Version Watch (updated) - ArchiCAD 10 (Build 1183)

ArchiCAD 10 (Maintenance Release 4 - Build 1176 - 2007.03.19) is now superseded.

ArchiCAD 10 (Maintenance Release 5 - Build 1183 - 2007.04.05) is now online.

Take heed! Verify your installation before you proceed for a good result. Release Notes for this upgrade are located here. Be sure to read this page carefully before installing the upgrade.

Now that you've read this, it would be a good idea - no, a great idea! - to gather the pieces you need prior to updating. The list of items follows:

1. Updated WIBU drivers - you should have version 5.2 for all platforms are located here.
2. Updated Library - Use the Help Menu Item "Check for Latest Library" before installing this HotFix.
   
3. If you have moved Tools from the Goodies Folder to your Add-Ons folder, they will be updated by the HotFix file. If you haven't done this, you will need to update the contents of the Goodies Folder yourself. Use the Help Menu Item "ArchiCAD 10 Goodies"
4. If you haven't already found it, you might want to save the ArchiCAD 10 US Template File from the Goodies Page as well.
5. If you would like to try a different Work Environment than the ArchiCAD 10 Standard, there is also a scheme on the Goodies Page intended for users of the previous version.
   
6. IFC Translators - Remove Any IFC Translators in your Add-Ons folder before installing this build. Re-install new ones from here. (ignore the dates on this page, there have been updates added recently).
7. (Optional) International Goodies folder for the RAL Colour System Add-On (everything but else is a duplicate of the North American ones, but you might find the RAL one useful) here
8. All teammates should sign out of the project and exit AC before applying the patch. All teammates should then upgrade to the same build number before signing back into the project. Problems could arise if this care is not taken.
9. Last, but not least -The 1183 HotFix file - Use the Help Menu Item "Check for Updates"

The updates are available for Windows, Mac (PPC) and Mac (Intel). They will update demo versions as well as commercial and educational versions.

ArchiCAD 9 or 10 will run on Vista if the WIBU key driver is updated to version 5.20 and the Graphisoft shell extension is excluded from the installation. If you are running Vista, please be sure to consult the Vista Compatibility page here and the ArchiCAD-WIKI article here.

You Can Do This!

Attend the next meeting of the Lower Mainland ArchiCAD User Group.

This month's Topic:
The Latest in LightWorks (with some Photoshop)
Ninety Minutes with Vancouver architect and public artist Dwight Atkinson, Author of "LightWorks in Archicad."

If rendering in LightWorks is a challenge, this is your chance to grill the author of yet another book Graphisoft never wrote.

See the changes in rendering tools since LightWorks was introduced in Archicad 9.

Dwight has been touring the world with his day-long seminar. You get his course overview with some tricks:

-avoiding rendering diseases like: spotty stucco and black soffit.
-sunlight and lamp behavior.
-three minute rendering.
-Materials - Looking Ahead.
-quick ways to insert your rendering into a context photo.
-your questions answered.


Don't miss this.


Dwight will have a few copies of his 208 page, full-colour book for sale - $106. including GST

Date:
April 19, 2007 | 5:30PM - 7:00 PM

Host:
Host: Craig Birston, HBH Architects

Location:
Howard Bingham Hill Architects
Suite 201
1444 Alberni Street
Vancouver, BC V6G 2Z4
CANADA
Phone#: (604) 688-8254

RSVP - info@virtual-north.com

ArchiCAD Tips & Tricks - Drawing Indexes

Updated with corrected links.

The creation of Making and Managing Drawing indexes is de-mystified in Jim Mahoney's tutorial published this week at AEC Bytes.

Find it here.

Other Tutorials in the series can be accessed from the Tips and Tricks page.

Graphisoft Spins Off Constructor to a New Company

A new company based in the United States will assume control of the software and services provided heretofore by Graphisoft's Constructor division.

The company as yet to be given a formal name, is backed by Borealis Ventures, venture capital firm. Mark Sawyer, formerly a VP at Graphisoft and most recently the CEO of @Last software (the creators of SketchUp) serves as this group's Entrepreneur-in-Residence.

Until then, the Construction Division remains part of Graphisoft and will be continuing to drive business and support customers. The spin out will be headquartered in the United States with subsidiaries in Finland, UK and Hungary. Graphisoft will have a minority interest in the new company and will share in the future upside potential of the business.

The reason that Graphisoft has taken this action is “time horizon” according to Dominic Gallello, CEO of Graphisoft.

“We have proven that the market is real and that we can win. The only challenge is the time that it will take for Virtual Construction to go mainstream in large construction companies on a global basis. This will take several more years. We believe that the financing of the losses required until the market moves more to the mainstream would be best be done outside of Graphisoft.

Financiers who make a business of funding such opportunities were eager to provide additional funding for this effort. Further, the Construction Management teams’ belief in the business was so strong, they were happy to participate in the Management Buy Out.”

