Ben wrote:
I don't quite understanding why profiler will not do that roof. attached is a curve that was done using profiler (it is 250m long). The trick is to always use splines. The resolution of the curves is far superior. Ie splines for the profile and magic wand a path that is a spline as well. Hope this helps, albeit a little too late.
I think it is about time GS took profiler out of the goodies and into the addons folder. It is so powerful but most new users would not even know it exists
Cheers
Ben
I should mention that we had previously tried splines for some fo the double-curving objects that we model on our office and we noticed that spline-formed objects (even simple slabs) tend to guzzle copious amounts of memory to the degree of noticeably and progressively slowing down each regeneration iteration in the 3D window as the project file grows in size. And woe be to you if your splines are exceedingly large in size. I realize that this is probably something that would not be a factor (or possibly even observable) to you given your rather impressive hardware, but like I mentioned in one of my prior posts, we are a relatively small firm without the healthy tech-budgets of other firms and the similarly meagre (my today's standards anyways) equipment.
In other news, Gehry Technologies has just jumped into the BIM field with the release of its AEC parametric software suite, 'Digital Projects'.
There's also a brief article about it inthis month's
I don't know much about it other than that it is a scaled down version of CATIA ( which, as anyone familiar with the software knows, is a pretty powerful 3D CAD/CAM/PLM software suite{and expensive too!!!}) and specifically geared to the needs of architects, contractors, engineers, building managers in not just the design and construction of the building, but the entire Product Lifecyle management of the building. Now we all know how 'out there' Gehry's design process and designs tend to be, so I imagine it will be easy to accede to the temptation to dismiss this as a something out of the reach of ordinary mortals and which will eventually price itself out of the AEC software market for ordinary architects or remain a niche product for high-end/high-profile architects of the Gehry-Foster-Meier-Pei class. But given that Gehry Technologies/CATIA is partnered/backed by the Dassault-IBM business group and given IBM's marketing leverage, I seriously think this is something to keep an eye on, especially also given the Gehry Partners' extensive experience with complex project management. Let's also not forget that it was Gehry's success in Bilbao and most recently in LA (Walt Disney) and MIT ( Strata) that has largely given impetus if not drive to the whole BIM movement particularly in the 90's when it was still an oddity for most architects. Let's also not forget that despite the fact that Gehry Technologies, the subsidiary that is directly responsible for the Digital Project suite, was formed only 2 years ago (2002), they've spent a better part of the late 90's studying other BIM software (read Microstation, Revit and ArchiCAD) before deciding what not to and what to include in their own package along with other traditional strengths of CATIA.
With Revit backed by big A (utodesk) on the one side and Gehry's 'Digital Project' backed by big Blue (IBM) on the other side, it seems like things are about to get rather interesting ( if not hot) for the R and D team at Graphisoft. I can only hope that this means that we will get a considerably amped up release of AC in v10 with an inclusion of a more significant number of our wishes from the wishlist, as GS tries to keep up with the Jones'.
The Plot thickens!!!!!
Dear ArchiTalker,
first of all let me say thank you to Rashid, Karl and Robert for their kind words.
Then let me announce that the compatibility update for all of our plug-ins will be upload on our web site (www.cigraph-store.com) during this week.
As usual, these updates are free of charge and each “Cigraph Archi-add-ons” user will be able to use them using the previous unlock code (if you install the update on the same computer where you ran the previous one you don’t need to unlock the update).
Just a funny info: I met Ben Frost at ACUE (Nottingham) in the last days: wow, he’s very cool!
Not only the best ArchiCAD 9 beta tester but also a very good guy to enjoy the English nights!
friendly
Fabrizio
first of all let me say thank you to Rashid, Karl and Robert for their kind words.
Then let me announce that the compatibility update for all of our plug-ins will be upload on our web site (www.cigraph-store.com) during this week.
As usual, these updates are free of charge and each “Cigraph Archi-add-ons” user will be able to use them using the previous unlock code (if you install the update on the same computer where you ran the previous one you don’t need to unlock the update).
Just a funny info: I met Ben Frost at ACUE (Nottingham) in the last days: wow, he’s very cool!
Not only the best ArchiCAD 9 beta tester but also a very good guy to enjoy the English nights!
friendly
Fabrizio
we are a relatively small firm without the healthy tech-budgets of other firms and the similarly meagre (my today's standards anyways) equipmenI am wondering what kind of specs you need to run Catia. Since IBM is involved , maybe a "Deep Blue" super computer
.I am also wondering how other modeling software copes with curved objects of this sort of magnitude. Is the problem just a result of the massive polygon count or something else. Can anyone shed some light?
