work on paper prints.  I don’t really need to point that out except that it is the reason we would have to use an electronic means of distributing plans.  In the hands of the construction supervisor, for example , one can imagine the usefulness.  Click on a detail call out and you are taken directly to the detail, or click on a plumbing fixture and you are taken by the web (if connected) to the manufacturers site for installation instructions, or even a Youtube video.  Only the links calling out web pages or sheet layers can be exported in PDF files.  So there are some limits, but I suppose anyone with the VW viewer would have full use of them.  Next step -  those augmented reality glasses.  The carpenter wears them and the plans just pop up in front of him.  The architect doesn’t even need to include details for say a window installation, just refer to a detail on the manufactures web site.  A bit of dreaming, but I think this might be the most revolutionary and important thing they have going.  It seems one of those why didn’t we think of this sooner ideas.

The Clip Cube

Here is a tool that is truly amazing for any designer who regularly makes 3D models of his or her project.   For the designer it allows one to zoom in on an area and get rid of all the other parts of a building outside the boundaries of the cube.  This lets us work on an isolated area without the confusion of the rest of the building being in the way or a distraction.  For client presentations it can really be cool.  You can put the cube around the whole building for example and then move the boundaries in real time to expose various parts of the building – clip off the front to see inside, or the roof to look down to the upper floor and then clip more to see the lower floor in 3D.  Your clients will love this and you will be thrilled to do all the extra work it takes to make the inside of your model look as good as the outside – right?

 

 

Here are a couple clipped views of the house shown below.  Note that once you make the clip you can also move around the model to change the view. 

 

Create Detail Viewport

This is a nifty little time saver.  Zoom into an area of your drawing, the kitchen for example then create a viewport that is automatically referenced to the viewports drawing and sheet numbers.  Now you can annotate the viewport with callouts for the appliances, finish materials and even hyperlinks to manufacturers of the appliances, tile, etc.

 Architectural Elevations and Sections

This feature kind of snuck up on me.  I don’t see it in my version of VW 2012 and I don’t see it on the list of important new features. Turns out it was hidden away in the mechanical section and now they just added it to the View menu.  Anyway, it is the create multiple viewports command.  Quoting from the help menu, 

The Create Multiple Viewports command generates 2D drawings from a 3D model and creates up to seven viewports configured with several orthographic views and one isometric view of the model.If the command is run while on a sheet layer, the viewports are added to that sheet layer. If the command is run while on a design layer, the viewports are added to an automatically created sheet layer.

So with all the possibilities of turning on and off layers and classes and various rendering modes this makes the creation of elevations very quick. 

  

               

3D of a simple house, made in an older version of VW

 

Front hidden line elevation captured with the create multiple viewports command.  It is workable and with some adjustments in how I set it up it would probably be better.

 

BIM

If I don’t mention this I suppose the reader will wonder why.  I won’t get into it too much because there is a lot to read on the VW website.  I have been doing most of my design in 3D for some years now.  And I use the models as much as possible to create those paper drawings.  But I couldn’t say that my models are really qualified to be called true BIMs.   VW is committed to this, but I can’t say which program on the market today is the best.  At least I can say that the VW user will not be left out in the cold in this area and just may be at the leading edge.  Others more expert can make the argument.  

So these are the features that most impressed me so far, and really make this issue worth buying. 

 

Now what are some of the things they didn’t do.

Work Groups

VW is still a program best suited for the small office.  Even though there are many large firms using it, the program still requires a lot of planning and organization in order to have more than one person working on a project at a time. 

DWG/DWF Import Export

Improvements have been made in this area and depending upon the complexity of the project it is possible to pass files back and forth.  But doing much more than a one way pass to say a consulting engineer is still bound to be frustrating.  You can’t really blame all of this on VW as Autodesk is continually updating their products and always trying to make it difficult for competitors.   It is a major handicap considering the fact that the majority of architects and their consultants use AutoCAD and now Revit.  The VW people tell us that they have made big improvements, but some recent work on a very small residential project has shown me that there is still a long way to go, and if there are problems with such a small project one can imagine what would happen with a large complex one.

No more Manuals

I know it has been a while since the last one, but I wish they would bring them back.  Writing this article I opened up mine from 2008 to review some things I had forgotten how to do.  Sure I could use the help file, it is very good.  But it is just more comfortable to have a book in front of me.  And besides I don’t really like taking the laptop with me in the bathroom or to bed at night when I need something boring to help me fall asleep.  A book is still really the best way to study especially for someone just learning the program.  Digital help files are best suited for those already familiar with the program who want to learn something new or refresh their memory.  The lesson files provided must be good, I haven’t really looked at them, for students taking classes; however, I really wonder how many working users would take the time to go through a lesson.  It just seems much faster to read through something you want to learn and then just try it yourself.

