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BIM After Dark + Shoegnome

March 8, 2023

On March 9th, 2023, I’ll be chatting with Jeffrey A. Pinheiro of The Revit Kid on BIM After Dark. We’re going to talk Archicad vs Revit, BIM for residential, and much more.

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Archicad 26 Review

September 8, 2022

In today’s video, I share my thoughts and review Archicad 26. What’s good. What’s in need of improvement. What’s worth ignoring.

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ArchiCAD Basics: Align and Distribute

January 21, 2015

Align and Distribute are nothing new and I’m sure these commands are rarely (if ever) on anyone’s Top 10 Most Important ArchiCAD Features list. But they are still quite valuable. Let me explain why, plus show you some basics in the accompanying video.

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Interior Elevations in ArchiCAD

January 6, 2014

Do you need to create Interior Elevations in ArchiCAD? Of course you do. We all do. Are you creating them in the best possible way? Watch this video and find out. Got something to add? Share your tips in the comments.

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Building Materials in ArchiCAD 17 – Video One

November 12, 2013

I asked on the Shoegnome Facebook page what my next ArchiCAD tutorial video should be about. There was some interest in Pen Sets, but the overwhelming majority of people wanted more on Building Materials in ArchiCAD 17. So here’s the first of at least two videos.

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Symbol Line Type Creation and Symbol Line Types in Composites

August 7, 2013

This video is in support of this BIM Engine post I wrote. You should read that post to understand more about what’s going on. A few more notes: At the end of the video I say “copy in 3D”. I meant “copy 3D elements in elevation and section”. Obviously. Sorry about that. The danger of soft language. But a verbal slip at the end of a seven minute video isn’t

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Creating 2D Symbols for ArchiCAD Objects

May 30, 2013

The most important ArchiCAD (Objects) video you’ll watch in 2013 Back in February 2013 I made a tutorial video on making ArchiCAD Objects. If you haven’t watched it, you should. It covers the basics of object making that I completely gloss over in this new video. I’m assuming if you’re watching this video, then you’ve already seen that one or the recent videos by Eric Bobrow (links in previous post).

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ArchiCAD Modeling Tips – BONUS VIDEO!

May 14, 2013

This is my third video on modeling chimneys in ArchiCAD. The first covered Complex Profiles and the second discussed the Morph Tool. A HUGE thank you to Gorazd Rajh of Pilon AEC (the reseller of ArchiCAD in Slovenia) for sharing this bonus modeling tip with me. While building the chimney with the Morph Tool, I had one major issue-I struggled to use the tube command. Well thanks to Gorazd I

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Modeling tips for Chimneys in ArchiCAD Redux

May 13, 2013

In response to my earlier video on modeling tips for chimneys in ArchiCAD, some readers pointed out that the Morph Tool also offers a great way to do these types of chimneys (or similarly complex forms). I completely agree. Therefor it seemed like I should model that same chimney using Morphs and see what happens. So here it is. That same chimney, but with Morphs! Morphs or Complex Profiles: The

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Modeling tips for Chimneys in ArchiCAD

May 10, 2013

When doing remodels, I often come across some weird chimneys. Likewise when doing new construction, certain architectural styles suggest less than plain chimneys. Here’s a video sharing some tips on how to make good looking chimneys in ArchiCAD. Of course these modeling tips and techniques could be used for other forms. Think of chimney modeling as a proxy for all sorts of non-standard shapes. And this is just the beginning.

