Now that the QuickStart Course is complete, I invite members to add their general comments on QuickStart to this page. I am particularly interested in the following:
- General statements about the QuickStart Course – what you feel you have gotten out of it, how useful it is, would you recommend it
- Favorite lessons and take-aways – which modules or lessons were your favorite, and why; what this means or will mean to you as you use ArchiCAD in practice
- Has the QuickStart Course been a catalyst or a resource that has allowed you or a colleague to actually get started using ArchiCAD successfully
It would be interesting to mention whether you are a newer user of ArchiCAD or a veteran user (perhaps you could say what version you started with).
I look forward to reading your comments!
Let us know how you feel... (49 comments so far)
You must be logged in to post a comment.
-
StoykoMoev
6 years ago -
Katharina Ruskovsky
12 years agoDear Mr. Bobrow,
I have downloaded the educational version of ArchCAD 16 from Graphisoft which gives me 30 days of free practice.
If I purchase your QuickStart Course do I consider as a student and can I apply for the 1 year license with Graphisoft?
Thank you for your answer!
With my kindest regards
Katharina Ruskovsky
-
Eric Bobrow
12 years agoKatharina –
It is up to Graphisoft to decide whether you qualify as a student, based on studying ArchiCAD through a college or with a home study course (such as QuickStart). I suggest you ask your local Graphisoft reseller or distributor about this, and report back whatever you find out.
Eric-
Katharina Ruskovsky
12 years agoDear Eric,
Well I have not received answer from Graphisoft, they must feel my request was mostly ridiculous.
But I will find the way, because I wold love to learn with you.
Until than all the best!
Katharina
-
Eric Bobrow
12 years agoKatharina –
Good luck in figuring this out.
I look forward to welcoming you into the course, and helping you become proficient with ArchiCAD.
Eric -
Katharina Ruskovsky
12 years agoDear Eric,
I have wonderful news! I have been granted the 1-year extension by Graphisoft.
My first 2 emails did not find its way to the right address but finally I got trough.I am very very pleased and happy. I will get my things in order and will sign up to your QuickStart Course ASAP.
Have a wonderful day!
Katharina
-
-
-
Eric Bobrow
12 years agoKatharina –
I’m very pleased to know that Graphisoft has granted you the one year student license. Did Graphisoft consider your enrollment in my ArchiCAD training course enough to qualify you for a student license?
Eric-
Katharina Ruskovsky
12 years agoDear Eric,
Yes I believe they did.
If you give me an email address I can forward you my conversation with Graphisoft.Kind regards
Katharina
-
Katharina – Please send forward your email correspondence to me at eric@bobrow.com. Be sure to put the word “ArchiCAD” in the subject line so I can easily find it among other emails from new senders.
Eric
-
-
-
-
TRAVERSIER Paul
12 years agoHello !
I’m a french man and my englisch is verrry bad.Your DVD lesson are in french ?
Paul
-
Eric Bobrow
12 years agoHello Paul –
I am sorry, but the lessons are in English only at this point. We are working on a Spanish translation for the Best Practices Course (available through http://www.acbestpractices.es), and may do a French translation next year if there is enough interest. There are PDF versions of each lesson (in English, of course) which may make it easier, since you can read the lesson contents (or have it translated roughly using http://translate.google.com), and refer to this PDF while you watch the videos.
Eric
-
-
AnjaWiehl
12 years agoThank you for the great Quick Start Course, I am sure I will join your BPC shortly.
But in the meantime I am working on a project with split levels. There are a number of varying floor levels not all fitting on top of each other. How can I create storys that don’t automatically make the “height to next level” change? Or rather how should I deal with this best?
Anja
-
AnjaWiehl
12 years agoHi. I have an issue where my navigator palette keeps disappearing. I have it open and placed on the right side of the screen as I see in your tutorials. Once I am in a command and do my first click it disappears and I have to re-open it every time I want to navigate. What do you suggest could be the problem? At first Archicad did not do this and then suddenly it did. Maybe I unknowingly changed a setting? This does not happen to say the control box palette.
(I did create a navigator palette shortcut that makes this problem workable)Am really enjoying your course!
Anja-
Eric Bobrow
12 years agoAnja –
You have somehow triggered the Autohide feature of the Navigator. To turn this off, simply right-click in the heading area of the Navigator and select Autohide Navigator. The problem will go away!
