Drag-and-Drop Details

[Da3dalus]

There has been a great deal of discussion on how to organize details, especially if your office has a library of "standard" details. PDF import and drawing linking helps this a lot.

However, for many of us, we use previous details (from a library or old projects) as a "template", which will inevitably be modified a bit for every project. Therefore, every detail must be embedded.

Right now, that involves opening an old model, finding the detail, and copy-pasting it into a new detail window created in the new model. Then, it has to be renamed (as we use Autotext for the title), and a new View assigned with scale, layer combo, and view options. Then it can be placed on the sheet.

This would be simplified by allowing independent details to be dragged-and-dropped from project to project, retaining their View settings and names.

Another feature would be the ability to duplicate details within the same project (with view and all), so as to create variations on the same base detail.

Finally, I'd like to add more capability to create better 3D details, like millwork isometrics. Right now, it's either cut-and-paste dumb lines, or annotating the detail in the layout, both poor options. Not to mention, there's no way (short of a 3rd party object) to do 3D dimensions (another subject). The ability to embed a Drawing Viewport into a Detail would solve this, though it would create an interesting loop in the Navigator.

BTW, kudos for streamlining this workflow so far. The "Save view and place on layout" command is a huge timesaver!

Thank you for the consideration!

[Anonymous]

Da3dalus wrote:
There has been a great deal of discussion on how to organize details, especially if your office has a library of "standard" details.

I have found it very convenient to save office standard details as ArchiCAD Module files, keeping them in an Office details folder. With careful attention to naming conventions it's easy to call up any detail and hotlink it into a detail window in any project.

Once in the project file you can then choose whether to un-link the module so it remains static or to keep it linked so that it updates if your office standard detail is changed.