Thanks and thanks for a great forum.
Born2Draft
I have run my own show for a while (17 years) and delegating production is a pressing issue.. The irony is the move to Archicad/BIM reduces this possibility until I have templates any monkey can use, including me 
Born2draft
This is supposed to be funny, in a serious sort of way, but by no means am I making fun of you, just of the whole situation.
Disclaimer done, here is your post, version 1985:
I have worked on a computer for the past 1.5 years after being trained on paper and pens for a year. I fell in love with the computer and am about to purchase one from a IBM Dealer. My question is just a general one to open up some pro's and con's. Why should I continue to stay with the computer when it is so hard to find a job in it as opposed to drafting with pencils and what sets it apart from CAD ? What about products like Apple has like Macintosh. Should I learn it instead of investing more time in PC IBM 8088 ?
Does this answer your existential doubts?
This is supposed to be funny, in a serious sort of way, but by no means am I making fun of you, just of the whole situation.
Disclaimer done, here is your post, version 1985:
I have worked on a computer for the past 1.5 years after being trained on paper and pens for a year. I fell in love with the computer and am about to purchase one from a IBM Dealer. My question is just a general one to open up some pro's and con's. Why should I continue to stay with the computer when it is so hard to find a job in it as opposed to drafting with pencils and what sets it apart from CAD ? What about products like Apple has like Macintosh. Should I learn it instead of investing more time in PC IBM 8088 ?
Does this answer your existential doubts?
Lighting90 wrote:I think the comparsion remais valid.
The comparrison with the IBM computer and Apple might not have been a good one, as Apple almost went under not so long ago and had to be rescued by Steve Jobs... luckily they are back on top, but remember that they will be building macs with intel chips soon, so how far away are they from PC's?
For me, the question is BIM or CAD, as it was 20 years ago between pencil or computer.
If you choose ArchiCAD, Revit, Allplan, Microstation, its all BIM/"computers".
If you stay AutoCad, you stay "pencil".
As it turned out 20 years later, it was not really important (albeit personal taste) if you went Apple or IBM: Everyone is working more or less the same, i.e. on a Personal Computer with a Windowlike O.S.
Lighting90 wrote:The question was:"Why should I continue to stay with Archicad when it is so hard to find a job in it as opposed to Autocad?"
Plus the question asked should generate a long list of why you should buy archicad over any other product.
As I see it, this question really means "Why should I continue to stay with BIM/VR when it is so hard to find a job in it as opposed to CAD ?"
After all, it is a drafting versus building question.
So, my answer pointed out this is not a real question, as it was not a real question 15 years ago "Why should I continue to stay with computers when it is so hard to find a job in it as opposed to pencil drafting?"
As for the specific BIM software, whatever tickles your fancy...
Lighting90 wrote:If you work correctly with ArchiCAD, BIM is mostly automatic.
Alsom what is BIM, and is it easy to use or is it like GDL, another thing where you need specialised knowledge to use it. After all the best thing you can have is a product anyone can use with minimal effort, rather than have something only a few can use with training.
GDL is programming. Its a whole different ballgame.
So, as long as you prefer to model instead of drawing, you get BIM.
Bingo! Or should I say BIMgo?
I see wher your coming from... 
regarding the computer statement, i.e. drawingboard or computer, though the latest things I have been seeing are the computer screens you draw on, will this make return us back to a board based drawing system, abeit with computer technology under you. Not sure personally as I have yet to try this syetem out, though I know surveyors are taking to it with portable tablet pc's and it makes onsite sketching very easy. But that is a different subeject and maybe something for a new thread...
The fact of the matter is, i have only recently started with archicad, (I am a fan of it, don't get me wrong) but already it seems difficult to create new library items, simple due to the GDL knowledge needed. Where as in autocad it was very simple, though of course it was not as flexible as archicad.
