What is happening with Cadimage Tools?

[Richard Morrison]

I get the sense that Cadimage is moribund. Although there have been a few updates over the past couple of years, all of the documentation and videos date from v19 or before, and haven't been updated in years. (So in many cases, what is shown on the videos or in screenshots doesn't exactly match the current software.) Cadimage support tells me that they are giving up on their stair tool, which I liked because it was fairly simple to use, and are now encouraging me to use the GS stairs instead. There used to be an active public support forum. There used to be an almost daily "tip of the day." Since Central Innovation took it over, it seems development has pretty much stopped and it has gone from being a vibrant force to what now seems to be a neglected stepchild.

I am hoping that someone closer to the other side of the world knows what is going on. Should I be trying to wean myself off of these tools in anticipation of the inevitable?

[Brett Brown]

The problem I have is I'm on 20 and have reported many bugs in the 20 versions of all the tools. I get told by support that they fix the bugs in V21 and V22 but not in 20 where I reported it.
This is the standard quote I get from support
"Please note that priority is given to Cadimage Tool and Select Object development for ARCHICAD 21 & 22, we don't have a time frame on when this will be fixed."
Love to know how many people out there are still on 20 and putting up with all the unfixed bugs in that versions Cadimage tools?
Normally when Company's put out faulty tools you would think that they fix them promptly for customer service. Unfortunately, New Zealanders supposedly get the Cadimage tools for free, so there is no incentive to help us, only the complaining overseas paying customers.
Thats how it feels to me anyhow.

[Ralph Wessel]

Richard wrote:
according to the Installer, since AC22 was released, there were 29 bugs fixed for the Door & Window tool, but only ONE bug fixed (Coverings) for all of the other tools combined and support for Masterspec added for Keynotes.

Thanks for pointing that out Richard - the release notes haven't synced properly to the installation packages – I'll get someone onto that. The current schedule for AC22 release onward should have shown the following:
Bracing
Fixes:
- ArchiCAD crashes if trying to Brace this building
- Able to choose Braces that shouldnt be available with EXT / INT walls
- Not enough Braces placed
- Brace Table shows the Brace Type sizes, should only show type
- Cant create a new brace type from the library part UI
- Brace name is displayed in the brace table
- Brace placement is exceeding maximum length
- Bracing units never change with height
- Bracing elements length not matching table brace length.
- AC20 - Bracing Presets
- Room in roof space
- Bracing types styles constraints wont stick
- unknown value 10
- ac21 drop down menu's missing from brace table object
- BRC-102 Can't delete a brace type
- Bracing tool showing incorrect BU's Achieved
- Bracing table disappear after update.
- Brace places on other side of wall

Improvements:
- Remove limit of 50 bracing elements in brace table
- Edit Brace from Brace set list
- Retain and restore calculation dialog settings between runs
- Allow to display achieved bracing on brace object
- The bracing engine should utilise more than one brace type
- The bracing engine shouldn't place braces through intersecting walls
- Show length to greater precision in brace object
- Bracing tool functionality - different lengths into the same bracing object settings


Cabinets
Fixes:
- Values confusion on different door leaf types
- Cabinets toe space is not merging when wall are turned off but set to a number higher than 0
- Module widths inconsistent
- A and B reversed for rectangular grid muntins
- Surface on draws / doors not rotating correctly.

