Documentation in Archicad

[Martin Jules]

I am taking a Master’s degree in Architecture from a University in the U.S. and I start to panic using ArchiCAD when I see the performance of my fellow students with Revit.

Here are the kinds of assignments I have to realize with ArchiCAD:

“All drawings should include major dimensions and labels for the different components. Required drawings include:

Sheet A 5.1

Window Sill Detail (3-D), revise and update (No Scale)
Window Sill Detail (2-D), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Conceptual Window Sill Detail (2-D “Onion”), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Window Jamb Detail (3-D), revise and update (No Scale)
Window Jamb Detail (2-D), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Conceptual Window Jamb Detail (2-D “Onion”), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Window Head Detail (3-D), revise and update (No Scale)
Window Head Detail (2-D), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Conceptual Window Head Detail (2-D “Onion”), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)

Sheet A 5.2

Door Sill Detail (3-D), revise and update (No Scale)
Door Sill Detail (2-D), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Conceptual Door Sill Detail (2-D “Onion”), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Door Jamb Detail (3-D), revise and update (No Scale)
Door Jamb Detail (2-D), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Conceptual Door Jamb Detail (2-D “Onion”), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Door Head Detail (3-D), revise and update (No Scale)
Door Head Detail (2-D), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Conceptual Door Head Detail (2-D “Onion”), revise and update (Scale: 1-1/2” = 1’-0”)
Sheet A 7.0 Outline Specifications
Update specifications with all new components and materials.
Sheet A 9.0 References
Update sheet to include a copy of all references used to develop details. Minimum 1 reference per detail.
Update and include the following sheets:
Sheet A 0.0 Material Precedent
Sheet A 1.0 Floor Plans
Sheet A 1.1 Structural Plans
Sheet A 2.0 Elevations
Sheet A 3.0 Wall Sections
Sheet A 5.0 Details”

Enclosed are both examples from a student’s work in the class using Revit. He submits his assignments on time and he performs very well with Revit. This assignment is about “Curtain Wall”. He has used the Revit Curtain Wall to realize the enclosed work.

Which tools in ArchiCAD could help me achieve this level of performance and presentation compared to Revit?

[Anonymous]

Mjules wrote:
I am taking a Master’s degree in Architecture from a University in the U.S. and I start to panic using ArchiCAD when I see the performance of my fellow students with Revit.


Which tools in ArchiCAD could help me achieve this level of performance and presentation compared to Revit?

You should make a new post and you will get better answer in this forum.

[Martin Jules]

I have also posted it here to show Graphisoft what kind of performance we need from ArchiCAD in North America.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you are right.. But you can use wish forums or another forum to get more attention .

[jl_lt]

Not to mention you can get these same results in Archicad and also much much better than that. Dont worry Mr. Mjules, just keep practicing. know that you can import custom profiles into your window profiles and do the same kind of isometrics you show in the example.

[Martin Jules]

This is good news for me. Just now, I am trying the 3D document option to do this assignment. I hope to get a great quality of drawings for the final presentation with ArchiCAD.

If you have some ideas, don't hesitate to share them with me. I like ArchiCAD so much that I am not ready to leave it, but I've suffered a lot handling it.

[jl_lt]

It took me around 6 months to get confortable. If you are in school you have all the time in the world, just be patient. Be very organized with your layers and layer combinations and the precision of your modeling, learn the appropiate workflow with the view map, layer combinations and Graphic overrides. Learn to label and put id in objects (use the ID manager). Archicad, the same as revit, is only as good as the input you make. Learn about construction details as much as you can and try to model everything in 3d, instead of 2d. For more encouragement i recommend reading Shoegnome´s website for more theorical and practical material about using Archicad and dont forget to ask questions in these forums in which world class experts will gladly provide help.

Another tip: as you are still in school, even though i think Archicad is much much much better than revit, i would still recommend that you invest some time in getting confortable with Revit, specially if you are in the US. Knowing both softwares will open up a lot of job opportunities. Best of lucks!

[Richard Morrison]

What you have shown can be easily done in Archicad, of course. In addition to the 3D Documents, I think getting quite comfortable with Complex Profiles and the Detail tool will help you both now and in the future. I'm not exactly sure how a conceptual ("onion") detail is different from a normal detail. What I see in the examples are simply redundant 2D details, and the ones in color don't add much for me. However, you might look up Tim Ball's work with 3D details. (e.g.

In response to the above comment regarding learning Revit. It will indeed open up many opportunities with more firms using it. On the other hand, being expert in Archicad will make you more desirable to those firms already using AC. You can be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond. Unless, of course, the firm you REALLY want to work for is using one or the other. Something to think about.

[Martin Jules]

Thanks, Richard and Jl!

I appreciate your comments and keep confident that ArchiCAD is still a great software.

I will spend more time drawing on it.

[Anonymous]

Alammouri wrote:

Mjules wrote:
I am taking a Master’s degree in Architecture from a University in the U.S. and I start to panic using ArchiCAD when I see the performance of my fellow students with Revit.


Which tools in ArchiCAD could help me achieve this level of performance and presentation compared to Revit?

You should make a new post and you will get better answer in this forum.

Agreed. Is off topic. Besides: there is nothing there that can't be achieved with Archicad.