January – June 2011
Coaching Call – May 11, 2011

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
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 ArchiCAD Training Session Notes

QUESTION ANSWER SUMMARY AND NOTES START TIME
Update- Course Index    
  Best Practices Course – Comprehensive Index available on Google Docs 0:01:15
  Use of the Find Tool & Gadget to Search the Index 0:04:55
  Eric’s Blog Site, Mini Trainer/Summary of Best Practices 0:11:06
  Compilation of all Eric’s Tutorials (from all web-sites)  
Course Web Address   0:13:17
  News about ArchiCAD 15 0:14:47
  Eric’s on Linkedin 0:18:55
  ArchiCAD Detailing Best Practices 0:19:34
  Resource News: Outsourcing with oDesk & elance.com 0:21:38
  Shortcuts to Move Through Schedules Quicker 0:29:50
Bringing in AutoCAD DWG Images as References   0:31:24
Tip to Bring DWG Images as References           0:33:01
The Elevation Tool & Creating a Single Elevation & Single Reference   0:37:38
  Creating a New Layout 0:42:20
  Marker Range 0:46:28
Dimensioning to Rough Framing   0:53:55
  Determining Composite Structure of Walls, Materials & Fills 1:02:17
Using Solid Element Operations & Use of Layers for Solid Operators   1:10:04
  Explanation of Modeling Elements Visible in MasterTemplate 1:17:09
Sketch Rendering for Scaled Elevation Turn off Orbit> Go to View>3D Navigation Extras>Look to Perpendicular 1:20:12
  CMD + click or CTRL + click allows for adding in additional dimensions to doors or windows etcetera 1:36:51
  To Dimension all walls at one time: Document>Document Extras>Automatic Dimensioning>Exterior/Interior Dimensioning 1:38:01

ArchiCAD Training – Coaching Call – May 11, 2011

Let us know how you feel... (4 comments so far)

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  1. Avatar photo
    AndrewPolkinghorne
    13 years ago

    Hi Eric
    Another great coaching call – to continue with the sketch presentation theme, can you do a sketch rendering of a floor plan view eg furniture layout etc?


    • Eric
      13 years ago

      Andrew –

      There are a few ways to do what you want. One is to take a top down view in 3D, with the top cut off (removing any upper stories, ceiling, roof, etc.), and do a sketch rendering as before. You can remove the upper part of the building with the View menu > Elements in 3D View > 3D Cutting Planes… command.

      Another way to do this is to take a presentation plan view and create a worksheet and manipulate the linework and text. Use the worksheet tool and draw a rectangle or polygon boundary around the area of interest, which will copy the graphics to a new worksheet. Once there, you can select all or some of the lines and switch them from straight lines to wavy sketch lines (there is usually at least one of these types of lines in the linetype menu). This will create a sketchy sort of effect. You can also change the text font to a hand-drawn one if you like.

      The only thing you don’t get out of this approach is the overshoot at the corners, which is part of what makes something look less “tight” and more hand-drawn. You can manually adjust some of the more prominent lines to make them a bit shorter or longer, and perhaps get enough of the effect that it reads nicely.

      There is a plugin from Cigraph called ArchiSketchy that automates the process of changing the worksheet graphics to a sketchy look. It basically substitutes linetypes and text and does the overstretching of intersections for you really quickly.

      Eric

      • Avatar photo
        AndrewPolkinghorne
        13 years ago

        thanks Eric, I’ll try out your suggestion. I am sure I speak for everybody when I tell you how I appreciate how quick you respond to feedback, and how much thought you put in to each individual response – I don’t know how you do it, have you invented time travel so you have more hours in the day?


        • Eric
          13 years ago

          Andrew –
          Thank you for your kind words.
          I’ve found the secret to putting in more hours in the work day: going back to my computer in the evenings and late at night…
          Eric