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

Archicad Future, 27 Poll

bouhmidage
Advisor

Archicad 26 was released yesterday, personnally i'm disappointed of how Archicad is slowly developped in the last 4 years, the pandemic has it' effects on business for sure, but we expected more since earlier versions used to bring nice and cool features, 

 

I created this tread for users who have ideas, suggestions, propositions for the next release, we may express our thoughts, and give guidelines for development team, Graphisoft is listening, i'm sure, 

 

For me, the most important thing to in an urgent way is to stop this multilingual installers strategy, 

Archicad 26 is released, all the world can download it with a multilangual installer,  : 

1 - download and install in a preferred langue, 

2 - open Archicad using your template, or download a template from the website, almost of us migrate tempaltes from older versions, resellers template  are useful for new users, 

3 - libraries also can be dowloaded from website, this will help in 2 things : lignter installers, and libraries are accessible for everyone especially when user works for foreign companies, .

 

this way, development and bug fixes will be focused on 1 installer, not 10, 

 

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Archicad strategy is to implement several disciplines, let's admit this, 

For users , Architects, engeneers, drafters, commands and disciplines should be seperated and organized in different way, so we don't feel abused with unecessary command, 

yes Archicad offer possibility to organise commands in the work environnment, but the saved commands layout will be a mess when upgrading to newt version wich contain new commands, 

why not,  from a buttons menu you can activate ad desactivate disciplines commands.

 

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You said in the webinar, Focus on design, Archicad tools are really good and that's why we stick to Archicad , BUT aren't fully baked, workarounds and illogic solutions are always there to disturb the workflow, think about new users, workarounds make them feel uncomftable, saying, " this simple situation needs a workaround, whatabout complex ones ?? " 

 

each tool have major / minor things to update, tweak , to get a good design toolbox for daily work, 

to attract users, Archicad should easily be able to help designing a residentiel or midscale projects without workarounds, this kind of project is where users start exploring the software, if it fails, users will start searching around for alternatives, 

make the product a complete solution for architects, 

 

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i think , Archicad 27 should be the " NO workarounds version "   ,make architects life easier, to focus on design , then you can go ahead for structural and MEP workflows, 

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM, RTX 3080 10 GB
Archicad 25
Windows 10 professional
https://www.behance.net/Nuance-Architects
227 REPLIES 227

Well, given that Huw came from Bentley, and they diversified into different markets and as a consequence are slowly going down the pan; and have terrible customer support, I didn't think he was the right man for Graphisoft - but what do I know?

As the Chinese proverb says - a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.  Or something like that 😀

Archicad 27 UKI | OS X 12.7.1 Monterey
Jim Allen
Expert

One thing I used to do regularly, was vote for Graphisoft products in things like the Construction Computing Awards.

Not this year after the AC26 $hit show, and the Road Map, which was miraculously - even worse...

These things do matter to Graphisoft because they help marketing, and they have been winning for several years in a row. If they release a crap update and don't win - that will focus their attention.

It won't change anything, but it will make them think.

Archicad 27 UKI | OS X 12.7.1 Monterey

As I have tried doing something & achieved almost nothing then my motivation is compromised, ever heard the phrase "Like flogging a dead horse"?. Feel free to go through my 2000+ posts for some more ideas. Here are a few easy ones for you, and I am surprised you missed the first one... 

 

1. Instancing with internal editing. Yes that is nearly 20 years old.

2. Development of Styles that are applied to Views and other aspects e.g. text, rather than this stupid "hunt the setting" game we play trying to find why one view looks different to another.

3. Simplification of workflows. We have scattered dialogs with no logical cross linking e.g. in attributes try editing the surface settings associated with a Building Material.

4. Consistency in the user interface. Why are Story appearance settings different between tools?

5. Improve readability of the user interface rather than the grey mush we have now. We used to have coloured icons, except someone decided to be trendy.

6. External Attribute Library for consistency between projects & hotlinks. This should work like the object library.

Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)

Lots of interesting stuff here, while some are great (instancing is the biggie, and one I neglected to include on my list) others are simply nice-to-haves, and are based on your particular opinion though arent they?

I like the clarity of the new monochrome icons!

