CC Sep-Oct 2023

SOFTWARE focus
Limitless creativity
Among a number of new enhancements, Vectorworks 2024 introduces significant changes to design
workflows and other productivity tools, making them more efficient yet simpler to use
Doing more with less effort - isn't
that everybody's aim?
Vectorworks' latest iteration,
Vectorworks 2024, shows us one way in
which that could be achieved. Its
release coincides with upcoming
enhancements to other Vectorworks
applications, besides Architect. They
include Landmark, Spotlight, Design
Suite and Fundamentals, along with
2024 versions of ConnectCAD,
Braceworks and Vision.
According to Dr. Biplab Sarkar,
Vectorworks CEO, "Vectorworks 2024
represents a significant move forward
in integrating our tools into specific
design workflows. By taking a holistic
and high-level approach, we work hard
to ensure that our software aligns
seamlessly with the natural processes
of designers." Explaining how
Vectorworks is aiming at enhancing
users' workflows, he added, "from
ideation to final execution, this latest
version has been carefully crafted to
ensure new tools and existing features
work together harmoniously to diminish
disruptions and enhance productivity."
ENHANCED USER INTERFACE
The updated and modernised user
interface really epitomises the latest
version and makes workflows more
efficient and easier to customise. The
reorganised View and Mode bars bring
a wide range of tools to the forefront,
allowing users to decide how to
organise tools and shortcuts for easy
access. Using the new pop-up view bar
settings and quick preference options,
they can also modify the placing and
look of view bars. Customers can also
choose between dark and light
appearance for their overall interface
for both Windows and macOS
operating systems.
Another massive productivity gain is
the ability to save custom viewport
settings as "styles", allowing users to
save them in the Resources Manager,
making them easily transferable
between viewports on different sheets
or project files. It enables them to reuse
their favourite styles for different design
or presentation scenarios and cuts out
the tedium of replicating viewport
settings and errors creeping in.
With increased collaboration on larger
and more complex projects, the ability
to share real-time model data and
modifications to a model has become
more relevant, hence Vectorworks
rebuilding its Project Sharing feature to
ensure project data and geometry is
always current in a project file. Project
Sharing+ now tracks every change,
every time. Shared project files,
available to all authorised users to
access the project data, will find
changes to their working files (.vwxw)
will reliably save to the shared project
file (.vwxp). The improved update will
substantially improve the reliability of
shared 3D models regardless of its size.
Besides being able to leverage
preferred styles to speed up designs,
the new version of Vectorworks
provides users with high quality realtime
rendering using the improvements
to the Shaded rendering mode, which
now include shadow casting and the
addition of camera settings to allow
users to define depth of field, exposure
and bloom and other real-world
camera-like effects.
Improving BIM and other digital
design workflows is another key aspect
of Vectorworks 2024. Referencing data
from native Excel files reduces manual
steps which usually incorporate the risk
of user input error, resulting in better
connectivity to external data and a new
avenue for designers to enhance their
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September/October 2023