!Restored: CADImage Door and Window Builder

[Anonymous]

So I went to a seminar with Rex Maximillian- he mentioned door and window builder- and I think he suggested buying it. But, I was part of a webinar from ArchVista last week on ArchiCAD add ons and they said that they cannot recomend door an window builder-
I am interested in purchasing it, but now I have two opposite opinions on it.

And other opinions are appreciated!
Thanks.

[Chazz]

Door and window builder (DWB) is by cadimage tools not Cgraph (what the heck is Cgraph?).

People feel differently about these add on things. They allow you to create stuff that you could never do with AC out of the box but they reduce the portability of your files and require maintenance and upkeep. I have used DWB (and lots of other cadimage tools) for years and love it but it's no fun when you need to upgrade it ($) or share your project with someone who does not own it.

[Anonymous]

Cgraph- is actually Cigraph, and it is another plug in or add on site.

You're right, I meant Cadimage. Thanks for the correction.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Anonymous]

I have used DWB for the past 5 years, and apart from the points Chazz has made I think it is a fantastic product. It is so much more versatile that the standard AC doors and windows, and once you get used to the multitude of parameters (and realise that there are only so many of them that you have to alter once you have the basics set) it really makes creation of doors and windows easy. You can have almost any configuration, curves, slopes, repeating patterns, curtain walls, internal and external glazing, any level of detail you want, internal and external trims, facings and sills, all with one "object". Having recently started with a company who sometimes use AC doors for interior doors, I'm slowly changing them all over to DWB doors.

It may be an advantage to us that we are in the same time zone as CadImage, but I'd see this as a minor consideration.

[Anonymous]

We have used D&W Builder for a while too. I would recommend it over AC standard parts, but would warn that the ramifications of the "new GS yearly update" are not just financial (buying upgraded add-ons each time AC updates) but "resource draining". Updates to add-on seldom are available when AC upgrades occur, they need to be installed separately, and (worst case - which has happened) you need to run updaters to your old files that contain D&W Builder parts - and you guessed it - this part isn't as smooth as you might have hoped. So by all means go ahead, but be aware of some of the pitfalls...

[Anonymous]

You're absolutely right about the update process to current projects, Robert, but the process seems to have become a lot simpler with recent releases. When DWB first came out in it's current format (was that with AC9?) it was quite a mission to convert them, and you still had to fiddle with bits to get what you wanted. Whether or not Cadimage intend another major upgrade is anybody's guess though. I haven't heard anything. And as Cadimage are the Archicad resellers in NZ they tend to hold back the release of new AC versions here until they have add-ons completed too, which usually means we get AC a month or so later than the rest of the world, but at least the tools work, making the transition a little smoother.

[KeesW]

We've been using Cadimage Door and Window Builder from its beginnings, and its predecessor by Theometric since 1998. They are excellent products. The drafmanship is emaculate and scheduling is particularly good and versatile. Yes, there is now a regular upgrade cost.

We haven't used the standard ArchiCad 11 Door and Window modules enough to compare them - they have improved greatly and might do everything you need - except schedules which are definitely inferior to CadImage's products.

[Chazz]

KeesW wrote:
....and scheduling is particularly good and versatile......the standard ArchiCad 11 Door and Window...have improved greatly and might do everything you need - except schedules which are definitely inferior to CadImage's products.

Really? To my mind the best schedules are those built using Interactive Schedules (IS) which is something that DWB is at a surprising loss to do. In fact, the inability of DWB to play nice (hate that expression) with IS is the #1 drawback of DWB. Yes, you can schedule the basics (size, location, etc) of DWB doors and windows with IS but you CANNOT schedule all of the minutia you spent so much time getting just right: things like frame dimensions, leaf sizes, thresholds, hardware, bla bla bla. All that info is in there but it is invisible to IS. You can read about my frustrations with this here

The DWB schedules are OK in their way but the fact that are not interactive and do not update automatically is a fatal flaw IMHO.

[KeesW]

Chazz
I've not used Interactive Schedules - shows how little I really know about it! I do know that CadImage DW shedulers are better than AC11's but didn't say that they were perfect!

[Chazz]

KeesW wrote:
Chazz. I've not used Interactive Schedules - shows how little I really know about it! I do know that CadImage DW shedulers are better than AC11's but didn't say that they were perfect!

Kees, I'm not sure how you could make the argument that CadImage DWB schedules are "better" than homemade AC11 door/window Interactive schedules if you have not used the latter. IS is the backbone of tabular data extraction in ArchiCAD. How the heck are you scheduling all the other stuff (appliances, equipment, furniture, etc etc) if not with IS?

Getting back on topic, I would say that if Jess needs excruciatingly detailed, controllable schedules that update automatically, DWB is not the tool for him. Stick with the built-in library or get one of the other after market libraries out there.