 

I have created a Google Sheet with the list. I would suggest that everyone debates what should be included, and that no-one makes sweeping changes.

I'll restrict access for editing for now, and see how it goes.

Archicad 27 UKI | OS X 12.7.1 Monterey

I've created a Google Sheet here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1doTzgjqEsRr50sxszCNXrTLC17SvaemHxo_zfCFR6GE/edit?usp=sharing

 

We can discuss what ought to go on it, what perhaps shouldn't, and maybe can vote on usefulness and importance of all items proposed.

 

I want it to be a general list intended for as broad an audience as possible. We all have individual views on certain things - like interface choices for example, but I would rather keep this for fixing problems and improving productivity and usability.

Archicad 27 UKI | OS X 12.7.1 Monterey

@Jim Allen wrote:

Lots of interesting stuff here, while some are great (instancing is the biggie, and one I neglected to include on my list) others are simply nice-to-haves, and are based on your particular opinion though arent they?

And there in lies the conundrum, differentiating those wishes that are globally and practically beneficial e.g. reducing clicks for the same result or just making things easier to navigate, whilst isolating those wishes which in your opinion would help but actually complicate workflows for the majority and only help a minority. The whole Structural Analysis imposition and even Param-O are sound examples of the latter. 

Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)

Jim, I've looked at your list and think the format could be expanded

I also didn't understand some of your wishes. 

I've created a basic spreadsheet to illustrate a format which has ended as a screenshot for the moment (almost readable )

Let me know what you think pls

Wishes.jpg

Archicad 4.1 to 27 Apple Silicon
you can't build a line
Mac Studio
iPad Pro
iPhone

Hi David, I like this, happy to implement it. I like the ability to quantify features and derive priority in terms of popularity, but I also like your visual format.

 

I've explained the reasoning behind some of the items below.

 

Param-O

This is a feature which is often divisive. Lots of people just don't use or understand it. For many I think this might be a mistake in the sense that it's a lot easier to use than they think, and once they see that, they may well start using it.

I came from SketchUp's Dynamic Components, and I built a lot of these, so Param-O was a natural progression. 

I've built well over a dozen objects with it, but it's limited by input options. If you can't configure a list of fixed input options, there are certain things you just can't build. I would be happy to share everything I have built on BIMComponents, and have them ulocked for editing.

 

I note that you have added some comments in your spreadsheet.

 

I'm all up for debate about all those things, but some I think you are just wrong about 😉

 

Object Library items

A Server cabinet is not 'just a cupboard'.  First of all there is a minimum size, and they require access at the back and front. If you can remember a server cabinet size, you're a better man than me!

 

Some of the items on my list (fbx export, increased precision) I have added based on requests I've seen posted here. I don't want this to be my list of personal requests, but a general one that represents a consensus view. It's a starting point.

 

There are no heat pumps or condenser units in my MEP library. That's why I built one and there is no roller shutter door in the the UK library. I also built battery storage units. A roller shutter door is not at all the same as a high speed roller door or a sectional overhead door. You can configure a window with an external shading device which works in a similar way, but the device can only be on the outside face, which is different. It's a basic object and not complicated, and considering some of the useful stuff we do have - it ought to be there.

 

There are very, very few wall accessories available. What about external cladding for example?  If you have vertical timber cladding, it's sometimes a lot better to model it. What about internal timber wall linings, and modular cladding? What about wall tiles? What about more roof cladding finishes? The reason these aren't used often is because there arent many options available. There's a very cool wall accessory by Heimo Mooslechner shown in Youtube, which is the kind of functionality that would be fantastic. He makes some cool stuff, I would love it to be more widely-available and translated into English!

I'm sure lots of other people have useful suggestions for these.

I think Graphisoft ought to have a dedicated team for the object library. If they have one already I think it needs to be bigger and more responsive to community feedback.

 

Rotate 90 - this is simple and until you have used it, you can't imagine how useful and quick it is. Not everyone uses the info box all the time, and it's definitely a lot slower than a keystroke assignment. I think that in programming terms it ought to be really easy.

