ARCHICAD anyone ?

[Cesar R]

I was wondering if anyone here uses archicad to model. And if there were any compatibility issues when importing into max or viz or LS for rendering.

Are there any advanges of archicad over acad ?

Cesar.

[STRAT]

well we're are an Autodesk software office, but we do own a copy of archicad which, i've personally not used.

 

we bought it about 2 years ago for a specific job and never used it again since. because 99% of our clients who we send digital drawings back and forth to insist on the .DWG format straight from autocad itself.

 

Archicad has no problems exporting to max/viz, other 3d/CAD apps etc... and its formats are completely stable. But as i say, in our situation, clients are clients (pretty dumb on the whole, but hey, they pay our wages) so we do wat is easier for them.

 

Archicad is only used by about 30% of the world's cad population compaired to Autocad which is a shame really because realistically it's a pure architect's cad tool. autocad isn't. it has an excellent intelligent objects set-up, easy but accurate 3d modelling capabilities and a not half bad renderer.

 

just that i've been bought up on autocad all my life and am so comfortable with it im reluctant to give it up. but im still open minded.

 

archicad is a superb architect's draughting tool with some very stable powerfull tools. give the demo a look.

 

hope this helps

[plastic]

i always use archicad for architectual modelling and export it to 3ds viz for rendering with radiosity.

it works great, creating walls, stairs and openings is incredibly fast with archicad, if i had to do it with autocad, or even 3ds max/viz it would take ages.

 

you might be interested into the archicad import wizard script for 3dsmax/viz i coded, you can get it here:

http://plugins.marclorenz.com

 

it fixes some bugs in archicad's exported geometry, cleans things up, etc.

 

regards, marc

[Cesar R]

Awesome, yeah, well we're switching to Archicad at the office and since I am the rendering the dept my self, (small firm, very small, haha) I am learning it also. I must say I like it much more than Acad. The only thing that bothers a little bit is that there is not realtime zoom and pan like in max and reg ACAD. Other than that, its a nifty tool. Thank you for your comments

[Blake Middleton]

Cesar,

How is Archicad when doing actual construction documents? I have tried out the test version, but it seems to be very lacking in the detail and drafting department. Maybe I'm wrong and just haven't gotten to that part yet, but it seems far more 3d oriented than technically oriented. Just want your opinion on that. Thanks.

[matt_vinoir]

I've been using arhicad for 4 years now. Started at uni, it was the prefered package on my architecture course. It's actually a pretty bad

drafting tool but 3d wize the fact that you have a nice 3d viewer and render really helps for quick modelling times. Basically when i starting using vectorworks, the ablitly to do somethings converted me. It's like viz but better to do exact geometry. viz modifiers are nice for water and a few weird shapes but on the whole autocad/archicad/vectorworks etc are much the same. Archicad uses Artlantis which is appalling so really the decsion is which render do you use for your model. Archicad can get some nice result ifyou take ages, lots of careful lighting and textures and you can add different renderers on as plug ins for some novel effects.

 

NOw one produce that i really do like is rhino, wow, you can draw so quickly in all three dimensions. soo good for mad shapes etc.

 

Sorry to go on about my own question still, but when you have made you model what do you render it in?!?

 

Electric image is naff, cinema 4d is a bit lack lust on the gi stuff although pretty fast.

viz 4 looks good but is quite complicated, lightscape would seem the best for ease of use and results if it weren't for this quesion of solids modelling.

 

Anyway take about a tangent sorry guys!!

[STRAT]

we've got acad and archicad in work (which i mentioned) and the only reason we rely on autocad so much is because 99% of our clients demand it.

 

But in the ideal world? then i'd probably switch to archicad. as you say it's a pure architects tool, where as acad isn't, it's a general design tool. archicad does so much specific stuff you need it to do and it's much easier than acad. ever tried materialing and rendering in acad's renderer? lmao, pain in the arse i can tell you.

archicad isnt.

 

for your GI rendering? well personally i use cinema 4d. allot of ppl diss it as a lower end product but it's all just personal opinion.

 

i use brazil too, but only because it's in the free lisence stage at the mo. but not for long.

brazil is reletively easy to master and gives superb results, and is not bad on speed.

