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Translate Pen Sets (Pens and Colors)

Josh Verran
Advisor

Hello everyone,

We're encountering a challenge with our ancillary resources. These resources were originally created in an older instance of our template (out the box), and we've significantly reconfigured/customised all our resources in the years since then.

The issue crops up when copying resources from the ancillary file to a new file (99% 2D construction/assembly details - lines fills, detail elements, dimensions etc); we find ourselves manually adjusting each element's pens, which is quite time-consuming. Alternatively, we use a Legacy Pen Set, but this isn't ideal either.


For instance, we often need to change pen 193 to 41, pen 192 to 22, 195 to 82, etc. Is there an automated method for this pen translation process?


We'd like to avoid workflows that involve exporting to DWG and re-importing using DWG translators, as our ancillary resources use native Archicad tools, which would be lost in this process.


Any suggestions or workarounds would be greatly appreciated!


GRAPHISOFT Certified BIM Manager | Senior BIM Specialist | LinkedIn


ARCHICAD 18-28 | BIMcloud | CI Tools | Grasshopper - Rhino | CloudCompare | Bluebeam


Australia & New Zealand


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2 REPLIES 2
Eduardo Rolon
Moderator

My recommendation is to bite the bullet and update you old drawings BUT I know it is not practical so…

My solution is to use GO's to "override" the old pens to the new ones.

Eduardo Rolón AIA NCARB
AC27 US/INT -> AC08

Macbook Pro M1 Max 64GB ram, OS X 10.XX latest
another Moderator

scottjm
Advisor

We also use the legacy penset method in our template to allow older details drawn with the older template penset to be copied into newer projects. Not perfect but gets us over the line. 

 

I think the only solution is an Addon that can remap the pens of elements automatically for you. 

CI had a migration tool that may have fit the bill  but they said it was in a legacy development state these days. 

Scott J. Moore | Fulton Trotter Architects | BIM Manager, Associate, Architect
Since AC13 | Current versions AC23.7000 & AC26.5002 | BIMCloud Basic | Python, GDL, VBA, PHP, SQL, CSS
Certified Graphisoft BIM Manger (2022)
Win 10, i9-9900K, 32GB, Quadro P2200, 500GB NVMe