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

Masonry modelling

gavinNZz
Advocate

Does Archicad provide a tool for modelling masonry walls? Not just a composite wall but actually modelling the blocks and mortar along with opening rebated blocks etc? If not it seems to be quite an omission given the amount of blockwork used in construction.

 

Funny how a quick search in revit addons provides the exact tool

 

https://www.angelusblock.com/bim-tools/masonry-iq-revit-add-in-layout-analysis.cfm

Planworks Ltd
Residential Designer based in Tauranga, NZ
Archicad v9+
VR enthusiast.
Always wants more!
9 REPLIES 9
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin

 You may try to use the Curtain Wall to do that. But be aware, this level of detail creates a very high number of polygons in 3D.

Another possible way would be to use the Archicad-Grasshopper Connection to generate the bricks and mortar based on the geometry of Walls, and it could also be updated if the source Wall geometry changes. 

Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac27

Given the amount of workarounds needed to create standard building elements in AC I can understand why so may users are switching to other software. I will press GS on it and see if there is even any interest in providing such a tool. It is such a core building element, it really does baffle me why they don't provide an accurate BIM solution.

 

 

Planworks Ltd
Residential Designer based in Tauranga, NZ
Archicad v9+
VR enthusiast.
Always wants more!

There are multiple Revit add-ons for almost everything because Revit on its own is useless, hence the 3rd Party Add-on and Library community get a lot of support from the users. The case is almost the opposite in Archicad. It is a very capable tool on its own and the users generally have an aversion to supporting 3rd Part Add-ons and libraries.

 

Now to the solution; Archicad Wall Accessories. These are some of the easiest GDL elements to create and can result in adding or removing anything from the wall element. So you could very easily have the accessory replace your external block skin of your wall composite with an array of blocks and mortar. This includes treatments (details) around openings and at corners and edges.

It is so easy to script this content that I gave a presentation on it in 2019 at BiLT conferences in Australia and Scotland titled "Create Archicad Accessories in 10 minutes".

The benefit of creating this yourself is it gives you the power to not only create your own rules for the geometry but also define what you want to extrapolate from the model by scheduling the accessories; you set the parameters and how they are formulated.

Creator of Cadswift's parametric GDL libraries
Creator of Infinite Openings and Component Catalogues
Push the envelope & watch it bend
website: https://cadswift.com.au/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CADSwift/playlists

I would be very interested in that presentation, is there anywhere I could watch it? Thank you.

From Archicad 8.5 all the way to the present.
Passionate Autocad hater as well.
Wish to save palets and menus individualy in work enviroments:
https://bit.ly/3pg3Bx7
Erwin Edel
Rockstar

I'm trying to wrap my head around the need to model this amount of detail.

 

The bricklayer in the field will not look at the model.

 

For quantity take off we have cost estimates for material use per m².

 

In case of CS elements: I would get a IFC from the distributor to clash with my model.

 

It might just be the Dutch market, but I've never missed this in 16 years of working with Archicad.

Erwin Edel, Project Lead, Leloup Architecten
www.leloup.nl

ArchiCAD 9-26NED FULL
Windows 10 Pro
Adobe Design Premium CS5

My wall covering can do this.

I would agree. The only time I have ever done anything like this was to clarify a complex 3D waterproofing detail, and that was quickly formed with Morphs and complex beam profiles.

Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)

@Kristian Bursell wrote:

There are multiple Revit add-ons for almost everything because Revit on its own is useless, hence the 3rd Party Add-on and Library community get a lot of support from the users. The case is almost the opposite in Archicad. It is a very capable tool on its own and the users generally have an aversion to supporting 3rd Part Add-ons and libraries.


Had a bad day Kristian? Where would you be without writing the very Add-ons that Archicad lacks that you are bagging. I can say that Archicad on its own is useless to and that's why some of us have to purchase add-ons to get the job done quickly and without a hassle. If it wasn't for Archicad's pathetic set of tools you and all the other Addon makers would be out of business.

Why start you answer with bagging the opposition?

Anyhow this might answer a few questions for some of you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KCaNJDSypI

Imac, Big Sur AC 20 NZ, AC 25 Solo UKI,

@Brett Brown This seems really hostile for no reason.

What you meant is that in your opinion? 

You could have easily just posted the YouTube link so we could all do without what ever drama you seem to have.