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1. 
   StevenNickel
   7 years ago

   Should you make an announcement that Week 29 (Stairs & Railings) is now fairly
   obsolete? 🙂
2. 
   PatriceBelle
   10 years ago

   Eric,

   A quick communication to congratulate – and thank – you for completing the Best Practices Course (except for some videos on AC17 which are perhaps no longer pertinent).

   All the best,
   Patrice
3. 
   JabbourKhoury
   10 years ago

   Hi Eric
   I have a double membership:
   1. The Best Practice Course
   2. The Coaching call Program
   On the Coaching Call download page, the last Coaching Call that I could download was that of October 15. Why I could not have access to the coaching calls after that date?
   On the other hand, the last accessible Practice lesson was that of Week 26-1.
   What is the problem with my account?
   Please, could you explain.
   Thank you in advance.
   Jabbour Khoury
4. 
   AnjaWiehl
   10 years ago

   Hi Eric,
   I want to lean more about the settings when saving a file as a DWG. Currently when I save a file and then open it in Autocad13 some basics like dimensions and walls don’t translate quite right. Am I looking at lesson week 28/1 for these answers? Or could you give me a tip?

   Thanks,
   Anja
5. 
   MarkPhillips
   12 years ago

   As a 15 year veteran i do find your training very helpful, I can understand that it takes time to figure out how and what to produce in your videos, to be the most effective, then to stay on top of all the changes made each year, it is a huge undertaking, your course and training has inspired me to look at the software differently than i had in the last several years, it was a big jump for me
   to move from AC9 to AC16 your courses has made the transition easier

   keep up the good work

   Mark
6. 
   ConorMoriarty
   12 years ago

   I’m sure you’ve been asked this before but do you have, or are you going to put togther some tutorials on Ecodesigner now that its embedded in 16?

   PS Thanks for the tutorials to date. They are without exception the best I’ve come across in Archicad!!! At least, thats my opinion as a former lecturer in 3D Max, Autocad & the Adobe Suite of products.
7. 
   PatriceBelle
   12 years ago

   Hi Eric,

   To echo many of the posts here:

   The good: Clear instructive tutorials

   The Bad: Very, very late delivery

   Personally, I am still patiently waiting for the week 25 material. When will this be available…..week 150 ?

   I must admit that I signed up for the course with a particular project in mind: Had the tutorials been delivered on time, I could have mastered what was required in tandem with the progress of the project (more or less). Regrettably, time has marched on, I have had to muddle through my use of ArchiCAD as best I can (trying to unravel whatever sources of info were available…), and now – again – I am faced with a project which would benefit enormously from skills I have yet to learn.

   The irony is that the course is being delivered so slowly that the tutorials are becoming outdated before the course is even finished!

   Eric, please do not spend valuable time replying to this post: I think we’d all rather your time was spent finishing the course….

   Regards,

   Patrice

   • 
     Eric Bobrow
     12 years ago

     Patrice –
     You are very, very right.
     I offer the coaching call sessions several times each month and cover many of the advanced topics in response to member questions. Please submit your questions, and I will try to address them so that you have the tools and resources you need.
     Eric
8. 
   Albert Van Ee
   12 years ago

   When will we see more material for the best practice course, I really am looking forward to your insights regarding libraries and details.

   • 
     Eric Bobrow
     12 years ago

     Albert –
     The course continues to be in development. Last week I released two more lessons on roofs, Week 16 parts 3 and 4. I will continue to create course lessons until the job is done – it is a mammoth project. FYI – I covered the most important parts of library management and migration from version to version in Week #4.
     Eric
9. 
   Greg Butler
   12 years ago

   Hi Eric

   just wondering if you have a realistic timeline for the rest of the course. It’s all such great stuff, but seems to be dragging on too long at the moment.
   The coaching calls are great, but they are random topics – I think the structured course is more valuable, and something I would have thought you could sell more easily, when it is finished, than the coaching calls. I am certainly recommending it to my colleagues.

