Archicad 21 Training

[Anonymous]

We're new here trying to find some good, comprehensive training materials that we can access online. I somewhat dumbfounded that there are not better resources out there. Why does Archicad charge extra for training on top of the expensive licenses? Thank you...

[mikas]

Have You done the ARCHICAD Training Series allready? What about the Videos collection from Graphisoft site?

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with Flowmaster. I'm in my last week of the 30-day trial for AC21. I want desperately for AC to be the BIM tool for my firm, but I'm disappointed in the lack of good training resources.

In my humble opinion, Archicad is not at all intuitive. The terminology and menu structure at times seem to be designed to hide what I'm looking for. I've been around long enough to know that this is probably true to some extent for any CAD or BIM app during the learning phase, but seriously Archicad seems to be the least user-friendly.

Archicad is clearly the most capable BIM app that is also Mac-native. We need training videos that teach, rather than show off what Archicad can do. The vids on YouTube are pitiful. The vids at Graphisoft are better-produced but no more helpful.

When I learned Revit, I found Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning to be extremely helpful. Archicad needs this kind of learning resource. Where is it?!

[Laszlo Nagy]

Can you elaborate this? Could you say a few examples of what ARCHICAD training materials are lacking in and what in the Revit materials were more useful? By the way, were those Revit resources free as well?
Are you aware that there are other ARCHICAD learning resources as well, like Eric Bobrow or Learnvirtual? Not free, but they are another learning option.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Laszlo. I'd be happy to elaborate. And again, this is only a "newbie" opinion so please set me straight if I’m missing something. : )

I used Revit training as a comparison because the video tutorials I found on Lynda and LinkedIn are extraordinary, especially those by Paul F. Aubin. They are concise, not overly verbose, thorough, and broken into 3-5 minute vids with helpful names. They explain the app's structure and terminology, which is one thing I'd like to see improved in AC training.

By comparison, AC videos in LinkedIn mostly have very general names like “Archicad Essential Training” and “Learning Archicad”. That’s not helpful when I search for a specific tool.

Archicad seems to periodically rename tools and restructure the menus. For example, Eric Bobrow's session on setting up IFC data in AC19 referred to “File>File Special>IFC>IFC Scheme Setup”, but it's not there in AC21. It took some digging on my part to learn that it’s been moved and renamed to “Options>Classification Manager”.

Also in AC21, the “File>Interoperability>Classifications and Properties>Download BIM Content” is a very handy tool for the documentation side of our work. Note that it's buried 4 levels deep in the File menu rather than coupled with the Classification Manager under the Options menu. This might make sense to AC veterans and it might be an improvement but it's frustrating to this newbie.

Please remember that we greenhorns don't know what many of these proprietary terms mean. Looking them up in Google is rarely helpful. For this reason, I would suggest that training videos take the time to (briefly) explain what terms mean and how the tool fits logically into and architect's workflow and the AC menu structure.

And finally, a plea to the tireless Archicaders who produce the 2nd-tier tutorials on YouTube. Please get a decent microphone. ; )

Sorry for being so verbose. I am really impressed by what AC can do. And day by day I’m learning the logic and structure.

Thanks again for asking.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the LearnVirtual tip. I'll dig into those asap.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the explanation. I actually agree with you on both counts.
Unfortunately, there is not much we can do about the renaming things. Actually, some of those things is not really renaming. For example, the IFC Scheme Setup Dialog used to be the place where you could define what IFC Properties are be available in your Project File, it allowed you to define custom IFC Properties and it also offered you the ability to map values to IFC Properties.
The Property Manager kind of replaces that. GS wants us to be able to define ARCHICAD element properties and use that instead of defining and using custom IFC Properties. So the IFC Scheme Setup Dialog and the Properties Dialog are not the same, but they are used to achieve similar aims. This is why the IFC Scheme Setup Dialog is no longer available in ARCHICAD.

I agree that definition and clarification of terms is important, not only because we need to know what things mean, but sometimes the same thing is called something else in another application, or the same name is used for something else in another application.
So these are all useful suggestions.
As far as I am concerned I will make sure the people doing training materials will know about this as I will forward this thread to them.

[Anonymous]

Laszlo, thank you for your patience and understanding. I hope we can continue our discussion as topics arise.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Sure, that's why we are here.

