Cadimage

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

we are getting some AC files from clients which have used cadimage librarys. Even so it is a pla file there are still librarys or macros missing. It is very annoying. This happened with different files from different clients. It would be silly to have to buy the addon to open the files!?
Can anybody shed some light on this thanks.

Carsten

[Anonymous]

I had that problem man,

at my work i have addons and sometimes i bring my work home, allways save file as archive and thats the only way to open that files on other comp without that addons. U will get mes.that some stuff is missing but u will be able to see drawings, but this is not perfect and smooth as it should be. So i was forced to install addons at home to


Thats the big problem with archicad and addons, they force u to buy addons and thats the shame. Without addons, archicad is very poor program . . . (poor door,windows, stair, 3d modeling, terrain etc)


If i wote for my best addon and most usefull addon, then it is ARCHIFORMA, Fabricio, job well done, i simply love it and i just cant work in archicad without it !

I think that GS should buy some addons and put it in AC as "must have to work in AC"

I just look this way:

u can always open in newest autocad, file from oldes autocad file (autocad 14 file can be easyely open in autocad 2008) ! Thats not the way with archicad. . . .

If GS just listen voice of their users and put that wishes in new archicad it would be THE BEST ARCHITECTURE SOFTWARE !

Conclusion:

Your problem is a little part of a big problem, and u dont have to buy addons, but it will make u creazy cos u dont use them, and u cant change files that u recive from your buisnies parners . . .etc

This projects that i work now in tv tower in monte negro and it cant be done without addons !

[Anonymous]

When i finish this one, i will post it somewhere here just to show what else can be done in archicad powered by some addons !

Thx Braza for your ArchiPIPE 1.3 AC11 !

[Fabrizio Diodati]

First of all Thanks Neko for your kind words.

The missing objects trouble, referring to our add-ons, can happens for two reason:

1. the add-on uses an embedded library
2. the add-on uses a variable to call external macros

Embedded library concept was something that any add-on developer loves like no other thing: if the needed library can be embedded you don't have to care about its loading in ArchiCAD so you save your time avoding to write code to handle missing elements and you save your time in tech support because there is no possibility of users error.
Unfortunatelly, by default, if you have a PLA file and inside that file you inserted objects stored in embedded library it won't include those objects.

There is a workaround to avoid this thing (I mean from the developer point of view) but it's so boring that, after some versions, we gave up and from then we always avoided to use embedded library.
So, the first trouble, cannot appear anymore if the user utilizes the latest versions of our add-ons (of course I cannot say the same for other add-ons: it depends on the developer).

The second case occurs when you script an object that uses macro but, inside the script, you don't use the "standard" sintax:
For example, I have to call a macro named "Example"

Instead of use the command:

CALL "Example" PARAMETERS ...

I use the command:

Call name_macro PARAMETERS ...

where "name_macro" is a string parameter that can assume several values depending on the user settings.

This sintax is correct, it works fine, and it lets you do a lot of things.
But ArchiCAD doesn't include at all any macro called using this kind of sintax.
I always complained with GS about this issue but, at least till now, I haven't been able to get a fix of this trouble.

To workaround this trouble I always suggest the user to take with the project also the add-on library (you don't need to install the add-on but just to load the library).

Friendly
Fabrizio

[Anonymous]

To complete Fabrizio's explanation, this is what GS says.

Basic wrote:
When you call a macro, always use the call keyword and put the name of the macro between quotation marks (e.g., call "m_rail_wired"). Do not create macro calls where the macro name is a parameter to avoid missing macros from archive files. ArchiCAD saves the default macro only into the archive file.
(Workaround: call all parameter values as a macro after the end statement.)

The workaround works perfectly, and it applies to images too.

[Fabrizio Diodati]

Hi Olivier,

yes I knew this statement by GS but:

(Workaround: call all parameter values as a macro after the end statement.)

If I could know in advance these values of course I wouldn't use this issue.
The trouble is I don't know in advance the names of these macros.
For example, the user can create his own custom newels and posts which can be used into ArchiStair.
I cannot know the names of these new objects so I cannot include them after the END statement.

There is another workaround that GS introduced that is what the custom components add-on does: any time the user create such kind of object the add-on automatically add its name to a specific macro but, in this case, these "added" objects are created by the add-on itself that can add the name.
If I provide the user with an add-on that can handle any kind of object by creating them using several methodologies (GDL scripting, save as from the 3D windows, etc.) my add-on cannot "intercept" the creation event so it cannot collect the name of the new created macro.

In any case we are working on this issue and we will solve it... sooner or later.

Friendly
Fabrizio

[Anonymous]

Fabrizio wrote:
If I could know in advance these values of course I wouldn't use this issue.
The trouble is I don't know in advance the names of these macros.

Hi Fabrizio,

OK, i understand this is "add-on" specific problem. I figured you talked for objects in general.
Sorry for misunderstanding you. Good luck to solve this.

[Fabrizio Diodati]

No trouble at all, Olivier!

You kind suggestion and advice will always be welcome.

Friendly
Fabrizio

[Anonymous]

thanks guys for the feedback. So in reality cadimage sells an addon which is for inhouse use only. I guess you won't find this info on their website.

Graphisoft really needs to address this problem especially with revit breathing down their neck.

By the way we can open a pla file with cadimage librarys but you wont be able to see anything in 3d at all, not that this would be of any help anyway.

Cheers

[__archiben]

Carstene wrote:
thanks guys for the feedback. So in reality cadimage sells an addon which is for inhouse use only. I guess you won't find this info on their website.

it's not really cadimage's problem - the fault really lies with the way GS handles the archiving process. there are (as described) some tedious ways around it.

suggestion: go to cadimagetools.com and register. you will be able to download demo versions of their add-on type tools. upon installation you will have their complete libraries for use with your colleague's projects.

bear in mind that the add-on functionality (any accessory association) won't work if you change things around. you should also check out your support contract with graphisoft australia. some cadimage tools are included with the contract so you could find that you already 'own' them!

~/archiben