ArchiCAD 11

[Anonymous]

ArchiCAD 11 will come soon (as much as I suspect..)
What can AC 11 do better than AC10?

[Rakela Raul]

What features did you have in mind? And what about the people who actually do use those features?

none x now but if i start playing with the pulldown menus, im sure will find a few.....i might look into the "Rebuild" commands first...
what about the people?......same case for plotmaker users, eps format, etc.

[TomWaltz]

Aaron wrote:
For what its worth, I sold an upgrade to 10 to a client running version 4.55 this last year. No questions asked. The cost was the same as someone upgrading to version 10 from version 8.1

The licenses are definitely not ever retired.

What is the cost to go from 8.1 to 10, if I may ask?

[jbArch]

What is the cost to go from 8.1 to 10, if I may ask?

Right now it is $1095 ... I think this is also the upgrade cost going from 9 to 11.

So the way I see it: I can upgrade now for $895 ($695 with a subscription), or just wait for AC12 and do a 2-step upgrade in the $1100-1200 range. I still come out ahead and I don't have to deal with the hassles of converting old projects, updating libraries, and learning all the kinks of the new program.

If the deferred expense is cheaper than 2x the single stage upgrade, then it just doesn't pencil out for me.

Cheers,
JB

[Rakela Raul]

or just wait for AC12 and do a 2-step upgrade in the $1100-1200 range. I still come out ahead and I don't have to deal with the hassles of converting old projects, updating libraries, and learning all the kinks of the new program.

or wait till 12 is out and upgrade to 11 only...by that time, 11 will be free of bugs (as 10 is now )

[Anonymous]

To upgrade was always right choice.
The cost itself should be no problem.
Before upgrad I must know enough the existing version (AC10).
Otherwise it makes me just confuse.
For this reason AC11 is also not strong upgrade. In this sense I use AC10 and the next time to AC12 would be good (or also in the future AC10 is good enough).
This is no critic about AC11 but recommend for AC 10 (first of all for Revit-user)

[Brad Elliott]

Hence the push for subscriptions. Pay up every year. Use the upgrade or skip it doesn't matter just keep paying up and wait for the next one to come around. No thanks.

I'd rather pay a smaller subscription (lets say half for simplicity) stay on an 18+ month upgrade cycle and get better service along the way. Library & Stairmaker improvements come to mind since these aren't really "upgrade" items. Then maybe I can rationalize getting on an annual payment system. Right now when I add them up the additional benefits of the subscription come up to $0.

On the other hand I can see some of these improvements being a big deal for some firms and them being perfectly happy to pay for the upgrade.

It's just tricky for me when I can almost buy a new license of Vectorworks (where have I heard that name before?) for the price of the upgrade and save several hundred dollars in upgrades after that.

[Laura Yanoviak]

I choose to stay optimistic (and this from a cynic):

Those hammering for new features/improvements now have the option to upgrade yearly.

Those apprehensive about spending the money/time to upgrade can wait an extra year.

Realistically, there's only so much that can be incorporated in a 12-month or even 18-month cycle -- to address current Wish List items and bug fixes, the "ideal" AC could very well be another 2-3 years out.

Granted, some of the "new features" in AC11 should have been incorporated a while ago, and there are certain features (StairMaker) that have yet to be addressed, but I choose to stay optimistic and acknowledge that progress is being made.

My 2 cents on a Friday afternoon...

[Anonymous]

Laura,
I am also a cynic. I just sat through the reseller's dog and pony and I come away more convinced more than ever that this is ArchiCAD 10.1. There is very little that is surprising and absolutely nothing that takes my breath away.

Interior Elevations...I do them now as interior sections with limited height and narrow section cuts. If a part of the elevation is obscured behind a wall such as an alcove, I break the section line and move the appropriate part. A live model view.

Worksheets....Detail windows with detail-in-detail capabilities. All this does is eliminate one or two layers of view sets. A bit more convenient but not a new feature by any stretch.

Visual compare......Open an elevation view and use a marquee to choose it. Copy it to the clipboard. Go back to a section or plan view and paste.......duh! Works just fine for most needs.

Virtual Trace......Ghost story on steroids. Convenience factor...3 on a scale of 10.

Come on GS. This is pathetic. You got where you are by being the alternative to AutoDesk. Just because Revit is on a 12 month cycle does'nt mean you should. I left Autodesk because of the constant cycle of throwing handfuls of money at the 800 lb. gorilla. Don't get caught up in this game....shareholders or no shareholders.

Gary Bley
Portland, Oregon USA

[TomWaltz]

One cool thing about virtual trace is that you can ghost your sheet back into sections and interior elevations, so you can see where the surroundinf drawings are, either for shared notes or to make sure you do not interfere with it.

The Interior elevation tool is nice in the sense that you can cut all the elevations in one command instead of cutting each direction indepenently. It's not a HUGE time saver, but it's definitely more convenient than one at a time.

My personal favorite new feature though is a litle thing that when you place multiple views onto a layout, you can align them and evenly space them on the sheet. No more "pile in the corner"!

None of these are earth shattering.... but are definitely cool to have (for Archicad 10.1 😉 )

I remember having a lot of the same thoughts about Archicad 9. There was some nice stuff in there, but it seemed more like 8.2 to me (though I later had to admit, Lightworks was more useful than I expected.)

Let's see... if 9 = 8.2 then 10 = 9 and 11 = 9.1.... I cannot wait to see AC10 then! 😉

[Erich]

If we want to be truely cynical then perhaps we should ask why is Graphisoft going to a yearly upgrade cycle...

Many folks have already expressed doubts about the technical benfits as well as concerns about retraining. These are big issues for us all as professionals. But from GS's viewpoint a yearly upgrade cycle makes sense. This cycle can allow them to compete with the (US at least) Autodesk juggernaut. I don't mean by adding requested for features, although that would be nice, but more frequent upgrades means a more stabile finacial base for the company. Perhaps the resulting yearly fanfare will also lead to more new users which again will them mean more money. More users upgrading will improve the finacial stability... Without a doubt that is what a yearly upgrade is about, and that is not necessarily a bad thing.

What we should all hope for is that with more money GS will be able to provide those long sought features. We should hope that they will be able to stabilize the program where needed. We should hope that they can research the next big thing so we have it first. After all "the best way to predict the future is to invent it." (Havn't we heard that somewhere before?) Mostly, we should hope that this will allow them to compete and stay around so that we don't get forced into using that other product (insert the product name or your choice).