!Restored: AC12+ Question

[Anonymous]

Hello,
Does anyone think GS might include/be working towards incorporating add-ons such as MaxonForm or Objective into future releases?
I have been using AC for about 4 years now and am relatively happy with the software, I do however wish it was easier to model new objects/elements without requiring any add-ons.
Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Chris wrote:
The Cigraph range of products, particularly Architerra, is very good but the size of the terrain in terms of the number of points needs to be controlled to break it up in to handleable sections.

The latest version of Architerra is terrific. I have been using it on a large, complex (and steep) site and, despite warning me that the terrain may be too complex, it handles it quite well (even better now on my handy dandy new Mac Pro).

It does get rather annoyed if I try to do complex, recursive SEOs but that is to be expected (I just substituted slabs as operators to whack out the excavations).

I do wish the mesh tool could have a contoured bottom surface though. Dropping a copy and using it as an operator has its limits. It would be especially nice to be able to specify a continuous thickness.

[Anonymous]

rwallis wrote:
Wes, I admire your optimism, but even long time users of ArchiCAD harbour doubts about whether ArchiCAD can be competitive anymore.......

Yup, ArchiCAD is the worst building model program available, aside from all the others. (Apologies to Winston Churchill)

Revit is a good tool and has some advantages compared to ArchiCAD, but many disadvantages as well. I would say that ArchiCAD is very much competitive with Revit (and vice versa). It remains to be seen how Nemetschek/Graphisoft can stand up to Autodesk, but that is a different matter.

Frankly, I think that anyone who believes that either program is way ahead of the other doesn't know them both very well.

[Anonymous]

Just to add agreement to Andy's post - functionality that is available in add-ons needs to be rolled into ArchiCAD ASAP.

For example, somewhere after AC9 I lost a lot with the loss of GDL toolbox. As clunky and bug-ridden as it was, I was able to model a roof that I could not model now, in AC11!

It isn't just the fact that these features should be available in this kind of software, but that add-ons become a nightmare to update and manage now that we are on a yearly upgrade spiral....

[Anonymous]

rwallis wrote:
Just to add agreement to Andy's post - functionality that is available in add-ons needs to be rolled into ArchiCAD ASAP.

For example, somewhere after AC9 I lost a lot with the loss of GDL toolbox. As clunky and bug-ridden as it was, I was able to model a roof that I could not model now, in AC11!

It isn't just the fact that these features should be available in this kind of software, but that add-ons become a nightmare to update and manage now that we are on a yearly upgrade spiral....

u can use sketcup and create what ever roof u want and return it AC as roof. Simply u didnt loose anything so trust me, in sketchup u can create faster and much more then in gdl tooldbox.
But, u r right, i dont want to go in other software to do things, i wish that i can model in AC.
I think that nothing crucial will happend in AC12 . . .(i wish im wrong)

[Chris Phillips]

Matthew wrote:
I do wish the mesh tool could have a contoured bottom surface though. Dropping a copy and using it as an operator has its limits. It would be especially nice to be able to specify a continuous thickness.

I am surprised, or am I misreading this. Do you not use the mesh to roof tool with the roof pre-set at the base properties required?

[Anonymous]

Matthew wrote:
The latest version of Architerra is terrific. I have been using it on a large, complex (and steep) site and, despite warning me that the terrain may be too complex, it handles it quite well (even better now on my handy dandy new Mac Pro)...........

Architerra can handle big terrains. However the excellent 'coloured area tool' can only handle approximately 70 areas before you need to brake up the mesh. Lots of adjoining meshes means lots more edge nodes to align.

Architerra seems to be really good for isolated buildings in a terrain. Neither the mesh tool or Architerra really are up to modelling a complex building terrain, i.e. sloping curved road and paths, different garden heights and retaining boundary wall etc.

What would help greatly is for adjoining closed ridges (i.e. a building slab height area) to be selectable by area rather than the edge. At present 2 adjoining ridges have nodes in the same place, so there are 2 nodes to make the same height. My work around is to shrink each ridged area to give a small gap. Really we want to be able to create a constraint (or ridge) between any 2 nodes and then group the constraints to make a complex ridge. Also why can't there be a pop up note of a mesh nodes height in 3D?

For vague visualisations it is all OK, I suppose, but if you are virtually building for accuracy (hasn't Graphisoft been banging on about that for 20 odd years) then it is not good enough. It needs to be a half way house between a 2D plan with a spot height wish list and the real deal road building software e.g. TAZ. Above all it needs to be quick to use and edit.

Surly you want to send a considered 3D roads/ terrain design to a specialist for the final road detailing rather than them tell you where the roads can go?

[Anonymous]

Of course there are lots of improvments to be made to Architerra, but I am thrilled with the progress so far. Version 3 is miles ahead of v1.

For detailed work I use library parts and the standard AC tools with SEOs.

[Anonymous]

Matthew wrote:
Of course there are lots of improvements to be made to Architerra, .....

Aggeed Architerra is an excellent add-on. However it seems that nether Archicad's meshes or Architerra can cope with large intricate terrains eg a sloping housing scheme with all its levels and retaining walls. It is like building a

For a small sloped development it all works fine.

We need the mesh to be able to work with large intricate terrains. (Graphisoft please take note)

[Anonymous]

Extract from the local distr. of Cinema 4D.

MaxonForm for ArchiCAD Users

The MaxonForm addon allows CINEMA 4D R10.5 to function as a graphical GDL modeler and editor tightly integrated with Archicad, allowing a streamlined "roundtrip" Archicad - CINEMA 4D R10.5 - Archicad workflow on both the Macintosh® and Windows® platforms.

Starting with ArchiCAD 12, Graphisoft will cease the development and distribution of MaxonForm. Technical support for existing MaxonForm licenses will continue to be available for a period of one (ending on March 27, 2009). The ArchiCAD 11 version of MaxonForm will be available until August 1, 2008.

To ensure that creating free-form shapes continues to be possible for users, they have released a free CINEMA 4D add-on that allows seamless data exchange between ArchiCAD 11 and C4D R10–10.5.

The add-on is available immediately in English, German, Spanish and Japanese as a free download.

[Dwight]

brendon wrote:

To ensure that creating free-form shapes continues to be possible for users, they have released a free CINEMA 4D add-on that allows seamless data exchange between ArchiCAD 11 and C4D R10–10.5.

Located at:


http://www.graphisoft.com/products/archicad/solutions/cinema4d_download.html

and not as in the instructions.

This is working fine except for the fact you need to get Cinema, but that is not so bad.