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The Basics of making a Movie from ArchiCAD

April 30, 2013

I’d been meaning to record a video on the basics of making a movie from ArchiCAD for a long time. Yesterday a former colleague and friend was asking where she could find such a video to teach her how to make a quick fly-through movie in ArchiCAD… 24 hours later… here’s the video on Cameras and Camera Paths in ArchiCAD. As always, I’m sure I didn’t cover everything. If you

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ArchiCAD Template Basics: View Map and Layout Book

April 29, 2013

Templates are a big deal. Your template can determine whether you make or lose money with BIM. A strong template can make you efficient. A poor template can win you a gold medal for Wheel Reinvention. I’m not being hyperbolic. To succeed at BIM, you need a strong template. Without that, all the other time, money, and effort you throw at BIM will be severely handicapped. I get a lot

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Anything You can Do, I can Do Better: taking materials from SketchUp to ArchiCAD

April 17, 2013

I expect to have dozens of people argue against that title. But I sure bet it caught your attention. The real point is that most architectural software has something to teach us about our own preferred program. The examples are endless. But today I want to focus on one program in particular: SketchUp. SketchUp models, the traditional variety of them, have this beautiful balance of realism and abstraction. They sit

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Bonus Point about the Organizer in ARCHICAD

March 28, 2013

Are you following Patrick May’s Tumblr blog yet? Great ArchiCAD advice over there too. He reminded me of another nice feature of the Publisher that I thought warranted a quick bonus post. You can open the View Map or Layout Book of another ArchiCAD file in the left hand side of the Organizer (you can also do this from the Navigator). This allows you to drag and drop views from

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The Organizer… aka the Navigator’s Big Brother

March 28, 2013

I actually mean both Big Brother as in your wise male sibling who was born before you AND that all seeing eye of some over arching organization. The Organizer is pretty awesome and powerful like that. I cover a lot in this ArchiCAD tutorial video. I talk about the Navigator, the Organizer, the differences between the View Map, Project Map, Layout Book, and Publisher. I go over the basics of

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

February 15, 2013

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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Creating keyboard shortcuts in ArchiCAD, a quick and helpful video

February 8, 2013

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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Cutting a hole in a 2D Morph

January 24, 2013

Over on BIM Engine (the Graphisoft North America Blog which I also write for), someone had a question about how to cut a hole in a 2D Morph. Well the easiest way to explain that was to do a quick video. So here’s the answer. Thanks and Enjoy! And here’s a link to the original blog post where you can learn about some surprising benefits of the Morph Tool. Like

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Quick and Pretty Renderings From ArchiCAD

January 24, 2013

The above rendering is fairly typical of what I show clients these days. It’s not the most complex image, but it’s fast and easy. And you could imagine that with a little more effort scalies, trees, etc. could be easily added. The final rendering is a combination of images from the Sketch Rendering Engine and the Internal Rendering Engine found in ArchiCAD. The images were combined in a 3rd party

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ArchiCAD Tutorial Videos on YouTube

January 7, 2013

Fun Fact: YouTube was officially launched in November 2005. I first learned ArchiCAD in January 2006. While writing my post on ArchiCAD heroes, I realized I was defining them very narrowly. I wanted to focus that post on those shining lights that kept me going when I was a new user, deep in despair, and feeling alone. Those giants showed me the way. But that’s only part of the story.

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Tips, Tricks, and Cheats… ArchiCAD Dimensions

October 25, 2012

Dimensions in ArchiCAD are super basic, right? Well here’s a video on some tips, tricks, and cheats regarding this essential tool. I cover about 15 to 20 different aspects of ArchiCAD’s Dimension Tool. So clearly not an exhaustive or comprehensive discussion. If there’s interest, I’ll gladly do more videos like this for various tools and features with ArchiCAD (ei, back to basics videos). Hopefully regardless of your skill level a

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Morph Pet Palette Madness

July 16, 2012

While doing some experimentation on an ArchiCAD 15 file that I’d opened in ArchiCAD 16, I came across a weird quark with the Morph Tool. The pet palette for the Morph Tool wasn’t showing me all the options. I was bewildered and annoyed. I wasn’t sure what was going on and I just wanted ArchiCAD to work the way I knew it should. I was pissed. Fortunately I did what

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Two Morph Videos that aren’t flashy, but that’s the whole point