   Cheers

   Greg

   • 
     Eric Bobrow
     12 years ago

     Greg –
     I agree, things are dragging on too long at the moment. I will be posting some new lessons on roofs shortly.
     Eric
10. 
    ArielleSchechter
    13 years ago

    I can’t wait for modules 16 and 17….am having a devil of a time setting clerestories and complex levels with story settings, windows anchored to the right place! Love the course, Eric you are a saint.
11. 
    RossCahill-OBrien
    13 years ago

    Hi Eric,
    I am waiting patiently for the rest of the best practice course and when that is finished i will consider joining the coaching calls that you are promoting- but right now I would like to continue with what we have paid for please. I understand that it is difficult with so much other things going on in your life but, if you were to do one of them every week it would take you no time to complete the course. I hope that you manage it. because at the end of it you will have a good structure to update and modify for each successive versions of the archicad that come out. Looking forward to your completion of the course . thank you in advance yours Ross

    • 
      Eric Bobrow
      13 years ago

      Ross –

      Thank you for posting your comment.

      I am working almost every day on course material, so there will be progress each week until I have covered every one of the lessons in the outline.

      Today I announced and released two more lessons (Week 12 parts 5 and 6) which total 75 minutes of new material. Soon, I’ll be producing Week 13, and then the rest, each in turn!

      Eric
12. 
    WendyHoechstetter
    13 years ago

    Eric,

    I second the query about the whereabouts of the rest of this course. I’ve not been able to participate due to family illness and not working, and I am absolutely appalled to find that it’s not even here to download after all this time – and yet you are asking for even more money to pay you for monthly coaching??

    Your excuse that “the course has not progressed” is laughable at best – and actually quite outrageous.

    You sold us a product that didn’t even exist!

    You got sidetracked onto creating another course before you even completed this one.

    And now you haven’t even completed it at anywhere even *remotely* near the time frame in which you promised it – again and again – and now you phrase this in the passive tense as if it’s the fault of the course that it isn’t writing itself??

    Given the time problems here, I would appreciate a gratis DVD of all of the materials, including the coaching calls.

    I think it’s the very least you could do.

    But I want the *full* course I paid for! And now, not in several more months.

    For versions 13/14 – which we were in when this class started and when it should have ended.

    This is an outrage.

    Wendy

    • 
      Eric Bobrow
      13 years ago

      Wendy –

      Thank you for posting your comment and sharing your feelings about the Best Practices Course. I appreciate that you have taken the time to write, and I am sorry you feel so outraged. I feel badly about that, so I would like to respond immediately.

      Yes, I sold you and the others who joined at the beginning of this journey a product that didn’t even exist. Guilty as charged.

      I said at the time that I would create a 26 week series of lessons on ArchiCAD, and anticipated that I would be able to produce the lessons over a 26 week period. I was naive – this project is much larger than I ever anticipated. As I have gone along, it has continued to grow in scope.

      You signed up at the beginning, with the launch offer of $397, much less than the current course price of $697. At that time I promised 26 weeks of 45 minute lessons = about 20 hours, along with one 90 minute coaching call each month for 6 months = 9 hours, or a grand total of 29 hours of training materials.

      At this point, I have produced only 12 weeks of lessons, but they have been somewhat longer than 45 minutes, probably averaging closer to an hour each = 10 or 11 hours. I expanded the coaching program to 3 times each month, and regularly do between 90 minutes and 110 minutes each time. In 2011, there were about 28 or 29 coaching calls totaling well over 45 hours of recorded content (which, by the way, have been carefully indexed by volunteer course members to make them even more useful). In addition, I produced the QuickStart Course as a free bonus for all course members, which is an additional 13 hours (this covers the basics, but many veteran course members have said that they have learned a LOT while watching them – give them a try). So at this point, you have access to 10 + 45 + 13 = 68 hours of high quality training.

      Yes, I owe you and everyone else the rest of the Best Practices Course lessons, and you WILL get them without any further charge. I am focusing again on creating new videos – during the past week I have produced 3 segments of Week 12 totaling about 90 minutes of brand new material.

      What I will not continue to give away is the Coaching Program – this is a valuable service that many members have commented is worth as much or more than the course itself. Everyone gets 6 months of access to these calls as part of the course registration, and in fact, many (like you) got a full year of this service. However, it’s totally optional for members to continue in the coaching program – there’s no obligation and it doesn’t affect the lifetime membership in the Best Practices Course itself.

