VisionRez 2010 Part 3.

More on my experience trialing VisionRez 2010 (Click here for all 3 parts of the VisionRez Review)

Placement for a kitchen was achieved thru a very complete set of cabinet MVB's for most every conceivable combination of depth height and width of cabinets presented via a pallete. The robbon has buttons to open appropriate palletes so you don't have to 'go dig' for what you are after. It works quite well and reacts very fast. I have adopted the fluid cabinets I learnt and refined from Archidigm.com and prefer these to the set sizes of cabinets - our local industry is not based on module sizes, but I learn't on preparing drawings for a project in our great South that their cabinet industry is based on module sizes. So if this is how your industry is set up then this may be a great way to go. Thinking ahead I bet this makes it easy to prepare a budget or even extract prices direct from the drawings as you will have a very detailed and accurate bill of quantities from this work.

The nice thing about placing cabinets is they have more intelligence about which way they face, they know how to 'put their backs to the wall'. And adding a sink to a cabinet (wall object) cut a hole in the benchtop automatically. Now I can do that manually but this caught me by surprise. The benchtop has a splash back whereas we would use tiling, something I achieve with a seperate wall style. It should be a simple matter of either adjusting the splashback to tiles in the style drawing or removing it from the style altogether to adapt to aussie methods.
I generally found it took me a couple of go's to 'get it' but that's because there were comprehensive options available for placement such as pressing the control key to alter insert points etc. It's quite well thought out.

Window & door tags are good but we do them differently. It's not hard to create a tag once you know how so different tags could be created.

VR have not chosen to use the aecDimensions. Neither have I. The layer manipulation tools are based on the layer standard so it may be an effort to vary that. If you just want a system that works then that may not be an issue to you. You are able to switch quickly from a plan view to a roof layout to an electrical layout on the 2nd floor. Remember that it works with all levels (up to 5) in the one drawing file (but you can use the PN if you wish). This one file approach is something I have longed for and recently achieved through a new layer system (with level) and some basic lisp. For smaller projects I think it's a much better way to go though I do keep surveys and entourage for rendering in a seperate file. It makes it so much easier to manage materials and render inside ACA rather than having to re reload x-ref's and copy material definitions back & forth.

I got a tingle when issuing the VR Roof command. I have watched their movies but to see it in action is a pleasure. Wow! An actual complete sophisticated roof tool in aec! What an idea! As I've mentioned it doesn't do gablets or dutch gables easily which in our present design style phase is not so bad but they will come back in style.

Roof framing tool. Ah to see all those rafters just magically appear. Rafters should come directly off every change in direction but it missed in one instance. I easily manually edited, adding rafters or altering the position and spacing. There may be automatic ways of doing it. It's lovely to see all the plumb cuts made instantly. Whew! Lots of work saved there. A Tag tool adds the lengths to your framing plan to the nearest (high) 2' increments. Here it's 300mm.

The roof gable is missing one rafter behind the barge. It's evident on the picture in the tutorial. Never got to find out the problem or solution but as I said it's easy to rectify. The framing isn't some other magical beast. It's just automatically assembling Structural objects so it would be easy to tweak for any fine adjustments or quirky situations.

There is a lot of content which connects to a bill of materials list so content has extra detail to be collected. Whilst you may have to create your own content or edit to suit, you have a robust framework to add content to that gives you extensive intelligence in a BIM approach.


Publish to DWF?? The little arrow down in the bottom right is not visible? Not on any workspace. So VR must have it's own way of altering the various settings.

So what did I think of VR. I was dissappointed that a busy schedule and health issues got in the way of being able to finish the tutorial and have some unscheduled playtime to see what it could do outside of it's training. I was having fun! But altogether it was nice to feel like I was in an environment that was designed with houses in mind. In ACA you know you can get the job done but you need to do a lot of work to set up palletes of local content for residential work before you are really productive. With VR you are ready to go. Well.. at least if you are an American user you are. Sadly because the content is not always relevant to the Australian market you may be have some work to do . As with any program the sales demo can be impressive but get it into a working environment and it really gets it's workout. If you would have a number of users and would like to stay in an AutoCAD environment then the time required to setup your local content might make the package worth the investment. I know that the VR team have a great reputation for back up support and would help you to understand the template and how to set that up. Gablets are not a deal killer by the way. You can turn the roof into VR slabs which have their own tools. And you have all the ACA tools as well. You can also construct two pieces of roof to fit together as I have done with the native roof object.

You have a choice of flavours. An add on style plug in which will fit up your existing full ACA version and 2 levels of their own customised package of ACA combined with VR. These don't have Autolisp included but do have many VR commands extra to ACA standard. They also don't have Curtain walls and are setup for residential not commercial though I could imagine you could do small commercial projects with some workarounds. You do have DoorWindowAssemblies with some extra VR tools. You have door & window trim - another excellant tool to place extra trim around the frames.

