'Baking' Elements from GH to ArchiCAD

[0scar]

Hi folks,
Yet another simple (and basic) question.
I have a written a script in Grasshopper that basically generates a façade in front of a wall. I am happy with the result and now want to 'bake' the objects into ArchiCAD (as I would in Rhino), that is to say, make them permanent. I know that I loose the parametric functionality at this point and I am fine with that. I know I could brake the connection, but I want to use the script on different parts of the model later (and purge the originally referenced walls from GH for faster computation). Which is the best way to do that? As I see it now any object generated from GH will always 'remember' that it is a GH object and hence be influenced by the script. And of course the bake command in GH will bake it the element to Rhino (where it is useless to me, unless of course I then would build a hotlink pipeline to AC but that seems way to complicated). Any advice/best practice?
Best,
0scar

[mikas]

This might not be what you asked for, but if you just copy the generated elements, like with "drag with alt" copy, they will become independent elements of ArchiCAD element types, and AC configuration only.

At least that's how I did it some time ago, if I remember it right. You might want to make a switch for original GH generated elements to be invisible or off.

[0scar]

Mikas,
thanks for the reply. That is what I actually did now. But it seems a bit off to me that I have to build a pipeline with all the geometry then "copy" the elements so that they become permanent and move them back to the original place. But for now this is what I will do. But the bake functionality in Rhino is pretty neat it seems, this could be a more convenient way in my opinion.

[mikas]

Agreed.

[Joel Koilpillai]

Has anyone found a good solution for this problem? There must be a way to break the connection to the created elements in Archicad permanently. So that if I reconnect to Grasshopper, the elements don't connect again, but are 'normal' Archicad elements. And I can use the Grasshopper script for some other elements.

 @mikas : What kind of switch did you suggest? Inside of Grasshopper or just changing the layer in Archicad?

[Laszlo Nagy]

You could try selecting all Grasshopper-created elements and make a copy of them. That way the copies will no longer be connected to and be dependent on Grasshopper as they will be new elements within Archicad with new GUIDs, so that should work in theory. You should try it though to see if it works I do not have Grasshopper right now.

[Joel Koilpillai]

Hi, thank you for the answer. I know that this method works, it is just very impractical. A baking button like in Rhino would be the way to go. Hopefully soon to come.

[Hiroaki SAITO]

I would strongly agree with you about the need to isolate the elements by bake.

[DaniMunthali]

There is an option to break the connection of elements in Archicad created from Grasshopper with Grasshopper. The option has always been there, but its location has changed several times. Currently to do so requires the following steps:

1. Go to the menubar
2. On the menubar go to windows
3. Then go to palettes
4. Then go to Grasshopper Connection

A new palette will come up, whereby if you have the elements in Archicad from generated from Grasshopper selected, you have a button to unlock the elements, whereby they will no longer respond to any actions from Grasshopper. In the palette look for the icon and text to unlock the elements.

[bimdo]

Hi there
Same question here, we want to create GDL-elements with grasshopper. On one side it's pretty cool, when you update an element, then grasshopper change only the revision id and not the main id. On the other hand, we need for each component a new script... So we would like to bake the geometry too and it should generate new GUID's during the baking process for the GDL's too.

When baking is possible in Archicad, we can use the script multiple times to generate different parts of the building...