Still waiting for better terrain tool - Just a lament

[dianedebuda]

Old FP user.  Upgrading to new computer & had to call imsi for all my FP/TFP/TC activations.  Saw that Envisioneer finally has the long awaited change to terrain, so Googled and saw some TFPv17 hits.  Got excited, but was that quickly squashed when I checked at Imsi & here that no such beast exists as of yet.  Terrain was such a pain for me in v15/v16 that I totally bailed on TPF since landscaping was all I was doing at the time.  Sure would like to fill my "vacancy" on my new box

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Diane,

I am sure that V17 cannot be too far away now. We are only guessing that it will inherit the new Terrain Spot Point tools of course but it should. I suspect they are trying to sort out a few issues before proceeding to produce TFP V17 and the other 'spin-off' programs as Envisioneer has already had two updates for bug fixes since V8 was released.

At least it should be well tested and stable by the time we get it.

Personally I found the old Terrain Plateau tool was perfect for all the  landscaping I did. So simple to use,  particuarly if you had a contour line plan to trace. The new addition of Spot Points is good though - makes it easy to adjust small areas to a new height.

Allan

[dianedebuda]

What I'm afraid of is that TFP will not be updated & just dropped as a product since Imsi doesn't control it.  FP used to be packaged with TC; don't see references now, so suspect it's not.  Is it permissible to ask if there's even been an alpha/beta for v17?

[Allan Chesney]

Hi Diane,

Is it permissible to ask if there's even been an alpha/beta for v17?

I think I can safely answer no - but that does not mean anything, as there has not been betas for previous versions either - all the testing is done by CadSoft and delivered 'as is'. I have no doubt that it will arrive in due course as it is not the only Envisioneer spinoff and none of the other updated versions have been released either - I can't see them dropping them all.

Although TFP is not bundled with TC now, as far as I know, there are many TC users who use TFP to quickly draw the plans and then use TC to produce the construction drawings.

Allan

[dianedebuda]

it is not the only Envisioneer spinoff and none of the other updated versions have been released either - I can't see them dropping them all.

I can - if Envisioneer wants to market it's own subset.  Seems to me something similar happened over at Chief.

Just a homeowner, but I've got plans of various parts of my house/shop/shed/landscaping spread over FP8 (majority), 10 & 11.  Just could not get plateau to work in TFP15 to my satisfaction last year.  You said, at that time, that there was no real change in TFP16 to terrain.  I really would like to redraw everything in a couple of months using a current product.

[Allan Chesney]

Envisioneer has been marketing quite a number of versions, cheaper and dearer than TFP, for many years.

I have not specifically compared the terrain tools in v15 and v16 but did not notice any difference when using both.

What was the problem you had with the plateau tool? As long as I kept the different plateau levels shallow I had no problem with it. If you try to build up the terrain with too few plateaus or too steep a slope in them then it would become 'steppy' (if there is such a word).

Allan

[dianedebuda]

It's been quite awhile since I bailed out on TFP15, but, as I recall, the general terrain using several plataus was decent.  I was having a lot of problems with the slopes around a pool - one side a more-or-less level patio, one side a gentle slope, 3rd side a different gentle slope and the 4th a drop with a retaining wall.  At that time, my focus was on landscaping, so terrain was super important.  Not too much sense going in to it too much at this point, 'cause I can't spend any time on it right now.  Just setting up new machine & was checking on TFP17 status.

It was really cool that I could use Google Earth + Sketchup 8 to actually plop my house in the "proper" compass setting in TFP.  House is aligned for predominate wind, not E-W-N-S.