Archicad 14 New Features

[Dennis Lee]

See what's on youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Archicad#g/c/5C1926DD91A70C7B

Personally, not much in it for me at all!

[Bricklyne Clarence]

Derek wrote:

dcerezo wrote:
One of the things that has always puzzled me in this day and age is the total communication silence I have seen with company heads when a software release bombs.

The developers of and are a fixed presence in their respective forums offering support, tutorials and in the case of Brad Peebler (CEO of Luxology - makers of modo) with news on modo development.

It doesn't get much better than that.

And don't forget Vlado, the creator of the world's most widely used rendering engine, Vray, - who is a constant and enduring presence on the Chaosgroup forums and is always there to not just offer feedback to users and troubleshoot any problems or questions with releases, but who also frequently provides an idea of where they expect to take the engine in the future and their development plans. Sometimes if there's a critical issue, raised, they'll even release a fix the same day - talk about responsive.

It's the same with Chema, and Fryrender, and for a while it was the same even with the NextLimit guys and Maxwell. Even the evil empire Autodesk have one of their programming and development gurus Ken Pimentel who frequents forums at both 'The Area' - Autodesk's unofficial user forum, and other even less official user forums like CG Architect, to give the users of 3DS Max, heads up on development issues, and even clues to upcoming features in future versions.

Imagine Graphisoft developers talking about future development plans or answering questions regarding the program's problems and/or limitations on these forums. Oh wait, that used to happen like 10 years ago.
I can't help but wonder what changed.

[Bricklyne Clarence]

Chadwick wrote:

Bricklyne wrote:
.....well, technically the Federal government doesn't really demand BIM deliverables - maybe State Governments do...

Perhaps, but regardless we are finding more and more clients are looking at BIM to aide with facilities management. We even had a contractor up here talking about how they are using BIM to help with the construction process and are relieved when the architect and engineers are using BIM! I just don't see software of the like of Revit or ArchiCAD disappearing anytime soon...

I don't see them going away anytime soon neither. But at the same time, I also don't see the Govt. (certainly not the Federal Govt. and definitely not through the GSA) dictating to their design consultants and contractors, what software or platform they expect them to use or deliver projects in.
They may dictate Standards and procedures, but that's not unusual for any government project anyway.

Private clients (and you could even say State Governments) are a different matter.

Regardless, I doubt any prospective client is going to turn down a Gehry project simply because his practice uses Digital Project, or Foster simply because his practice uses Microstation, or Zaha Hadid with her office's use of Rhino-AutoCAD. Yes, these a big name clients, but the point I'm making is that if an architect is well proven in not just his field but with his provided winning design concept, then chances are that the contractors, and Engineering consultants (and even the client) are the ones that are going to find a way to work with him and make their own workflows adapt to the Architect as opposed to vice versa. They are after all the consultants to the project - not the architect; why the architect should adapt to his consultants requirements, is a mystery.
At least that's how it's always been in the past.

[Laszlo Nagy]

A few more user responses and reactions to the AC14 announcement:

http://www.linkedin.com/newsArticle?viewDiscussion=&articleID=128440316&gid=98421&split_page=1#comme...

[Anonymous]

The museum competition in Oslo required architects to deliver their models in BIM format. All of them used Rhino or Maya and had their models translated to BIM the day before the deadline. No one actually used a specific BIM software.

I think the question should be, why architects in general prefer using SketchUp, Rhino, Maya and the painstaking task to convert these models in 2d documentation, while they could use an application like Archicad. It is apparent that these software much faster than a BIM software and don't restrict you. Sure you can schedule everything with Archicad, but what is there to schedule if you can't model it. And this is the main reason why Archicad and Revit are more appealing to the down-to-earth, get-the-job-done architects who build build buildings for it's own sake and thrive on the nitty-gritty process of construction and projectmanagement, happily worrying about costs and deadlines.

So in that sense Archicad can try to corner this segment of the market or try to interest the Hadids and Cooks. In either case, a decision has to be made fast

[Rakela Raul]

ArchiCAD 14 comes out 9 months after AC13

this means tons of bugs !!

[TMA_80]

ArchiCAD 14 comes out 9 months after AC13

And, it's not ArchiCAD14 that came earlier but rather ArchiCAD 13 that came late.

If we add the 13 delay to the 9 months we may find 12 months (the normal cycle )

However, Respect to GS for respecting the "normal" 12 months cycle for ArchiCAD14.

[Anonymous]

TMA_80 wrote:

ArchiCAD 14 comes out 9 months after AC13

And, it's not ArchiCAD14 that came earlier but rather ArchiCAD 13 that came late.

If we add the 13 delay to the 9 months we may find 12 months (the normal cycle )

However, Respect to GS for respecting the "normal" 12 months cycle for ArchiCAD14.

As I understand it there are two versions in development simultaneously so that AC13 took a little longer than the 24 month development schedule while AC14 was on time (or a little early).

[TMA_80]

HI Mattheu !
Well that means one team is doing the job in time whereas the other is not ( ... I know AC 13 needed some time to have the 64bits* feature & TW2 ready so the delay was 'justifiable'...)

*except for MAC

[Anonymous]

TMA_80 wrote:
HI Mattheu !
Well that means one team is doing the job in time whereas the other is not ( ... I know AC 13 needed some time to have the 64bits* feature & TW2 ready so the delay was 'justifiable'...)

*except for MAC

Actually AC13 was in development far longer and represents a huge change in the underlying data structure, so it's not too surprising that it ran a little overtime. If I'm not mistaken TW2 is only the first major benefit that we'll see coming from the new core.

[Anonymous]

Matthew wrote:

TMA_80 wrote:
HI Mattheu !
Well that means one team is doing the job in time whereas the other is not ( ... I know AC 13 needed some time to have the 64bits* feature & TW2 ready so the delay was 'justifiable'...)

*except for MAC

Actually AC13 was in development far longer and represents a huge change in the underlying data structure, so it's not too surprising that it ran a little overtime. If I'm not mistaken TW2 is only the first major benefit that we'll see coming from the new core.

I wouldn't trust that with GS !... I remember when CW was introduced in AC12 there was a talk about how this new way of handling elements ( sub structure and classes ) could be something really huge ..and here we go ...2 versions already ... and even CW itself is far from being a fully developed tool !..not to mention implementing that logic in other tools !


however it REALLY makes me wonder what other none-essential features they can add in AC 15 ? will that mean that maybe we are going to get some real stuff in 15?

btw I am not against the features in 14 .. all are fine and maybe needed for some people (including me) ..but to be honest .. I am Sure that I will still have all the possible problems in the world with IFC ! the fact that it doesn't depend on one program is something that AC14 can not change , no matter how hard they tried ! .. for me ? I have to check every single circular column coming from ETABS IFC .. because ETABS just export them WRONG-double sized ! can AC14 fix that ? no ... will it be possible in the future? no again ... why ? because you should also consider the release cycle of other programs ! ..that said .. so yes I would like to see such features in AC .. but being almost impossible to get it perfect ( or even good enough) , I would wait and keep it on a parallel with the real features that we need ,beside whatever creativity they can get ! so maybe good features .. but sure not the kind of features that you call a "new version" .. mostly every one will accept those as import-export add-ons . but paying to upgrade to this ? wasting time to transfer ongoing projects only for this ? ( not to mention that the 1 year cycle thing is a pain in the *** when it comes to migrating the projects , updating the templates , updating the HLM that we use )..

and please can someone ask GS kindly to stop referring to their rendering engine as "state of the art" ? because actually it will be soon piece of art ... in some pre-historic museum !