Book Image

A BIM Professional's Guide to Learning Archicad

By : Stefan Boeykens, Ruben Van de Walle
Book Image

A BIM Professional's Guide to Learning Archicad

By: Stefan Boeykens, Ruben Van de Walle

Overview of this book

A BIM Professional’s Guide to Learning Archicad is a comprehensive introduction to all that Archicad has to offer for creating 3D models, 2D document extracts, and related outputs. This book is not a click-by-click series of recipes, but rather focuses on helping you understand why and how Archicad works by providing realistic examples and expert tips. The book gradually introduces you to Archicad tools using ample examples. It then helps you master its complexity through clear modules, allowing you to start your first project quickly, gain useful skills in subsequent projects, and keep using the book as a source for insights into the software. You’ll start with the basic modeling of construction elements and then move on to adding roofs, stairs, and objects to the project. Next, you’ll dive into basic drafting and 2D views for creating 2D output, and grasp how to use attributes and more advanced modeling tools for designing curtain walls and sites. The concluding chapters will show you how to extract and visualize your data and automate the publishing of your extracts and 2D documents into a variety of output formats. By the end of this book, you’ll have gained a solid understanding of Archicad, how to implement it efficiently in your architectural projects, and how BIM can improve your overall design workflow.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1: Getting Started with Archicad – Project Setup and Essential Modeling Tools for Your First Residential Project
9
Part 2: Becoming an Archicad Professional – Learn About Archicad Tools and Settings to Create and Publish Any Type of Project in Full Detail

Understanding the Archicad UI

When you open Archicad for the first time, you are presented with the default interface layout or work environment:

Figure 2.1: Default Archicad 26 INT work environment with the main UI components

Figure 2.1: Default Archicad 26 INT work environment with the main UI components

Depending on your installed version of Archicad, things may look a little (or a lot) different, but it always works the same way.

Getting to know the main UI components

As with most software, Archicad has a main menu (or menu bar) that sits at the top of the screen on macOS and above the toolbars on Windows. The menu is organized logically from left to right:

  • The File menu gives access to starting new projects, opening, closing, and saving files, and the menus for managing libraries, reference files, and interoperability tools.
  • The Edit menu focuses on elements in the model, including commands for moving and transformations, alongside the typical Undo/Redo and Copy/Cut/Paste commands.
  • The View menu groups many...