Global design and BIM software provider Vectorworks has updated the Vectorworks 2024 product line, granting customers access to AI and virtual reality (VR) technologies through new tools. Additionally, the update features integration with L-Acoustics – Vectorworks Partner Network’s first platinum audio industry member – along with other enhancements to provide faster design workflows from start to finish.
‘By introducing these tools, we are taking a significant step forward in leveraging the power of AI and VR to enable users to explore their design concepts faster and with greater detail,’ says Vectorworks Senior Director of Rendering & Research Dave Donley. ‘We believe these features will assist our users in securing more work and ensure they can deliver projects with the highest level of precision and creativity.’
Combining the power of Vectorworks with the speed of AI powered by Stable Diffusion, users are offered the new AI Visualizer. Directly available within the Vectorworks interface, this experimental tool uses Vectorworks Cloud Services for a zero-install, uninterrupted workflow to quickly ideate illustrative concepts or create refined images using Vectorworks models from text prompts at any design stage. Designers can explore options and ideas more quickly, freeing time to focus on design concepts. Use of Vectorworks Cloud Services ensures that individual hardware limitations do not impact performance. Users can continue working on their designs uninterrupted while images are generated and private information is protected.
Vectorworks customers can now also use VR technology in their design workflows with the help of Vectorworks Odyssey, the virtual reality application based on Unity developed for Meta Quest 2 and beyond. With the app, designers and all stakeholders can experience immersive VR models with a bird’s-eye view and virtual walkthrough modes, helping them to gain better context and provide quick and thorough feedback on projects, especially during the early design phases.
Using Apple’s Room Plan framework, the Room Plan feature in Vectorworks Nomad now allows customers to quickly and more easily create accurate 3D models directly from the iOS app. The new capability to scan multiple rooms and seamlessly combine them into a single model, plus the added support for round and slanted walls, provides significant time-savings when surveying existing building or site conditions. Customers will also find a new intuitive and direct workflow in the desktop app for importing files from Nomad and Vectorworks Cloud Services. With a menu command directly in Vectorworks, files from 3D scans can be easily found and imported straight into design layers.
New rendering technology in the Redshift Progressive Mode feature provides immediate feedback when finetuning 3D views directly in design layers.
In a continued commitment to delivering designers with first-class BIM collaboration capabilities, Update 4 makes sharing work with project stakeholders easier than ever. With the latest Information Delivery Specification (IDS) feature, customers can quickly validate project information, ensuring compliance with local and project requirements. A modern BIM Collaboration Format (BCF) interface makes issue management workflows a breeze, with support for seamless switching between server-based and file-based BCF Managers. Plus, IFC file export makes collaboration more effective by supporting sophisticated IFC assemblies and multiple buildings, along with certified quality of geometry and data, georeferenced positioning, and optimised file sizes.
Additionally, Update 4 includes increased flexibility, improved documentation, and customisation capabilities for the recently implemented Cabinet tool.
For entertainment industry professionals looking to prioritise their audio design workflows, Vectorworks 2024 Update 4 brings a new integration with L-Acoustics that allows Spotlight customers to export their models to Soundvision. The geometry of Vectorworks objects can be simplified to export lightweight and responsive models into Soundvision. This simplification saves valuable time and streamlines the design process.
‘We are committed to offering sound designers a seamless and efficient workflow,’ explains Maxime Démurger, Application Design Engineer at L-Acoustics, who led the integration project. ‘Attaining platinum partner status through this Soundvision integration is the first step in a long-term partnership that will offer more interoperability between our tools and provide more precise 3D sound modelling.’
Customers from all areas of the entertainment industry will experience increased efficiency when creating custom reports with extensive and intuitive Equipment List worksheets that integrate data displayed on the Equipment List. With the new Equipment Summary Key feature, users can adjust the alignment and scale of individual equipment objects, enabling better control over their reports.
Professionals in the Landscape industry will benefit from the introduction of two new modes of the Hardscape tool, Site Model Contour Labels and new Site Model Contour Label workflows. The Style Pick-up and Convert modes of the Hardscape tool allow users to create a smart Hardscape object from a selected shape using the active settings from the hardscape, similar to the Plant, Landscape Area, and Irrigation tools. This saves time and provides workflow consistency. The Site Model Contour Labels feature offers superior control of the ‘Add contour labels’ tool, allowing users to place custom labels in preferred units with fractional and decimal precision. Customers can now easily meet their drawing standards, confidently labeling contours and achieving neat and effortlessly placed labels at the intersections.
This update is available to download for all currently released English language-based versions of Vectorworks 2024 and is immediately accessible to subscription and Vectorworks Service Select customers. The update can be installed by selecting Check for Updates from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or the Help menu (Windows).
