AddOn for creating parametric diagrams in Archicad

[Anonymous]

Hello. I am trying to implement an idea of a helper addon for quick 2D diagrammatic design. It should be a sort of overlay/underlay drawing that is dynamic and accepts user input (clicks, menus, etc.).

Any hints on how to start (c++ or python) are welcome

[Ralph Wessel]

A tool that wants to bind tightly to the UI and interact with the user will be a target for C++. You can get started by signing up on the API developer site: http://archicadapi.graphisoft.com/

The API and documentation can be downloaded from there.

Before you start, any particular reason you want implement this kind of tool within Archicad rather than using an external tool designed for that purpose and importing the result, e.g. as PDF?

[Anonymous]

This sort of tool, with the functionality i'm envisioning, doesn't yet exist as an external tool. Since i have to develop it from zero, and since it's intended use is to aid the building design process, might as well integrate it with a BIM software.

Thank you for the pointer. Beyond registering for the API, get a dev id, setup the coding tools.... would you be kind enough to point to an example addon that tightly integrates with the UI?

[Ralph Wessel]

adlarch wrote:
Thank you for the pointer. Beyond registering for the API, get a dev id, setup the coding tools.... would you be kind enough to point to an example addon that tightly integrates with the UI?

It's difficult to point to a specific API example project without knowing more about what you need to do. Most of them illustrate some form of UI integration, but it's a very broad subject.

You can find an overview of the example projects in the dev-kit documentation here: http://archicadapi.graphisoft.com/documentation/examples

Skimming through that should give you a rough idea where to look next (and what the API can do).

[jl_lt]

Hi, i think i understand what you are trying to achieve.. would it be something like bounding boxes defined by area and the spatial relationship among them, and all of them constrained by different parameters like the terrain area, setbacks, etc? and if you change the parameter of one space everything rearranges automatically or produce different options?