Extracting a square footages of materials for cost estimate

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any good ideas of where to look for how to use the calculate menu. We would like to setup our project so we can generate a cost estimate. I have looked in the tutorials and there aren't any specific info. about it only basic, and the same thing with the manuals that came with the software. Any good books out there describing it or does anyone wanna take the time to explain it in detail to me, or maybe there is a website that has something like this. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[David Larrew]

There is a good tutorial called "Conceptual Estimating for Architects, Beginners Guide" at ObjectsOnline... I'd post a link but there is something going on with the GS forum server that isn't allowing me to post URLs.

The ArchiCAD 7.0 documentation also had a "Calculation Guide" that did a fair job of explaining the Calculate menu - If you can get your hands on it.

[Anonymous]

do you know if it is worth the $200. Is it good!! Have you used it!! It says that it is for AC 6.5, and we have AC 8.1, will that make a difference. Thanks for your reply

[David Larrew]

I actually attended a training session with the author of the "Conceptual Estimating for Architects" using this tutorial. He does a very good job of explaining the Calculate menu... As the title says it is for "Beginners".

If you already have some experience with Calculation in AC it might not be worth it to you.

From my experience, the Calculate menu and core processes have not changed much from 7.0 to 8.*. The tutorial was written for 6.5 and doesn't really cover the "Graphical Templates" feature that was added in 7.0 - But, I never really needed to use the graphical templates.

[Ben Cohen]

the calculation guide is in ac 8 help, just nested very deep
good luck