Vectorworks 12 Videos

[barathd]

Here is a link to some pretty good videos on the new vectorworks release
http://www.nemetschek.net/upgrade/demos.php

Enjoy

[Scott D Davis]

I know I'm biased...but I just watched the video on the "new, automatic section" feature which was far from automatic and took a dozens steps to define the layers and "layer-sheet" and viewport. Then any change to the section or geometry required the user to hit the "update" button.

I've never used Vectorworks, but that video would not make me run out and buy it.

[Andrew Dobson]

I dont think that Vectorworks is even marketed as being in any way competitive to Revit, it is more of an AutoCAD LT competitor as far as I am concerned.

We are converting a practice we have merged with from Vectorworks to AutoCAD LT and they aren't very happy about it as Vectorworks is actually a very friendly and intuitive program to use for basic drawing.

However, the videos that are produced showcase the product features really well, why cant Autodesk do something like this for Revit? It would take one employee a couple of days Max?

[blads]

I think Vectorworks is slanted towards ADT users... I know I looked at it briefly when I used ADT3.3 back in the dark ages

[Joef]

I would wager there are more people in Victoria using Vectorworks for architectural drafting than are using AutoCAD. The local design school teaches it as part of their curriculum. It's main advantage in the marketplace is that it is cheaper than AutoCAD and runs on a Mac. Cheaper is nothing to sneeze at. If you can get the job done with Vectorworks and you can tap into a source of trained people it makes a lot of sense from a business point of view. Nobody in Victoria has even heard of Revit. That's mainly because there isn't a Revit dealer on the entire island. If you want to see a live demo it is a whole day of ferry trips to and from Vancouver. It is quite a speed bump on the road to innovation.
I also saw the Vectorworks video on "live sections" and thought that having to press the update button should preclude describing the section as "live".

Joe

[hand471037]

It's main advantage in the marketplace is that it is cheaper than AutoCAD and runs on a Mac.

I sat and played with whatever the latest version was at the last Macworld. It's better than AutoCAD/ADT, but no Revit. However, it's a third the price of Revit (or less). Lots of small one-person shops use it around here.

But in regards to 'competition', the only real one out there is ArchiCAD, IMHO, and it's falling behind Revit now it seems to me...

[Wes Macaulay]

I would wager there are more people in Victoria using Vectorworks for architectural drafting than are using AutoCAD. The local design school teaches it as part of their curriculum. It's main advantage in the marketplace is that it is cheaper than AutoCAD and runs on a Mac. Cheaper is nothing to sneeze at. If you can get the job done with Vectorworks and you can tap into a source of trained people it makes a lot of sense from a business point of view. Nobody in Victoria has even heard of Revit. That's mainly because there isn't a Revit dealer on the entire island. If you want to see a live demo it is a whole day of ferry trips to and from Vancouver. It is quite a speed bump on the road to innovation.
I also saw the Vectorworks video on "live sections" and thought that having to press the update button should preclude describing the section as "live".

Joe

You're right on all points, Joe... having a stream of trained users is more important than the software itself. Still, an office full of VW users can't hold a candle to an office full of Revit users. Though at this time, an office full of Revit users is a somewhat theoretical situation even though I am seeing this change all the time.

You still have to be happy for VW users who have been asking for this for, what, eight years! Problem is, their collaboration methods are bad (xrefs get loaded into the host file, unlike in Acad/ADT) and performance is not great -- elevations take forever to generate.

[barathd]

I am not suggesting Vectorworks is competition for Revit. Interesting to see what others than Autodesk are doing with AEC software. Lot of similarity to Revit in some areas - parametrics -sure not as versatile - roofs look very superficial. Nevertheless interesting enough to warrant a glance.

[sjsl]

Having been a beta tester for a couple of years w/VW, I can honestly say they agree, Revit is their competition. Almost all improvements were based on what Revit can do and what VW needs to do to compete. They are definitely scared of Revit.

I actually did their new residential tutorial and then did it in Revit. No contest. I was so much quicker w/R it was amazing. That being said I do love all of the built-in graphic features for presentation. Revit should incoproate these into the next release.

[cadkiller]

But in regards to 'competition', the only real one out there is ArchiCAD, IMHO, and it's falling behind Revit now it seems to me...

What about Bentley Microstation? I read many articles about Microstation being used as a BIM application for design / build projects with great success.