MEP 27 - The New Feature that never happened

[DGSketcher]

Can someone from Graphisoft please step up and own the current abject failure to deliver the renewed MEP Modeller?

Today I joined the many others who have had to return to using AC26 in order to deliver on our MEP commitments.

We all pay out for GS to deliver improvements to AC, yet here we are 7 months later with a key feature broken & software we can't use. Can someone at least tell us what we can expect in terms of delivery of fixing this MEP debacle and when?

It's bad enough struggling with the 3D screen "grey outs", and the disappointment of new features that suddenly became experimental, but finding a fundamental tool is no longer useable... 🙄

[mthd]

Thank you Barry for speaking up on behalf of the many users here. You spoke kindly, respectfully and tactfully. I am sure we all appreciate your many years of experience in using AC and helping all of us with our problems. 

What we have been saying all along is coming true, with so many extras needing attention this was inevitable. Multi Tasking is only myth, you can only focus properly on one thing at a time.

Lets hope AC27 UD2 is good.

[DGSketcher]

@Balint Kezer Please can you answer this very serious question...

We are being advised to use AC26 if we need MEP modelling, but can you confirm what will happen to that MEP data when it is migrated to AC27/28 e.g. will all the design work be lost?

[mthd]

Hopefully MEP is not deliberately made to play up so you get frustrated and decide to use DDSCAD instead lol ?

[Balint Kezer]

Dear Barry and all,

Thank you very much for taking the time to write this up, I believe you have summed up the user viewpoint quite well and it helped me understand the frustration from each of you quite well. I really hope that this information about what will the following updates contain in regards to MEP will make you feel a bit better about the future.

As Jared mentioned we fixed a crash that was occurring in Route Preferences in Archicad 27.1.0

There will a few MEP related fixes coming in Archicad 27.1.1:

• Fix for not being able to select the first predefined size (MAC only issue)
• Fix for the issue of Favorite not recognizing preferences set in template
• Fix for Pick up and Activate not working properly for MEP routes

There are still some questions about Archicad 27.2.0, but we plan to improve on the following areas:

• Allow native MEP Labeling, Scheduling and Dimensioning
• Magic Wand for MEP routes
• Splitting of MEP routes
• Offsetting segments of a route
• Improved connection between MEP elements
• DWG export of MEP elements
• Solid Element Operation for MEP elements
• Converting MEP elements to Morph
• Section related representation and modeling improvements
• Flexible duct related improvements
• Fixes for Floor Plan display related bugs
• Fix for Default Rotation of MEP Terminals, Accessories and Equipment
• Fix for not creating opening by a route when it is the lastly selected element

Please feel free to let me know if you would like to know more about anything on this list, or if you know about something that you believe should be fixed, but you cannot find it above.

Thanks,

[Balint Kezer · Accepted solution]

Sure, If you import an MEP model originally created in an earlier version of Archicad, it will show up correctly geometry wise. But the elements itself will not convert to the new routing elements and in most cases they will not be represented by their real object category.

For example an Equipment place down in Archicad 26 will hold the same position and parameters, but will show up as a 'General Object' instead of an Equipment. In the case of distribution elements, a connection of straight segments, bends and transitions will be keeping all their information, but they will not form a route as it would happen with this group of objects in Archicad 27. They will still retain their GDL parameters and you will be able to modify their width and height or other relevant geometric properties.

[Barry Kelly]

Balint,

Thank you for the detailed list.

Hopefully this will address many of the problems and we don't have to wait too long.

Barry.

[Mahmoud Qenawi]

Excellent @Balint Kezer 👏👏👍

Thanks for informing us with these futuristic plans for MEP functions in Archicad, that lets us become onboard and nearer to GS and to you especially.

[DGSketcher]

@Balint Kezer So in light of the AC26 update mess and based on your comments regarding the MEP migration from AC26 to 27/28 I have cut my losses and gone back to trying to develop my drainage layout in AC27. I'm hoping MEP27 is working before the final Construction Documents are issued.

So a few points to add to your pressing list of urgent items...

• The collection of MEP objects currently lacks items that were in AC26.
• There isn't an easy way to delete a node.
• I have no idea how the pipe runs are determining their plan display. I am currently trying to model on a lower reference layer as the storey where the route was drawn doesn't show the pipe route despite setting the FPCP levels to show beyond the lowest route level.
• I would like to pick a drain route and have all levels average out / adjust to a provided gradient e.g. 18mm/m between 2 points. In an ideal world this would also include the levels where a branch connects to non-vertical pipe levels.
•  

I may add to this list as I keep trying to complete my project.

[Karl Ottenstein]

I very rarely use MEP, so had not jumped in earlier.  Very much appreciate the honesty of Barry's post and Balint's responses to that and Trevor's ....  but I'm at a complete loss as to why anyone would "appreciate" that utterly basic functionality will not return until at least 27.2.0.

My jaw is totally on the floor when Balint says that MEP content from 26 will not migrate to corresponding MEP content in 27.... equipment will no longer be equipment, and routes will no longer be routes that can be edited.  Yet, he (Graphisoft) advises that people needing MEP should model that in AC 26 - knowing full well that when, eventually, 27 or beyond has full MEP again, none of that work will be editable as MEP.  Do I need another coffee, or am I totally missing the insanity here?  It seems that there is no means of working on a project with MEP today other than starting ... and completing... the project in 26 where the MEP elements remain "live".  (Or doing weird workarounds with exports of IFC from 27 of the main model to 26 and exporting IFC of the MEP from 26 back to 27...)

@Balint Kezer I think what the user community needs from your team for clarity is a KB Article posted here (and kept up-to-date) with (at least) three columns, showing what is/was possible in 26, what is possible in the current release of 27, and what will be guaranteed possible in updates to 27, within the release cycle, for customers who paid for this release.

I'm seriously trying to remember any case in the past 35 years when significant core functionality was removed like this and just can't think of anything.  Even things that changed had a migration path in the past (e.g., 'legacy' checkboxes).

[DGSketcher]

Thank you for your supportive contribution Karl, along with Barry. I appreciate many of my recent comments which are pointed at Graphisoft and Archicad may be blunt and far from diplomatic, but I'm still trying to do the same job with the same software and it just gets harder every year. Banging your head on a brick wall year after year takes its toll, and in recent times we have gone from "We could do this better by..." to "WTF have you done now!".

I may be wrong, but I have a feeling Balint has been forced into this difficult position from on high, and the stupidity of this decision should rest squarely with the captain of the ship. There are a growing number of recent "features" that seem to have been released without due care and consideration, almost like they are rushed to meet a deadline, just to achieve some kind of parity with a competitor whilst the fundamentals take a back seat. I don't want to sound like a scratched record, everything else I could add has been well documented, so I will stop here.