Optimizing your own custom template

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,
I finally have time to work on our custom project template. I started "cleaning up" our latest project (.pln file), which contains the latest version of our old template.

I deleted any project-specific element (walls, slabs, zones etc), so the only items left are empty layers, markers, views etc., then I saved it as project template.

The file size after the cleanup is still quite large (100Mb+): how can I further reduce it and optimmize the template?

Thank you!


Enrico

[Eric Bobrow]

As the creator of MasterTemplate (http://www.actemplate.com) along with architect Scott Bulmer, I have a unique perspective on the long-term development of a template system. We have migrated our template forward from ArchiCAD 11 through each successive version and recently released MasterTemplate 16.

THE SPECIFIC ISSUE IN QUESTION

As I recall, the technical issue that Steven encountered had to do with some markers (elevation or section I think) that were not behaving properly and could not be changed out for some reason. Graphisoft refused to help the firm with the problem, stating that they "do not support third party products."

The issue was very specific and "localized" - we have had no other reports of this problem from other users. As I recall, I suggested deletion and replacement of the markers in the template and the placement of the newly recreated Views onto Layout sheets, which should have been a quick process.

GRAPHISOFT'S SUPPORT OF THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS

Steven's firm was hesitant to continue working with the template, being nervous about Graphisoft's statement that they could not give them tech support on the issue because it had to do with a third party product. They decided to abandon ship, and I issued them a partial refund - they did not want a full refund because they said they had learned a lot from studying the template setup.

Our experience overall is that MasterTemplate has been durable and continues to provide a robust platform for over 700 firms that have chosen it as their office standard. It has hundreds of hours of development and study, and packs into a relatively compact 18 megabytes a huge amount of resources, including our innovative Interactive Legends, a set of over 400 commonly used elements that can be eye-dropped to quickly retrieve Favorite settings. Many users report dramatic improvements in productivity after switching from the standard Graphisoft template or their own template to MasterTemplate.

ANOTHER ISSUE THAT GRAPHISOFT CALLED "NOT OUR PROBLEM"

There is one other issue of note that came up with MasterTemplate that affects other templates and project files, whether migrated to new versions or not. Graphisoft said it was "our problem" but I have verified that it absolutely is not.

In a Worksheet in MasterTemplate that is used to access the Interactive Legends, we have saved a couple of dozen Zooms (using the little popup menu found just to the right of the percentage indicator in the navigation area at the bottom left of each window). This little-used feature is quite convenient for zooming to frequently accessed parts of the project; in this case we use it to jump to different sections of the Legends (e.g. wall types, windows, cabinets and furniture, etc.).

Normally, one can delete or rename these saved Zooms using that same popup menu. However, we have had reports from users that it is not possible to do this with the Zooms in the Legend worksheet, and at least one of them asked Graphisoft about it. As in the incident with Steven, Graphisoft said "it's not our problem" and laid the "blame" on MasterTemplate being based on legacy files.

During later investigation, I learned that this is a bug caused when the worksheet window is resized from the original dimensions. This can happen at any time when a user repositions palettes and adjusts window sizes. I was able to reproduce this issue with a standard Graphisoft-issued template by simply saving a Zoom, then resizing the window.

Ultimately, Graphisoft has limited resources and has to draw the line on tech support for problems that they feel that they did not cause or control. As with other software and hardware companies, they have on occasion seen an issue and called it "somebody else's problem." It is important not to misinterpret this to mean "all third party products are risky" or that (specifically) "MasterTemplate has an issue because it is based on legacy files."

SUMMARY: MIGRATION OF PROJECTS AND TEMPLATES FROM VERSION TO VERSION WORKS WELL

While it would be technically possible to recreate MasterTemplate every time Graphisoft releases a new version, it would be rather time-consuming. We have put a LOT of time into creating a robust structure and fine-tuning it, and it would take a while to set everything up again.

In general, as I said, we have not had any complaints from other users, so I'm confident that the situation with Steven's firm was caused by some other issue rather than a symptom of a larger problem.

From the statements of Karl and Rick, two of the most experienced ArchiCAD users you're ever likely to find, it seems that in general, migration of templates from version to version is safe and effective.

FYI - a few weeks ago on a LinkedIn discussion I wrote up an extensive description of the process I recommend for migrating a project file or a template from one version to another:
http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=796267&type=member&item=135922746&commentID=88736535#com...

I got some great feedback on this post, including having Jared Banks Tweet it out to his list. I imagine that anyone reading this discussion here on ArchiCAD-Talk may find it of interest.

Eric Bobrow

[Dave Jochum]

Karl wrote:

Rick wrote:
I just have not have any issues migrating a file over a long time.

The same experience. There should be no problems at all migrating a template or other file forward, version to version.

Nor have I--absolutely none. I created my own template in the early years, then moved to Eric's MasterTemplate--I don't even remember when--v.11 maybe? It has without a doubt enhanced productivity to a greater extent than any other third party AC product I've bought.

