topic Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list in Modeling

ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 12:32:59 GMT

Right so i was elated at all the new features of ArchiCad 10 until. .... i had to render (I was heavily reliant on Artlantis 4.5) and require to import Word or Excell documents. Unfortunatly i left all this to the end assuming it would be like in ArchiCAD 9 and that i could do all of the above.

Ok so could graphisoft kindly advice - is there a plug in that would enable one to save as Artlantis 4.5 from 10. Upgrading to Studio is an option (kindly do not give this as one of the options) but as time is of the essence and i do not live anywhere close to an Artlantis dealer it would take 6-8 weeks to get the upgrade if all goes well (Artlantis 4.5 took 12 weeks to get here) and it will cost me. Another option i picked up from the forum would be to save as a 3ds - I have tried this and my model was way too complex for this. In addition learning how to work with the lights in the 3ds model was a nightmare and like i mentioned time is of the essence. ArchiCAD 10 despite it's very cool features is rather weak when it comes to rendering and especially for Panoramas and Scenes. I feel i cannot tie up my computer for 10 - 20 hours to archieve what Artlantis could do in minutes.

I also cannot import word documents. All this is a bog down reducing productivity and taking me more steps back then i had moved forward with 10.
Kindly respond

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 15:49:34 GMT

I haven't used Artlantis since 2002 so I can't speak to that.

You can place the Word docs as PDFs. Use the Amyuni or Adobe driver to print to PDF from Word. This may not be quite as convenient as what you were doing in 9 but it will get the job done. If you need to edit the text in ArchiCAD you can also copy/paste.

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

TomWaltz — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 15:58:15 GMT

I'm not an Artlantis user, so I do not know a lot about its history. How old is version 4.5? Is it recent?

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Djordje — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 16:40:32 GMT

TomWaltz wrote:
I'm not an Artlantis user, so I do not know a lot about its history. How old is version 4.5? Is it recent?

4.5 is the version before R.

You can download the R, and all you need then is the registration code. If you email Abvent, I am sure that they will help you out.

The nearest dealer should be in South Africa, if I am not wrong?

Lightworks is always a rendering option - with Dwight's book you can get huge results. Even without it.

10 makes you re-think the process. Not a good idea to do it on a deadline. But then, I always do it too ... so I know.

Missing the OLE (Word and Excel) as much as you do; there has to be another option to link live documents, not dumb PDFs.

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 16:42:54 GMT

Djordje wrote:
Missing the OLE (Word and Excel) as much as you do; there has to be another option to link live documents, not dumb PDFs.

You could use Photoshop. But then it's not the best word processor around

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Djordje — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 17:38:26 GMT

Matthew wrote:
Djordje wrote:
Missing the OLE (Word and Excel) as much as you do; there has to be another option to link live documents, not dumb PDFs.
You could use Photoshop. But then it's not the best word processor around

I am missing the humour, Matthew ...

Losing OLE is the same as if you would have to print each view to PDF before placing it to the layout.

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 15:57:32 GMT

Djordje wrote:
Matthew wrote:
Djordje wrote:
Missing the OLE (Word and Excel) as much as you do; there has to be another option to link live documents, not dumb PDFs.
You could use Photoshop. But then it's not the best word processor around
I am missing the humour, Matthew ...

Losing OLE is the same as if you would have to print each view to PDF before placing it to the layout.

Perhaps the loss of OLE is too painful for jest. Explanation: ArchiCAD can read and update the Photoshop files directly - thus live docs, just not the best program for text and numbers.

One workaround is that Acrobat 8 can automatically convert Word docs into PDF. This might make a suitable intermediary if the set up isn't too much of a hassle.

Since OLE is a bit of a mess (and not cross platform) it seems the best thing would be for ArchiCAD to read the Word files directly.

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Tom Krowka — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 16:23:48 GMT

I don't understand why any program (programmer) would remove something that works well. Autocad does that on a regular basis, one reason I don't shop there anymore.......

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Anonymous — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 09:17:07 GMT

Hello,

ArchiCAD 10 do not export toward Arlantis 4.5, you'll need to get Artlantis R for fixed images or Artlantis Studio for Animations commands.

You can download a trypout version at:

www. artlantis.com

Please contact one of our 2 South African resellers, you'll find theirs addresses at:

www.abvent.com

click on International Network…

Hope this will help.
Alain Picard
Abvent Paris

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

TomWaltz — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:42:28 GMT

Tom wrote:
I don't understand why any program (programmer) would remove something that works well. Autocad does that on a regular basis, one reason I don't shop there anymore.......

I'm totally guessing, but I suspect that Graphisoft had to revise their translation system for the new element types in AC10, namely profiled and sloped elements. They probably decided to only export them to the latest ArtLantis.

To me, it's just one more reason to use Lightworks.

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Djordje — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:11:20 GMT

TomWaltz wrote:
Tom wrote:
I don't understand why any program (programmer) would remove something that works well. Autocad does that on a regular basis, one reason I don't shop there anymore.......
I'm totally guessing, but I suspect that Graphisoft had to revise their translation system for the new element types in AC10, namely profiled and sloped elements. They probably decided to only export them to the latest ArtLantis.

To me, it's just one more reason to use Lightworks.

AFAIK the plugin is developed by Abvent, not Graphisoft. Therefore, while I perfectly clearly see the commercial reason, it is not a good one. R is so superior to 4.5 that the only reason not to upgrade would be 5000 miles of desert or ocean to the nearest shop. Classic is AFAIK abandoned as an idea, so 4.5 could be the cheap option.

If there were a technical reason, maybe it would not be bad to know it? Just out of curiosity?

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:12:07 GMT

Tom wrote:
I don't understand why any program (programmer) would remove something that works well. Autocad does that on a regular basis, one reason I don't shop there anymore.......

I thought Tom was refereing to the "removal" of OLE. I especially will miss the Live Spreadsheet Link, when I finally "jump" to AC10.

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Tom Krowka — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:43:30 GMT

Actually, I was referring to the OLE function. I still do think it's poor planning to remove any part of the program that actually works well.
Or if it is removed, replace it with something that works equally well and performs the same function. What are programmers thinking.

Maybe we should remove random keys from their keyboard every six months, or have thier monitor not display certain colors. But only we know which ones.

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Chazz — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:52:03 GMT

We're drifting a long way from Artlantis (not to mention Namibia), but I have to ask, is the loss of OLE really that bad? OLE never worked on the Mac version of AC so maybe I don't know what I'm missing but the PDF method is great for me. Printing to PDF is almost as fast as saving a doc. The only issues I have is that updated PDF's seem to need to be told to update in Layouts rather than doing it automatically. The other issue is that AC does not allow you to open and place a 10 page PDF in one fell swoop. Other than this I love it.

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 21:37:09 GMT

Just a work around but is it possible for you to save the ACX file as a AC9 file then generate the 3D view and save as Artlantis 4.5. Might be the quickest solution.

Philip Caine

Re: ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

Djordje — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 10:57:44 GMT

Chazz wrote:
We're drifting a long way from Artlantis (not to mention Namibia), but I have to ask, is the loss of OLE really that bad?

As Dwight said elsewhere, you don't know what you have until you lose it ...