 

Core Features

The multiply command is not at all the same as a parametric array. Arraying stuff is easy, but what's much easier and quicker, particularly in the design stage, is to be able to have a parametric array of things that you can easily modify with a few clicks. Say I'm experimenting with furniture layouts, if I can parametrically adjust spacing between desks, it's far quicker than measuring the gap, selecting all the duplicates, erasing them and then multiplying them again. I might want to try maybe 3 slight variations. Messing around with the measure, select, delete, multiply workflow is glacial and crude by comparison. Suppose I want to create a joist or rafter layout. A parametric array is so much quicker, and has the added advantage of being able to manipulate the objects as a 'group'.

 

If you don't do terrain modelling particularly on sites which have very irregular topography, you won't understand the points relating to meshes. Existing sites have retaining walls. You shouldn't need to mess around using the wall tool to create your existing terrain mesh. The whole inability to have 2 points on a mesh with the same XY coordinates but a different Z one is just primitive.

When you have a terrain map generated by survey software, your points are prioritised and connected by type. This means that with a random grid of points, if some are tagged as roads or manhole covers or kerb lines, they will be connected and triangulated more accurately. The xyz format is completely dumb. It uses a basic triangulation algorithm (I'm guessing a Delaunay one) and creates meshes which can be completely inaccurate and useless. 

Importing TINs from other software formats as meshes is so much better. Except this can't happen because of the limitation in terms of vertical faces.

Right now if anyone wants to use a terrain model, and on sites with complex/irregular topography, they have to use a 2d Survey and build one with contour lines. Dear God this is slow! I don't do domestic work, only commercial work and seldom on flat sites. My 2d surveys have contours made with polylines that have several hundred nodes. That's unusable for creating terrains, and there is no polyline optimisation tool. This means for all my large sites, I have to manually trace all the contours to build terrain maps. It often takes days, and it could take minutes. 

This isn't something that's unique to me, it's a fundamental feature that many people need when working with irregular terrain.

 

You missed the point about instanced elements. This is potentially a game-changer in terms of productivity. 

 

Bad textures out of the box (many of the AR25 ones are just bad) are just archaic. I've got my own library which is a lot, lot better. It means that you don't need to render to create much more realistic drawings. If you use an external renderer and your basic textures are excellent, you don't need to mess around replacing them. Again it's a lot faster. A lot of Archicad's better textures are procedural ones created for C4D. If you want to use a better high end render engine you have to retexture everything. With really good 2D textures, you shouldn't need to do as much of this. Rendering now is much more mainstream than it was, and the assumption that only visualisers do this is just wrong. There is no justification for bad surface textures in Archicad any more. GS have apparently improved them in AR26 so this item may be unnecessary - but I haven't bothered installing it because I don't think it's worth the effort. In an office with multiple users, you pretty much all have to upgrade at the same time to avoid complication.

And then there is the issue of updating the template(s)...

 

 

Archicad 27 UKI | OS X 12.7.1 Monterey

 "On the other hand it frustrates me knowing that it will ultimately be for nought"

I do understand this sentiment, and the notion of a nebie coming along and wanting to try to do the same thing that seems to have been fruitless in the past probably seems tedious with a sense of deja-vu!

However, by the same token one could also interpret it as "it failed for me so it will fail for you too". 

That doesn't at all mean that your previous efforts weren't good enough or that I'm dismissing them.

Clearly we have to do things differently, which is what I'm trying.

Archicad 27 UKI | OS X 12.7.1 Monterey

I don't disagree with your point about Param-O - completely.

If people want to create components for commercial libraries there are 4 basic options:

1. Convert/import the geometry from another modeller so we get overly-complex, dumb, multiple versions of the same object but with minor variations. These are not parametric, and it's what BimObject do. If you want a tap with a higher polygon count than the rest of your entire model, BimObject is the place...

2. Use GDL, which is what very few people do, and when they do, they lock the code so it can't be modified - or translated

3. Model the objects in Archicad, so it's like number 1 but without the mangled geometry.

4. Use Param-O

 

It's by far the quickest and easiest option potentially, and would open up a whole new avenue for content creators for Archicad. 

I don't think that's a trivial issue for users.

 

Archicad 27 UKI | OS X 12.7.1 Monterey