Archicad 19 - Is GS really listening?

[rob2218]

guys....please, don't take this the wrong way. I've seen this video
https://youtu.be/bkABWv_zb1U
and it really bugs me.
I'll tell you why.
GS is focusing man-hours and designs on parametrics that, well....really AREN'T what the user needs......playground equipment?....really?

Geez guys...please, get a good set of working stairs. Get good working railings that can do more than what it's doing now. Get a good cabinet object that has the ability to do more.......THATs what we need folks....please...listen to your user base.

Here in the U.S....we don't care about 'playground' equipment being able to show a baby seat in the swing or not.....we need to have stairs that work well. We need to have stairs that you can have a "zero distance" between the up treads and risers and the lower treads and risers on a switchback stair!......those are the things GS should be focusing their efforts on!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

gladiador26667 wrote:
@Don Lee:

According to his websie Mario is still coding and working the railing with pickets and also another one which is the one is shown on the video as the Bond Bryan's design. I guess the reason those two are not for sale yet is because he is polishing the code. If you go to the site and read all thru you will find he explains it. Just search for 3D Media Design, I do not remember the exact URL.

In any case, those are the best railing objects I have seem around, so far.



@CGSketcher:

Totally agree with you, stair are a nightmare. But in this case the objects discussed herein are only railings, and the look to be very well done.

Regards,
D.

Thanks! When it's ready I'm buying one

[Jeff Kogut]

I'll second the stairs and cabinets...and add two more:

Garage doors (4 or 5 panel type) are pretty lame and wrong for the US market out of the box.

A Detail Manager, imagine details in a tree list like the Object tool which grabs details from a standard library; and the Attribute Manager grafted on to pull details from other jobs.

[Bricklyne Clarence]

rob2218 wrote:
by the way.....here's how the GS 'out-of-the-box' railings....for example.....SHOULD be working. Stretch a node, the railings get pulled and adjusted accordingly, both in 2D and 3D manner.

Now these stair railings are simply amazing.

https://youtu.be/KYnFzxm3v6Y

And code-compliant.....

(...or at least capable of being so).
Don't forget that.


Which is one of the things that gets lost whenever this issue (of improving the stairs, railings, doors, etc etc etc....) comes up and we keep begging GS to do something about these tools.
Is that they not only hamper us from a design and creativity stand-point, but that these structures have to be code-compliant (especially when you're designing public buildings, but even with residential buildings in certain locales).

In a lot of cases where you have to design a stair to a client's specifications or requirements, while also having to ensure to sticks to code, you're forced to build it from scratch with basic elements (slabs, walls, roofs, columns, morphs......THANK GOD, we have Morphs, but the more of them you have in your project the more they bring AC to its knees performance-wise).

Which boggles the mind as much as it's excruciatingly frustrating when you consider how otherwise powerful a tool ArchiCAD is, but then you're forced to resort to such a rudimentary and counter-intuitive, and embarrassingly clunky workflow just to design a basic construction element/object, or worse yet perform a basic task like update it.


Please, I don't want to rant because I frankly speaking wasn't expecting a stair tool improvement in this version (nor am I expecting one in the next version or the one after that) - but with each passing version this becomes increasingly undignified and just plain lamentable for a program where they otherwise get pretty much every thing else right.

[Bricklyne Clarence]

Jeff wrote:
I'll second the stairs and cabinets...and add two more:

Garage doors (4 or 5 panel type) are pretty lame and wrong for the US market out of the box.

A Detail Manager, imagine details in a tree list like the Object tool which grabs details from a standard library; and the Attribute Manager grafted on to pull details from other jobs.

......or just doors, really.

I'll even settle for customizable, parametric and (design)flexible door handles that look like what you could see at a storefront entrance or an office building, public building...etc.

I also love your idea of a Detail manager.....but it would entail that ArchiCAD have some capacity for a Detail library that architects and designers can grow and add to (from other projects) as well as parametrize, share, ....
Something akin to the current object library but more robust, and possibly even with an online repository mirroring or even surpassing BIMComponents (which has predictably stagnated given how ham-handedly it was implemented).

