topic Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project in Project data & BIM

Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Bruce — Mon, 04 May 2020 21:35:10 GMT

I work in a practice that uses mostly iMacs. I use a PC. Everyone is working remotely at the moment, connecting to the data server via VPN (using FortiClient), and the BIM Cloud.

What I'm finding is that my ARCHICAD (on PC) can't find the \\server address for modules, linked drawings, and publisher directories. However, I can bring the server up in my File Explorer...it just doesn't appear in ARCHICAD.

Has anyone encountered this before?

In the attached image (blurred for commercial sensitivity...but you can still see what I mean), you can see on the right my File Explorer, which shows the company's data server connected ok. However, on the left, it doesn't show in the ARCHICAD selection dialog (publisher in this example, but it's the same for hotlink / drawing selection).

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Christophe Fortineau — Tue, 05 May 2020 13:16:04 GMT

Hello Bruce,

MacOS devices are PC like Windows devices 😉
Working throught BIMCloud with MacOS and Windows at the same time is absolutly not a subject.
Working on a PLN file with modules is a great idea if you stay near your files server.
About BIMcloud I invite you to share your modules as you share your PLN throught BIMcloud.
You are able to check this step is always respected about libraries, which are always accessibles.

Note : we are able to put a .mod into embded library but are we able to call these modules into our project ? Or why is it possible to put .mod into embded library ?

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Bruce — Wed, 06 May 2020 21:17:43 GMT

Thanks Christophe. Unfortunately linking to the BIM server won't help in this situation.

Our workflow is to Publish MOD files, then link them back into the main file.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Christophe Fortineau — Thu, 07 May 2020 10:58:47 GMT

Bruce wrote:
linking to the BIM server won't help in this situation

On the contrary ! Linking a shared file which is a module is perfectly possible and this solves all problems of linking and updating. The path to an unshared module cannot be ensured if it is not in the BIMCloud. For example, storing a module on a dropbox (or other cloud) does not solve this problem because the access path includes the designation of the hard disk which changes for each participant. THE best solution is to share the modules in the BIMCloud.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Bruce — Thu, 07 May 2020 22:04:35 GMT

How do I set up my publisher to publish modules to the BIM Server? It's not an available option that I can see.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Laszlo Nagy — Thu, 07 May 2020 23:27:56 GMT

The main issue here is that BIMcloud is not a document storage/management platform so you cannot store files there. You can only upload an ARCHICAD Project File and Libraries there and those are the only types of files stored by it in its own database format. This is why it is possible to specify a BIMcloud Project File when placing Hotlinks. ARCHICAD downloads the Teamwork shared file from BIMcloud and places it as a Hotlinked Module. But it is not possible to place a MOD from the BIMcloud, because the BIMcloud does not store other types of files, and it regards MOD files as something different from Teamwork shared files.

Similarly, when placing a Drawing with the Drawing Tool, you can only place a file only from your local file system, but not from BIMcloud.

And similarly, when publishing, you cannot set the BIMcloud as the destination of you Publishing Set, because it does not store files such as PDF, DWG, etc., since it is not a documentation management application.

I know that there are other solutions from other vendors that let you publish files to their cloud document management platform, but BIMcloud is not such a platform. Maybe (hopefully?) in the future.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Christophe Fortineau — Fri, 08 May 2020 12:02:08 GMT

The functionality of your BimlCloud design environment depends on your role. This role depends on your responsibility. If your BIM Manager has not given you access to project sharing: you will not be able to share a project.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Laszlo Nagy — Fri, 08 May 2020 12:40:22 GMT

Christophe, I think we are talking about different things. You re talking about Roles in BIMcloud, I am talking about ARCHICAD capabilities.
In ARCHICAD, it is possible to place a BIMcloud project as a Hotlinked Module:

However, when using the Drawing Tool, there is no similar capability, for example you cannot place a PDF from BIMcloud with the Drawing Tool, regardless of what your Role is in a Teamwork Project. The feature is not there in ARCHICAD.
Similarly, you cannot specify a BIMcloud folder for the destination in Publisher, there is no such feature in ARCHICAD.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Christophe Fortineau — Fri, 08 May 2020 13:01:30 GMT

LaszloNagy wrote:
Christophe, I think we are talking about different things. You re talking about Roles in BIMcloud, I am talking about ARCHICAD capabilities.

I've read...

Bruce wrote:
How do I set up my publisher to publish modules to the BIM Server? It's not an available option that I can see.

We can read that Bruce is not used to use remote project or sharing a project. I have read by "How...publish modules to the BIM Server?" that means Bruce need to send a module to BIMCloud. So that he need to check his BIMcloud role.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Laszlo Nagy — Sat, 09 May 2020 18:42:43 GMT

Yes, the question was:

"How...publish modules to the BIM Server?"

And the answer is:

You cannot. This feature is not implemented.
I think Bruce does not know for sure if it is possible or not. So I am saying that you cannot publish to the BIMcloud.

