Unreal 2 plug-in and/or exporter for ArchiCAD

Paul King · ‎2005-04-21

Can we please harness the amazing live walkthrough performance now possible for high polygon models using current game engines

For example see: http://media.pc.gamespy.com/media/670/670283/img_2723612.html

Nobody can tell me that this would be too demanding a thing for ArchiCAD to attempt on current generation computers - I can happily run ArchiCAD while playing such games, with both windows active at the same time.

The current OpenGL feature set implemented has been a pretty sad and archaic subset of what is "normal" in other apps, and it is about time we took advantage of hardware lighting & texture effects etc available on even the cheapest current graphic cards.

Also allow other API's than OpenGL - Direct X is currently much better able to harness current hardware features, and it is now the most common denominator for games & apps - and of course largely eliminates the need for Graphisoft to worry about compatibility issues with different card types

Other enhancements to support the live walk through experience would include the option to prerender a scene & "bake on" textures & shadows over the underlying standard textures.

This would be another feature worth paying extra for either as a plug-in or as an export module, and would absolutetly wow new customers and nail the competition!

Also this could open up whole new markets for Graphisoft - imagine leveraging the ease of use and parametric library parts/data structures of ArchiCAD and suddenly establishing a viable map editing option for the VAST gaming industry - who spend billions creating virtual buildings and environments every year, and think how that lucrative customer base could accelerate development for the rest of us!

Anonymous · ‎2005-04-21

I must agree with Paul. The quality of the current OpenGL is awful. It should have at least hardware shadows as seen in Zermatt plugin.

We desire a better visualization of our models!

Greg Kmethy · ‎2005-04-22

Paul,

Have you tried Zermatt?
http://www.zermatt.se

Gergely Kmethy
VP, Customer Success, Graphisoft

Paul King · ‎2005-04-22

Looks like a step in the right direction! Sadly, the software tells me my machine is incapable of rendering shadows - rather surprising as my PC easily meets the stated graphics hardware requirements (Athlon 64 3400, 1 gig ram, Gforce 6600GT card)

Also I note the collision detection it seems to promise doesn't work (but still navigation has some other good game-like features)

While this is indeed a step up (I like the hidden line mode), there is still a very long way to go before we use the capabilities available even on current cards - hardware lighting, mip mapping , animated textures , burned on textures etc etc

Thanks for the link though - I will have fun playing with this!

EDIT: - got it working, and it is not bad for outside environments. Nice default sky & very fast & good collision detection!

Nearly useless for walkthroughs though, as no internal lighting.
Also enormously expensive for the small amount of added functionality given this limitation.

ArchiCAD really should at least handle all open GL waltkthroughs without need of plug-ins, so that walkthroughs can be genuinely interactive, with user editing objects on the fly while client is watching. - we just need the rest of the Open GL and/or DirectX feature set enabled!

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Unreal 2 plug-in and/or exporter for ArchiCAD

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