ArchiCAD Interactive Schedule video Tutorial – Part 1 of n+1
I got an e-mail today about Schedules and decided I’d just record a video response instead of answer the question in writing. I’ve been wanting to discuss schedules in both video and writing for a long time, but I keep getting sidetracked. If this video goes over well, I’ll aim to do more like this. Yes I know this skips some basics, but I’ll do an intro to Interactive Schedules in ArchiCAD another day. In an effort to make the turn around time on this question as fast as possible, I’ll get straight to the video…
Notes:
- I hide the Library Part field by shrinking the placed View on the Layout. I’m not sure if that was clear. By putting working-only fields at the far right of the schedule they are easy to cut out of the placed View. I find that it is better to hide that information on the Layout rather than remove it from the schedule (less maintenance work and this also merges design utility with communication utility).
- It is hopefully obvious that while my schedules are grouped by ID or Story, the headlines could be anything: so group Windows by Manufacturer, Zones by Zone Category, whatever you want.
- Finally, everything I show here should be extrapolated to all other Interactive Schedules (so cabinetry, rooms, flooring, whatever you schedule). Like I said at the beginning of this post, I’ll do some videos that talk more about those atypical schedules and scheduling tips in general.
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wwabim
Great tips, I love the idea of a temporary or non-visible column for door name to reference the manual input for operation.
I’m curious to play around with our Cadimage centered schedules with some of these concepts! I know there are times I wish I could use a door as a window or window as a door, but just have not spent time to adjust our schedules and standards to do that.
Jared Banks
I’m a big fan of the non-visible column, but I definitely do sometimes turn on a bunch of extra fields when I’m in full scheduling mode. I’ll have to pay attention to what special ones (if any) I turn on for that big scheduling push that happens every project (which might happen on two projects I’m assisting on this week or next).
Jim Teames
We use like W101R, W101M, W101L (Right, Middle, Left from outside) to indicate mulled window sets. Good ideas.
Jared Banks
I used to write a complicated note like W101 is factory mulled to W102… The R, M, L or Top / Bottom is a nice idea. I could see that as just another field, not associated with the ID.
Nicolas
Hi Jared, thanks for the video!
About the schedule’s filters, is it deliberate that you don’t use AC’s “Interior/Exterior” setting, but filter by layer instead (WALL.EXTERIOR), or is that just an old habit?
I’m switching my layer system to Ken Huggins’ layer system, so i won’t sort my exterior walls/doors/windows by using the layers. And I’ve tried the interior/exterior filter. it works well
Best,
Nicolas
Jared Banks
Great catch. No good answer other than legacy. But let me see…
I really like the idea of merging my Interior and Exterior Wall layer into one layer: Walls. Assigning Interior/Exterior (or undefined for windows/doors I don’t want in the schedules) to elements like windows, doors, and walls would be great for schedules and it also links things deeper to the world of IFC. So I should look into trying that on the next project. Whatever pushes our work towards better collaboration makes sense to me.
BUT… there are times when I still need to separate out my interior and exterior walls (on site plans I turn off interior walls, though I could just cover them with a fill; often while working I like to hide interior or exterior walls; if I’m showing a plumbing stub out plan, I’ll ghost in the interior walls) so I still find the separate layers useful. As of yet there’s no way to work in plan and hide elements based on position (interior/exterior/undefined). As such it seems that I need to keep the 2 layers and therefor separating based on layer is more idiot proof. Or more to the point, since i have 2 layers defining the schedules in a different manner adds unnecessary complexity. That presumes that I don’t need to define interior/exterior for any other reasons. Which at the moment I don’t.
I used to have the situation where a wall was both interior and exterior and I’d have to break it for my current system to work. But now I never have that situation because I’d be breaking the wall anyways since interior and exterior wall composites are never the same (primarily because of insulation).
So this leaves me thinking a) I do it the way I do because of legacy reasons AND simplicity. But also b) I should switch to Interior/Exterior/Undefined because that is forward thinking, it means I don’t need to worry about exceptions based on ID (it can all be done with position) AND it gets me thinking more about IFC parameters.
Jared Banks
Oh and if I/you/anyone goes the way of basing Schedules on Position, I’d add Position as a far right field in the schedule (that can be hidden in the layout) so that you can change that in the schedule (in case a window/door is positioned wrong). I sometimes have a master schedule that lists all windows and doors so that I can work across all interior and exterior windows/doors at once.
Nicolas
Thanks for the explanations. Sorting by layer can really help when you need to hide part of your plan. But I don’t hide that often. And I’d like to go deeper into IFC too, so i’ll stick to my settings 🙂
Best,
Nicolas
Jared Banks
I think you are right. I’m not sure if I’m going to stay wrong or not. 🙂