OBJECTiVE

[Ralph Wessel]

Encina Ltd is pleased to announce the release of OBJECTiVE, an add-on for making productive use of GDL objects.

The product web-page includes a series of illustrations and movie clips of OBJECTiVE in use. Point your browser to: http://www.encina.co.uk/objective.html

The software can be downloaded from: http://www.encina.co.uk/software.html

Request a time-limited trial at: http://www.encina.co.uk/demo_request.html

Registration of OBJECTiVE is not tied to dongle serial numbers, and it can be licensed from a single user through to an entire site. The same license can be used for ArchiCAD 7 through to 9, and an update for ArchiCAD 10 will be free to all registered users. Purchasing is at: http://www.encina.co.uk/purchasing.html

[Anonymous]

Ralph-

Looks very cool! I'll very likely be giving it a try. A question - will objects created/placed/modified by OBJECTiVE be visible, movable and editable (at least the basic parameters like materials) by users who don't have the add-on?

Thanks!
Wes

[Ralph Wessel]

Weston wrote:
Ralph-
Looks very cool! I'll very likely be giving it a try. A question - will objects created/placed/modified by OBJECTiVE be visible, movable and editable (at least the basic parameters like materials) by users who don't have the add-on?

Yes, the objects behave like ordinary GDL objects without the add-on, i.e, they remain visible and intact and can be moved or edited (including changes to the material). The main loss is that the hotspots may not update intelligently if you edit any parameter which changes the object's size.

The objects also archive correctly with or without the add-on. This means you can successfully share your work with colleagues who do not have OBJECTiVE.

[Jefferson]

My two bits:

I purchased this tool last summer from Ralph [as FrameWright], after a timber frame client came to me looking for help. While I realized it was exactly what my client was looking for, things I couldn't achieve in stand-alone ArchiCAD, I was even more excited to realize the potential for my everyday use.

The ability to create complex profiles and THEN edit them simply, rotate, and split in 3D, was nothing short of a giant leap. On top of that Ralph's response and support has been tremendous. And now the alignment -distribute tool and the simple informative examples in QuickTime on the website will have you productive instantly and lend even more value to this long awaited improvement.

Good to see others are catching on to just what this tool can do and what an asset it can be to your tool chest. Thanks again Ralph!

[Anonymous]

Don Lee wrote:
Looks Great!

I sort of begs the question though, why doesn't AC come this way and what is AC doing in the near future and beyond?

I agree. these are the kinds of things that should be in new releases by graphisoft.

donald mac donald

[Anonymous]

Ralph,
Could you let me know again how does it compare to 3D Profiler?
And specifically, one item I like about profiler is that:
Once I created a profile and a path is made out of it now I can change the profile of this path with different profiles that I have created already all saved in a library. This is a very important feature that 3D Profiler has.
Thanks,
JOseph

[Ralph Wessel]

Joseph wrote:
Ralph,
Could you let me know again how does it compare to 3D Profiler?
And specifically, one item I like about profiler is that:
Once I created a profile and a path is made out of it now I can change the profile of this path with different profiles that I have created already all saved in a library. This is a very important feature that 3D Profiler has.

Joseph,

I haven't used 3D Profiler, so I can't make an informed comparison. However, OBJECTiVE does have a tool to change the shape of any existing profile on demand, and anything you've drawn with it is automatically updated (including 3D hotspots on the cut profiles). Take a look at the example clip online by clicking on one of the images at http://www.encina.co.uk/objective.html#OBJECTiVEEditProfile

Our tools are developed to give the designer as much control over profiled segments as possible. The ability to freely cut and rotate each segment is quite liberating. You can see how this can be done even in a section window http://www.encina.co.uk/objective.html#OBJECTiVEProfile

Editing 3D segments in an elevational view is a lot more intuitive. Our profiling includes swept (lathed) profiles too.

Hope this helps,

Ralph.

[Chazz]

Thing is, I just bought 3D Profiler (then got another version with my subscription). any chance of a competitive upgrade price?

[Anonymous]

Jefferson:

There are the obvious uses as seen in the examples, but can you tell use how you use it on a daily basis?

Also, are there any uses that you found that are not so obvious?

thanks,

Don Lee

[Jefferson]

Hey Don -

Sorry for the delayed response time, had some internet snafus and pretty buried right now so this will be brief...........

My first attraction was simple the chamfered library parts. I use a lot of similar detailed items for posts, beams, lookouts and knee braces. Then I had the ever popular tilted wall to deal with and the contorlled rotate in 3D was just the ticket there. If you want to get fancy, as in composites it's a bit more work but faster than any other way I'd found previously. Masonry fireplaces, the ability to create in plan then rotate it appropiatley. This includes on occassion some SEO for detail but still pretty fast. I have saved some "custom" knee braces in my library made using Objective, and their file size is very minimal. And last but probably most frequently used, so far anyway, custom trusses. I still "slabify" trusses quite a bit, mostly because I like the greater control I seem to have vs. the AC library parts, I can make them exactly as I want, and using Objective I am able to skip some steps, fill to slab, view properly in the 3D window, save as GDL, etc. Not really to bad if you're used to it, but as soon as you want to edit one it is a major time sink. No longer so with this tool.

I have yet to find the free time to fully explore other options but ultimately the rotate and split tools are simple and very effective for me. So anything that I think I want to have those abilities, in a FAST mode, I try to generate it using this tool. As everyone here knows thinking outside the tool's definition is one of the first things we learn about ArchiCAD and that carries over here as well. So who knows what else you can do with it.

No spell check today so I can only imagine how this going to make me look

[Anonymous]

Great Job.

I hope Graphisoft has your number.

I really thought the 3D Profiler from Cadimage had promise and purchased it back in May 2005.

After "fighting" with it to create Fascia, I gave up and when back to using AC Roofs.

This looks great.