Where is Graphisoft?

[Brett Brown]

What really annoys me about the yearly new tools is that we have all these questions on them and now the new stair tool, by power users and god help the novice user, and not one response from Graphisoft.

Why can't one of the Graphisoft developers answer these questions? Think how much time would be saved by all users around the world when trying to use the new tools every year and making it more informative and not frustrating.

I appreciate the time Barry and other moderators spend in answering many questions but as seen in the new Stair tool thread even they can't answer some. Where's Graphisoft staff in this thread and others.

This lack of Graphisoft interaction has been a theme since Archicad was born.

This forum is the main teaching tool for new and existing users and for Graphisoft not to participate is detrimental to all users. Why is this?

Sort of a continuing trend where Graphisoft have no interest in ordinary users wishes. How long have we been asking for the simple thing of a Fill in the beam tool. Just imagine the hours wasted by users doing work arounds. Just not good enough.

Is this because they don't care about the individual user? Most large firms (which this software is mainly aimed at) have there own IT person who can answer there staffs questions, but the individual is left with there reseller who can take days for an answer and more importanly here.

And lets face it the answers here by the Power users are quicker and more to the point, and others users can see the answer and learn something. Also the forum is searchable. I would have thought Graphisoft would have been in here boots and all because that would help users better and of course sales as well.

I don't think it should be left only to the likes of Barry and others who I assume are donating there valuable time to help others.

Love to hear your opinions on Graphisoft's interaction with the average user base and there lack of representation here. I do acknowledge some minor Graphisoft interaction in the mainly technical areas but surely they are the ones who should be leading the teaching of the software especially here.

[Erwin Edel]

I suppose I am 'lucky' in the sense that localisation generally pushes back our new release a month or two after the INT (and other major) releases. All the videos popping up for me are teaser previews of what is to come, I do the upgrade course around our release and if I want to, can be productive with the new tools/changes fairly quick.

As said, I do not tend to jump right in with existing projects, unless the upgrade allows for a very smooth transition.

This isn't allways a problem anyway, some version have been rocksolid and I've been working on version side to side before. That said, the transition from 18>19>20 has been very smooth and right now I am only working in 20.

[Anonymous]

Brett, get real, do you call BMW factory if you have problem with driving? Or do you expect their broschyres to solve your daily routings. No, you go to driving School and use GPS .

To my opinion professionals should not use chat or even YouTube as main learning channels, hobbyists do.

In Finland the independent GS distributor trains hundreds of users in new features and basic courses yearly. There is also public free roadshow going throug country, annually. Only few of Finnish 3400 ArchiCAD users even have account in this Forum. Yes, we do have internet, but trainings is just still much more effective...

This forum is for transparent peer to peer support, which aside shows users challenges to GS. I do believe developers shoud listen to Feedback from here, but leave training for professionals. In Finland the distributor collects and sends bugreports and feedbacks, as part of the maintenance agreement service (SSA).
Graphisoft is where they should be, developing the software... And the car Price, NOR maintenance fee, include driving lessons.
Best regards,
Ville
(20 years of ArchiCAD training experience)

[Erwin Edel]

I will say that the times I have looked up YouTube clips on Cinerender (for example), I find that they serve a nice purpose for highlighting some small feature in more detail. Same goes for morph tool vids back in the day.

Sometimes it is a bit too much of "we'll just increase the luminance channel by 4.65" and I'm thinking "Of course, makes sense, 4.75 would've been wrong", but for the most part they serve their purpose for going in some extra depth.

The reseller course is great for getting your feet wet with the new tools. Our reseller also offers their own written support articles on more in depth procedures.

The help documentation itself is very in depth too and PDF allows for quick searching keywords.