Ideas for updating the Object Depository.

[Anonymous]

I notice there are many posts asking whether particular objects exist and where they can be found.

In many cases they usually do exist but there is no easy way to find them. There are probably over 50 sites all containing various objects, so a lot of time can be wasted looking.

One solution would be to place a copy of all the objects into one place, ideally the Depository. Unfortunately I can see the many of the free object makers 'objecting' (ha ha!) to that, because they lose any control over the object, and it would also reduce the number of people coming to their site which they may fund with advertising. It would also completely rule out any of the objects found on paid sites like Objectsonline, and SDBs Objectstop, which are often the best quality and most suited to the job.

Here's the idea. How about upgrading the Object Depository, and turn it into a GDL object index which gives you all the necessary information and a preview image of the object, but actually links to the owners download page on their site where the object is actually stored. Of course any objects uploaded like they are at the moment should be indexed in the same system.

I'd like to see a dedicated search system introduced, and tags would also simplify finding the correct item. You must also be able to link directly to any particular object simply for convenience in the forums.

There should also be some indication that clearly shows whether an object is free or not before having to go to the site, as people may not be interested in an object that costs money.

A user feedback system to help rate individual objects would help promote quality, and should be a vote-once-per-username system like we have for polls. A comments area to add suggestions and improvements may be useful.

This would solve many issues :-

- Graphisoft would still be able to retain control over the quality and organisation of the Depository.
- It would help popularise the use of GDL models by making it easier for people to find what they want a lot faster.
- GDL makers would get more hits from one centralised place which would increase their sales.
- People would still be led to GDL makers' individual websites enabling them to highlight more of their own objects and also receive the benefit of google ad views/clicks.
- It would still provide a place for amateur GDL coders to upload their objects for everyone to use.

Of course when GS get their **** in gear and provide a decent visual GDL builder (:wink:), the number of objects freely available will explode and the current Depository just would not be able to cope, so a new solution is going to have to be developed in the future, regardless.

Does anyone think this could be a good idea? Would it even work?

It's ironic that we have the most intelligent objects, but the 'dumbest' solution for organising them!

[Anonymous]

Thanks Peter.
Nice explanation of the current state of objects.
Absolutely essential.
No wonder I've been so confused by it all!
Also makes me think my own object organizing house
(folder system) needs organizing, for sure!
lec

[Erika Epstein]

And when you are looking for a library part set it to SUBTYPE View rather than Folder View. This way the the appropriate subtype, e.g. sinks, will show sinks from all loaded libraries.

[Anonymous]

Hi Peter

i couldn't agree more. Believe it or not (without getting to into it) i sent GS a proposal over a month ago to help them do exactly what your outlining. As usual no reply. (funny how both the marketing managers @ Autodesk & Bentley will talk to me, but GS can't even be bothered to reply).

You may notice our site at Objectstop.com already has many of the features you have outlined; rating, easy uploading & downloading, tagging, good search, comment system, sharing etc etc etc, You can now even log in with your facebook, google or twitter account. (In one day, we could launch a better, prettier & more interactive forum than this one)

We would love to work with GS to help implement a decent central depositary/marketplace. That would ultimately benefit them the most (i'm not the one selling the software). The proposal didn't even require much on their behalf..

Maybe this thread will get them to reply to my email? let's all hope so.

[Erich]

This would make the Depository much more useful both to those of us that post objects there as well as to the rest of the Archicad users just looking for a part. I particularly like the idea of a user rating system and feedback. This will help developers make their products more useful for the users and help users choose objects effectively.

While I doubt that we could get an index of all of the parts available on the net, any amount of centralization would be helpful. I would say that we should also get to see parts from other countries not just those in a certain localization. Some of the parts from the non-English speaking localizations are quite a bit better that what we have, at least in the US. An some of us are more than monolingual. We just need to be able to see what language is used in the part when displayed in the index to aid the choice of whether to try it or not.

[Thomas Holm]

Absolutely brilliant idea! Everyone should vote Essential on this poll. It would make third-party object finding much easier, and thus add a lot of value to Archicad. GS would have to appoint someone to keep the links current, but I'm sure it would pay off in the end.

[vistasp]

Totally agree. I'm sure a lot of us have though of something like this vaguely (or otherwise) but I think Peter has captured the essence of what it required. And Sketchup's 3D Warehouse is a good example to follow.

Let's not forget that Peter has also wished for an easy visual way to create GDL objects. This is a long-standing (and possibly separate) demand but if it's combined with Depository 2.0 the number of objects available would explode. Of course, you'd get good with bad but that's where a rating system would help weed out the junk.

One thing I'd like to add: Objects converted from 3ds etc. should be specifically labelled as such.

[Anonymous]

I vote essential!

And it would be great if it could have RSS feeds for each object... Users want to be sure their libraries are updated!

Let's see if this time GS will give this project a real push!

[vistasp]

Braza wrote:
Let's see if this time GS will give this project a real push!

With the hectic version schedule I wonder if promoting GDL will ever get much importance.

[Anonymous]

I vote Essential too.

But I really believe that it is completely undoable…:roll:

It is really an ENoooORMOooooUS job, internet move so quickly. The libraries are sometime updaten (or not), The site changes often of adresses.

We try to do a so little part of this job with WikiCadlink…

Some interesting job done to follow object in OpenGDL

Or in the Olivier Dentan site