Autodesk 2024.....and stuff......

[Bricklyne Clarence]

This is not a wish per se, but more of a let's say ....."wish adjacent" topic that does in fact actually discuss wishes in a more general form as a function of its main subject.

(Mods feel free to move it if you feel it's too 'off-topic' but at least read it all the way through to the end before making that decision)

Sooo.....AutoTable recently released it's 2024 line of program versions, and guess which ArchiCAD main rival just got a much much requested ArchiCAD user wish (in recent times) as one of their new features?

https://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-C81929D7-02CB-4BF7-A637-9B98EC9EB38B

(I'm talking about a dark theme.)

I guess it was always inevitable given the fact that most of the other programs already have dark themes. But I just found it funny from a "I'm convinced Autodesk and Revit developers read Graphisoft User Talk forums to mine for features they think they should add to their program - even if as a marketing ploy to appeal to disgruntled ArchiCAD users" theory that I've always had*.

(*more likely (already) they just have a whole bunch of those disgruntled or former ArchiCAD users posting their requests and getting listened to).

Some of the features are obviously great or would be great to have in ArchiCAD, others are more surprising to me that they never had them before (like what we would refer to as SEO's or Boolean operations on any element - which we've had for the better part of almost over a decade and a half and have therefore taken for granted. Although,.....it seems like they've taken it a step farther and allow for true proper boolean representation in plan as well as in 3D. Again,.....they're listening.....)

Or stuff like landscape/topographic elements (terrain meshes for us) represented as solid geometry instead of just as skirt elements or simple surfaces - which we've also had in ArchiCAD since forever and taken for granted (.....again, seems to me like someone telling the Revit developers "we've always had this in ArchiCAD and it works great for these reasons, so why can't we have it in Revit as well"....and then they get listened to)

And then there's the features that would be great to have like Sun control setting available directly on their ribbon (instead of indirectly through a dialog box lacking interactivity like we have in ArchiCAD) or sun studies.
Others of course, I'd much rather do without, either in AC or Revit (like Structural Analysis model and load calculation tools which seems new to their version as well - although they DO have a Revit Structural so from this perspective it makes sense for them to have it rather than).

But more importantly I couldn't help notice that with each new feature page describing the feature, they call out and mention if it was a user wish that generated it's development (along with linking to the actual wish page) noting just how they are listening to their users and have the receipts to show it, or if it was simply something that was in their product roadmap (ostensibly generated by the developers themselves) and likewise link to the part of the public (and open) roadmap showing where it was.

Which just goes to show that an open public road map doesn't have to be the death knell to development that Graphisoft seem to believe it is, so much so that they're deathly allergic to publishing one.

There's a lot ot be learned from what they're doing or at least how they're doing it - even if I or many here may not like the end product.

But I can only imagine how much better ArchiCAD would be if Graphisfot developers were that invested in making their product better by directly engaging users both pre- and post-version release.

In hoping to keep this post on-topic, I'll create a wish to have sun control tools directly accessible (either through a dockable palette or a gizmo in the 3D window) with direct controls and interactive function (change a parameter and you see the change directly in the 3D window or in the shadow settings in elevation immediately as you're doing it and not having to close a window or change to a different view to see the result)

[Djordje]

It is hard to beat Autodesk marketing...

@Bricklyne Clarence wrote:

But I can only imagine how much better ArchiCAD would be if Graphisfot developers were that invested in making their product better by directly engaging users both pre- and post-version release.

Agreed in full.

[MF BIM]

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@Bricklyne Clarence wrote:

...

Which just goes to show that an open public road map doesn't have to be the death knell to development that Graphisoft seem to believe it is, so much so that they're deathly allergic to publishing one.

...

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Graphisoft actually published a roadmap yesterday. It's a first version so it may evolve with time but at least it's a good start.

Here's the announcement thread : https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/What-s-new/Graphisoft-public-roadmap-Follow-up-conversation/td-p...

And the actual roadmap : https://graphisoft.com/product-roadmap

You can click on the buttons at the top to see what is "Coming soon" or "In progress" for example and also filter by field.

[Bricklyne Clarence]

It's a good start I suppose.

It's certainly leaps and bounds better than what they had before and what we've become accustomed to.

And while I'd hate to bash people who are certainly making an effort to do things for the better and to discourage the sort of engagement they seem to be initiating, I still have to point out that it's rather light on information and vague on specifics.

Especially comparing it to the Vectorworks roadmap that was recently posted in another thread, and the Revit one associated with this topic.

I would also really really REALLY wish they'd give the development on the Structural/MEP/DDASCAD stuff a break for a version or two and just focus on architecture-related tools, which, from our perspective as architects and designers, feel like they've been ignored for quite a while now or gotten the really short shrift while these other tools and areas are advanced.
ArchiCAD version 26 was the 3rd version in a row that saw significant improvements to the SAM tools, with comparatively lighter upgrades on architecture-focused tools.
Looking at that roadmap, it seems like there's more of the same headed our way in the next several versions or years.

And if you think I'm being overly dramatic about that, consider the fact that in the 'Coming Soon' tab, of the 23 total items listed, 12 of them are either fully Structural or MEP or a combination, and with no 'Architecture'
That's more than half.
And it's even worse if you include the ones with the combo Structural/MEP/Architecture and even much worse when you consider there's only TWO that are exclusively Architecture focused.

TWO!
One plus one.
Out of 23.

2.

This.
Is.
What.
Frustrates.
Architects .
Using ArchiCAD.
These days.

Which brings up another point.

Just how flexible is it? (this roadmap)

Are they making it nimble enough that they can re-focus their attention on some other area if the need calls for it? Or alternatively add new priorities or feature/tool research that might not have had attention before?
Or is it more or less set in stone and a "take-it-or-leave-it" type deal that we've all become accustomed to?

All in all, good start.
I hope this marks the beginning of a discussion and a conversation, if nothing else, as we all care for the best of the future of this software despite how hard we maybe on them sometimes.

[jl_lt]

Seems to me that archicad, or rather, its powers that be, want to become Revit. While Revit, with decades of a head start on structure and MEP modules, is focusing on what archicad should have focused since about 5 years ago.

Actually a very weird turn on events

[Vasileios S_]

I agree 100% with you.

I also believe that the features in the roadmap should be voted by users, in order for the most-wanted features to be implemented first. You can find this wish here:

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Wishes-forum/ArchiCAD-Roadmap-Vote-system/m-p/377103#M22764

[mthd]

True BC but I often wonder what the legal implications are for creating similar features in each type of CAD software ? Could that be a reason for some of the wishes being held back for a time
that have been sorely needed by us in AC ? I can’t comment on software copyright or code writing copyright because I don’t know a thing about it. All Architects and Designers usually have a good idea about design copyright and there inherent implications.

[Lingwisyer]

I believe that as long as you are not actually copying the code from another program, which would not work in many cases anyway, there is no issue. Copyright is on the code, literary work, not the result.

Ling.