This Newsletter

With the introduction of a new CRM system here at Resolve, we've realized that many customers have never seen our newsletter. We're sending this newsletter to a much wider list than previous mailouts. We hope it's relevant and is a welcome read. If we've reached you in error, an Unsubscribe link appears at the bottom of this message.


Upcoming Events

AIBC Annual Conference
Resolve will be on hand at the annual conference of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia, April 24–26 at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre. Make sure to drop by our booth in the Foyer South, where we'll be exhibiting with Apple Canada. We’ll gladly show you the latest in VectorWorks technology.

BCSLA Annual Conference
If you’re attending the 2008 Conference and Trade Show for the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects from May 2 - 3, come by Booth 25 and see VectorWorks 2008 in action. Our product experts will be pleased to answer your questions about VectorWorks Landmark.

Upgrading Made Easy

VectorWorks Logo

In our view, VectorWorks 2008 is the best upgrade in years. But some of you are still holding out and sticking with those old versions. Upgrade your VectorWorks licenses to VectorWorks 2008 between now and May 15, 2008 and we’ll reserve a free place for you in our online VectorWorks 2008 What’s New seminar.

Make your transition to the latest, greatest version of VectorWorks as smooth as possible. The seminar will cover the most notable changes from earlier versions of VectorWorks and will also highlight new features and functionality available in this latest release.

Contact Resolve Sales.


Spread the Love

Know someone who could benefit from using VectorWorks? If the answer is yes and the referral results in a new sale of VectorWorks software or Resolve services, Resolve will shower you with gifts:

heart

1 successful referral - receive an embossed Moleskine VectorWorks notebook;

heartheart

2 successful referrals - we’ll add a seriously stylish VectorWorks pen to match;

heartheartheart

3+ successful referrals - receive an engraved iPod nano with our thanks.

Act now, this offer expires July 31, 2008.


CINEMA 4D and BodyPaint 3D used to create visual effects in The Golden Compass

golden compass

Framestore CFC recently won the Academy Award for “Achievement in Visual Effects” for their work on The Golden Compass. Framestore CFC was charged with creating various characters, including the well-known armored polar bears. In addition to the bears, they used CINEMA 4D and BodyPaint 3D to paint texture maps for props, environments, and so forth.

"BodyPaint 3D was particularly useful when painting the complex organic shapes of lorek's rusted beaten metal armor," outlined Daren Horley, CFC's lead texture paint supervisor. "Having the ability to load a scene which contained multiple file formats with texture maps also proved invaluable in order to instantly view the pieces of armor and how they related to each other. The interlocking forms had rubbed parts of shiny metal in the overlapping areas, which needed to be accurately painted. In addition, BodyPaint 3D enables us to view textures on geometry and paint directly onto the surface in 3D. No other software does this as well."


Resolve launches new website

web

Resolve has redesigned its website to make product and training information more accessible to its customers. The new site is powered by drupal, an open source content management system. Below are some of the key improvements:

Search — All content on the site is now indexed and searchable, making it easier to find what you're looking for.

Improved Navigation — Persistent navigation shows you where you are in the site at all times.

Integrated Online Store — Our online store is now more closely integrated into the site making it easier to purchase products online.

RSS Feed — By signing up to our RSS feed, you can stay up to date on VectorWorks news with a Canadian focus.

Tech Support — Our new tech support form on the site is a quick way to access your free 12-month product technical support.

We hope that our new site will become a valuable resource for all Canadian VectorWorks, Cinema 4D, and interiorCAD users. Take a look...


Help Wanted

Resolve wants to help connect skilled VectorWorks users with employers that are looking to hire. Please contact these organizations directly for more information.

Dilworth Holmes, Kelowna, BC - is looking for an architectural design technician with minimum five years experience, and an entry-level draftsperson. See Job Description.

3E Planning & Development, Langley, BC – requires an interior design/architectural student for a sixteen week assignment to evaluate and produce documentation on Universal Design for an aging in place project. Begins May 5, 2008. See Job Description.

APE Playground Inc., Sarnia, ON - requires a mechanical draftsperson, experienced in VectorWorks 3D modeling and 2D mechanical drawings to join the Active Playground Equipment team. Position potentially opening in the fall of 2008. Please contact: eddie@ApePlayground.com for details.

BC Lottery Corporation, Kamloops, BC - is looking for a summer student to organize and update Casino and Community Gaming Center CAD files and create a symbol library of all equipment used within. Site visits within the province may be required. Please watch for a job posting on www.bclc.com within the next few weeks.

Employers, if you wish to post in our next newsletter, send us a note at getinfo@resolve.ca.


