Tailored for the Small Practice
The new ArchiCAD START Edition 2008 is based on the same code base as ArchiCAD 11 (see Architosh Review, ArchiCAD 11, 21 Dec 2007) but with an altered feature set and greatly reduced price. It includes key technologies such as the new Virtual Trace, Visual Compare, Gradient Fills and Integrated Layout functions of the regular ArchiCAD 11.
“ArchiCAD START Edition 2008 brings the benefits of BIM to the small-firm segment of the architectural market at a very competitive price”, says Patrick Mays, Vice President and General Manager of Graphisoft North America. “ArchiCAD START Edition 2008 allows architects and builders with tight budgets to get the best BIM technology at an affordable price.”
ArchiCAD START Edition 2008 will be available immediately for a SRP price of $1995.00.USD.
Features and Comparison
In looking at the features of ArchiCAD START Edition 2008, the user will will obtain most of the cutting edge technology recently released in ArchiCAD 11. As mentioned above Virtual Trace, a core and powerful feature in ArchiCAD 11, is fully alive in the START Edition. Particularly valuable to smaller architectural practices, Gradient Fills are also available in this version.
The core difference is that the START Edition doesn’t focus on larger project features and multi-person teams. ArchiCAD’s Teamwork feature is not included, as are Hot Linked Modules (applicable to large buildings), Publisher, Reviewer and Markup Tools. All of these functions are very useful to multi-party teamwork based projects and only to be found in the full version of ArchiCAD 11.
Additionally, ArchiCAD START Edition 2008 does not feature advanced modeling and rendering capabilities normal to ArchiCAD 11. LightWorks rendering is not included. A full table is available here to compare the two versions.
The new ArchiCAD START Edition 2008 produces files that can be opened by the full version of ArchiCAD 11, enabling architects to upgrade their project files. However, the START Edition cannot open regular ArchiCAD 11 files.
You can learn more here:http://www.graphisoftus.com/start_edition/