March was a great month for us here at Nemetschek North America. I am most proud of our achievements in the educational market. I have always believed that a good education is a great way to get a head start in today's competitive job market. And now more than ever, we are helping students jumpstart their careers by offering them full versions of our software at prices that they can afford.

We've doubled the size of our academic sales team in order to get more copies of our software in the hands of students who want to learn it. We've also made a commitment to attend more academic trade shows. Last month, we had a great time out west in California, talking to educators and students at the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) Conference, as well as at the Computer Using Educators Conference. Today's students are tomorrow's designers, and I am excited to see what they will do.

I'm happy to announce that Mr. Efrain Corona from Los Angeles City College was the winner of our software giveway at the USITT conference. Mr. Corona has been awarded an instructor's copy of the Industry Collection, complete with RenderWorks for Windows, plus all six training CDs. Danika Rain Randolph, a Landscape Architecture graduate student from the University of Florida, was the winner of our software giveaway at the LABASH Student Conference in March. She won a student copy of the Industry Collection with RenderWorks. Congratulations to both winners!

I'd also like to congratulate Zaha Hadid, the 2004 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Ms. Hadid, an Iraqi-born British architect, is the first woman to receive the Pritzker Prize, which was established in 1979 to honor living architects whose built work demonstrates talent, vision, commitment, and contributions to humanity and to the built environment.

Sincerely,

Richard Diehl
CEO, Nemetschek North America

How can I edit my title block and still use Issue Manager?

The Issue Manager can only be used with files that have been setup to use one of VectorWorks ARCHITECT's predefined drawing boarders.

When using the Document Setup command in ARCHITECT, you are given an option to add a drawing boarder to your file. To use the Issue Manager you must choose one of the Predefined Styles from the Drawing Boarder pull down. The list of available drawing boarders comes from a file called 00_Arch_Sheets.mcd in the VectorWorks>Plug-Ins>Common>Data folder.

These drawing boarders or Sheet symbols can be edited to suite your firms unique graphic standards and still be used with the Issue Manager. For example, many firms would like to have their company name and address display consistently for all projects and appear in all title blocks. To do this, you need to simply edit the appropriate Sheet symbol.

Open 00_Arch_Sheets.mcd from VectorWorks>Plug-Ins>Common>Data folder. Next select 00_Arch_Sheets.mcd from the Open Files pull down in the Resource Browser so it is the active drawing. Then in the Symbol/Plug-in Object folder, select the Sheet symbol you would like to edit. To do this right-click, select Edit, and then choose 2D components.

Now you're in VectorWorks Edit Symbol mode. Next, from the Data tab in the Object Info palette, make sure that the Drawing Boarder record is checked. If it is then you will see a list of editable record fields. The values of these fields correspond to the text field displayed in the Sheet symbol.

To change any of the fields from their default values, select the field you wish to edit, click the Tab key, and enter the information as you would like it to appear in your drawing boarder. (See Image 1, Image 2, Image 3) When you are finished, exit the edit mode by clicking Exit Symbol in the upper right corner of the screen. Next save file 00_Arch_Sheets.mcd. Once the file is saved, all new drawings will use your new settings.

Using this same technique you can add logo as an image file. To do this, instead of editing the drawing board record, simply place your logo into your Sheet symbol.

There are some rules to keep in mind when editing sheet symbols:

• If you delete any of the text blocks from a Sheet symbol, the Issue Manager will still prompt you for the information, but because you deleted the text from the Sheet symbol, any information you enter will not display.
• If you delete any of the record fields of a title block symbol, the Issue Manager will not work correctly, as it won't be able to identify the specific records.
• If you add a new record fields or text blocks, the Issue Manager will ignore this new information.
• If you move the location of text blocks in the Sheet symbol, the Issue Manager will still work.
• Any changes made to a symbol will only appear in new documents. Documents that are already using a title block symbol, including template documents, will not use the new information in a symbol.
• The Drawing Border plug-in objects are not linked and therefore do not work with the Issue Manager
• The symbols in 00_Arch_Sheets.mcd in the Object Libraries folder are not linked and therefore do not work with the Issue Manager.

New Training Manual for RenderWorks Now Available

Nemetschek North America is pleased to announce the availability of the RenderWorks Recipe Book, a new step-by-step training manual for RenderWorks, Nemetschek North America's plug-in rendering product. The RenderWorks Recipe book is specifically designed to get new RenderWorks users up and running quickly and to help maximize their productivity. For more information, please visit www.imageprops.com

Nemetschek North America Expands Educational Sales Team

Nemetschek North America announced expansion of its internal Educational Sales Team. After record academic sales in 2003 and a continued strong demand in the educational market, the company decided to grow the academic team by doubling its staff. In addition to stronger sales, the larger team also means a bigger presence at academic conferences.

VectorWorks Helps Design Award-winning House

For over 45 years, Architectural Record has searched the globe for the best houses and featured them in its"Record Houses" issue. One of this year's award-winning designs was created, in part, by VectorWorks. Texas-based architect Carlos Jimenez was included in the "Record Houses" issue for his work on the Crowley Residence. To see this house, visit www.archrecord.com

Employment Opportunities

SALES
Nemetschek North America (Sales) is seeking enthusiastic individuals with strong communication skills and positive attitudes to be part of its flourishing team. Positions are available for entry-level sales representatives and customer service representatives. Qualified sales candidates must be able to learn and sell the VectorWorks line of products. Qualified customer service candidates must have strong communication skills and be able to work with database software. Interested parties, please send a fax to (410) 290-7266 or email sales@nemetschek.net

For a complete listing of schools using VectorWorks, visit www.nemetschek.net/training/Schools.html

MIT, The School Of The Art Institute Of Chicago, Beekmantown Central School, Catonsville High School, Harvard University, University Of Kentucky, Harbor Springs High School, Lyle Public School, Dixie State College Of Utah, Portland Community College, Vassar College, Colby College, Reed College, University of California, Davidson Fine Arts School, Emory College, Bennington College, St. Ambrose University, Parkville High School, Darlington Schools, Fashion Institute of Technology, Wofford College, University of Texas-Austin, Delong Middle School, Clement Middle School, The Bentley School, Northern Arizona University, Kwantlan University, North Carolina State University, Penn State, College of Charleston, University of Alaska-Anchorage, University of Texas, University of Minn., UC Berkeley Extension, South Dakota State University, Midland Technical College, Lewis & Clark College, San Francisco State University

To add your school to the list of schools that teach VectorWorks, please email our Education CAD consultant, Mike Bendler, at mikeb@nemetschek.net

AIA Accreditation
NNA is pleased to offer AIA Continuing Education credit for our seminars. Architects can earn 16 learning units by attending the VectorWorks Fundamentals course, and 16 learning units by attending the VectorWorks Hands-on 3D course. For additional information, contact marketing@nemetschek.net