Best suited with: 1) High quality RAM 2) First time users on architectural design 3) Quick layouts with customization Not suitable for: 1) [If] more flexibility in design is required 2) Less RAM 3) Transferring standard details into a project
It is fully capable of all the design work you can give it. I have even designed houses with it. Turbo CAD Pro Platinum is all I have used for going on 3 years now. I don't know if other versions can do or can't do. If you are a graphic designer, you would need to port the files to a higher end program to manipulate the colors and renderings. For engineering and in-house work it is perfect.
Design modeling: the user interface allows for a pretty intuitive and integrated creative process. It's great for exploring and communicating ideas, and in cases where the process is not inhibited by the need to switch to different software for different stages of work, such as when moving to develop the design in detail. It also allows for a much more seamless process when changes are requested, so that all material from initial visualizations all the way through to detailed design information are all always in sync and up to date. No redundancy of effort is triggered through the logistics of needing to pass the design through multiple software platforms (eg Sketchup => Revit =>AutoCAD) as each design iteration evolves.
Design documentation: it's reasonably clear that ArchiCAD has the best implementation of BIM in the architectural domain, compared with the nearest rival Revit, and is unmatched for design development and coordination between disciplines, supporting large multidisciplinary teams who can all work simultaneously via the cloud or a local server on the same integrated model.
Somewhat responsive developers: unlike some others, if an issue is reported, there seems to be a fair chance of the developers engaging with the user and for the issue to be addressed in a subsequent update.
Increasing the size of the files in ArchiCAD to allow it to be used for more complex applications can be more comfortable and user-friendly.
Improving it to support more tutorials, add-ons, resources, and e-books.
Withholding releasing and developing new software and concentrating on improving the existing version can greatly help in the life of architecture and engineering.
TurboCAD does all of the things we need it to do and some. The wide variety of options to create specificity in each of our projects is a large plus. The reason it was given a 9 is because the learning curve can be a little steep and sometimes certain processes are not as intuitive as they could be
We have rapid responses from their support team, and they often go the extra mile to pinpoint the root cause of an issue and assist the team in resolving it. They are honest when a problem is down to user error, or a glitch on the version we are on.
AutoCAD uses line works in actual presentation whiles ARCHICAD uses real structural walls which are easy to use and present compared to line works. Revit largely and mainly focused on structural design and is more complex to use compared to ARCHICAD which helps one focus on different aspects of drawing and is easy to integrate with rendering software like Lumion 360 panorama.
TurboCAD is a well-priced solution for a small business, it comes standard with 3D modeling compared to DraftSight which does not. The user interface could be updated along with industry-standard shortcut keys but for the number of drawings we do, this package fills the gap. The DXF / DWG feature could be worked on too, as above, trying to get in line with other packages like AutoCAD & DraftSight would make the whole package better. All in all, I believe that TurboCAD has a valid foothold in the CAD industry.
The low multi-year cost is a huge savings, compared to more popular competitors, the total cost of ownership is about 1/4 of an Autodesk design suite.
An effective training program can be implemented in under 40 hours/employee to reach intermediate level, as the intuitive interface is easy to teach. This appears to be significantly less, perhaps 1/3 of competing software.
The underdog element is still an obstacle, as converting ArchiCAD projects to Revit for our Consultants is a challenge. While ArchiCAD outputs perfectly good IFC (industry-standard BIM interchange format) files, Revit has yet to import them 100% correctly. Therefore, working with others takes a bit more overhead than when using Revit.
