Francois van der Merwe from Wizardry Group has been recognised and approved as an International Vectorworks Trainer by Nemetschek. The announcement came during a Vectorworks training week, where many industry players were in attendance.
“It’s very exciting, we had been talking about it for a while and I had to send Nemetschek Vectorworks details on the course and previous training I had presented, my history as a lighting designer and also feedback from DWR,’ comments Van der Merwe. He has always been passionate about Vectorworks and believes in the product. He also believes there is wonderful talent and experience in the South African industry, and with Vectorworks, a good foundation level can be put in place.
“Everyone has different ideas in designs and does things differently on Vectorworks, the problem is that we don’t like to share, but if we do share, we can find solutions for problems,’ says Van der Merwe. While Van der Merwe has presented Vectorworks training at DWR before, he has changed the course format. It was the first time that he presented an Advanced Training. This time around delegates had to write tests, for which they were apprehensive, but after the examination, they realised what they had done. “They drew a show with lights, staging, trussing and AV and put all this into a presentation format for clients within a two-hour period and the feedback was fantastic,’ says Van der Merwe.
“It was a lot of information but Van der Merwe took time with us and when we didn’t understand he helped,’ says Anrika Bruinders from Sound Headquarters. “He guided and explained things well to us, the practical was very nice and it’s amazing what you can accomplish in three days! I had never worked on Vectorworks before and I was dumbstruck, I really enjoyed it.’ Kevin Rieck from MGG Productions learnt a great deal too and this is what he says: “It has been interesting, small things he thought he would never use actually turned out to be great tools, he is a great teacher and I would love to train one on one with him, how to make things, I want his brain.’
“The course has helped me speed up the process of doing things, the course was really informative. It was difficult to begin with but as it went on, it was been good. This is all foundation for me,’ Erin Cutts from Visual Frontier reiterates. Thabang Mokwena from Palm Tree Events says: “It has been lovely and an opportunity for me. I’ve learnt so much. Francois is a great tutor; he is patient and has taken me from knowing nothing to intermediate. It’s my first year with Vectorworks and I feel as if I am well-equipped enough to tackle anything.’
Danie Janse van Rensburg is the production manager at EPH Productions and worked on a different design program before, comments: “I am now converted to Vectorworks, I like the rendering and what you can give the clients is so much better, the biggest trick is that you can print lists with the systems like channel numbers, everything really.’
Robert Hoey from Dream Sets attended the Vectorworks training with Francois at the end of last year, and joined up again this time, “I have really enjoyed the course,’ he says. DWR’s Callie du Preez was also glad to attend, “I have been learning and it’s a good course. I am picking up bits and am enjoying it,’ she concludes.