Ben
Ben wrote:
I am wondering what kind of specs you need to run Catia. Since IBM is involved , maybe a "Deep Blue" super computer
I am also wondering how other modeling software copes with curved objects of this sort of magnitude. Is the problem just a result of the massive polygon count or something else. Can anyone shed some light?
Ben
The most recent version of CATIA (v5R13) will run fine on a 1GHZ, 256MB RAM machine without too much hassle although a lot of the 3D navigation animation (zoom, pan, rotate etc) will be less smoother (or non-existant the lower oyou go down on CPU food chain) than on a faster machine. They do however recommend faster and more powerful machine for obvious reasons. The previous versions of Catia (v4 and prior) were actually specifically designed for UNIX and SUN systems and it was not until around v5R2 or R3 (I might be wrong on this) that they introduced the Wintel version as the usability and market share of Catia grew beyond the Automotive, Aerospace and Nautical industries. So a version for common folk is not entirely out of the question. The price range for a single seat , however is quite another issue!
IBM's only involvement goes as far as being the major distributors and not actually in product development of Catia (which is done by the French company Dassault Systems.)
As for the other question, its not just about curved objects and Polygon counts. With AC the problem has to do with splines and I suppose the lack of an adequate or effecient algorithm to deal with the math/processor intensive nature of splines' formulaic-based manipulation. Which is why other software (notably Rhino3D, 3DMax, Lightwave etc.) use NURBS as opposed to Polysurfaces or multiple polygons to accurately describe even simple curved surfaces, in addition to more complex organic (Bezier and uniform B-spline surfaces) types that one will find in animation and other fields. Nurbs are basically more processor effecient and allow for easier manipulation of curved surfaces without a major drawback on the system's resources, which is why it is rather regrettable that AC doesn't employ them at even the most rudimentary of levels.
Just looked over CATIA.. man, wow!
OK, here are my intital reactions (coming from a relatively new AC8 user, but someone who has used ADT, VectorWorks in the past)..
1. CATIA seems like an overkill for 99.9% of my projects. I like Gehry. I wish I had his clientel, but in reality, AC8 (and for that matter ADT/VectorWorks) are effective for everything that we have dreamed of. I am not going to begin to compare myself to Gehry, but looking around "our neck of the woods" we are doing some pretty neat stuff.
2. If GS is monitoring this thread, I want you to know, you're on the right track, keep refining the toolset and throw in a new feature here and there to allow us flexibility with related software (hint, hint.. SketchUp!).
3. Fabrizo.. BRAVO! I love your products, I don't mind paying for good software (ArchiTerra & ArchiForma in my case).
4. I may be a one-man show, but even I budget money for computer and software related upgrades. This was my biggest pain while working for a larger firm. They did not want to upgrade and you really put your talent at a risk of "dulling" their skills. I actually look forward to upgrading now and can't wait to integrate Tiger.OS into AC9.. I say bring it on!
my .02 cents
+pablo
OK, here are my intital reactions (coming from a relatively new AC8 user, but someone who has used ADT, VectorWorks in the past)..
1. CATIA seems like an overkill for 99.9% of my projects. I like Gehry. I wish I had his clientel, but in reality, AC8 (and for that matter ADT/VectorWorks) are effective for everything that we have dreamed of. I am not going to begin to compare myself to Gehry, but looking around "our neck of the woods" we are doing some pretty neat stuff.
2. If GS is monitoring this thread, I want you to know, you're on the right track, keep refining the toolset and throw in a new feature here and there to allow us flexibility with related software (hint, hint.. SketchUp!).
3. Fabrizo.. BRAVO! I love your products, I don't mind paying for good software (ArchiTerra & ArchiForma in my case).
4. I may be a one-man show, but even I budget money for computer and software related upgrades. This was my biggest pain while working for a larger firm. They did not want to upgrade and you really put your talent at a risk of "dulling" their skills. I actually look forward to upgrading now and can't wait to integrate Tiger.OS into AC9.. I say bring it on!
my .02 cents
+pablo
Here I would like to compliment from Graphisoft site to Cigraph and particularly to Fabrizio to deliver the Archi* add-ons so fast! As these tools have become essential for the workflow of many of you, we are really grateful that Cigraph provides them promptly, one day before the release*! Mind you; it was NOT Cigraph fault that formerly the updates were delayed: it was us who delivered the API kit too late. But with ArchiCAD 9 - among many other things - this is different.
Bence Kovacs
VP, Product Managment
Oops.. did I say too much
?
Bence Kovacs
VP, Product Managment
Oops.. did I say too much
?
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