Managing Plotmaker/ArchiCAD for multiple users

[Anonymous]

With AC 10 how do you work around the layout book being within Archicad when there are a number of people working on the job?

We currently use 8.1 and on most jobs there are at least 2 people. Although most projects see 4+ people working on it. Currently, as the layout book is seperate people 'nip in and out of it' to produce their final drawings. 1 Model is maintained with all information - people work in copies of the main model and copy/paste their work back in during set intervals within the day.

I wondered how other people/practices manage this?

I believe my practice has tried Teamwork but without much success.

Is Teamwork improved in 10?

Would welcome peoples thoughts.

Thanks

AC8.1, Windows 2000

[Rakela Raul]

read the migration process.
you can have the book in a separate file as usual.

[Anonymous]

You still have all the same options for splitting up the files as in AC9; whether you are just keeping the model and layouts separate, coordinating multiple buildings into a master plan and/or publishing modules.

The big added value is now being able to use teamwork on the layout books. Teamwork is unchanged from AC9 but I have found it to be quite workable as long as the network is reasonably fast (100baseT is OK but Gigabit makes a BIG difference).

I am revisiting the idea of Teamwork as a Standard Practice with one of my clients now. It promises to be particularly helpful at this firm due to the way the workflow is structured there. I'll be posting more on this in the above referenced topic.

[Anonymous]

Thanks - I'll have a read through the thread.

[owen]

I haven't done any testing at all on this yet but given you can now Teamwork layouts im wondering about the option of layouts and model being in the same or seperate files.

Currently im working on a project migrated from 9 so the layout and model are seperate PLNs. I have noticed that updating drawings in the layouts is considerably faster if you already have the model open in a seperate AC - and it appears the difference is more than just the time BgAC takes to open the model. I assume this would be even quicker again if the layout was actually in the same PLN as the model.

So I am wondering what affect on performance having the layouts and model in one PLN will have. Currently we have the drawings set to Manual Update to avoid AC constantly checking and updating Auto Update drawings from the separate model file ... but if the drawing and layout are in the same file this process should be very quick, almost instant you would think. In addition drawings which are set to Automatic have the option of wether or not to store a copy of the drawing in the file (see attached). Given the drawing is in the same file as the layout this would be redundant.

So really the only additional information the layouts should add to the PLN are a series of links to internal drawings and masters/titlesheets. Surely then layouts should not really impact on filesize much.

However GS has recommended large projects be split into a separate Model and Layout PLN. Im wondering if this is more due to the issue of managing the number of people working on one file than due to any increased file size.

Has anyone had any experience with these two approached on a large project?

[Anonymous]

owen wrote:
I assume this would be even quicker again if the layout was actually in the same PLN as the model.

It is.

... but if the drawing and layout are in the same file this process should be very quick, almost instant you would think.

Not quite. The drawings will also auto-rebuild (if set to) and this can take a bit of time on a large project.

Surely then layouts should not really impact on filesize much.

File sizes are very much reduced in 10 for many reasons so it's not too much of a concern either way. Whether to make the updates manual and store the drawings or make the whole thing automatic will depend on the size and complexity of the project.

GS has recommended large projects be split into a separate Model and Layout PLN. Im wondering if this is more due to the issue of managing the number of people working on one file than due to any increased file size.

It may be just a bit of conservatism or it may be that we are pushing against the limits of the hardware. Certainly a large project in a single file would have to use teamwork.

Has anyone had any experience with these two approaches on a large project?

Not yet. I am working on a project that will become quite large, but by its nature (multi-building urban development) will be split into multiple files. I guess we'll see.