Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

Archicad 14 New Features

Dennis Lee
Booster
See what's on youtube!

http://www.youtube.com/user/Archicad#g/c/5C1926DD91A70C7B

Personally, not much in it for me at all!
ArchiCAD 25 & 24 USA
Windows 10 x64
Since ArchiCAD 9
310 REPLIES 310
Krippahl wrote:
owen wrote:
AC13 and now 14 have focused on collaboration, and as these videos show AC14 is particularly focused on improving collaboration with consultants - i.e Revit Structure/MEP.

They had to do this ... their future depends on it.

Revit is a tidal wave threatening to decimate ArchiCAD - not because Revit Architecture is better (it is not .. yet) but because when you are fighting to work with a consultant team who are on Revit Structure/MEP/.. then it is very tempting to make your life easier and switch to a closer platform. Then throw in a contractor using Revit and the sole team member not on the same platform as everyone else comes under enormous pressure to demonstrate that their software is not causing problems for everyone else.

So Graphisoft are quite rightly heavily focused at the moment on making sure ArchiCAD can work the best it can with Revit. At least it shows they are not sticking their head in the sand on this one. Now if only their marketing team can make sure people hear about the effectiveness of these collaboration tools.

If they do not do this then ArchiCAD will not be around for much longer, so all those fancy new tools we want/need will be pointless.

I can understand many people will see absolutely nothing for them in AC14, but these things are critical for larger customers. As we have seen in recent posts - and from personal experiences for many of us - there are big ArchiCAD users seriously considering moving to Revit because of collaboration issues.

That is the real threat to ArchiCAD's future ... not a better stair tool (as much as I want it).
I agree with that 100%.
Unfortunately those Autodesk shills cry louder here.
......says the reseller.

no conflict of interest here. None whatsoever.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Bricklyne wrote:

......says the reseller.

no conflict of interest here. None whatsoever.
Sorry, wrong again. Am not, never was.
Krippahl wrote:
Bricklyne wrote:

......says the reseller.

no conflict of interest here. None whatsoever.
Sorry, wrong again. Am not, never was.
No of course not, you've only worked with them and for them.
But, then again, if you insist......

Oddly enough, though, people expressing concern about ArchiCAD's development (or lack thereof) on this forum are now labelled Autodesk shills (assuming you even know the meaning of the word.)

Right.

so people are so pissed off and wondering why GS is having to or resorting to indirectly market Autodesk products in the promotional videos of their new product, because that will somehow harm their "shilling" efforts for Autodesk (???)

Hilarious.
Dennis Lee
Booster
Krippahl wrote:
...
Unfortunately those Autodesk shills cry louder here.
Have you watched the videos? I still like AC, and feel it's a great tool for what I do (Architecture) - but seriously, there's got to be a better way to send the inter operability message than to show off the smooth operation of those parametric duct work and the snapping of structural members to make changes so easy in Revit. Don't you think that the people will be more impressed with that than this so called archicad's new feature of being able to export to Revit? Whatever the need, the intention, the end result is an utter failure. They better reconsider the videos and the whole "New Features" presentation in my opinion.

Let's say there's a well established multi disciplinary firm (ABC) in town, and you are competing for a commission with that firm. You are a small architectural studio. Would you put together a well thought out presentation that shows how your studio can produce a thoughtful design in professional manner, on time in stunning 3d and have the principal architect on top of every phase of the design, etc., etc. OR would you go to the client and go on and on about how the engineers at ABC are the industry standard and that even tough you cannot work face to face with them, your company recently acquired the ability to work with them through email and fax (and show pictures of the engineers working in big bright offices of ABC)...?

