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 annotation

Annotations explain drawings further and add non-graphical information to a construction document. Annotations can consist of plain text (e.g., explaining a certain design choice), they can show the dimensions of different elements in the design, or they can simply provide construction information (e.g., about materials). The tools used in Archicad for these main three options are explained in the following subsections.

Adding and adjusting text annotations

Any technical drawing typically has lots of annotation text and dimensions. They are not really part of the 3D model in BIM software, but they are required to clarify and document the design via different drawings. For a typical building permit drawing, you are often required to add at least the main exterior dimensions of the project and a few reference levels in elevation drawings. Text is also widely used to explain the design, in either floor plans, sections, and elevations or in detail drawings...