ArchiForma, ZoomGDL or GDL Toolbox

[Jochen Suehlo]

I have to build some window fittings as GDL-Objects and some of them are a bit complex (like the added file) and I think programming them would last quite long.
So I think, maybe with one of the GDL-Addons like ArchiForma, ZoomGDL or GDL Toolbox could made these objects quite fast; they don't need to be parametric.
Has anyone experience which of these programms could solve my job.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Fabrizio wrote:
Dear friends,

I just updated the archiforma web site ( www.archiforma.com ) where I also uploaded some tutorials (thanks Dave!).
In the next days (I have to find out some time!) I will also upload the tutorial regarding the "reiber" object.

The tutorials are a fantastic addition, Fabrizio! ... look forward to reading the 'reiber' one when it is ready.

Sometimes typos bring smiles... the Moose portion weathervane is spelled 'Noose' (as in the thing used to hang someone). 😉 The closeups there show the beveling (fillet) possible with ArchiForma nicely.

And the sculpting of the winged eagle is a bit of magic. Thank you for sharing this! It clearly shows one (of many) area where ArchiForma excels over the labor of creating such objects with GDL.

Karl

[Fabrizio Diodati]

Damn!

Dear Karl, once again, you are right! The “N” key is too much near to the “M” key…
Unfortunately the weathervane usually are on the top of the house… to much high to hang someone also if that one is a silly Italian architect who isn’t able to distinguish a Moose from a Noose!



friendly
Fabrizio

P.S. tomorrow morning I will substitue all the (N)oose letter with the correct ones!

[Dave Jochum]

Fabrizio wrote:
I just updated the archiforma web site ( www.archiforma.com ) where I also uploaded some tutorials (thanks Dave!).

Excellent, Fabrizio!! Very clear and well done. A series of tutorials of this nature will be very helpful learning tools. Thanks again.

(Sorry--I meant to tell you about the noose!)

[Anonymous]

I am new user for ArchiCAD. Can you tell me what's archiforma can do for ArchiCAD? :oops:

[Dave Jochum]

ashley wrote:
I am new user for ArchiCAD. Can you tell me what's archiforma can do for ArchiCAD?

Creation of GDL objects from within ArchiCad without all the messy scripting. Take a look at their website--WELL worth the investment, IMHO.

[Anonymous]

I see

[Anonymous]

Fabrizio wrote:
Dear friends,

I just updated the archiforma web site ( www.archiforma.com ) where I also uploaded some tutorials (thanks Dave!).
In the next days (I have to find out some time!) I will also upload the tutorial regarding the "reiber" object.

Thank you very much
friendly
Fabrizio

Hi Fabrizio,

Really a nice development of the ArchiForma plug!!! I wonder about the filesize of the objekts? For example the Weathervanes.

:)Mats

[Fabrizio Diodati]

Good question…
Answering it is not so simple!

Let me try to explain you what I mean.
If you are an ArchiForma user there is no need to save the result as object, you can use it as module file (where you grouped together all the ArchiForma elements) and handle it using the drag&drop technique.
In this case the object size is zero! I mean zero in respect of the current library size because the original objects are inside the embedded library and the saved one is only a collection of instances of these objects.

If you use the ArchiForma “Save as object” command you get a library part which size is around 3Mb. This is a parametric object that can be resized (of course it will be scaled along the X-Y-Z axes) and which surface materials are fully parametric (I mean you can use the “original” ones or you can change any material as you want by using its parameter value).

Most of the users complain about this size but I want to highlight (and, please, GS corrects me if I’m wrong!) that these object are binary objects (for example like those ones created by ZoomGDL or which you import from a DXF/DWG file).
The difference between a GDL object and a binary object mainly is based on the fact that a scripted GDL object contains the script which generate the final shape and the binary one already contains the final shape.

The “initial” sizes are very different (I mean the files size on your hard disk) because, as any ArchiCAD user knows, a GDL scripted object is very little but a binary object often is very big (once again talking about document size).

But, during the 3D model calculation, the ArchiCAD GDL engine have to interpreters the GDL script and builds up the resulting shapes and, just in this phase, the final model size is quite the same. For this reason, if you look at the ArchiCAD requirements, you can read:
“Free hard disk space is required according to model complexity (over 1 GB recommended for complex models and 3D visualization).”

The characteristic of a binary object is that it is quite faster than a GDL scripted one because it doesn’t need any interpretation: it already contains the final shapes.

So, probably the object is quite heavy (as file size) but it’s very fast and not so heavy talking about the 3D visualization (the more complex weathervane, the patriotic eagle, takes less then 3 seconds to be visualized in shading mode using the OpenGL engine).

I simplified this concepts but GS can correct me if the main concept is wrong…

Of course the final size of the ArchiForma objects (the saved ones) depends of the model complexity…

Friendly
Fabrizio