topic Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS in Collaboration with other software

CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Nuge — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:25:57 GMT

I have just received my copy of AC12 and was flabbergasted that the Cigraph versions are still a month or so away from release (and will require a dongle). Surely Graphisoft should be keeping these companys in the loop regarding release dates.

Does anyone have a workaround (other than save all objects as GDL) as i have a large job i want to bring thru to AC12 but it has numerous archiforma objects.

Regards Nuge

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Dennis Lee — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:18:16 GMT

I've had my AC12 for a while too, and am pretty disappointed that Cigraph addons won't be available until the Italian versions come out. It kind of forced me to use the built-in stairmaker for some of the simple ones, and I am finding that it's not too bad.

Anyway, I wonder why the others (Cadimage / Objective) can have AC12 versions right away while Cigraph has to wait till the Italian version comes out???

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Karl Ottenstein — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:24:59 GMT

Cigraph was in the loop and had the opportunity to release their add-ons with the release of 12.

Many of us who have been friends and supporters of Cigraph are surprised (to put it mildly) not only at the delay in release, but also their announced intent to use a dongle for protection...requiring yet another USB port.

Personally, I'm not sure if I feel comfortable recommending their products any longer because of this tremendously badly handled customer service situation.

Karl

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Richard Morrison — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:16:00 GMT

Karl wrote:
Cigraph was in the loop and had the opportunity to release their add-ons with the release of 12.

Many of us who have been friends and supporters of Cigraph are surprised (to put it mildly) not only at the delay in release, but also their announced intent to use a dongle for protection...requiring yet another USB port.

Personally, I'm not sure if I feel comfortable recommending their products any longer because of this tremendously badly handled customer service situation.

Karl

Karl, I'm with you. Frankly, having to deal with yet another dongle is probably going to be the straw that breaks this camel's back. I really like their products, but not enough to deal with this level of hassle.

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

rm — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 23:18:03 GMT

I heard back from Fabrizio, looks like the AC12 updates should be out by the end of this month. Im guessing they are not posting a lot because they have been busy getting the updates tested and done.

As I said before, personally I think Cigraph has always tried to communicate effectively with their clients.

I too am not crazy about the new scheme to hand out dongles to run their plug-ins. One more dongle to manage seems like more headache, we shall see though.

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Fabrizio Diodati — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:51:42 GMT

Ok, finally here I am!
Sorry for the long delay in answering you but this period has been quite “full” for me both for business reason (we were hard working on the AC12 compatibility updates for our plug-ins) and for personal reason (during the last August I became father for my first time!).

One thing our customers complained the most were the way our software protection worked. Most people found it cumbersome, complex, not user-friendly and so on. Therefore as you can read on our web site we decided to introduce a new protection system based on a USB-WIBU dongle., the same type which is used by ArchiCAD.

In a couple of weeks all our registered customers will receive for FREE (one) empty Cigraph-dongle, which can be used to install or the compatibility upgrades (not free), or even buy new Plug-Ins from the Cigraph-Store.

The advantages you will get from this situation are:
- the plug-ins can be used on any computer you need and they are not anymore tied to a specific ArchiCAD dongle.
- if you change your ArchiCAD dongle you don’t need to get a new unlock code
- if you have more ArchiCAD and just one plug-ins you don’t need to move the AC dongle (and remember you serialized the plug-ins just under that dongle) but just move the plug-in dongle
- the dongle can be SINGLE or NETWORK just like the ArchiCAD ones where:
a. a SINGLE dongle can “authorize” the use of up to 10 different plug-ins
b. a NETWORK dongle can “authorize” the use of up to 5 different plug-ins
- the dongle handling is easier (over all from the user point of view) than the Registration ID / unlock code handling
- finally we will have network licences
- we will able to propose bundle of plug-ins with customised discount

We are very sorry that this new system brought some consistent delay in our shipment of updates, but we really believe that it will bring a lot of advantages to our customers.

In the next weeks you will be able to read more detailed info on our web site.

Friendly
Fabrizio

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

rm — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:31:23 GMT

Fabrizio,

Thank you for letting us know what is cooking at Cigraph.....I figured you were working hard on this.

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Dennis Lee — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:39:49 GMT

Okay, i only have one plug-in from Cigraph, but that one has been useless for quite some time now. It is way past September. When is it coming?

To be brutally honest, I don't even know if it is a good idea to upgrade and keep it current at this pace.

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:48:44 GMT

Someone know a good option for archiforma plugin? i'm tired of waiting if cigraph is going to launch the upgrades any day, i receibed an email weeks ago, announcing that the new versions are ready, but the online store is closed from that day. If i have to wait months for upgrades, and maybe other months to receibe the new dongle, for me that software lose all his value. Is sad because cigraph use to be very efficient, lucky for me because i only had one plugin, if i used more maybe i go crazy.

