topic Re: AC12 observations in Modeling

!Restored: AC12 observations

Sam Wheatley — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:58:02 GMT

David Lee wrote:
I've been using AC12 for a couple of days, and here are my observations so far...

1. Advanced 2d draw options - hardware acceleration causes my text to look a bit 'rough', less anti-aliased and more 'bold' at certain zoom levels. I decided to turn off hardware acceleration for now.

2. Speed - I have a core duo (2 cores), and so far am pretty happy w/ overall speed in day to day work.

3. Favorites window - There are nice horizontal separator lines between each item in the favorites, which makes it easier to scroll through. Little but nice improvement.

4. 3d document and the 3d dimensions - really cool!

5. curtainwall tool - still exploring.

6. splash logo - like it a lot more than v11. No offense to FLW, but that image was way too boring and way too calm...

_________________

1. I see speed increases, but I'm not on a new fast computer ( speed is always a welcome addition)

2. 3D documentation is a nice addition, I will use it alot.

3. Curtain Wall - I have no use for curtain walls in my practice, but I see possibilities for this tool to be used with any repetitive item handrails, fences, framing plans as I was just informed, etc. I look forward to other users in Architalk adding to this discussion on this item.

4. text wrapping in zone stamps, a small but very useful addition, I will now use zones for room labels. I am disappointed that the zone tool did not improve its accesability to scheduling information in its dialog box. I also had hoped for 3 options in ceiling height types (actual height 9'-0", Typical, or Varies) if I new GDL I could probably do this myself.

5. Dimension tool upgrade is very nice.

6. I will continue to use 3rd party windows and doors because the current ones in AC don't allow me to stack windows as many horiz. and with transom or fixed units above, recognized as one window type such as a group of windows mulled together are one type and to be scheduled as such. (so disappointed with the current windows)

I have alot more to say - to be continued

Re: AC12 observations

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:40:42 GMT

IMHO, distribute tool is not very helpful that way, it's better to select one object and distribute it N-times or based on distance like 3ds max tool.

Re: AC12 observations

TomWaltz — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 11:10:48 GMT

ameo wrote:
IMHO, distribute tool is not very helpful that way, it's better to select one object and distribute it N-times or based on distance like 3ds max tool.

"Distribute" is intended more for correcting elements you already have placed, not for new ones (That's "Multiply"). The use I like it for is if I have several objects in a line evenly spaced 5' apart and want to bump that up to 6' apart.

Re: AC12 observations

Dennis Lee — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:56:44 GMT

So far, the two things that really stand out for me are the dimension improvements and the 3d document.

The 3d document really makes it easy to put 3d information into the drawing set, making full use of the 3d model and making our drawings stand out, IMHO.

I still haven't explored the CW tool fully, but I wish they'd put the storefront objects back into the standard library... Storefronts are more like doors and windows, and I thought they worked fine as they were.

Re: AC12 observations

Karl Ottenstein — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:35:21 GMT

Very nice use of the wireframe layer control, Dennis. I hadn't thought about using it in a 3DD. Very effective.

Thanks,
Karl

Re: AC12 observations

Sam Wheatley — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:08:07 GMT

I'm interested in the curtain wall tools potential. If it were more a multi purpose tool for repetitive items that each can be customized. instead of calling it curtain wall tool, more a general purpose tool that you open the dialog box and see selections like curtain wall, fence, trim (such as trim with both vertical and horiz. definition), handrails, etc. items which extrude won't create. It could have predefined shapes for each individual usage, much like those for complex walls. Not taking away from what they did but just thinking ahead.

Re: AC12 observations

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:49:40 GMT

I've got a new dual core intel imac and for the first time working in section/ elevation is not laborious. The speed increase for these functions is really good. 3d view is also good. The grid tool enhancements are a big plus. Curtain wall tool holds a lot of promise but needs more work. Oh! Did I forget dimensioning?

Re: AC12 observations

PatriciaLe_o — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:44:56 GMT

Yeah! The dimensions are not stupid anymore! They go horizontal and vertical without having to tell it to! It was really annoying!

Re: AC12 observations

Rakela Raul — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:51:39 GMT

Yeah! The dimensions are not stupid anymore! They go horizontal and vertical without having to tell it to! It was really annoying!

be careful, several masters here loved it !!!

Re: AC12 observations

PatriciaLe_o — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:56:48 GMT

Rakela wrote:
be careful, several masters here loved it !!!

I was not being sarcastic... I loved it too!