July 10, 2012

The Morph Tool Allows pleasant Surprises There are a lot of great examples of what the Morph Tool in ArchiCAD 16 can do. If you want to see some crazy shapes and amazing forms, the videos in this post will disappoint you. If you want to start thinking about how to integrate the Morph Tool into your design process, then keep reading and watching. The first video shows a quick

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BIM for Small Projects II: Case Studies in Innovative BIM Use by Small Firms

April 13, 2012

In early March 2012, I was one of three panelists for the BIM for Small Projects II AIA-TAP webinar. If you missed it, or just want to watch it again, it’s now up on YouTube. Here’s a link to the AIA page on the webinar. If you really want to see all the visuals, I suggest you make the video full screen. The whole webinar is great, but if you

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Moving Windows and Doors Between Walls – I bet you didn’t know this trick worked

March 26, 2012

Glitch Or Hidden Magic? When exploring ArchiCAD, I often find things and need to ask myself “Glitch or Hidden Magic?” Sadly this post about Conditional Operators is an example of a great glitch. Hopefully Graphisoft will either remove it so I stop trying to use it or make it a real function (it is a little finicky in ArchiCAD 15). I hope they make it a reliable function because it’s

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Work Environments in ArchiCAD – part 1

March 19, 2012

Thought about your ArchiCAD Work Environment recently? This week I’m trying something different (no real surprise, right?). In honor of setting up my new home office, I’m going to talk about my ArchiCAD Work Environment. I’m not going to cover everything about it, but let’s see what I can share under eight minutes. Here’s one spoiler: If your info box is stretched horizontally across the top of the screen like

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This Week’s post is coming, once Youtube stops being a jerk

March 19, 2012

So this week’s post is written. The video is recorded. Everything is good to go. But I’m having issues with uploading anything to my Youtube channel. Hopefully I can resolve it tonight or try uploading from my wife’s computer. I’ve wasted too much of last night and this morning on troubleshooting the issue and am ready to throw something through a window. I think I’ll eat an early lunch and

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Shoegnome Youtube Channel Updates

March 6, 2012

So far I’ve gotten a lot of very positive responses from my Shoegnome Youtube Channel video tutorials. And it’s definitely helped increase traffic to the blog. 7 of my 10 best traffic weeks have been since I started doing the videos in the middle of December 2011. And I’m sure once I post my 7th video (next week?), I’ll break the 10,000 views mark (I’m at roughly 8,500 views right

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Fun with Slabs – AKA Archi-treeStump and Slab ramps. Yes. Slab ramps.

February 20, 2012

Did you know you can make a ramp using just a slab and nothing else? Recently I’ve had opportunities to model quite a few schematic designs and imaginary buildings for the creation of renderings and walk-through movies. I love working on these types of models in ArchiCAD. A part of me would be happy to just get paid to design and model imaginary structures (take that as a hint). You

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Modify Wall – a video exploration of a great function

January 31, 2012

It’s time to demystify walls AND make your coworkers think you have magical ArchiCAD powers… Do you hate when walls don’t join properly or when hatch patterns in elevation randomly don’t align? In this video I talk about the Modify Wall menu and how it demystifies those issues. I won’t promise that the Modify Wall menu will solve every one of those problems. BUT once you are familiar with its

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TWO videos on Complex Profiles

January 2, 2012

Tonight I recorded two videos. Making these videos reminds me of how I first learned ArchiCAD. I spent a fair amount of time sitting behind one of my coworkers, just watching him work. It was very enlightening. And as I rewatch my videos, I notice a bunch of little techniques that I take for granted, but are probably as enlightening as the main focus of the video. The first video

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THREE graphic shortcuts for Sections and Interior Elevations

December 18, 2011

Over the past year and a half of blogging I’ve had many small ArchiCAD tips and tricks that I wanted to share, but could never find the proper way to write about them. The aggregate of these tricks help me to easily problem solve within ArchiCAD and produce the quality drawings I desire, but these techniques don’t readily lend themselves to a blog post of a few hundred words. They

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