Are you a little nervous about moving to the latest version of ArchiCAD? Are the mysteries of a whole new attribute a bit daunting? You are not alone. Here are two great resources for you to better understand what Building Materials are all about.

An Article

Thomas M. Simmons, the founder of ARCHVISTA, wrote a really informative and succinct article for AECbytes. You can read the whole article here. If you enjoy that article, Thomas and other ArchiCAD pros has been writing great articles for AECbytes for years. You can see the complete list of Tips and Tricks here. If you look all the way back to the January 2006 issue, you’ll see an article written by GRAPHISOFT BIM Consultant, Ransom Ratcliff, who happens to be speaking at the BIM Conference in October. I got to meet Ransom at Ecobuild last year and I’m really looking forward to hearing him speak in San Diego. The date of Ransom’s first article for AECbytes makes me smile; he wrote that article the same week I first used ArchiCAD.

A Video

If you look at that list of ArchiCAD Tips and Tricks again you’ll see another name appear over and over and over and over and over again. When conversations turn to long term ArchiCAD gurus, Eric Bobrow is bound to come up. His history as a teacher, mentor, and long-time reseller of ArchiCAD goes back pretty much to the beginning. But you probably know that already. Often times Eric and I record videos that cover very similar topics. Sometimes we will write blog posts simultaneously on the same topic. It’s weird. Other times I see one of Eric’s videos and think to myself “well I never need to record a video on THAT topic.” Or more accurately for Building Materials, I will only ever record videos that build on this one. It’s very good. Even if you feel you understand Building Materials quite well, it’s worth a watch. I definitely learned a few tricks (I’m looking at you Adjust Elements to Slabs).

For those of you wondering, the last time I saw the definitive video on a new feature of ArchiCAD, it was Eric Bobrow’s video on Guide Lines in ArchiCAD 15. If you aren’t super comfortable with Guide Lines go watch that video. Here’s a link. Oh and I never talk about Eric’s videos without also sharing one other favorite. If you aren’t using this Solid Element Operations trick for site models, you will after watching his video on terrain modeling. One last thing. Eric’s YouTube channel is about to get its 1,000,000th view. After checking out his videos leave him a comment of congratulations. If you like Eric’s videos, you might want to check out his Best Practices Course & QuickStart Course.

And while we’re talking milestones and YouTube videos, someone else’s ArchiCAD Video Tutorial Channel is also approaching a smaller milestone. You should subscribe and watch some videos there too.