Glad to see this is provoking some debate,...
Matthew, you're right, the rant about GS not buying @last was completely talking through my hat.
However, for you to say that it's adequate to simply rebuild an object in Archicad is, I think completely missing the point. By extending that argument, we would be all printing off dimensioned autocad drawings from collaborators so we could redraw them, line by line in Archicad, instead of just importing as x-refs.
Maybe it's a personal workflow issue - my position, now that I've returned to college, is that I'm perfectly used to leapfrogging through multiple programs to get the project data I need.
For example, how about scanning building plans into Photoshop;
importing into Adobe Streamline to automatically convert to vectors lines; then importing into Illustrator so I can export to .dwg or .3ds;
then importing the vector data into 3ds max or Viz;
before extruding them into into meshes...
(and then possibly exporting these meshes into Sketchup to finally bring into Archicad!)
That's an extreme version, and I hate to imagine the total cost of these programs if I wanted to do the same thing in a commercial environment, but that's where the industry is heading.
My main issue is with the fact that Archicad has no equivalent to Revit's Massing Tools. And the way that these are integrated with the rest of the Revit workflow (ie. being able to convert blobby masses into, say curtain walling) is way beyond what we can do with even the Sketchup-to-Archicad workflow, or even with the new slanted walls.
(however, I spent yesterday evening tinkering with an old demo copy of Revit 5 from 2003 I think, and it just seemed plain UGLY - don't think I could convert)
Ha!, I've spent so long typing this, I see David in Seattle has added another post.
This seems to be striking a chord with people.
One last thing, and I feel bad writing this here, but these forums are for the dissemination of useful knowledge for Archicad users...
Maxonform would be a great addition to the Archicad user...if it was FREE. (or at least offered at a nominal price)
To charge a few hundred, (or is it more than a thousand euros?) for this kind of plugin is just taking the p*ss out of users.
I suppose different corporations have different policies, but to compare:
Next Limit (the creators of Maxwell Render) offer a 3ds Max interface for Maxwell at no extra charge, however, E-On Software (the makers of Vue Infinite) charge almost the same amount again as the full cost of Vue Infinite, for X-Stream, their 3ds Max interface.
I think I'm obliged to point out that Archicad users can download any Open-Source 3d program (eg: Blender
http://www.blender.org/cms/Home.2.0.html ), export their Archicad data to it, manipulate it the same way that Maxonform would, and import back into Archicad using the .3ds in add-on, whilst still retaining materials.
I'd feel worse posting this on Maxon's website, but I guess as this Graphisoft.com, I'm only informing Archicad users of their rights.
