Archicad Tutorial #95: Importing and Cleaning up Objects in Archicad
October 23, 2023
Cleaning up imported Objects in Archicad is fairly easy. Just follow these steps.
SketchUp
Trimble Partners with Microsoft to Bring Microsoft HoloLens Wearable Holographic Technology to the AEC Industry
April 29, 2015
Trimble is working with Microsoft to develop a new generation of tools, integrated with the HoloLens holographic platform on Windows 10. Make sure to watch the (marketing) videos. This is the world that is upon us.
An Introduction to Modeling Rocks and Boulders in ArchiCAD
February 2, 2015
I recorded a quick video on modeling rocks and boulders in ArchiCAD, using imported elements from SketchUp and/or the Morph Tool.
Trimble Releases SketchUp 2015 for a Faster, More Intuitive and Flexible Information Modeling Process
November 4, 2014
SketchUP 2015 has arrived. Two releases in one year, yikes! With more IFC capabilities AND 64-bit support this is a HUGE update, arguably the biggest yet. 64-bit means all the RAM you want. So one of the big downfalls of SketchUp (slowness due to large models) might have just vanished overnight.
It’s been a while since Google sold SketchUp to Trimble; who should be gloating?
July 9, 2014
Who won when Google sold SketchUp to Trimble? Or more importantly what does it mean that Google didn’t want SketchUp anymore?
Trimble Launches SketchUp Mobile Viewer for iPad at Basecamp 2014
April 15, 2014
SketchUp Mobile Viewer is now a thing. Read the presee release and some of my thoughts about the fast evolving BIM landscape.
SketchUp Pro 2014 and IFC: welcome to the new world of BIM
April 13, 2014
What does it mean that SketchUp Pro 2014 can now attach IFC (and other) data to elements? It means SketchUp is now BIM. This is big news.
SketchUp to ArchiCAD (a super quick video)
November 22, 2013
I’m always being asked how to get content from SketchUp to ArchiCAD. It couldn’t be easier. Here’s a video showing you how.
Creation, Movement, and Revision: Simple Architecture Tool Tests
November 6, 2013
Can we distill the benefits of ArchiCAD, Revit, Sketchup, Hand drafting, etc. down by looking at simple architecture tool tests? I think so. Here’s why.
From Film to Digital Cameras & a Free Copy of OrthoGraph Architect 3D v7
August 16, 2013
I talk a lot about the future of practicing architecture. I’m really interested in how our tools and processes evolve. I am curious about what common frustrations we will soon no longer need to deal with. A lot of these changes are subtle. Others are a bit more overt. Here’s one example that comes to mind: the switch from film to digital cameras when photographing existing site conditions. Are you
Revit 2014 & ArchiCAD 17, please meet your friend SketchUp Pro 2013
June 3, 2013
So this is big news. Lots to read. I was too busy with my impending move to get this out the day everyone else was freaking out about SketchUp Pro 2013. But that’s okay, news like this deserves to be mulled over. And I think it’s going to take a while, especially with what my Summer is looking like, to digest all the implications of this new release. In general
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
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
Tekla, SketchUp, & now Vico… Trimble keeps gobbling up BIM and proto-BIM applications
November 2, 2012
I guess this is a week for exciting corporate purchases. It’s all over our corner of the internet. Back in April 2012 Trimble bought SketchUp from Google. And now In November 2012 Trimble has acquired Vico. And this of course all comes just a year or so after Trimble bought Telka. I don’t really have any additional commentary. It’s all just VERY interesting. I wonder who they’ll buy 6
My first overtly ArchiCAD vs Revit Post, sort of.
September 10, 2012
I’m trying some new things on the blog, now that I have more time and more outlets for writing about ArchiCAD. So just like last week, I’m trying for 5 posts in 5 days. And to have them all within a theme. Here’s #1. So of course I’m going to be horribly biased…. but here’s a few thoughts. I think both ArchiCAD and Revit are easy programs to learn,
PolyCount Add-On and Airships
October 16, 2011
In preparation for my BIMx entry, I spent some time reading up on BIMx Optimization on the ArchiCADwiki. One of the suggestions is to download the PolyCount Add-On. You can download it here. When you’re building a file for export to BIMx, paying attention to polygons is important. Two interesting things to note here. Delete everything you can’t see. For this model I deleted footings, some bathroom fixtures and trusses
From AutoCAD (to ArchiCAD) to SketchUp… a race
August 21, 2011
Recent History Over the past few months I’ve made a couple of terrain models in ArchiCAD 14 and then exported them to SketchUp 8. At first this was done to figure out a way to collaborate with a fellow architect who is an avid SketchUp user. We both wanted to work in the program we knew best. After I modeled the first site it became evident that it was incredibly
MNAUG #12 Recap
March 13, 2011
Our March 2011 usergroup meeting was one of my favorites: there was a wonderful turn out and a lot of lively discussion. The main topic for this meeting was what is everyone doing to leverage BIM / ArchiCAD to get and retain clients? While we did cover a lot of how-to stuff, it was all structured around that basic question. BIM offers a lot of great opportunities. Better coordinated documents,
From Scott’s Bathroom to SketchUp to ArchiCAD
February 6, 2011
At the Usergroup meeting in January we talked about working between SketchUp and ArchiCAD. You can read the recap here. Scott Newland of Newland Architecture (digress for a moment and check out his website) wasn’t able to attend the meeting, but he did some exploration after reading the recap. Here’s his experience with modeling a light fixture in SketchUp and then bringing it over to ArchiCAD: What was used: ArchiCAD
MNAUG #11 Recap
January 29, 2011
Winter Usergroup meetings in Minnesota are an adventure–snow, ice, sub-zero temperatures. I’m always so glad to see a mixture of new and old faces make the trip. This month, even with a location snafu, we had about 1/3 newcomers. Below are some highlights. There’s plenty more that we covered (complex profiles, attribute manager, library updates in v14, among other topics), but this post is already my longest to date. I