Architects

Converting Sketch Models into BIM Models

Posted on by sandor

There seems to be a clash between design sketch models (typically coming from SketchUp or Rhino, but even if they are created with ARCHICAD) and models created for proper BIM use when we need to convert one to the other since they are built with completely different approaches by people with different mindsets.

In a sketch/design model you just want to freely place elements and play with the forms in 3D. In a BIM model however everything should be structured and well-organized. For example in sketching there is no such thing as Home Story, but in ARCHICAD everything has a host. The problem is that a designer would be placing elements in 3D where the design makes it fit and would not want to think about Home Stories and such at the time which can cause some headaches later.

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Schedules with Zero Values

Posted on by sandor

ARCHICAD Schedules can only list existing elements by default, but we can use a bit of a trick to go around this behaviour and list what is not really there as well. This is needed sometimes when the user wants to create a schematic section for example or just list different types of areas. This is typically an item created manually in AutoCAD or Excel, where the different areas of unit types can be added onto different stories and if a unit doesn’t exist on a particular level it can be set as 0.00 or left blank. This – to show zeros – is not an option in ARCHICAD as the Schedules only list what is there and not what is not, therefore the item would simply be missing from the Schedule instead of showing up as “none”, zero or anything like that. Makes sense from the software’s point of view, but still… we need something like that. Or this:

z01

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Using Geometry Information as Scheduling Criteria

Posted on by sandor

This is to follow up the post earlier on Multiple Area Units in Zone Stamps and take the next step after converting the area units – it is going to be a very short one 🙂
As you have seen in that post, we converted the area to a different unit than the default as an Element Property by using Expressions in order to display it in Zone Stamps. This is a great thing because such a resulting Property can be used for various purposes: initially to be shown in the Zone Stamps (or Labels, Autotexts, etc.) regardless of what dimensioning preferences we have globally or use it in Schedules as well. And here comes the next step: normally geometry-related properties are just handled as derived information for takeoffs (Fields), but cannot be used as Criteria. Especially with relations. This changes right away if the geometry is available as a Property!

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Multiple Area Units in Zone Stamps

Posted on by sandor

I initially wanted to include three topics in one post, then I realized it would be easier to find them later if they were broken down into shorter parts, though they could be related as well. Let’s start with displaying different area units in Zone Stamps – this is a common request in several countries.

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Migrating Classifications

Posted on by sandor

There are a lot of cases – even if it is not entirely intentional when you migrate projects. This happens when content made in an earlier version of ARCHICAD is opened in a newer version. These scenarios can include:

  • simple copy-paste from your old projects
  • hotlinking contents of an old inventory file to a project file (inserting typical units into your new project, for example)
  • merging old projects into new ones
  • or simply opening in a newer version with the actual intent of migration

What is common in those scenarios is that most likely the Classifications, linked Properties, Schedules, etc. will not always function as expected as the inserted content comes from a different world and will be unclassified.

mc00

Let’s see how this can be fixed relatively easily.

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