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Libraries & objects
About Archicad and BIMcloud libraries, their management and migration, objects and other library parts, etc.

James Hardie content for Archicad 16 users

Not applicable
Ok, I know I must be missing something here, so I'd appreciate some direction.
The James Hardie, Accel folks have sent me an exciting email saying they have NEW! content for ArchiCad. Fantastic! Sounds great. Let's go have a look.....

When I go to the website, it says the content is only suited to outdated versions of Archicad, up to version 14. That's funny, I could have sworn the email said they had NEW! content? They mention you need to do something extra to get it working on version 15, but there's no mention of version 16.

The other thing to click on is a link for help, which is just an email address back at Graphisoft..... which implies they've been helping James Hardie to make this content...which implies.... huh??

So, let me get this straight - Graphisoft are involved in preparing this "NEW!" content for James Hardie, but they haven't allowed it to work on the two most recent versions of Archicad??!?!?!?!

For the love of Mike why? Are Graphisoft keen to discourage upgrades of their own software? I don't get it.

I'll admit that it's true that there are still parts of Archicad (and Archicad culture) that I haven't explored yet, but from this recent convert's point of view this just looks plain weird. What am I missing here?

Actually, to be honest I'd still be at least partly happy with a mere workaround. Can someone tell me if it's possible to wrangle access to any of the James Hardie stuff with my fully up-to-date Archicad 16 software?

Thanks,
Chris
20 REPLIES 20
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Can you post the links that you received?

It doesn't make much sense to me, as I'm not sure what Hardie product makes sense to be modeled in AC anyway...

I would be surprised if GS was involved...
One of the forum moderators
AC 28 USA and earlier   â€˘   macOS Sequoia 15.2, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Not applicable
Yeah. I'm only familiar with their siding. That's usually best handled with textures.
Not applicable
It's at http://www.accel.com.au but the specific links won't work for you unless you're registered with the website. I've attached a screencapture of the web page.

However the demo video mentioned on that page might work. If you can see it, it makes it obvious that Graphisoft are definitely supporting this:
(*WARNING*, noisy rock music - turn your sound down!)
http://www.accel.com.au/ArchiCAD_demo.html

I think the video makes it look like it could be a useful tool (ie. more than just surface fills - it would make renders look more realistic)

Anyway, I've learned a bit more since I posted yesterday. In their installation instructions it seems they're relying on Archicad 'Goodies' which I don't really know much about, but which seem to be both supported and not supported by Graphisoft at the same time (eg. I found a post on this site about Goodies for Archicad 16, but for an earlier 'build')

So, I guess my question might have changed - can anyone tell me more about the Archicad Goodies? It seems I would have to regress to an older build of Archicad 16 for them to work?

Since it's unsupported I'd need to have some idea of the risk involved - for example if something goes awry, does the error tend to corrupt the entire Archicad file, or just make one object unusable?

I appreciate any guidance.
Thanks,
Chris
David Maudlin
Rockstar
dv_chris wrote:
Since it's unsupported I'd need to have some idea of the risk involved - for example if something goes awry, does the error tend to corrupt the entire Archicad file, or just make one object unusable?
I've used some of the Goodies for years and never had a problem. They are add on features that Graphisoft provides, but do not guarantee or support like the features of the main application. Try installing the latest build, try them on a copy of a working file, and see if it is worth the trouble. The Wall Accessories (which the Hardie add on uses) has been a Goodie for a long time.

David
David Maudlin / Architect
www.davidmaudlin.com
Digital Architecture
AC27 USA • iMac 27" 4.0GHz Quad-core i7 OSX11 | 24 gb ram • MacBook Pro M3 Pro | 36 gb ram OSX14
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Thanks for posting that, Chris.

I had imagined that the Hardie stuff was probably a Wall Accessory item. It is odd that the web site you show says suitable for v12, 13 and 14 only ... as wall accessories are not version dependent. It should work just fine in 15 and 16. You just have to download the Wall Accessories 'goodie' (Help > Download...), restart AC and add the Hardie library to your loaded libraries.

The reason the Accessories (and other Goodies) are available but not officially supported is that GS doesn't offer any technical support/help for them and keeps them around for user benefit, but without having resources to invest in improving them. E.g., the Accessory functionality hasn't changed in many years.

Because Accessories are an older technology, they do NOT support any but ordinary vertical walls - solid or composite. You cannot apply a wall accessory to a profiled wall, for example. (I assume you can't apply to a canted or battered wall either, but never tried.)

The cool part, as you saw, is that accessory objects are dynamically associated with walls (or roofs/etc) - and so are aware of window/door openings.

There are other limitations - partly the Accessory technology and partly the objects themselves. If programmed badly, the siding won't be properly aware of changes in the exterior trim of your windows/doors. The siding base may not be adjustable vertically - e.g., if you want a partial board at your deck. The siding will not be aware of corner boards (Hardie or otherwise) unless the object has a parameter to generate corner boards. The corners will join in a mitered way which is not how Hardie siding works - cannot be cut at a miter - but perhaps the library includes a corner cap. The ends - as in the video - will just hang in space with no corner board unless there is a parameter or you place one and do a solid element subtract. Etc.

The email and phone contact that you complained about - saying that this is Graphisoft's fault that things aren't up to date - is a generic contact for questions about ArchiCAD - not questions about the Hardie content. It appears from the video that the collaboration was with Graphisoft Australia (a reseller and developer of local Australian content), not Graphisoft HQ. Who knows. In any case, if GS helped, it is Hardie / Accel who is the distributor / supporter of the content... GS just offers the enabling Accessories add-on for use.

Using Accessories can cause no harm to your project. No fears. Things will either work well enough for you, or not, in which case you can just remove the add-on and content.
One of the forum moderators
AC 28 USA and earlier   â€˘   macOS Sequoia 15.2, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Not applicable
Fantastic. Thanks to you both, David and Karl, I now consider myself reliably informed. The good news from my point of view is that I now know there's a nifyt toolset for me to look into - not just for James Hardie purposes. I had thought those fancy walls I'd seen came from some expensive plug-in. I also appreciate the reassurance that I'm not going to fry anything if I just have a play with the Goodies tool, so I'll now head off and do just that.
Thanks again - I appreciate your efforts (over the weekend, too)
Cheers,
Chris
Aaron Bourgoin
Virtuoso
sadly no way to try this outside Australia without a phone call to a sales rep. Buggah!
Think Like a Spec Writer
AC4.55 through 27 / USA AC27-6000 USA
Rhino 8 Mac
MacOS 14.6.1
Not applicable
Aaron wrote:
sadly no way to try this outside Australia without a phone call to a sales rep. Buggah!
Dern. After the video got me all excited. Thanks for saving me the wasted time.
Not applicable
I have the same issue.

Except the goodies are only offered as a download for windows 32 bit and we use 64 bit.

Does anyone have a work around for this?

I really need the content from James Hardie for a number of projects.