Will ArchiCAD have a future?

[Anonymous]

the topic is a partly answer to Mac Pro or Vista for AC and driven by a pain i feel for years and yes, the topic is discussed over and over in this forum.

i don't understand what's the buzz here: "which from the top workstations would be better?"

NONE

i'm not with archicad from the very beginning, it think it was 6 or 6.5.
sure, every next version up to that point has been an improvement. like 7 to 8.1 or 8.1 to 10. anyway- every version was developed in name of TOOLS we use in managing the project- and here we see a small change in actual way how the architects think and create architecture (except for using software for creatting bubble-architecture, and even here the solution within ac is external- maxonform:). things have become better, but..
but i just don't see (am i blind?) that the ac has been developed in the means of hardware specs, thus giving room for these software tools to work smoothly and delivering top experience. macs & pcs has grown, emmm... SIGNIFICANTLY over last 8 years.
the marginal upgrade in tools isn't reflected in upgrade how ac works with your hardware. archaic code.
i just can't stand the attitude from GS here. i mean the lines "we have to revrite code. it's huge task". no doubt it is.
archicadwiki techsupport

• no multithreading
ok, they say it's "partly". why?

(..) ArchiCAD will not be a fully multi-threaded application at any time soon. This is partly because re-writing the ArchiCAD code to support multi-threading is a huge task, and there are areas where it would not cause a dramatic performance increase. Graphisoft will focus on the areas where multi-threading brings the most benefit.

thus you don't need octocore (or even quadro) mac pro "at any time soon", because it's a big job for them. (if i think that ac on 8 cores would use 1/8 of the resources available- ).
• max 4bg ram
well, and if more is in your system, it craches. you have to use the terminal to switch off the "unneeded" ram. ^£%^$£%$
• 32 bit
nuts

Transferring a 32-bit application to 64-bit requires reprogramming even the most basic functions in the software, therefore the change to 64-bit in business softwares will happen at a much slower pace than the rapid change from 32-bit processors to 64-bit processors in the Personal Computer (PC) industry.

so mainly they are basing the answer once again on excuse, that it requres recoding ac + on a bad market practise "aww, the other business software developers are also slow on this". sorry, but that doesn't apply to other apps i use, ie, c4d, maxwell. yes, they are a different profile, but- whatever harware resources i give them- it's been effectivelly used. and that's the reason they REALLY are top software solutions. and the argument that archicad has 100x more lines of code can't be an argument.

and with the upcoming ac11... they've spent another year on writing code which sooner or later must been rewritten. with the intoduction of windoze vista more and more consumers will upgrade to 64bit systems. mac users are there already (+leopard will also be a push to abandon old g4 boxes (multicore g5 pros are still more than great)).
graphisofts advertising and managment has been pretty good, but they now have to consider answers to "i got top vista pc/i got the new mac pro octocore, but my ac isn't getting faster".
they can choose to lie about ac beeing top level software.
they can choose to get more unsatisfied customers by telling true "yes, we have worked only on tools, forgetting about cpus, bits and rams".
they can choose to sit down and rewrite ac12 as multithreaded, 64 bit application, which would give them further enormous room for implementing top cpu&ram intensive tools. those who would still use 32bit computers will have their maximum ac11 version. if he GS says "we don't have that much programmers", then it's simple as it gets- AC DOESN'T HAVE FUTURE. it's a fact. like the latvian saying "ko nevar celt, to nevar nest"- you can't carry what you can't lift.

i hope someday new ac version wouldn't be a hotfix for the previous one.

i'm sorry if i touched some of GS staff personally. i understand that you work hard, but, in my opinion, only such critism would maybe produce not only thoughts about brighter future for all of us, but you will finaly sit down, say "ok, this is the point we stop. and open new page for starting to code the real future AC version. yes, we trash the 20 year old and so beloved code, but that's the only way we can do it". ACT, please, ACT NOW! and take your time, i can live with 32bit AC11 if you state that there will be ac12 after 1.5years costing more, because you had to pay more programmers. i will buy it and bring flowers.

