11 favorites to 12 favorites

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to transfer all or most of my favorites settings that were based off of V11 library to V12 library? It would be quite time consuming to save new favorites in V12.

And or saving a previous template made in V11 to V12 with the V12 library etc?

And I guess the same with layers, line types, fills etc.?


Thanks,
Jim

[Karl Ottenstein]

matthewjj wrote:
My experience is that you are better off recreating your own template file from the factory installed template that comes with archicad.... The one that ships with it does get well tested out during beta phase.

I have to disagree with that one. I don't think any of us hard-core beta testers use the Graphisoft template other than when they want a bug reproduced. I find the US template pretty sad, bordering on worthless. Further, the template delivered to customers has rarely been the one we saw during testing; 12 may be an exception. No input that we provide ever seems to make it into the template.

You can successfully migrate your templates up via editing and using Attribute Manager to assure that your attributes coincide with those defined by GS for linetypes, fills, and materials - the key ones that are used by the library. Layers/Layer combos are an individual affair, tied to one's views/etc. Cities are personal. Profiles also tend to be personal... I would definitely advise everyone in the US to delete the incorrectly assembled 'FNDN Conc. 10" w/Brick Ledge' before they propagate the bad practices in it into other profiles via copy/edit.

The effort it takes to recreate all of your views, schedules, layout hierarchy, publisher sets and more in a 'fresh' file from Graphisoft is not at all a worthwhile expenditure of time IMHO.

My 2 cents,
Karl

[Link]

As a fellow beta tester who specializes in creating and updating templates, I would have to agree with Karl.

In fact I think the biggest concern is migrating old work environment profiles or schemes that don't include the newer ArchiCAD commands. I'm sure Ben would agree too, being the master of Work Environment manipulation, and all.

I tend to import my old profile and use the New Commands drop down option in the Work Environment dialog to add to them. Maybe Ben will suggest a better or alternative method?

Cheers,
Link.

[matthewjj]

Karl wrote:
I have to disagree with that one. I don't think any of us hard-core beta testers use the Graphisoft template other than when they want a bug reproduced...

You can successfully migrate your templates up via editing and using Attribute Manager to assure that your attributes coincide with those defined by GS for linetypes, fills, and materials - the key ones that are used by the library.
Karl

While I may not be a 'hard-core' beta tester, I have beta tested the last 4 versions of archicad. And have helped transition our office through the last 5 versions of Archicad. My day job prevents me from being a more frequent poster here in the forums.

What I am suggesting is that it is better to begin with a graphisoft template. First blitz all the stuff that you don't need. Then use attribute manager to import layers and other stuff that is specific to your setup.

I am in no way suggesting that you use the archicad template as-is. Merely that you begin with it. When we moved our 100+ person office from AC10 to AC11 last year, we found that files that were started in AC10 then opened into AC11 could not use the Space Navigator mouse from 3D Connexion. However, if we started with an AC11 template and copy-pasted that same model from the AC10 file into a new 'from scratch' AC11 file, it worked perfectly. This is what I am talking about. Had we merely taken the AC10 template for our office, opened it in AC11 and saved it I would be complaining still that Space Navigator for Archicad does not work.

It was during the same AC version transition that I noticed our office standard work environment did not include any of the new AC11 features like Virtual Trace in the menu bars. Why? Because if you don't start with the graphisoft template you will have no idea what you are missing.

Build from a firm foundation. That's all I'm sayin.

[matthewjj]

Link wrote:
In fact I think the biggest concern is migrating old work environment profiles or schemes that don't include the newer ArchiCAD commands.

Link it actually looks like what you wrote supports what I am saying, it illustrates my point quite clearly.

[Link]

Sorry, but not really.

There's no way I would start a template from scratch every time a newer version of ArchiCAD was released. Not only would it take me about a week, but it opens it up to errors.

To me a template is like a piece of precision equipment and there's no way I'd want to continually rebuild it. Keep in mind that templates I create typically contain anywhere between 200-300 prelinked views, full documentation and publishing sets, amongst hundreds of other settings.

