Accessories Add-On

[Emoke Csikos]

How to use Accessories Add-on

With the help of this ARCHICAD Add-On, you can supplement the roof, slab, and wall elements with special objects. Make sure you add the Accessories Library to your project, using Library Manager. First, select an existing building element (wall, roof, or slab) on the Floor Plan, and then choose the appropriate command from the Design > Design Extras > Accessories hierarchical menu. The Choose Accessory Object dialog box prompts you to select an Accessory object. Set the object's parameters on the All Parameters and the Custom Settings panels. Other parameters (for example, the slope of a roof) will be set automatically when placing the object, based on the settings of the associated building element. Click OK in the Accessory Object dialog box, then click on the Floor Plan to place the Accessory Object. Please click on the images to see them in their original size.

After placing it, you can select it and modify its parameters at any time.

• You can also place an Accessory Object without selecting a corresponding building element.
• Select an Accessory Object from the Choose Accessory Object dialog box and set its parameters. Draw a polyline on the Floor Plan. The selected Accessory Object will be placed with the polyline geometry method.

 NOTES:

• Accessory Objects placed on their own are not associated with any element; that is, they have separate attributes and can be moved and edited on their own.
• You cannot associate an accessory to an element that is not of its type; for example, a roof accessory placed atop a slab will be an independent object.

The Accessories commands update all parameter values of the placed objects appropriately:

• When you delete an element, associated Accessory Objects will also be deleted.
• When you modify an element, all parameter values will be updated on the fly (wall geometry may change when stretching connecting walls).

To simplify the procedure, you can save variations of the Accessory Objects as Favorites. You can also create customized variations by opening an object and saving a copy with a different name, and then modifying the custom parameters and/or scripts.

Roof Accessories

The Roof Accessories command allows you to place the Roof Surfacer or Wood Ceiling object. Roof Surfacer can model roof sheathing with metal sheets or tiling based on the setting in the Roof Surfacer Settings Panel. (The Sheathing Type can also be selected in the Parameters Panel.)

 NOTE: The surfacing is done tile by tile, and can add considerable geometric detail (and, consequently, rendering time) to each roof plane. Curved surfaces are more demanding on the computer's resources than planar surfaces.

Slab Accessories

When choosing the Slab Accessories command, you can choose between two objects. The Footing 1 object can model a concrete footing with a stem wall and sill plate.

The Floor Construction object can model layered floors.

Use the Floor Construction Settings, Section, and Model panels to achieve the desired effect.

Wall Accessories

With the Wall Accessories command, you can place a variety of objects adding details to your walls. The Moldings and Panelings object model interior details on walls consisting of up to three selectable molding profiles, and optional paneling (wainscot and wall panels) between these moldings. The object's custom parameters can be set in the Choose Wall Accessory Object dialog box, on either the Custom Settings or the All Parameters panel. Parameters are grouped according to different criteria on the two panels.

In Custom Settings:

• one for the General Settings, Geometry, and Custom Angles

In Parameters:

• set Surfaces and 2D Representation

The Battered Wall object can model battered stone veneers and similar elements applied to a wall and can have a different thickness at the bottom and the top. The object can extend beyond or end short of the bottom and the top of the wall by a specified distance.

The Canted Wall object is an exact replication of the Wall it is derived from, except that it has a parametric tilting angle.

On the Floor Plan, the Canted Wall symbol shows the outside boundaries of the object, as well as the cross-section at a given elevation (4 ft. by default).

The Wall Framing object can be used to represent stud framing within walls. It handles the properly added studs at right-angle corners and incoming wall joints. At the windows and doors, it adds double studs, cripples, and jack studs as well as parametric headers. The top header plate is broken or extended to provide overlap at the joining walls.

The parameter list for 2D Representation includes an on/off checkbox for Show Framing Elevation. Switching this parameter On enables you to edit the 3D geometry on the Floor Plan.

Restrictions: Openings for Doors and Windows will have horizontal edges perpendicular to the original wall plane. These objects have their property script set up to provide LUMBER PACK calculation where the individual pieces are listed with their nominal cross-section sizes and their length is rounded up - if necessary - to the next inch. The list also gives an estimate on the overall board feet quantity.

Disclaimer: Goodies are free Add-Ons developed by GRAPHISOFT to complete ARCHICAD with specific abilities and features. As of ARCHICAD 20, you can install all Goodies at once with the help of the ARCHICAD Goodies Suite installer. They are based on legacy code which GRAPHISOFT does not support anymore. Feel free to use them but please be advised that they might not function properly and they will not be fixed or upgraded.

[Eric Bobrow]

I noticed that this post was updated a few days ago.

By coincidence, I posted a question about the wall framing accessory a couple of weeks ago:
https://community.graphisoft.com/t5/Design-forum/Wall-framing-accessory-question/m-p/319759#M155582

I had noted an issue with regards to the position of the framing: it always seems to line up with the wall face, rather than the framing cavity. There does not appear to be a parameter (automatic or manual) to offset the framing into the cavity. 

I edited the standard wall framing GDL library part and added a parameter, and initial testing shows that with this simple change it aligns nicely in 2D and 3D. I'm wondering if Graphisoft plans to do any further work on this tool (even though it is part of the unsupported Goodies Suite) to make it more functional.

@Emoke Csikos @Oleksandra Vakariuk 

[Oleksandra Vakariuk]

Dear @Eric Bobrow,

Thanks a lot for bringing our attention to this limitation!

Firstly, I'd like to clarify what the update of the above article was about. As you know, Graphisoft Community is still in its early days and we're trying our best to organize the existing content so that users can navigate through the platform easily. This was the purpose of the update, the content of the article hasn't changed.

More to the point now 🙂 Based on your observations, I've contacted our development team. The topic of Goodies Suite support will be raised for the API guild next Tuesday 😁

I'll let you know once I have more information on this!

Oleksandra Vakariuk

Customer Engagement Trainee

[MADheikki]

The Accessories add-on, especially wall accessories, has been very useful in many occasions. I wish it wouldn't be under a constrant threat of discontinuing.

[Tim Ball]

The wall accessory object works quite nicely still, however if you update the zone after moving say a door, all the properties in the wall accessory object revert to a default setting which is the last setting you used for objects generally

It would be nice if the code that does that could be rewritten

[Steve Jepson]

So what have you done with the Accessories in 26?  I see that 25 files that had (for example) the Roof Surfacer 25 metal roof will still function in 26 when I open the 25 file with it.  But there is no Accessory folder, or Library in the 26 Demo I am using.   So I could still use the Accessories in 26, but it would have to be done the hard way ?  

[Karl Ottenstein]

@Steve Jepson Please read the Disclaimer at the end of the article...  The Accessories are part of the Goodies, a separate download and installation.  If you have issues with them or anything else, please post a question to the forums - not in response to knowledgebase articles. 🙂

[Steve Jepson]

Thanks Carl,

I always seem to forget that I need to install the Goodies Tools.  

There is no Accessories Library folder in 26  to add either until after you install the Goodies Accessory Tool.

And there is are no Menu options for the Accessories either - until after the Accessory Tool is installed.