Here is BIMcloud on my computer. I have shared a Project and I am joined with the Lead Architect Role, which has all Permissions enabled for Publisher Sets, including Publishing:

As you can see, the "Publisher Sets - Publish" Permission is enabled.
However, when I go to Publisher Sets, try to set Publishing Properties, then click the "Browse" button, the upcoming Dialog lets me select a location on my Local Area Network, but not on the BIMcloud.

If it was possible to Publish to the BIMcloud, the upcoming Dialog would look like this Dialog:

But this Dialog appear only when placing a shared ARCHICAD Project from BIMcloud In the Place Hotlink Dialog.
In the Publisher Properties Dialog, it is not available.
It is a feature that is not implemented.

This is to the best of my knowledge, so if you know that it is possible to publish to the BIMcloud, please show me because I am interested in it. A screenshot would be great.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Bruce — Sun, 10 May 2020 00:58:39 GMT

Thanks Laszlo.

Back to my original question: why isn't my company's network data drive available in my Archicad list? Is it an Archicad thing, a VPN thing, or a Windows thing?

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Laszlo Nagy — Sun, 10 May 2020 17:44:16 GMT

I am sorry, I don't know the answer to that.
I have had the issue before where Windows did not display network drives, but in your case, you see it in Windows, but do not see it in ARCHICAD. I think you should see it, I do not see a reason why not.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Erwin Edel — Mon, 11 May 2020 14:32:49 GMT

I did not experience problems with a similar network setup using Windows RDP accessing my windows workstation from my iMac at home, however in this case ArchiCAD is running on the workstation, which is logged in to our network.

You could possibly try a different VPN client, as I was having issues using a different RDP to the one from Microsoft at first and was having issues that did not occur with using Microsoft RDP. Maybe the same goes for VPN client...

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Minh Nguyen — Mon, 11 May 2020 14:35:50 GMT

Hi Bruce,

Thank you for sharing the issue!

This is a strange issue, I haven't found it recorded in our system yet! I have forwarded it to the developer to ask for their opinion about this. As soon as I receive some information, I will get back to you!

Have a great week, and stay healthy to everyone!

Best regards,
Minh.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Minh Nguyen — Thu, 14 May 2020 07:15:45 GMT

Hi Bruce,

After some investigation, we suspect that this issue is related to some accessibility settings. Most likely ARCHICAD is not run with Administrator's right.

Please check the following links, maybe there is some useful information.

Mapped drives not visible on open dialog
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32790495/mapped-drives-not-visible-on-open-dialog

Why isn't File Explorer showing my mapped drives?
https://superuser.com/questions/1078117/why-isnt-file-explorer-showing-my-mapped-drives

Please let me know if the above suggestions would help!

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Barry Kelly — Thu, 14 May 2020 07:44:35 GMT

I think the problem is that not all dialogues in Archicad are the same.
The FILE OPEN dialogue shows drives mapped to a specific drive letter as well as all my other connected network drives.
However the PUPLISHER PROPERTIES dialogue only shows the drives mapped to a specific drive letter.
The other network drives don't show at all.
There may be other dialogues where the network drives don't show as well, I just grabbed these two as an example.

Barry.

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Minh Nguyen — Fri, 15 May 2020 07:31:06 GMT

Hi Barry,

Thank you for pointing it out! I think the difference in the interface is that: for opening/saving, we will select a file, therefore the dialog needs to be much more complex; whereas when we publish, we publish to a folder, therefore the dialog was made with the "reduced" style to show only folders in tree structure.

I am not quite sure if that's the case with Bruce, as he had the whole network location missing in Publisher dialog comparing to what he has in Explorer. The type of network connection is the same, however, one of them is missing.

Bruce, I'm wondering, if you copy the path from Explorer and paste it to ARCHICAD's Publisher dialog, will ARCHICAD find it and publish successfully?

Best regards,
Minh

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Bruce — Sat, 16 May 2020 01:27:36 GMT

Thanks Minh.

This has raised an interesting point: our network drive is set up \\server\data\projects.

My network location will show \\server\data - but no further. I get an access error message from Windows. BUT, if I map that same address (right-click > Map network drive), I can then access down to the project folder level and beyond.

So:
\\server\data --> no further access
J:\data --> can access further folder levels

This tells me, with my limited knowledge, that it may be a permissions thing set up at our server level, and not ARCHICAD at all?

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Minh Nguyen — Mon, 18 May 2020 11:58:44 GMT

Hi Bruce,

Thank you for your comment!

If you can't even access the server location via Explorer, then it can be the case that you don't have enough permission to go deeper into the network.

However, it is strange that if the network location is mapped as a local "drive", you can access further folder levels. This is beyond my knowledge now, unfortunately! I suggest asking the IT expert in your company to sort out this issue. Let me know if you have any further questions!

Bets regards,
Minh

Re: Mixing iMacs & PCs on same remote project

Bruce — Mon, 18 May 2020 21:21:03 GMT

Thanks Minh. I'll let you know if we manage to resolve this.