Why Archicad ?

[Anonymous]

I have worked in Archicad for the past 1.5 years after being trained in Autocad for a year. I fell in love with Archicad and am about to purchase version 9 from a Graphisoft Dealer. My question is just a general one to open up some pro's and con's. Why should I continue to stay with Archicad when it is so hard to find a job in it as opposed to Autocad and what sets it apart from Autocad ? What about products like Intergraph has like Smartplant 3d. Should I learn it instead of investing more time in Archicad ?

Thanks and thanks for a great forum.

Born2Draft

[Scott Davis]

Richard wrote:
I'm not sure this speed of development is necessarily a good thing. As an outside observer, I get the feeling that trying to learn Revit and then cope with all of the rapid upgrades feels like trying to jump into a torrential river and then swim. It would certainly give ME hesitation about jumping into a fire-hose blast of features. I'd worry that I'd go on a two week vacation and miss a couple of upgrades-- then I'd be struggling to keep up.

I understand the concern, but it's really not like that. The new features aren't typically a "huge" jump in terms of learning curve. They always seem to fit and be intuitive to the workflow. It usually takes a day or maybe two of playing with and testing the new features before one is familiar with them. There is so much anticipation from users around the release dates...and this anticipation would not be the case if the users "dreaded" another release because they had to learn a bunch of new tools. For most users, there is no hesitation....the new release comes out and they download and use it immediately.

[Dwight]

Scott/Archislave: Why are you with ArchiCAD, now?

[Scott Davis]

archislave wrote:
Revit needs to loosen up and not try to be so accrurate.

That's a backwards thinking statement in the computer age. LESS accurate? Since all constraints in Revit are user definable, it would seem that with a bit more learning on your part, you would understand what to constrain and what not to, depending on what relationships you needed to be inherent to the model. Moving a wall and finding out it was constrained to something else really falls back on the user for making that relationship in the first place.

For your roof by sketch complaint, well, you are correct, that one particular tool hasn't changed much in the past few releases. But with just a bit of practice, most people "get it" and can develope any pitched hip/gable/mansard/etc roof they'd like with some really simple tools. Your idea to show the ridges and valleys while in sketch mode is on the wishlist.

[archislave]

I think Scott is a religious Revit devotee. I am an Archicad user for a year and intend to remain since I have signed up for v10 subscription. I have just gotten frustrated recently in trying to use the model for cd's without some extensive drafting.

I had to create a story called upper walls to receive the clerestory windows and the upper wall of the exterior without brick. I thought it was rediculous that ArC has not gotten multi-story walls and the ability to stop cladding at different levels.

If rumors prove to be true - I won't have to wait much longer!

The ability to manage the constraints in Revit became unmangeble to me as the model got more complex and there is no way to see which elements are attached to which and in what order. I would forget after a while. I am not against accuracy but Revit acted like a totalitarian guard.

[Scott Davis]

Richard wrote:
postings have transitioned from "how could I do this?" postings, to complaints about bugs, bewilderment on how to use the multitude of new features, and far more "arrggghhh"s than there used to be. Not surprisingly, introducing all these new features at such a rapid rate is also introducing a whole lot more bugs and user confusion.

For the most part, user forums such as AUGI and this one tend to be a place for people to go when they have "problems" and as more and more users come on board, there will be a tendency for the forum to seem more "arrgggggh" than positive. I would tend to think that this AC forum is even more a "complaint" forum than AUGI.

In any case, we noticed the trend at AUGI and someone even started a somewhat comical thread, with the subject "Revit worked flawlessly again today" and was a topic in which people reported the mundane: "No problems to report today, everything worked as expected."

[Anonymous]

archislave wrote:
Many of these tools are made in foreign countries like NZ and do not conform to US standards and probably not Euro standards for that matter.

Sorry to be picky, but isn't ArchiCAD itself from a 'foreign' country. I also suspect that the NZ made tools conform to NZ standards, which might possibly be who they were originally made for...

[Dwight]

Like, where IS the mud hut tool?

[Thomas Holm]

archislave wrote:
I had to create a story called upper walls to receive the clerestory windows and the upper wall of the exterior without brick.

Man, I'd draw a separate clerestory plan even if I was drawing the whole project by hand as in the old days. It should be part of the documentation anyway, so what's the problem? That Archicad doesn't draw it for you?

[Anonymous]

archislave wrote:
Many of these tools are made in foreign countries like NZ and do not conform to US standards and probably not Euro standards for that matter.

Once I suspected GS to hire people to post such messages to keep AC defenders awake…
The following comment refers to several reactions (also in this sub topic) I just read in the Archicad+ topic and around it. I have some time before lunch; sorry for the rough English, lunch is still important in some "foreign" countries.
I started with AC 4.1, left it (no choice) at 5 for the bigA universe, came back at 8 (gasp, ok 8.1) as my own boss.
If you check "working in Archicad", the topic is 10 time more important than this one full of whine
Personally, I ask less and less for tricks because (seriously) I found almost all into the reference book, the good Erik Wilk book or in older tips and tricks.
People complain about the Ref book. Did you ever try to learn Photoshop just with their Ref book? It's unreadable; you need to choose at least 3 of the 20 best books, tutorial etc to start with the soft. Anybody to teach Adobe the right marketing attitude?
I am afraid that, stuck on their monitor, looking for "sexy" stuff, some persons are just unable to read 3 pages of a book.
Some people in this forum obviously have no same profession as me. But for an architect, AC is EASY and very PRODUCTIVE for 80% of the job.
For half of the rest, add-on and smart objects, archiForma (It) or beammaker (NZ), for ex., will do it fine.
(By the way, Fabrizio, who allows an ITALIAN to script add-ons? You are not only "foreigners" but I bet you don't even think in English! And your help files are so cheap for such expensive add-ons! For obscure reasons, I perfectly understand the French translation. Probably another conspiracy. )
If you are productive for 90% of the job, you save enough time to work on the tough subjects (calculation, GDL, rendering) or enough money to get help somewhere.
Of course, I talk for old-fashioned architects, still working with walls, slabs, roofs and keep on printing plans.
I also complained some times, for example very frustrated it takes 10 years to get (AC10?) a separate section/plan fill but who created a better wall tool during theses years?
I think Carl perfectly summarized the situation when he wrote recently that AC10 will be still ONE step ahead.
GS does not try to fill our wishes but to remain one step ahead, filling the wishes that contribute to this objective, keeping some development for...the next useful step.
As an end-user, I am not happy with that but frankly, I can't blame them. I read a lot of messages from people having the mouth full on "market attitude" commentaries (Gs should be more aggressive, more innovative, more dynamic, sexier, more blablabla). GS probably learned the hard way that the best "market strategy", when you don't have the money to overflow the media with "sexy" advertisement, is to stay just "one step ahead".
The one who is behind has to make a lot of steps (who said an upgrade every 3 month?).
Good new is that with a strong competitor (read my lip), AC steps will be bigger.
The bad one is I am afraid of superficial steps (screen gadgets) instead of BIM steps (beams, stairs, layer's manager, calculation)

[TomWaltz]

Sometimes I think one of the bigger problems Graphisoft has is the global reach of their product and the varying practice of Architects and Builders around the globe.

It's strange to hear the word "foreigner", since it makes me think of the 70's rock band... with the shrinking global community, I think someone would have to be from another planet before I really thought of them as a foreigner.