AC (mac) to AC (windows) and back again

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

We are on the verge of a long-distance collaboration with another firm. I would like to solicit the forum's advice on what to watch out for regarding cross-platform sharing of AC files.

We will be producing construction documents based on schematic designs already completed in AC9-MSW. Our firm will pick up the documentation and finish using AC9-MAC. We are currently on AC7 but will upgrade.

As these houses are for a high-end design-build developer, many of the detail drawings will be repeated (or modified to suit) from those used on previous projects (the collaborating office's details, not ours). We will be provided with libraries, detail files, layout books, and basic dimensioned model to begin our work.

So the basic question is: will this be seamless or a royal pain in the a**??

I suppose a related question is: how quickly can experienced AC7 users be up and running with AC9?

Thanks for any insights you can provide.

[Aussie John]

FONTS!!!!!
use a cross platform font like arial and you should be right. You used to have to select a cross platform save check box but I think that migh not be needed any more.

[Aussie John]

in regard to AC7>>AC9 it is still the same program. Main difference is the use of View sets instead of PMK files for use in Plotmaker. Try to fully understand the enhanced view set concept which incorporates the view options and dimension preferences as well.

From memory the calculation tools have changed a bit.

The Detail tool is useful for automatic cross referencing but is not on the critical path for Archicad usage.

Get to know Solid Element Operations. Again not a critcal feature.

That said, your productivity will go up using the the last two features

Some older library parts may not work as expected

There are numerous other small traps and enhancements.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, John. It's the "numerous other traps" part that worries me! Good point about the fonts... I'll look into that further.

[Aussie John]

it wont take long to get up to speed as most of the enhancement dont have to be used straight away

[__archiben]

i take it you've found the preference to save in multi-platform format? make sure that's turned on

as well as fonts, you'll have to be wary of naming conventions: the mac is far more liberal when it comes to the use of weird characters in file and folder names. whole library directories won't be loaded by PCarchiCAD if MACarchiCAD has named a folder with some of the special use characters: ~ ± § / | / \ etc

also - check out this link concerning 'DisableCrossPlatformMountingProcedures' - it's an issue that's pretty much gone away with AC9, but it would still be handy to know about it . . . .

you could also try searching through the forum for numerous other traps you might well come across . . .

~/archiben

[Rakela Raul]

can i read in win/ac9 the lbk created in a mac/ac9 ??

i cannot open in win/ac9 a pla file created in a mac/ac9 !!

and the option for the multi platform is on in the mac/ac9 user.

is there anything else i should tell the mac user ?? many thx in advance

response:

Yes, dont ZIP the file !!