Converting commercial into educational version

[Anonymous]

A few years ago i had a educational license and i played with archicad quite a bit, designing houses nd whatever came into my mind. Now i am working and i have a commercial license for archicad 12.
In my spare time i continue to play with archicad.
The problem is that i would like to use some of the stuff i designed in the educational version in my more recent projects.
Considering that the projects that i am playing with have no commercial purpose, i am not rejecting the option to convert a project started in commercial to educational in order to be able to copy/paste certain objects, like a pond, a gazebo, some interior furniture and things like that.
Since i don't have a educational license any more to just open the file and automatically convert it, is there another way to get around this problem?
Or is there a way to extract certain objects from the educational pln so that i can use them in a commercial version?
I know i can start over and design again all the objects but that would be tedious.

Thank you very much

[Anonymous]

well.. there is actually a way you can do this, but you will have the objects as gdl: open the pln made in edu version and select the things you want to use in the commercial version and press f5, now from this perspective view you can save this as 3ds format at file-save as .. and you can reimport it in the commercial version (file-file special- import 3ds studio file (IF YOU HAVE THE 3Dstudio-in plug-in, else you won't have that option)... though anything will be gdl objects, this is the only way i know and that's how i do it. i can send you the 3ds plug in if you want..

[Anonymous]

Hello, good day to you all,

Can someone explain what could I do with all the 2D work (Documentation tools), for example the with my details? It's sounds like this is all 'lost'? If I graduate, then I have to start all over?

Do I have to convert everything to for example .dwg and then import it again? Sounds like a lot of work?! Isn't there any other solution, because this is one mayor reason I'm thinking of abandoning ArchiCad..

[stefan]

OnlySander wrote:
Hello, good day to you all,

Can someone explain what could I do with all the 2D work (Documentation tools), for example the with my details? It's sounds like this is all 'lost'? If I graduate, then I have to start all over?

Do I have to convert everything to for example .dwg and then import it again? Sounds like a lot of work?! Isn't there any other solution, because this is one mayor reason I'm thinking of abandoning ArchiCad..

I suggest to start a new thread with this question, as this does not relate to the original topic.

Your answer: you don't have to start all over. You make a model in 3D and you finish the documentation in 2D in one program: ArchiCAD. You don't need AutoCAD at all.

If other demand DWG's, ask for an example template and use that to finetune the DWG Translator, so you generate proper DWG files from your ArchiCAD project. And when you update the model, you simply re-generate these AutoCAD drawings in one publisher operation.

You might require some training to get to use the program in the right way, though.

[Laszlo Nagy]

I think OnlySanders is asking about EDU to FULL version conversion (after he graduates).

OnlySanders,
EDU versions are not meant for commercial work in any way. Also, work done in EDU version were never meant to be reused for commercial purposes. This is why there is no connection between the two versions.

[stefan]

Correct my if I'm wrong, but wasn't there an option to have a one-time file conversion service when buying a commercial license?

I now better see what the question might have been.

Your "work" might be lost, but your learning experience isn't. And you can always use PDF or DWG as an underlay, so you can quickly trace over some of the elements in a later commercial version, without the watermarks.

[Laszlo Nagy]

stefan wrote:
Correct my if I'm wrong, but wasn't there an option to have a one-time file conversion service when buying a commercial license?

I don't know if there was something like this or not.
Someone else might have more knowledge about this. If so, please chime in.

[Erwin Edel]

I don't know how many details you would expect to be re-using. Very few details are truly standard and with yearly updates to both the software and the libraries, I consider it good practice to draft up project specific details quite often. I generally reference details from PDF and recreate as needed.

Are you looking to start your own business or are you looking for jobs in other offices? It's not really a pick and choose market in NL these days, in terms of which software a company uses. I think Kubus (dutch reseller) has some deals for start up companies going from student to commercial license. I have no idea what your options with other software are in this regard.

[Anonymous]

Hey, thanks for your response. It's exactly what laszlonagy says.

It's about the files I build up during my education. Of course it's not possible to copy paste my work all the time, but if you want to re-use some parts later, it's just not possible?
For example if I want to use some parts of a older detail, then I have to export it as a pdf and then redraw the thing again?

As laszlonagy explains the EDU is for education. SO it's not meant for commercial use, what I get. But education is about preparing for the commercial world and so eventually a FULL commercial version of ArchiCad.
So why is it not enabled to use your own produced work with a full license if you want to start your own business?

If EDU and FULL are exactly the same program, then it should be easy to leave the logo brand of the educational version out in the full version?

[Eduardo Rolon]

OnlySander wrote:
…
As laszlonagy explains the EDU is for education. SO it's not meant for commercial use, what I get. But education is about preparing for the commercial world and so eventually a FULL commercial version of ArchiCad.
So why is it not enabled to use your own produced work with a full license if you want to start your own business?
…

Quick example. Since I am a professor at the local University I could fill my office with student licenses and only one professional one thus depriving GS from revenue.
For your details just export the DWG from the student and then you don't need to redraw it. Small price ti pay for having AC free as a student.

[Anonymous]

ejrolon wrote:

OnlySander wrote:
…
As laszlonagy explains the EDU is for education. SO it's not meant for commercial use, what I get. But education is about preparing for the commercial world and so eventually a FULL commercial version of ArchiCad.
So why is it not enabled to use your own produced work with a full license if you want to start your own business?
…

Quick example. Since I am a professor at the local University I could fill my office with student licenses and only one professional one thus depriving GS from revenue.
For your details just export the DWG from the student and then you don't need to redraw it. Small price ti pay for having AC free as a student.

I would agree this. It's the simplest way to differentiate between EDU as well as the FULL commercial version.