Creating Hotlinks...right in the same TW file?

[rob2218]

ok, so I've started this new office.
They are gearing up with Archicad and have "some" users who know there way round the program.

But...I've run across some initial issues:
1. they have a tendancy to "hotlink" pieces of the same apartment unit into other floors? is this a common practice? it's very strange for me to hotlink "something" that is already in the TW file itself.
2. grouping- they have a tendacy to "group" similar units (which are those hotlinks by the way) all over the entire time work file..makes for very confusing organization.
3. they create "story levels" below the last "grade/or ground" story level" and use those as hotlinks?...again..I just find that a peculiar way of organizing a TW file.
4. the MOD's are ALSO coming from INSIDE the same TW file...WTF?

So, with that/this said....folks...have any of you ever run across this type of file organization setup?? Please, enlighten me if you have.

[rob2218]

SO...HERE'S A 'DIAGRAMATIC SECTION' IF YOU WILL OF WHAT I'M TALKIN' BOUT....very very odd.

[Anonymous]

It sounds a little quirky but not necessarily unreasonable. It depends on the project. I've done a number of multifamily where the unit plans/modules are published from one file and linked to multiple floors of one or more building model files. Incorporating them into the same model could work fine but would not be my preference.

1. Repeatedly linked or just copied around amounts to the same thing. ArchiCAD just makes more instances of the same linked module. Once placed it seems that making copies will generally be easier but it's not a big deal either way. I have "Place Module" as a hot key so sometimes it's easier to pick form a list than go looking for the one I want to copy.

2. I don't get the point of grouping the unit modules. It does seem a bit clumsy.

3 & 4. So the source of the modules is on "subterranean" stories? (Made in the factories of the mole people perhaps.) As I said, I can see how it could work and may be in some way more convenient to have them in the same file, but I prefer to keep them separate.

BTW: your screen shot is too low res for me to make out much though I get the gist based on your descriptions.

[rob2218]

thanks Matthew.....love the "mole people" comment.

Yes...I too am used to having "MOD" files OUT of the main TW file...but what'evs sir.

[Da3dalus]

I know that this is an old comment, but I can shed some light on the reason for the subterranean unit hotlinks questions.

Stories are the only place that ArchiCAD can keep 3D elements. We also don't have a "component" function to copy linked groups like SketchUp has. So, in order to have identical rooms that you can edit, they have to be on a story of a PLN or MOD. Many people would refer to an external file, which we've done before, but…

If you reference external hotlinks, and someone changes an attribute, be it material, surface, file, etc., it will NOT change in the other file, and it will show up wrong in the master/host. This type of thing is typically done with hospitality, hospitals, multifamily residential, and senior living projects, which are heavy on interior design, furniture, etc. So we are constantly changing colors, patterns, and other attributes, which causes a huge mess when the drawings don't update correctly (and potential lawsuits).

Synchronizing hotlink attributes has taught us to go underground and keep everything i the same file, even if it looks silly. Beware!

[Anonymous]

Can you elaborate a little more as to how and why hotlinked modules are placed on a subterranean level?

Isn't a hotlinked module always an external file? Im just not understanding the way to use hotlinks in teamwork so that they function like components in sketchup.

[rob2218]

that project was long gone in my memory banks but I'll try to ellaborate the way "these" folks did it at "their" offices.

Apparently the gal that set up this crazy method did this so she could keep the hotlink file "INSIDE" the same file she was linkning it to. it was on a level that you never saw and it was put there for "ease of editing" instead of having to have two files open (Hotlink file and file hotlink was inserted into). Instead they'd simply 'edit' the apartment unit types "inside" the same file that they then placed a hotlink from. And apparently....No...hotlinks can be associated groups of information ALSO coming from within the same file they are being linked into.....go figure. whacky...but TRUE.

adambeazley wrote:
Can you elaborate a little more as to how and why hotlinked modules are placed on a subterranean level?

Isn't a hotlinked module always an external file? Im just not understanding the way to use hotlinks in teamwork so that they function like components in sketchup.

[Anonymous]

So how do you set that up? Because when you save a module you are saving to a file location right?

[rob2218]

no...apparently you can save a mod file...I think that's how they did it.....right inside the file it's being hotlinked into.
I think....GS..please correct me if I'm wrong here.
I think what they did was create different unit plans (UNIT A, UNIT B, etc..) had them residing (existing) on those sub-terrain levels (designed as "Apartment Level A" , "Apartment Level B" for the different kinds of apartment types, the they grouped them together and saved them as a mod? I think, then they hotlinked that MOD grouping of information into the same file they were created from....I think that's how they did it sir..........AFAIK it was so long ago and that office left bad scares in my psyche' that I'm trying to suppress it from my ROM for good
it was a horrible experience at that office. it was a sweat shop.....the boss would come in, look at you, not even say good morning, and his request always started with the phrase........."Now, can you get task "A" done for me as fast as you can....blah, blah blah"............Geez it was like, "really Ahole!....no I want to take my darn sweet time and provide you with the SLOWEST service I can possible"...........what a douche.

adambeazley wrote:
So how do you set that up? Because when you save a module you are saving to a file location right?

[Anonymous]

Ok I guess that is what that "Replace selection with this hotlinked module file" checkbox is for...

Unfortunately that checkbox is grayed out in teamwork, which is what we always use. doh!!