There will be no change in the Construction Division’s strategy and Graphisoft and the new company will work closely together in the future. ArchiCAD will continue to serve as the foundation for the new company’s construction offering.

Details about the product suite can be found here.

Graphisoft for Education in Philadelphia

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture are meeting in Philadelphia this year.

Meet representatives of Graphisoft's Education Team and find out what we have to offer your design program. Some of the tools on offer were described in an earlier post.

More information here.

ArchiCAD Drafting Services Required - Calgary

An ArchiCAD draftsman is required to assist with the creation of permit drawings for a house in Calgary. For more information please contact us.

New GDL Object Information Portal

Congratulations to the Architekturbuero and Joachim Suehlo for the creation of a well organized and readable information portal for all things GDL.

Welcome gotoGDL.net

GDL (Geometric Description Language) is the core of intelligent parametric objects inside ArchiCAD - ArchiCAD speak for what Revit refers to as 'Families".

This site is well-categorized, written in English and will point you to free objects, object vendors, object makers, tutorials for making your own, building products and manufacturer sites that provide native ArchiCAD models, etc.

Other GDL links can be found along the right hand side of this page.

Lightworks Texture Archives Online

Lightworks - the Ray Tracing rendering engine inside ArchiCAD - has a support site for its users. Lightworks-User hosts additional texture libraries - or LWAs - to use with ArchiCAD projects. Most of these are free. To browse the list of available libraries go here.

Not all of these libraries work with ArchiCAD - LWA Enabled: Architectural Functionality labeled files should work. Download thes files and place here: Graphisoft/ArchiCAD 10/Add-Ons/Visualization/smdata/archives

When editing Materials, the LWAs will be visible in the list of Lightworks Shader Settings.

MaxonForm for ArchiCAD 10 - Mac-Intel Version

The Mac-Intel version of the MaxonForm plug-in is now available.

The download link is here.

ArchiCAD Tips & Tricks: Template Development

Angi Izzi, President of Design Integrations, has just published the second of a 4 part series on producing better documentation with ArchiCAD on the Cadalyst AEC web site.

Part 2 of ArchiCAD Insights: Creating Concise Documentation covers Pens and Colors, Dimensioning Preferences and Output Scales and can be found here.

Part 1 covered Layers and Layer Combinations and is located here. A complete list of Angi's articles at CADalyst is here.

We'll keep you posted on the publication of the next instalment and other related articles.

New ArchiCAD Book: From CAD to Quantity Survey

Erik Wilk is the driving force behind FC-Cadlink, a web site for French ArchiCAD Users.

Last November he published a new book on Scheduling and Listing, a much neglected topic even in the days when all of this functionality was embedded in something called the Calculate Menu.

The English version of the book, ArchiCAD - From CAD to Quantity Survey will be published on January 20. Here is an abstract:

Architects, building industry professionals and architecture students who use ArchiCAD will discover throughout this book the potential and power of the calculation functions of ArchiCAD.
After explaining the notions and basis of quantity survey in ArchiCAD, the author then explains step by step, and with a concrete example, how to create a book and specification data base, how to transfer an existing data base, how to configure tools and properties, how to link it all through GDL scripts in order to generate a price list, a quantity estimate, an estimate or a summary description from your 3D model.

You will familiarize yourself with the strengths of the ArchiCAD quantity survey, such as the keys, components, specifications, properties, criteria and lists.

Well documented and widely illustrated, this study will become your benchmark encyclopaedia, thanks to its index and detailed table of contents.

Book examples as well as the supplied files are realized with ArchiCAD 9. The procedures are identical if you possess ArchiCAD 7, 8 or 10.

Eric's book weighs in at 352 pages and costs 45Euro.

ISBN 10: 2-9527670-1-7

ISBN 13: 978-2-9527670-1-9

See a detailed Table of Contents and Order your copy here.

Lower Mainland ArchiCAD User Group

Duane Siegrist and Dale Staples of Integra Architecture have graciously offered the use of their office for a meeting of the Lower Mainland ArchiCAD USer Group on Wednesday Noon, January 24.

Integra is located at 416 West Pender Street.

This is intended to be a planning session for a year's worth of events.

On this month's agenda:

• A Look Ahead - Nemetschek & Graphisoft in 2007
• The Jump to Ten - Are We Ready for Eleven?
• ArchiCAD Training in the Lower Mainland
• Graphisoft Educational Policy & its Implications
• Suggestions from the Floor
• Technical Support Improvements
  
• Date & Venue for the Next Meeting

A link to other information or updates will be posted here.

ArchiCAD Tips & Tricks: Using Favorites

AECBytes has just posted an informative tutorial penned by Eric Bobrow on the use of the Favorites Palette.

The Printer Friendly Version can be found here.

