Some features that I miss:
- Blocks (including block attributes
- Text
- Array
- Hatch
- Dimensions
- Layouts (Paperspace, modelspace) and better printing capabilities (print to scale)
- Object tracking
- Fillet with radius
- DXF export, or any other CAD standard
Oh, by the way, this is the second message from the netherlands :)
Keep up the good work!
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Hello Maarten,
I will try to explain why we do not keep a road map.
The fact is we develop following an agile methodology. This means that we want to be always ready to change our plans at any time.
We do, however, keep a little track for what we should do in the next month. The only reason I don't publish this track is because it is, nowadays, in portuguese. Translating it is not an option since I barely have the time to post here or in the blog so there is no way I could keep translating our XPlanner stories.
Another option would be to write the stories in english but this is also not an option since we have the clients (architects) writing those story cards and they are not fluent enough (neither are we) to specify their needs in english.
Therefore I have several problems keeping this roadmap. I will, however, try to ask for someone within the developer team to help me and we will try to list the main features we wish to develop for the next release. But just to give you a preview (and this has been what I keep repeating lately), what we are doing and will keep doing for another couple weeks (at least, maybe more) is to add all the features that WERE available on the last unstable release in the new architecture.
Thursday I will post a more detailed status to give people an idea about our ongoing work and I will ask for you guys if there is any value in publishing unstable versions with a lot less features and a lot of non working features. Anyway, I'll leave that to Thursday.
Regarding your feature requests, please create a feature request on the project for each of them and we will have them suggested as soon as we restart implementing new features.
We are sorry for delaying so much the release but we wish to deliver something good enough to be usable.
Friendly,
Hugo
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Thanks for your fast reply. This project just fascinates me. Mainly because I am an architect and also a programmer, although my prefered language is Delphi/Pascal and I don't have any experience with Java.
Keep up the good work, and I will create feature requests for the items that I believe are nescessary to get a good functioning CAD environment from and architects point of view. In other words: I will request items that I use almost daily in autocad and miss in Archimedes.
Oh, and one last thing:
AutoCAD and Archimedes are great, simply because that function as an unlimited sketchboard (2D). As soon as you start working with "smarter" products, like Autodesk Revit, I find it difficult to create several design options in 1 single drawing, just side by side.
All I want to say is, I don't care if Archimedes lacks 3D. Don't implement it. 3D Autocad doesn't work as well as Google Sketchup for example, and it just makes the product such more difficult and heavy....
Keep it simple!
And good luck!
Maarten
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Requests are good! Don't worry about that.
Just try to be a lot more precise about your requests.
We (developers) are NOT CAD users and we have absolutely no idea about what means MTEXT or things like that.
A good way to describe a request for a command is:
Command Name: Move
Shortcuts: m, mo
Command arguments:
A selection (if none), a reference point followed by another point to determinate the move vector.
or
A selection (if none), a reference point followed by a distance and an angle to determinate the move vector.
Action:
The command should move all the selected items by the move vector determinated.
This way it is easier for the team to understand what is the request (since we obviously have no AutoCAD license to look at the feature nor program on Windows to be able to install it and buy a license).
If you could please edit your features requests to make it easier for us to understand what needs to be done, this would help us a lot.
Thanks!
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Thanks a lot Maarten!
As soon as possible we will restart adding new features to Archimedes and your suggestions will surely be offered to our clients.
I took a look about the site. This might help us a bit, but not much, since what we need is a very precise description of the arguments needed to complete the command, the order and options about them.
but thanks anyway! :)
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Alreay in the "Message from the Netherlands" thread there are some items described that could be placed on the project whishlist, or roadmap.
A roadmap is what I miss. I cannot find it on the website.
I just want to know what new features have priority, and in what version the new feature will be included.
For example, Scribus has an exelent roadmap:
http://wiki.scribus.net/index.php/1.3.x_Roadmap
Some features that I miss:
- Blocks (including block attributes
- Text
- Array
- Hatch
- Dimensions
- Layouts (Paperspace, modelspace) and better printing capabilities (print to scale)
- Object tracking
- Fillet with radius
- DXF export, or any other CAD standard
Oh, by the way, this is the second message from the netherlands :)
Keep up the good work!
Hello Maarten,
I will try to explain why we do not keep a road map.
The fact is we develop following an agile methodology. This means that we want to be always ready to change our plans at any time.
We do, however, keep a little track for what we should do in the next month. The only reason I don't publish this track is because it is, nowadays, in portuguese. Translating it is not an option since I barely have the time to post here or in the blog so there is no way I could keep translating our XPlanner stories.
Another option would be to write the stories in english but this is also not an option since we have the clients (architects) writing those story cards and they are not fluent enough (neither are we) to specify their needs in english.
Therefore I have several problems keeping this roadmap. I will, however, try to ask for someone within the developer team to help me and we will try to list the main features we wish to develop for the next release. But just to give you a preview (and this has been what I keep repeating lately), what we are doing and will keep doing for another couple weeks (at least, maybe more) is to add all the features that WERE available on the last unstable release in the new architecture.
Thursday I will post a more detailed status to give people an idea about our ongoing work and I will ask for you guys if there is any value in publishing unstable versions with a lot less features and a lot of non working features. Anyway, I'll leave that to Thursday.
Regarding your feature requests, please create a feature request on the project for each of them and we will have them suggested as soon as we restart implementing new features.
We are sorry for delaying so much the release but we wish to deliver something good enough to be usable.
Friendly,
Hugo
Thanks for your fast reply. This project just fascinates me. Mainly because I am an architect and also a programmer, although my prefered language is Delphi/Pascal and I don't have any experience with Java.
Keep up the good work, and I will create feature requests for the items that I believe are nescessary to get a good functioning CAD environment from and architects point of view. In other words: I will request items that I use almost daily in autocad and miss in Archimedes.
Oh, and one last thing:
AutoCAD and Archimedes are great, simply because that function as an unlimited sketchboard (2D). As soon as you start working with "smarter" products, like Autodesk Revit, I find it difficult to create several design options in 1 single drawing, just side by side.
All I want to say is, I don't care if Archimedes lacks 3D. Don't implement it. 3D Autocad doesn't work as well as Google Sketchup for example, and it just makes the product such more difficult and heavy....
Keep it simple!
And good luck!
Maarten
Ha! It seems to me I made a lot of requests!
Don't see it as critics, it meant to stimulate this project! :)
Maarten
Requests are good! Don't worry about that.
Just try to be a lot more precise about your requests.
We (developers) are NOT CAD users and we have absolutely no idea about what means MTEXT or things like that.
A good way to describe a request for a command is:
Command Name: Move
Shortcuts: m, mo
Command arguments:
A selection (if none), a reference point followed by another point to determinate the move vector.
or
A selection (if none), a reference point followed by a distance and an angle to determinate the move vector.
Action:
The command should move all the selected items by the move vector determinated.
This way it is easier for the team to understand what is the request (since we obviously have no AutoCAD license to look at the feature nor program on Windows to be able to install it and buy a license).
If you could please edit your features requests to make it easier for us to understand what needs to be done, this would help us a lot.
Thanks!
Ok, I'll edit the requests.
For now, I would like to point out this website:
http://www.74mph.com/faq/FAQ00065.html
It provides autocad commands and a small description on what they do.
Maarten
Thanks a lot Maarten!
As soon as possible we will restart adding new features to Archimedes and your suggestions will surely be offered to our clients.
I took a look about the site. This might help us a bit, but not much, since what we need is a very precise description of the arguments needed to complete the command, the order and options about them.
but thanks anyway! :)