[Anonymous]

Here in Chicago, a number of my students have found the time-saving aspect of BIM to be very seductive and use it in their work. Guess which program they use?

They have never heard of Archicad. Thus when I read this

"The major impediment in 2008 is not software awareness but lack of aptitude in mature users - ie: decision makers. "

I think that we (and Graphisoft management) don't realize how important it is to break the Autodesk monopoly that exists in schools here in the USA. Otherwise, Archicad will find themselves even more marginalized then they are today. Think about it. You can find a lot of building parts in Revit now. I want to use off the shelf parts for my BIM program. The 3-d aspect of Archicad is still very cumbersome and Revit is showing the way with new capabilities in that area. Nemetschek will find it increasingly difficult to support 3 different CAD packages that share little in terms of interoperability other than dxf and dwg support.

A free Archicad for students is a step in the right direction but the importance of the network effect should be recognized. Training today happens in school and in the evening at community colleges. Employers do not have time to train people in CAD. What do they use in college? It's Autocad all over again here in Chicago with the move to BIM.

[Dennis Lee]

I think a possible way to get students into AC would be to have a competition "Model your architecture department building in AC (w/ floor plans, section perspectives, renderings, etc)", have a gallery in the GS webpage, and award some money to the winning students - maybe one winning school per state or something like that...

[Dennis Lee]

I guess they have something similar going on at Architectsjury. I don't believe it's widely known in the US schools though.

BTW, how was this done in AC??? If this was done in AC, then I'd like to know how!

http://www.architectsjury.com/Members/ULa/kartinka-malenkaya.jpg/image_view_fullscreen

[Dwight]

From the lousy mesh work i would suspect it to be Archicad and SEO sculpting.

[TomWaltz]

MaxonForm maybe? 😉

[__archiben]

Dennis wrote:
I think a possible way to get students into AC would be to have a competition "Model your architecture department building in AC (w/ floor plans, section perspectives, renderings, etc)", have a gallery in the GS webpage, and award some money to the winning students - maybe one winning school per state or something like that...

there used to be 'the graphisoft prize' a competition in visualising conceptual spaces. things like the 'Church of Reason', 'Hotel California', 'The Ministry of Truth', etc.. basically they gave a short list of 'places' from contemporary cultural references and you could choose which one to develop. anyone could enter - individuals, teams, students, whatever.. it was excellent and such a shame they stopped it . . .

(actually - there are still a couple of webpages up about it: here and here. )

of course - if the competitions are marketed as well as the software no one would hear about them either

cheers
~/archiben

[Da3dalus]

Dennis,

Regarding the architects jury web entry, I imagine they used custom profile walls that curve at the top, and then some plug-ins for some of the composite slopes, maybe even booleans. But I have to ask... where are the plumbing vents and for that matter, the roof (membrane, flashing, drains, etc)? Where are the HVAC units or physical plant (I assume it's cold with all that white stuff)? What is the entire right side that has no windows? Where is the human scale? How can you be impressed by this fantasy steel turd?!

The real issue: I think ArchiCAD users need to just stand up and say, "We don't build buildings like this. Good luck to those who do!" That applies to 97% of us. The rest of you need to get really inventive, because the mass-market BIM software isn't written for you. The Cinema 4D or CATIA stuff is neat, but a whole different ball game that doesn't help most of us in the least. If ArchiCAD doesn't focus on the rest of us, running businesses and trying to produce successful projects out of reasonable resources, they will lose us.

[Anonymous]

Funny how the croc dude's rantings from 2007 (the thread starter) now have become old news. ArchiCad is now 64 bit and the multi threading has been severely worked over. Things really do change with time.

[Anonymous]

william235711 wrote:
I think that the we don't realize how important it is to break the Autodesk monopoly that exists in schools here in the USA. Otherwise, Archicad will find themselves even more marginalized then they are today.

Up here in Canada, Mac started in 1992 by giving our faculty of architecture all the hardware we needed to run MiniCAD (now Vectorworks). I can't say how many other schools they offered their hardware too, but I can honestly say, a few firms back then started and stayed with Vectorworks throughout the years.