Multiple Live-Updating Model Views/Viewports

[Anonymous]

I'm new to ArchiCAD after 25yrs of AutoCAD, 10 yrs SketchUp and a year on Revit I've just setup my own small practice and wanted to look into better and more friendly BIM options that Revit, which I guess is anything other than Revit.

I know AutoCAD and SketchUp very well and was looking for something which was a hybrid of the best parts of each with the odd bit of Revit and this is what ArchiCAD seems to offer to some degree, at least from my initial use.

I've been playing with it and working through Eric Bobrow's really helpful tutorials and I'm really liking what I'm finding i.e. everything is really intuitive in ArchiCAD and is placed where you would want it and therefore allows a very logical linear work flow (just imagine that, Autodesk!!). However, the one thing I can't find and I fear is not part of the software is having multiple live views (or viewports) open at once, such as a plan view and 3D views open side by side, that will both update simultaneously on the fly. This is one of the very very few things I liked in Revit and has been in AutoCAD forever. It adds so much to productivity as switching back and too is counter productive.

I did find a link to a post about this from some years back stating it wasn't a feature back then and was hoping Graphisoft had seen sense added the feature in and I've just not found the option.

Any help on this much appreciated.

[Karl Ottenstein]

JuJitsoup wrote:
However, the one thing I can't find and I fear is not part of the software is having multiple live views (or viewports) open at once, such as a plan view and 3D views open side by side, that will both update simultaneously on the fly. This is one of the very very few things I liked in Revit and has been in AutoCAD forever. It adds so much to productivity as switching back and too is counter productive.

Unfortunately, this is still not a feature supported by ARCHICAD. Historically, it was not done due to performance considerations ...

[Anonymous]

Karl wrote:
Unfortunately, this is still not a feature supported by ARCHICAD. Historically, it was not done due to performance considerations ...

This is SO disappointing. But even more surprising that it's not a standard feature in a modern piece of design software. This might be a showstopper for me. I'll have to see how much it frustrates. Maybe something I could get used to

[Karl Griffith]

You can use Trace and Reference to see more than one 2d view on the screen at once - for example, a floor plan and a section or elevation. Not the same as what you are looking for, but provides some of that functionality.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Karl wrote:
You can use Trace and Reference to see more than one 2d view on the screen at once - for example, a floor plan and a section or elevation. Not the same as what you are looking for, but provides some of that functionality.

But, the reference has to be updated manually, clicking the refresh button in the T&R palette... unless something has changed?

[Barry Kelly]

You can have all your views open on the screen at one time (if you have the screen space) - no they won't live update.
But all you have to do is click your mouse on the view to activate it and it will update straight away.

With the TAB bar each view can be maximised on screen and then just click the TAB to switch views.

Barry.

[Anonymous]

Barry wrote:
You can have all your views open on the screen at one time (if you have the screen space) - no they won't live update.
But all you have to do is click your mouse on the view to activate it and it will update straight away.

With the TAB bar each view can be maximised on screen and then just click the TAB to switch views.

Barry.

This is some way to getting there, it's not 100% solution but I could probably work with that without too much frustration. How is this done in the latest version? I can't find it anywhere.


Does anyone know if having live updating windows (as per Revit) is in the development pipeline at Graphisoft? I could see this being a genuine showstopper for Revit folk looking to convert across so I can't see why this isn't already a 'thing' in ArchiCAD because it doesn't have to be used if you prefer just one window open at a time. It'd give flexibility for both approaches.

[Barry Kelly]

JuJitsoup wrote:
This is some way to getting there, it's not 100% solution but I could probably work with that without too much frustration. How is this done in the latest version? I can't find it anywhere.

You mean how to have multiple views open on the screen at one time?
On a Windows machine just press the 'Restore Down' button to in-maximise the window.
Then arrange and resize as necessary.
However you can not drag the window outside of the Archicad program window - so you can not drag to a second screen unless you have Archicad stretched across both screens.

MACs may work a little differently.

With the TAB bar though, I leave everything maximised and just switch from one tab to another.
The only downside is you don't see both views at the same time - but as someone else mentioned Trace & Reference can take care of that.

Barry.