Cadalyst - January 2008 - (Page 30)

cadlabsreview VectorWorks 2008 Enhancements beef up software to compete with the CAD/BIM heavyweights at a featherweight price. By Jerry Laiserin efore manga and anime, I experienced comic books and cartoons. Somewhere in the back pages of those comic books of yore there often was an advertisement featuring “a 98-pound weakling” getting sand kicked in his face by a bully at the beach. The weakling would slink off to another panel of the ad, wherein he would avail himself of the bodybuilding product being advertised and return to the beach a new man with rippling muscles — ready to take on the biggest, baddest bullies around. VectorWorks, from Nemetschek North America, never was a 98pound weakling, but it did lack some of the heavy-lifting capabilities of other players on the CAD/BIM (building information modeling) beach. However, with the newest version, VectorWorks 2008 is all pumped up and ready to take on even the biggest competitors. B Figure 1. VectorWorks 2008 introduces true reference file capabilities that bring the program up to par or beyond, compared with competing design/documentation packages. (All images courtesy of Nemetschek North America) Team Spirit In my consulting work with A /E firms, I usually find that the ability to share work efficiently within the firm is among the top two or three most important criteria when selecting a CAD/BIM tool. Very often, it is the most impor- VectorWorks 2008 A+ CAD/BIM Authoring Software A+ A+ A+ A+ A+ A B+ A A A+ Cons: Limited selection of third-party add-ons. Price: VectorWorks Architect, new seat $1595, upgrades from $445; VectorWorks Designer, new seat $1995, upgrades from $555 (add $400 per seat for bundle with RenderWorks). Nemetschek North America 866.646.4223 www.nemetschek.net This version: . . . . . . . . . . Ease of use: . . . . . . . . . . . Features: . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installation: . . . . . . . . . . Customization: . . . . . . . . Interoperability: . . . . . . . Third-party add-ons: . . . Help: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Innovation: . . . . . . . . . . . Value: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pros: Heavyweight features to complement its featherweight price. 30 tant factor. In a midsized or larger firm, this need is obvious, because most projects involve multiperson teams or shifting work assignments among a succession of project team members. However, even the smallest firms and solo practitioners might have part-time and freelance production folks pitching in on projects, and they too require some means of dividing the workload. Experienced users know that the most common way to divide the design/documentation workload — and manage project file sizes at the same time — is to parcel portions of the overall project into separate files referenced into the main project file. Thus, at increasing levels of sophistication and flexibility, AutoCAD has xrefs, MicroStation has reference files, Revit has worksets, and ArchiCAD has TeamWork. Up to and including the most-recent version 12, VectorWorks relied on what Nemetschek called workgroup referencing, which was not robust enough for managing the shared work of real teams. VectorWorks 2008 now has true referencing (figure 1), so no CAD/BIM bully can kick virtual sand in VectorWorks’ direction anymore. VectorWorks 2008’s reference file capabilities allow for solid workflow management, such that an otherwise empty drawing file can contain paths to reference files for the building core, envelope, structural elements, and so on — any or all of which can be used independently. January 2008 | cadalyst | www.cadalyst.com http://www.nemetschek.net http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - January 2008

Cadalyst - January 2008 Contents Editor's Window Cad Central Chasing the Dolphins CAD that Won’t Break the Bank AliasStudio 2008 — Design and Visualization Software VectorWorks 2008 — CAD/BIM Authoring Software Dell Precision M4300 — Mobile Workstation What’s in Store for 2008? Low- or No-Cost CAD Goliath Reinvented Doin’ the DEED Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes The Return of Hot Tip Harry

Cadalyst - January 2008

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