[Anonymous]

The reason I have suggested that the template be rebuilt from scratch, especially in Enrico's case, is to reduce the file size, his template at over 100Mb must have options to cover all cases what I was suggesting is that he have a base template hat is used to start projects from and a full template that can be used to bring in additional info as needed.

The massive bloat in file size for Enrico's template would result in slower day to day usage due slower saving times and additional network traffic, increased backup times etc

In my office with about 150 active jobs at any one time each with serveral stage backups (1-2 design options, design sign off, design develpment sign off, documentation completion, construction) an additional 90+ Mb per file would mean that we would need to store and backup an additional 80Gb data for no benefit, this amount of data would also be multiplied several times if the project is teamworked.

Regarding he time taken to reset the template, it usually takes me about a morning to do so not a lot of time

[Eric Bobrow]

Scott -

Yes, in his case, it makes sense to rebuild the template from scratch. My guess is that the template may have been created by saving an actual project file as a TPL, and perhaps repeating the process more than once to keep the template updated as office standards and practices and resources evolve.

Over the years, I've noticed that it may not be possible to effectively reduce a project file down in size simply by deleting the visible contents. Apparently, there is some overhead in the ArchiCAD file data structure that is not always reclaimed when elements as well as viewpoints (such as sections, worksheets and details) are cleared.

With MasterTemplate, we created the file from scratch originally, then tested it out on a sample project to make sure that everything worked properly in context. However the template file itself has been maintained as a lean and mean base file that gets migrated and fine-tuned for each version of ArchiCAD. Thus it is not as prone to bloating up in size as a real project file might.

At one point a few years ago I realized that I could easily reduce the size of the template from 25 megabytes to 15 megabytes. The extra weight had to do with about a dozen graphic images that were embedded in the file. I found that since they had been pasted in, they were maintained internally as BMP files that were about 1 mb each. I selected each of them and in the Info Box was easily able to change them to JPG, which made them MUCH smaller and ultimately reduced the template size by 10 mb.

I suggest that anyone who is concerned about file size in their template or an actual project do a quick check for this type of data hog: graphic images (Figures or Drawings) that may be internally stored in an inefficient manner. It might also be good to look for and minimize the number of PDF or DWG files that are placed in the file, although I'm not sure whether they would be prone to this issue.

Eric

[Karl Ottenstein]

File bloat, even after model deletion, can happen from cached drawings and cached previews (Nav Preview) and elsewhere. (I cannot be the only one to see a strange, complex drawing in Nav Preview - cached of course - and have to manually select the Redraw Preview command to see what's really there - and flush out the old - for every view. Similarly, every drawing needs to be regenerated for pre-placed drawings on layouts (update all in drawing manger) - to flush out all of the old drawing data. And choose the preference to not cache drawing previews.)

This stuff can be flushed by the user. I'd actually like the challenge of seeing Enrico's file to see what can be cleaned up. Some may well be images/pdf as Eric suggests. But, if it can't be cleaned up (due to bugs - which Graphisoft should provide support for rather than blame the user) - then a 'forward merge' is the only tedious solution.

Scott, I'm surprised that you're concerned about 80 GB of backups from your active jobs... A 3 TB disk drive is about $150. Peanuts. I deal with 80 GB per day easily with video production. What was crazy huge a few years ago, is just normal today... Still, a 100 MB template is not right. You're absolutely right on that! 🙂

K

[Anonymous]

Karl,

The extra 80Gb is not an issue for our on site backps, as we are backing up over 3Tb of data every day.

The backup strategy we are implementing is probably a little paranoid, full backup every day with incremental backup at lunch time and keeping 4 previous days backups, but would allow us to be up and running within a coule of hours of receiving new hardware and to be able to retrieve files from previous days / session that have been accidentally edited / deleted.

Backing up off site is essential, as many businesses in Australia discovered through the floods and fires, as your data, although backed up, will likely be destroyed in the event of a disaster if stored on site. This means using portable hard drives or LTO tapes and auto loader but neither is really a cheap solution as I would only use enterprise class drives in rugged enclosures (have lost data using consumer HD) and auto loaders are expensive and not most reliable machines (last loader we had failed about 3 weeks outside of warranty and cost over $2000 to repair with only a 6week warranty to repairs). Have been looking at on-line backup but cannot see it as feasible as it would never complete a backup as it takes over 5 days to backup 80Gb of data.

[Marton Kiss]

All,

allow me to get back to the original topic - template migration. Templates can be migrated usually without any difficulties, but there are a couple of things that worth consideration:
- for migration you need to understand the basics of templates, attributes, defaults, libraries to have full control about everything
- when you migrate a template you need to relink the updated libraries, set the defaults for the new tools etc.

- for easier templates sometimes it is faster to start form scratch using ArchiCAD's built in template and just copy paste some data - e.g. if you only have some customised master layouts, you can drag and drop them in organizer to the new template
- for more complex templates like Eric's it is usually better to migrate it

If you discover any situation where ArchiCAD doesn't seem to work as it should the best is contacting the local technical support. We are not responsible for the content of non GRAPHISOFT provided templates but we do support the product itself and do our best to address any issues.