 

other than that i'd go for the lightscape solution or say the vray solution. Viz 4 is a bit lack-luster imho and FR doesn't even do true radiosity - it runs it through the scan liner.

[matt_vinoir]

Well, i thing if things go right archicad will be a winnre. Strat do you now that graphisoft has bought up cinema 4d so next version of archicad expect to see another gi renderer to creep noto the market!

 

At my uni the renderer that is used is artlantis,

take about rubbish!! So if it imports to LS ok then i might have to think about getting good at it in order to start teaching the programme to students, although i guess you vizualisers out htere don't want architects becoming too got at cg eh!

[STRAT]

you mean they've bought lisences to produce c4 interface in archicad you mean

[matt_vinoir]

Well, i guy i know who works out in budapest on archicad seems to think that it will still run as a stand alone but they are aming to make archicad a better version of viz so i think c4 may become obselete. who knows

[STRAT]

c4 become obsolete? LMAO

 

Maxon are about to release C4D XL V8 by the end of the year, and c4 isn't a cad/architectural modeller anyway. it's movie cridits are impressive.

[Cesar R]

FR doesn't even do true radiosity - it runs it through the scan liner.

Thast is why i think I want to switch to brazil.

I've used it before and I think It can produce more lealistic images. Start do you know if brazil benefits from 2 CPU's? what about FR? and LS ? does archicad in any way? I know max unfortunally had no clue what to do with the second cpu already. which really SUCKS!

ok, - Matt Write me back man !

[STRAT]

hmmmmm. i know max benefits from dual mo bo i got collegues who use it to great effect. i pressume FR and LS should too, i know brazil r/s does.

 

praps someone can spread more light on this?

[Cesar R]

ok, here we go. One this I like about Archicad is the ability to make working drawings in 2D just like in regulart ACAD, but at the same time create a 3D model very easily. I compares very much to architectural desktop in that sense. However I find it a little easier to use. Plus the simbol libraries that ship with the package really expedite the workflow. I have only played with it for 2 weeks, and I am in love. I think it is a great architectural tool for easy 3D modeling and detailed 2D traditional drafting all in one step. As far as rendering, I use MAX and LS. I didn't have a chance to fully finish my test LS render, however I can tell that it is best to import the model into max for clean up before doing a LS render. When rendering in max, modifying materials is really easy if you plan ahead while assiging them in Archicad. I used Finalrender as my GI solution when rendering in max. However I think I want to switch over to Brazil?. As far as VIZ4, its a nifty version of MAX, architecturaly oriented. Its GI if fairly simple once you get the hang of it. I would say, it is much easier to set up a VIZ4 GI scene than a MAX (Finalrender) or LS scene. Anyway enough of my talking, I hope these comments help you guys. btw if you know where to dowload a copy of archicad let me know, (I need a copy at home to play around, hehe)

 

Laters,

[Rasto]

Hi ,

This topic is a very interesting for me. We are an Autodesk software office, but our boss decided that our company will created projects on an Archicad platform too. I am architect, who is keen on comp. graphics and I prefer an Autodesk soft mostly. I think that Autodesk men will have to adjust Arch. Desktop much more for architects. / Now ADT is much more complicated program than Archicad for my friends-architects /

I have never worked in Archicad , that is why I would like ask someone, who has experience with communication between VIZ, LS and Archicad. Can you tell me about problems with export etc.

 

thanks

Rasto

 

PS.

It would be very interested in to compare ADT versus Archicad, who has some experience.

[Cesar R]

Im working on a render for a house that i being remodeled, I should finish it by tomorrow, Ill post images. so far I have no complaints.

[Paul Griger]

I have been using ArchiCAD 7.0 for 6 months now. Just bought another seat about 2 months ago for a new employee. Here’s my impression:

 

1. Easy to learn once you leave your prior CAD mindset aside.

a. My new employee, with no prior ArchiCAD experience, drew a new 2,200 sq/ft ranch model in a day [not construction documents]. Not bad for his full home I thought

2. truly parametric, before other CAD software was even thinking of it. [remember Revit?]

3. has a “save as” option to export ArchiCAD files to a .lp [Lighscape] file format and .3ds [3dstudio]

>a. the .lp files worked well right down to the textures. I had to reverse some surfaces of the model in LS.

