topic Re: Archicad-Forma connection in Collaboration with other software

Archicad-Forma connection

MSDC — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 10:01:27 GMT

Graphisoft to preview collaboration layer and Archicad–Forma connection - AEC Magazine

Excited to see what this Archicad - Autodesk forma connection looks like. Hopefully it solves some of the Archicad-Revit collaboration issues.

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

MSDC — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 13:07:26 GMT

Did anyone see a preview at the AIA conference?

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

Karoly Horvath — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 06:38:09 GMT

All,
This Archicad-Forma connection is a very welcome first step, however in it's current format it is a lot of smoke and mirrors.
Momentarily this connection is strictly a one way street, that may work for large Archicad studios to "comply" with Forma mandated project workflows, however, it is of no real benefit for the Archicad users at all.

Yes, if you go for the (more pricy) collaborate subscription, and add a Forma seat to your already expensive set of required software, you can now upload your model into Forma, and assumably, the Revit user on the other end can use the model directly from Forma, however
We, Archicad users have no benefit from the whole thing at all, because we still have to request the Revit guys to upload an ifc or rvt model which we have to download and import it as a Hotlink...

I am quite convinced that the solution lies somewhere in how Archicad manages Hotlinks.
The current HLM system is antiquated anyway, so I seriously hope that it will be updated in Archicad 30...
Honestly, at the moment I can't see any other functionality in Archicad than HLM that is completely broken and needs a full overhaul.
Yes, there are wishes, that would be nice if were listened to, but most of them would only make our work a little better, whereas HLM's, if properly updated would open a whole different universe.
As since Archicad 27 there wasn't any significant update or mention-worthy new feature introduced, I have high hopes for AC30. Please don't let me down 🙂
(Yes, the last new feature worth mentioning was the Design options... We just passed Archicad 28 and 29 without anything worthwhile to pay the subscriptions for...)

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

Jp1138 — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 21:23:05 GMT

Well, taking a look at the roadmap should give you a view of what´s coming on 30, and it doesn´t look nice:

The wall part is basically the only thing related to modelling... Other things are nice, but seem very minor updates.

Maybe they are keeping something under their sleeve (what´s the use of the roadmap, then), but I wouldnt hold my breath...

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

Karoly Horvath — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 03:35:55 GMT

.... If that Roadmap is representative of what is really coming, I think I will have to advise my director to ditch Archicad...

There is nothing there worhwhile to even mention as a feature.

I keep being asked "why are we paying these thousands of Dollars for every year?"

Out of that list there is nothing that I could point at: "This is why..."

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

Tim_H — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 05:57:45 GMT

Has anyone one had any success with this yet?

I've got a project with an external BIM consultant using Forma, but when i try to upload our model using the direct connection we keep getting the error "not enough memory to perform operation", even when using our high spec render machines with 64gb RAM.

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

James B — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 07:02:44 GMT

Hi @Tim_H

We've not come across this, so I'd recommend you reach out to your local support team to investigate this further.

Thanks.

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

Mambro — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 15:57:11 GMT

Hello everyone,

I am testing out with Forma connection as well but I'm having a huge issue in loading the correct folder for data delivering. It seems like anytime I click the refresh button the folder structure changes randomly and the vast majority of folders are actually empty, without their internal hierarchy which is crucial to deliver the model properly. Is this a known bug? Any suggestion? Please note that we actually have a pretty complex filesystem in there, with hundreds of folders and sub-folders.

Thank you guys!

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

James B — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:10:41 GMT

The folders not loading issue we are aware of and currently working on a solution.

The problem came from limits in requests to Forma through their SDK.

We're working around this with an alternative solution, by instead dynamically loading folders (rather than an all at once request to Forma).

We're expecting a fix for AC29.3 and AC30.1 (but things can change as we're not finished with the solution yet).

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

Patrick M — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 20:25:33 GMT

I agree @Karoly Horvath !
we are a long way from single silo BIM (integrated design)... I'm not sure I'd be stoked about that anyway... I want a separation of ownership and authorship. No sense in some junior engineer stepping in on an architects purview unknowningly!

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

Patrick M — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 20:27:16 GMT

IME, most 'direct connect' plug-ins cause more trouble than they solve... at least that is the case with blue beam, twinmotion, and pretty much every other direct connect I've tested.

Re: Archicad-Forma connection

Tim_H — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 03:37:03 GMT

After some more testing we've realised it is an issue with the .RVT conversion, not the Forma link. Although i still haven't isolated what part of the model is causing the issue. We are using back to IFC files for this project, and the BIM consultant is uploading these to Forma directly for us.