But one can dream........right?

[Bricklyne Clarence]

DGSketcher wrote:
Oh no, not the annual stairs issue again!!!

Yes the existing GDL out of the box solution leaves a lot to be desired but having tried to write my own GDL solution for a set of traditional timber stairs I can sympathise with GS's position. The number of variations, complexity of connections / framing and compliance with regional codes is no small task for anything other than a straight flight. I arrived at the conclusion that beyond a basic drawing representation there is a requirement for the modelling of components to suit the installation and illustration needs. GS could improve the situation by providing some parametric stair parts so that we can put together the stair we want and taking it a step further provide the ability to edit GDL objects in their own 3D window...

That's a whole other (unwieldy) discussion all on it's own, but nonetheless related and apropos in current context.

[Bricklyne Clarence]

gladiador26667 wrote:
@Don Lee:

According to his websie Mario is still coding and working the railing with pickets and also another one which is the one is shown on the video as the Bond Bryan's design. I guess the reason those two are not for sale yet is because he is polishing the code. If you go to the site and read all thru you will find he explains it. Just search for 3D Media Design, I do not remember the exact URL.

In any case, those are the best railing objects I have seem around, so far.



@CGSketcher:

Totally agree with you, stair are a nightmare. But in this case the objects discussed herein are only railings, and the look to be very well done.

Regards,
D.

Every time I see a 3rd party developed tool like a Stair or railings tool or parametric gutter tools,.......and stuff like that, even passably superior to what we have out of the box, developed by essentially freelancers working on their own...(...as opposed to, oh I don't know,.. a full-time developer working at a software company ostensibly fully dedicated to doing this sort of thing for a living), but only available at extra cost......I almost feel like screaming, or at least tearing my hair out.

Clearly the task is not impossible nor that insurmountable.

So I suppose it's just a matter of prioritization and will.

[Stress Co_]

Bricklyne wrote:
......or just doors, really.

Same choices we've always had for door panels. Huge raised panel or ..., wait, that's the only choice.

[Bricklyne Clarence]

Stress wrote:

Bricklyne wrote:
......or just doors, really.

Same choices we've always had for door panels. Huge raised panel or ..., wait, that's the only choice.

I don't want people to get me wrong though;..

I do believe that Version 19 is a solid upgrade for what it's supposed to be (a performance upgrade versus features upgrade) and it ticks a hell of a lot of boxes.

I just don't think GS (nor their marketing department, more specifically) do themselves any favors where users are concerned when you have demo videos of things like that parametric playground object (really????) like the original poster pointed out, when more project-critical items (like Stairs, doors, visual GDL custom object editor/creator) that have been sitting on the Wishlists for over 10 years at least, still go begging for attention with yet another update.

It sadly comes off as just a bit tone-deaf and obtuse to your users.

Just a tad....

[Stress Co_]

Bricklyne wrote:

Stress wrote:

Bricklyne wrote:
......or just doors, really.

Same choices we've always had for door panels. Huge raised panel or ..., wait, that's the only choice.

I don't want people to get me wrong though;..

I do believe that Version 19 is a solid upgrade for what it's supposed to be (a performance upgrade versus features upgrade) and it ticks a hell of a lot of boxes.

I just don't think GS (nor their marketing department, more specifically) do themselves any favors where users are concerned when you have demo videos of things like that parametric playground object (really????) like the original poster pointed out, when more project-critical items (like Stairs, doors, visual GDL custom object editor/creator) that have been sitting on the Wishlists for over 10 years at least, still go begging for attention with yet another update.

It sadly comes off as just a bit tone-deaf and obtuse to your users.

Just a tad....

I'm with you.
Solid upgrade. Just seems like a lot of long standing wishes aren't heard.

Here's my wish for the future:
A simple survey sent to every registered AC license holder, asking:
"What are your top five wishes/features/improvements for future releases of AC?"
Put the top two responses into the "pipeline" for future version.
Do this every year.

[Anonymous]

Please tell me that the new permanent guidelines can be made visible on all layouts when placed on a master layout... even if I have to turn on the master layout as a trace reference