Though the new versions of architectural desktop have come a long way, I have been using 2005 for sometime and it is very easy to create a whole building rather than the tradditional pencil drawing approach you tended to use with autocad. (even now has fully rendered walls with bricks of the right scale... which it never had before without lots of effort)
I have yet to to use V9 in anger, as they say, so maybe some of the problems I am having with the program will be sorted, but the prevous users in this office were not using archicad as it was intended, but using it in the same way as autocad, creating plans with the wall window functions and then creating sections using lines and the same for elevations, on the flat, when you do that archicad seems a terrible program, which it isn't.
With finding a job, I can say it has never affected me whatever system I have used, and I started with Sonarta, then Gable, then Autocad, then Powercadd, (worst progam I have ever used !!!) then vectorworks, back to autocad and now into archicad... I think it is a question of attitude of both you the job searcher, and also the potential employer, always showing willing to learn, and if the system they have is not as good as archicad, then you simply convert them or as mentioned find another job.
At the end of the day, here in Scotland, you are not judged on your cad abilities, but your building technical/design skills first, if you don't have those, it doesn't really matter how good you are on any computer system unless they are only looking for drawing fodder.
One thing archicad users should remember is not to become blinkered, and forget the rest of the world is also moving forward, always good to know what the competition is like, and then you can always advise Graphicsoft of things they can do to keep archicad ahead of the game.
regarding the computer statement, i.e. drawingboard or computer, though the latest things I have been seeing are the computer screens you draw on, will this make return us back to a board based drawing system, abeit with computer technology under you. Not sure personally as I have yet to try this syetem out, though I know surveyors are taking to it with portable tablet pc's and it makes onsite sketching very easy. But that is a different subeject and maybe something for a new thread... The fact of the matter is, i have only recently started with archicad, (I am a fan of it, don't get me wrong) but already it seems difficult to create new library items, simple due to the GDL knowledge needed. Where as in autocad it was very simple, though of course it was not as flexible as archicad.
Though the new versions of architectural desktop have come a long way, I have been using 2005 for sometime and it is very easy to create a whole building rather than the tradditional pencil drawing approach you tended to use with autocad. (even now has fully rendered walls with bricks of the right scale... which it never had before without lots of effort)
I have yet to to use V9 in anger, as they say, so maybe some of the problems I am having with the program will be sorted, but the prevous users in this office were not using archicad as it was intended, but using it in the same way as autocad, creating plans with the wall window functions and then creating sections using lines and the same for elevations, on the flat, when you do that archicad seems a terrible program, which it isn't.
With finding a job, I can say it has never affected me whatever system I have used, and I started with Sonarta, then Gable, then Autocad, then Powercadd, (worst progam I have ever used !!!) then vectorworks, back to autocad and now into archicad... I think it is a question of attitude of both you the job searcher, and also the potential employer, always showing willing to learn, and if the system they have is not as good as archicad, then you simply convert them or as mentioned find another job.
At the end of the day, here in Scotland, you are not judged on your cad abilities, but your building technical/design skills first, if you don't have those, it doesn't really matter how good you are on any computer system unless they are only looking for drawing fodder.
One thing archicad users should remember is not to become blinkered, and forget the rest of the world is also moving forward, always good to know what the competition is like, and then you can always advise Graphicsoft of things they can do to keep archicad ahead of the game.
Lighting90 wrote:
At the end of the day, here in Scotland, you are not judged on your cad abilities, but your building technical/design skills first
There is a big difference between architecture quality and project quality.
Archicad and other BIM software allows you to make really good projects.
You get every (almost) technical document automatically, which means a LOT of less errors.
This is not to say that your architecture becomes great.
I like to see myself as an responsible architect, so documenting a project as good as it is possible is really what I consider 90% of my job description. If, after this is guaranteed, I can make some nice architecture, so be it. But my first responsibility is to the paying client, who demands an error free project.
Lighting90 wrote:
One thing archicad users should remember is not to become blinkered, and forget the rest of the world is also moving forward, always good to know what the competition is like, and then you can always advise Graphicsoft of things they can do to keep archicad ahead of the game.
That is one of the reasons I spend so much time here in the forum
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