No FBX in Archicad 26

[Rex Maximilian]

Having downloaded Archicad 26 today, my first order of business was to see if they’ve included FBX export from the 3D window.

Nope.

Everyone, I’m at a loss for words. Imagine a word processing app not being able to save PDF, or an image editing program not being able to save JPG!

FBX is the industry standard for 3D model exchange and asset creation, and our $5K software with a $900 yearly price tag to remain current can’t save an industry standard format… SketchUp can… Revit can… Archicad falls short!

What are our options? A petition? An en masse open letter to major software publications highlighting this glaring omission?

Graphisoft has stopped responding to any forum post regarding FBX, and obviously from its lack of FBX exportability in Archicad 26, Graphisoft has ignored our repeated requests!

But guess what Archicad can export?

1. Electric Image (last release in 2013)
2. Piranesi (last release in 2007)
3. Wavefront (acquired by Autodesk in 2008)
4. Collada (last release in 2008)
5. VRML (last code update in 1997)

They offer us these antiquated and outdated formats, yet no FBX! What do we do next?

Graphisoft, you’re on the clock here. We need a response and we need it now.

[Emre Senoglu]

hey barry, just to correct a small confusion here - epic has stated that they will be releasing a DATASMITH exporter for AC26, and not FBX.

here's a link to the thread on TM forum: https://twinmotionhelp.epicgames.com/s/question/0D54z00007p3STbCAM/ac26-plugin?language=en_US

The ability to export FBX from Archicad is still a valid wish and request. If this will never happen, then at least an explanation to why would be useful to read.

[Rex Maximilian]

@Noemi Balogh Thank you for replying. I would like to clarify the topic of this post if I may. It isn’t about Twinmotion or Datasmith, or even Epic’s development of FBX export in the past.

The question is:

Why has “Graphisoft” not included a stock export option for FBX? …independent of any third party developer? FBX is the industry standard for 3D file exportation in an software to software exchange capacity?

This is a big hit at Archicad’s functionality, as well as reputation.

[Rex Maximilian]

It’ll be a good stopgap when they release it. However, Graphisoft really needs to fix this themselves instead of relying on third party software to bail them out. 

[Rex Maximilian]

Thanks for the clarification. Back to square one.

What do I tell my potential game developer client asking me for architectural assets of my creation? This is why it’s unacceptable for AC25 & 26 to not export FBX.

[Barry Kelly]

Ah, your post just said "exporter" before and as the topic subject was FBX export, I just put 2 & 2 together.

Thanks for editing your post and clarifying.

You would think that as there was an FBX exporter available for version 24 and previous versions, it would just be a matter of recompiling that add-on in 25 and future versions.

But then I don't know much about compiling add-ons.

Barry.

[Mjules]

I would also like this thread to draw your attention at Graphisoft. I would like to have an Archicad software that is as autonomous as possible and does not depend on other software to export a file into .FBX. As simple as that!

[Rex Maximilian]

Are we really going to get no reply (on the subject of FBX) from Graphisoft? I DMed @Minh Nguyen a few days ago and still no response. We deserve to know why this is excluded and what the plans are for FBX export (and hopefully someday import).

[Mjules]

@Rex Maximilian Maybe you need to "Stay focused and design more" first 😄! 

[Djordje]

.... aaaaaand the Datasmith 5_0_3 and Archicad 25 5005 do not work well with Twinmotion 2022.2...

Displaced or lost geometry, offset texture mapping... never mind whether it is saved as Datasmith file and opened, or whether the Live connection is used.

SaveAs 24, at least it works with the old exporter that works with 2022.2

The best workflow is the one that works.

[Mjules]

It seems it works better with Sketchup! In case you have some work to finalize, you can use Sketchup.