Eric-
AnjaWiehl
12 years agoGreat, thank you. Life seems simpler now 🙂
Another question:
When I save a file, close Archicad to shut down my computer and then later in the day open it again to work on the same file I can’t simply click save without it asking for a new name again. Now i learnt from you to save my files with the date at the end in order not to go mad with titles but this then makes this complicated as I am still in the same day. I can give the same name and say replace, but I don’t like that so much in case you accidentally have the wrong file. What else can you suggest?-
Anja –
I’m not sure why you are experiencing this problem. Perhaps you are saving the files as a PLA (archive) file, rather than a PLN. Make sure you are saving as a standard solo project (PLN) file. Once you have done this one time, in the future you do not need to use the Save As… command; instead simply use Save (or CTRL-S or Command-S). ArchiCAD will then simply oversave the file with the latest version; it will also put the previous saved version into the BPN or backup position, as long as you have that option turned on in your Options menu > Work Environment > Data Safety preferences.
Eric
-
-
-
-
GordonStone
12 years agoI have to say as a Newbie to ArchiCad I have found your style of teaching very easy to follow and as I have mentioned in other section, a joy to watch and learn. I can see how much work you have put into this as you must have other courses, which is a credit to you. Anyone thinking of going for a Course with Eric would have no regrets at all and end that course having learned a lot and eager to learn more.
Eric, your a teacher we all should have had, all I can say is a BIG thank you for your work, effort and follow up, never has learning been so enjoyable, I always look forward to the next part.-
Eric Bobrow
12 years agoGordon –
Thank you so much for your kind words.
I’m glad you are enjoying the training materials so much.
Eric
-
-
Olayemi Ajose
13 years agoHello Bob,
I purchased the quick start module from you about three weeks ago..although I am able to log on to your website to practice archicad however, I have not yet received my box of CD’s that I thought came with the purchase.
Please advice me in case I am mistaken.
Kind Regards
Jim
-
Eric Bobrow
13 years agoJim –
I looked up your account, and can see that you signed up for the QuickStart Course recently, but did not order the QuickStart DVD at that time. If you’d like to get the course sent to you on a DVD, you may order the disk for $19 including shipping from the member area under the The QuickStart Course menu > Get the QuickStart Course on DVD page.
Note that it is a single DVD with all 13 hours of instruction. The images of multiple disks refer to the Best Practices Course, which comes on 6 disks (plus it also includes the QuickStart Course DVD). The Best Practices Course DVD set is only available to people who have registered for the full Best Practices Course.
Eric
-
-
KennethMunson
13 years agoEric,
Not sure where this comment belongs, but I’ll give it a shot here. I’ve worked through all of the QuickStart tutorials as well as the Best Practices material. All of it has been very helpful and insightful. I am now in the process of repeating the Tutorials in hopes of getting the multitude of information, techniques, and strategies to sink-in. I have a couple of suggestions to consider.
It would be VERY helpful to new/newer ArchiCAD users, like myself, if all of the Tutorial lessons (QuickStart and Best Practices) followed an actual project, start to finish. It would provide a template to learn from. There are often times in the videos’ where I have missed a point being made in the audio portion, so I then look to the video portion. There are a number of instances where the screens (yours/the tutorial and mine) don’t match. It is much easier to learn a method/technique if the screens (tools, worksheets, Views, etc) match.
This is probably not so important to those users who are familiar with ArchiCAD and have used it for one or two versions. But those of us who are not so familiar would benefit from a project-based and/or matching screen approach to the tutorials. You have some of this already, but it appears to jump around a bit, some of the model in the QuickStart program and some in the Best Practices. I just viewed a Best Practices lesson where the view map, and project were more advanced than the model that I had following along with did not match so I had difficulty following along. A possible solution this might be to have a downloadable model for each lesson so that the screens (instructor/student) match.
This may also apply to the/your MasterTemplate. It appears that some of the tutorials are using the MasterTemplate and some are not. When trying to follow along, it would be helpful if our screens matched. Then, we can listen, see, and follow along, matching the lesson, clip-by-clic.
Thank you so much for your work to-date. The lessons and your insight have been extremely helpful. I hope that you will continue to develop and improve these much needed, and much appreciated, tutorials.
~Ken
-
Eric Bobrow
13 years agoKen –
I appreciate your comments and would love to accommodate your request to build an actual project from start to finish and use that as the basis of the training course.
However, I do not believe it is practical for me to cover all the topics in the Best Practices Course with a single building model. There are too many different subjects, tasks and contexts to try to build them all in a logical sequence in a single model file.
