July – December 2012
ArchiCAD Training – Coaching Call – December 19, 2012
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
Want to download this video, pause or resume playback, jump to a specific point or watch this video in a larger window? Click here for Video Playback Notes...

 ArchiCAD Training Session Notes

QUESTION ANSWER SUMMARY AND NOTES START TIME
How to best use objects created by manufacturer’s in ArchiCAD Objects created by manufacturer’s can greatly enhance ArchiCAD projects. And the caller wanted to know how to best work with them in ArchiCAD and make them intelligent, especially the ones that are brought in using IFC format. There is a link posted on the right that connects to a website that has lots of BIM created objects on it. To show the quality of the object’s, Eric brings in a  DWG. format manufacturer’s object (in this case a sink) from the “Duravit” webpage (they are a manufacturer of bathroom products). Eric explains what the merge and open commands do in relation to IFC objects. When using the “open” command you may choose to use the translator, and Eric explains the various options here. 0:01:00
What is an IFC Eric explains what IFC (industry foundation classes) is and what it is for. 0:07:24
  How to put a downloaded IFC part that has been opened up in ArchiCAD into other ArchiCAD models (i.e. save it into a library or folder) – file>libraries and objects>library manager>highlight the particular ifc object’s name (in the dialog box)>click the second button on the bottom right-hand side of the library manager dialog box (which is “export embedded subtree into local folder”). Be aware that you have limited ability to make changes to an IFC object; you can change the material the objectis made from but you can’t easily make changes to the smaller detailed parts of a brought in object e.g. a door handle of a cupboard. 0:16:32
  The “merge” command and IFC objects – file>file special>merge 0:18:54
How to get rid of IFC triangulation lines and the advantage of changing IFC objects into morphs. If you have ArchiCAD 16 there are tools that can get rid of the IFC’s objects triangulation lines that show up in certain views. Basically you right-click on the object and select the convert selection to morph option. It also appears that when you turn the selection to a morph it will keep its data embedded (see time 0:46:00 for a demonstration of this). Eric also demonstrates (at 0:51:20) how “select subtype” when you have opened an object up can be used to add extra fields i.e. manufacturer details and serial number. The caller and Eric discuss how this data should be available to pull out when you do your schedule. Using the “select subtype” feature ensures that everytime you use the particular object in a project all the information you need comes with it. 0:21:22
The translator settings when bringing in DWG files Eric describes the settings in the translator and how to get the best out of them when bringing in DWG files. An interesting fact mentioned by Eric was that in recent versions of ArchiCAD you can choose which DWG layers you bring in. 0:37:06
How to bring in Sketch Up drawing files into ArchiCAD See download link on the right for addon to enable you to bring in Sketch Up files 0:59:40
How to open up another instance of ArchiCAD This is used when you want to work on two separate ArchiCAD projects at the same time – file>new>check the “launch a new instance of ArchiCAD” tick box. 1:12:28
Using the renovation palette to show changes made to a project Eric troubleshoots some issues that a lady caller was having with shimmering (in 3d window), how the elements display in the 3d window and how to make the linetypes in 2d show how she wanted. 1:14:05
Problems offsetting a contour line (corrupted polyline) The caller was having problems offsetting a contour line. Eric troubleshooted and found that the caller had one of the points on his contour line overlying another point (causing duplication) and this was preventing the contour line from offsetting properly. You clean up the contour line by moving one of the duplicated points away and then move it back to the exact same position. 1:35:26
How to eliminate duplicates in a project You need to download and install an ArchiCAD addon to do this (check duplicates tool). See link on right 1:45:30

ArchiCAD Training – Coaching Call – December 19, 2012

Let us know how you feel... (No comments so far)

You must be logged in to post a comment.

No comments yet