I just want GS to sell AC a little better. That's all.
ArchiCAD 25 & 24 USA
Windows 10 x64
Since ArchiCAD 9
Dennis Lee
Booster
And BTW (since I am still angry) why is it that since the Nemetchek acquisition, I see tons of Vectorworks new features come from ArchiCAD, and so little things coming the other way? I'm sure there's got to be some useful things! If nothing else, like a lot of suggestions here on the forums, just buy ONE add-on, change the icons and include it with AC, PLEASE!
ArchiCAD 25 & 24 USA
Windows 10 x64
Since ArchiCAD 9
Anonymous
Not applicable
if this is a ARCHICAD 14 update then it SUX and it SUX a LOT !
Most of users dont need this stuff cos my everyday problem is how i will draw a stair, wall, roof, facade . . . What to export to IFC if i cant model it.
This is soooooo cosmetic... All problems that you have now - you still have them

I hope that Autodesk will bring GS to its knees and then buy them...ofc
You see confirmation in archicad 14 that Revit WINS. Revit is going to be a standard and there is no way that i need to update from AC13 to AC14.
There is a need to change a software. I will definetly finish my last project in archicad and left it behind me cos i will start to learn Revit. If i ever wish to return to AC - it will be easy...cos nothing changes here


I cant belive we dont have BOOLEAN operations represent in 2d
edit comands in section
rotate of 3d objects
modeling operations
stair tool that work
etc etc etc etc

nothing and i say NOTHING is fulfill from WISH forum

These forums SUX too cos evrything we write here....no one cares about it.

Archicad is a sinking ship and i just hope that it will sink fast
alemanda
Advocate
Looking at that video, after exporting to Revit Structure ... Why do I have to go back to Archicad ... better, I will go to buy a license of Revit Architecture so I don't need to import/export risking of loosing job and time ...
COME ON GRAPHISOFT!!!
Make an addon for structures!!! like what you did for MEP ...
This Video will make you lose clients!!!
I agree ... why do we have to waste our time in the WISHES in the forum?!
AC 19 and AC21 latest hotfix
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owen
Newcomer
rwallis wrote:
I have to agree with your post, Clarence.
May I also speculate that single users who were disenfranchised with 13 and the lack on extra features (for them) will feel totally jilted this time round.

Owen I think the problem for GS is that they need to be doing "both/and" not just "either/or"...if you get my drift. AC is so seriously behind in so many areas they cannot afford to just look at interoperability...
Look i agree with most of what you (both) are saying too .. it shouldn't be an 'either/or' choice but unfortunately that seems to be the case - I guess they just don't have enough resources, or they do but those resources are working on things destined for 15.

I remember when someone from GS came to our office years back and explained that at one version (think it was 7 .. please correct anyone with a better memory than I) they split their development team for the next 2 versions - i.e AC9 development was not developed following AC8 but in parallel in order to deliver features that could not be achieved within a 12-month schedule.

So it would not be without precedent that AC development was forked resulting in an intermediate release which is less than compelling feature wise.

Major work has been done under the hood in AC13 and is probably continuing in AC14 (e.g they need to rewrite significant portions of code for OSX 64bit). I've always said maybe they need to have 1 'No New Features' release to really get the engine sorted without the distractions of new features. Maybe AC14 is it. OK .. but it better mean we start seeing really impressive new features in AC15 - stuff they couldn't do before because of limitations in the code and hardware.

I guess we have to wait another 12 months to find out ..
cheers,

Owen Sharp

Design Technology Manager
fjmt | francis-jones morehen thorp

iMac 27" i7 2.93Ghz | 32GB RAM | OS 10.10 | Since AC5
owen
Newcomer
Bricklyne wrote:
so people are so pissed off and wondering why GS is having to or resorting to indirectly market Autodesk products in the promotional videos of their new product, because that will somehow harm their "shilling" efforts for Autodesk (???)
They are illustrating how ArchiCAD can collaborate with the software that nearly every other Engineer (Structural/Services) and Contractor will be using before long.

It is not advertising ... it is showing that ArchiCAD can work with these guys, you do not need to switch to Revit Architecture.

How else are they meant to demonstrate collaboration with consultants if they don't discuss the software those consultants are using??

Does anyone not comprehend that ArchiCAD can be the greatest architectural documenter of all time but it will mean nothing if it cannot work relatively seamlessly with the rest of the consultant team. No architect will be using it!

I just got back from a meeting on a project where a full BIM is being driven by the client/contractor (so not an architects 'pretty BIM' but a proper BIM for construction, sub-contractors etc) ... who are obviously working in Revit. Already things are being discussed in terms of how stuff is structured in Revit. We are the only participant using a non-Autodesk product ..

so collaboration is pretty high on the priority list - as much as we all need other stuff fixed, this one is increasingly becoming a deal breaker.