[Anonymous]

Thank you Bill Fowler!!!!! I thought I was alone but I echo EVERY WORD you have made in your thread. I took Paul's REVIT courses on Lynda.com and they are FANTASTIC!!!!!!! THIS GUY knows how to teach a newbie. As for cost. LYNDA.COM is FREE from the PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM but if you were to pay it is an ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET for $30 USD per month. BOBROW is $200 for one course.

One other point. I downloaded the Trial of AC 21 and EVERYTHING is can find on BASIC START TO FINISH (WHICH ISN'T MUCH) all say to start with the "ARCHICAD 21 Template.tpl" WELL, My Install does not show that template. It only shows a Commercial.tpl. I did a complete uninstall and reinstall and still only the Commercial.

These issue are precisely why someone new can get incredibly frustrate very quickly. Everywhere I look, and read I am surrounded by all these AC gurus but yet no one can provide a basic start to finish building block type program for us newbies to get started. I'm sorry to be so harsh. I'm just blown away by the lack of USEFUL information for a newbie. Somebody please help before I abandon AC altogether. I have too much work to FIGHT learning a new program like this.

BILL, if you ever get this resolved I would love to talk.

THanks,

MrScott

[Ernest Atanasiu]

Have you tried the Lynda ArchiCAD Essential Training by Thiago Santos Mundim?
Pretty good, I think.

https://www.lynda.com/Architecture-training-tutorials/2-0.html

[Anonymous]

Thank you, MrScott. I hope your learning curve is getting better.

Just as an FYI, I've had to focus lately on getting my (hopefully) final Revit projects out of the office so I'm not a full-on Archicad shop yet.

I found Youtube vids from MrTrialsbike to be helpful. Short, well titled, and to the point. I'm hoping to find more like that.

And I would put in a plug for Graphisoft USA tech support. Very attentive and they get things fixed. Kudos to Ryan.

[Anonymous]

....months later. We’ll, now that I too have completed my projects, and taking a few months off to focus on Archicad, I found the Graphisoft education series - Beginner and Intermediate Courses. Wow! Someone at GS IS listening and put together the absolute best ever newbie training course(s). After months of struggling with Eric’s (very dated material, in between project workload, I found the GSE site and can’t put it down. I completed the Beginner course with no problem, except for some migration issues with AC22 and having to use the INT course vs. my USA program, I am off to the races and enjoying every minute inside AC22.

Thank you GS!!!!!!!!!!!

My only request is....
Can we have a USA version? I am confident the USA is their smallest market so why not help us out. We don’t use the Metric system here.

Lastly, I am having an issue with Cinerender. Every time I use it it crashes. If I have made a number of setting changes and I render, it crashes and asks me to restart Archicad, which I do not do and simply hit Render again and away she goes rendering away. Is this a bug in v22?

[Anonymous]

All, I realized after posting”.....months later”, I was was a bit curt regarding My experience with Eric’s material - this was unfair to him on my part. Eric Bobrow is without a doubt one of the most dedicated teachers/mentors of any software I have used. Yes, he charges for his services and material as this is his livelihood, but over the last six months Eric has gone above and beyond to assist me in my learning of this very complex program. If fact, he has given me some very constructive advice on how I should be approaching my training. His material may not walk me through a step by step build but combined with GS’s new courses, really helps explain the mechanics of how, dare I say, every aspect of the software works. Eric has recently announced a new QuickStart Course for Archicad 22. Thank you Eric! And thank you for all you have and are willing to do to help us newbies get the most out of Archicad.

Eric’s Best Practices, and Coaching Calls are also a fantastic value. If you’re looking for help and professional guidance with Archicad you owe it to yourself to check him out.

Thank you Eric for all you do for us. And To all the wonderful user on this forum that give back to help us improve our skills.

[Erwin Edel]

Can't speak for other regions, but our reseller offers excellent courses at one of their office location or I think also on site if you have a larger team of people to train. Anything from beginner to in depth on tools and for different rolls (technical, design, BIM). If you are subbed to archicad yearly updates there is an update course that is part of your sub every year to get you going with the new version. Excellent helpdesk support and written tips and tricks that get updated with new releases available too.

From my perspective your local reseller (or I think in US case: Graphisoft US?) is the one to step up really.

The youtube clips from Graphisoft I find for the most part decent at explaining in depth and specific things for tools.

If nothing else is available: get the learning material from GS, I think there are 4 in total, with youtube clips that I think are updated with each new release. They should get you started on the very basics, so you know your way around the program a bit. After that, get some proper training, assuming it is available locally.

A few days of training back to back will get you going so much faster than trying to figure things out by yourself (which will take months most likely) as you go. But that's just my opinion.