topic Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects? in Modeling

Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

GrudenJ — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 11:56:37 GMT

Hi everyone,

I’d like to hear some honest opinions from people who are using Archicad for landscape projects.

I’m currently working on a project that covers a fairly large area. I imported a geodetic survey plan with 1 m contour lines. It’s detailed, yes, but nothing unusual for landscape architecture. The problem is that the file becomes extremely laggy as soon as the contours are visible. Zooming and panning slow down a lot, and rebuilding views takes far longer than it should.

I’ve already adjusted my settings to favor performance as much as possible, and I’m running this on a very high-end machine (i9-14900K, RTX 4090, 128 GB RAM), so hardware really shouldn’t be the issue. I can make it somewhat manageable by constantly turning layers on and off and being very careful with what’s visible, but it’s still far from comfortable to work in.

What really makes me question things is that the exact same survey drawing runs perfectly smoothly in AutoCAD.

So now I’m wondering: is this just how Archicad handles complex 2D vector data? Is there a better workflow for dealing with detailed contour information? Or is Archicad simply not the best primary tool for larger-scale landscape projects?

I’d really appreciate hearing how others deal with this kind of situation.

Edit: As seen in task manager, the CPU usage doesnt go above 10 %, and cpu usage doesnt go above 20, when panning and zooming around (when everything is very very laggy).

Operating system used: Windows Windows 11 Pro 26100

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Botonis — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 12:03:44 GMT

Archicad is perfect for anything.

But you need to optimize the modelling process so the file stays fast.

I never create contours on the mesh. There is no point. You are adding several extra points on the mesh. Those points were never measured on the field so realistically they don't exist. Contours are just theoritical lines to represent the levels.

Just use the points for the survey measurements (a id-xyz txt file exported from the GPS) and use the Contour Object to show the Isolines.

https://bimcomponents.com/GSM/Details/23474

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

GrudenJ — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:36:23 GMT

I dont! These are 2D polylines. Sorry, forgot to mention that i am not 3D modelling anything (yet), this is just a 2D geodesic survey drawing in archicad.

Here is a screenshot for additional context:

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Botonis — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 12:29:02 GMT

This is different then.

A complex 2d in Archicad imported from Autocad will probably cause lagging. The 2d engine of Archicad is different than Autocad.

So you have to optimize the DWG.

I would turned off the ISO lines or deleted them prior importing and create new ones via the object I sent you...

I don't know if purge or kill commands in Autocad will make any difference. Each case is different.

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

GrudenJ — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 12:33:51 GMT

I will try recreating the isolines with that object, thank you! But this is what i mean about larger scale projects in archicad... Due to time constraits i only wanted to create a 2D drawing for the current stage of the project, but as far as i can tell Archicad doesnt seem to be the best option to use for this. Which is a shame, since i do enjoy Archicad even just for drafting much more than Autocad or other options...

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Botonis — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:10:11 GMT

May I disagree.

For recreating the topography It is really simple.

You just need the survey txt file. Not a DWG.....

You import this and directly you have the whole area as a 3D mesh.

You just use the object and instantly you have the ISOlines.

Then use any part of the DWG that you might need and use it a reference file.

If you need something more advanced in matters of survey management, coordinates not just in 2d but in 3d etc. then you might want to try

https://www.land4cad.com/

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

GrudenJ — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:13:10 GMT

Of course you may, i don't really know what i'm talking about. I will try importing the .txt file, but i have to clean it up first, since it also includes buildings. Thank you!

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Botonis — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:26:59 GMT

Check this:

https://support.graphisoft.com/hc/en-us/articles/23273448569361-How-to-import-a-TXT-file

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piFSUdcfcGs

The process is really staigth forward.

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Pertti_Paasky — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 19:15:28 GMT

Maybe curves are too detailed. You can reduce any polyline in QGIS and export to dxf.. It´s free and it is very useful for landscape architects.

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Pavel_N — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 23:28:31 GMT

Back to the core of the problem - I've also wondered many times why Archicad can't utilize the processor and graphics card by more than a few percent? If a GS developer could comment on this, that would be great.

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Barry Kelly — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:40:05 GMT

The contours are made up of hundreds if not thousands of tiny line segments.

Archicad does not like that.

There is a Line Consolidation tool in Archicad, that can merge overlapping lines and convert continuous single lines (ends touching) into a single polyline.

I have never tried it with such a detailed survey though.

Barry.

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Lingwisyer — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 01:49:31 GMT

From memory, this is due to the lack of parallisation in AC. Until recently, AC was purely reliant on single core performance, with it now being able to use other cores for background tasks.

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Pavel_N — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 10:57:43 GMT

I just looked at the CPU usage in AC29, tested on Win NTB (i5 - 11300H 4/8 cores):

/Rebuilding 3d vector documents - up to 80% at peak. This seems like an improvement over the past, which I think is great. It is a fact that the AC29 seems to me to be faster than the AC28 for this task. Is it just a feeling, or do you have similar experiences? Most likely an operation optimized for multiple cores..

/Starting Archicad and loading the file, converting a large DWG with a cadastral map - about 20% on average, 30% at peak

/Zooming a complex dwg, marking thousands of lines - about 20% on average, 30% at peak

I don't understand the design of processors at all, but maybe those 20% will correspond to processes that are running completely beyond single-core performance (I have 100% / 4 cores = 25% +-)?

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Lingwisyer — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 15:04:51 GMT

Depends on how it represents boost speeds, since that is basically increasing the speed of a single core at the cost of the other cores from my understanding. ie. A single core becomes more that it's relevant fraction. No clue how hyperthreading works into this.

I do not really use 3D documents so I cannot really say... The engine used to draw 3D documents is probably different to the one used to draw 2D documents, hence the different utilisations.

Re: Is Archicad really suitable for medium-scale landscape projects?

Pavel_N — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 11:41:17 GMT

The usage meter in Win says that one core is not running at full power, but that all cores are running at about 1/4 power. But that could just be a software appereance.

Some CAD programs declare that they can use a multi-core processor for working with 2D drawings (Briscad, GstarCAD). Are there any users here who own such a program? I would be interested in a comparison with AC in terms of core usage.