Blog Posts

Architects are Lazy (plus ArchiCAD 17 news)

News of ArchiCAD 17 The shape and form of ArchiCAD 17 continue to be slowly revealed. I’m not sure if I’m just more aware this year or if more news is getting shared than in the past. Either way, here’s a very interesting article from Enigneering News-Record that talks about both EcoDesigner STAR and some time frames for the eventual release of ArchiCAD 17. I guess we can start tossing

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Who is in the BIM? AECO meet AECOU

I couldn’t fit this graph in the previous post on social BIG BIM, so it gets its own post. Which is good because I also want to ruminate on the acronym AECOU. Once we reach Social BIG BIM, IV-IV (augmented reality), the time line of the building/BIM and who is using it might look something like this: Blue is 100% in the model, Gray 0% in the model. Note 1:

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No Hollywood BIM

GRAPHISOFT North America and Trimble Vico Wednesday, February 27, 2013 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM (PST) Los Angeles, CA Movie stars, fast cars, and cocktails by the pool.  That’s what people imagine when you say the word Hollywood.  When you say Hollywood to a general contractor or architect, the first thing that pops to mind is “Hollywood BIM” and the firms who try to woo owners with spinning models

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Picking a Subtype for an ArchiCAD Object (and some other important tips)

One of the greatest improvements in ArchiCAD 16 is how much easier it is to make objects. Not that it was particularly hard before, but along with the Morph Tool there have been some tweaks that mean there’s no excuse to not make lots of objects (and share them). But just selecting some elements and saving them as an object is usually not enough. You want to add some intelligence

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Happy Valentine’s Day: One Simple Diagram

It should be obvious by now that I love making charts, graphs, and diagrams. As a Valentine’s Day present, I give to you a reproduction of a mood chart that lived on the Banks’ family refrigerator for many months last winter. My wife and I found it quite helpful. A little back story: the winter of 2011/2012 was a stressful time in my household. My wife was finishing her first

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The Ideal BIM Software

Understanding the Challenge of a BIM Challenge The histories of BIM and CAD are littered with shoot-outs, comparison tests, and pissing contests. By now you probably know my favorite Mine vs Yours, ArchiCAD vs Revit saga: The Unkillable Beast with a 1,000 heads. Though now it’s more like 1,400 heads. A lot of people are annoyed by this thread, but as I’ve said before the longer it goes on the more

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Guest Blogger Danny Mattock: Playground Information Model

ArchiCAD… it can be swings and roundabouts at times Playground design, play equipment design and landscaping are not areas of the industry you would normally associate with ArchiCAD. However if you put your mind to it you would be surprised what can be achieved using a BIM programme of which the intentions were focused upon architecture and interior design. It turned out that I didn’t really have any choice but

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Creating keyboard shortcuts in ArchiCAD, a quick and helpful video

I regularly get questions about keyboard shortcuts. Probably the top two questions are “Is there a keyboard shortcut for Function A?” or “How do I make a keyboard shortcut for Function A?“. Well to answer both those questions and some others as well, I’ve created this short how-to video on creating keyboard shortcuts in ArchiCAD. Enjoy! For more information on Keyboard Shortcuts in ArchiCAD, check out these links: Keyboard Shortcuts

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What’s (BIM) Life Without a Challenge?

There is constant, never ending talk concerning the whole Revit vs ArchiCAD debate. In years past there have been CAD shootouts, though it’s been long enough since the last one that they might as well have never happened. But there’s really no current data on how these major BIM platforms compare. And isn’t that what all of us BIMnerds are about? Gathering data and turning it into functional Information? A

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