When ArchiCAD was uncomplicated !

[mthd]

ArchiCAD 1.0

No Graphic Overrides in this version 😆 !

[Lingwisyer]

Did we manage to level up?

[mthd]

In what way ?

[Lingwisyer]

Was a joke in regards to "Level 1". Maybe we lost too much exp so while we have shiny new toys, we are still level 1.

[mthd]

Yeah it was joke but it didn’t quite register. I see now, we have lots of shiny toys but then how then would they be able to market the product without them ? Especially for so long ? The future toy box was opened in the original roadmap with the “Ideas Pool”, and now I am left longing for those proposed new ones. 

The Future Toy Box was first opened in 2023, if anyone wants to know more, please follow this link and watch the YT video from about 7 minutes in for the “Ideas Pool” content.

https://www.digital.skewed.com.au/blog/graphisoft-releases-public-archicad-roadmap

[jonchis]

Funny - that was  along time ago. I'm finding with the new interface (end of AC25)  AC26 onwards just leaves me seething... i used to be so very, very fast. and now i'm a snail, endlessly scolling, scolling, scolling. so agonisingly slow. god i hate it with a passion. 

I can only think that the programmers are not architects, but programmers. the time lost in scolling is staggering, when you're at it for 8-10 hours a day.

productivity is down, it is pathetic. my clients sitting there with me used to so very impressed, offering payment ASAP. now, they sit there and watch me scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Seriously Graphisoft. How to turn a rocket into a tractor.....

[jl_lt]

that interface change is one of the reasons we never got past 25. we can live without design options

[mthd]

Admittedly, I could too.

[mthd]

I think we might all need to have a big think tank of how we can improve the efficiency of Archicad in using the program in its overly complicated current form ? Or least ask those who are using it efficiently to teach us how to do so.

[jonchis]

Virtuoso, that is a very good thought - when i was a younger flatlander, i would tackle custom menu systems, LISP programming and scripts to make the system faster. 

I wonder if there's a way around this second-rate scrolling system we are lumbered with to bring back our speed, or any ways to enhance the interface?

I've started assembling folders within the interface for materials etc, but what a pain.

[mthd]

Hi @jonchis, we all try to find ways to simplify our workflow to make it a more streamlined and efficient process albeit through a template or other methods.

“Virtuoso” is only a title given on the basis of how much we use this forum. I still have much to learn about using the many facets of Archicad. 

Please take a look at this link below about ranks given in the forum. Some users here are definitely “Virtuoso’s” in their skills with Archicad but I am not one of them. I can play a few riffs in time and hold tune but that’s about it for me now lol. I am better with Chief Architect than with Archicad so far because that’s what I started with and that is more simple to use.

I still think there could be other ways to simplify the dialogue boxes and drop down menus to make navigating Archicad much simpler. I am still thinking carefully about how this might be done before offering a wish and asking the experienced users like you what they think first. Like I said above we need a big think tank first to see how all of this could actually be achieved. I know the programmers do think about this subject but not quite enough IMO.

https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Our-Community/About-Community-Ranks/ta-p/378583

[rakurs]

It is very difficult for developers to make a program user-friendly and intuitive, while retaining necessary complexity to do things that are not super ordinary. I have tons of tools and pallettes open on my ArchiCAD screen and I feel like in some ways it is slowing everything down (when I click on something, the info box has to load loads (he he) of information and suffers from a bit of lag, but on the other hand, I have "most" of the needed info on hand, even if it reduces screen real-estate.

I feel like AutoCAD's properties pallette is MUCH MUCH more advanced than anything we have in ArchiCAD for the following reasons:

- it is rather snappy (ArchiCAD: clicking an element can take half a second for all the info in info boxes to populate)

- it shows ALL the data available (or almost all) for an element or a selection of elements (ArchICAD: you have to manually add some of the info boxes, and still there is a lot of data that is not shown - you have to enter the selection's dialog to see all the data)

- it shows exact data for selected elements that is equal for all of them (ArchiCAD: the info boxes show incorrect data, meaning if you select two walls that have different heights, it will not inform you that they are different, and you don't know which wall's height is displayed! THAT'S AWFUL!)

- it shows "various" when data is not equal (ArchiCAD: see above. AWFUL.)

- you can change common properties for all selected elements even if they're not the same type (ArchiCAD: sometimes it will apply to different elements, other times it will not.)

