best way to save details

[Anonymous]

i'm trying to figure out the best way to create details that i will use in future projects like typ wall sections, etc. i've created them and they are all saved in one project as independent details. but if i want to use them in other projects i need to xref or merge them. i'll need to make adjustments to them to make them specific to each job. so what's the best way to save them? as separate solo projects or what?
thanks wb

[Anonymous]

The simplest way is to save each as a module. You can then merge the ones you need and they will be editable for the project requirements. You could also save them as individual DWGs which would allow them to also be placed as drawings but I'm not sure what advantage this would be.

The way I have set these up is to put all the standard details in one reference file, create views of all the details and then create a publisher set to automatically save them all into a details library folder.

You will probably also want to publish the details to a PDF to use as a reference since there is not a good way to preview the modules when selecting them to add to a project. Obviously the file naming standards will be quite important if there are a lot of them.

[Richard Morrison]

Why not just copy the office details file into your project folder and then have it open at the same time as your project file? Then you can just drag and drop details onto the project layout from the Project Organizer. All will then be automatically titled and numbered, of course, as they come in, and at the correct scale. Seems to me like merging modules is a lot of extra work. Your details can be organized with folders and subfolders in the details file View Map so they are easy to find. Also, your details file can have its own layout organized with details sorted by type on each page as a reference.

[Anonymous]

Richard wrote:
Why not just copy the office details file into your project folder and then have it open at the same time as your project file? Then you can just drag and drop details onto the project layout from the Project Organizer. All will then be automatically titled and numbered, of course, as they come in, and at the correct scale. Seems to me like merging modules is a lot of extra work. Your details can be organized with folders and subfolders in the details file View Map so they are easy to find. Also, your details file can have its own layout organized with details sorted by type on each page as a reference.

This works well if you have a fairly concise set of standard details. I was speaking from experience with clients who have extensive and/or growing collections of details. As usual the best approach depends on the circumstances.

[Anonymous]

i do have a lot of details, and will be adding more. my concern is that my file will become big and cumbersome. so i would like some system that would allow easy access to the details, be able to edit them, and not bog down the file. what is the office folder? could you explain this a bit more?
wb

[Richard Morrison]

Here's an in-depth description: http://www.aecbytes.com/tipsandtricks/2007/issue18-archicad.html

[Link]

wildernessbob wrote:
i do have a lot of details, and will be adding more. my concern is that my file will become big and cumbersome. so i would like some system that would allow easy access to the details, be able to edit them, and not bog down the file. what is the office folder? could you explain this a bit more?
wb

Your file probably will become big and cumbersome.

All your details will create a live link back to the details file, meaning it will need to update in a background copy of ArchiCAD. Plus they are uneditable in the host file and if the originals are edited they can possibly update in all host files. This is all good if you have details that never or rarely change between your projects, but I couldn't imagine trying to implement that system with the varying types of architecture we do, plus all the people accessing them on multiple teamworked projects. It'd be a management and liability nightmare, so we use the publish-to-module method. We also publish to PDF from the same file, to create our catalog as Matthew said. Then we merge them into independent or live details depending on the situation. These can either be pre-placed onto layouts prior.

This gives us a quick way to build up our detail sheets, whilst still giving us the flexibility to alter the details on a project-by-project basis, and equally important is that it is easy to manage!

That's just what works for us anyway and it does depend on your workflows and goals, but I think that you can get too fancy with it all and just because all of this linking between files is doable, at the end of the day you need to come up with a solution that is easy for your staff to deal with on a daily basis.

My 2 cents.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

wildernessbob wrote:
What is the office folder? could you explain this a bit more?
wb

I just mean a folder on the server to publish all the detail modules into. It's also not a bad idea to put the PDF catalog in there as well. Some intrepid folks like to put it in the help menu but this takes a little more management and upkeep.


Hey Link,

I'm glad to hear you've come to the same conclusion. I have found it to be the simplest and most robust solution.

It also works for the maintenance of old DWG detail libraries, whether they are retained as DWG or converted to new layer and pen standards and saved as modules.

[Richard Morrison]

Link wrote:
All your details will create a live link back to the details file, meaning it will need to update in a background copy of ArchiCAD. Plus they are uneditable in the host file and if the originals are edited they can possibly update in all host files.

