Top 10 Essential Things About ArchiCAD You Wish You Knew Earlier

Let me show you how!

Check out my exciting top 10 essential things about ArchiCAD that are often overlooked but can truly transform your project workflow! These valuable insights, gathered from my experience with AC27 and earlier versions, have supercharged my productivity, optimised project performance, and elevated my workflow. Whether you're a newbie or a seasoned ArchiCAD user, these key aspects will not only simplify your life but also boost your efficiency. Dive in and discover how ArchiCAD can revolutionize your design process!  

1. Level Dimension Tool

A Level Dimension can be set to read multiple levels on a composite floor slab/ roof, not only the top level of the surfaces it is placed on. To do that, select an option from the drop-down Autotext menu and choose Bottom of Top Core to the required datum. This way, you can, for example, display both FFL and SSL in the same Dimension Level Tag, which is extremely useful when you have multiple and adjacent slab levels, with some finished and others unfinished.    

2. Exporting Drawings in Real World Coordinates

Tick off Survey Point rather than the Origin Point to export a DWG off the model views in order to obtain a drawing with real-life coordinates. This is useful for ensuring coordination between different disciplines using different drafting software, such as Revit, vectorworks, AutoCAD etc etc. 

3. IFC module height datum

IFC models - the real-world coordinates for exporting the 3D model need to refer to the Z-coordinates in the same way as it does for the X-Y in 2D. The Z-coordinate needs to be set in the Location settings so that the Sea/Altitude level input is referenced when an IFC model exported from ArchiCAD is opened with a 3D viewer/software other than ArchiCAD. So even you have set the Sea Level at the beginning of the project when setting up stories , the same figure needs to be typed in the Vertical Datum, under Georeferencing Parameters for IFC.

ArchiCAD Z Height Location for IFC

4. Labels to Leaders

DWG translators need to have the Labels to Leaders option ticked off so that any labels located on the ArchiCAD layouts will keep their format when open in Autocad. 

ArchiCAD DWG Translator Leaders to Labels

5. Grouped Modules

Copy and paste Grouped Hotlink Modules: When you Copy+Paste a Hotlink Module with the Suspended Groups (Option+G) on, you will only get 2D information, ending up with a bunch of lines and fills. However, if the Suspended Groups (Option+G) is off (greyed out) when you press Copy,  you will be able to Paste the actual Module. It’s always the tiny little thing that makes the difference. 

6. Creating New Layers

   
   

When you have many Layer Combinations in the project, it is better to create new layers based on an existing one. This option will create a new layer with the same visibility and intersection group number as the layer that has been based on, so that the layer combinations are not affected by the addition of the newly created layer. Or you can create a new layer and spend half of a lifetime ensuring that layer is off in your gazillion layer combinations only to find out the layer’s on and it’s messed up your freshly printed drawings ready for submission. Your choice on this one. 

7. BIM cloud vs Embedded library.

I always say the BIM cloud library is the sensible choice when working on a teamwork project. The process is slightly longer, but it pays off in the long term. If you already have numerous elements in the embedded library of a project file, select and save them all as a .lcf (Library Container File) and upload that to the BIM Cloud Library. This way, the objects are read from the main server rather than from within the file, avoiding errors and glitches related to library parts. 

Create a LCF in ArchiCAD

8. Interoperability of Revision Clouds

Change the revision clouds type to Basic Change Marker rather than Built-in Change Marker if you are issuing revisions in DWG format to external consultants. The reason being that the later uses a custom line - in this case a bubble type line – which is not read in Autocad when exported into a DWG format. To overcome this issue, the bubble type line needs to be defined in the Linetype conversion under the DWG translator, which is not always handy. To ensure the revision cloud is visible in the exported DWG drawing, a quick fix is to use the Basic Change Marker, which does not use a linetype for the cloud, as this revision object has a cloud geometry built-in that enables DWG translation. This way, the Revision Clouds are always visible when a DWG exported from ArchiCAD is open in AutoCAD. This is one of the issues I have been facing when exporting drawings to external consultants, clouding the changes, only for them to come back to me asking about the clouds. I made that mistake so you don't have to!

Revision Clouds Markers in ArchiCAD

9. Autotext Reference in Detail Markers

Deleting a view on the layout that’s been linked to a Detail Marker will mess up your detail reference, showing it as missing ie # LayoutID. This is the case when a Detail Marker placed anywhere in the model is set with the Marker reference to the selected drawing option and that drawing is deleted from the layout. To avoid that, I found that linking the Detail Marker to Marker reference to The first placed drawing of the selected view works better, as I am less likely to delete drawings from the View Map than from the Layouts. You might think, but wait, why deleting views on the layout? Well, deadlines kick in and s**t happens to the best of us.

Marker Detail Autotext Reference

10. SAVE YOUR WORK!

I'd rather be paranoiac and save my work and more often than not I thank myself for being like that. If the project crashes, you have a chance to retrieve the local file backup, by locating the .fdb file on your machine. Simply changing the extension into .pln from .fdb will enable you to open your backup file in no time. I have dedicated an entire article on that - just click on the image below to learn more.

I hope you have found this as helpful as I did. If you'd like to add some more or discuss some of the points above, please leave all your thoughts in the comments box below.