Chief Architect and Archicad collaboration ?

[Anonymous]

I'd like to be able to collaborate with another designer who uses the latest version of Chief Architect.

Ideally, I would measure and produce an "as built" model and forward to him. He would renovate as desired and send the file back to me for fine tuning, documentation, and CD production.

I'm using AC16. I sent him an IFC 2x3 File which he could not open. I have not tried any other IFC options as yet. Per advice from his user forum, we tried 3DS file. He could open it but it was an object and could not be edited, only viewed.

I note that the "save as" options are different for the 3D window and the plan view window. Any joy using 3D window choices ?

I've read other posts that discuss using DWF files to import to AC, but ideally I'd like to send the full 3D model back and forth.

Suggestions ? Thanks in advance.

[Richard Morrison]

Chris,
Having used both programs for many years, I can tell you that only 2D views are capable of being shared, generally through DWG, but DXF works, too. Until Chief gets IFC compatibility, 3D is generally one way. I often import models from Chief into AC for BIMx, but the model is not very useful otherwise. Not what you are hoping for, but that's the reality.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much !

[Anonymous]

Has any progress been made in collaboration between these two programs in the last 4 and a half years? Can CA create an IFC file?

[Richard Morrison]

There has been a lot of progress with Chief Architect's overall abilities, but sadly, nothing that has improved interoperability between CA and AC.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Richard. I was hoping to get a suitable 3D file from a consultant, who has so far sent a DWG of a floor plan only. Might just be easier to trace over it than worry about trying to get him to convert to something usable.

Cheers

[Richard Morrison]

I think the best you'll be able to do is to get DWGs of the plans and elevations into worksheets in AC, and recreate it all in AC using Trace & Reference. You can get a 3D file from Chief, but it will likely end up as a single GSM library part -- not terribly useful.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Richard wrote:
You can get a 3D file from Chief, but it will likely end up as a single GSM library part -- not terribly useful.

Don't forget that such a single object (which is also what you get with a SketchUp import) can be right-clicked and converted to Morphs. With any luck, the Morphs from Chief conversion will be grouped in a way that is meaningful and can be further assigned to layers so that they are more useful as-is, or as references for ARCHICAD modeling. (I've had good luck with SKP Morph conversion giving me groups that correspond to the original SKP layers.)

[Anonymous]

Thanks gentlemen. Ended up just tracing over the DWG as Richard suggested. It was a fairly simple single level house, so was not a big deal. Good to know there are alternatives though for next time.

Cheers