POSTS In: Tips and Tricks
ABCs of ArchiCAD (Obscure Version)
Stealing some inspiration from this great video on the ABCs of Architecture, I decided to do a quick list** of the ABCs of ArchiCAD. But instead of going with the obvious (B is for Beam, D is for Door, and W is for Wall), I searched out some obscure aspects of ArchiCAD. Hopefully a few...
Surprising Benefits of the Morph Tool
Here’s a quote from my last post on Element IDs and the Element ID Manager: “All 3D elements (including grids and zones) as well as fills have an Element ID. Lines, Polylines, Dimensions, Text, and other annotation elements do not” But what happens if you NEED a line to have an ID. I don’t know...
Filed Under: MORPH / Tips and Tricks
Element IDs and the Element ID Manager
In my last post, I talked about an ArchiCAD Champion who was completely unfamiliar with the Element ID Manager—a function of ArchiCAD that would subsequently make his life much better. The story was perfect for the post, but going in depth into what the Element ID Manager provides was beyond the scope of that post...
Filed Under: Tips and Tricks
We All Have Blind Spots
So have you watched any of these videos yet? I’m sure a few of you watched the first one and thought “thanks for wasting my time, Jared. That was all way too basic for me.” Well guess what. We All Have Blind Spots You do, I do, all your favorite ArchiCAD mentors, champions, and heroes....
Filed Under: ArchiCAD Education / Tips and Tricks
Simple ArchiCAD videos
It’s always good to do some house keeping around the New Year. Last week here in Minnesota, my wife and I completely filled her car with stuff to take to Goodwill. This week and next, the hope is to clean our house top to bottom. Then in late January the plan is to buy some...
Filed Under: ArchiCAD Education / Tips and Tricks
Reference Lines and a Former US Secretary of Defense
Put aside your political views and your opinions on the War on Iraq. We are about to get some BIM advice from Donald Rumsfeld. [T]here are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say there are things that, we now know we don’t know. But...
Adding Legibility to Details
Last week I wrote about rethinking what elevations created in ArchiCAD could look like. Today I want to expand those ideas to details (and also plans, sections, etc.). In preparation for my talks at Architecture Boston Expo and EcoBuild in Washington, D.C., I revisited a detail I worked on many years ago. Here is the...
The Evolution of an Elevation
A few recent BIM-related encounters all pointed to a similar question/want: why can’t ArchiCAD handle element edges in elevation to mimic the heavy air lines of a hand-drawn elevation? It’s a good question, but not something I’m going to answer directly at the moment. Instead, let’s look deeper into the question. What are these concerns...
Some days I don’t care about BIM; I care about diagrams
Diagrams, meet my cartoons Earlier this summer, I was reading the June 2012 issue of Architectural Review and a great diagram caught my eye. It was a 3D building section that had red arrows flying through the space, describing circulation. We’ve all seen these images before. Sometimes it’s arrows for cars or people. Other times...
Process vs Happening: Templates are Not Optional
Hand Sketching and Watercolors We all love to see architectural images that cross the line into art, and are typically jealous of anyone with strong enough skills to use their handwork professionally.* But how long does a watercolor take? How valuable is a sketch beyond an initial feeling? How much is it lying to you?...
Fixing Error Messages and Ugliness with the Attribute Manager
Did you know that ArchiCAD doesn’t care what you name your Attributes? At least as long as you aren’t trying to call two Attributes of the same type an identical name. That makes ArchiCAD cranky. But ArchiCAD is cool with you renaming Solid Line to this: HOWEVER… When copying from one file to another, ArchiCAD...
Filed Under: ArchiCAD 16 / Tips and Tricks
Monday Morning is Hammer Time (Yes I’m using this joke too)
It’s just too perfect; I had to recycle that joke. Read on and learn why. Dear Jared, If I have multiple objects selected (lines, slabs, text, …..) and want to add them all to a single layer (say…reflected ceiling layer), they don’t all get assigned to it, rather I have to keep clicking back on...
Filed Under: Renovation / Tips and Tricks
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