Vectorworks 2023 Service Pack 4 delivers updated technology to designers

Vectorworks latest service pack, Service Pack 4, includes new features and capabilities to provide performance improvements and user experience enhancements.

“This Service Pack continues the tradition of delivering key improvements for quality and performance, as well as increasing advantageous connections for customers,” said Dave Donley senior director of rendering and research at Vectorworks. “New features in this release enable exciting workflows not seen before, and we are confident that some truly amazing designs will result. This continuous evolution keeps our users at the leading edge of technology, enabling them to be efficient and unrestricted in their design process.”

The 2023 Service Pack 4 delivers a direct connection to NVIDIA Omniverse, a platform for developing and operating metaverse applications, via an integrated Omniverse Connector. The new plug-in connects Vectorworks 3D models straight to the Universal Scene Description (USD)-based Omniverse platform. Omniverse and Vectorworks users can eliminate steps for the import/export process with USD-based interoperability. The new connector also expands users’ opportunities to contribute to and collaborate on the same 3D project at the same time.

Additionally, the newly added USD import and export capabilities support 3D geometry, texture and metadata. Upgrades to Sheet Layer Viewports also work to create a more responsive user interface, speeding up the documentation process and increasing performance and accuracy when viewing, rendering and navigating sheet layers, according to the company. Low-resolution previews of sheet layer viewport contents are created automatically with the option to snap easily with others’ viewports.

Newly added functionality allows users to conform hardscape objects in their site models. Hardscape objects in any configuration can now excavate the site model surface and accurately calculate the cut and fill volumes. A new configuration mode allows users to “drape” hardscape objects to automatically conform to the surface of a site model, adding flexibility for different types of hardscape installations.

Key improvements to Vectorworks Cloud Services allow users to share their design visions with Cloud Presentations. This new option sends animations to Vectorworks Cloud Services for processing. Cloud Presentations have flexible layouts as users can now place images, text and media anywhere on a presentation slide and select from system fonts to create compelling presentations for clients.

Building on the recent Cable Route Planning improvements, the updates enable audio and video installation professionals to easily select different cable route options for various main and backup signals. This enhancement brings new options to the “edit cabling” dialog menu, giving visual indicators of all available cable routes and discerning information like diameter, total length and more.

This Service Pack is available as a downloadable update for all U.S. English-based versions of Vectorworks 2023, including Vectorworks Architect, Landmark, Spotlight, Fundamentals, Braceworks, ConnectCAD and Vision. To install, select “Check for Updates” from the Vectorworks menu (Mac) or the Help menu (Windows).