How to Setup Your First Project - Part 2 - Advanced Project Settings

[Emoke Csikos]

This article is a part of a series titled Archicad Quick Tour.

This article will help you start your first project in Archicad. To start with, please read the first part of the article: How to Setup Your First Project - Part 1 - Essential Project Settings.

Attributes, Tool Defaults and Favorites

What are Attributes? Attributes hold the most basic characteristics of Archicad elements that define their appearance and behavior when interacting with other elements. Element Attributes can be selected and modified in the Element's Settings Dialog.

    

The Archicad Template contains a large number of Attributes, so you can start working with them, no need to spend time on configuring their basic settings. These are the Attributes you will need from the beginning:

• Layers and Layer Combinations
• Pens & Colors and Pen Sets
• Line Types
• Fills
• Surfaces
• Building Materials
• Composites
• Complex Profiles
• Zone Categories

These Attributes will be used later in the life of the project:

• Markup Styles
• Cities
• MEP Systems (if MEP Modeller Add-On is installed)
• Operation Profiles

Later you can create your own custom Attributes by either creating new Attributes or modifying the existing ones. The Template also stores default settings for all Tools (3D Design Tools such as the Wall Tool, the Slab Tool, the Window Tool, etc. and 2D Documentation Tools such as the Dimension Tool, the Text Tool, the Label Tool, etc.). Favorites are stored combinations of Tools' default settings that are often used. Some basic Favorites are also provided by the Archicad Template for each Tool. You can easily customize these and create new ones you can best use in your project. Using Favorites helps you speed up the design and modeling process and maintain project coherency.

Default Renovation Status and Renovation Filters

Renovation Statuses and Renovation Filters help you manage stages of renewal projects. With their proper usage you will be able to visualize the stages of the project using the same 3D model.

    

A Renovation Status is automatically assigned to each element you place: Existing, To Be Demolished or New. Each item you place in your project will have the same Renovation Status by default. At the startup of the project you need to decide which of the statuses will be the default Renovation Status to start with. Check which value is set to be default by the Template you use and change it if needed. The default Renovation Status can be selected on the Renovation Palette and will be  applied to all types of elements and cannot be changed in the Tools' default settings. Once an element is placed, you can change its Renovation Status. As your project develops you might need to change the default Renovation Status. You can do this any time using the Renovation Palette. You can learn more about Renovation in Archicad from the articles under the master article Renovation.

Classifications and Properties

What is a Property? Properties hold element related data that cannot be visualised such as fire resistance, thermal transmittance, price, etc. They are optional, customizable and can be added to the project database by any of the project stakeholders. What is a Classification System? It allows project information to be structured according to a recognised standard, e.g. Uniclass, OmniClass, Önorm, etc. An Archicad model is a central BIM database that stores all project data and makes it accessible to all project stakeholders. The Archicad Template contains the Archicad Classification System. You can also create your own custom Classification System and can import any standard BIM Classification System. Archicad can handle multiple Classification Systems, thus has a flexible way to classify elements according to any national or company standard Classification System.

        

Properties can be assigned to any construction element or zone. Properties' availability for a certain element type is determined by the selected classification(s) of the element. Choosing the correct classification system(s) is an essential decision when coordinating construction project information. Learn more about Properties and Classifications from the articles under the master article Element Properties and Classification Systems.

This article is a part of a series titled Archicad Quick Tour.