ArchiCAD 21 Railing Rant. That is all.

[Anonymous]

I'm just going to rant for a minute.

I can't believe how complicated Graphisoft made the railing tool. How many settings are enough? Are the programmers for the tool paid on commission of how many settings they can dream up? I am mystified and frustrated. I have been using ArchiCAD since Version 14 and never have I used a tool with this kind of logic or lack thereof. I would be more than willing to sacrifice some of the micro settings for a streamlined version of the tool.

Then I get an email from Graphisoft about railing tool training webinar! Hallelujah. Because I know I need it. But wait, there is more! They want to charge me $ 375.00. It's like kick me while I'm down. Send out a bloated tool that will require training, and then charge for the training. It's A good business model really.

I also can not understand the reason for new bugs in old tools. Almost every time I regenerate a floor plan view my dimensions all magically add a dimension string to the origin point and remove the dimensions to my doors and windows. Delete the dimension node to the origin and poof, the dimension strings of the windows and doors are back. This is one more thing I need to check now before sending my drawings out the door for review. Heaven forbids I forget to take this additional step now. The first time it happened I had my client call me where are my windows located on the wall? Oh sorry, the software that I use has more bugs in it than a jungle in July! It worked fine in AC 20, Why did we touch it?

Same with Search and replace text function. Wheel spin. Crash. End of story.

I know Graphisoft is aware of many of these bugs and is working on them. But I have been pulling my hair out since upgrading to ArchiCAD 21 with what used to be basic and efficient tools that are now discombobulated.

[Richard Morrison]

Eric Bobrow has some stair & railing videos for a lot less money right now: https://www.bobrow.com/new-archicad-stairs-and-railings-course/

Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but it might help.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Richard. I will look into that. Mr. Bobrow was very helpful back when I started using ArchiCAD. I sort of forgot that he was still out there as a resource. I looked over your website by the way and I like the layout and content. Homeowners are usually mystified by why they need to hire a professional designer first. Your website has great explanations for them.

[Laszlo Nagy]

dieselboy wrote:
I also can not understand the reason for new bugs in old tools. Almost every time I regenerate a floor plan view my dimensions all magically add a dimension string to the origin point and remove the dimensions to my doors and windows. Delete the dimension node to the origin and poof, the dimension strings of the windows and doors are back. This is one more thing I need to check now before sending my drawings out the door for review. Heaven forbids I forget to take this additional step now. The first time it happened I had my client call me where are my windows located on the wall? Oh sorry, the software that I use has more bugs in it than a jungle in July! It worked fine in AC 20, Why did we touch it?

Same with Search and replace text function. Wheel spin. Crash. End of story.

Do these issues occur in all of your files or just specific files?
Both of these should probably interest GRAPHISOFT so they can fix them.
By the way, are you on the latest hotfix of AC21?