Improvements:
- Corner cabinet
- Top panel for overhead and pantry cupboards


Coverings
Fixes:
- Can not apply a wall covering to a hot linked module


Doors+Windows
Fixed:
- Window opening lines 3D versus 2D elevations
- Window migrated to ac22 bug
- Can't add a door to a window
- Can't remove left door leaf in plan view
- The wall is not showing the line inside the wall of the pocket door
- Floor plan view doesn't match window set up
- Archicad Crashing when clicking adjust scroolbar to width to many times in cadimage window
- Door Frame not shown with Match Jamb option in door model settings
- Comparing cadimage window (door opening) in Archicad 22 and 21, Archicad 22
- Cadimage Pivot window display in window schedule
- Calculate Data is not working in the Doors or Windows Settings
- Door tool - Door Leaf surface settings are wrong in some door leaves
- MVO set to simple 2, doors smaller
- Custom Schedule Notes overwrite Structured Schedule Notes
- Doors & Windows Head Moulding, Embedded in the Wall not working properly
- Garage Door leaf not changing
- Pocket door is not showing correctly
- Flange not showing under Door Leaf (Door Tool)
- Exterior jamb moulding are missing at the hinge side of the door
- Pocket door UI mislabelled
- Cadimage ID tool bug
- windows with the slop corner showing a extension in DW schedule
- Surface orientation not matching in Cadimage Window and Door
- Corner post adds an extra grid down from the side when using the edge grid
- No dimension shown in D&W Cadimage schedule
- ARCHICAD freezes on opening project
- Schedule creating a gap between dimension and door image
- Missing frame under sidelights
- Window with no top panels tries to draw a top panel if the top panel height is greater than zero


Electrical
Fixes:
- Plate position and offset not set correctly in wiring symbol
- Adding components to circuits workflow
- Circuit wiring corrupts when changing colour
- Wiring doesn't update
- Plate should reorientate when dragged to a wall
- Click to place doesn't align to wall if default hotpot has changed
- Height of elements wrong after copy paste between stories
- Wiring doesnt update on edits
- Cant wire other items other than Lamps
- A placed components changes settings on just opening its settings
- Selection by component anchor fails
- [AC19] - created wall plate wrong - correct plate but wrong symbol
- Create Plate doesnt appear to work - doesnt hide original components
- Automatic placement doesn't work on complex profile walls.
- Electrical Switch-Plate
- When saving a preset it doesn't seem to lock the 'switch' button. (It doesn't grey it out)
- Delete a Wall Plate


Improvements:
- Prompt for Circuit Wiring object setting before placing
- Choose the order for wiring circuit
- UK Sockets with USB
- Intercom objects / wiring
- Simplify the labelling of electrical components
- Deleting a wall plate should leave its components selected
- Allow to turn 'wall snapping' on and off.
- No labels on any switches
- To have a quadruple switch and a double power plate
- Electrical Plates Improvements
- Adjust Width and height of the plates in AC 21
- Allow to wire to the symbol origin
- Wish: To be able to edit the text position for Electrical Symbols
- Wire electrical items in a specific order
- NZ AUS power points with neon lights REQUEST
- Add a center point to wall plates for associated dimensions in ele / section
- WISH: Option to have vertical or horizontal switchs, data outlets etc like the power outlets
- Wall plates improvements
- Wish to have a horizontal GFCI outlet


Keynotes:
Fixes:
- CVS import assumes UTF-8 encoding
- Linked Masterspec specifications are deleted if you update a single spec
- Cannot find label for a keynote in a schedule, cannot delete from Schedule
- Top key missing on 2nd row onwards in keynote schedule
- Keynotes Frames
- Dynamic hotspot disappeared
- Top key missing on 2nd row onwards in keynote schedule

Improvements:
- Interpret "" as escaped double quote in CSV


Objective
Fixes:
Slab Edges Missing Interface images
Objective tool bug - rotation

Sites
Fixes:
- Recession plane angle is inconsistent
- Daylight angle fields editable when preset is applied
- Custom Daylight Angle doesn't work

Improvements:
- Add an option for the position of an arc boundary centre
- More options for site boundary arc annotation

[Ralph Wessel]

The following changes are in the testing pipeline for release before AC23:
Bracing
Fixes:
- Some external walls are left unbraced
- Custom Brace Type Length Not updating
- W along and across BUs/m incorrect
- AC22 Can't create new brace that is used for Engineered design
- Deleted brace sets/types can't be restored or imported once deleted
- No braces placed along line despite having adequate walls
- Fixed brace showing as 0 Bu's achieved
- Request for notification on import brace types
- When trying to delete a Brace Set the incorrect name is shown next to Delete

Improvements:
- delete bracing set crashing Archicad
- Add a warning that “you have already used this calculation set"


