After 20+ years of Powercadd, we've moved our office to Archicad after the 64 byte upgrade. It's fairly pricy, though has excellent teamwork capabilities, so numerous people can work on the same project from a shared in house server. As a BIM product, if you move a window in plan, it changes it in elevation, and all corresponding sections / views. It certainly lacks for "sexy-ness" as available in Sketchup, though you can port it to a 3D render engine, and actually "see" the structure as if it were already built.
I know of one other Arch firm in Texas that has made the move from PC9, and we discussed at length the pains in moving an entire office over. Ultimately, it seemed to be worth it. The 2D drawings are not as eloquent as PC9 provided, but fundamentally, it's been a good move for our office.
Archicad
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JeffSnyder
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2019 7:26 pm
Re: Archicad
Thanks for the feedback on Archicad and congratulations on making the switch.
My last office (mostly) switched to Archicad before I left, since PowerCADD would not run on the newer Macs. The learning curve was extremely steep, and it took quite a few months to develop templates that made it more efficient. 3D capability is almost mandatory in some markets, and the BIM aspects and coordination of Archicad were great, although less efficient on some projects. Most folks who had started on PowerCADD missed its efficiency and simplicity.
Archicad seemed to be well suited to our residential projects, but lacking for commercial work. Doing a reflected ceiling plan, for instance is clunky. Objects in Archicad libraries are mostly residential, and most manufacturers supply Revit compatible objects which don't work on Archicad. I am still a bit confused at how some international commercial firms use it on larger buildings. I think there is still a place for fast 2D software (still love PowerCADD and use it!) but having the BIM and 3D capabilities is pretty important.
I am working on my own now and using PowerCADD on a 2015 Mac mini. Have looked at Vectorworks and AutoCAD for Mac, but still holding out for a PCADD update.
Jeff Snyder
My last office (mostly) switched to Archicad before I left, since PowerCADD would not run on the newer Macs. The learning curve was extremely steep, and it took quite a few months to develop templates that made it more efficient. 3D capability is almost mandatory in some markets, and the BIM aspects and coordination of Archicad were great, although less efficient on some projects. Most folks who had started on PowerCADD missed its efficiency and simplicity.
Archicad seemed to be well suited to our residential projects, but lacking for commercial work. Doing a reflected ceiling plan, for instance is clunky. Objects in Archicad libraries are mostly residential, and most manufacturers supply Revit compatible objects which don't work on Archicad. I am still a bit confused at how some international commercial firms use it on larger buildings. I think there is still a place for fast 2D software (still love PowerCADD and use it!) but having the BIM and 3D capabilities is pretty important.
I am working on my own now and using PowerCADD on a 2015 Mac mini. Have looked at Vectorworks and AutoCAD for Mac, but still holding out for a PCADD update.
Jeff Snyder
Re: Archicad
Which ArchiCAD version do you get? Is there a version for multiple seats? It seems not. So every seat (computer?) is $2700 a year? Would there be any need for the "collaborate" version if there are only two people using it?
I thought there was a built in Renderer. I also read that it use Redshift renderer, but I can't understand how you can use that on a Mac since Nvidia is not supported? Not as "sexy" as SketchUp?
Is it good at exporting DWG to consultants (better than PCADD)?
How about the minimum required platform for good performance?
I thought there was a built in Renderer. I also read that it use Redshift renderer, but I can't understand how you can use that on a Mac since Nvidia is not supported? Not as "sexy" as SketchUp?
Is it good at exporting DWG to consultants (better than PCADD)?
How about the minimum required platform for good performance?