Everything Under The Sun: Catching Up With Vectorworks

Vectorworks employees participating in Earth Day cleanup.

Located in Columbia, Maryland, VECTORWORKS, INC., part of Nemetschek Company, provides the software framework for the expression of design creativity in the fields of entertainment, architecture, and landscape. The company believes in providing the best and most powerful tools for designers to make their visions real. They are experts in CAD and BIM software across various platforms, supporting more than 650,000 designers who use their software.

Just this past Wednesday, Vectorworks provided an online webinar specifically for entertainment design professionals in the areas of theater and set design, The focus was on rendering, customizing layering techniques to give a more realistic look to designs. The presenter was Michael Helms, professor of theatre arts at Appalachian State University. Although the date for the live presentation has already passed, the webinar can still be viewed online. The webinar utilizes Vectorworks Spotlight software.

Vectorworks is still promoting its 2017 design scholarship. It involves students submitting a design proposal in pdf, .mov, or .mp4 file format, at under 100 MB, along with answering a few questions. October 2016 was the date of call for entries, and submissions are due by July 15, with winners announced on August 18. This scholarship is designed to promote excellence in design, while seeing how entry level students envision transforming the world.

Round 1 provides the Vectorworks Design Scholarship, $3,000 towards tuition, housing, textbooks, study abroad, conference fees, or any other educational purpose. Free Vectoworks software is provided to the winner's school lab, and virtual or in-person training for faculty and students. Round 2 provides The Richard Diehl Design Award, named after the founder of Vectorworks. The award of $7000 goes towards the same expenses as the previous award. There is also exposure for the winner in industry publications and public media, as well as through Vectorworks' network. Additional benefits also are presented to the winner's school lab, with software licenses and instruction by a company expert, plus even more.

Meanwhile, Vectorworks is represented at the AIA Conference on Architecture 2017 in Orlando, where the company has a booth, giving attendees a chance to sample the software and find out what can be accomplished utilizing these products. The information booth particularly showcases Vectorworks Architect, which has the largest import/export capabilities of any software in the industry.

From one of the design scholarship entries, a student at Cambridge University.

Daniel Monaghan, vice president of marketing of Vectorworks, explained, "Depending on the types of projects or the phase of design, an architect's workflow can vary greatly. This can lead architects to use many different software programs to get jobs out the door. Although BIM is essential in today's processes, the truth is, as an architect you need more than BIM, and Vectorworks offers more."

Besides demonstrations and sneak peaks at new technology, the company also has a schedule of specific presentations at the Vectorworks booth. And if you aren't able to attend, just check out the website at vectorworks.net/architect..