Wishes
Post your wishes about Graphisoft products: Archicad, BIMx, BIMcloud, and DDScad.

Edit Hotlink Modules in Place

Anonymous
Not applicable
I would like the ability to be able to edit the hotlink module from its place of insertion and these changes to update all other instances of the same hotlink. I find it difficult to adjust a hotlink without its reference, it is not easy to trace and reference the inserted location from the hotlink itself especially when using teamwork. Unless I'm missing a feature already available to do this?
10 REPLIES 10
Anonymous
Not applicable
This is definitely required - opening it into a separate window within the host file would speed things up and allow for referencing as well.

I model the module components on a storey/s set below the model itself (each separate floor of modules residing on the own minus level storey)

this way you can use the trace reference to make sure it's in the correct place and sized correctly, etc.

it's a bit of a crap workaround though - when scheduling elements out, you have to remember to exclude the minus stories. and you have to remember not to edit the module within the .mod file (always going back to the minus stories to edit and overwrite the .mod file)
Da3dalus
Enthusiast
We work the same way as Mark, with "underground" stories to create our Hotlink masters for hotels, hospitals, schools, and residence halls. It is a system that's difficult to explain, requires a long sequence of steps to update, and is riddled with little bugs.

Much of the power of design software comes from the ability to reuse and multiply. Hotlinks and GDL Libraries do a great deal, but they are relics of slower hardware. We should be able to easily edit Modules in real-time to update an array of copies, such as units in an apartment building, with all text and tags adjusting to the orientation. The hardware can now handle embedding more information within the project file, and with Teamwork projects shared around the world, external links have become a nuisance. We need to be able to embed Modules, as Sketchup uses Components and Revit uses Groups. This also impacts the workflow for Details as well.

We NEED the ability to Hotlink a Module into the plan WITHOUT linking to a Story, such as inserting into a Worksheet. This would make great Legends and/or Visual Favorites, with office-wide updating. Of course, this would require that Worksheets can contain 3D Elements (Walls, Slabs, etc.).

See Also this link.
Chuck Kottka
Orcutt Winslow
Phoenix, Arizona, USA

ArchiCAD 25 (since 4.5)
Macbook Pro 15" Touchbar OSX 10.15 Core i7 2.9GHz/16GB RAM/Radeon Pro560 4GB
DGSketcher
Legend
Editing modules and even 3D objects has been a long standing frustration for me. I would love to see some way of editing them that didn't require opening up another instance of AC just to make a minor adjustment.
Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)
Anonymous
Not applicable
This is really needed, and has been asked a big number of times with different descrpitions.
For example this is the same wish actually :https://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=62593
It is absolutely essential IMHO
jl_lt
Ace
Nothing to add here. Just do it already Graphisoft. Now that we are at it, please include the ability to automatically organize layer names in such a way that you can have your modules with their own extension so you dont have to completely match the layer names within files, like Autocad does with Xrefs
jl_lt
Ace
Also, i´ve seen this minus story trick elsewhere. Question: why not publish a dwg plan of the modules, which then you insert in the main file as worksheets?
lmcardoso
Booster
the most needed upgrate that would skyrocket efficiency. The amount of time wasted opening, chaging and saving the hotlink to then realise you missed something and you have to do it again is so frustrating.
ArchiCAD 23/24/25 with Win 10
furtonb
Advisor
I have something similar to Rhino blocks or Revit groups in mind: you right click on a module, it shows it's point of origin, coordinate system, the rest of the model greyed out (similar to a curtain wall edit mode), with the options to include other geometry, or just draw from scratch with the available 2D-3D tools.

Even the iceberg method is inefficient for early stage designs, where you still need to define a lot of sizes in relation to neighbouring geometry and other constraints.

Please^999!
odv.hu | actively using: AC25-27 INT | Rhino6-8 | macOS @ apple silicon / win10 x64
DGSketcher
Legend
The block performance requirements are I believe quite well defined as basically every other CAD system has a a solution, so why it is taking GS s o l o n g to implement I don't know...
Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)