ADT 2004 + VIZ 4 render engine

[CHE]

What do you all think about this?

 

 

Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2004

 

Looking for ways to improve design and documentation efficiency while protecting your technology investment? Check out Autodesk® Architectural Desktop 2004 software. It gives you the best of both worlds by providing traditional drafting methods in an AutoCAD® environment, as well as efficiency gains through intelligent building model objects. And now Architectural Desktop is better than ever, offering new productivity tools such as the streamlined user interface and direct manipulation of architectural objects; coordination features like file and level management; and design visualization with VIZ Render, as well as data exchange tools for seamless project collaboration.

 

Autodesk Architectural Desktop -- building information modeling on the AutoCAD platform.

 

 

Higher Productivity. Intelligent architectural objects automatically update to reflect design changes, and allow for in-place editing in the design space without cumbersome dialog boxes. New, intuitive tool and property palettes require fewer clicks to accomplish tasks.

 

 

Improved Coordination. Dynamically linked design and documentation ensures that design changes are reflected in your construction documents, reducing errors and omissions. Documentation routines are automated.

 

 

Better Collaboration. Easily collaborate with your extended design team to get the project done efficiently. Smoothly exchange design data with team members, whether they use Autodesk® products or industry-specific, third-party applications. Design data can be used downstream throughout the lifecycle of the building.

 

 

Enhanced Visualization. Communicate your design intent with photorealistic 3D modeling, rendering, and animation with the new VIZ Render visualization feature -- without having to export your design.

 

The Link

[John Dollus]

There has been speculation on this for some time. The real question is how are they going to position Revit with a new ADT? Revit has Accurender and ADT has Viz:Render? Hmmm, it would have made more sense to include Lightscape into ADT instead.

[STRAT]

if it's as buggy and quirky as ADT 3 we're still in trouble.

 

personally i'd stick with AutoCAD by choice

[bigcahunak]

Yeah, we've been hearing this for quite a while...

All we have to do is wait and see...

I wonder what will happen to VIZ after this merge into ADT. will it also stay as a stand alone product? Or, will they just not update it for 3-4 years ... (ring a bell to anyone?)

[Ernest Burden III]

I wonder what will happen to VIZ after this merge into ADT. will it also stay as a stand alone product?

Well, as I mentioned in a thread in another topic, a few days ago an Autodesk dealer told me VIZ4 was going to be pushed into ADT4--so why did I want the demo disk of VIZ? It certainly sounds like they plan to kill VIZ as a stand-alone product. Bundling it with ADT would probably give them an excuse to have another $2000+ product to push on architects, most of whom do not need or want most of what's in VIZ. But they would want ADT, or something like it. At the same time they can eliminate the lower-range product aimed at us CG artists, forcing more MAX sales, including features many of us don't need or want, at a higher price.

[nisus]

awful... instead of everyone buying a small/cheap program for their specific needs only, one will have to buy a large/expensive application of which most will only use about 5-10%... it's called marketing! (read: user unfriendly)

 

nisus

[Ernest Burden III]

awful...it's called marketing! (read: user unfriendly)nisus

Autodesk is a publicly traded company, so they work for the investors and not so much for the user-base. I recal that the current Pres. of Autodesk once called us "profit-centers" in an interview in, I think it was, CADalyst magazine.

[3dp]

i'm still pretty sure that a very high % of adt users are not even scratching the surface of adt and it's capabilities (buggy quirky and slow whatever) most offices i have dealt with in the past couple of years who migrated up (?) to adt still only use it as a 2d tool for production drawing

when i have undertaken contracts to produce models of a housetype and a set of 1:50 type g.a.'s clients are amazed that it's all in adt and it's parametric

but as i said in a similar and previous thread visualisation is seperate from construction modelling so i'd be looking at a viz5 (if ever) or a max6 rewrite that has architecture instead of game friendly toolset

[STRAT]

i'm not fussy.

 

I've been 3d modelling the same way in AutoCAD/ADT or whatever the same way since rel 10. and as long as autocad still exists, personally i'll be happy.

if viz ever popped it's cloggs it certainly wouldn't rock my boat!

[3dp]

and another thing

one office i was working for quite a bit last year finally bought into adt sent it's staff on the adt course @ £450 a hit (x10)

there all still drawing in 2d (may as well be using acad lt)as they could not get their heads around 3d.............

keeps us in business

[simon]

I have been setting up an ADT/Viz network in a office in Athens. ADT has taken alot of time to setup (styles,templates,blokes etc..) but ADT can have an easy link into Viz with is very useful. I can now make relatively good renders in a matter of minutes. Though Viz is only needed on one computer in the office, it would be a waste of money to have viz and ADT intergrated. I also don't trust autodesk to do a good job of intergrating the two programes. The work here is rather simple with lots of concrete so detailing is not to much of a problem, i do wonder what ADT is like with more challenging designs.

[Brian Cassil]

Our office has been trying to incorporate the 3d elements of ADT since version 1 unsuccessfully. It's a multi-layered problem really.

 

1st - The architects we have who run the projects are not technically savvy to the point where working in 3D is practical for them. It's not there fault really, the schools around here pretty much discourage the use of technology in design (a discussion for another time).

 

2nd - At some level ADT forces (or at least strongly encourages) you to use standard elements to build models, thus the term parametric. While this certainly has advantages, any designer, no matter how technically adept he is, will have a great disdain for a tool which constrains his creativity.

 

3rd - As has already been mentioned, it's buggy. Besides the fact that the work-flow is awkward there are parts that just plain don't work right.

 

Thus, our company of 100 employees owns about 80 copies of ADT (I have yet to see ADT be usefull on ANY level for secretarial, finance, and marketing staff), have been through two formal training courses (one for ADT 1 and another for ADT 3) and we still only use the 2D elements of it.

 

I have had many discussion with Autodesk reps about this and is makes them so angry to know that I use MAX for modeling as well as rendering.

 

So why would any of us be interested in a program that bundles the technologies ADT and VIZ? In my opinion it is the epitome of overkill.

 

But hey, it makes sense to them from a sales standpoint, and as long as there are firms that are willing to be blindly sold on products they think they want to use but probably won't, what's to stop them?

[nisus]

Why don't you buy acadLT... ?

[seismograph]

i'm wondering why the still go on with the acad concept if they have revit.

 

The acad concept is old and outdated.

Once you have worked with Archicad you won't miss that parametric concept ..something AD tried with ADT, but without success.

 

I would not go with ADT4 but have a look at revit.

As far as i know revit uses accurender, which is pretty good and nice.

[Ernest Burden III]

As far as i know revit uses accurender, which is pretty good and nice.

Accurender is by McNeel Associates, a great company. That's got to be making Bob McNeel feel a little weird, having Autodesk pushing a product that ties into one of his programs. It must be like taking your daughter to the playground and seeing a guy in a trenchcoat staring at her with drool running down his face and candy in his outstretched grubby hand. Creepy. And if that guy is Mayor?

[John Dollus]

Okay Ernest, that was just creepy!

Anyway, AutoDesk has been losing a portion of their customer base to FormZ and SketchUp for awhile in the form of designers. Integrating Viz is probably an attempt to lure them back to the fold although a rather reactionary proposition at best.