layout w. InDesign ArchiCAD 10

[Anonymous]

PDF export from ArchiCAD 10, is supposed to make things easier..

now, from being able to export to .eps from plotmaker, i now have to readjust pdf pages, inventing new formats etc. all of wich was easily done in InDesign,,,

i have encountered problems with the pdf export out of InDesign since using ArchiCAD 10.

it would have been so much easier to directly eksport in eps, or else that the pdf's generated by ArchiCAD 10 would self assign their own format (tired of re-entering wich scale a drawing should be, and looking at a multiple paged pdf when doing layout in InDesign).

Anybody encountered these problems?

is there any add-on to export .eps?

any other work-arounds, or tips for using InDesign for layout w.ArchiCAD 10?

thank you for any feed-back,

andreas

[Anonymous]

Can InDesign read DWGs or DWFs? I know Illustrator used to be able to. If you have Illustrator you could go from Archicad to Illustrator to InDesign.

But...Why are you using Indesign for layouts instead of doing it all in Archicad? It's not as sophisticated as Indesign but still does a pretty good job.

(Apart from my recent gripes about making PDFs (here: http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=74925&highlight=#74925)

[Anonymous]

hello,

the reason i prefer InDesign over ArchiCAD is that InDesign is a professional layout program,,,

And it produces mighty good layouts,, have worked with it and tweaked it for several years. also have all my templates for layout in InDesign.

And i do not like to be all locked-up in only one program.

it looks as if GraphiSoft wants this, but this is a real turn-down for me. i want freedom, not constraint.

Why are you using Indesign for layouts instead of doing it all in Archicad?

[TomWaltz]

Archicad is getting better at layout.... but it's no InDesign!

We've been using PDF, but EPS would be a lot better to still have.

[Anonymous]

What is your experience using PDF's ?

to me, it is time-consuming as i constantly have to configurate to
a) make sure of the excact physical size of my individual drawing
b) restate the scale of my drawings (ArchiCAD seems to believe their users want "fit to page" plans, with scales like, say, 1:158,,,)
c) use a lot of clicks to publish! (as i don't like having the huge Organizer-window open)

We've been using PDF, but EPS would be a lot better to still have.

[TomWaltz]

aa_norway wrote:
What is your experience using PDF's ?

to me, it is time-consuming as i constantly have to configurate to
a) make sure of the excact physical size of my individual drawing
b) restate the scale of my drawings (ArchiCAD seems to believe their users want "fit to page" plans, with scales like, say, 1:158,,,)
c) use a lot of clicks to publish! (as i don't like having the huge Organizer-window open)

I've never given PDF a second thought. I only ever make PDFs from layouts, just to make sure the paper size is already set.

I "Shortcut" my layouts into the Publisher in my Template, so any sheets I create are in my Publisher ready to make into PDFs whenever I hit "Publish".

[Anonymous]

seems like a nice and quick way to produce .pdf's,,,

I "Shortcut" my layouts into the Publisher in my Template, so any sheets I create are in my Publisher ready to make into PDFs whenever I hit "Publish

but should you choose to send a 10page pdf, one for print and one for web, how do you proceed? how optimized are the vectorial information and the bitmaps? and how do you choose your settings, create profiles etc.?

all this i believe InDesign handles well, but communication through way heavy .pdf's from ArchiCAD 10 is a pain. Using Plotmaker at least made it possible to generate good .eps.

and,,, Fills are a real pain! and,,,, i use'em alot,,

[TomWaltz]

aa_norway wrote:
seems like a nice and quick way to produce .pdf's,,,

I "Shortcut" my layouts into the Publisher in my Template, so any sheets I create are in my Publisher ready to make into PDFs whenever I hit "Publish

but should you choose to send a 10page pdf, one for print and one for web, how do you proceed? how optimized are the vectorial information and the bitmaps? and how do you choose your settings, create profiles etc.?

all this i believe InDesign handles well, but communication through way heavy .pdf's from ArchiCAD 10 is a pain. Using Plotmaker at least made it possible to generate good .eps.

and,,, Fills are a real pain! and,,,, i use'em alot,,

Archicad PDFs are kind of one-size-fits-all. There really are no export settings. I use PDFs that it generates are either for printing or for putting into InDesign or Illustrator.

I've never made a 10-page PDF. I've found people are generally happier with one-sheet-per-file since it's easier to replace individual sheets later on to keep an electronic set.

Why would I put PDFs on the web?

[Anonymous]

by the web, i kind of meant the screen,,

like as if you sent a lightweight .pdf scetch for a client to peek at, but not to actually print/use? (keep'em coming back to collect my dimes,,,)

Why would I put PDFs on the web?

and personnally, hitting 1 button to print it all suits me fine (especially as i have a bad habit with fills,,, it takes time,,, )

[TomWaltz]

aa_norway wrote:
by the web, i kind of meant the screen,,

like as if you sent a lightweight .pdf scetch for a client to peek at, but not to actually print/use? (keep'em coming back to collect my dimes,,,)

Why would I put PDFs on the web?

and personnally, hitting 1 button to print it all suits me fine (especially as i have a bad habit with fills,,, it takes time,,, )

I'd make them an 8x11 drawing. I never let any drawing out of my hand without a title block and date on it. Even packed with fills, it should not be that big.