      Wendy, I’d like to offer you something as an apology and in recompense. I will give you a DVD set of the course videos worth $97, as you asked. But since you were not able to participate in the coaching program due to your family illness, perhaps you’d appreciate being able to continue gratis in the Coaching Program until I finish up all the course lessons. If you’ll accept this, let me know, I’ll be happy to accommodate you.

      Eric

      P.S. I started the course in ArchiCAD 14, and am now producing it in ArchiCAD 15, however I always explain the differences in versions going back to ArchiCAD 10. We have course members on all of these different versions, and I will continue to support all of these versions since in general they are so similar in terms of workflow and basic strategies.
13. 
    TimothyBall
    13 years ago

    Eric

    I am looking forward to the content for week 23 because of the usefulness of schedules to extract data from the model.

    In advance of that, do you know of any way to include an external image file in a schedule. I am sure you could do this in 14 but I can’t find it in 15 and neither can my reseller!

    By the way your Virtual Building Exporer description needs to be updated to BIMX. We are very successfully using BIMX on iPads as nearly all of our clients have them. The experience is very much better on iPad and very intuitive. I think it’s a great success for Graphisoft. We are even persuading some of our contractors to use the BIMX model to see what the design intention is in 3D.

    Regards

    Tim

    • 
      Eric Bobrow
      13 years ago

      Tim –

      Thanks for your note.

      I do not know a way to include an external image file in a schedule. You can include several graphic options: the 2D symbol or 3D elevation (front or back) or 3D axo view, or a preview image. You can paste in an external image into the preview for a library part and have that show in the schedule, but it is very limited in the number of pixels (it’s a preview, not really intended as an image you can enlarge).

      One workaround I just figured out with some quick experimentation: in AC15 (and I think AC14, possibly AC13) you can annotate a 3D elevation in the schedule, drawing in anything you like in 2D including (the most obvious choice) dimensioning the element. I found that I could paste in a graphic from the clipboard, and it showed up nicely. This means that you could potentially use one of the graphic options in the schedule (listed above) as a place where you can place whatever graphics you like (you might have to cover up the standard graphic that ArchiCAD supplies, if you want a “clear space” to work with.

      I have updated the description of the lesson on BIMx – thanks for pointing that out. I’m glad to hear about your success with using this add-on.

      Eric
14. 
    FardinGhodoussi
    13 years ago

    Dear Eric,

    With regret we had to write this note for your attention.

    When we try to purchase your best practice program, you promised it would be completed before end of the year 2011, and later you apologised by email to us that you had some health issue recently and you will concentrate in next couple months to finalise this course, this communication take place in October 2011.
    We are in January 2012 and no sign of any improvement only 13 weeks of 29 weeks of course has been on your site for download, and no explanation, we have paid in full for this course and we are in title to received all the course as soon possible, any email we have send to you after the second payment cashed, is ignored and left without any answer, we are hoping you will respond to the request promptly to avoid any further action.

    Regards

    Fardin
    DMG design and development ltd

    PS if we do not receive a prompt respond, we will put copy of this message of Archicad members site.

    • 
      Eric Bobrow
      13 years ago

      Fardin –

      I understand your frustration, which has stemmed from several factors. The most important of these is the fact that the course materials have not progressed during recent months. I will be preparing new lessons this week and will ask you to be patient for at least a few more days.

      In addition, you asked in an email about how to prepare a title block from scratch. I answered that question during the most recent coaching call on December 22nd, however there was a technical problem that prevented the audio from being recorded.

      I will personally record a new answer to that question and post it for you as well as other course members this week.

      Eric

      • 
        Eric Bobrow
        13 years ago

        Fardin –

        I have recorded and posted an answer to your question about designing title blocks from scratch, which you will see in the Coaching Call page for the December 22 session. I had to do this over again since there were problems with the audio in the actual coaching call.
        http://www.acbestpractices.com/coaching-call-december-22-2011/

        I also checked my records, and can see that I responded to your email of December 19 the same day, telling you that I would address your question on that December 22 call. Did you get my email?

