plotmaker inside AC or separated

[Anonymous]

I know it is an old debate but searching for "Plotmaker inside Archicad" or plotmaker standalone" I found nothing in the wish subject.
I just went to a Re*it demonstration (another debate, but how fast it is to publish inside Re*it)
I think the answer is: both.
Inside AC for 99% of the projects and standalone for special cases.
I am convinced Plotmaker should work inside AC especially since we have the navigator. Most of the things have to be settled inside the view editor and most of our prints come from a single AC file (plans, sections, elevations, details, what else in most of our work?).
This way, I expect the prints to be refreshed with the editor redefine button and generally speaking to cut the incredible slowness of Plotmaker update.
And for special case with layout of mixed files, why not a standalone PM?

[Anonymous]

stefan wrote:
As a long time supporter of a seperate PlotMaker, there is one main reason I don't like it: .

The veterans seem resigned.
As they are not generally very far from beta test, I bet that the game is over, PM will be integrated.

[Anonymous]

It’s all about money, and GS is short of it, a small company unable to keep up with the market reality. The entire development sequence was a long stream of patches, nothing radical, the whole missing a logic path. Al this when they had the market wide open, only for themselves for a decade or more. Please do not worry about PM the issue is much deeper. I am content.

[Anonymous]

The only reason i would like PM as a seperate application is because i can insert in a layout plans from different plns.
If this would be true in the AC integrated PM then i prefer the integrated.

I "hate" it when i have to draw a line and i dont have the AC constrains.
I really like the drawing environment of AC so i guess PM would benifit from beeing integrated.

But the question is.
Will i be able to import plans from other plns?

why? i usually keep HVAC and Civil engineering plans in a seperate pln cause they are usually imports from dwg which are then slightly modified in archicad.

[Anonymous]

#1 drawback is the missing PDF import

[Petros Ioannou]

Browsing through US GS support that Tom Waltz pointed in his thread

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=9140&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

My eye was caught by the "NON AC USER - Needs to view/print pln files"

GS tech support's reply was:

"Since PlotMaker has no protection, you can use the full functionality (except features where BGArchiCAD is necessary) of it without having a dongle.
Until there will be a pln viewer you must use either Reviewer, IFC or DWG/DXF for file exchange (these formats all have free viewer utilities.)"

So what happens if PM is included in AC?

Petros

[Anonymous]

Petros wrote:
Browsing through US GS support that Tom Waltz pointed in his thread

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=9140&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

My eye was caught by the "NON AC USER - Needs to view/print pln files"

GS tech support's reply was:

"Since PlotMaker has no protection, you can use the full functionality (except features where BGArchiCAD is necessary) of it without having a dongle.
Until there will be a pln viewer you must use either Reviewer, IFC or DWG/DXF for file exchange (these formats all have free viewer utilities.)"

So what happens if PM is included in AC?

Petros

Perhaps GS could allow the demo mode to view and print and just have save functions disabled (but I wouldn't count on it). A separate viewer that can only view and print (but not edit) would be possible, but it is then one more thing to develop and maintain.

[Anonymous]

I totally agree that Plotmaker could benefit greatly from having the tools work the same way as they do in ArchiCAD and for the update process to occur faster but to me there are some huge advantages of having Plotmaker in a separate file and application.

1. I often put images in the layout book and it is nice to not have these items bogging down the pln's file size.

2. Plotmaker opens faster.

3. Plotmaker offers security by not being keyed. It you ever lose or misplace, or damage your key your aren't totally crippled from printing and viewing sets while waiting for a replacement.

4. You can use them both at the same time. For example, you can still use Plotmaker to layout sheets, while waiting for a ArchiCAD to finish a rendering in the background. I do this all the time. Also, I often having ArchiCAD open while Plotmaker is open to another project for reference or printing.

5. I find the fact that Layout Book is separate from the ArchiCAD file has several advantages especially on large projects and when using teamwork.

A. The fact that Drawing in the Layout book are linked but are not viewports (like AutoCAD) or auto-updating as some people suggest is a good thing. It allows you to freely work on the pln without worrying that incomplete or inprogress work will automatically pop into the Layout Book (this is a big problem when working in AutoCAD's MS and PS). This also very helpful when managing delta revisions to an issued set.

B. You can have different Layout Books for different project phases. I often use one layout book for Schematic Design, a separate one for Design Development Drawings, and one for Construction Documents.

C. You can use different layout books for different schemes of the same project.

D. Makes saving CAD level records of your progress sets a piece of cake. Every time I officially issue a set of drawings, I save the Layout Book file with the issue date or delta number. Plotmaker works wells as a viewer when somebody calls and needs to discuss the set. Much faster and easier to navigate than using a PDF and a little better print quality to.

E. You can link to any PLN file without merging it into the PLN as you would if it was one program. This saves lots of disk space.

F. ArchiCAD is an extremely powerful and complex program. I think having two separate apps makes it easier to teach, learn, & use. Unless it is designed really really really well I can see having an integrated application causing lots of confusion. How would it look? How would the pallets and menus be displayed / differentiated? How would teamwork work with integrated Plotmaker? I think it is intuitive to separate the process of drafting/modeling from document layout. It is nice to be able to hide ArchiCAD when working in Plotmaker.

6. Plotmaker is a lot better than it use to be. I mean a LOT better. I see no reason why more progress won't be made in up coming versions.

Sidenote - From the beta testers of ArchiCAD 10 it seems that having Plotmaker and ArchiCAD integrated is all but a done deal. I am just crossing my fingers that I don't loose all of the items mentioned above. Most importantly there needs to be a way to override auto update of drawings to sheets.

[Anonymous]

I think PlotMaker must be integrated in AC. Remember several versions ago when StairMaker was a separate application? Is it more convenient now? It's the same issue here. Because IT IS more convenient.

Other benefits:

You have just one file.
Where is no switching between two applications, no matter how fast you do it.
ALL commands from them Edit Menu from Ac will be there and will work! Does anyone really feel good with the crippled drawing tools of PM? They drive me back to v4.55!
Djordie said: Not like PaperSpace. Why? ParerSpace is easier to use in most cases. It is there, at hand, in the next tab. You don't have to wait for it to update!
And finally - I hate rewriting shortcuts and adjusting options twice!

[Anonymous]

What ever happens, I'm sure archicad will be as fantastic as per usuall...

Just as long as I still have three Archicad's open at the same time as per usual... and two plotmakers.... or five archicads two being used as plotmakers vice versa.

Dale
(ex-autocad believer)

[Aussie John]

if it means updates are quicker and the CAD plan have live numbering of details then I dont care if it is integrated or not. Bloating the overall file size is a worry but then integration may make it better.