Good day Capture Team.
Please would you take some time investigating options to colaborate with Vectorworks for the following.
Being a Capture User since Capture Atlas, i had to also invest in using Vectorworks in 2026 as designing more complex geomatry became a everyday task for me then bringing the VWX file over to Capture became a daily task and unfortunitly revisions happen and then everything needs to be redone.
Here is what i suggest should be concidered to help make life easier for all users of both software.
Create a direct link like" Datasmith for Unrealengine" and or "Live Sync for D5 Render", for Vectorworks to Capture. While doing the drafts and most of the design in Vectorworks to visualize in Capture I do see how this can be a great advantage for powerusers.
Yes currently we are all doing exports to Capture but as you know some of the geomatry, Lighting fixtures etc gets lost in translation and that is painfull to say the least.
Also the library of LED Panels that matches in both software by name and model does not pull through to capture in a workable mannor. Like in Capture once an Absen LED D2V Plus brought from Vectorworks, Capture does not recognize this model eventhough its in Capture's library, therfore does not show on any reports, or emits lighting when imported. If I use the panel from the Capture library it then gets reported and emits light like it should, So what im trying to get at is that these softwares should be able to comunicate properly so that work doesnt need to get done twice as it takes time and alot of that in some cases.
Your support on this topic would be much appreciated, and I look forward to hear form you in this regard soon.
I think there could be a few approaches to this (and I've suggested a few to Capture that were rejected for multiple reasons).
1. First bring in a design to from other software via a common fileformat (such as .dwg/.mvr/.gdtf), make alterations. When you bring in another version, first delete from Capture the layers of the objects that contain changes and then import only those layers. Or change the layer names with a prefix in the source software, do you import and then change your filters in Capture to only show the new layers.
2. Capture should make a database with object and geometry id's when a file gets imported into capture. When anythings is changed to non-library objects and a new import is done, any objects with the same id can be overwritten in the file. Layer assignments that are done in Capture including colours, line weight, locked items, etc. are kept. The only thing that happens is that the object is replaced.
3. Capture does the above plus remembering the 'Insert here" position
4. Capture does all the above plus make a link to library items and add that to the database. When a fixture from VW is linked to a fixture from the Capture library, that link is stored. When a file with the same object id's is imported into Capture again, it retains that link, but it will still use the item from Captures own library (only with a new position in the 3d space)
5. Capture does what .mvr once promised. So all of the above. But also: The data changed in either software can be send back and forward still using the fixture library of their own. There is a link that needs to be established between the fixture ID to the fixture library on each end of the exchange on first inport. But fixture info (inclusing patch, channels, unit and gels, etc.) is brought over.
option 1 does not need any changes to the source software and to capyure, but is rather laborious.
option 2. has the advantage that changes to a i.e. set can be re-imported in Capture as soemthing changes in an external plot. Anything that is changed in capture will be lost on re-importing. This might include the insertion point of objects. So if an object came in at the wrong point on the Y-axys, it will move back to that wrong position.
option 3. Possibly the link between fixtures and hang structures will get lost. Possible new patch info will not be imported.
Option 5 is the holy grail, but is somehow strongly rejected by capture each time I bring it up.