First a Few Notes About Vectorworks

Vectorworks is the all-around CAD program for architects, landscape architects, civil engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, theater lighting designers and design in general. From the standpoint of graphics, Vectorworks can be a one stop shop for an architectural office.  It’s a design tool, a production tool and a rendering tool that can also be used for most of the graphic layouts an architect might need.

Vectorworks is well regarded for its short learning curve compared to other CAD programs. Design can be done all in 3D and those 3D drawings will be or can be the same drawings that become the 2D drawings making up the production drawing set.  Client presentations can be rendered printouts, animations, walk-throughs, or even real time views of a 3D model taken on one’s laptop to a client meeting.  And if one needs to do a graphic presentation, a competition board for example, pictures, text, 2D and 3D drawings can all be composed and printed right in the program.

Vectorworks 2011

Nemetschek North America changed its name last year to Nemetschek Vectorworks. Most in the industry, including its users, saw that as a good sign–a sign that they really want to identify with it (the Vectorworks brand) and thus make it the best they can.

The biggest bit of news in Vectorworks 2011 is that they have replaced the rendering engine in Renderworks with the Cinema 4D render engine.  And they have created an easy integration with the actual Cinema 4D program.  This is a really big improvement especially for anyone wanting to take their models to a very high level. The company claims a 5 to 7 times increase in speed. However, we did not verify this in any tests in this review.

The other big feature change is what they call 2D/3D integration.  Vectorworks has for a long time been a very flexible program allowing one to create just about any 3D form.  But now with this integration of 2D and 3D the program is even more flexible and easier to use for preliminary design.  I know there are people who design in SketchUp and import into Vectorworks. Vectorworks’ new modeling technology, with its improved Push/Pull tool, will begin to enable experienced SketchUp and Vectorworks users to simply model all in Vectorworks 2011. We will spend some time digging into the new 2D/3D integration and modeling features as well as many other improvements in the full review.

New Improved 3D Environment

There are some stunning improvements to the new unified 2D/3D environment in Vectorworks 2011. The most important is the way 2D objects can now be drawn in 3D views, complete with text creation and editing abilities.

Most experienced Vectorworks users will delight in the ability and flexibility to manipulate planar objects in various 3D views. Architects and engineers for example might develop connection details in axon views complete with dimensions and extruded connections and members. (see images 01 – 03)

01 - The new unified 2D/3D environment allows all 2D objects, including hatches, fills and gradients inside objects to be planar objects which can be displayed in 3D.

02 - In order to maintain associative dimensions one must associate the dimension to the 2D planar object prior to it forming the basis of a 3D object.

03 - This axon view was actually rotated. Notice how the text and leader lines exist in 3D. They were drawn on the workplane which was set to the face of the column.

Vectorworks 2011 allows you to work with text blocks in 3D just like in 2D. One caveat however. If you create a viewport of a 3D view or 3D object, you cannot place text in 3D in the annotation layer of the viewport. Therefore, you must first add that text on a design layer prior to the creation of the viewport. That is the method for establishing a detail like above. (see third image above).

Vectorworks 2011 now allows you to utilize, view and edit fills, gradients and hatches in isometric views. This will greatly expand the possibilities for presentation drawings.

Each session is a free one-hour long webcast that will show you Vectorworks 2010 and how to save valuable time accomplishing various tasks and processes. Some of the topics for this series include:

• Unified 3D modeling environment
• Use of new Dimensional Constraint Manager from Siemens PLM
• New architectural and landscape architectural design features
• New rendering functionality
• Key new usability changes, all built upon the Siemens Parasolid modeling kernel

The schedule of events is:

• Vectorworks Architect with Renderworks – March 23 – register here
• Vectorworks Spotlight with Renderworks – March 23 – register here
• Vectorworks Landmark with Renderworks – March 24 – register here
• Vectorworks Fundamentals with Renderworks – March 24 – register here

For more information on Vectorworks 2010 series products go here.

