TW2

[Steve Jepson]

Tell me about TW2.

How is it different than logging into a server with a program like Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro or similar?

[Erika Epstein]

Steve wrote:
Will Snow Leopard make it possible for you to use TW2 on the MAC ?

You can run TW2 (AC13) on leopard and snow leopard but only on mactels. NO PPC macs.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Erika wrote:

Stuart wrote:
How much of a performance hit does the server machine take?

None at all. Both Karl and I just have it on our desktops. No separate servers.

Qualification: Erika and I are solo practitioners ... and tested together at times (so two of us on one of our servers). For your 2 to 3 person office, Stuart, there should not be a problem unless your MacTel machines feel underpowered for AC in the first place.

With my 8 core and 10 GB MacPro, I imagine I could work and host at least a dozen or more users without feeling any impact. I have not seen any tests for team size, but Graphisoft recommends a dedicated machine for very large teams, just because the network and disk I/O on that machine will start to make it unreasonable to try to do real work on it at the same time.

Cheers,
karl

[Anonymous]

Karl wrote:
I have not seen any tests for team size, but Graphisoft recommends a dedicated machine for very large teams, just because the network and disk I/O on that machine will start to make it unreasonable to try to do real work on it at the same time.

Cheers,
karl

When the hourly salary of the team approaches the cost of the machine I would say it's time for a dedicated server.

[Stuart Smith]

Thanks Karl and Erika, sounds like we should be fine.

One more question:

We like to study lots of options throughout the design process. One way we do this in AC12 is to save Teamwork draft files for each of the options, and then send changes back to the .plp when a direction is chosen.

Does TW2 allow this, or something similar?

[Steve Jepson]

I think this technology will change more that just how we collaborate.

How long before GS sets up a subscription service that includes accesss a super server? Sort of like how a render farm works.

For those of you familiar with how Maxwell connects to render farms, can you imagine working on a Rendering or Animation with this sort of Delta Server and a team of 20 or so working on different aspects, all able to see the live project evolve?

The implications for this technology on a building are mind blowing.

You have seen buildings constructed in one day. Now you will see Virtual Buildings constructed in one day using 100 or even 1000 modelers.

CAD modeling will specilize into sub trades just like constructing the building is done now.

You can hire a team to long in and model the framing, the drywall, the lighting, tile, cabinets, flooring, land scape, sprinklers, what ever...


Can you imagine what Vico's Constructor could do with TW2?

It is only a matter of time before companies that create Virtual Building models will be putting together huge teams of 1000 or more (all ArchiCAD users I hope) to work on a single project.

[Steve Jepson]

Steve wrote:
I think this technology will change more that just how we collaborate.

How long before GS sets up a subscription service that includes accesss a super server? Sort of like how a render farm works.

Sooner than I thought.

What is Archigate ?

[Anonymous]

It looks like a FTP-esque secure file sharing application for ArchiCAD.

http://www.archigate.net

I would guess that TW2.0 in AC13 would make this fairly defunct if you only dealt with internal ArchiCAD layouts to organise your documentation. I expect Archigate would would still be useful to share other project documents like Word files, pdfs and dwgs etc which TW2.0 doesn't help you with (as far as I can tell).

[Steve Jepson]

there is so much new technology and software I can't keep up.

5-D BIM Hard Dollar
Solibri
Snow Leopard
i7's

I miss the days when staying productive meant keeping your pencil sharp.

[Richard Morrison]

Peter wrote:
It looks like a FTP-esque secure file sharing application for ArchiCAD.

http://www.archigate.net

I would guess that TW2.0 in AC13 would make this fairly defunct if you only dealt with internal ArchiCAD layouts to organise your documentation. I expect Archigate would would still be useful to share other project documents like Word files, pdfs and dwgs etc which TW2.0 doesn't help you with (as far as I can tell).

Dropbox does almost all of this, and it's FREE for the 2 GB version. www.getdropbox.com, or if you use https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTE1OTgxMDE5 we each get a little more storage space. It's a slick little program that is cross-platform. I've been using it with a number of clients now, and very happy with it.

[Steve Jepson]

ACROBAT.COM vs Archigate???