Coverings
Fixes:
- Roof Coverings on 0-degree pitch roofs show at 1-degree
- Wall covering sill bug
- Covering mirror itself
- Thickness for sill is not changing correctly
- Fill is not showing the correct scale in covering
- shadow showing gap in covering


Doors+Windows
Fixed:
Door is not showing the display in 2d plan
Hide the leaf number for door in 2d view
garage doors not showing up on one side of the walls

Improvements:
- Schedule note palette should work in all views


Electrical
Fixes:
- Unexpected error occurs if circuit contained unswitched electrical component is created
- Can't link an automatic circuit to objects that use only AC default 2D hotspots
- Natural spline as default.
- an internal error occurs when add wiring.


Objective
Fixes:
GDL scripts reference images with explicit .PNG extension
missing interface image in objective tool


Sites
Fixes:
- Zone Stamp erratic behavior

Improvements:
- Increase the auto refresh for the site entry

[Nuge]

Ralph,

its great that you are working on updates/bug fixes, i (and many others) have given up on reporting bugs as it seems that it takes for ever to get them fixed, In the good old days we could receive a fix within days and be able to use on the project we are working on. currently me have no idea when or if the issue will be fixed, and to be frank most of the bugs should be getting picked up by your testing prior to release not relying on your user base to identify them.

[Ralph Wessel]

Nuge wrote:
i have given up on reporting bugs as it seems that it takes for ever to get them fixed, In the good old days we could receive a fix within days and be able to use on the project we are working on. currently me have no idea when or if the issue will be fixed, and to be frank most of the bugs should be getting picked up by your testing prior to release not relying on your user base to identify them.

Please report any issues you find to our support team. Our rate of fixing bugs and adding features has been exceeding the rate at which they are added for at least 2 years now, so the number of outstanding issues is shrinking fast.

Our error rate is now very low. I wish it was zero, but no one in the industry has pulled off that feat. You might wonder, for example, how Microsoft could release an update to Windows 10 that might delete a user's entire documents folder. Or Apple release a FaceTime update that could allow you to listen to someone before they answered your call. Or almost all current processor manufacturers release hardware vulnerable to a major security flaw that can't be wholly mitigated through software. These companies all have unimaginably large testing resources, but embarrassingly large problems somehow still arise.

Contemporary software is never a solo effort. Everything is connected and the interdependencies can have unexpected consequences. Issues reported to us can turn out to be due to problems with the host hardware, OS, 3rd-party software, or ARCHICAD bugs. We spent weeks trying to resolve one issue that was finally acknowledged to be an ISP routing fault. Many times our 'fix' is actually working around or mitigating a problem outside of our control. We've built up a complex world, and I think this is an inevitable consequence.

[Nuge]

Ralph,

Your response is exactly my point, your comparing yourself to mega corporations that care little for their users, before central innovations took over we had a local customer focused company, and now we have a wannabe "corporation" more interested in ticking the boxes and counting the cash than dealing with their customers.

When i get a few days i will document the bugs within your tools and forward onto your support team. with any luck they will be resolved quickly.

I am curious about how you decide what new tools your going to develop (and what needs enhancing) as in the good old days you sent out emails asking for suggestions, i responded in great detail every time with no success, perhaps asking your customer base whats important to them might be a good starting point.

As an aside do your think we will ever have the coverings/door and window tools using custom profiles, its seems crazy that we cant utilize this basic function within archicad (and it would be incredibly powerful), and don't even get me started on building materials.

Nuge

[Anonymous]

My sister-in-law is from Papua New Guinea… my daughter-in-law is half Aussie & a beautiful blend of Philippino & Spanish in the mix. So, I'm into all races. That being said, I have been continually frustrated to the MAX with the CadImage Support(???), with the main and only reason being the only Support person I get (even when I was training up a colleague in NZ) has the greatest difficulty in understanding the most detailed explanation of an issue… ANY issue, in english.

When I was in NZ, my colleague & I resorted to calling the HO and speaking with the Manager to get it sorted.

I am having the very same issue again, still, and with a consistent monthly fee I expect someone who can at least understand the basic language of the Users. This is a Copy of the latest eMail, and please correct me if my explanation is not straight forward to understand.

