ARCHICAD 20 Announced

[Laszlo Nagy]

See the official announcement here:

http://www.graphisoft.com/info/news/press_releases/archicad-20-a-fresh-look-at-bim.html

There are already a few clips that show what is new:

http://archicad.com/en/

[Karl Ottenstein]

Nathan wrote:
What's the expected date of US release?

Some unknown time after June 1. My ARCHIPLUS subscription renewal arrived today indicating that subscribers must be active as of June 1 in order to receive AC 20.

[Anonymous]

Overview ATM only, GUI gives more screen real estate. Favorites on steroids. Graphic overide of pens for different view sets, cool. C4D updated rendering parameters. Good to see the videos available for the whole lock stock and barrel of AC20 BIM solution, good for marketing to Architects who use other cad.

[Ruben V]

Some interesting improvements. Really interested in figuring out how to use the new options regarding the better use of data/information for Facility Management Purposes and in using the graphic overrides for phasing...

Allas, the new (nice!) GUI means I'll need to retake 200+ screenshots for my BIM-handbook...

[stefan]

Compare redoing screenshots with redoing a video-course 😉

You also have to rename ArchiCAD with ARCHICAD throughout the text!

The look is "take it or leave it". There is no ArchiCAD "skin" to set. Unless you are really thorough in tinkering with the icons in the application resources. I know Resources are accessible on Mac (as Tiff files and icns), but I guess they are compiled within the PC executable.

I'm pretty pleased with the new version: the control over properties and graphical overrides are the highlights for me. The rest is all (very) nice to have.

No major earth-shattering new tools or introduction of something akin to the Building Materials.

[DGSketcher]

I find this useful from my local dealer...

http://www.applecoredesigns.co.uk/upgrade-calculator/

It gives a handy summary of the main changes.

Can anyone shed some light on the impact of the NURBS development in relation to the shell tool e.g. are we likely to see smooth(er) arcs at last?

[Laszlo Nagy]

DGSketcher wrote:
Can anyone shed some light on the impact of the NURBS development in relation to the shell tool e.g. are we likely to see smooth(er) arcs at last?

In ARCHICAD 20 NURBS were introduced into GDL. This means there are now GDL commands to created NURBS curves and surfaces. The primary advantage of this at the moment is that we will be able to open or merge a Rhino 3D file and the NURBS curve or surface definition contained in it will be converted into native NURBS commands in GDL to guarantee fidelity if the curve/surface definition. Thus, when a Rhino file is opened or merged it will be converted to a GDL object.

NURBS at this stage are not implemented in the modeling part of ARCHICAD (that is hopefully a next step). But if they will be, I can imagine a lot of new geometric capabilities for all construction elements: double curved Walls, Curtain Walls?, Shells, Roofs, Slab?, Meshes. That would be great and would open up a lot of possibilities.

[Anonymous]

I hate being teased.
i wish GS would just release it world wide immediately, the whole marketing hype buildup marketing train rubbish (which apple have mastered) is getting very old.

[Anonymous]

laszlonagy wrote:

NURBS at this stage are not implemented in the modeling part of ARCHICAD (that is hopefully a next step).

I'm really loving this new release, I think is a great one, but I hope they really dedicate the next release to the M of BIM, to take the modelling capabilities of ARCHICAD further, we are missing that.

BTW if NURBS have been implemented in GDL that means the Library objects now have real curves? Also that means that any object developer can make an object with real curves using NURBS?

[Laszlo Nagy]

arqrivas wrote:
BTW if NURBS have been implemented in GDL that means the Library objects now have real curves? Also that means that any object developer can make an object with real curves using NURBS?

Yes, there are several new NURBS-related commands in GDL that any GDL developer can use. A short list of just the new NURBS-related command names:

• NURBSCURVE2D
  NURBSCURVE3D
  NURBSSURFACE
  NURBSVERT
  NURBSEDGE
  NURBSTRIM
  NURNBSTRIMSINGULAR
  NURBSFACE
  NURBSLUMP
  NURBSBODY

[Laszlo Nagy]

B.E.A.T. wrote:
Allas, the new (nice!) GUI means I'll need to retake 200+ screenshots for my BIM-handbook...

How about the almost 2000 screenshots found in the ARCHICAD Online Certification Exam? Or the several thousand screenshots of all ARCHICAD Reference materials? Someone at GRAPHISOFT has work cut out for them for months.
But I think it was time for ARCHICAD to get a new interface.
At first I was not a big fan of it but now I am liking it more and more. I think many times it is just a matter of what one is used to.
I remember we had issues when ArchiCAD 10 came out which unified ArchiCAD and PlotMaker and the interface and menus changed dramatically. Then we got used to it.