Conclusion

VW continues to be what it has always been, a versatile program that can be the one program a designer needs.  It is probably the most flexible CAD program available.  Some who prefer a completely dedicated program might consider that a handicap; and for those who work in a very limited range of design options it might be true.   But for others who are into creative design and want a program that does it all it may just be the best one available.  It can be used to create everything a project needs from site plans with contour maps, pad elevations and 3D site models, to Sketchup like preliminary designs to complete construction documents and it even works well for paste up sheets of photos and scanned documents.  A landscape architect can do everything including plant lists and a stage set designer can produce his entire production with it including the lighting design.

As an architect who began his career with pencil, paper and parallel bars, I have always felt comfortable with the intuitiveness of the VW process.  I especially like the what you see is what you get aspect as well as the fact that most architectural projects end up as one file with numbered sets of sheets that become and look just like the printed sets.   One can easily scroll through the finished sheets before printing and export to PDF for client review, before issuing final drawings.  Most of these aspects of the program have been around for years.  I also appreciate the fact that VW does not force you to always design in 3D.  You can take 3D as far as it makes sense economically and then switch to 2D, or not do 3D at all.  It lets you work the way you want and the way you find most efficient; it is a bit like the fact that when we design we usually start with pen or pencil and paper, because that is often the most efficient way to get started. There are also the cloud computing services and the annual subscription services that are worth checking into.  I haven’t tried the cloud service as one has to subscribe to the annual update to be able to use it.

All the little improvements have only made the old features better  And along the way the program has grown up a lot with all the features of BIM and industry interoperability.   

As always I remind the reader that VW has furnished me with a copy of the program in order to be able to write this review.

 

Some Links

http://www.vectorworks.net/ Main site for VW

http://www.vectorworks.net/2013/index.php What’s new brochure

http://helpudesign.blogspot.it/ My architecture blog

www.hm-architects.com  Helm & Melacini Architects website

http://www.archoncad.co.nz/ Jonathan Pickup’s site for manuals and videos

http://www.panzercad.com/index.html Home of Camera Match

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What we are up to.

Things are quiet here, it's too cold to do much outside even though we have clear skies.  There is no rain in sight and no snow in the mountains.  I have finished my two cookbooks and made another little one on how to make a book using Microsoft Powerpoint.  The how to book is based on what I learned in doing one myself without any instructions.  I also included a section on how to turn the paper version into a Kindle version. 

Also last week I finished the first go around on a little remodel project in California, it's nice to be able to keep working there even if I am in Italy.  Thanksgiving was a total loss this year as we don't have the day off, the kids were all busy with school and we don't really have any local American friends.  I may cook a turkey or part of one in the next few days just to get some idea of the feeling. 

This coming week I will also finish my review of VectorWorks 2013 and send it off to interested publishers, as well as post it on my architecture blog.  And then Luisa and I will focus on starting the organization of a children's museum in Belluno.  It is an idea we have had for a long time, but now we have the backing of the city.  They don't really have any money for it, but why let that stop us.  Donations will be accepted.

Giovanni and I continue our karate classes but he is out for a couple of weeks with a broken toe.  He broke it running around the gym at last weeks Sunday karate class.  It had nothing to do with karate really, he was warming up running and stubbed it when a kid stopped in front of him. 

I am thinking that maybe I will pay more attention to the blog for a while instead always posting on facebook.  And by the way, how about clicking on those google ads you see here.  You might find something interesting.  You would be doing me a big favor as well.

Children's Museum Belluno

We are just getting started on the organization of a children's museum in Belluno, Italy.  It is a project we are starting ourselves with help.  So far all we have is the backing, in spirit only, of the city.  But it will move forward one way or another. 

The addresses below give direct access to the book locations on Amazon, no need to search.

In the US, unless you are an Amazon prime member with free shipping, order it from this site as it is the one that benefits us the most due to our own efforts at advertising.

https://www.createspace.com/3994448

Otherwise use any of the fallowing Amazon sites depending on your location:

http://tinyurl.com/9cs5byj   United States

http://tinyurl.com/9gu3z54       United Kingdom

http://tinyurl.com/9dpgyqr  Germany

http://tinyurl.com/8nag6wm France

http://tinyurl.com/98ggmex Italy

http://tinyurl.com/8v72zmt   Spain