Re: AC12 observations

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:08:11 GMT

I have done some analysis and comparison of the new AC 12 for a magazine, and also posted it on my blog. (in Portuguese, sorry).

http://www.tinyurl.com/archicad

One thing I noticed is that AC12 gets 4 to 10 times as fast on my quad-core. Ugh!

Btw, did you noticed I nailed that url? GS must be sleeping...

Re: AC12 observations

TomWaltz — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:51:04 GMT

Rakela wrote:
be careful, several masters here loved it !!!

Like who?

Re: AC12 observations

Rakela Raul — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:58:16 GMT

hi tom,
years back i commnted against that vertical and horizontal stupidity...and there were a few here that sent me to hell.......no interest in continuing this conv..im very busy sorry

Re: AC12 observations

Erika Epstein — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:02:19 GMT

Miguel,
Looks interesting, can you run your text through a translator?

Re: AC12 observations

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:21:28 GMT

Interesting blog, Miguel!

(Google does quite a good job in translating portugese btw. Try here)

Maybe it will help raise my enthusiam to start learning the new features of 12.

Firstly the extra speed is really nice to have.

The curtain wall tool looks far too complicated from my initial playing with it. Does it become easier with practice? Any tool that requires 44 pages to explain in the reference guide is too complicated in my books! Perhaps I will have to further investigate!

The idea of the 'system tool' behind it is quite clever. I wouldn't be suprised if more focused versions for other uses were added in the future. I could certainly see a wall framing tool version perhaps, maybe a dedicated handrail/balustrade tool, even a roof truss system. How about a simplified version dedicated to just building normal windows that cuts its own hole in a wall. I could see it completely replacing certain library parts, especially if they can get the user interface more user friendly. It's getting very much closer to a 'visual' GDL builder that I think ArchiCAD needs to compete with Revit.

I've also noticed that the 'lighting' in the 3d openGL window has been enhanced slightly, specifically to the underside of geometry. There now seems to be much better definition between adjoining planes which is especially noticable when viewing vaulted ceilings.

The 3D document looks interesting, although I was disappointed to find that the sectional material fills were not visible in real time when viewing the internal engine powered 3d window. That would have been cool!

The stairs look like they are an improvement, but if you are into designing highly bespoke staircases, anything that is automatically made is going to be a compromise and just act as a placeholder for the separately modelled fully-detailed version.

I haven't played with the partial structure yet, but I could see it being very useful for me.

Looks like a good release, but unfortunately lots of the old errors and limitations are still there!

Re: AC12 observations

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:39:04 GMT

Thanks for the info on AC 12 Miguel
Nicely written.
What I did was go to Miquel's link and just highlight the first two paragraphs
of the article in what I thought would be short test in Google translator.

What surprised me was that Peter's link to Goggle immediately (without input from me) put the entire article up on the screen in what seemed like perfect order, in virtually perfect English.
Most exceptions seem to be when there are " " around a word,
or the word Nitidamente, (Clearly) Which it clearly didn't get.
I too noticed a big speed increase but don't have nice data as Miguel.
It brought new life to what was almost an outdated machine.

Bier

Re: AC12 observations

Stress Co_ — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:24:09 GMT

A few small, but appreciated improvements:

1) In Mac OS... we can see the name of the file in the Dock icon.

2) Check spelling as you type.

3) Object settings, layer settings & door settings dialog windows are now all expandable on each side of the window's divider.

Re: AC12 observations

Link — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:51:42 GMT

Stress wrote:
Object settings, layer settings & door settings dialog windows are now all expandable on each side of the window's divider.

Yes, also the Work Environment dialog. And for any tool that accesses a library part, we can stretch vertically between the two panes on the left.

Interestingly, we can stretch horizontally between the two panes in the layer dialog, but not in any object settings dialog (at least here on PC).

I'd like to know more about that spell checking on the fly. First I've heard about it. Is it a Mac OS thing or ArchiCAD? Is it very useful (ie. does it know building terms)?

Cheers,
Link.

Re: AC12 observations

Karl Ottenstein — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:06:23 GMT

Link wrote:
I'd like to know more about that spell checking on the fly. First I've heard about it. Is it a Mac OS thing or ArchiCAD?

AFAIK, this is an OS X thing. Might be new in Leopard; can't remember! Anything I type anywhere, even inside a Google search box, is spell-checked automatically.

Cheers,
Karl

Re: AC12 observations

Link — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:10:25 GMT

Ah, that explains it. Thanks Karl.

Cheers,
Link.