Key New Features in Vectorworks 2010

We have already covered several new items in other reports and will cover some items more thoroughly later. However, here are the key new features in version 2010:

• New Unified View 3D Environment — makes working in 3D easier
• New DCM – New dimensional constraint manager adds key parametrics technology licensed from Siemens PLM Software
• Further Parasolid integration – the program is now nearly all Parasolid modeling kernel based. (we will have more details on this in future report)
• Planar Graphics – new 2D graphics to 3D integration technology
• Dramatically improved 3D Snapping based on Parasolid tech
• New DWG, IFC and SKP file supports
• New Rendering features and support for 3D decals
• New hatching editing functionality
• New stair features and much more…

Overall there are 80 new key features in the new Vectorworks 2010. This includes a dramatically better help environment based on Adobe Air. You can learn more and watch some of these new features in action at their website here: www.nemetschek.net or http://www.nemetschek.net/upgrade/

“An issue with many folks,” said Flaherty, “is they don’t have two or three days to devote to travel and an all-day conference event.” “With this event we are able to reach far more key people and that in turn gets us greater high-level feedback.”

Raising the Technology Bar

Key feedback is more important than ever for this company as Nemetschek North America has developed specialized internal teams devoted to performance and stability. Vectorworks itself has been in a state of some fundamental re-engineering since the integration of the Parasolid modeling kernel technology that was introduced in version 2009. 

In this version Vectorworks 2010 introduces further technology that comes from its partnership with Siemens PLM Software in the form of parametric technology that generates the DCM (dimensional constraint management) system. Architosh will be looking at the DCM in a more detailed report coming up. 

This version also has nearly all of the program’s modeling technology based on the Parasolid modeling kernel. 

A Sophisticated Platform for BIM

Sean Flaherty, CEO, has expressed that the company has been devoting quite a bit of resources towards these re-engineering efforts. The company is not without some creative ideas for how to make BIM work better, but they need the foundation of the program to be right for the features they are thinking about. 

“This re-engineering is important,” said Flaherty, “because we want to make sure we don’t build features on top of an unsophisticated platform.” “Parasolid gives us the most capable platform in the industry to build great features on.”

“We see ourselves as the makers of a design-centric BIM (building information modeling) product.” Flaherty noted. “We want our customers to be able to represent any imaginable geometry they can think of.”

In addition to the Parasolid kernel work that has been going on behind the scenes of the software, opening up and exposing new capabilities within the program, there are several interesting new features that Nemetschek North America have implemented that offer architects the design freedom and flexibility they need. 

Key New Features

One such key feature that is modeling oriented is the new methods for “wall sculpting” introduced in version 2010. You can now add or subtract forms from intelligent walls and these new formal changes become one with the behavior of the wall. Good examples include piers and architectural protrusions or subtractions. 

01 - New wall sculpting capabilities in Vectorworks 2010.

Another key feature that touches on 3D is the new Planar Graphics capability. Vectorworks 2010 makes it easy to integrate your 3D BIM model–or modeling in general–with 2D graphics. This creates a rich opportunity for new presentation methods. 

Looking at the Product Line and the Future

As a BIM product aiming its guns at the top BIM competitors in the world, we wondered if there were any plans for MEP and Structural solutions under the Vectorworks brand name. It turns out there aren’t any. 

“We are not moving to analysis of structures,” said Sean Flaherty, CEO, “because we see this as part of the solutions available within the BIM community.” “What we want to focus on is making sure we have great interoperability.”

IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) and excellent file interoperability are more key to the Vectorworks 2010 product line. “Vectorworks as a BIM solution is more focused on architectural needs,” said Flaherty. “And we have a lot of structural engineers as customers, but they use Vectorworks in tandem with dedicated analysis programs.”

The company’s industry product line-up is not changing any time soon, said Flaherty. Nemetschek’s strong markets center around architecture, landscape design and entertainment and lighting, which is served by Spotlight. 

Interestingly, Flaherty noted that while the global economy has hurt AEC markets hard worldwide, thereby affecting AEC CAD software makers, the entertainment industry has not followed the same trend. “Our Vectorworks Spotlight” product has actually seen growth this past year.” said Flaherty. “Clearly the world still needs its entertainment.”

To learn more about Vectorworks visit them here.

“We continue to get great feedback from our users,” says Mark Farnan, Director of Software Development at Nemetschek North America. “And, the error reporting option in the Vectorworks Preferences dialog box has allowed us to quickly identify and address stability issues.”

Currently, Service Pack 4 is available only for professional licenses as a downloadable updater. All other license types will be available in the next few weeks. To install the Service Pack, go to the About Vectorworks dialog box in the Vectorworks 2009 application and click Check for Updates.