About Resolve

Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Resolve Software is a Canadian distributor for VectorWorks, Cinema 4D, and interiorCAD as well as the creators of the acclaimed Professional Learning Series seminars for VectorWorks. Resolve Software Solutions has a network of expert consultants throughout the United States and Canada.

Trouble viewing content? Please see the online version of this newsletter.

Resolve Software Solutions launches interiorCAD and profacto in Canada

interiorCAD

Resolve Software is now the Canadian distributor of interiorcad, design software for the creation of cabinets and custom architectural millwork. Built on a foundation of VectorWorks Architect, interiorcad provides an end-to-end solution for millwork shops including: design, 3D visualization, quotes, shop drawings, cutting lists, and automated output to all major makes of CNC equipment. Paired with profacto, the ERP software that manages order processing, inventory, accounting and CRM, you’ve got an unbeatable combination for running a millwork business.

New to the Canadian market, interiorcad and profacto are products of extragroup GmbH of Münster, Germany, and are already established market leaders in their home market. The software is also sold in numerous localized versions around the world. A number of adaptations have already been made to suit the Canadian market, with many more to come.

Our early successes have come in Alberta, where a number of Calgary’s top millwork shops have already chosen the software. And especially noteworthy is the fact that the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton has chosen interiorcad and profacto as the CAD and ERP systems to be used in its new Advanced Wood Products Manufacturing Centre, a program that will bring journeyman cabinetmakers back to school for advanced training in manufacturing and business management.

Find out more about interiorcad on Resolve’s website, or call us at 866-288-1888.


Resolve Training in Toronto

toronto

Resolve Software Solutions will be back in Toronto for the week of May 5-9. We will be providing a VectorWorks training extravaganza, which will look something like:

May 5 & 6VectorWorks Fundamentals
May 7 VectorWorks Intermediate Workshop
May 83D Site Modeling
May 9Setting up a Landmark Planting System

Our VectorWorks consultants will also be available for a limited number of onsite visits during this week if you have other training requirements. Call us at 866-288-1888, or email training@resolve.ca.

Don't see the training you need to become a razor-sharp VectorWorks user? Don't panic, we’ll be back in Toronto soon. You can vote for which training we should provide by filling out our training request form.

What are my other training options?

We're currently doing a major overhaul of all our training efforts, and would like to hear from you on what you need to become more successful with VectorWorks.

In terms of location, we'll soon be announcing a new schedule of regular and ongoing courses in Vancouver. But we also like to travel, so we'd like to hear your wishlist for what, when and where you'd like training. Fill in this training request form. We can’t guarantee we’ll make custom requests happen, but we’ll post your class on our training schedule. Others can register, and if we can make our minimum number, the class is a go.

In terms of content, we're adding advanced workshops - short, focused courses for those already working day-to-day in VectorWorks. We feel our past emphasis on introductory courses has left many of you wanting more, and hope these workshops will help address those concerns.

And don't forget that we do onsite training, consulting, and custom implementation of VectorWorks systems. If you've got a larger group, this is often the most practical way to go.

What have we missed? Give us your feedback on training.


Tips & Tricks

Here’s a useful technique that came up recently at a training session with one of our client firms. It shows how to lay out this paving pattern along a curving path. While normally this type of paving is done with hatches or hardscape objects, a different solution is required here, since the stone pavers have to follow the curves, something not possible with either of those methods.

1. Lay out your path edges. This could be drawn a number of different ways. If you’ve drawn the edge as a series of lines and arcs, use the Compose command so that the curving edge becomes a single polyline. This path is 4’-0” wide and will have 12” X 24” pavers.

2. Double-click on the Offset Tool and set the options as shown here.

3. Click on the polyline to be duplicated, then click again on the side where the duplicate should be created. Repeat this until you have three polylines.

4. Draw a vertical line 12” long. Duplicate the line and move the duplicate X=12”, Y=-12”, so that it appears as shown here. Group the two lines. This group will represent the staggered joints between two rows of stone pavers. Now duplicate the group of staggered lines; you’ll need two groups to complete the task.

5. Select the group and polyline as shown here. Choose Duplicate Along Path from the Edit Menu. Long-time users take note, this is no longer a tool in a palette, in VectorWorks 2008 it’s become a menu command. In the command’s dialog box, match the settings here. The Tangent to path setting is especially important, as this it cause the joint lines to rotate as they are duplicated along the curved path. Click OK to complete the duplicates. Repeat the process for the half of the path.

6. For any joint lines that extend past the end of the path, ungroup and tidy up by deleting lines. The path is complete! To keep all these separate objects together, you should select all of the paving lines and group them.