custom material

[Anonymous]

How could I keep my own material for all of my project? After i create the new material, I would like to keep in the ArchiCAD so I can keep using it for later project. BUT whenever I open a new file the material that I add on before are gone that I have to create it again. what should I do so the material will show up in the new material automatic?

[Anonymous]

Set up your materials as you use them. At the end of a project weed out the ones you don't use. Open the attributes manager and save the materials into and attributes folder in your AC administrative folder. This is easy to do and very useful for later projects.

What I do is start with a basic set and have all my "specialties" in separate files and only import them as needed. The basic set is very generic. Siding_A_NEW, SIding_A_XST etc. and then I have specific ones for sidings, lumber, paint wall coverings, etc.

HTH

[Link]

Ashley,

You need a template CAD file. Not only will it have your favorite materials, but it can store all your favorite fills, linetypes, regions, composites, layers, layer combinations, pens & colors, keyboard shortcuts, etc, etc. It will also remember your default tool settings and automatically load your favorites list.

Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg. Templates can save you huge amounts of time every single day. As you are experiencing, it will save you time recreating your cool material. On a grander scale, it will give you full access to all your commonly used tools and settings, contain existing drawing and even modeling information, and automate all forms of output nearly completely. For example, the templates I like to create have pre-linked views in PlotMaker, so that your all of your documentation effectively creates itself.

So I would recommend investing in the creation of a CAD Template. You can choose to copy this to a new job folder each time you start a new job, or give it a .tpl file extension and use it from the File>New... Use a Template command.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Thank you! I'll play around with the "template"
I haven't use it before, I might have problem later.