It just works!

And I hate AutoCAD.

[mthd]

Interesting observations in comparison with the AutoCAD UI speed. I have not tried AutoCAD recently so I can’t say, last time I tried it was 1998 when I was doing a short course with it. There was no Architectural Desktop with the version I tried back then but it would have been useful if it did. There was an add on called “Smart Architect” for AutoCAD  back then that was similar to the Architectural Desktop or AutoCAD Architecture that they have these days. I have installed a demo version of AutoCAD Architecture in the past but that PC has expired lol.

[rakurs]

I wasn't even referring to their architectural versions. In fact, I use the LT version together with ArchiCAD, for detailing and collaboration. In my mind, there is no doubt that for pure 2D drafting, there is simply nothing that does all the things that even LT version of AutoCAD does so well, in spite of many, many frustrations with how the software itself is very dated in some aspects. I must say that there are excellent (cheaper) alternatives to AutoCAD, but my workflow relies heavily on dynamic blocks and that is, unfortunately, proprietary Autodesk tech. Most other software can read them and use them, but not modify them.

And oh boy, don't get me started on how amazing dynamic blocks are, and at the same time, how frustrating they are! And here we are with ArchiCAD, with complex profiles that are really not that flexible, and with modules that are extremely rigid.

[mthd]

Those dynamic blocks that you refer to, are they 2D details or sections that can adjust to different roof pitches and wall types etc ? If so I have seen a video about them many years ago and yes they are awesome in how they can adjust for different building conditions.

We all use what helps our workflow and with clients and bosses wanting it done yesterday. We do what we can to save as much time as possible and to get the work accomplished in time.

[rakurs]

You can do quite a lot with dynamic blocks. Since AutoCAD LT can only do 2D, and also since full version is really not usable for BIM / Architecture in 3D, I use it only for 2D elements, but I believe they can perfectly work in 3D as well.

You can use many different parameters to change the way something looks and works. Linear, angular, stretching, moving, rotating, scaling... Also, text attributes can be changed, also visibility of elements and even a tabular choice of a myriad of options can be used... Very flexible tool.. Any object within the dynamic (or non-dynamic too!) block can have any property set to whatever you want, but it can also have properties (color, material, linetype, lineweight, transparency...) set to "ByBlock" or "ByLayer." ByLayer really isn't a possibility in ArchiCAD since Layers don't have any properties assignable to them unlike AutoCAD, but ByBlock? That's an interesting one, because if you set a block's color to red, every element of the block whose color you set to ByBlock inside block editor will become red. Others will remain either ByLayer, or a defined color.

But I'm going off rails. My point is that properties and properties pallette work much more efficiently in AutoCAD. Today I had to manually change a property for every single element type that matched certain properties manually, while in AutoCAD I would use quick select (similar to find / select) and simply change the attribute no matter what type the objects are. In ArchiCAD slabs won't change if you have slabs and walls selected, for example, under many conditions.

Sorry for the wall of text.

[rakurs]

You can see that the two polylines (batting, and the rectangular outline) share SOME properties, but not all, and you immediately know which ones are the same, and which ones are not.

Here's another example, with two mulitleaders (another wish for ArchiCAD)

[jl_lt]

Another incredibly anoying issue derived from what you say, is that if you select multiple objects and want to change one property, for example putting them all in the same layer, it wont do so in one go if those object are in different layers.    You have to repeat it multiple times.    

I once read a way to do this in one go, but is slower to doing it manually, so maybe that says something.

[torben_wadlinger]

Alt Shift T

Edit by Moderator.

I think Torben means CTRL+SHIT+T

Barry.

[rakurs]

I have no idea what this does. I can find Ctrl + Shift + T but it's still pretty much useless. I cannot change geometric properties, junction order, anything like that.

[Barry Kelly]

Edit Selection Set.

The only way to change layer, pen colour or classification for multiple element when different types of elements are selected.

NOTE: if you select multiple elements that are in different layers and you want them all in the same layer, you have to actually change the layer that is seen for the currently selected object.

So if all slabs are in different layers, you select them all, you will see only the layer of the last selected.

If that layer is the one you want all of the slabs to be in, you must change it to something else and then back to that layer to force the change.

This applies whether you are selecting just slabs and changing the layer in the slab settings, or you are selecting slabs walls and roofs and changing with Edit Selection Set.

Barry