>b. The model/mesh could have used some cleaning up I thought

>c. Never tried the .3ds format

4. is exceptional for construction documents. Anyone who complains that the CAD is too weak [which it isn’t IMHO] isn’t drawing enough in 3D, the way your are supposed to model, not draw, in ArchiCAD

 

I have previously used AutoCAD R 9 –R12, and AutoCAD LT. Never used ADT. I feel that while AutoCAD is a great, all encompassing, full featured CAD package, it is not a true architectural package. AutoCAD seems to be bloated software, trying to be all things to all people. ArchiCAD is specifically for architects. Not civil engineers, or CAD/CAM people. Like an architect, ArchiCAD prefers to make adjustments while in 3D perspectives and seems to work well visually. This may not be so with ADT, but again, I have never used it.

 

my 2 pennies…

[Cesar R]

Ok, I have a problem....

I am exporting to 3ds from ArchiCad but when I bring the model into MAX the scale doesn't match. The model is tiny in MAX compared to the model in ArchiCAD. The measurements are way off.

Has anyone else had this problem? How do I fix it so the scale matches correctly?

[quizzy]

play around with the units setup in MAX (its under customize) and play around with the preference settings - general - system unit scale (also under customize)

 

hope it helps....

[stefkeB]

Originally posted by matt_vinoir:

Well, i thing if things go right archicad will be a winnre. Strat do you now that graphisoft has bought up cinema 4d so next version of archicad expect to see another gi renderer to creep noto the market!

Are you positive about it? C4D is by Maxon and Maxon is bought by Nemetschek, which makes Allplan which is a direct competitor of ArchiCAD.

 

Abvent (makers of Artlantis) are releasing a rendering plugin for ArchiCAD, based on Artlantis (I saw a demo) and Expression Tools (makers of Shade) will probably do the same.

[stefkeB]

I use ArchiCAD and have followed a course on ADT, so I (partly) know what I talk about ...

 

In favour of ArchiCAD:

• ADT is complicated as hell (the course took 4 full days of 8 hours and needed knowledge of both AutoCAD 2D & 3D). You can learn 80% of ArchiCAD in two days and be productive.
• ADT relies on tricks to fake the 2D-details, but they don't show in 3D.
• ADT doesn't make very usable sections! You need to add a lot of work yourself. ArchiCAD sections contain full hatching and lines etc... You can add details in the section and still update the generated section.
  

In favour of AutoCAD:

• big user base, means a lot of solutions, courses, plugins, addons, books, websites, tutorials, ...
• They define the DWG/DXF standard (although ArchiCAD reads- and writes them OK).
• More technical drafting tools for 2D (which ArchiCAD doesn't have, but doesn't really need)
• Powerful 3D-modeling (booleans, solid modeling, full 3D-interaction)
• shaded OpenGL-view (will be coming for ArchiCAD 8)
  

Overall, AutoCAD is very well suited for the more engineering minded and the large firms using combinations of AutoCAD LT and AutoCAD 2002 & possibly ADT.

ArchiCAD is an architects tool and is a complete solution with great ease-of-use and also available on MAC. ArchiCAD is expensive (even for multiple licenses).

[matt_vinoir]

i'm being an arse!! soory. Nemestek (whatever!)

has bought maxon. Its not archicad its vectorworks sorry. Now that would be good, they need to improve the rendre its shite!

[Ernest Burden III]

Originally posted by Cesar Rullier:

[QB]I was wondering if anyone here uses archicad to model.

 

There was recently a long thread in the Datacad forum about Archicad, and it got mixed reviews, but all who had used it were impressed in at least some areas. However, it could not beat Datacad in production drawing. But this is not what a CG artist does, primarily.

 

I have never tried Archicad, but I have a collegue who has used it for years. I will let his work speak for the program:

 

http://www.drawingstudio.com/

 

Ernest Burden III

[matt_vinoir]

isn't revit been re introduced again?

[Paul Griger]

Revit was gobbled up by AutoDesk this year. Revit is still offered through AutoDesk. Opinions are that AutoDesk will either somehow mesh Revit and ADT into a new release or discontinue ADT altogether and repackage Revit as their own product.

 

Time will tell what will really happen I guess.