Running ArchiCAD on Virtual PC for Mac?

[Anonymous]

Hi -

I am an architectural student and am in the process of purchasing a Mac and ArchiCAD. I am a long time PC user and would like to run Windows on my Mac, thus I was considering purchasing Virtual PC for Mac, by Microsoft.

So here's my dilemma...
To operate ArchiCAD on my Mac, I need to be running either Windows or Mac OS. If I get Virtual PC, do I buy ArchiCAD for Windows? Or can I buy ArchiCAD for Mac? If I get ArchiCAD for Windows and run it through Virtual PC, does my Mac run any slower? Has anyone out there experienced this?

Or is the obvious thing to do is just get ArchiCAD for Mac, and get the Mac OS?

Any thoughts? Comments?

[Aussie John]

i am not saying that there hasnt been some improvements but v9 has definately lost its "Mac" appearance. I dont find all those miniscule icons in the menu of any use what so ever.

[Dwight]

Me neither - first thing I turned off. But a lot of resources went into developing them to satisfy Mas users. And so it goes.

What annoys me about Mac applications is this floating dialog box thing - after experiencing a tightly-organized interface like LightWave uses, who needs ArchiCAD's approach.

Of course, the excuse is that Apple makes developers conform. Proved erroneous in the case of LightWave.

[Aussie John]

Dwight wrote:
Me neither - first thing I turned off. .

Dwight how do you turn them off in the pull down menus?

[Dwight]

Sorry - i thot u meant the sylli toolbar icons.....

[__archiben]

guys - i actually find the toolbar really useful now that it's customised to my needs and joined into one instead of hundreds of little, snapped floating palettes.

i'd prefer not to see the icons in the menu's either, but they don't disturb me too much. what does disturb me is the lightwave (or even cinema4D?) interface on a mac. dwight - i know you've mentioned this before in another thread and i restrained myself then, but my mac iNstincts cannot this time!

so it doesn't look 'mac-like' - i can also live with this. but having to go looking for menu items within a working window? having to pop-out this, that and everything to get at tools and commands? having to learn a completely unique "dialogue style" (whether efficient or not) for one application? give me customisable and intelligent floating palettes and a menu where the menu should be any day.

i'm sure that for somebody who already uses such an application often and regularly it makes no difference. but for new users and people who only need to use such applications once in a while it completey obliterates any prior knowledge of even the basics of user interface they possess - thus wiping out the efficiency of that efficient dialogue style before any work is attempted!

you may be surprised to know that my archiCAD screen actually resembles the lightwave layout you posted extremely closely: connected, dense and a maximised working area. and for a 15" powerbook that's pretty good going, no? and my tools, commands and info feedback are right there staring at me, not buried within text-based and visually unintuitive buttons! other non-essential 'dialogue' palettes come up and float around me on a single-key shortcut and dissappear much the same way!

ok. so i haven't much used either lightwave or cinema4D - but this is exactly why! on launching them i'm stumped, baffled and confused. there are not many applications that i can't open use the basics of straight away and UI is an important aspect of that.

there is a great sign on the swimming pool just along the beach from here: "i don't swimming in your toilet. please don't p1ss in my pool". let's all dance to the same tune, eh?

cheers and sorry for the rant!
~/archiben

[__archiben]

back on topic:

i've tried running PC archiCAD through virtual PC and have only one word of advice: don't!

it's way too slow and cumbersome. as somebody else here said, VPC is simply for the apps that we couldn't do without and weren't available for the mac. actually, to clarify even further, it was just for internet explorer on a PC because some project extranets that use reviewing technology use an MS flavoured java, or activX, or something that the rest of the open source IT community frown upon.

~/archiben

[Dwight]

I respect your opinion and also attempt to optimise the tool presentation they give us, and I know my commands and shortcuts so rarely use pulldowns.....

the fundamental observation I make is that in ArchiCAD a lot of real estate needs to be moused over in clicking radio buttons and highlighting boxes to operate ArhciCAD relative to LightWave - cinema, I agree is daunting since all the dialogs are there by default.

In ArhciCAD the entire interface is turgid and uncoordinated - even to box width modules. PErhaps the compromise is to make the dialogs re-sizeable or something.....

[__archiben]

Dwight wrote:
the fundamental observation I make is that in ArchiCAD a lot of real estate needs to be moused over in clicking radio buttons and highlighting boxes to operate ArhciCAD relative to LightWave

i agree - there are sometimes too many mouse-clicks required within archiCAD dialogues. these are more often than not attributable to dialogues within dialogues within dialogues (teamwork set-up for example!) rather than working on the model.

the contextual menu is probably the way of the UI future . . . are you saying that this is the driving force behind the lightwave UI?

In ArhciCAD the entire interface is turgid and uncoordinated - even to box width modules. PErhaps the compromise is to make the dialogs re-sizeable or something.....

and i think that this is the reason that not all palettes are dockable yet. the width modules have improved . . . and i would hope those that don't correspond to the palette module yet will be addressed in the next release.

for me, an example of really good palette operation is in dreamweaver. unfortunately they simply don't have the right content for any sembalence of palette modularisation and this is where it all falls down for them.

sorry for the rant! a happy and healthy 2005 to you sir!
~/archiben

[Dwight]

I would only be so gentle and compromising with you since you seem to be afraid of change.

We early adopters are just the beginning of the flood of new users once ArchCAD takes over the world so it should become a modern interface soon.

[__archiben]

Dwight wrote:
I would only be so gentle and compromising with you since you seem to be afraid of change.

not at all! my personal belief is that the future of the UI be something of a cross between the sketchUp move tool, the archiCAD pet-palettes and stretchable hotspot palette - giving contextural control over anything that you may be manipulating . . .

We early adopters are just the beginning of the flood of new users once ArchCAD takes over the world so it should become a modern interface soon.

. . . of course i'm really waiting for virtual-reality gloves so that i can get into the model with a virtual hammer nails and build the thing myself. a bit slow, but wouldn't that wake architects up to the reality of construction . . . ?


~/archiben