Vectorworks 2009 was released on September 15, 2008, and has won wide praise for its  adoption of the Parasolid modeling kernel as a new fundamental core technology. To learn more visit them here: www.nemetschek.net

“Developing software is an always-evolving process,” says Mark Farnan, Director of Software Development at Nemetschek North America. “Our users play a major role in informing our engineers of their priorities. We’re particularly appreciative that many users have enabled the error reporting option on the Session pane of the Vectorworks Preferences dialog box; this has allowed us to identify and address stability issues much more quickly.”

Vectorworks 2009 was released back in September of 2008 and is the first Vectorworks product based on the latest Parasolid modeling kernel. Service Pack 3 is available for download for all licensed users. To install the Service Pack, go to the About Vectorworks dialog box in the Vectorworks 2009 application and click Check for Updates.

For more information: www.nemetschek.net

Parasolid version 21

The new modeling kernel software has recently made news in the Mac computing landscape by being incorporated as the new kernel technology in Nemetschek North America’s globally popular Vectworks 2009 CAD product line, as well as powering the next version of Siemen PLM Software’s NX 6 for Mac.

Siemens PLM Software's Parasolid v21 - leading industrial strength geometry modeling (kernel) component software now powers key CAD and PLM products on the Macintosh (Mac OS X) platform.

Version 21 of Parasolid includes many enhancements to 3D modeling technology capabilities, which will drive enhancements to the more than 350 leading end-user CAD, CAM, CAID, PLM and BIM licensees powering their software solutions with Parasolid. Key areas of improvement include:

• Local operations – Several enhancements have been made to allow significantly more complex changes while performing local edits of geometry. For example, options have been added to automatically indicate desired behavior when features such as holes and bosses interact as the result of a local editing operation.
• Enhanced surface creation – Sophisticated sheet and surface creation and manipulation capabilities have been extended. For example, users can perform sweep operations with enhanced control of rotation as well as with more complex configurations of guide curves. In addition, users can perform loft operations between profiles while twisting along a path.
• Application support – A new diagnostic mechanism has been added and the tools that help application developers track the creation, editing and deletion of entities have been further developed to provide more support for sophisticated undo and rollback algorithms.

For general information on Parasolid, visit this page: http://www.siemens.com/plm.

The Interview

AFR: Dr. Sarkar, can you tell me how you went about making the decision on Parasolid, when did this take place?

BS: Back when I joined the company coming from PTC (Parametric Technology Corporation) my focus was on making Vectorworks strong in modeling. At that time we adopted geometric modeling kernel technology from SMLib. In 2002 Gary Crocker, a co-founder of SMLib, broke off from that group and formed IntegrityWare taking his solid modeling libraries with him. We continued to utilize these libraries until our decision a few years ago to look for a better modeling kernel technology.

AFR: So you were using both SMLib and Solids++?

BS: The technology stayed the same, just the companies changed.

AFR: Tell me how you and Sean Flaherty approached your superiors in Munich about the idea of adopting Parasolid. I’m assuming you needed some approval given the cost considerations, right?

BS: Yes…(laughs). Sean and myself went to Munich and broached the subject with the CEO who at that time was a real technology driven person. We didn’t go ask straight out, we brought it up. It turned out they were very interested with this idea.

AFR: So they said go for it….

BS: Absolutely. They are also interested with addressing the same issues we were having in Vectorworks with ALLPLAN.

AFR: So nearly two and a half years ago you did this. Who else was on your short-list…did you look at Spatial’s ACIS?

BS: We looked at ACIS but in the end we believed Parasolid was the better choice. Everyone uses it, it’s even used in ProE and CATIA.

AFR: Wait a minute, doesn’t ProE and CATIA use in-house kernels?

In addition, Parasolid V19.1 is the first release to support Apple’s 64-bit Mac OS X Leopard (operating system), leveraging the power of 64-bit technology to increase the productivity of the creative process.

Siemens began supporting Apple’s Leopard OS at NX version 5, as reported exclusively here on Architosh.

“As the developer and supplier of the world’s leading and most respected 3D component modeling software, we feel an obligation to our customers to continue to set the standards for quality and functionality in the industry,” said Bruce Feldt, vice president, Open Tools for Siemens PLM Software.” Parasolid V19.1 continues to push forward the capabilities of solid modeling in order to support applications that enable engineers and designers to express their design intent and creativity through intuitive processes.”