        I had also responded to your initial email of October 18, the same day you sent it, but I never got a response from you. Perhaps my emails are being caught in your spam filter, since each time you have sent an email to me I have responded promptly.

        You posted a question on December 15 on one of the course lesson pages, and I responded on December 19 – four days later – not exactly right away, but sometimes I can’t fit everything in, and I believe there was a weekend in between and I answered on the Monday.
        http://www.acbestpractices.com/member-home/the-course/week-10/part-2/#comments

        So, to summarize – I am guilty as charged of not delivering the course lessons by the end of 2011, and will be working hard on this during the next two or three months. However, in response to your other statements, I responded to your emails and posted comments each time.

        I will send you an email tonight with a copy of this information, and would like to make sure that you receive it. Please reply to my email so I know that you got it OK.

        Thanks for your understanding.
        Eric
15. 
    JonathanWeaver
    13 years ago

    Eric

    Have you done week #17 as of yet…It is one I am looking forward to.

    Thanks Jonathan

    • 
      Eric Bobrow
      13 years ago

      Jonathan –
      I will be creating that material in January. I have covered some of this in the coaching calls – please scan the coaching call index to locate references to renovation or remodel projects. In addition, you may be interested in my article on this topic here:
      http://www.bobrow.com/archicad-tutorials/archicad-tutorial-remodels-additions-archicad/
      Eric
16. 
    tom bowness
    13 years ago

    hey buddy,

    im currently studying AT at university in the uk, we get taught archicad but not to the depth u go, i was wondering if i can select certain weeks/modules to do only as oppose to the full course?

    financially would be a dream boat!

    please email me a reply

    Tom

    • 
      Eric Bobrow
      13 years ago

      Tom –

      Thanks for your post.
      I’m glad to know that you are studying ArchiCAD at university.

      Unfortunately, it’s impractical to try selling only specific pieces or lessons from the course – the administrative effort would be too much. However, I am open to offering you extended payment terms, and perhaps a bit of a student discount, if you’d like to have access to the entire course.

      Please send an email to support@acbestpractices.com and I’ll be happy to work something out with you.

      Eric
17. 
    Eric
    13 years ago

    Lori –

    I just double-checked our contact management system and can see that you were never properly added to the Best Practices Course email distribution list. You were on the MasterTemplate list, since you also purchased MasterTemplate, and you were on the course website login list — but not on the course email list.

    My sincere apologies!!!

    I have added you to the course email list, and from here on out you should be getting emails regularly from me.

    Eric
18. 
    LoriCarlson
    13 years ago

    There hasn’t seemed to be any recent lesson postings since week #9 or in the quick start course. When can I expect the remaining lessons?

    • 
      Eric
      13 years ago

      Lori –

      Over the weekend (July 23-24) I added two more lessons totaling 37 minutes to the QuickStart Course, finishing out Module 2. I sent an email to all course members – did you not receive it?

      Now that I’ve recovered from my recent illness, I’ll be focusing on finishing up the QuickStart Course over the next 3 weeks (give or take) then resuming the Best Practices lessons, planning to get everything done by the end of October.

      I apologize for the delays over the past few months – I’m going to be moving a lot more quickly over the next three months!!

      Eric

      • 
        LoriCarlson
        13 years ago

        The last email I received was on 7-20-11 regarding Master Template 15. Am I missing correspondance?

        • 
          Eric
          13 years ago

          Lori –
          Sorry I didn’t respond to this right away. Here is a list of the emails sent to course members since July 20:
          July 21, 23 and 26, plus August 1 and 8 – emails were sent about coaching calls
          August 3, 11, 12 and 14 – emails were sent about new materials being posted for the QuickStart Course.
          Please let me know if you are not receiving these regular emails.
          Eric
        • 
          LoriCarlson
          13 years ago

          Eric,
          I have not received any of these e-mails. What do I need to do to get on the e-mail list?

          Thanks,
          Lori
19. 
    Pete Andreassend
    14 years ago

    Hi interested in a tutorial on doing a bill of quantites of my projects in v10 do you have anything that would be of use to me as a builder.

