Design Summit: Vectorworks CEO Dr. Sarkar Reveals Technology Road Map

Today, Dr. Biplab Sarkar, newly appointed CEO of Vectorworks Inc., a global leader in CAD and BIM software, offered an inside look into the future development cycle of Vectorworks for 600 plus attendees from 23 countries at the annual Vectorworks Design Summit in Chicago, Illinois.

 Visionaries and Leaders: 600 Strong in Chicago

Surrounded by visionaries from across the architecture, landscape and entertainment industries, Sarkar presented his keynote, “Leading the Future of Vectorworks Software,” where he introduced several planned developments including the Resource Manager, Structural Member Objects, Irrigation Tools, Vectorworks Analytics, Vectorworks Cloud Services for All, Vectorworks Graphics Module (VGM) performance enhancements and Web View/Virtual Reality.

“Our driving philosophy is that the customer comes first, especially with our development process. This approach to our technology life cycle delivers the tools they need to transform their workflows and dramatically impact the world of design,” Sarkar said. “Today’s presentation served as a transparent medium through which we revealed upcoming features in future releases of Vectorworks software, as well as how we intend to employ user feedback to shape ongoing development.”

01 – Dr. Biplab Sarkar, CEO of Vectorworks, on stage discussing the future of Vectorworks CAD/BIM software. More than a half million users in AEC and other industries rely on this popular product.

Learn more about the seven key features that Sarkar and several members of the company’s research and development team introduced during the keynote:

• A revamped, intuitive interface for accessing Vectorworks resources, the Resource Manager feature will enable direct browsing of resources from multiple library sources, including online libraries. Metadata tags will be attached to each resource to improve the searching, filtering and discovery of resources based on user criteria.
• The Structural Member Objects will empower designers to more easily and accurately model common structural elements. Key components of the feature include the availability of Polyline modes for creating curved structural members, the capability for interactive editing in 3D views, enhanced 2D Top/Plan representations of structural objects and interactive manipulation of a network of structural elements.
•  Irrigation Tools will aid in the design documentation and analysis of irrigation systems. These tools facilitate design by automatically performing calculations for many important factors including water pressure, water velocity, pipe sizing, gallons per minute and water coverage.
• With Vectorworks Analytics, the collected data from users who opt in to share data usage, will be used to improve the workspaces and interface of future lines of Vectorworks software. This will provide customized interface optimizations, improved data collection and analysis for diagnosing performance issues.
• Previously unavailable to everyone, the advancement of Vectorworks Cloud Services for All will allow all professionals, clients, collaborators and students to automatically view 3D scenes in the Nomad app and download files shared by other users.
•  Significant performance improvements to the Vectorworks Graphics Module (VGM) will include faster, smoother and more accurate graphics during zoom, pan and animated Top/Plan view changes. In addition, the new VGM engine will allow faster interactive drawing operations.
• Web View/Virtual Reality will offer the ability to export designs from Vectorworks software to a web-based interface that works on essentially any hardware and operating system that supports a web browser. The feature will enable game-like controls and realistic walkthrough experiences of 3D models for improved communication with clients.

The Vectorworks Design Summit concludes tomorrow, wrapping up three days of more than 30 Continuing Education opportunities, plus training, one-on-one tech support and an expo hall with headline sponsor Bluebeam® Software, Inc., along with a host of other exhibitors.

To learn more about the Vectorworks Design Summit, visit http://www.vectorworks.net/design-summit.

Architosh Analysis

Following a wonderful send-off to outgoing CEO Sean Flaherty, who now takes up a global strategic executive position for the entire Nemetschek Group, new CEO Dr. Biplab Sarkar, ran through a host of exciting future announcements for the next version of Vectorworks 2017 and beyond. While this article is just the starter—Architosh will publish more in-depth information later this week—notable highlights include new built-in VR technology to help clients and stakeholders experience a building conveniently via a web-browser and a smartphone positioned into a cardboard headset, a la, Google’s Cardboard.

Of the host of features listed above, the large audience was particularly impressed with the new Resource Manager which will streamline operations in this area of use of the program and help firms better organize internal assets for projects. On the technology front the VGM (Vectorworks Graphics Module) has been applied to Top Town/2D resulting in stunning speed improvement for things like pan and zoom. The company also showed off new irrigation tools that Dr. Sarkar said were more than five man years in the making, attacking a segment of the landscape design market that is facing increasing pressures for optimization of water resources and thus is a growing market.

Overall, the assembled participants of the Design Summit were enthused about the featured previews and gave Dr. Sarkar at the start of his talk a standing ovation for this technical strategic leadership over 16 years with the company. Dr. Sarkar made the point that in all his years in the CAD industry, he has never seen a company so connected to its customers, backing up a statement made earlier that 70 percent or more of all new features in each release are dreamed up and and driven by the customers. It is customer needs that drive this particular company which has seen tremendous growth over the past five years and expects to continue that growth with a doubling of that staff in the next four years.