topic ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features? in Modeling

ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features?

Laszlo Nagy — Tue, 02 May 2017 13:52:57 GMT

Please see the announcement and info about the new features here:

http://www.graphisoft.com/archicad/

Let us use this thread to discuss the new features of the program.

On the above page there is also a link using which you can register to watch the ARCHICAD 21 Event.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Anonymous — Tue, 02 May 2017 15:12:29 GMT

Well... what can I say?
FINALLY!!!
Thumbs up!!!

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Anonymous — Tue, 02 May 2017 17:28:51 GMT

I think is a huge +
It looks amazing! The new stairs and railings tools says everything.
And also it gives hope that they are going to continue doing great things on the next versions to come.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Richard Morrison — Tue, 02 May 2017 18:55:31 GMT

Other than the improvements to stairs and railings, which are long overdue, I am unclear what benefits the other main new features will provide me. (And why are these stairs and railings better than AC20 with the Cadimage Stair Tool, which is a whole lot less money than an AC upgrade?) What benefits will improved element classifications and IFC model referencing provide to my practice that I don't already have? Clash detection sounds good, but the piping illustration doesn't look like anything I, or any of my colleagues doing residential projects, ever work on. The productivity improvements seem nice, but nothing that makes me drool with anticipation. (Well, maybe just a little saliva with the auto-text label for properties. lol) At the moment, as a small firm, my reaction is a little underwhelming, but maybe I'm not understanding the full benefits. On its face, this seems like mostly a "big firm" upgrade.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Bricklyne Clarence — Tue, 02 May 2017 21:01:05 GMT

As one of the biggest and long term harshest critics of Graphisoft over the years, over their seemingly misplaced priorities in development and new features with each version, I'd like to take the opportunity now to say, ....good Job Graphisoft.

This looks great from what I can see so far and very versatile and powerful in keeping with how the existing tools already function.

Kudos on finally listening to your users and addressing one of the long-standing issues, even though I'll note that there's probably still room for improvement even with this new stair/railing tool (like the capability to use custom designed panels like with ornamental or vintage designs and still have them behave and morph as one would expect with the overall stair path).
Hopefully you don't abandon them like you did with the curtain tool and keep adding improvements in further versions down the road.

But yeah,...

Thanks for finally listening to us.*

(*still not a fan of the flat hard-to-read interface, though)

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Anonymous — Tue, 02 May 2017 22:29:08 GMT

Maybe is too soon to say, because there is not enough information today, but in my practice with a lot of interior details, I see myself using the railing tool to do, interior (and exterior) dent crowns, wainscoting, etc.
No more using beams with profiles and making new layer with different priority number so it wont join with others beams.

I hope I could do all this with the railing tool!

Also the cinerender engine with this new update will enhance the renders very much, I use, cinema 4d usually for my renders, so I know what it means these features to have them in Archicad.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Laszlo Nagy — Tue, 02 May 2017 22:47:12 GMT

Bricklyne wrote:
Kudos on finally listening to your users and addressing one of the long-standing issues, even though I'll note that there's probably still room for improvement even with this new stair/railing tool (like the capability to use custom designed panels like with ornamental or vintage designs and still have them behave and morph as one would expect with the overall stair path).

It will be possible to model something and save it as Stair Tread, Stair Riser, Railing Post or Railing Panel, then use them in the Stair/Railing. Is this what you are referring to?

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Laszlo Nagy — Tue, 02 May 2017 22:48:46 GMT

Richard wrote:
And why are these stairs and railings better than AC20 with the Cadimage Stair Tool, which is a whole lot less money than an AC upgrade?)

I think the ARCHICAD 21 Stair Tool will be more capable in many regards than the CADImage Stair Tool.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Bricklyne Clarence — Tue, 02 May 2017 23:13:17 GMT

laszlonagy wrote:
Bricklyne wrote:
Kudos on finally listening to your users and addressing one of the long-standing issues, even though I'll note that there's probably still room for improvement even with this new stair/railing tool (like the capability to use custom designed panels like with ornamental or vintage designs and still have them behave and morph as one would expect with the overall stair path).
It will be possible to model something and save it as Stair Tread, Stair Riser, Railing Post or Railing Panel, then use them in the Stair/Railing. Is this what you are referring to?

No, I meant doing custom railing/panels of this nature...

It's easy enough to draw and model those patterns using the slab tool or morph tool and save as custom railing panel and then it probably wouldn't be a problem with basic straight rectilinear stairs or slab edges.

But what happens when your stair is curving and winding like the examples shown above or the slab edge is curved? Would the railing tool have the necessary intelligence to deform the custom panel to match the stair or slab geometry?
I've encountered similar problems or hiccups using custom panels with the curtain wall or custom door leafs or windows under not too dissimilar circumstances.

