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

Script language for Archicad

Anonymous
Not applicable
Like any other professionnal package AC should offer some possibilities of scripting. Outside of GDL which is only active inside objects.
It would allow customized workflows for specific ways of working.
Just some examples out of millions of simple things that could be done:
-Export automatically to .obj for each different layer combinations.
-Put all selected slabs at a specific height at once
-Drop objects and constructive elements on a mesh.
-Place a GDL object at every selected drawing primitive (for example to place trees on the circles of an imported dwg plan)
-Apply a material to all selected objects ( slabs wall etc..) at once
-Apply algorithmically defined transformations to selected elements.
-Build logic relations between elements
...
...
Such plugins should we be able to do without going through building c++ plugins.
Please Graphisoft let us know if that is something you think about or if it is out of question.

Let's see how many we are that miss that feature
27 REPLIES 27
Anonymous
Not applicable
As scripter myself, but without any experience of C++ - or the inclination to invest the time in learning it just for ArchiCAD plugins - I fully support GS adding a more accessible scripting ability to AC.

I'm a proponent of .NET as the best option - it's language-neutral (you can use C#,Basic,Python,Javascript,etc) and can be cross-platform (if the open source Mono implementation is used (though currently only supports C#... I think...? ).

Rhino 3D has .Net scripting, as does Unity3D.

Check out the scripted Rhino tools developed for architects, at:
http://www.rhino3d.com/resources/#tabs-4
"The .NET SDK is a wrapper around the C++ SDK that allows plug-in development with any .NET language including VB.NET and C#. Most of the C++ SDK functionality is available in the .NET SDK."
http://wiki.mcneel.com/developer/dotnetplugins

As an example of the innovation this could bring to AC, checkout Grasshopper for Rhino, as an example of a something mind-blowing that is written in .NET for Rhino.
sityu
Booster
peter_h wrote:
I'm a proponent of .NET as the best option - it's language-neutral (you can use C#,Basic,Python,Javascript,etc) and can be cross-platform (if the open source Mono implementation is used ).

Yessss! This kind of language neutral solution is needed!
This would be more than essential; and more essential than it seems at the first glance.
Talmácsi, István, architect (AC user since 1997, ac4.5 - now: ac18)
Ralph Wessel
Mentor
peter_h wrote:
I'm a proponent of .NET as the best option - it's language-neutral (you can use C#,Basic,Python,Javascript,etc) and can be cross-platform (if the open source Mono implementation is used ).
You should never rely on proprietary frameworks if you intend to develop cross-platform solutions. If .NET was entirely open-source, it might be an option. Developers have repeatedly had to learn the hard way that Microsoft develops everything to be Windows-centric. There's nothing wrong with that, of course - why should they support a competitor? And if you intend to develop for Windows only, that's perfect.

But never rely on Microsoft to provide an equal experience on any platform other than Windows, and that includes technologies touted as cross-platform like SilverLight. It will not last. At some stage, platforms other than Windows will either be dropped, become subtly incompatible, or be excluded from other Windows-only features. Mono will neither keep pace with MS releases, nor plug the gaps where patented technologies are coupled to .NET.

If Graphisoft implement scripting within ArchiCAD, I would prefer that it was based on an open, published standard.
Ralph Wessel BArch
stefan
Expert
Ralph wrote:
peter_h wrote:
I'm a proponent of .NET as the best option - it's language-neutral (you can use C#,Basic,Python,Javascript,etc) and can be cross-platform (if the open source Mono implementation is used ).
You should never rely on proprietary frameworks if you intend to develop cross-platform solutions. If .NET was entirely open-source, it might be an option. Developers have repeatedly had to learn the hard way that Microsoft develops everything to be Windows-centric. There's nothing wrong with that, of course - why should they support a competitor? And if you intend to develop for Windows only, that's perfect.

But never rely on Microsoft to provide an equal experience on any platform other than Windows, and that includes technologies touted as cross-platform like SilverLight. It will not last. At some stage, platforms other than Windows will either be dropped, become subtly incompatible, or be excluded from other Windows-only features. Mono will neither keep pace with MS releases, nor plug the gaps where patented technologies are coupled to .NET.

If Graphisoft implement scripting within ArchiCAD, I would prefer that it was based on an open, published standard.
I agree on a open standard. Python is very successful as a scripting language for many 3D software (e.g. Softimage, Rhino, Blender). I hope they add scripting but not if it is a new proprietary language.
--- stefan boeykens --- bim-expert-architect-engineer-musician ---
Archicad27/Revit2023/Rhino8/Unity/Solibri/Zoom
MBP2023:14"M2MAX/Sonoma+Win11
Archicad-user since 1998
my Archicad Book
TMA_80
Enthusiast
This wish is extremely important. it may bring a lot of "small useful tools" without the being prisonier of the add-on update cycle.

A scripting environment à la Sketchup would be great.
AC12_20 |Win10_64bit|
m_ziolo_86
Newcomer
It would be great to change GDL inside objects to Python. GDL is hard to learn and there is no use of it outside of Archicad. That ceases me from learning it to improve my workflow.
Archicad 16, Win 8.1
Anonymous
Not applicable
I agree, All of the major 3D apps allows scripting or plugin integration via .net, nowadays python. Rhino is fantastic, and also provides free support on forum, Sketchup has also tones of plugins. Revit? Revit also, but I do not care with that.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Mono (http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page) is cross-platform, open source, .NET development framework.

C# was developed by Microsoft within its .NET initiative and later approved as a standard by Ecma (ECMA-334) and ISO (ISO/IEC 23270:2006).

Both Revit and Rhino use .NET. This would make it more likely and easier to port already-existing scripts to ArchiCAD; and make more commercial plugins more feasible.
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
Please consider that a scripting language developed for ArchiCAD would have to support both Windows and Mac.
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