Archicad 27 Design Option with hotlink modules - Missing feature?

[Gui Lima]

Hi guys! I'm testing the new feature Design Options on new Archicad 27 and seems like missing a setting to control the design option inside hotlink setting I would like to see by "View Setting".

For example, in source file I have two options for a bathroom, before archicad 27 I used revovation filter to "separate" the options and control what I want to see by View Settings Dialog.

In Archicad 27 it is possible to do the same thing with more advantages using the new design option feature. But only works with "non-module" floor. On module floor it is only possible to choose 1 option in Hotlink Setting Dialog.

I think the feature philosophy is after the client approves one option, another should be deleted. But imagine this scenario:

I working in a project for a builder, and this builder will sell apartments that I designed. The builder wishes to offer apartment options for their client and I need to deliver 2 or 3 floor plans options for the same apartment.

With renovation filter we can easily change the renovation status to "Option 1" and all  apartments typology in a project will reflect this option (for example pulling out one bedroom and expand living room).

I found this link in Archicad Help site

https://help.graphisoft.com/AC/27/INT/index.htm#t=_AC27_Help%2F071_DesignOptions%2F071_DesignOptions...
and they say

Once the hotlink is placed in the host file, you still have access to all the options in the source module. You can change the module’s Option content at any time.

For example:

1.Place a module in the host file, using Combination A from the source file.

2.In the host file, make a copy of the placed module.

3.Select the second copy of the module.

4.In Hotlink Selection Settings, change the module’s Option Combination.

This way, you have two instances of the same module side by side, each displaying a different Option Combination.

So I need to duplicate and entire floor? Seems like not a "BIM way" if I want to extract quantities even export one IFC for each option.

So, is not possible to control  options inside a hotlink by view settings, or not possible yet?

It seems to me that this window asks for a button "Controlled by View Settings".

Thanks

[vdentello]

Hey, @Karl Ottenstein, I see what you mean, I've read that many many times.
Yet, what I meant, the interaface should describe "Select Combination", and not "Option". Because you can select multiple combinations but not multiple individual options nested inside combinations. That's a misleading typo.

What I meant to do is actually something else. I've managed to keep options A,B,C,D,E inside a module.

Options A, B, C, D, E can be turned on and off through View settings. That's awesome. Unless it's something nested in a module.

The point is, once you let the module bring them all ON, you can not ever turn any of it Off through the view, to show at a presentation or make quick studies. You have to instance the full module and place it inside an option in fact. Meaning that I have to have Modules, A , B, C, D, E separately, simple because I can't bring it all through the the module and them switch it on or off back and forth. 

If I create option F inside the module, I have to put a new instance with the hotlink itself Set each placed module to F, everywhere it's needed.

From what it would make sense, I should just add the F option INSIDE the module and them it'd be populated throughout the model, that way I could tweak the individual ones or use a model view to turn it on and off, much like renovation, layers... 

[PVBergkrantz]

I think this problem stems from the fact that you can have two sets of design options in the main file and in the module file, and they might not be the same. In all the examples given now they have been but in other use cases that might not be the case.

You could have a module for small houses with the design options "1 story, 2 story, 1 story and garage" and have these placed several times into a main file with a street and multiple houses, setting the option for some of them to be 1 story, some 2 story and so on.

Meanwhile the main file might have design options "fully exploited site 1, on the hill, along the street", showcasing different overall planning proposals. The main file has no options for 1 story or 2 story. The same way that the layer combinations in the hotlink file are not copied over into the main file.

I agree that it would be useful in some cases to be able to switch the active option for multiple modules at once, as if they had been modeled in the main file, but this would also require that every option in a module is copied into the main file, which might create bigger headaches, especially with larger projects and nested modules.

What I really wish for it what I've desribed here (https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Wishlist/Separate-options-for-layer-and-design-options-visibilit...) that would allow you to create simplified modules containing many options, which would reduce the stress on the computer that comes from having to duplicate the modules into each option set.