Graphisoft obviously also have the good sense to put this to the top of their priority list.

os
cheers,

Owen Sharp

Design Technology Manager
fjmt | francis-jones morehen thorp

iMac 27" i7 2.93Ghz | 32GB RAM | OS 10.10 | Since AC5
owen wrote:
............

I remember when someone from GS came to our office years back and explained that at one version (think it was 7 .. please correct anyone with a better memory than I) they split their development team for the next 2 versions - i.e AC9 development was not developed following AC8 but in parallel in order to deliver features that could not be achieved within a 12-month schedule.

So then why, oh why did they then decide to switch to a 12-month cycle if they are so clearly incapable of sustaining development on a 12-month cycle? Why, when, as even last year clearly demonstrated, they are even incapable of maintaining that 12 month cycle and ended up having to deliver the new version (AC13) 2-3 or months late anyway?

This question has been asked so many times on these forums, and it's not surprising that the quality of new AC releases began to degrade significantly with each new release as soon as they switched from their original 18-20 month cycle to this 12 month cycle which they now are on, for little other reason other than the fact that their main competitor (who d have the resources to reasonably sustain a 12-month cycle) switched to a 12 month cycle, and oh yeah, also because they can justify the subscription charging format and ludicrous subscription revenue stream even when the payback for the poor souls that opt into it simply isn't there.

And now that the cat is out of the bag about how this subscription deal is such a scam for the poor customers that opt into it and don't get any value back on their money, they are instituting or adopting a new license "rental" system to stem the flow of people opting out of subscription. Or most certainly the inevitable flow once this new version is released.

So the whole notion of using the 12-month cycle as an excuse to justify and explain the increasingly poorer and poorer releases each year, is just somewhat aggravating when you consider the fact that it was their ill-conceived decision based on poor motivations to begin with.

owen wrote:
So it would not be without precedent that AC development was forked resulting in an intermediate release which is less than compelling feature wise.

Major work has been done under the hood in AC13 and is probably continuing in AC14 (e.g they need to rewrite significant portions of code for OSX 64bit).
Oh yes, the old 'under-the-hood improvements deal.

With the exception of the shift to 64-bit platform (which, as we all know was always an inevitability anyway, given the state of computing, and which they still couldn't even do a complete job on for the Mac people), I was always of the impression that most of the 'under-the-hood' improvements were primarily to make Teamwork 2.0 and their BIM server actually function correctly as opposed to improving the day-to-day quality of use of average users or even laying the groundwork for future improvements. I really don't get the impression that they are laying groundworks for anything - but I could be wrong. I guess we'll see when version 15 rolls around. Speaking of which......

owen wrote:
I've always said maybe they need to have 1 'No New Features' release to really get the engine sorted without the distractions of new features. Maybe AC14 is it.
Actually they did do the whole 'No new Features' version back in version 9 even though that was really more as a means to stabilizing the program and its development after the mess that was ArchiCAD 8.0 and the 8.1 that they had to release to correct it. But even then the idea was that future versions could have a firm foundation from which to have new features and a more stable gradual improvement. And to be fair, version 10 right after that did have quite a number of new features. Quite a number of half-baked ones as well (Complex profiler that didn't do curves springs to mind) but new ones nonetheless.
The only problem is that since then, every other version has seemed to be pretty much a 'No new features' version. No significant new modelling tools . No significant new documentation tools, and only tools for high-end customers.
owen wrote:
OK .. but it better mean we start seeing really impressive new features in AC15 - stuff they couldn't do before because of limitations in the code and hardware.

I guess we have to wait another 12 months to find out ..

I wouldn't hold my breath, given their track record.

Not to mention what a risky and foolhardy strategy that is, as by the time they actually get to release their full bells-and-whistles feature-filled version in either AC15 and AC16, they might just find that more than half of their customer base has already bailed on them for the competition with no clear word or assurances from them as to their future plans or direction that this software is supposed to be headed towards. A little communication often goes a long way even in buying a little patience from your customer-base while to try to get your stuff together. No communication as is the case and the norm here only says 'No one is running the ship and if there is, they don't really care what you think, so keep your opinions to yourselves' - Which is the exact message they are sending to customers right now whether it's deliberate or not.