With the QuickStart Course, it was possible to accomplish this, so after some introductory exploration, from Module 3 through 7 the course develops a single building model. Unfortunately, I cannot supply this building model to students because there are so many versions of the software that people use – AC10, AC11, etc. through AC15 and beyond.
I use MasterTemplate as an example for learning purposes to show how far things can go in terms of effective project setup. If you purchase MasterTemplate you will be able to explore its structure, and study the sample project. We have versions of MasterTemplate for all variations of ArchiCAD since 10.
I wish I could give you more fully what you want. I’m trying my hardest to do it as well as I can, and to make it as clear as possible. I suggest that you go back through some of the lessons when you get a chance, since (as with anything) it will often get clearer when you view them a second time.
Eric
-
-
Eric,
The course is great. It is exactly what I need to get back up to speed quickly. I first taught myself Archicad vs. 6 umpteen years ago for a company I worked for. After I left that company, I was never able to get the next company to buy into the program. Oddly enough I have met several people who learned how to use the software from the original company and thanked me. Meanwhile I never had the chance to use it myself. Having your course on hand helps a lot and really all of the modules are great. When I can, I expect to upgrade to your next lessons.
You’re a great teacher and deserve all the success that comes to you for your efforts.
Sincerely,
Paul Setti
-
Thanks for this series. Great information and the coaching calls really help a lot.
-
Bob George
13 years agoEric, I am just beyond halfway through the QuickStart course. I have been using ArchiCAD since version 6.5, and I took the course it in hopes that it would fill in the gaps I was certain I was missing. I am largely self-taught, and I had gained precious little from side-by-side tutoring sessions with people who know the program too well to teach it…if that statement makes sense. As others above have said, your QuickStart course has been refreshing and rejuvenating to this senior practitioner who had, from time to time, looked lovingly and longingly at the pencils, erasers and triangles that he put away many years ago! I really appreciate your deliberate, thorough, elemental teaching style that makes each step very clear. Unlike the tutors I mentioned above, you don’t bounce around and leave out clicks or alternatives, and that style has improved my production….and enthusiasm…significantly. I will look forward to the Best Practices course in the near future.
-
Jay Perera
13 years agoI have been using Archi Cad for the last 6 years,since I came to know how much this will help me to design and develop my ideas in to built environment.Very recent I have done some Conceptual design and presentation drawings (BIM) for couple of Hotel Projects overseas, by using
Archi Cad 15.If I would have followed your Quick Start Course prior to my work, I would have saved much much more time and also could have been refined my presentation pretty accurate.
I would thank you very much for the wonderful service you rendered to all of us to improve further.
JAY -
ThomasShumaker Jr
13 years agoPerhaps I should have prefaced my question with the comment that I, as many others, have been using ArchiCAD for years in the office, but only recently have I been obliged to do actual production work again, as in the good old days. In fact it’s been six years!
This QuickStart effort has been a wonderful review and refresher. I’m constantly saying, “Oh yeah, now I remember,” to myself.” And, “So THAT’S what that button does!”
I’ll spend the long weekend reviewing, then a few days next week with “Best Practices” and fully expect to be up and running at …almost …top speed by the end of that week.
I can’t emphasize enough how helpful these lessons have been.
-TAS
-
ThomasShumaker Jr
13 years agoI’ll be spending a long weekend out of wifi range and would like to download QuickStart and take it with me. How is this done?
-TAS
-
Eric Bobrow
13 years agoHi Tom –
You may download any of the video lessons by right-clicking the DOWNLOAD button that you should see at the bottom right of the video, and choosing Save Target File As… or similar. This will save an MP4 video file on your computer for you to use offline.
Have fun this weekend!
Eric -
ThomasShumaker Jr
13 years agoOf course I figured that out a minute after I “submitted” my comment. But prompt replies are always appreciated in this business, even if sometimes unnecessary.
-
-
Steve H
13 years agoEric,
I have started watching & learning from your QuickStart course
and all I can say is “I wish I had found you years ago”. I thank-you.
Kind regards,
Steve -
PaulFewell
13 years agoHi Eric,
First I would like to thank you for your work in putting this Quick Start Course together. I am very impressed! It is obvious that you have worked hard to put this together. I am looking forward to continuing on in the course. I will be joining you in the future Coaching Calls in the weeks ahead.
Regards,
Paul Fewell -
Hans Bohlmann
13 years ago“Liberating” is what I find Quickstart.
Technology liberated architecture and construction in the last decade and half.
ArchiCAD liberated Architects a decade and half ago.
