Each month there are one or more coaching calls; this is a recording of the session on April 30, 2013January – June 2013
ArchiCAD Training – Coaching Call – April 30, 2013
| Thank you for visiting the Best Practices Course website. The video lessons are available for members only. If you are an active member and would like to watch the ArchiCAD training video on this page, please login to the website. If you are not currently a member, please visit the following pages for more information and to sign up for the Best Practices Course, the QuickStart Course or for the Best Practices ArchiCAD Coaching Program. Eric Bobrow, Creator of the Best Practices Course |
ArchiCAD Training Session Notes
NOTE: In the first part of this session, I had a serious issue with my computer which necessitated restarting the machine. This recording starts after the reboot. Fortunately, the rest of the call went forward without a problem, and many good topics and questions were addressed.
| Trouble-shooting titles on layout sheets | Some of the callers had been having issues with titles (name and position) not being what they wanted or expected when they were dragged onto a sheet. So, Eric does some trouble-shooting. Eric uses the eyedropper tool to set the title as required (this tool changes the default). | 0:03:01 |
| Issues with layers and getting the layers with line selections to stick | Eric explains how layers work when you change your tool selection (e.g. circle tool to line tool). Basically when you change tools ArchiCAD stays on the layer that was already selected. This is called a preference setting and to change this you need to – first open up the particular tool you are working with default settings and when you have done this at the top of the dialog box (let’s say we are using the line tool) there is a check box that says “uniform settings for line tools”. The rule is if this box is checked then as you switch to draw a line on the ceiling layer, then it will also switch the layer for the arcs and the polylines to match that. If you don’t want that to be true uncheck the check box. | 0:06:25 |
| How to shorten the layer list | The layers list can become long and unwieldy and it becomes desirable to get rid of layers (just turn off from view not delete) from this list that aren’t in use (i.e. locked). Eric shows how to do this go to options>work environment>dialog box and palettes>check the dialog box saying “hide locked layers in pop-up palettes” | 0:12:15 |
| How to quickly unlock a layer and the quick layer palette | Just right click on the object that is on a layer that you want to unlock and select – layers>unlock layer. Another quick way you can manipulate layers is go to – windows>palettes>quick layers. Eric shows how to use the quick layers palette. | 0:18:25 |
| Strategy for when to have types of layers turned on-off | Eric gives some advice to a caller on good practice in regards to which layers to have on/off at a particular time. | 0:24:44 |
| How to record the time you spend working on ArchiCAD | There is a tool made by cigraph that allows you to do this together with other analysis project tools (see link on right) | 0:32:20 |
| Issue with rendering when using an add-on from cadimage | The caller said that she wanted more options to do sidings and trim, so she purchased a cadimage addon to do this. Unfortunately she was finding that they weren’t rendering correctly with lightworks. Eric says “there are two things that can effect lightworks renderings”. One of these things is potentially within your control and the other is not. Eric says it is possible that the material hasn’t been set up properly with lightworks if that is the case when you select lightworks in the material settings click on “match with internal engine”. If this isn’t the issue then the problem might be one that is not within your control and is to do with technical issues about the way surfaces are defined. Eric explains what the technical issues are in layman’s terms. | 0:36:35 |
| The lady caller asked if she could make changes to the siding material that is inbuilt in ArchiCAD materials. Eric shows how to change the colour/color of the siding in ArchiCAD by just using lightworks. Eric also shows the lady caller how to turn on vectorial hatching and fills so the siding and its colour/color also show up in elevations. To turn it on go to – elevation selection settings>model display>uncut elements>fill uncut surfaces with>own materials shaded>and then still in this dialog box section check vectorial 3d hatching. | 0:47:18 | |
| Explanation on marked distance | Explanation on the elevation distance range markers and how they effect what is shown. This for example allows you to make things look a little bit different in the background i.e. so you can have the things in the foreground grabbing the viewer’s attention (in other words you are adding the concept of depth). | 0:53:45 |
Additional session notes will be posted here after our tireless volunteer Antony Cooper finishes reviewing the session.
Thanks Antony from all of us!
ArchiCAD Training – Coaching Call – April 30, 2013
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