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!

[NandoMogollon]

For some reasons I had to skip AC13, so to me AC14 is the new release after AC12.
This was my conclusion:
So lets say AC 13 never existed (you know.. number 13.. bad luck or something else)...
From that point of view, AC14 IS a good release: one great new feature (TW2.0), not new tools but improvements in old tools, including the last one the Curtain Walls which is good. There is Virtual Building Explorer, and Eco Designer, IFC plugins for the major competitors.... It sounds very good.

Could it be that the solution to this general feeling (myself included) is just return to longer periods between releases? or maybe not to call them New Release but updated version? like calling AC14 just AC13.5?

What is not solved with that is the fact that the users in this Official Forum feel that GS does not hear what we have to say, at least not enough to even say " Thanks for your comments guys, GS is working on that".

any way..... it's just a thought.

[Chazz]

NandoMogollon wrote:
From that point of view, AC14 IS a good release: one great new feature (TW2.0), not new tools but improvements in old tools, including the last one the Curtain Walls which is good. There is Virtual Building Explorer, and Eco Designer, IFC plugins for the major competitors.... It sounds very good.

There is no doubt that certain users will see value in this release. However, my read on the tenor of the forum is that there is not enough in 14 for enough users to consider this a worthwhile upgrade. Also, there is no doubt that if GS does not crack the interoperability nut, it's goose is cooked (to mix a metaphor). Revit has a large and probably insurmountable lead in this area with its suite of applications, but GS has to at least respond.

Lastly, upgrading from 12 to 14 does not get you VBE --only the option to buy VBE. I actually thought you could get VBE for 12. Is that not the case?

[Anonymous]

pinchu71 wrote:
I'm still in shock...
¿no mention to 64 bits for mac?
I really hope that this leak is incomplete, we need more features in the final version.
This new features don't make me happy, only two of them looks useful for my work.
regards

There is ! I had to double check it too.

http://www.graphisoft.com/products/archicad/productivity_improvements.html

Scroll to the bottom of that page... ArchiCAD 14 has some improvements I really like :

The ability to see shadows in the 3D window means I don't have to wait all day for the render and I can choose a nice angle of where the shadows will be cast.

64 bit for Mac - Well what can I say, it will run faster and smoother ( at least I think it will )

I will defintelty be upgrading but then I'm a student so I don't pay for it.

[TMA_80]

NStocks wrote:
64 bit for Mac

Be careful , the ads says only BIMserver will take adavantage of 64bits on Mac , not Archicad

[vfrontiers]

Chazz wrote:

laszlonagy wrote:
I try to write only facts and not get involved in these arguments.

It is the only sane approach. Hang in there and thank you for your service to the community.

laszlonagy wrote:
People are really passionate about their views which I can fully understand.

I've been thinking about this. Looking at my own experience, my frustration with this situation stems, essentially, from what I feel is a sort of broken social contract: I supported the company, its software and its platform. I invested money and, most importantly, time and mindshare (15,000-20,000 hours?) in ArchiCAD. I evangelized the tool to others and at the various firms I've been involved with, converted them to AC or expanded their use of AC. In return, I hoped to reap some sort of long-term professional standing or progression as the tool became increasing powerful with time. Instead, ArchiCAD now looks more like a time sink: A one-way street where you put in endless hours learnings its foibles and oddities (the overall philosophy of the tool is easy to grasp, it is mapping out the workarounds and land mines in production methods that makes me an expert user). Very little of this expertise or time investment translates to other tools such as Revit. In the end, this investment of your time is repaid with poor customer support, the erosion of resale rights and finally, expensive and directionless upgrades.

So it is no surprise that people are passionate about the direction the developers take the tool and no surprise that folks are so vocally upset with another weak release. On the one hand, as a subscription deal, AC14 is a very poor value. The company has simply not delivered an attractive value proposition. But my larger point is that it goes much deeper. This release has cemented in may long-time users minds the reality that not only is this release a waste of time but that maybe they have been wasting their time all along. It hurts.

Ditto!

I think what hurts the most is the "social contract"... We laughed and smited Autodesk WAY, WAY, WAY back when they started the "join the club" version of upgrading.. Graphisoft promised to NOT follow in those footsteps...

All used to be fine (for the end user, anyway) where about every 18mos. we would shell out about $500 for a mostly substantial upgrade... Then GS cracked and "went to the dark side" and realized they ought to punish their existing user base to compensate for their lack of new sales.

I was financially forced to miss AC13. I've decided to invest in the infrastructure (64bit computers) and wait for AC to catch up. Not sure how long AC has been working on 64 bit, but where the ---- is it for the mac. The promo says only "server" is on the mac side.

And my list of NECESSARY upDATES to fix crap since 1995 (they did a pretty good job of responding to issues prior)...still bugs me. Why does it take me 30 min to type text into a window schedule in AC? Come on... No organic tools, yada yada yada.

I'll be held captive... I, too, have invested HEAVILY in grass roots fostering of AC since 1990. GS did treat me well in the beginning.. I am not sore about anything and I am certainly not being singled out for anything... Just looking realistically at how long this can continue (not for my particular instance, but for its own future).

[Rakela Raul]

When I started to use AC (version 6), GS was an european small firm with a 3D software that I thought it would be the future of 'drafting' (long time user were all correct), but, we are forgetting that GS always been small (nothing wrong with that, and i like it)

and now that this 'BIM' thing is becoming that we envisiond, several companies had embraced BIM (and more powerful companies must add)....
Now, we are expecting GS to compete with them and we are pushing GS to do what we knew they cannot do and it is a losing battle for GS, simple.

I would have loved GS to be just different, small but the seasoned !! the yearly upgrade is just plain out of GS league (had it with that); , etc, etc...very negative today ! oil spill, earthquakes, 7 more permit for off shore drilling,,, beyong negative today... i need vacation !!

AC14, I havent seen it yet. (but we just installed AC13 so forget it)

[Anonymous]

Hello

This post has been viewed 24,000 times and so far no official response from Graphisoft. It's very disappointing and it only reinforces the idea that their customers don't exist.

[Anonymous]

Masse wrote:
Hello

This post has been viewed 24,000 times and so far no official response from Graphisoft. It's very disappointing and it only reinforces the idea that their customers don't exist.

yeah . . . thats terrible but nothing new...
[offending comment removed by moderator.]

[Laszlo Nagy]

NeckoFromSarajevo: Referring back to my post about accepted behavior on the Talk: expressing your opinion is OK, wishing bad things onto others (including GS) is not OK and will not be tolerated.

[Stress Co_]

laszlonagy wrote:

Braza wrote:
Hi Laszlo,
It seems that you are accumulating the GSPR (Graphisoft Public Relation) function (I think you deserve a raise!)... But be careful... Angry people may beat the messenger.
The good side is that this is an internet forum... If it were a face-to-face forum, by this time you would have a great part of your body damaged... as angry people usually beat the messenger.
Now seriously. Thank you Laszlo for your prompt info.

Yes, I know what you mean.
I try to write only facts and not get involved in these arguments.
People are really passionate about their views which I can fully understand.