Make Modules Great Again - 1: In Place Module Management

[Karoly Horvath]

Modules are a great productivity tool to manage repetitive complex elements in Archicad,

however the current Hotlink Module technology is extremely outdated and thus Archicad is lagging behind all other BIM authoring tools.

The first - and most important - step to Make Modules Great Agaain is to make it possible to create and edit modules in place.

What does it mean:

Imagine an apartment complex that consists of several identical apartment types.

These apartments consist of a few bathroom / kitchen / laundry etc types.

These projects (just like Hotels / Hospitals / Prisons / etc) typically can be imagined as Lego. Each module is a Lego piece that you put together smartly.

Currently the most effective method to use Modules is the so called Iceberg Method.

In this method we create a module in a negative storey, then we publish these modules to .mod files and then assemble the building using the .mod-s.

While this method was smart 10 years ago, today users would expect to be able to

- select a bunch of elements in plan or 3D,

- call it a module and

- start placing the modules in plan or 3D as needed.

If something needs to change, users would expect to just

- select any of the placed modules, unwrap it,

- make the changes and instantly update all placed instances of that module.

This is how it's done in the competitor tools, so Archicad must adopt this technology before it's too late.

In fact, pls GS learn from others and make Archicad work better!

Note:
Modules are not necessarily used as whole building elements.

I often use modules for complex furniture or furniture assembly, complex, repetitive facade arrangement, repetitive window arrangement etc.

Also refer to:

Modules: required improvements 

Make Modules Great Again - 2: Embedded Library Management 

Make Modules Great Again - 3: Attribute Management 

Make Modules Great Again - 4.0: Schedule Modules 

Make Modules Great Again - 4.1: Schedule Mirrored Modules 

Make Modules Great Again - 5: Modules Source Storey 

Make Modules Great Again - 6: Labels in Mirrored Modules 

[SeaGeoff]

Internal modules with in-place editing is one the most important missing pieces in the Archicad workflow. I would go so far as to say there should be a Module Tool, akin to the drawing tool, where you can set the master layer, update options, elevation, source (internal vs external), etc.

And yes to making modules easy enough to model furniture, casework, landscape elements, an the like.

[Karoly Horvath]

+1

[stan-rostas]

Karoly,

You save them out as a .mod file, then Hotlink them back in, is. Is this because of the file size? At the moment, we just hotlink the lower negative story to the upper story for our apartment units. The file starts to lag after a while. This could be all wrong, but having to manage and make sure all the .mod files are up-to-date seems cumbersome. We work with BIMcloud SAAS exclusively.

We do need this Block, Component, Symbol, or Instance type object sooner rather than later. Housing is the most constructed building type in the world.

[SeaGeoff]

I want to append a thought to this wish: the ability for these new internal modules to work as the source for custom object components like window sashes, door panels, and such. Doing so would enable us to update these components without having to rebuild and replace them.

[MSDC]

Essential and one of the biggest downsides to Archicad 

[Mikko Lahti]

Voted!
As a sidenote, I would really like to see this extended with the possibility to declare a module as an assembly and be able to freely classify the module assembly. This would enable us to use normal Archicad tools to model custom stuff such as nonconventional stairs, railings or special furniture and get them cleanly exported with the correct IFC element type and necessary properties.

[Karoly Horvath]

I love this idea, and it ties in with all my other module related wishes.

Basically modules need to have the functionality of an object...

[abdelaziz]

Hi,

We use the option set method which is a derivative of the iceberg method, we create a negative stage and we organize the "iceberg" stages into option sets, each option set contains an iceberg stage which gives us the possibility to view and modify all the modules on the same stage, then, we recall the same file in module by choosing the option set which corresponds to the requirement.

This method is formidable, but a technological limit in the software that I am unaware of, holds my attention and if Graphisoft manages to overcome this limit, then will return to the question of the internal module, the limit is the possibility of unchecking the box displaying "the main model"

magine, you, model on the same floor an apartment that you place in an option then, you call the same floor and you display that the option of the apartment without the "main model", the module will overlap on itself, then it is enough to move it duplicated, in the case where I wish to modify the apartment I just have to do it on the option and on the same floor and update the module on the same floor

thanks

[Karoly Horvath]

Nice idea @abdelaziz.

I was tinkering with the options method, because in large projects it is a lot faster due to significantly reducing the number of mod-s you need to publish and update. There is a catch though. I find that you need very sophisticated users to Not mess up the options!

People find it hard to cope with the fact that on the same floor there are multiple bathroom modules and they have to be super diligent to make sure they select the right one from the options list, double click it to make it default and only then they start editing or adding stuff.

Otherwose, as you say, the technology is almost there.

What I would like to see is this.

- You select an element.

- if it is part of a module, you get a context menu option: "Edit module" 

- if you chose to edit, all the context gets grayed out (same as in design options)

- do your changes / additions

- when finished, chose "Update Module" from the context menu or click finish iediting or sg similar....

Like you say, almost all components of the required technology are already there, just not utilized for modules yet.

[MMN_Swe]

Essential! This has been my no 1 wish for archicad for the past 10 years!