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

Using drawing aids in Archicad

We have noted before that Archicad provides plenty of onscreen feedback. A large part of this feedback consists of several drawing aids, aimed at modeling more precisely and efficiently. All of these drawing aids can be turned on and off through the menu or by using the buttons in the Toolbar. In this section, we will get to know the following aids and how to use them: Snap Guides, Guide Lines, and the Tracker we already mentioned. They are available both in 2D and 3D (although the screenshots in what follows have been taken from 2D views for clarity). The Grid is also considered a drawing aid but was already covered in Chapter 2:

Figure 3.35: Drawing aids in the Toolbar (left to right)

Figure 3.35: Drawing aids in the Toolbar (left to right)

The drawing aids can be toggled, and their options can be set through the buttons shown in Figure 3.35. From left to right, this screenshot shows Guide Lines, Snap Guides, Tracker, and Grid, each with a drop-down menu for more options.

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