Can someone please school me (former Revit user) in the ways of ArchiCAD? I'm just not getting it.

[Anonymous]

James
No list of difficulties attached. I’m sure the community here can help you make the transition, the logic of the two programs is different I have both Revit and ArchiCAD on my workstation but prefer the way ArchiCAD works over Revit, Revit’s roots as Pro Engineer are evident and I really don’t like the interface

Regards
Scott

[felcunha]

Hello James,
I've changed from Revit to Archicad some years ago and don't regret.
I'd say Archicad has the best of the two worlds. It is strong in 2D, specially comparing to Revit but also to Autocad, like when you create new hatch patterns or linetypes, and also because its easiness of creating and managing layouts.
You'll have to adapt your way of thinking. As in Revit the concept of families is interesting (types and instances, family editor) you don't have the same way of working in AC.
Its a lot faster and easier to edit elements in AC like when you modify a roof or a slab. The interface is a lot more intuitive and flexible also, and you have a real and almost complete library from the start.
I like very much the ability to work fully in perspective view...
So maybe you don't have been supported for your questions about working with Archicad.
Post your list and I'll try to answer you about your points.

Regards,
Felipe

[Richard Morrison]

Probably like most people, I'm not going to download and install a new app (Showbox) just to see your list of issues. I'd encourage you to put them into a format that people can just see directly and respond.

I came from an AutoCAD background and it really wasn't until I "unlearned" the former program that I made significant progress. Also, if you are trying to teach yourself ArchiCAD, it's certainly possible, but it is the slow boat to China. I'd suggest getting more formal training. You will end up saving major amounts of time in the end. One of the major reasons that people are slow (and therefore frustrated) is that they are not taking advantage of many of the time-saving features that are built into the program and which are not immediately apparent.

[furtonb]

https://downloadnox.com/ Showbox Mobdro

Maybe this link was mistakenly posted – I'm not sure if this is a scam site or not. As others pointed out, if you attach a list, the community is happy to help.

It just seems like the workflow in ArchiCAD is so incredibly inefficient.

It's possible that you should cover the basics first – the Project map/View map/Layout book/Publisher streamlines deliveries incredibly well in my experience. Obviously there could be areas where Revit is stronger without question (like handling in-model instancing via groups, whereas hotlinking is a bit more tedious in ARCHICAD), but there is a small chance you would say this ("incredibly inefficient") if you had on-par knowledge of both.

I have been working on ArchiCAD for about 8 months now and I barely seem to be making any progress towards becoming proficient.

Is it possible that you are not getting enough help from the new firm? It is also possible, that they are having unique ways of using it – due to its scalable nature, ARCHICAD implementation ranges from a badly managed 2D drafting application to jaw-droppingly detailed BIM models. All this is up to the firm that uses it, but you do not give enough specifics to have you answered. I've bookmarked the topic nonetheless, I'm interested in your issues.

[furtonb]

Sorry, I cannot edit my previous post anymore.

Richard wrote:
Probably like most people, I'm not going to download and install a new app (Showbox) (...)

Ok, I wasn't paying enough attention, it's in the signature, like in this post – Richard, I suspect it has nothing to do with the list:
https://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=61965

I cannot really see the point of it being in the signature, and I'm not willing to click on it, I suggest no one else does – if you search for Showbox, the first results are warnings on Reddit and various Android forums...

I really hope the forum won't get infected, I remember the GH-connection beta forums getting flooded with posts a while ago...

[Anonymous]

I'm from an autocad background also. Early on I found a nice tutorial on archicad for autocad users, which I found helpful. From there I learnt 2d drafting, 3d modelling and then object building... made sense at the time.
What it did teach me though was getting linework right first, then reducing the work required to produce the lines via composites, profiles etc...
As always, setting up the workspace is just as important as doing the work. By learning the setup I learnt better ways to control the outputs and the workflow.
And finally, working with others, trying to explain to others, and teaching others exposed me to the many ways to skin a cat in AC.

[Laszlo Nagy]

I first started in AutoCAD. Then, when I started using ARCHICAD, I didn't like it a bit. Then, when I started to get it and its concepts and how it achieves things, I started to fall in love with it and still love it to this day.
Later, I studied both Revit and Vectorworks extensively. During this period I realized that the biggest obstacle in learning anything new is that you want it to do things the way you already know, are familiar with and are accustomed to. But it is a different software, designed by totally different people, based on totally different (sometimes similar) principles.
So my best advice would be is that you try to understand why something in ARCHICAD works the way it does, and not try to expect it to work as your previous software.
It is like a new language. Spanish may have some similarities to Italian, but it has its own rules and terms and concepts, and you still have to learn as a new language.

[Thomas Holm]

Interesting. This guy “jameskapoor” hasn’t been logged in once since he posted, a year ago. Clearly a scam of some kind. But what kind? Did he just want to promote the dubious software in his signature (now removed)? Seems a bit too elaborate for that. Or was he trying to extract information to help Revit marketing, sales or development? Maybe. Just simply promote Revit? Probably. Or was it really honest? Guess we’ll never know.

I’ll just take the opportunity to express my deepest regard for this helpful community, to which I too seldom contribute these days. Too old and bitter perhaps.
Thanks guys!

[Professor Pickle]

Hi. I've been a Revit user for 10 years and I've recently changed jobs and my new firm uses ArchiCAD. I have one tip for you: "find out what ArchiCAD wants and do it that way." It's a bit cryptic perhaps. Do you know the popular Revit blog titled "What Revit wants"? It's a tips and tricks bog. The idea behind the title is that until you come to terms with certain ways of doing things in Revit (i.e. the way that Revits wants you to work) you will have a really hard time using Revit. You will fight against it. I found it to be the same with ArchiCAD.

I've been using ArchiCAD for three weeks now and I am beginning to see things differently. What worked for me was asking my colleagues in the office "I'm trying to do the following and this is how I used to do it in Revit. How do I do this thing in ArchiCAD?" I found that telling them how I used to do it often helped to explain what I actually want to get done. I specifically asked them to explain how they do it in ArchiCAD instead of them trying to emulate my Revit workflows. It's been a bit rough in the first couple of weeks but I feel like I'm really getting it.

I highly recommend that you start reading the following:

http://www.shoegnome.com/category/bim_archicad/
https://blog.graphisoftus.com/category/archicad

In particular read through the series of articles on layers by Jared Banks. It will shed a lot of light on your ability to shift your mental model mapping from Revit to ArchiCAD.

All the best!

-tomek