You have framing tools (depending on version) & bill of materials. You have a setup approach designed for residential. And these are all customisations added to the extensive feature list of ACA and Autocad so you have all those tools as well. VR is really designed to address the features missing from ACA that help you complete residential projects.

So can this package play a role in Australia (or NZ?). As I've said before, we build mostly in double brick in perth but the eastern states is often brick veneer. Maybe the upper floor is framed. In the country often framing is used but I am always surprised how far people will cart clay bricks to build in obscure locations. Maybe NZ could make better use of the framing tools.

If you are prepared to create a serious level of customised content and then take advantage of the system that Americad have set up then I think it could be a serious option worth considering. Certainly the VR Designer If you want to stay in an Autocad environment and make use of your existing legacy content. This has got to blow buying AutoCAD lite out of the water!! AutoCAD is capable of creating reasonable renders and if that is important, VR will give you an environment to allow you to build complete accurate 3D models from which you can then render and impress your clients. Of course it can be exported to Max or another renderer if you wish.

If you are in the U.S. doing residential work I think VR of some version is a no-brainer. If your construction methods are similar then check it out. However being outside their market and seeing the need to add local content I see a disclaimer. Again I think if you want to tool up a small design & drawing office then it represents a serious contender worthy of consideration. I could see VR Designer being a great success for an office wanting to be very productive and impressive at the same time.

At the time of writing, they have some serious discounts available on their range so get over and check them out. Go to the support section for video's showing their process. They have a great reputation for support. I've asked them if they could take over my ACA sub because they are actually interested in the product. And remember they are actually using this product themselves so it's not just a disconnected salesperson who doesn't know how it performs in the real working environment.

Best to ya from Oz.

Disclaimer: Previously I received a copy of the now discontinued Roof Tool & Trim plugin for assisting with feedback on an attempt at an international version. Unfortunately my direction moved away from doing CD's, I was stuck using ADT2006 and I was not able to get the plug-in (vADT2007) running so I didn't get to use it. So at this point I have not received any benefit from VisionRez though I continue to ask Jay Moore if he would take over my ACA subscription!

p.s. Yes it was appendicitis but it's gone now :-)

VisionRez 2010 Part 2.

Click here for all 3 VisionRez Reviews

On startup I am greeted with a startup screen that looks much like the native ACA version. Actually it is with the addition of the VisionRez Logo. I have used the UK shortcut which I expected to start VR in metric. But it appears that the startup logo is the only thing different and I am back in plain ACA land. I only explored quickly so I could be wrong.

Ulp! There are no VR toolbars present! So I closed up anxious to see the VR I have read so much about. So I close the UK version and this time I use the VR U.S. shortcut and try out the version with those feet and inches - oo I feel so ancient! Now I am greeted with an obviously modified layout. Some of the VR tool icons look quite dated. Not up to the grey (where there heck is that tool again?) look of 2010. But I bet you can find stuff, let's see.

You can now see the additional VR toolbars and menu's spread across the robbin. It comes with tutorial pdf's. The quickview pdf is 66 pages !

VR works on a set system so you will need to change your work process to match. It has it's own idea of layers, view configuration, display representations etc. The strength of AutoCAD (ACA) is it's customability. The weakness of AutoCAD (ACA) is it's .....customability. Having everyone do their own thing hurts sharing and is especially evident in an office where you have a maverick who won't learn the office protocols. You open a drawing and have no idea how or why this drawing is set up like it is. So really having VR step in and say, "this is the way it's going to happen" can be really a good thing especially when they have thought it right thru. Did I mention that they use their own product in production so it's developed and sold by users to other users. Surely a good combination. I may not agree with everything they have done but it works. There is some flexibility (much if you want to work hard). VR does't need the PN and works naterally with a 1 file approach (yay!) but you can use the project navigator if you wish (which is a good idea for large projects). VR works with layers. Lots of them. I don't like lots of layers and I work with manipulating layers a lot. But this is a personal issue and not one I see anyone else complain about. If the process & tools largely make the layering system in the background then that too can be a good thing.

The VR ribbone with access to the palletes is a lot easier to read than ACA's new monotone version which is so bland you can't find anything cause you get bored looking. Icons are cute but you can read a lot faster than you can learn a vague icon that changes every couple of years. Actually here as VR has moved from toolbars to the ribbon, text has been introduced which is an improvement. The level & Layer controls and backgrounds look really gawky and not very sophisticated but they are very clear and I can imagine existing users getting very upset if VR refined them to conform with blandland.

The American residential market is largely framed whereas the local market in Perth is double brick (but changing). In the eastern states brick veneer is often used. Our setout line is the external perimeter, sized to suit the brick lengths, reduce cutting resulting in a neater and cheaper finish. Not so in VR. Masonry walls are set out from the external face of the internal stud wall and I believe New Zealand does this as well. Framing is king! VR also splits the internal & external leafs of the external wall and I would assume this is so it can effectively quantify and frame each leaf. In base ACA you cannot really quantify cavity wall and get accurate quantities unless your wall shape is dead simple.

