Making New Template With Every Upgrade is Difficult

[Gus]

I'm a solo architect. So making a new template with every upgrade of ArchiCAD is a huge time suck. If I had 50 employees it would be worth it to re-create our template every year, but by myself, it takes a much larger percentage of my time to create.

I know there are templates that are for sale out there. I have also noticed that the next edition of those templates don't come out until half way through the year. By that time I'm already looking to what is coming next in the new version of ArchiCAD and don't wan't to buy a template that is about to become obsolete.

One thing in particular is the folder arrangements. I created a folder arrangement a few years ago that matches masterformat/CSI sheet numbering (because the templates for sale can't sell that format for copyright reasons I assume). This folder collection worked great. I have no idea how to take ArchiCAD's generic template and add my folder system to it though. This is just one of many difficulties of having to update ones template every year.

I would love it if ArchiCAD would develop a template maker app that ran you through your needs like Turbo Tax does for your taxes so we can all quickly make templates each year that are up to date and also maintain our desired way of doing things in the past. Maybe even a paid subscription which allows us to use Masterformat/CSI folders that are created before the new version of ArchiCAD comes out so there is no delay.

Also, I keep thinking about the possibility that this ArchiCAD forum could create a task-force creating our own template each year. Is that a realistic idea?

Until these pipe dreams occur, does anyone out there have a solid system for re-creating their template every year? A system that allows one to maintain good things from the past templates, while also including the new ArchiCAD improvements? A quick and easy method that can be followed to create an up-to-date template every year? Also, if you do, then how do you know that what you copied over from your last template does not interfere with new traits of the new version of ArchiCAD?

Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Erwin Edel]

Depending on the upgrade of the software, we do not update our template every version. We'd been using our ArchiCAD13 template all the way up to 16. 17 was a big update with building materials, so we had to redo the template. 18 was another with the surfaces for cinerender, sadly, but for 19 we've pretty much re-used the 18 template, with very minor changes.

Work Environment is a different story, that one I have to recreate each version, to make sure I don't miss out on new features.

The attribute manager is a great tool to import settings. I ussually start with the standard template when there is a need for a whole new template and delete attributes from it, import the ones I want etc.

Consider having more than one template, depending on the scope/program of the project. We've got one for typical small residential work and one for larger buildings, this means both are relatively lean templates, not packed with a ton of things we do not need for the project.

[Gus]

Thanks Erwin,
This helps me understand the scope of the issue better.
I guess I need to read more when each version comes out to determine what is necessary to change in the template and what can stay the same. ArchiCAD probably writes a summary somewhere of how the new changes will affect old templates.

[Erwin Edel]

We have an upgrade course as part of our subscription here. We attend the course to get a better grasp of new features and then proceed to update the template at a 'quiet' moment. The summer update cycle works out well in that regard.

However, if the upgrade is so large that we need an overhaul of the template, that means our current projects will remain in previous version and it's generally up to a big new project to make the 'leap' to the new version.

Again 16 to 17 and 17 to 18 were rather big updates in terms of the attributes in recent years, so we didn't adapt to those version at release. With 19 I've just started using it as soon as I fixed my work environment as it did not have any major changes to attributes, so it was just a matter of migrating libraries from 18 to 19.

[Barry Kelly]

I'm with Erwin.
I've been using the same template since about version 7.0
Just re-saved in the new version and new features added to make the most of the new software.
18 was the first time I had to create a new template from scratch.
And that was only because I could not get the sky to appear in renders for some reason - worked with a new file but not my old files (template).

Barry.

[Erwin Edel]

I should add we do not use a lot of favourites in our template. I could see those being troublesome with each update, as the library keeps changing (which is a good thing, as we want progress!). They are very tedious to change, but fortunately not a big part of my workflow.

Instead of favourites, I use a whole lot of syringe (pick up parameters) from older projects or within the project.

[Anonymous]

I am a solo practitioner and have gotten into the habit (wrongly or rightly) of doing a SAVE AS when starting a new project. When new projects begin they begin quickly and there's not enough time to start from scratch with a blank template. Any experts care to share advice on quickly getting a new project started? Is SAVE AS an acceptable option? Thanks in advance.