Since release 5 ArchiCAD has, of necessity, grown hugely more capable, keeping up with the construction capability of today. eg Curtain walls and complex shell structures.
With that exponential growth in capability came some inevitable growth in complexity in recent releases of AC.Quickstart removes that veil of complexity and gives back that same feeling of exhilarating liberation that AC 5.0 gave us all those years ago.
Quickstart shows us how to automate the complexity of today’s ArchiCAD so that we can again focus on creating concepts instead of searching through tools and shortcuts to get the project documented.13 fun weeks of (re)learning. And all of a sudden ArchiCAD became second nature again, leaving me to do what I enjoy doing the most, “creative design” (in way less time).
Thanks Eric
-
AntonyCooper
13 years agoThe quick start course is an excellent comprehensive guide useful for the complete novice, to the intermediate user who wants to further enhance their skills. I particularly like how Eric takes the time to illustrate American and International versions and different releases (ten to fifteen) of ArchiCAD.
-
Vadim Hsu
13 years agoI found the QuickStart classes very helpful to get up and running on AC15. It took some of the overwhelming feelings i have had about switching away from AutoCad and moving to ArchiCad on a Mac-based platform. The classes seem very complete even a basic introduction to an amazingly powerful and complex program. But it can get you started on putting a basic building together from start to finish and output. I know there’s a lot more to it, but this got me working and discovering new things too on my own. Eric explains things very articulately and keeps it simple but clear, where it could easily get overwhelming.
Classes I would add would be to explain the Renovation Tool, and setting up toolbars and pallets, and manipulating/customizing the very important Preferences and Work Environment in the pull down menus. Maybe a separate class just to go over the ‘Need to Know’ parts of the Menus and shortcut advice. Also a little less time with the metric version….
Overall, a very helpful start! As the name would imply.
Great job Eric! -
Tony Warburton
13 years agoI started using archicad 14 about 12 month’s ago and just battled on with it on my own for the first six months. It was really just trial and error as the tutorials supplied with archicad are as good as useless for a novice user. Then one day while searching the Web for lessons I stumbled onto this fellow called Eric Bobrow. Well this would have to be the best money I ever spent. I believe Eric’s course should be the tutorial that is supplied with archicad. The lessons are fun and very easy to understand and if you dont quite understand something you just fire off an email to Eric and within no more than an hour you have your own personal answer direct from the guru himself.
I would recommend this course and Eric Bobrow to any user whether novice or veteran as it is the best reference going.Cheers and thanks
Tony Warburton
-
John Dunham
13 years agoI have been refreshing my ArchiCAD skills after having to use another cad program for the last couple of years. The QuickStart course, along with the Best Practices course, has made this painless, and is taking me to a skill level that I have longed for for many years. I only wish these had been available when I first began using ArchiCAD – they would have saved me a lot of time and helped me avoid many long and frustrating nights trying to figure out the program from the manual. Thank you Eric!
-
ChristopherEllis
13 years agoArchicad is extremely useful and powerful. With that, comes complexity. Eric’s lessons build upon each other and provide a methodical approach to both the mechanics of 3D “construction” but also insights into the philosophy behind the software. His is a unique and personal approach, as though he were right next to me, showing me all the tricks of the trade. If you are new to Archicad, this will get you up and productive in just a few days. Veterans will also learn all kinds of wonderful new tricks of the trade.
If you are using Archicad, this is the best money you can ever spend. Your confidence and efficiency will improve exponentially. Do yourself a favor and purchase this wonderful and comprehensive course. With Eric’s insightful lessons, you will suddenly notice that you have gotten beyond the software and back to designing. Invest in yourself. It will pay for itself in the first day.
Chris Ellis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
-
HI Eric,
As you are aware, I have been one of the original individuals who signed up for your Best Practices courses. I have paid in advance for the complete CD set of Best Practices.
I have also ben enjoying the Quick Start courses. Can I order a CD of the Quick Start classes from you also at this time. I know that to me it is free at the web site, but I would like a CD if possible. If this is possible, what is the cost.
Thanks,
Dale Paegelow, AIA
-
Eric
13 years agoDale –
All members who have ordered a set of DVDs for the Best Practices Course will receive a DVD for the QuickStart Course. It’s in production right now, and should be ready to send out next week.
Eric
-
-
I’ve started a bit reluctant to take the QuickStart lessons as I had already taken the standard Graphisoft’s Archicad Interactive Training Guides which are very complete. But in the first lessons of the module 1 I realized how much this course could improve even more my Archicad practice.
