ArchiCAD 10's not so great features - wish list

[Anonymous]

Right so i was elated at all the new features of ArchiCad 10 until. .... i had to render (I was heavily reliant on Artlantis 4.5) and require to import Word or Excell documents. Unfortunatly i left all this to the end assuming it would be like in ArchiCAD 9 and that i could do all of the above.

Ok so could graphisoft kindly advice - is there a plug in that would enable one to save as Artlantis 4.5 from 10. Upgrading to Studio is an option (kindly do not give this as one of the options) but as time is of the essence and i do not live anywhere close to an Artlantis dealer it would take 6-8 weeks to get the upgrade if all goes well (Artlantis 4.5 took 12 weeks to get here) and it will cost me. Another option i picked up from the forum would be to save as a 3ds - I have tried this and my model was way too complex for this. In addition learning how to work with the lights in the 3ds model was a nightmare and like i mentioned time is of the essence. ArchiCAD 10 despite it's very cool features is rather weak when it comes to rendering and especially for Panoramas and Scenes. I feel i cannot tie up my computer for 10 - 20 hours to archieve what Artlantis could do in minutes.

I also cannot import word documents. All this is a bog down reducing productivity and taking me more steps back then i had moved forward with 10.
Kindly respond

[Anonymous]

I haven't used Artlantis since 2002 so I can't speak to that.

You can place the Word docs as PDFs. Use the Amyuni or Adobe driver to print to PDF from Word. This may not be quite as convenient as what you were doing in 9 but it will get the job done. If you need to edit the text in ArchiCAD you can also copy/paste.

[TomWaltz]

I'm not an Artlantis user, so I do not know a lot about its history. How old is version 4.5? Is it recent?

[Djordje]

TomWaltz wrote:
I'm not an Artlantis user, so I do not know a lot about its history. How old is version 4.5? Is it recent?

4.5 is the version before R.

You can download the R, and all you need then is the registration code. If you email Abvent, I am sure that they will help you out.

The nearest dealer should be in South Africa, if I am not wrong?

Lightworks is always a rendering option - with Dwight's book you can get huge results. Even without it.

10 makes you re-think the process. Not a good idea to do it on a deadline. But then, I always do it too ... so I know.

Missing the OLE (Word and Excel) as much as you do; there has to be another option to link live documents, not dumb PDFs.

[Anonymous]

Djordje wrote:
Missing the OLE (Word and Excel) as much as you do; there has to be another option to link live documents, not dumb PDFs.

You could use Photoshop. But then it's not the best word processor around

[Djordje]

Matthew wrote:

Djordje wrote:
Missing the OLE (Word and Excel) as much as you do; there has to be another option to link live documents, not dumb PDFs.

You could use Photoshop. But then it's not the best word processor around

I am missing the humour, Matthew ...

Losing OLE is the same as if you would have to print each view to PDF before placing it to the layout.

[Anonymous]

Djordje wrote:

Matthew wrote:

Djordje wrote:
Missing the OLE (Word and Excel) as much as you do; there has to be another option to link live documents, not dumb PDFs.

You could use Photoshop. But then it's not the best word processor around

I am missing the humour, Matthew ...

Losing OLE is the same as if you would have to print each view to PDF before placing it to the layout.

Perhaps the loss of OLE is too painful for jest. Explanation: ArchiCAD can read and update the Photoshop files directly - thus live docs, just not the best program for text and numbers.

One workaround is that Acrobat 8 can automatically convert Word docs into PDF. This might make a suitable intermediary if the set up isn't too much of a hassle.

Since OLE is a bit of a mess (and not cross platform) it seems the best thing would be for ArchiCAD to read the Word files directly.

[Tom Krowka]

I don't understand why any program (programmer) would remove something that works well. Autocad does that on a regular basis, one reason I don't shop there anymore.......

[Anonymous]

Hello,

ArchiCAD 10 do not export toward Arlantis 4.5, you'll need to get Artlantis R for fixed images or Artlantis Studio for Animations commands.

You can download a trypout version at:

www. artlantis.com

Please contact one of our 2 South African resellers, you'll find theirs addresses at:

www.abvent.com

click on International Network…

Hope this will help.
Alain Picard
Abvent Paris

[TomWaltz]

Tom wrote:
I don't understand why any program (programmer) would remove something that works well. Autocad does that on a regular basis, one reason I don't shop there anymore.......

I'm totally guessing, but I suspect that Graphisoft had to revise their translation system for the new element types in AC10, namely profiled and sloped elements. They probably decided to only export them to the latest ArtLantis.

To me, it's just one more reason to use Lightworks.