Wishes
Post your wishes about Graphisoft products: Archicad, BIMx, BIMcloud, and DDScad.

Feature creep

jdrulon
Participant

I have been an Archicad user since the early 1990's and been a bit of a Johnny Appleseed taking Archicad to firms and in some cases being able to convince them to with over to Archicad from AutoCad (before Revit came on the scene). I now use AC25 but am concerned that it has become more and more difficult to use due to new features and new ways the tools are used. I get very tired trying to figure out why a tool now longer works they way I was used to having it work. I am concerned that it is becoming as hard to use as Revit. I hope Graphisoft is not adding features just to be more like Revit instead of being very intuitive in how it is used.. 

11 REPLIES 11

Hi @jdrulon , you are right, I think that’s because the lack of updated training materials for the new features added and for modifications happened to the old tools and strategy behind these enhancements and sure these materials ( videos or books ) should be prepared by resellers and the company representatives themselves not the company to keep the current client updated and to attract new clients by understanding the product progress rather than talk about new features only and let the mysterious parts of the software for the clients to solve or not solving till the next release then the cycle restarts.

AC 27 INT 5003 - AC 26 INT 6019 ( For MEP Purposes )
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with Radeon Graphics 3.20 GHz 16.0 GB
ArchiMind
Advocate

Hello,

I must say that phrasing "I hope Graphisoft is not adding features just to be more like Revit" is kinda foolish to due respect. New tools are needed or else the product becomes obsolete, but I do agree that when introducing a new tool, or revamping it, there should be some kind of tutorial provided from Graphisoft. There should be a fine balance.

Cheers.
Stefan

Versions 13 to 25
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core
RAM:32GB
GPU: RTX 2080Ti
Windows 11

Hi @ArchiMind I agree with you about tutorials but should be provided from vendors and resellers not Graphisoft itself and I think Graphisoft is doing its best to deliver the new features and inform us with new updates regularly.

AC 27 INT 5003 - AC 26 INT 6019 ( For MEP Purposes )
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with Radeon Graphics 3.20 GHz 16.0 GB

Hello @Mahmoud Qenawi ,

 

I believe that first should be Graphisoft itself, being that they developed something, afterward can be resellers and vendors. For example, the new survey point is an excellent tool but wasn't really explained how it works for collaboration with AutoCAD or other BIM software, just recently I saw a partially informative video from Graphisoft Danmark, for that tool.

 

Chers,

Stefan

Versions 13 to 25
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core
RAM:32GB
GPU: RTX 2080Ti
Windows 11

Hello @ArchiMind , yeah some Graphisoft branches are so active like Denmark, US, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, HK and SG but others do only their job, I feel this community is a perfect tool for gathering different views and solving many challenges, they are moving into unifying the concept behind Archicad and working together on the product roadmap.

AC 27 INT 5003 - AC 26 INT 6019 ( For MEP Purposes )
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with Radeon Graphics 3.20 GHz 16.0 GB
jdrulon
Participant

I do not have a problem with new features being added. My issue is that the new features are not as intuitive to use and the ones that were intuitive have been changed and made less intuitive. I do not know how the changes are decided but I hope they are tested with long time users to see if the new features may be confusing and less intuitive. I have always liked that I could almost always figure out how to use a tool without have to watch a training video. My first experience with AutoCad was back in in the early 1990's when I had to take  one hundred hour course in AutoCad because the client (state of CA) wanted us to put the drawings on the computer on CAD. I found AutoCad both unintuitive and needlessly difficult. Some guy came in and showed me Archicad and I was able to do things without any training at all. I have been a fan of Archicad since then but am getting more and more overwhelmed with more and more features that complicate ways to do things without being simple and intuitive. Please try to always make things smart, simple and intuitive.

ryejuan
Advisor

adding new features is great but they also need to look into previous version issues and bugs. 😆

In the end what is your Objective?
ArchiCAD 9 onwards

@jdrulon , @ryejuan , yeah i agree with you and sure Graphisoft is taking steps to getting their users onboard.

AC 27 INT 5003 - AC 26 INT 6019 ( For MEP Purposes )
AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with Radeon Graphics 3.20 GHz 16.0 GB

Hello @jdrulon ,

What does it mean to be intuitive? Maybe some tool logic that is intuitive for you, is for some users very intuitive. I am not saying that there isn't a place for improvement. But it would suit your case more if you could be more specific in that regard. 🙂

 

Cheers,

Stefan

Versions 13 to 25
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 12-Core
RAM:32GB
GPU: RTX 2080Ti
Windows 11