    Pete Andreassend

    • 
      Eric
      14 years ago

      Pete –

      That’s an excellent topic for exploration. ArchiCAD can be set up to report quantities in a variety of ways, and to (almost) as much depth as you might want. I have not created a tutorial on this yet, but plan to focus on it in Week #22 of the Best Practices Course.

      Perhaps I’ll also do a free tutorial on the subject at some point, giving some quick guidance on important parts of the process.

      There is a comprehensive book that I purchased a while back that you might try to track down: “ArchiCAD – From CAD to Quantity Survey”, by Eric Wilk. It is translated from the original French version, and is quite comprehensive, although a bit hard to approach as a result.

      I recommend that you check out the add-on by Cigraph called ArchiQuant (you can Google the link) that aids in setting up a comprehensive quantity survey.

      Have you asked this question on ArchiCAD-Talk? There are probably some other resources that people can recommend to you. I wish I could be more helpful – this is as much as I can give you right now.

      Eric
20. 
    Melissa
    14 years ago

    Ha ha! No not my cat, just a photo I found on the web. Every time I look at it it makes me giggle!

    Revision management is a very important thing for us as architects, so would be great if you could include it.

    🙂
    M
21. 
    MelissaFleming
    14 years ago

    Hi Eric,

    As you know, I’m loving your course! I’ve been working with Archicad since the mid-90’s and your course is helping me work out which of the habits I’ve developed are good ones, which could be improved and (most importantly) how to improve them.

    Over the years, I’ve had various methods of managing drawing revisions (including the Cadimage tool) but none have been overwhelmingly successful. If you haven’t planned it already, I’d really appreciate your advice on the best way to manage revisions and transmittals using the archicad model and layout book system.

    Regards,
    Melissa

    • 
      Eric
      14 years ago

      Hi Melissa –

      Love your photo! Is that your cat with a watermelon on it’s head?
      Thanks for your kind words – I’m glad you’re finding the course useful.

      Revision management is not an area that I’ve spent much time looking at. I will consider your suggestion and see what I can include on this topic.

      Eric
22. 
    Salma Mussa
    14 years ago

    I hope with this Best course to use ArchiCad Properly or better. It seems too…

    • 
      Eric
      14 years ago

      Salma –
      Thanks for joining the course.
      I hope you find it a valuable guide to getting more benefit from ArchiCAD.
      Eric
23. 
    Chris Sinkinson
    14 years ago

    Eric
    To anyone – I’ve just finished listening to your Welcome and Orientation introduction to the course today on 15th March. As usual you make the whole thing so easy to understand and I am looking forward to the new material which is due to be introduced.

    I can fully recommend your sterling efforts to anyone wanting to learn and use ArchiCAD. If they are able they should enroll in this course and buy a copy of MasterTemplate.

    I am a long standing user of ArchiCAD and although I have had a fully formed default startup file with all the enhancements, I find your course is helping me understand some of the mysteries of ArchiCAD which are not so easily found in the ArchiCAD manual. It is surprising how much stuff you do not know about a programme you use every working day. From shortcuts to quicker ways to do things as well as things that you did not know existed.

    I started using your MasterTemplate several months ago and integrated some of my own stuff and so I have the best of both ‘worlds’.

    Keep up the good work!
    Chris Sinkinson (UK)

    • 
      Eric
      14 years ago

      Chris –
      I appreciate your enthusiastic comments.
      I will do my best to keep up the good work so you feel the same at the end of the course as you do now, or perhaps even better…
      Eric
24. 
    Mariya Lilith
    14 years ago

    It’s a relief to see a clearly thought out curriculum.

    When I took ArchiCAD at my college, we didn’t even receive a syllabus until the 6th week; and we definitely didn’t follow a curriculum. What I’ve discovered is that when you take a course in school, the instructor may have just learned the software the semester before.

    That is why I am quickly becoming a fan of online instruction. I love that Eric has 2 decades of experience. I love that I can read feedback about a potential instructor – and Eric has great feedback. I’ve been able to sample his course with “The 7 Keys” and view his teaching style. He’s simply an excellent teacher. He knows the subject and clearly enjoys sharing his knowledge with others. I am really hype about the coming weeks!

