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It's not just construction site workers, inspection teams and site managers who are taking advantage of mobile devices and the greater mobility of information they can bring to the job at hand. Architects and engineers can now download their drawings to iPads, iPhones, laptop and other handheld devices, and use them for on-site planning meetings dealing with practical issues on the spot.

The process has to be easy, though, with automatic synchronisation and updating of files between the workstation and mobile devices. Hence the introduction of Vectorworks Cloud Services, part of the company’s Service Select subscription program that handles all processes in a very straightforward and simple manner.

SERVICE SELECT SUBSCRIPTION
Vectorworks Service Select maximizes a company’s investment in Vectorworks software. It is about more than maintaining customer loyalty though. Besides keeping customers up to date with application developments, it focuses the minds of software developers wonderfully well on their actual needs. The mere fact of developing a customer related programme fosters a mutually beneficial environment, with direct input from customers balanced against more focused support and training.

Cost comes into it as well, with programmes designed to optimise a customer’s actual requirements at the best possible price. The range of services available with the Vectorworks Service Select programme is quite extensive, and includes free software updates, upgrades of Vectorworks software as well as incremental product enhancements, additional learning resources and training and priority technical support.

Working to a scheduled programme also allows users to plan software and training budgets more accurately.

Vectorworks Service Select is the only route for access to the software's web and mobile solutions, Vectorworks Cloud Services and the Vectorworks Nomad app, a view and markup application available for iOS, Android, and Kindle. It gives the user VIP access to new libraries, textures and other components, and you can even get a discount on training courses and other services along with access to a growing library of on demand learning tutorials.

VECTORWORKS CLOUD SERVICES
Besides providing an alternative computing resource, which lets users transfer resource intensive processes to the cloud, freeing up the desktop for more immediate tasks, the Vectorworks Cloud Services web portal allows users to view, share files and organise files from a web browser. It can also be used to download Vectorwork folders and files to mobile and web devices, synchronising them for use on site, and, after marking them up, annotating and otherwise commenting on them, uploading them automatically to the originating folder as a revised version.

Vectorworks files can contain several sheet layers and viewports. To make this available on a mobile device, users log into their Vectorworks Service Select account, access Cloud Services, and open the Cloud Service Synchronisation folder.

Files of folders are merely dragged from one folder, together with all sheet layers or viewports, to the Synchronisation folder, where you can create sub-folders, if necessary, on the fly.

You can check on the status of uploads and the synchronisation process in the Recent File Synchronisation window, a process that could take some time depending on a number of factors: large file sizes, high sheet layer DPIs, complex textures, a lot of line or area lights in a scene, lots of light objects and shadows, and, of course, render settings set at the highest level.

When you synchronise the files Vectorworks Cloud Services uploads them in the specified Vectorworks Cloud Services folder to the Amazon cloud servers and then 'processes' them. You get a PDF containing the sheet layers from the Vectorworks file and a .VWX scene file for 3D viewing in Nomad. The PDF file is for sharing and markup through Nomad, or sharing through the Vectorworks Cloud Services web portal. Markups are saved as additional PDFs and are not merged back into the VWX file, but are strictly a PDF based communication.

The Vectorworks user who receives the marked up PDF would then of course make revisions to their Vectorworks file. When those changes are made the file will be synchronised again in Vectorworks Cloud Services and the new version of the PDF and the VWX file will be viewable in Nomad. Additionally, the version history for the PDF file is kept and is viewable by the user on the Vectorworks Cloud Services Web portal.

LIMITS AND DROPBOX
Users are limited to 5Gb of total storage on Vectorworks Cloud Services. If that's not enough you can always use Dropbox, which is integrated with the service, enabling users to view and open Dropbox files in Vectorworks Nomad and the Cloud Services portal, and annotate PDF files stored in your Dropbox account using the Nomad mobile app.

It's all about maximising the opportunities provided by the latest mobile devices - and it’s wise to get onboard now as the technology is evolving fast!
www.vectorworks.net/service-select