So I work through the tutorial and create a house, tracing over a 2d plan. It's kinda familar and kinda different and definitely fun. I do have more om my experience with VR to reveal.

Stay tuned.....

Testing VisionRez 2010 on Windows 7

Click here for all 3 VisionRez reviews
I write this as I install VisionRez Standalone 2010 on my freshly built new computer, sampling a brownie cooked by my young daughter, and recover from suspected appendicitis (maybe not?). The computer, sporting 4mb RAM is targeting for some testing! I installed an old XPpro 32bit and then installed Release Candidate version of Windows 7 32bit. I skipped Vista as un-nessessary marketing drool but 7 sounds like they got the mix right. Even better I don't have to pay for it until March 2010 when it will start shutting down every 2 hours. And now - what I really want to do, set up Windows7RC 64bit. To do this I have used a Gnome tool to split up the new 1TB hard drive into 4 seperate partitions, the 2x Win7 OS's are installed on smaller 20Gb drives ready for toasting if I don't procede with any OS upgrade. (have to remember not to save anything important to those drives). Actually Windows7 seems to have it's own partition tool so probably needn't have bothered except to say I've now used a linux tool. All OS's are available from a boot menu. Windows 7 32bit & 64bit both show up as simply Windows 7.

My aim is to test ACA in a 64bit environment. If succesful I might move here for my work machine and install some extra RAM. Now ACA doesn't natively use more than 1 cpu except on a couple of executions, like regenerating or redrawing windows and then only 2. But the new Mental Ray rendering engine will pump up as many cores as you have, bringing Quad core into their own. If you plan on rendering, then quad's may have their use but for general ACA work, a faster Dual core will bring you better return. The 64bit environment will allow you to use more than 4mb of RAM. Apparently 32bit can access close to 4Mb but you need to include your graphics card so if it's a 512Mb, then only ~3.5Gb of RAM will be addressed. Further I understand that any one application can only use 2Gb. 64bit opens up a lot more RAM for use in Windows. I bought all except the CPU as I had an old D805 Dual Pentium lying around so that may penalize my results a little. But it can overclock so we'll see what I can get out of it. The $100 case has a nice blue lit fan that's large enough to cool the whole room so hopefully overclocking will bring a decent improvement. If it does become my work machine it will have to be upgraded.

So to VisionRez 2010

So when I saw that VisionRez invited tryouts of their latest release based on the v2010 series I jumped at the chance to take a look at this excellant residentially slanted tool. Whilst we bemoan AutoDesks ignoring the residential community's cries for better 'resi' tools, this is VisionRez's market so you can be assured of their focus. However, they are an American firm and the product, heavily customised for residential reflects the US building methods. This is a great opportunity for me to check out their product and evaulate how easy it could be moulded to fit a different market. My fear is that I may wish that I had bought their more residentially targeted product rather than the broader, general and less focused ACA. I am installing the 64bit VisionRez Stand Alone.
VisionRez series of products are based on ACA, either a plugin for your full version, or 2 standalone versions based on cut down versions of ACA (depending on what you need)
VR Designer and VR Builder. I am reviewing the full version standalone.

Builder includes the Framing, Bill of Materials etc, gear required for actually building it. Designer doesn't include these or Curtain walls & Spaces. (See link for complete list) But the prices are keen for cut down versions and a many may not require these extra features. Designer is $1495US which get's you an amazing amount of power as a residential designer. That's the same price as the plug-in for a full version. For a small office that want's to tool up on a great CAD platform, produce models for rendering and CD's efficiently this is a great option.

Of course VR is famous for their roof tool which looks everything a roof tool should be, except it can't naturally create a Gablet or Dutch hip, both which can be easily created by the native ACA tool. Apparently North Americans just don't do them. But Aussies do and often so therein is a problem that I am interested in seeing how to resolve in VR. But VR is a lot more.

One thing that surprised me was that they had not enabled the default install of the express tools. I understand that they are not supported but the amount of users who have paid the enormous price for the full version but don't know about these fanastic, practical & versatile tools is just silly. To a power user it's anaethema not to have them available.

So - don't install default, go custom, add Express Tools, and also add the UK version if you are using Metric. UK version is a lot closer to Aussie use that the US Metric. Of course if you are in the US then just go with the US versions - they will be right in your pocket.

One error on install - MS SQL server seems to have issues with Win7 but it installed so we'll see. The install starts and I am greeted with Robert Shelton of VisionRez work team's images in slide presentation. Robert's images are so good it's either inspiring or makes you want to give up ever trying a rendering again. I choose to be inspired. (Also on YouTube)

It seems that a full version of ACA is installed and then the plugin. I'll be interested to see how a VR created model and data is handled in a regular version of ACA2010. (update - it doesn't completely - a barge board looses it's sloping profile and becomes a large square mass).

Oh and the test also comes with an install of HSB which will build wall & roof frames in both timber or steel. This should be fun. - Ouch, HSB wouldn't install! - Error. (I think this is stated in the install help - as I didn't order that product it won't install).

So how is it? To be continued.......