This blog is about using BIM on a day to day basis. I cover ArchiCAD tips and tricks, BIM and management thoughts, and occasionally how this all relates to the Minnesota ArchiCAD Usergroup (which I started in 2009). The specifics are about ArchiCAD—that’s the software I use and sell—but the overall themes are relevant regardless of your software. Programs are just tools. BIM is a mentality.
Since the release of ArchiCAD 15 I’ve enjoyed using the shell tool–more for it’s ability to be reshaped in 3D, plan, section, and elevation than its crazy form-making opportunities. BIMES has created a 4 minute video that highlights how impressive and versatile the shell tool is and I am just blown away. Enjoy.
This video originally came from a blog post by BIMES that explains the origin and reasoning behind this interesting form. It’s worth a read.
One additional thing worth mentioning that’s not covered in the video. Once the shell is created, it can be saved (like anything else) as an object for ease of replication in the project. Any time you need to have multiple copies of a form created by the shell tool, it’s worth thinking about creating an object. Since currently a shell can’t have multiple instances that link back to a master element, if you have 100 identical forms they couldn’t all be redefined with a few simple clicks. But saving the shell as an embedded object fixes that and is very easy. Refine the shell, resave the object and the updates are propagated to all the placed objects. Fast and easy. I’ve got a video on my to do list that shows how that process works more clearly.
Thanks BIMES for the awesome video. Can’t wait for more!
When I introduce my coworkers to ArchiCAD 15, I show them three new things and then say “get to work, we’ll cover the rest as it comes up”. I know that’s not the best way to learn a new version, but everyone using ArchiCAD 15 at SALA Architects happens to be on projects with tight deadlines. So they get the short, short version of my upgrade speech. Half of the speech is about Teamwork 2 (which is the reason the projects are on ArchiCAD 15–the rest of the office is still on ArchiCAD 11). The rest of my introduction mainly covers a few big changes: 3D editing planes, enhanced SEO features, and guidelines. I also talk about the shell tool, but mainly so that my coworkers know that it exists and that they should ask me when they really need to understand it. I’m sure there’s something else I tell them, but this is Labor Day and my 5 month old hasn’t slept much all weekend (hence neither have I).
When my next coworker jumps to ArchiCAD 15, I’m going to cut out the part about guidelines. Instead I’m going to have my coworker watch the video Eric Bobrow (of MasterTemplate fame) has created explaining the new Guide Lines in ArchiCAD 15. While the video doesn’t cover EVERYTHING, it’s an awesome introduction and classic clear Bobrow style. I imagine his ArchiCAD Best Practices Course is full of nice explanations like this one.
To learn about some of the other guide line tricks Eric doesn’t cover (like guide lines in 3D), check out the videos on the ArchiCADwiki page on Guide Lines. And for even more Eric Bobrow videos, visit his youtube channel.
Recent History Over the past few months I’ve made a couple of terrain models in ArchiCAD 14 and then exported them to SketchUp 8. At first this was done to figure out a way to collaborate with a fellow architect who is an avid SketchUp user. We both wanted to work in the program we knew best. After I modeled the first site it became evident that it was incredibly faster, more accurate, easier, and all around better to model the existing site in ArchiCAD rather than in SketchUp. Since then I’ve whipped up a few more sites in ArchiCAD to save time for the SketchUp users. Yes that’s right. I now model things in ArchiCAD for others to use in SketchUp because it is FASTER than my coworkers doing the work in SketchUp.
Challenge Accepted The first site we actually modeled head to head. I had been asked to model a site in ArchiCAD 14 and see how the export process worked. But I was busy with other work and hadn’t gotten to it. One day I saw my coworker starting to model the site in SketchUp 8 and thought “Crap. I can’t let him do that. That’s supposed to be my job!” I quickly dropped everything I was doing and prepared to build the site model in ArchiCAD. I opened up the .dwg survey we had, built a mesh and had it cleaned up in SketchUp before my coworker had even prepared the .dwg in SketchUp to a point where he was ready to model in 3D. My model looked great in both ArchiCAD and SketchUp. But my coworker decided it would be better to have the site modeled as stepped contours instead of a mesh surface. So I rebuilt the site out of slabs and was still done before a single 3D element was made in SketchUp.
ArchiCAD 14 - Mesh site with lots of tricks. Thanks Eric Bobrow for that video on intersecting slabs and meshes. One of my favorite moves in ArchiCAD.