    • 
      Eric
      14 years ago

      Thanks Mariya!
      Eric
25. 
    David Blackwell
    14 years ago

    Eric, what worries me is that I am not getting much of a 3D sense here.
    ArchiCAD is brilliant because of its 3D capability to work clever.
    We are Architects. We do buildings. Buildings are 3 dimensional.
    In my humble opinion 3D comes first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth & seventh!!

    “Model in 3D well so you can draw in 2D less”, …..I cant wait…

    My pitch if I was putting together a course would be “3D every step of the way except where it can done no other way but in 2D”

    Roll on the clever 3D training the sooner the better.

    thanks, David

    • 
      Eric
      14 years ago

      David –
      Not to worry. Weeks # 8 through 14 as well as parts of 15 through 18 are focused on 3D modeling strategies and techniques. Coming soon!
      Eric

      P.S. While you’re waiting, take a look at my video tutorials on:

      Solid Element Operations and Terrain Modeling
      http://www.actemplate.com/video-tips/terrain-seo/

      Creating Rafter Tails
      http://www.actemplate.com/video-tips/archicad-video-tip-creating-rafter-tails/

      How to Trace 2D Drawings to Create Your Model
      http://www.actemplate.com/video-tips/trace2d/

      or one of my many Tips and Tricks articles on AECbytes (particularly the ones on Creative Uses of Complex Profiles, Introduction to Solid Element Operations).
26. 
    Lilian Seow
    14 years ago

    I just purchased this BP course today…and I’m confused. I see week 1 has already started on Feb 20. Or have I mistaken that I can start anytime ?

    • 
      Eric
      14 years ago

      Lilian –

      Welcome to the Best Practices Course!

      We’ve been underway since December, and 5 weeks of material are currently available for you to watch. I’ll be creating more lessons starting next week, and hope to deliver one week of curriculum content for each calendar week over the next few months, until all 26 weeks are completed this summer.

      If you have additional questions, please post them here or wherever is appropriate, or email support@acbestpractices.com.

      I look forward to working with you!
      Eric
27. 
    Earl Applegate
    14 years ago

    Eric,
    Is it possible to cover Week #16 (Attributes, Project Preferences, Work Environment) earlier?
    This seems (to me) a basic “set up the program” step that would be useful to learn as early
    as possible.

    Thanks,

    Earl

    • 
      Eric
      14 years ago

      Earl –
      Thanks for your feedback. I’ll make sure that critical parts of the setup are covered as we go along, but plan to summarize and collect this into a separate module in Week #16.
      Eric
28. 
    gayla bechtol
    14 years ago

    Sounds great. Layer combination management would be helpful. The course is great so far. My skills in ArchiCAD have multiplied since starting this course. Thanks so much!
29. 
    Marek Stoklosa
    14 years ago

    Eric, I look forward to the outlined classes that you will present in the future. I incorporated the previous sessions into my work and it works like a charm.

    Thank you for your hard work.
30. 
    Antoine Boulos
    14 years ago

    Great Plan. Can not wait for the rest of the lessons. I would love if you could add some courses to help master the lightworks renderings engine. Thank you so much for your great help

    • 
      Eric
      14 years ago

      Antoine –
      I’ll be covering some of Lightworks in the bonus lessons called Rendering and Presentation Tips. I don’t plan on doing a comprehensive training on this area, but will include some of the things I find important to work effectively – and fast – when you’re creating renderings.
      Eric
31. 
    John Chando
    14 years ago

    Would like to have seen at least one lesson on “renderings” and the use of the “sun elements and lamps. Would also be nice to have some discussion of generating “Lists” window and door schedule, etc.

    • 
      Eric
      14 years ago

      John –
      As I mentioned to Antoine (above) I will prepare the equivalent of two week’s content on renderings in the bonus lessons.
      Window and Door Schedules as well as some quantity take off lists are going to be covered in week #21.
      Eric
32. 
    Eddy Rachmat
    14 years ago

    Hi Eric,
    I love seeing the plan for the course materials that will be provided over 27 weeks. Thank you!
    Eddy Rachmat from Manokwari – Indonesia
33. 
    Andrew Polkinghorne
    14 years ago

    Eric,
    My mouth is starting to water!
    Andrew from Australia