Vectorworks Architect has a full suite of intuitive tools for designing architecture, interiors and landscape. It combines 2D CAD drafting with Adobe like graphical qualities that means you can develop your own unique style. For 3D work it combines freeform modelling with BIM tools allowing you to develop co-ordinated detailed models rapidly. Documentation and presentation capable are excellent and the Vectorworks Cloud services offers a suite of features for collaboration and rendering.
Built in rendering using Renderworks provides a lot of creative options from conceptual to photo-realistic, and the built in AI visualiser provide extra enhancements and AI options. Support for with direct links to Enscape, Twinmotion and Revit for real-time Rendering, allow for high end visualtion and animation.
Finally interoperability between different software is well supported with a large range of import and export options for other industry software like Revit, AutoCAD and SketchUP. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Sometimes clients and contractors request DWG or Revit file formats as they are unaware of how good Vectorworks BIM capabilities are. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
215 out of 216 Total Reviews for Vectorworks Architect
Overall Review Sentiment for Vectorworks Architect
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While I've used several different CAD programs over the years, Vectorworks stands out above them all. I love the graphic capabilities - the drawings just look better - crisper, clearer, cleaner. I have a great deal of graphic flexibility - both to set overall styles of a drawing but also to zoom to one particular element and adjust it to suit my specific need.
My primary use is Vectorworks Architect but I also own the "Designer" package so I get civil/landscape, theatrical and rendering modules.
But more importantly, I really appreciate the Vectorworks staff. I can call them on the phone, any day of the work week and get a live person who will take the time to answer my question, solve my problem ...and help me understand what's happening ... on the screen while we talk. I was along time user of another program and that never, ever happened.
...and the cost of an annual subscription plus premium support is far less than just the annual subscription to our former architectural software....and that includes the Designer Suite, not just the architect module.
We're a small firm so while cost is an important consideration, customer service/technical support is critical to keeping us working efficiently.
Vectorworks is also cross-platform compatible so it works equally well on PCs and Macs. Setup is easy. Vectorworks does most of the work and you can usually walk away and do something else while it's happening.
Vectorworks has frequent updates. Some are driven by bugs that users find and report - usually in the Fall when the annual major version upgrade is released and the wider user base uncovers the little glitches. But after that, updates keep coming every few months - usually to add new functionality or further refine something.
Vectorworks also comes with a huge array of "content" ranging from generic items like preconfigured title blocks, symbols, date tags, etc. These are ready to use and generally have a consistent way they can be used .... as opposed to my previous software's content which clearly had been developed over many years by many different users so each one was unique and had to be further customized to a consistent standard. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Vectorworks has a different"way" or working than the widely used software I used to use. It's taken a bit of time - longer than I hoped - to purge the "old" processes from the front of my brain and adapt to Vectorworks. But part of that was my own stubbornness. While Vectorworks has a plethora of keyboard shortcuts, there isn't a command line so if you are used to that being your primary method of command selection and customization, you'll initially feel lost but like any software, you'll quickly adapt to those things you do the most frequently and then keep adding more skills for the less frequently used processes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The best thing about Vecotworks is that it is an all in one CAD program. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There are numerus tools to use to created your drawings and the intergration between objects. Like the doo and windows on the plans can easely create a door & window schedule and door / window elevations on your schedule. If you make a change you can simply update and your work will not be intergrated. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Intuitive, fantastic dealer support, always gives me exactly what I need, plotter interface so simple, render and fills are far superior to the competition, drawing to scale a huge advantage. I use it every day for technical as well as graphics, massive font library, updates always seamless. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Some difficulty with geo referencing, but we will resolve that. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Whatever I can imagine, I can figure out a way to draw it in Vectorworks. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Only being able to have 8 files open at once. When I am busy I am constantly having to close files in order to open a file to get some information from another project. Freaking annoying! I run up against this problem pretty much every week. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Vectorworks Architect has a set of integrated 2D and 3D tools that allow small and large firms to use the software from Schematic Design through Construction Documents and have photo-realistic renderings produced art any point in the design process. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Upgrading yearly to take advantage of the new features requires upgrading files with the potential of minor incompatibilities with older versions. Many of the projects I work on don't magically end in September when the new versions are released. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The speed that I can set up a room and begin designing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There are so many tools that I simply don't need to use. But I'd rather have them available and not use them right away than need them and they aren't available. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The main thing I enjoy about Vectorworks is the features that are included,and that they keep including very helpful tools with some of the updates they make every year. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There doesn't seem to be an easy way to do remodels in vectoworks.There aren't as many helpful videos or resources on how to do certain features, So whenever we have a new employee start working for us we have to teach them everything ourselves. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
It features a number of useful features that are missing in other software, such as the ability to easily perform booleans using any geometry which can produce slabs, roofs, walls etc quite seamlessly.
VW has a large selection of import and export file formats which mean it has fairly good ease of integration in a mixed-software type environment.
The landscaping / grading tools are slightly more useful than Revit, which is not saying much. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
At its core Vectorworks feels like a cobbled together collection of older software, lacking any coherent overarching UX approach, and desperately in need of a ground-up redesign.
Older features are still supported in a piecemeal fashion, mashed together with newer BIM aspects in a poorly-executed way that often leaves users scratching their heads. 2D and 3D layers collide incoherently, and Design Layers, Scales, and Elevations are all poorly implemented due to the inconsistent approach. Every accepted standard in terms of layer handling or shortcuts needs to be thrown out of the window, so your retraining time is very high.
The UX, while it looks good, is decidedly un-user friendly in operation. Even if you have decades of experience using BIM and 3D software, many of the functions are not intuitively usable without consulting the help or online forums. And, unfortunately, those resources are both poorly maintained and quite sparse. Customer support, even at Premium level, is not good.
The nail in the coffin is that this software is incredibly, painstakingly slow. Every operation, even simple line drawings, can have detectable lag between operations, and larger BIM files are an absolute menace. I have been a daily user for 3 years and in this time have upgraded computers 3 times in an attempt to get enough power to overcome this hurdle, but to no effect. Even small files that would run smoothly in Rhino or Revit are a lumbering, stuttering mess. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I love that every year Vectorworks makes the needed update to keep up with latest trends to improve user experience and efficiencies. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I would'v liked to see a tab with most recent video/ tutorials inside the software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
