Another year, another software upgrade, and another conference. All exciting annual treats, but that's where the similarities stop. 2020 boasts multiple firsts, including an entertainment design keynote speaker and a West Coast location for the Vectorworks Design Summit. Designers, educators, and students in architecture, landscape, and entertainment industries will head to Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in San Diego, CA from April 22 to April 24, where Vectorworks staff and industry professionals will highlight the exciting new features of the 2020 Vectorworks software release. Vectorworks Spotlight 2020 includes updated versions of Vision and Braceworks as well as optimized Open BIM capabilities, improved file performance and responsiveness, increased workflow efficiency, a new Schematic View workflow, Vision heat maps, new standard DMX patching windows, and more. Discover the new Spotlight features here. In November 2019, ConnectCAD 2020 was brought to market. The ConnectCAD add-on to Vectorworks Spotlight and Designer allows AV system designers to lay out signal flows in an easy-to-read format.
Vectorworks CEO Dr. Biplab Sarkar will open the first day of the summit with his talk, “Simplicity to Design the Complex,” which will focus on Vectorworks’ strategies to see where the company and products are headed, including partnerships, acquisitions, and emerging technologies. Lighting designer, Roland Greil of Woodroffe Bassett Design will kick off Day Two with his keynote, “Design Efficiency in Complex Conditions,” focusing on how to stay efficient when given tight deadlines.
Live Design chats with Sarkar about his favorite 2020 Spotlight features, the progress of GDTF, and Summit highlights.
1. There's been over a year in between the last Vectorworks Design Summit and this upcoming one. How has this strategy helped strengthen the event?
The longer period between the Vectorworks Design Summit events has allowed us more time to identify strong speakers to deliver high-level training and content based on customer feedback from past events. Further, we’re introducing new training opportunities such as Basecamp for Vectorworks Spotlight, as well as our other products. The Basecamp training caters to newer, less experienced users. With each year, we have seen an increased number of entertainment industry attendees, and this year we expect that to continue especially because we will have our first-ever Design Keynote speaker representing this industry. Roland Greil is an internationally acclaimed lighting designer, director, and programmer who has worked on large-scale productions for some of the biggest names in music like The Rolling Stones, Phil Collins, and Adele. You can learn more about him and both of our keynotes in our recent press release.
I can honestly say that with every Vectorworks Design Summit that passes, it gets better and better thanks to the helpful feedback from our attendees and the hard work of my staff.
2. What are your favorite new features in the Vectorworks Spotlight 2020 release? Why?
There are three features that stand out to me in our Vectorworks Spotlight 2020 software release:
- Schematic Views offer a whole new design view to handle the complex nature of modeling and documenting rigging objects. The new Schematic View places a 2D Plan View of the 3D Model geometry on a design layer for layout, dramatically speeding up a designer’s workflow. The 2D Schematic View is a live reference of the 3D model, so when you adjust either view, the other will update. In general, the handling of 3D geometry is much greater because of the graphics engine that we now have in Vectorworks 2020. Additionally, a reduced number of viewports will significantly speed up the overall performance of your document.
- The Video Camera object came as a direct result of customer feedback and is beneficial in broadcast scenarios. The Video Camera object helps plan real-world camera placement; you can define the camera by selecting the body type, lens type, stand, etc. Additionally, you can activate the camera’s viewfinder to verify the placement of your cameras in your design.
- Detailed Seating Sections offers the flexibility to generate seating layouts quickly. You can create multiple sections with the same settings, control visibility with classing, create aisles, and have better control over the focus point.
3. How has the 2020 release been thus far received? Anything to consider for 2021?
Feature wise, Vectorworks 2020 has been received extremely well. Quality and performance are our primary focus, and we keep working on improving our software with those two key aspects in mind. Customers will see more quality improvements to come in our Vectorworks 2020 SP3 launch later this month.
4. Since the 2018 Summit, how has the GDTF and MVR progressed, and what do you hope to see develop in the next few years?
In March 2019, we announced GDTF 1.0, sharing that GDTF and My Virtual Rig (MVR) were implemented in Vectorworks, Vision, and grandMA3. Coming in March 2020, we have more improvements to how Vectorworks Spotlight and Vision support this format within the desired workflow of our users.
Now, the main thing that we are looking for next is more lighting fixture manufacturers to begin populating the GDTF database with files representing their products. Recent updates to the online fixture builder have made this much easier than before, so we hope to see more and more lighting fixtures represented by GDTF. Those interested should visit: https://gdtf-share.com/.
5. What highlights of the Vectorworks 2020 Design Summit are you most looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to this year’s larger emphasis on entertainment design. Our Design Keynote is just the beginning. We’ll have the Vision Studio with consoles, fixtures, and representatives from different manufacturers including MA Lighting, ETC, ACT Lighting, High End Systems, and Robe, so people can explore a Vision, Spotlight, and MVR workflow. We are also going to have many classes to help entertainment professionals expedite their workflow. With most of our attendees being entertainment professionals, there will be plenty of great networking opportunities.
6. What topics will you discuss in your keynote? Any exciting reveals or developments?
The title of my keynote is, “Simplicity to Design the Complex,” and I’ll present with the help of several colleagues. I plan to cover key strategies about where our company and products are headed, touching upon partnerships and acquisitions. I’ll reveal some emerging trends that we’re investing our time in, such as machine learning and real-time rendering. Attendees can look forward to insights on how we’re adapting to an ever-changing world of intelligent design in not only Vectorworks 2021 but beyond.
7. If someone is considering the summit but has yet to commit, what would you say to them?
Stop waiting and register. This is our first time hosting our Design Summit on the West Coast, and the resort is magnificent. It’s the perfect getaway and people can even consider bringing their families and extending their trip.
There’s a lot of exciting news from the world of Vectorworks, and the Design Summit is the best place to get up to speed on everything. Attendees have the opportunity to meet all the people behind the software and to have real conversations that can influence future iterations of our software.