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HOW DO SMALL FIRMS WORK?

Anonymous
Not applicable
I work in a small firm (5 people). There are two principals who do not use ArchiCAD, and three of us, myself included, who do. We do a lot of residential work and some commercial/institutional.

What I am trying to figure out is how most firms around our size work in ArchiCAD. Do you do all 3D, or a combination of 2D and 3D? I will explain how we work and you can tell me how far behind the times we are...

We do all our floorplans the standard way, using wall composites, library parts, etc., but we do some lines on the floorplans to show ceiling lines, wall type markers, etc. (I think this is a given). We do make sure wall heights, slab/roof heights, etc. are all correct so we can show clients a nice 3D model, so for the most part we have tight, accurate 3D models.

I think where we are "behind the times" is when we get to elevations and sections. These we do all as line drawings. We use the model as a backdrop to make sure we are on track and walls, etc are where they are supposed to be, but due to the level of detail our principals like to see, we find that making line drawings with fills are more detailed than anything else we know how to do.

I know we should look into the complex profiles/profile manager tool, I admit that we are usually too busy and the principals don't allow much time to further our knowledge in ArchiCAD, just enough time to do the project. We have explained that we can increase productivity by learning more, and now we have a few hours a week dedicated to "messing around" in the program. We don't add footings to basement walls, for example, because we just draw them in 2D in the sections.

So summarizing the questions:

1) How you do work? All 3D sections/elevation? Line?

2) What tools do you use?

3) What tools/methods would you recommend using to be more 3D (thus more efficient)?
61 REPLIES 61
Rick Thompson
Expert
Stress wrote:
Rick:
I like using the "DET_Lumber 12" object to delineate plates/rims, where you say, your using a fill.
Do I win anything for finding typos in your section?
That is a big problem (for me) being a 1 person corporation... Plue, I can't spel anywy... dan it.

I'll look into that object... thanks
Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display
Erich
Booster
Here is an object, for 11 or 12, I wrote to replace the DET_Lumber object. I think it is more flexible, although it has been awhile since I looked at the DET_Lumber object so perhaps that has changed.
Erich

AC 19 6006 & AC 20
Mac OS 10.11.5
15" Retina MacBook Pro 2.6
27" iMac Retina 5K
KeesW
Advocate
I want to put some of our examples up. What format should I save my drawings or illustrations in to insert in my Architalk messages?
Cornelis (Kees) Wegman

cornelis wegman architects
AC 5 - 26 Dell XPS 8940 Win 10 16GB 1TB SSD 2TB HD RTX 3070 GPU
Laptop: AC 24 - 26 Win 10 16GB 1TB SSD RTX 3070 GPU
Anonymous
Not applicable
Kees, pdf up to 256KB is the best.

Marc, a question off-topic - what is the name of the font you use in your drawings?
KeesW
Advocate
that's the trouble - most of my working drawing pdfs exceed 256KB. Some formats are compressible - any suggestons?
Cornelis (Kees) Wegman

cornelis wegman architects
AC 5 - 26 Dell XPS 8940 Win 10 16GB 1TB SSD 2TB HD RTX 3070 GPU
Laptop: AC 24 - 26 Win 10 16GB 1TB SSD RTX 3070 GPU
David Larrew
Booster
By default, Adobe Acrobat saves .PDF files in legacy file format. Depending on which version of Acrobat you have, the legacy format could be saved as far back as version 5.0. This creates considerable file overhead. If you set your Acrobat save function to be a later version, this could reduce you file size considerably. Also, check the bitmap/raster conversion settings and set the compressions to as high as you feel comfortable (for the least loss of output quality).
David Larrew, AIA, GDLA, GSRC

Architectural Technology Specialist

a r c h i S O L U T I O N S



WIN7-10/ OSX 10.15.7

AC 5.1-25 USA
Stress Co_
Advisor
kliment wrote:
Marc, a question off-topic - what is the name of the font you use in your drawings?
Hi Kliment:
It's "Heavy Hand" by Will-Harris House
Marc Corney, Architect
Red Canoe Architecture, P. A.

Mac OS 10.15.7 (Catalina) //// Mac OS 14.5 (Sonoma)
Processor: 3.6 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9 //// Apple M2 Max
Memory: 48 GB 2667 MHz DDR4 //// 32 GB
Graphics: Radeon Pro 580X 8GB //// 12C CPU, 30C GPU
ArchiCAD 25 (5010 USA Full) //// ArchiCAD 27 (4030 USA Full)
Anonymous
Not applicable
From all the reply's, it seems like I have a bit of catching up to do...
Anonymous
Not applicable
Steven wrote:
From all the reply's, it seems like I have a bit of catching up to do...
Oops, 1 Point to whoever catches the typo here! Or I'll buy you a beer if you live nearby...
Rick Thompson
Expert
Steven wrote:
Steven wrote:
From all the reply's, it seems like I have a bit of catching up to do...
Oops, 1 Point to whoever catches the typo here! Or I'll buy you a beer if you live nearby...
reply |riˈplī|
verb ( -plies, -plied) [ reporting verb ]
noun ( pl. -plies)

ps.. the font in the section I posted is from the same font pack...
Rick Thompson
Mac Sonoma AC 26
http://www.thompsonplans.com
Mac M2 studio w/ display