I mean, it wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me if it weren't able to handle that since most people designing stairs don't usually design stair of that level of ornamentation. But when you do work in designing high-end houses, these types of stairs and railings are not atypical and if anything are more the norm.
Plus, the fact that we now can actually design and customise stairs such as the ones shown above entirely and totally using the stair tool without having to rely on cheats or workarounds (like slabs or morphs) is fantastic; but it would be even greater if we could say the same with the railing tool sometime down the road.

Maybe I'm wrong and it can actually do what I'm saying above, but if not, it's still not too bad, but it would be great if GS still kept at working on a solution for it down the road.

But all in all, it's a thumbs up from me.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Anonymous — Tue, 02 May 2017 23:48:50 GMT

laszlonagy wrote:
I think the ARCHICAD 21 Stair Tool will be more capable in many regards than the CADImage Stair Tool.

After just watching the videos I have to agree, I can see the cadimage stairs being surplus to requirements for me.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Anonymous — Wed, 03 May 2017 03:23:39 GMT

Thumbs up for me. Can I do custom ramps with new stair tool? And than place railing on it.? Sorry for my English.

Bimsoft send me a service agreement for upgrade. Can I try before upgrade?

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Barry Kelly — Wed, 03 May 2017 04:06:35 GMT

cagri wrote:
Can I do custom ramps with new stair tool? And than place railing on it.?

No ramps sorry but the railing can be associated to slabs, walls, roofs and meshes (as well as stairs of course) so as you adjust the base element the railing will adjust automatically.

Barry.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Anonymous — Wed, 03 May 2017 05:43:13 GMT

Neat how the magic wand setting parameters can now be varied and expanded. I like the stair control options for input. I like the extra Dimension skin display options. Lots of little goodies to help the design process included in AC 21. Thumbs up from me.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Ruben V — Wed, 03 May 2017 07:25:44 GMT

Really enthusiastic about stairs & railings. Productivity features look promising.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Anonymous — Wed, 03 May 2017 09:55:25 GMT

Barry wrote:
cagri wrote:
Can I do custom ramps with new stair tool? And than place railing on it.?
No ramps sorry[...]

That is a bit of a let down. Having already all the brains used in the stair tool it would have been neat to have those for ramps too.

Guess they will have to sell A22 too.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Laszlo Nagy — Wed, 03 May 2017 12:28:34 GMT

Francesco wrote:
Barry wrote:
cagri wrote:
Can I do custom ramps with new stair tool? And than place railing on it.?
No ramps sorry[...]
That is a bit of a let down. Having already all the brains used in the stair tool it would have been neat to have those for ramps too.

Guess they will have to sell A22 too.

Just to let you know: the development of the Stair and Railing Tools has been a multi-year development, so I think it is a big achievement that they are finally done. Hopefully the guys at GS will add these features as well.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Laszlo Nagy — Wed, 03 May 2017 12:37:39 GMT

arqrivas wrote:
Maybe is too soon to say, because there is not enough information today, but in my practice with a lot of interior details, I see myself using the railing tool to do, interior (and exterior) dent crowns, wainscoting, etc.

Yes, I think you are right. Just like the Curtain Wall Tool could be used for a lot more than Curtain Walls, I think the Railing Tool will be used for a lot wider array of cases than just Railings. Any repeating pattern structure may qualify to be modeled by it.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Laszlo Nagy — Wed, 03 May 2017 12:42:31 GMT

Bricklyne wrote:
laszlonagy wrote:
It will be possible to model something and save it as Stair Tread, Stair Riser, Railing Post or Railing Panel, then use them in the Stair/Railing. Is this what you are referring to?
No, I meant doing custom railing/panels of this nature...

Good question, but I cannot give a definitive answer since I have not tried saving custom panels. Stair Boundaries and Railing Reference Lines can have curved Segments, but I cannot say for certain if it also automatically bends those patterns or not...

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Laszlo Nagy — Wed, 03 May 2017 12:45:01 GMT

cagri wrote:
Thumbs up for me. Can I do custom ramps with new stair tool? And than place railing on it.? Sorry for my English.

Bimsoft send me a service agreement for upgrade. Can I try before upgrade?

I think when the new version is released you can download it and install it. And if you don't have an AC21 licence it will run in Trial mode for 30-days, then in Demo mode (no Saving, PRint, Export, etc.) So you will be able to try it when it is released.

Re: ARCHICAD 21 announced - how do you like the new features

Anonymous — Wed, 03 May 2017 17:09:15 GMT

laszlonagy wrote:
cagri wrote:
Thumbs up for me. Can I do custom ramps with new stair tool? And than place railing on it.? Sorry for my English.

Bimsoft send me a service agreement for upgrade. Can I try before upgrade?
I think when the new version is release you can download it and install it. And if you don't have an AC21 licence it will run in Trial mode for 30-days, then in Demo mode (no Saving, PRint, Export, etc.) So you will be able to try it when it is released.

I have only one month for service agreement I will pay 500 Euro. One month later I will pay 1099 for upgrade.