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
stefan
Expert
Take a look at Unity > mono framework with C#, Javascript and boo and running on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, Windows Phone, Playstation, XBox, Wii, Webplayer, …

Or Python running on almost any platform and integrated into many CAD and 3D applications (Rhino, Maya, Cinema4D)
--- 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
Anonymous
Not applicable
Or maybe, if not an integrated scripting language, then at the very least, an API implemented using HTTP methods (e.g., GET, PUT, POST, or DELETE), i.e. a RESTful web service.
Then we could program and create GUIs in whatever language we want that can talk TCP/IP. Now if only we could find a language that does that...
Anonymous
Not applicable
Also of interest: www.openbim.org/

"Written with open standards in mind, xBIM (eXtensible Building Information Modelling) is a free, open-source, software development toolkit that allows developers to create bespoke BIM middleware for IFC-based applications.

xBIM is a .NET toolkit, so developers can build everything from simple command-line applications, to extensions for Windows applications and Web services. An example of this would be: an “Add-In” for commercial BIM tools such as Autodesk Revit."
Anonymous
Not applicable
I would go for Ruby (once Autodesk killed AutoLisp).
Can be the missing link between BIM packages. It's simple, OO is perfectly designed and open-source. Could boost archicad and BIM scripting community.

Sketchup -> Ruby API
Revit 2014+ -> Ruby API
Archicad 19+ -> Ruby API
TMA_80
Enthusiast
We could imagine that a feature like the new multi-edit would long have been acheived from some scripters...
AC12_20 |Win10_64bit|
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
TMA_80 wrote:
We could imagine that feature like the new multi-edit would long have been acheived from some scripter...
Interesting. I cannot imagine how this would be done without involving an extremely heavy development effort to product a scripting function... and such a script. To achieve multi-edit, as it operates in 18 in the 3D window, would be a complex API add-on... and I don't see any script language making that any easier.

Sure, it would be nice to have a built-in, approachable scripting approach vs having to code in C/C++ in the API... but I really don't see the high cost of creating such a scripting environment to pay off for GS in terms of sales... which is the bottom line. 😉
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
TMA_80
Enthusiast
Hi Karl,
I'm not a programmer,so I could not answer... However, I could imagine what could be done as it is in the Sketchup World.
AC12_20 |Win10_64bit|
Anonymous
Not applicable
A scripting language would not boost sales but would for sure add value to archicad. This added value could make a diference in the long term. Sketchup, for exemple, would be much less powerful without ruby and probably some people that use it professionally would not use it.
Anonymous
Not applicable
I think it's very short-sighted to question the benefits of adding scripting functionality to a modelling program. Here are some of the kinds of tools that get created when you have your platform open to enhancement via a scripting (C# in the case of Rhino & Grasshopper addons):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4n8U-PGmhCk
http://vimeo.com/28227628
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEjwAyC2l_0#t=179

Here's something a little more esoteric (Python):
http://empython.blogspot.co.uk/

These are all pretty fancy, but as a simple, more practical example where ArchiCAD workflow could be improved, take a look at the "Selections" palette. Do you use it? Probably not, because it's a half-baked idea. Good in principle, but no doubt would have been replaced with something very useable, if we had access to a scripting system.
stefan
Expert
Scripts, like GDL, are less dependent from the API version. Remember how many great and useful ArchiCAD addons have been abandoned each time a new ArchiCAD was released? I'm afraid of starting to rely on addons, as they deprecate each year and no guarantee of them being recompiled for a new release.

Scripting is for power users, to extend the workflow. It has done miracles to get AutoCAD and now Revit integrated into workflows.

They don't even have to,reinvent a language, as GDL might fit the bill. GDL as it stands is limited to a single object in isolation. With scripting you can automate processes, generate objects, integrate into workflows (eg steering Object generation from an Excel sheet), link to online sources or databases.

Currently the DevKit is what allows such extensions but is really hard to get into.
--- 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