1. I suggested copying the master details file as a project details file. Therefore, you can edit these without affecting any other project.

2. If this project details file is open at the same time as the main project folder, updating will be very quick. (Probably a couple of seconds at most.)

3. While the details file may get large, it will probably still be under 10MB. Not THAT big. And with linking to this detail file, you don't get any bloat in the size of the main project file.

Publishing details as modules is simple, perhaps, but it seems to me that you have to take the project file and start creating numerous new detail views, figuring out what scale the view needs to be, titling it, merging a file, then placing it into layout. Why do all this when it's already been mostly done, except for dragging onto a layout sheet? What am I missing here?

[Anonymous]

Here's my method... WARNING - paleolithic process will be described!

I have PLN files for 'storage' of details, based on types. I have a PLN for standard door / window details, structural, pools, wall assemblies, stairs / rails, etc.

Each of the PLN files have stories established for subdivisions of types and scales. For instance, my standard door / window detail file has a story for each different window manufacturer. My structural file has stories for foundations, floors, roofs, steel connections, concrete structure, etc. I use the stories as an organizational tool (that's the critical concept).

All my details are simple 2D drawings. They're drawn inside standard size boxes, or multiples of standard boxes. The PLN's are all scrupulously maintained to reflect the latest office standard as far as layer names, fill definitions, fonts types and sizes, etc. They only use four layers... one layer for linework and fills, one for annotation, one for dimensions and another for identification (titles, etc). These layers correspond to my 2D layers used in my model view sections, so that if I have my 'SECTIONS' layer combination turned on, my details are turned 'on', too.

To use the details contained in the 'storage' PLN's, I open the PLN that contains the details I want and copy them. I then go back to my project file and paste them in (see below for where they go). There, I make any job specific edits. Since I've been careful to maintain drafting standards in the external detail PLN's, the pasted details fit seamlessly into my project file's 'system' without adding extraneous layers, fill types, pens, etc.

Now to the using them in the project file...

I set up a story for each different scale of details involved in the project (In reality, these stories are part of my standard template). I've got a pre-defined 'grid' on each of these stories that gives me a full sheet of details for each of the detail stories defined in my template, along with a text label for me to fill in the sheet number it will occur on in my layout book. I paste the standard details into that grid. The detail stories are saved as views in the navigator, and are placed into my layouts like any other view in the project. If I have several sheets of details of a particular scale, I'll have several grids side-by-side in my model view and will adjust my drawing frame in the layout view to show each sheet on it's respective sheet in the layout book.

To create new or job specific details, I use the section tool to cut a section where I want to pull a detail, open it, copy the contents then paste it into the plan view on the detail story of the appropriate scale. I then edit or trace the resulting 2D entities to show what I want, how I want, and will frequently borrow pieces of my already-placed standard details to facilitate that. I take that result, move it into a box of the grid, and there it is.

I number my details individually. For instance, detail '1' only occurs ONCE in the finished drawing set, no matter what sheet it's on. On big jobs with lots of detailing the detail numbers can go into triple digits. Sheet AD1 will contain details 1 thru 15, AD2 16 thru 30, AD3 31 thru 45, etc. If I have details sprinkled throughout the set, this still holds true. Often, in that case, I'll skip several numbers to leave 'space' in the system in case I need to add another full sheet of details. The key here is to never duplicate a detail number... even if I were to screw up and have the wrong sheet number in a detail bubble, the user of the drawings could still rifle through the drawings and find that detail number on the 'wrong' sheet and it would still be the correct detail. I explain that to the builder at our 'kick off' meeting for the job.

The upshot is this... My details become a part of the project they belong to with no external references of any kind. If I were to transport the PLN file, it would have all it's data in that single file without trying to call any Xrefs or Modules from elsewhere on the disk. One of the problems with standard details is that they evolve... and I want that evolution to stop once they become part of an actual project... especially in the case where I've had to tweak them to fit specific requirements for a particular job.

Hope that makes sense... I wish i could =show= you how I do it... it would be much easier than describing it!

Still - if this interests you, and you need clarification, chime in and I'll provide further description.