Design Buying Older Vectorworks?

Amishplumber

Active Member
Hi all,

So, Vectorworks; we all love it, we all use it, it costs a bazillion dollars. So far I've been cruising along using the educational version I got while in school. Recently though I made the mistake of ignoring a password update request on my old .edu email address and I expect I will not be able to re-up my educational license next time it expires. The clock is ticking on my freewheeling VWX lifestyle. This, in addition to the increasing guilt I feel about sending people plots they've paid me money for with an educational watermark on them, leads me to the conclusion that I need to drop some $ on VWX in the near future.

Now, the problem is I don't do enough CAD work to justify the $3000 pricetag for a new 2018 Spotlight license... I probably only use VWX on maybe 10 projects a year. I don't particularly enjoy staring at a computer screen for hours on end, so I've been handdrafting a lot of my simpler shows recently and only doing the complex ones in VWX. Call me old fashioned, but I have found some zen in hanging out with a drafting template.

The first thought that comes to mind is to try and buy an older VWX license from someone. I don't need the latest bells and whistles and most projects I work on are delivered as a PDF export. Being able to send vwx files back and forth for collaborative editing doesn't come up that often in my life.

I'm not particularly interested in switching to a different CAD software unfortunately. When I do use VWX I usually draft in 3D, render beams, mark focus points and use Spotlight integration. A simpler software wouldn't really be of use to me, since if I'm not using all the bells and whistles, I'd rather stick to paper.

So, I'm wondering about two things:

1) Anyone on here looking to sell an older VWX Spotlight license? I would be happy with 2015+. Maybe even 2013/2014 if the price is right.
2) Anyone have any other cost effective ideas for solving my dilemma? Maybe the $3000 pricetag really is worth it?

Thanks internet!
 
You may want to look into their student2PRO offer. There are a nice handful of conditions that apply to it, the big one being you have to have graduated within the last 12 months to qualify, but it offers a hefty discount I think in the neighborhood of 40% off (don't quote me on that).
 
Are old licenses transferable? I think it operates more like a subscription service now, kind of like Adobe CC. I could not go back to hand drafting; there is a huge speed benefit in Vectorworks even for small projects. If you give up hand drafting and use VW for everything, maybe the cost would be more justified.
 
Not sure if you have the time to wait, but Vectorworks *typically* has a large sale on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. I seem to recall 40 or 50% off licenses, but only when you also purchase the "service select" subscription as well. Either way, it is still significantly less than the license by itself on a normal day.
 

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