.MOD vs .PLN

[JaredBanks]

Can anyone tell me the benefits or differences between hotlinking a .mod file versus a .pln file to another drawing (say a .pln or .plp file).

Right now the office i work at (7 archicad users) inconsistently switches between the 2 ways of hotlinking. I'd like to move us to using just one or the other, or understand why we might need both. Anyone in the office who might have known has left...

Thanks,

Jared

[TomWaltz]

JaredBanks wrote:
Can anyone tell me the benefits or differences between hotlinking a .mod file versus a .pln file to another drawing (say a .pln or .plp file).

Right now the office i work at (7 archicad users) inconsistently switches between the 2 ways of hotlinking. I'd like to move us to using just one or the other, or understand why we might need both. Anyone in the office who might have known has left...

Thanks,

Jared

The MOD offers more control, especially if you are publishing it from an original source. You can have different modules created based on layer combinations all using the same original. You can also re-publish modules as they are changed.

The PLN offers simpler file structure, but absolutely everything in the story being linked will be placed as well, which you may not want. You also face the hassle of modules being listed as "outdated" even if the story you are linked to was not changed.

As you may guess, I am firmly in the MOD camp. I used linked PLNs for a while before I realized what all MODs could do.

For more info:
http://www.graphisoft.com/support/archicad/archiguide/TipOnPublishingToModuleFiles.html

[Anonymous]

As you might guess, I am with Tom on the preference for publishing and linking modules. There is much more control.

I am using this approach once again on a big development project in which we have standard unit plans linked into a variety of buildings with façade variations which are in turn linked into site plans for the various phases which will probably end up linked into some mother of all site plans. (Just because we can?) I couldn't make this work without the modules.

On the other hand, when all you want to do is assemble single building models onto a site, the PLN link has the advantage of being simple, direct and live linked (as I recall). With modules you have to update them, but then this is just as often a good thing.

[JaredBanks]

Thanks.

I feel like we're using MOD files without taking advantage of their benefits, so at the moment there's no real difference in the office. MODs do sound like the way to go though. I spent some time searching for official archicad literature on MODs and PLNs and all their other file types but couldn't find anything. I am assuming there has to be something somewhere.

Jared

[Anonymous]

JaredBanks wrote:
I spent some time searching for official archicad literature on MODs and PLNs and all their other file types but couldn't find anything. I am assuming there has to be something somewhere.

Jared

I don't think there is anything "official" on this method. It is something I started doing with my clients a while ago and it is starting to spread out as a standard practice. Thanks in large part to Ignacio whom I worked with last year and who posted the method here (we both got t-shirts for it thanks to his thoughtful credit to me).

Perhaps I should document the process on the WIKI.

[Gerald Hoffman]

Matthew wrote:

Perhaps I should document the process on the WIKI.

Matthew,

I think that would be a great idea if you were asking for encouragement. This is the type of information that is useful but hard to locate when you need it.

Cheers,

[JaredBanks]

I am too new to this community. This WIKI you talk about, do you mean: www.archicadwiki.com/ or something else? Also do you know where that posted method is?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Gerald wrote:

Matthew wrote:

Perhaps I should document the process on the WIKI.

Matthew,

I think that would be a great idea if you were asking for encouragement. This is the type of information that is useful but hard to locate when you need it.

Cheers,

I am looking not so much for encouragement (not being too shy) but time (being more than busy lately). But thanks for the boost. I really need to take a closer look at the WIKI.

[Anonymous]

JaredBanks wrote:
I am too new to this community. This WIKI you talk about, do you mean: www.archicadwiki.com/ or something else? Also do you know where that posted method is?

Thanks.

Yes that is the WIKI we are talking about.

As far as the method, do you mean about publishing modules? I haven't written it yet, but it looks like I should try to find the time this weekend.

[JaredBanks]

Whatever method you were talking about here:

Thanks in large part to Ignacio whom I worked with last year and who posted the method here (we both got t-shirts for it thanks to his thoughtful credit to me).