I am happy for you really. I too found learning ArchiCAD relatively easy as did one of our new hires. But I also recognize him as remarkable and me as something of a CAD jockey. My experience with quite a few people suggests that your story is not typical.
On the other hand I don't think learning such complex software will be easy for most, and users need to show some dedication, recognize the reward for making the effort. But a large percentage of architects and designers are not technical people so Graphisoft has a greater challenge than the developers of say engineering software. Part of that challenge lies in maintaining maximum ease-of-use, part in convincing users that there is a payoff for sticking out the long learning curve.
I never intended to compare ArchiCAD with SketchUp based on features, just interface and approach. People think SketchUp is simple because it's easy to learn but the truth is they have done a great job making very complex software look simple. Perhaps the best job ever.
As ArchiCAD has progressed so has the complexity and the number of very complicated mechanisms required to complete common tasks. Like all the weird things we need to do to get walls to join properly in 2D and 3D—intersection numbers, composite settings, fill types, reference lines. And for all that there is still no core only display or joining of walls, roofs and slabs in section. God only knows how many more non-graphic settings, in more dispersed dialog boxes, they'll introduce to solve that one. This all works great if you use the same structures over and over and can spend the time to painstakingly set defaults and build templates. But for custom work it would be much faster to have a graphic editing method.
Nor am I suggesting Revit is any better or easier to master. But I do agree with Chazz is that most people and firms, faced with the uphill climb of learning this type of software, want to be sure it's worth it, and don't want to switch once they've made their choice. I think both ArchiCAD and Revit are worth the effort, but now in this competitive environment they are considered peers, which means Graphisoft has squandered the biggest advantage they had over autodesk, time. Now they must distinguish themselves and do so quickly. In a copy-cat horse race they will lose badly. Ease of use and polished interface should be their reputation and for that I suggest they look not to Revit for inspiration, but again to SketchUp, and applications from Adobe and Apple.
Regards,
Geoff Briggs
I & I Design, Seattle, USA
AC7-27, M1 Mac, OS 14.x
