Change manager

[KeesW]

I'd love to see a change manager, working with Navigator in Archicad. Revit already has something like this. The idea is that different versions of the projects, or different service stages (eg Exisiting plans, Schematic design, developed design, contract documentation, etc) are stored and kept together where they can be accessed later. At the moment, it is not practical to manage these within the same model because it involves too many layers and combinations.

[Mark Wallace]

Peter wrote:
In 2d CAD I/we often create several versions of the same elevation just to try out various arrangements of windows or roofs. This can be done quickly and simply by just copying the lines and moving then to one side, making the changes, then visually judging them against each other.

I do this by making a worksheet 'take-off' of the elevation's view. Just be careful not to 'rebuild from the source model.'

When placed on a drawing, set the worksheet view to 'manual' update and use the worksheet's view as a design 'out-take' or alternative arrangement.

I've been using this since V10 and it's very handy.

HTH's

Mark

[Richard Morrison]

KeesW wrote:
Handling stages and options is a standard Revit feature and I wish ArchiCad had it. Some of our users say that you can do it with Teamwork but I'd like to hear an outline of how this would work.

Not particularly addressed to Kees, but AC has a "Construction Simulation" add-on in the Goodies. I haven't heard this referred to. I have no need of this personally, but isn't it what everyone is requesting?

[Anonymous]

Richard, construction simulation is just that - you can assign elements to a timeline (ms project) and then animate the process so hat the building model appears as it might be constructed.

I believe the change manager people are asking for is something quite different. basically it involves the presentation of options. There are workarounds for this but nothing like the built in functions in (say) Revit.

It certainly would be a welcome addition to ArchiCAD but there are other areas that concern me more....

(btw has anyone else heard rumours of a google bim solution?- I guess it would leverage sketchup...)

[Richard Morrison]

There are seemingly two features being requested here:
1) Managing multiple options in a single model. This used to be what the Options Manager was for, and seems like it used to do it pretty well. It is sad that this has disappeared.

2) Keeping track of progressive phases. I thought this what the Construction Simulation did. Haven't really used it, though.

[Anonymous]

Richard wrote:
There are seemingly two features being requested here:
1) Managing multiple options in a single model. This used to be what the Options Manager was for, and seems like it used to do it pretty well. It is sad that this has disappeared.

2) Keeping track of progressive phases. I thought this what the Construction Simulation did. Haven't really used it, though.

There are indeed multiple wishes in this discussion - maybe even three instead of two. Simulation is unrelated to any of them.
This discussion is under a heading about change management - a whole topic affecting not only revisions to modeled elements, but revision documentation affecting layouts, sheet dating, revision #'s, revision tags, revision clouds, &etc. In ArchiCAD, documentation and publication of addenda and revisions is entirely manual as far as I know.
Then there is the phasing issue - a special kind of revision wherin parts of a model (even parts of a composite structure) change from "Existing to be Demolished" to gone, and from "Proposed" (to be built in the current phase) to "Existing to Remain" (already built now) over the course of several phases.
Lastly, there is the design options issue.
These last two maybe need their own topic headings (?)
There are workarounds and unsmart 2-D graphic ways to deal with all three in ArchiCAD, but no intelligent, built-in tools for them. I wouldn't call Revit's tools for addressing these aspects of project documentation elegant, but Revit at least acknowledges that they are an issue and provides some pertinent functionality.
This thread has been running since 2003, I do not see that Graphisoft has made much progress on any of these three issues over that time period. If I am wrong, please, please, someone tell me what I am missing. I am sorry to see this discussion languishing, lest these issues drop even further off Graphisoft's radar.

[Anonymous]

Aloha John,
I'm just checking in to see if there is some cleaver way to have several different design versions in the same PLN?
While I'm still in schematic design I will save the different floor plan layouts on different "Stories". This works fine until I start to work on elevations. At that point I save the PLN with a new filename and delete all of the alternate versions in the new PLN.
It's not the greatest way to have multiple version of the same project.
Is there a better way?
Mahalo,
John