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Little Clues

You say “you know what you’re doing in ArchiCAD”. You might not be the best, but you’ve got a really good system. You’re fast and efficient. But how quickly can an ArchiCAD Expert tell if you’re a good judge of your own skills or just horribly deluded?

That all depends on how long it takes for ArchiCAD to open your file. Because once it’s open, a pro will need less than a minute, maybe 20-30 seconds to be able to ballpark your abilities. How will they know how good your file is (and by extension your ArchiCAD prowess)?

When the file opens are they going to see a lot of error messages? What’s the last window left open? Are there 5 elevations, 3 layouts, and a couple of details open? Is the View Map or Project Map open in the Navigator? Is the View Map well organized? If someone double clicks on a view in the view map, are all the Quick Options going to switch to Custom? What do your layers look like? If an ArchiCAD Expert jumps to 3D does s/he need to click okay though a bunch of angry dialog boxes first? How long will it take to find your garbage?

Is there an exploded plan?                   GAME OVER.

These examples and countless other little clues leave telltale signs of a user’s skills. In that short bit of time will the expert be able to know everything about your ArchiCAD background? Of course not. But I guarantee that these tiny signs always, ALWAYS reveal the bigger picture. And sometimes that bigger picture ain’t pretty.

Be Your Own Expert

Look at your files with a critical eye and see where you’re being sloppy, lazy or unskilled. And start fixing those issues. You don’t need to improve everything today. Start by eliminating every instance of ‘custom’ in your View Settings. Then investigate error messages. Little Clues and Baby Steps are perfect companions. And remember, the best thing that you can discover is that you’re the problem.

 

 

 

Comments

  • November 29, 2012
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    Well said! I once opened a pln for a 1,500 sq ft home model with over 4k errors in the library loading report, zero views set up, and every layout page was a live link to an exploded view.
    What a mess…

  • November 29, 2012
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    I was asked to fix a pln, so messy that even the dimensions were exploded.

  • November 30, 2012
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    Quote:”Are there 5 elevations, 3 layouts, and a couple of details open?”

    Why is this a bad thing? Will it open faster with fewer windows open on the start?

  • November 30, 2012
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    Jared,

    I often thought, “Why does AC open to the Layout Book?”

    But after reading your blog, I think I understand. It’s the last thing I worked on because I usually struggle to get something printed and out-the-door before the end of my work day…

    Also, I’d like to know how to get rid of the annoying MISSING OBJECTS warning that starts my sessions. Obviously, I need to find the missing objects but don’t know how. I’d like to do this because as I develop this document, I want to use it as a template for future projects. It’s truly a masterpiece of my grandiose delusional work…

    So while I delude myself into thinking I’m AC wiz… I’m probably missing more than objects. The masterpiece noted above is developed thru design development drawings. I’ve yet to produce a full set of working drawings, that’s coming.

    Thanks for the blogs, they’re great and informative!

  • December 1, 2012
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    “1) When ArchiCAD opens, if it only has to open the plan, it’ll be faster than it opening and checking multiple things (need someone to verify or refute this for me).”

    You are absolutely right. Behind each window is a “database of elements”, and of all these databases the floor plan is the main database, which holds all 3D elements. All other views are derivatives of the floor plan database. Therefore when you open a file, the floor plan is always built up (even if it is in the background), while any other view is rendered only if needed.

    You can definitely save some opening time by closing extra windows before closing, or at least making sure that the floor plan active. In the past if you left 3D active before closing the project it was active when you re-opened it, and you had to sit through the 3D rebuild. In recent versions this changed: The project will automatically open with the floor plan active even if you closed it with 3D active. This is a huge timesaver.

  • December 1, 2012
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    Reece Carter

    This is all so basic and you blow it off…

    Is there a quick keyboard shortcut for closing background windows? Ctrl W closes the immediate window but a shorcut for the backgrounds? I guess I could make one. Maybe make a habit of hitting a keyboard sequence to closing files: F2 for Plan / (Close Backgrounds) / Ctrl S for the Save and Alt-F4 to close the file.

  • December 1, 2012
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    Reece Carter

    Alt-W it is! And wow! Completely new experience opening and closing sessions. I used to dread having to open another file to grab / copy & paste something that I remembered from another job just because the load time was going to suck. Not so, anymore…. yeah, it opens that quick without everything opening.

    Alt-W and Ctrl-S and I am out….

    Thanks!

  • November 2, 2016
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    Karl Ottenstein

    Equally bad as seeing “Custom” is seeing “Missing (combo name)” in view settings.

    Too many users don’t realize the long-term limitation (I still call it a flaw) of ArchiCAD that if a Layer Combination name, MVO nameor more is simply RENAMED (not really deleted) – that the view settings will then show “Missing”, a special case of “Custom”.

    An “auditing schedule” that displays all of the settings for all views (and a similar drawing schedule) is the best way for folks to track down these badly-defined views, which can cause havoc. I presented this use of schedules at ArchiCAD University West in Pomona using ArchiCAD 8.1 back in 2004. A companion to this “Little Clues” post would be “Do you know how to audit your project for validity?” and “Do you audit your project file before sending anyone any information generated by it?”

      • November 2, 2016
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        Karl Ottenstein

        I realized after posting that this was a 4 year old blog post! Just appeared in my Facebook feed today for some reason. But your comments are as valid today as then! 🙂

  • November 2, 2016
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    Chris

    Would like to know more about the ‘auditing schedule’. Thanks.

    • November 3, 2016
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      Karl Ottenstein

      Jared’s ARCHICAD layer schedule is a great example.

      For auditing your Views and Drawings (and more meta-structure) – you use a “Project Indexes” type of interactive schedule. While this is used most often to generate a table of contents for a document set, it is extremely useful for auditing.

      For example, to audit your Views – include fields for all view settings. The US default AC 20 residential template has such a schedule with many of the settings as a starting point. Seeing “Missing” or “Custom” there will be your warning sign. But note! This IS INTERACTIVE. You can fix errors, or just modify things (such as the scale, layer combo, pen set, whatever) right in the schedule to make sure all similar views are using appropriate settings.

      A “Project Indexes” type of schedule for Drawings can let you add all drawing settings (click “Add Fields” to see all of the options) to audit / verify / modify. You can check the Source View field to make sure that the drawing is indeed linked to the view it should be, for example. Check the Magnification field in the schedule to make sure that all drawings are at 100% other than visualization-type drawings. Pen Set to make sure that the intended pen set for color/weight changes has been selected. Etc.

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