As for the Space Navigator issue, I can't really comment as I don't use one, but I would have thought that was to do with ArchiCAD itself or the Work Environment settings, rather than the template you're using. At the very least I would have run it past GS to make sure.

As I said, the only thing that concerns me is migrating the Work Environment, as you also discovered. Fortunately GS provides the New Commands as a separate drop down list option, with each new release of ArchiCAD so it makes the transition easier.

Cheers,
Link.

[Link]

Hey Matt

Have been thinking about this some more and wanted to help you get to the bottom of it, and save you countless hours of work in the future.

As per the image below, the AC11 Work Environment dialog lists two new commands relating to the 3D Connexion (Space Navigator). If you used a migrated Work Environment profile, or even just a migrated Command Layout Scheme, then these new commands would not have been enabled, right away.

I wonder if this is why you had the issues you did?

Cheers,
Link.

[matthewjj]

Link wrote:
Not only would it take me about a week, but it opens it up to errors.

Keep in mind that templates I create typically contain anywhere between 200-300 prelinked views, full documentation and publishing sets, amongst hundreds of other settings.

As I said, the only thing that concerns me is migrating the Work Environment, as you also discovered.

Could you elaborate on what you mean by 'opens it up to errors'?

We just updated our templates for AC12 starting from the AC12 template file. It only took a day or so. I am not sure how many people use your templates, but with over 100 designers using this software at our office even the tiniest errors in our template get compounded exponentially. Better safe than sorry, I say.

I think the majority of archicad users don't even understand how to modify their work environment let alone sift through that jungle of esoteric menus to find and activate the 'blue' items that are scattered throughout the work environment settings window.

Honestly, I wonder what Graphisoft would say about this little conversation? Since I am basically saying to trust them (change what you need) and you and Karl are saying its a waste of time and their templates are 'worthless'.

[matthewjj]

Link wrote:
Have been thinking about this some more and wanted to help you get to the bottom of it, and save you countless hours of work in the future.

Actually, because I have had this policy of using the AC template to build from I have always had the proper menu items and such. The thing that is interesting about the example of the Space Navigator is that when I opened any project file that originated from AC10 to transition it into AC 11, Space Navigator would not work at all (this happened while using my AC11 graphisoft provided work environment with all the proper menu items).

When using the standard graphisoft WE and template the space navigator worked as expected. I could even copy-paste the ac10 model into the AC11 template file and it worked as expected.

[Link]

It opens it up to errors that would come with recreating it from scratch. It is difficult to remember the hundreds of settings that should be set in a comprehensive template.

We could be here all day talking about CAD Management (where's Tom when you really need him?), but the point of having a solid template is to minimize these errors that are compounded exponentially. That is why migrating and updating the same one is so very important.

If people in your office don't know how to modify the many time-saving features in the Work Environment, it would seem diligent to create one for them and simply show them how to invoke it.

The best solution of course is to train them well and provide good standards, enforced with good CAD management.

The GS template is not worthless. It falls tragically short of what we have tried to convince GS to provide, but it still serves as a reasonably good example of what users can do to create their own. Like any canned template though, it will need significant work to mould it to suit each company's standards and workflow.

I always start my templates based on the GS template (provided for the relevant localized version). I strip a lot (but not all) of it out and rebuild it. I only do it once once per template though and I have brought some templates up from AC7.

[Edit] The AC Template has nothing to do with the menus and such. Nothing whatsoever.

Cheers,
Link.

[Karl Ottenstein]

matthewjj wrote:
It was during the same AC version transition that I noticed our office standard work environment did not include any of the new AC11 features like Virtual Trace in the menu bars. Why? Because if you don't start with the graphisoft template you will have no idea what you are missing.

Matthew,

You seem pretty confused over how to set up ArchiCAD, in spite of your apparent experience. A template has absolutely nothing to do with the work environment which is what determines what shows up in your menus, Info Box, etc etc.

Karl