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QUANTITY TAKE-OFF BUILDING MATERIALS OR FRAMING DIAGRAM

Anonymous
Not applicable
Can Achicad automatically (key stroke) or somewhat automatically create a diagrammatic framing plan or a create a materials quantity takeoff, for example for framing lumber, wall covering (sheet rock) ?? If so, point me to the reference key words.
3 REPLIES 3
Podolsky
Ace
Potentially it can. But you need for that special GDL objects or plug-in. In standard ArchiCAD library there is no such elements.
I plan to program tools, that able do such things. I've seen Graphisoft Denmark showed wall framing made with Grasshopper.



There is also exist plug-in called ArchiFrame. I think it's from Finland:

https://www.archiframe.fi/en/in-brief
poco2013
Mentor
46cruisair wrote:
Can Achicad automatically (key stroke) or somewhat automatically create a diagrammatic framing plan or a create a materials quantity takeoff, for example for framing lumber, wall covering (sheet rock) ?? If so, point me to the reference key words.
The Short answer is NO!! The Denmark project has nice music but little info. Archiframe is a excellent plug-in that does a lot more than framing. The cost is about equal to that of Archicad.I doubt that Architects could justify double the cost of Archicad for a plug-in in which they would only use 10% .

Archicad does have a wall framing 'goodie' It was developed several years ago and never updated. It is, however, so 'buggy' as to be practically unusable. I believe it once worked on past versions but as Archicad added complexity as compound and complex profiles, it was never updated and gets confused now as to how to handle connections. The problem is that when it encounters a error it simply shuts down and half of your framing is missing. It also misplaces the location of the framing to the outside of the wall rather than the core. It will work somewhat better if the add-on is applied on individual walls rather than a multiple select.

The problem is that you still have the problem of connections which can not be fixed because the framing is one GDL element and can not be easily modified.

As to the framing takeoff,Archicad at one time offered a framing takeoff schedule but that was dropped. However, if you have some GDL skills, be aware, that The Library Part uses a macro that can be easily modified to report framing elements.

This would be a ideal project to undertake in Python since speed is not a factor here. However, Archicad's Python is extremely limited in its access to data and has no ability to place elements. Given the lack of progress in over a year and half, I expect Python will slowly go the way of wall framing? So - long answer - no.
Gerry

Windows 11 - Visual Studio 2022; ArchiCAD 27
Podolsky
Ace
I disagree about NO. It's possible - but programming needed to be involved.
Goodies, by the way, was developed more than few years ago - 20 years ago. They appeared in ArchiCAD 7. Since there never been updated (maybe because of bugs). Based on wall accessories tool it is possible to program custom GDL object, that would scan wall geometry and place frame into it. Also possible to do such algorithm in Grasshopper too.
So, technology actually does exist, that let to make wall framing and extract any needed information from it. But tools (apart of ArchiFrame) needed to be developed.