Good morning Jörg and feiz82,
First of all, thanks Jörg to answer, and Feiz82, thanks for your links, are very interesting. :-)
Well, we think that a tool like Allplan should have tools to do complex designs, but without forget to have simple tools to do simple designs, without forget the usability.
In our office we programm our SmartParts for our projects. And we have established two levels of complexity of smartparts. First level, a few complex smartparts with a lot of parameters to create special designs. And Second level, a lot of simple smartparts, with less parameters, to create specific architectural elements. Curiously, in our office, the simple smartparts are more used than the complex smartparts.
Then, what happen with the facades tool? We understand that the facades tool allows to create special designs, and a multitude of very different architectural elements: walls, floors, ceilings, etc. Everything can be created with only one tool. But this versatility make it a very complex tool, with a very important list of parameters, and with a name of the parameters used to create very different elements: all this things, convert the facade tool in a complex tool, and less usable to create simple designs.
We believe in the versatility of the complex tools for a specific designs, and Allplan needs to have a tool like facades. But we also think that Allplan should have other specific tools to create specific architectural elements. Only then, maybe those tools will be more simples, with less parameters, and with more specífic concepts: then, those tools will become more user-friendly tools. ;-D
thanks for the patience to read this long post :-D
Best regards,
Xavier C.A.
Xavier Coll • Architect, Project Manager I+D, BIM Manager, BIM Auditor
EiPM • http://www.eipm.es/en/