I think the QuickStart course goes deeper in understanding how the software works, the structure behind each tool, what that tool really means when you draw anything. It’s like learning the Archicad language and grammar so you can just tell it what you want and make it do the work for you, instead of fight against it in little details. And what I most enjoyed was to realize that Archicad talks the architects’ language.
I started to discovery Archicad since it’s version 11 but I’ve never did an effective use of it before. Now that I’m starting my own office and acting as an autonomous architect, I’m sure this course was fundamental to decide that Archicad is the best choice and how can we make the best use of this incredibly powerful tool.
-
HagithPopper
13 years agoHaving read all the comments above I have left nothing to do but agree with all that had been written. I have a profound appreciation for Eric’s teaching. I really got to understand how much I’ve learned from the QuickStart Course when I was standing by my friend who is practicing ArchiCad since version 4.5. I just started using AC but could “advise” her on better, quicker ways of drawing. The course is eventually a time saver which is the best of refunds!
-
RoderickAnderson
13 years agoI have found the Quickstart Course to be an invaluable part of the ArchiCAD training necessary for anybody. Even though I have been using ArchiCAD for several years now, I have found many lessons useful in discovering some small tidbit of information to make me find some new and better way of doing things.
Probably the best part of this Quickstart Course for me is that it will enable me to use it for introduction of ArchiCAD to new hires into the firm and get them up to speed quickly into the processes and the general work philosophy of working in ArchiCAD.
-
Even though I am civil engineer and building contractor, very much interest towards designing buildings ,houses in particular.Through Cad center I studied Archicad,and practiced it through version 7. I have done lot of designs with Archicad,which is best solution for people who loves to do best models. Now I am the licence holder of AC 13 TH version. practicing well.
Mr. Erric is one of good master, attractive command in teaching. Matters are very clear and understandable. Thanks to Erric.
Quick start course made me very confident in doing projects, in less time.Now I have more grip in projects.
I liked Layers and its management, view map,and its use. favorites, layout and publish chapter.modules.
All other chapters are very good.
Thanks—-thaks—–thanks—-
RAJAGOPALA HATHWAR -
WilliamButtmi
13 years agoI must say the QuickStart Course is exactly that, and much more. Very concise instruction on specific practices and procedures and I’ve been soaking up really good short-cuts and tips along the way! Has speeded my production in ArchiCAD and cut the frustration level in a big way.
-
Jim Belisle
13 years agoHi Eric,
I very much enjoyed all the QuickStart sessions. I like your deliberate, clear, calm approach.
I am a sole practitioner, doing residential work and have been working with ArchiCAD for several years, starting back with version 4.5.
I found the whole QuickStart series very, very refreshing!
Thanks,
Jim -
The Quick Start course will be an extremely valuable tool for me in the future. I have been using Archicad since version 6 and still get great tips from the Quick Start courses. I hire people (usually college students) to help with design work when we get busy and this course will be worth it’s weight in gold to me. I will be able to set the student down at a computer and walk away for a while as they take your course, thus freeing me up to continue my own work.
Think about it – 13 hours of training for a couple of hundred dollars. That’s only about $15 per hour. What a great deal for me to have this teaching tool available. Thank you so much!
-
Edwin Pagaduan
13 years agoVery very precise in Details…I am using archicad for 2 years now starting in Archicad12 but your approach and methods are without comparison. All the modules are important from start to finish…It is highly recommended to those would be Archicad Users and even those who are using it already. The tips and tricks of how to draw things the fastest way with explanations and the balance of always showing commands in both Windows and Mac.
I would say it is a real investment and value for money…Thanks Eric.
-
1. This is an excellent introduction Course to Archicad. It will enable you to obtain a quick understanding of a wide range of areas and start producing drawings very quickly. I have found it really valuable. I believe Eric has created a really helpful, informative and enjoyable learning environment. I looked forward to every Lesson.
2. My favourite Lesson was 7-2 Site modelling with mesh, slab and object tools. This is one of my favourite Archicad tools and Eric approached this complex subject in a way I hadn’t previously known. Other favourites are 2-1, 5-2. Actually all Modules are really good.
3. I have been a very intermittent Archicad user for some time and the Quickstart Course has been invaluable in getting me over a long frustrating phobia around CAD use. Thanks Eric for creating such a user friendly environment.
Hi Eric,
Very helpful intro – thank you.
Have you updated the tutorial to reflect newer versions of ArchiCAD?
Many thanks,
Stoyko