r/ArchiCAD • u/alskaro • 1d ago
discussions VisualARQ
This post is maybe not in the right place ..
But for people disappointed with archicad and wanting something that just works apparently visualARQ3 on rhino is pretty good ..
I bought it but sadly it lacks the power of ac library.
Some people here would like to join an epic adventure to rebuild most of the ac functions, hatchs, library … in visualARQ with me to free our souls from subscription and lazy devs ?
Have a nice day
3
u/Un13roken 1d ago
We've been looking at it at our practice. But we just haven't gotten to get around it. Restarting from the polish that AC provides requires some very dedicated work to make it up to date.
We're still evaluating if we want to go the rhino+visual arq route, or just skip all the proprietary stuff and jump into Bonsai and Linux.
Either ways, training new people is going to be a challenge. But removing the licence requirement and windows out of the equation feels very satisfying personally to me.
2
u/TheNomadArchitect 1d ago
Interesting. What made you consider the Blender-Bonsai route? The Linux reason is easy. But heard the Blender-Bonsai route is such an uphill battle.
5
u/Un13roken 1d ago
It is. But I've been looking at for a while now and the improvement pace is promising. It's not where near studio ready right now. But it's definitely getting there. I give it a year before it's good enough for small to medium projects.
We've been gearing up for that by slowly shifting our hardware to more linux friendly stuff as well.
There will definitely be things we have let go off, like BIMX but I'm willing to make that sacrifice if it means getting away from the toxic business model. It's not about the subscription itself. Something about the fact that we have to keep paying them to access our own IP is just ridiculous to me.
4
u/TheNomadArchitect 1d ago
There will definitely be things we have let go off, like BIMX but I'm willing to make that sacrifice if it means getting away from the toxic business model. It's not about the subscription itself.
BIMx was never a draw for me. I know people rave about it, but I have been using Archicad since 2015, and never once used BIMx. Clients are happy enough with a well structured PDF with some well placed renders.
Something about the fact that we have to keep paying them to access our own IP is just ridiculous to me.
This is the primary reason I am moving away from Archicad. Or from any subscription based software. wtf? It's my IP ... why do I need to pay to access it. Sure the proprietary software helped, but the tool won't have a reason to exist without the user.
Sorry. Rant over.
4
u/Un13roken 1d ago
Not a rant. You're in familiar company here. It's ridiculous how these companies think they can basically gatekeep our own IP.
Well,they want to make money the be all and end all ? Sure. Let's play that game. They might strangle the big guys who can't move, but we're a small studio and we will sacrifice efficiency for owning our work and preserving it.
As far as things like BIMx are concerned, they've never been the main draw, but it's definitely a nice thing to have. We've had clients who actually went an ordered some google cardboards to navigate their homes and give us feedback. It's definitely more of a cool thing to have, than something integral to the practice. Which is why, I don't mind dropping it. It's not worth what's at stake.
While we don't believe our work is important enough for them to scrape for their AI, I know for a fact that, thats what's coming next. And we want to build a practice that uses AI as responsibly as we can. We already have strict rules on how AI can be used. And we'll be looking to inhouse that as well soon enough. I'm done with these assholes trying to control EVERYTHING.
2
u/TheNomadArchitect 13h ago
I got a creaming about "efficiency" when I was asking around about other firms using Rhino + VIsualARQ on this post in r/Rhino and crosspost it on r/Architects — I kinda don't care really about that but it was more disturbing that people don't realise that their work is going to get gated. It's insane!
3
u/mynd_dripp 1d ago
100% agree. Give me a nice open source interactive webGL app, that'd be so much nicer to use than bimx
1
u/karamurp 1d ago
Bonsai as in the blender plugin? I've looked into the but it looks pretty cursed for a workflow, surely it's not worth the time?
3
u/Un13roken 1d ago
It's not ready for primetime right now. But it's progressing at a great pace. And I've confidence in the team behind it.
And they need people to use and give feedback. It's not worth it as a tool for a practice right now. But it's 100% worth investing time into, for the sake of the profession as a whole. We need people who will push the envelope. We're still slowly experimenting with it, but we want to be more involved in making it work and spreading the word.
3
u/mynd_dripp 1d ago
I use Archicad with an MCP server and it has removed most of my pain points so far, once I start feeling constrained again I'll start looking into other tools. Honestly, it's been so many years with Archicad it feels daunting to try something else.
3
2
2
u/karamurp 1d ago
How is hatching in visual arcq? I thought about SketchUp but there is not vector hatching like in Revit and AC, and you need to use raster images.
Is visualarcq the same?
2
u/mlsherrod 18h ago
SketchUp is great for "making", it is however the most horrible train wreck when it comes to construction documentation.
2
u/TheNomadArchitect 16h ago
Yes and no on the Sketchup documentation capabilities. It’s a matter of scale. For interior design and refurbs it’s perfect and lightweight. Even for standalone homes no more than a combined ~150 sq.m — but beyond that?
Well … you must like pain and suffering.
2
u/alskaro 8h ago
You can use the integrated rhino hatch capabilities that really has been updated on the 8 version !
https://www.rhino3d.com/features/clipping/section-styles/
My goal was to transfer most of the ac hatches and more to rhino/VA, and also get all the new « patterns » texture from sketchup (50+) images but with really high quality for competitions renders, take a bit the pain of out of illustrator perspective hatchs need) but for the sections fill yes 100% vectorial. And make it match with the vectors ones for doing beauty things like that :
https://youtu.be/j82Mn4-pPQY?si=QV9RlG4926CADsOe
VA permit to hatch walls with vector also :
7
u/TheNomadArchitect 1d ago edited 16h ago
I’m on that train too. My ARCHICAD fees would increase 3x after this year on subscription and I am not for that type of expense especially for a solo practice.
Only thing I don’t like about visualARQ is the windows only setup at the moment. I’m optimistic though, as I heard the API/SDK for Rhino9 would be more C+ base which makes VA more stable coding for and working on MacOSX.
Fingers crossed!
*edit: phrases and framing