Particulary, the archiforma tool that i used a lot, was the extrusion, but i loved because i rotated, and i can edited in the sections, even snapping to another objects. Someone know about another plugin with that funtionality?

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:33:21 GMT

cesarr wrote:
Someone know a good option for archiforma plugin? i'm tired of waiting if cigraph is going to launch the upgrades any day, i receibed an email weeks ago, announcing that the new versions are ready, but the online store is closed from that day. If i have to wait months for upgrades, and maybe other months to receibe the new dongle, for me that software lose all his value. Is sad because cigraph use to be very efficient, lucky for me because i only had one plugin, if i used more maybe i go crazy.

Particulary, the archiforma tool that i used a lot, was the extrusion, but i loved because i rotated, and i can edited in the sections, even snapping to another objects. Someone know about another plugin with that funtionality?

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Djordje — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:12:25 GMT

You can also check Objective

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Ralph Wessel — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:58:12 GMT

Djordje wrote:
You can also check Objective

Thanks Djordje.
We also provide a competitive upgrade price for anyone in this position. For more information, contact me through Encina's contact page http://www.encina.co.uk/contact.html or by PM. More info about OBJECTiVE can be found at http://www.encina.co.uk/objective.html

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:18:51 GMT

Thanks Djordje, I check OBJECTiVE the other day, looks really cool!! and the upgrade was released at a par with the new version of archicad.

Thanks Ralph, i will contact you as soon as possible.

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Brett Brown — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:41:03 GMT

Has anyone received their free dongle yet?

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Anonymous — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:37:36 GMT

Brett wrote:
Has anyone received their free dongle yet?

I haven't - just emailed them to find out what's going on. The updated versions are on their download page but don't appear to have a demo period and won't run without the dongle.

It's already been said, but this delay and the whole dongle idea are lousy.

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Dwight — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:03:33 GMT

And the really bad news is that they are only warranting the dongle for two years. Complain at:

http://www.cigraph.it/cigraph/pagetrans.do?action=contattaci&desid=1&lang=en

Or go there directly and kick Istvan's arse:

http://www.cigraph.it/cigraph/azienda3.jsp?lang=en

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Karl Ottenstein — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:18:45 GMT

Just to repeat myself: I cannot recommend that anyone invest in any Cigraph products, given this new policy - and the long delay in releasing the versions for 12. No office doing production work in AC 12 has been able to utilize their existing investment without resorting to crazy back and forths with AC 11.

Between the delay in people receiving their 'free' dongles, and this 2 year warranty thing - Cigraph has shown that they are not a company upon which one can rely for business purposes. They really should be ashamed.

Fabrizio has been a great friend to all of us here in the AC community. Clearly, some decision maker above him took an idiot pill. You can see the management of Cigraph here and take your best guess as to who made this stupid decision and send them an e-mail:
http://www.cigraph.it/cigraph/azienda1.jsp?lang=en&catid=1

Cheers,
Karl

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Dwight — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 15:33:27 GMT

Shame, indeed.

Just to be fair, as annoying as the dongle is, just search for Cigraph on the web and discover numerous ways to cheat them out of their intellectual property. Invigoratingly infuriating.

I'm sympathetic to the dongle, but their latest announcement on their website makes me think Cigraph are weasels about who it benefits by trying to tell us that "our investment is protected" when it is theirs.

In view of the facts that the dongle protects them, it should be a no-brainer that the dongle and its shipping should be free and forever replaced if defective.

The guy to blame for this is Istvan Toth, their supreme commander. Let him know your feelings at:

http://www.cigraph.it/cigraph/pagetrans.do?action=contattaci&desid=1&lang=en

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Gerald Hoffman — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:45:19 GMT

I have just sent in my complaint email as suggested. This is too much IMHO. I hate dongles ( just another thing to lose ) and suggested they try the registration system that CadImage has which I think works very well. I will not be renewing any Cigraph add-ons and perhaps if enough people complain they could be persuaded to correct this course of action. No protection system is probably immune from hacking anyway, dongles included.

Re: CIGRAPH AC12 VERSIONS

Anonymous — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:35:26 GMT

Personally, I'm at a loss - I'm equally unimpressed with the delay and the new dongle scheme, but find that there is not a proper substitute for architerra and archistair. I also have great interest in archisketchy as I often want to produce looser drawings from my archicad file.

I realize that there are ways to accomplish each of these functions without the cigraph products, but in each case it's a manual, multi-step process that doesn't seem to lend itself well to projects in process with multiple changes.

They've really blown it and left us hanging...