Introducing ArchiCAD to an all AutoCad office

[Conrado Dominguez]

also

[Conrado Dominguez]

OOps, don't know what happened to my previous post.
Here it is again.

I would like to obtain advise from ArchiCad users working in an office where AutoAcd is also in use.

Recently, I moved to another office where AutoCad is the standard. I am not required to use it (thanks God). I would like to continue using AC9 for my work (mostly large scale details and clarification sketches to contractors) and save them to AC2000 of 2004.

My concern is to make sure I do not screw-up some files and kill the possiblity of using AC9 sometime in the future.

I am looking for some heads-up advise about layers, pen colors, dimensions, fonts and any other aspect you may think.
Is it really feasible to mix boths systems ?

Regards,

Conrado

[Link]

Hey Conrado

Good to talk to you again. I still owe you a drink from ACUW!

I will jump in here and say yes - it is absolutely feasible to intermingle these two CAD packages. Although do try your best to convert them!

The process of sharing files with AutoCAD is largely dependent on the Translators you set up to 'export' to DWG and import their DWG's. These (xml) files are relatively simple to set up (Tools>DWG-DXF Translator Setup... ). You can map layers, pens & colors, and linetypes, and fonts, etc. You can easily switch out drawing units and scales, translate to and from ACAD2000 & ACAD2004, and if you use PlotMaker, you can take advantage of Paperspace. You can even publish all your views in one hit! There's more features than this, but the point is that it is feasible and many people are doing it.

Having said that, it is not perfect! For example, you cannot assign wildcards. Take layers for example, you can't map a bunch of layers to just one layer, unless you know the name of every single one and map them individually. Some users complain that their image files do not translate smoothly - if at all. There has also been complaints about text blocks coming in at unpredictable positions, although this can usually be relieved by using matching fonts. Etc, etc.

Despite these and similar issues, you will still be able to work well between both programs. Go for it mate!

Cheers,
Link.

[Rakela Raul]

i wouldnt spend any 3D time to respond to GC questions or clarifications....
if people cannot handle it quickly with hand sketches (this generation is bad by hand) a would recommend the friendliest 2D software and autocad is one of them.

[Conrado Dominguez]

Hey Link, good to hear from you. Thanks for the encouragement .

Raul:

You are right. I would not spend any 3D time when a hand sketch will suffice.
I find AutoCAD anything but friendly.

With ArchiCAD "walls" and "fills" to represent laminar material such as gypsum board, tile, stone etc, and the supply of symbols from the AC library, I can crank out outstanding details fast and accurately to scale with hardly any effort.

Thanks for your comments.

Conrado