(I also sent this to Central Innovation for the Wish)

CadImage REPORT SIDEWAYS IMAGES IN GLAZING OF DOORS & WINDOWS

Central Innovation

Please note this discussion and if there are any improves or ideas that can be implemented in the ArchiCAD Doors & Windows as well that would be GREAT.

When creating Doors & Windows with glazing, an innovative technique is to use an image such as a landscape, seascape, cityscape, clouds or other such background in the Glazing.

The Transparency is set to about 80%, the image parameters adjusted to suit the desired reflection, and the result can be quite outstanding.

To have the reflection of a bush setting for a rural building brings so much reality to the 3D Model. (See eg's)

There are 2 Items that need addressing, one being a 'bug' (it is for me), and the other is a Wish.

1) All the Images in the Glazing appear sideways in the Doors and Windows. That is a major issue for using this technique and kills it dead.

There are only two options I can think of…

1. Create the Images sideways in Surfaces, which is impractical

2. Use an alternative Door + Window Tool

Please Note: I am NOT going to send a Module File of this issue as your technician can grab a picture of a tree, a dog, a wheelbarrow or anything, create it as a Glass Surface, and apply it to a Door or Window to then see the Image display sideways. This can be done in a couple of minutes. I tried for 2 hours last year to save and send a Module and whatever else I was recommended to, and it wouldn't even upload to the CadImage Support address I was given. This is such a brilliant technique and is a good one to share with your Users, so I hope your Support Crew take the 2 minutes to create an Opening to see the issue.

WISH: I would like to be able to nominate the Origin Point of the Image within the Door/Window. For example, if there are windows on a second story, the image may start half way up the height of the window, which is no good.

The image quite often seems to start in the middle of the glazing (as in, in the dead middle of the window, giving a less unrealistic symmetrical look when the Mirroring Method/s require the Image to be mirrored to help with the seamless look. Symmetry is not in nature.

Please See Attached Examples of my brillHOUSE

Cheers…

(Hmm… you can see a bit of my frustration)

Hi Laurence,

Thank you for the query.
We can only forward your issue to our Cadimage tool developers, if you have any Archicad tool issue, you will need to contact the Australia team.
Can you send us the screenshot of the SIDEWAYS IMAGES IN GLAZING OF DOORS & WINDOWS you have?

Kind regards (Support)


Me… (Now I am more frustrated!!)
THIS IS A CADIMAGE ISSUE

Did you read what I detailed

The trees are correct in the images I sent you because I’m using the GraphiSoft windows because they work. I don’t use CadImage windows because they don’t work for me because of this issue.

If you take the whole 2 minutes and follow the simple instructions I detailed, you will see what the problem is.

Please read the original message or I will have to make another phone call to NZ to get this very simple issue sorted.


Me, again… (Now I am more frustrated!!)
Can you first get another Team member to read the eMail and have them explain it to you.


Hi Laurence,

I am the only person currently in NZ support.
I can ask my colleague to help me with this and he will back from training next Monday.
Thank you for your patience.

Kind regards (Support)


Me…

[Laszlo Nagy]

Brillster,

I have removed your huge icons from the message, as they are very distracting.

[Anonymous]

Yep, they were normal size when I was typing but went ginormous when I posted… Cheers 😉

[Richard Morrison]

Ralph wrote:
We also have 3 new products, a major change to an existing tool and significant library changes in the pipeline for release with AC23. A small group of users is reviewing beta versions now. It has taken nearly 2 years of customers consultation, design proposals, specification and development to arrive at the point.

While some communication and marketing has slipped, development is proceeding at a significant pace.

I would LOVE to know what this purported "development" is all about. We must have different definitions of "significant pace." I just reactivated my subscription for CI Tools to see what is new in the AC23 version. As far as I can tell -- NOTHING. There is no recent press release, and nothing in the Help menus that I can see. Instructional videos are often 4 years old, and still refer to AC18 & A19. I get the sense that Central Innovation is doing the absolute minimum possible to extract every possible last dollar before this software finally dies on its own.