ArchiCAD 14 - lots & lots of slabs, each one has an ID corresponding to it's elevation on the survey. The red lines are walls for the property line & setback on a wireframe layer
ArchiCAD 14 slabs exported to SketchUp 8 via save as .3ds file from the 3D window
ArchiCAD 15 to SketchUp 8 via .skp export... for some reason the side materials all went white
Here’s the process and some more images:
Step 1 Drag and drop a .dwg from the surveyor into ArchiCAD. This is the easiest way to handle xref’s in ArchiCAD 14 and newer. It’s super slick, and deserves a blog post unto itself (like many other things mentioned in this experiment).
The original site survey with plenty of contours not shown
Step 2 Model the site in ArchiCAD (mesh or slabs), using the .dwg as an underlay. I typically put the .dwg on story -3 (below my lowest used story) and trace reference it in so that it doesn’t get in the way. I never use the actual lines from the survey because they rarely connect and everything can be simplified. Lines need to connect because site building involves a lot of magic wand usage (space+click). I also don’t use curved lines in my mesh contours or in my slabs. Curves are not necessary in meshes. When the mesh is set to smooth, you can’t tell the difference between a curved line with 40 nodes and 4 straight lines. Fewer nodes = fewer faces = less demanding on your computer. Same goes for sites built out of slabs. Your site model is already an abstraction based on an abstraction (the survey), so make your life simple and don’t be a slave to the surveyor’s goofy lines. Further more a simplified mesh or series of slabs is easier to modify later.
Step 3 Save the model as a .3ds file from the 3D window. Set drawing unit to 1.00 inches.
Step 4 Open SketchUp 8, cry a little bit, go to FILE/IMPORT, select 3DS FILES (*.3ds), click on options, set the Scale in the 3DS Import Options in SketchUp so that Units are meters, pick your file and import.
What you’ll see between your tears while importing the .3ds file into SketchUp
The units part makes sense, right? Not to me. How did I figure this units weirdness out? I made a 10′ x 10′ x 10′ cube in ArchiCAD and continued to export it and import it with different settings until it measured correctly in SketchUp. Trial and Error… part of my problem solving arsenal. Okay, I realize most of my readers use the metric system and not imperial. Anyone know what the screwy export requirements are for meters in ArchiCAD to meters in SketchUp? Somehow I doubt it’s as nonsensical as inches to inches. Makes me think of this Youtube video about the pros and cons of metric/imperial (don’t worry it’s short).
10' x 10' x 10' cubes have lots of uses
Conclusion of sorts So this was all done in ArhiCAD 14 on a Mac. With 15 (and earlier versions on a PC), one can just export directly to .skp via a free plug-in. I’ve played around a bit with that now. There are pros and cons to both methods. The export to .skp comes through much cleaner; no faces missing (which I sometimes noticed with the .3ds file). The export to .skp also retains layers. Which is awesome for exporting buildings. But I found with the stepped site model, the .3ds file was easier to break apart and clean up. This is probably more a reflection of my (happy) ignorance of SketchUp best practices than the actual advantages of exporting via .3ds or .skp. Anyways, I’m working on a new project with the coworker I mentioned at the beginning of this post. He’s once again using SketchUp 8. I’m now using ArchiCAD 15. Lots more to share. Let’s just say the theme of some future posts will be “Anything you can do, I can do better” and “Okay, I’ll steal that; what else you got?”
Your turn I know I left out a lot of little details, so please comment with your questions.
Your turn again Also, who else has experience with the connection between ArchiCAD and SketchUp? I’d love to hear your stories.
Most of us have read about ArchiCAD 15 on the ArchicadWiki. If you want a refresher, read this and also the official changes guide. Many of us are even using ArchiCAD 15 on a daily basis and enjoying the new features like the shell tool and the 3D editing planes.
There are a lot of little tweaks in every version of ArchiCAD that don’t get top billing. Or any billing at all. I’m excited about a dockable quick layers palette, but that’s not marketable news. Neither are the little tweaks to improve scripting in GDL. But some of this is huge and exciting for us nerdy, obsessive users.
Have you noticed another tweak, good or bad, that’s not on the list in the forum? Go and add it. Now before you forget. Here’s the link again to the user generated list of undocumented changes in V15.
The US, International English, and German versions are the first three of 26 local versions in ArchiCAD 15’s global release schedule. They have started shipping. ArchiCAD 15 software packages will reach end users in the coming weeks. All local versions are planned to reach the market by the end of Q3 2011.
But waiting for the mail is annoying. So… go to www.myarchicad.com, register, and download the ENG, INT, or GER version right NOW!
Wisdom from the Crowd