Each month there are one or more coaching calls; this is a recording of the session on July 10, 2013July – December 2013
ArchiCAD Training – Coaching Call – July 10, 2013
ArchiCAD Training Session Notes
SPECIAL TOPIC: ArchiCAD 17 – New Interface and Features
| QUESTION | ANSWER SUMMARY AND NOTES | START TIME |
| Special Coaching Call Topic – ArchiCAD 17 – New Interface and Features (entire coaching call devoted to this topic) | ||
| In ArchiCAD 17 some changes have been made to the infobox; Eric explains what the changes are. | Eric starts by explaining the changes to the wall tools infobox settings. In the past there was just left, right and centre (in the infobox wall settings) and now there is a choice of inside, centre and outside and you can choose whether you want to apply this to either the core or face of the wall. Eric then explains a major change that has taken place in ArchiCAD, and that is the concept of “building materials” . In previous versions of ArchiCAD building material was rather dumb and just meant the surface appearance. ArchiCAD now has made “building materials smarter and because they are smarter they are able to clean up together more precisely than before. And thus now you can get cleaner and much more detailed sections etc. | 0:02:05 |
| ArchiCAD 17 has improved energy analysis and it is now much easier (and probably more accurate) to get energy analysis of the building. This is because of the concept of building materials (explained above) | ||
| BIMx | Eric explains what BIMx is (it is a way of sharing your 3d model for other people to explore in what ever way they choose without needing a copy of ArchiCAD to do this). This feature is included in all copies of ArchiCAD 17 software (it used to be an addon that had to be paid for). | 0:10:20 |
| Residential and commercial templates | These two templates only ship with the US version of ArchiCAD. Eric describes the subtle differences between them. | 0:13:02 |
| ArchiCAD now shows the skins of elements e.g. walls in the 3d window | In previous versions you would just see a single surface colour, and not the various skins. | 0:16:54 |
| The “filter and cut elements in 3d filter”, feature | Go to – view>elements in 3d view>filter and cut elements in 3d. This is an enhancement to 3d cutting planes and allows much more sophisticated interaction. Eric goes through some of the possibilities. | 0:18:30 |
| Cleaning up skins in the 3d window and the “adjust elements to slab” feature. | Eric shows how to clean up the skins of the wall to the skins of the floor in the 3d window (or section). Whilst taking us through the procedures Eric utilizes a new feature called “adjust elements to slab”, and it is this feature that will enable the clean-up. | 0:19:40 |
| Eric says he plans to do some future tutorials on ecodesigner and he may do some on ecodesigner*. He says that because ecodesigner* is an addon he is undecided whether to do some tutorials on it. | ||
| “Edit selected composite” feature | Select an element, right click on it, and select “edit selected composite”. This does the same thing as going through element attributes and picking composites, but does it much quicker, and you don’t have to search through all the composites to find the one that you want. Because right away you are working with the composite selected. | 0:31:10 |
| Can you change the surface material on the same slab from one room to another? | Unfortunately you can’t do this as the slab is one single element. You would need to create separate pieces of slab to do this. Eric demonstrates how he would go about creating slabs with different materials for each room. Basically he uses boolean operations to cut the slab into pieces. He then uses the eyedropper tool to get the settings (height and thickness) of the existing slab, and he makes the necessary changes to the surface material. So now the thickness and height (because he eyedropped the settings of the existing slab) are correct and he has changed the material to what is required. | 0:35:48 |
| Explanation of the various options for the story reference plane location i.e. top, bottom, core top, core bottom | 0:43:50 | |
| Explanation of “fit in window” in 3d (or just zooming in and out) and why it changes the perspective position | This explanation applies to all versions of ArchiCAD not just 17. Eric also talks about moving the cone of vision | 0:50:04 |
| How to show core-only in 3d | Eric uses the quick options palette to change the 3d view to show core only. This is a short-cut and saves having to go through – document>partial structure display | 1:00:00 |
| Explanation of what “building materials” are in ArchiCAD 17 | Go to – options>element attributes>building materials. The dialog box features include: structure and appearance; fill orientation; intersection priority; and physical properties. At time 1:15:28, Eric puts a guide up on the screen that shows the number range you want to be setting the priority numbers for your different materials at (e.g. finishes, load bearing cores, waterproof insulation etc). These numbers are just guidelines, but they have been produced by an architect with vast experience in using ArchiCAD, so they may be very useful to you. Eric has also produced a 32 minute tutorial on building materials for the best practice course – see link on the right | 1:05:22 |
| It is now possible to drag a copy in section and elevation views | 1:18:04 | |
| Transitioning a project into ArchiCAD 17 | Explanation of a few subtle changes in ArchiCAD 17 | 1:20:35 |
| Very quick explanation on creating a patch and what it is used for. And how ArchiCAD 17 now has improved intersection detailing which does away with the need for creating patches in many situations- go to – options>project preferences>construction elements>legacy options>un-check the use legacy intersection feature. | The new ArchiCAD 17 intersection feature is not always what you want, but it is far more sophisticated and cleaner than it was in previous versions. | 1:25:20 |
| Can you purge unused surfaces and materials in an ArchiCAD 16 file before migrating | Yes, you can | 1:48:44 |
| Eric demonstrates a couple of things that will simplify migration | First Eric describes basic good practice when migrating. Eric then describes a few subtle changes that have taken place to the element attributes in ArchiCAD 17. Eric describes how to export schedules (when migrating) | 1:48:55 |
| Description on what attribute manager is and brief desciption on overwrite, append and revert. | options>element attributes>attribute manager | 2:05:29 |
ArchiCAD Training – Coaching Call – July 10, 2013
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RajagopalaHathwar
11 years ago-
Hi Rajagopala –
I have added a new section to the Coaching Call Downloads page for the second half of 2013, and included a link for downloading the July 10 coaching call. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Eric
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Pl. send download link.
RAJAGOPALA