AC20 to DWG - specific and long layer structure

[Anonymous]

I know it's a never-ending story, but does anyone have a straightforward and efficiently working solution for my issue?

In my office we are working on a project which is a part of a larger investment: we are designing one building, but on the rest of the plot there are another three buildings being designed, each of them by another office. All of them are built by the same investor/owner of the plot and for communication purposes, we have decided on one common layer structure.

This layer structure is typical for flat CAD software, so it contains layers like: 'Construction - Elevator', 'Construction - Roof', Construction - Reinforced Concrete', etc; then several layers for adnotations, 12 layers for different text types, in total approximately 80 layers.

So far we have been working in a CAD software, so switching to their layers was not a problem. But now we are testing out the ArchiCAD and I am responsible of introducing this very project to the new software.

After reading articles like The Power of One Layer or Layer theory (part 2/5) and looking at the layer list the investor provided us, I am wondering, how am I ever going to set this up.

There is an idea of exporting to .dwg using Worksheet Tool, which sounds promising to me. Worksheets method

I've seen at this forum some topics on translating drawings to special .dwg layers, which seems to be the best way for our situation. Probably translation according to Layer or Pen number will work best for us?

But still I don't exactly know, how should I proceed to achieve both:
1. An efficient ArchiCAD model for fast work and documentation
2. A translation template to make sure, that the .dwg files we export will have the layer structure the investor demands.

If you know a thread that already covers my question, please let me know. If you have some good thoughts or know any sources of wisdom helpful with this case, please share with me.

[Eduardo Rolon]

Jumping into the deep end of the pool?

Recommending work flows for this type of project is difficult since there are going to be details that are going to be missed. That being said it looks like it might be easier than you think since AC is relatively flexible and has been around the same amount of time as Autocad exchanging info with it for some time.

1. The basic setup I would do is just recreate the regular CAD layers in Archicad.
2. The only ones you have to modify with the translator are Windows, Doors, Skylights and Fills. Text also
3. You will need to Publish a test file to create a DWG. In this DWG you will erase all objects, you will edit the Pen color of the Layers to match, edit DIM Styles (verify the Fonts) and edit Text Styles. This is going to be your DWG template.
4. After creating the DWG Template then when you publish your project using the translator that includes the DWG Template.
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Doing all of this should take a couple of hours. Testing it might take some hours too so don't leave it for last.

For extra credit you could define Favorites that match the requirements and you could create schedules that help QA the project.
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About the 2 blog posts you linked. The Power of One is from 2012 and AC has changed a lot since then. Both also are from the point of view were you are in charge of the project and you don't have to coordinate different CAD systems so their recommendations do not apply.

The Worksheet method I would not use unless specifically asked for "clean DWGS without lines overlapping" and I don't have a license of Autocad available for use.. If some of the team complain about your DWGs I would use the command "Overkill" in Autocad after exporting from AC.

[Anonymous]

Problably sounds like I jump into the deep end of the ocean indeed, but we just give AC a try, while the main workflow is still in the old software.

Thank you for quick reply. All time I have now is just for preparing the file structure and export scheme correctly, so I want to make sure it works before we all switch to ArchiCAD.

Regarding the template DWG, can I edit it just ArchiCAD, or should I use another software?

[Eduardo Rolon]

The DWG template will be Published from AC and then edited in Autocad (which I am presuming is the CAD Package) in there you will fix all the translator settings that cannot be done within AC.

Read Here:

http://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/guides/archicad-20/archicad-20-reference-guide/user_interface_refer...