Nemetschek to Acquire Graphisoft

without embellishment or emphasis from me:

Budapest, 2006 December 21st

Nemetschek AG was granted a call option by Graphisoft’s major shareholders

Major shareholders of Graphisoft SE, holding the majority of the issued shares of Graphisoft SE, and Gerhard Weiss, CEO of Nemetschek AG signed today a call option enabling Nemetschek AG to acquire the majority of Graphisoft SE on an acquisition price of €9/share.

Following the expected exercise of the call option, Nemetschek AG will have majority control of Graphisoft SE and, in line with the effective regulations of the Budapest Stock Exchange, it will make a public tender offer for all shares of Graphisoft SE at €9/share.

“This is a very important strategic financial acquisition and we believe this will substantially increase our shareholder value”, said Mr. Gerhard Weiss, CEO of Nemetschek AG. “It is our intention that Graphisoft will retain its own identity and continue its strong corporate culture and distributor network which is driving its success.”

“There is a consolidation in the software industry and joining the forces of the two leading European AEC (Architecture, Engineering & Construction) software vendors will solidify our global position in the worldwide market. We believe, that this move will serve the interests of our shareholders, customers, partners and employees as well.” said Gabor Bojar, Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Graphisoft SE.

Free Software For Students - The Integrated Design Suite

ArchiCAD 10 has been a free download for students since this past August. The procedure is simple. Better still the product is not a sub-set of the commercial version so it moves along with the regular cycle of maintenance releases. Students don't need bugs either.

While this is, in-and-of-itself, a great thing; wait, it gets better.

Imagine ArchiCAD as the information hub or documentation centre on all your projects. What about the modeling of complex geometry, organic forms, etc.? form*Z might be the answer. But, how do you turn a complex form*Z model into a set of live model section drawings? Generally speaking it can't be done.

Enter MaxonForm. This is the modeling engine from Cinema 4D adapted for use as a) a standalone complex modeler; and b) a tool integrated with ArchiCAD to produce sectionable accurate views of any complex geometry created in MaxonForm and integrated into an ArchiCAD model. Better yet, the object remains editable throughout its life by taking it back to the MaxonForm modeler.

So, now we have integrated tools with bi-directional links rather than tools that can't effectively talk to one another. Who needs a disjointed linear workflow?

What about rendering and animation? Abvent's Artlantis Studio is now also a free download for students. Radiosity shading with a link back to the ArchiCAD model database. Continuity. The days of a-model-for-this, a-model-for-that are over.

Lets go back to the beginning - the pre-design, schematic phase. SketchUp can offer structure and massing tools, but what if you're looking for something a little more precise? Something that remains linked to a BIM model. ArchiCAD can be used to create massing models its true, but the translation of relationship diagrams - the stuff you work on as you develop a design from a functional program or a set of design criteria. A new tool that works with ArchiCAD might be just the answer. Affinity, from Trelligence Software creates a pre-design database that once linked to an ArchiCAD model stays linked and allows you to weigh the design against both quantitative and qualitative criteria.

All of these products are available in student versions - all but Affinity are free to students and Institutions. And all, but MaxonForm are available online.

All we need now is a tool for Building Simulation. Ecotect might just fit the bill. Its not free for students, and we are still waiting for the translators to arrive, but a student could buy Ecotect and Affinity take all of the freebies listed above and assemble an integrated design suite for about $149CDN.

That is sweet.

Here's where here to obtain them:

• ArchiCAD 10 & ArtLantis Studio
• MaxonForm
• Affinity
  
• Ecotect

BTW ArchiCAD is able to import files from SketchUp and import/export files to/from Revit, Google Earth, 3D Studio - well just about anything you can think of.

ArchiCAD 10 - 2006 Cadalyst All-Star Winner

ArchiCAD 10 - the only Building Information Modeling (BIM) software recognized by Cadalyst editors in the December issue.

ArchiCAD 10 has won a highly coveted spot on Cadalyst’s 2006 All-Star Award roster. The award seeks to recognize products reviewed by the Cadalyst Lab Reviews Editors in the second half of 2006 that truly standout as exceptional products among those that earned Highly Recommended ratings. These products offer the best-of-the-best when it comes to sleek and sophisticated functionality and powerful and measurable benefits for users.

Ron Lafon, Cadalyst reviewer, characterized ArchiCAD 10 as “fresh, innovative and solid.” Lafon praised the enhanced user interface and found the software to be easier and quicker to navigate. In addition, LaFon commented that, “ArchiCAD 10 is on the cutting edge of interoperability,” allowing users to save files in multiple file formats. LaFon was also impressed with the substantial advances made in the software’s ability to handle vast amounts of information while at the same time, minimizing file size when saved.

The complete review of ArchiCAD 10, published in the December issue of Cadalyst, by Ron LaFon, can be found here.

Update - Cinema 4D Exchange for ArchiCAD 10

The long awaited update of Maxon's Exchange Plug-In for ArchiCAD 10 to Cinema 4D is now available here.