De: Eric Bobrow support@bobrow.

com
Assunto: [ARCHICAD] My TOP TIPS to optimize your template & turbocharge your practice
Data: 28 de dezembro de 2017 18:49
Para: marcos.alang@gmail.com

In this email: my TOP TIPS for creating and optimizing your ARCHICAD template
REMINDER: My Big Year-End Half-Price Sale Ends Dec. 31:
Up to 75% off my ARCHICAD training resources

TOP TIPS to Optimize Your ARCHICAD Template

PLUS: The story behind MasterTemplate, The Office Standard for ARCHICAD

Hi Marcos -

It is my mission to help ARCHICAD users like you get the most out of this powerful and
complex tool.

Some of the most important factors for efficiency and productivity as well as the quality
of your model and drawings relate to the template and structure of your project file.

In fact, a really good template can dramatically speed up your work.

If you start your project with an ARCHICAD template that isn’t well optimized, you’ll
waste a lot of time on tasks that could have been set up ahead of time, and can easily end
up with a messy, inconsistent file that doesn’t follow office standards.

In this extended email I'll share with you some important tips to help you create and/or
optimize your template, and give you some shortcuts for getting there more quickly.

TIP:
If you want the fastest shortcut to office efficiency and productivity, buy a robust template
like MasterTemplate and customize it, rather than building it from scratch on top of the
Graphisoft standard issue template.

You can pick up MasterTemplate for half-price during my year-end sale, and make 2018
your best year ever.

BEST PRACTICES PRINCIPLES FOR ARCHICAD TEMPLATES

I’ve been working with ARCHICAD for almost 30 years as a reseller, trainer and
consultant.

Over the years, I’ve developed a set of best practices methods for ARCHICAD templates,
and taught several thousand users how to create or optimize their own templates.

Many beginners start each project from the standard Graphisoft template provided "in
the box", and waste a lot of time setting everything up each time around.

Another common practice is to start each project by copying a recent file, then deleting
the building to start the new design. This saves some time since many things have already
been put in place, however it misses out on key benefits of a well-developed office
template.

A quick way to get started with your own office template is to save a copy of a recent file,
then delete the building but LEAVE ALL THE SOURCE MARKERS (e.g. elevations,
sections, etc.). This will allow the Views created by these markers to remain intact and still
be placed on layout sheets; they will naturally update as you develop your new model.

Use the Save As command to create a copy of this clean file as an ARCHICAD Template
(TPL file, rather than a PLN file). You'll be able to reuse it over and over for new projects,
and optimize it over time.

Here are some of the principles to keep in mind for an effective template:

Set up your boilerplate company information and graphics in Project Info and on
Layout masters
 Define all the Interactive Schedules to suit your preferred styles and content
Include all of your commonly-used wall, slab and roof types in the Composites and
Complex Profiles
Set up your Layout Book ahead of time with your standard numbering and
organizational system
Make sure the View Map clearly defines the context for all of your standard
Drawings so that they appear correctly on the Layout sheets, and pre-place and
link Views wherever possible
Develop your Layers and Layer Combinations so that all modeling and annotation
elements have a natural and obvious layer that allows them to be seen and
managed efficiently
Put your frequently used components in Favorites or Interactive Legends (see
definition below) for quick access

This is not an exhaustive list, it just covers the most prominent points. When these
elements are incorporated in an office standard template, you’ll see:

Increased efficiency and productivity, and get your work done more quickly
More consistent projects that are easier to understand (no more “what layer did I
put that on?”)
Cleaner drawings that are more legible
Lower stress and reduced rework since things get done right the first time

TIP:
Think systematically about your ARCHICAD template.
Assess how your template and each project file measures up against these best practices
principles.
Find any weak points? Work to bring them up to a higher standard.

LIMITATIONS OF THE GRAPHISOFT STANDARD TEMPLATES

Graphisoft has somewhat conflicting priorities and challenges for the templates that they
distribute with the software.

On the one hand, they aim to provide a good, solid foundation for users to develop
projects cleanly and efficiently.

On the other hand, they want the templates to be easy to understand and very
approachable, particularly for the new or prospective user. This helps them to sell more
licenses of the software.

They have the challenge of supporting users from all over the world, with project sizes
and types that range from simple residential additions to huge multi-building sites, and
construction assemblies of all types including timber framing, glass and steel, masonry
and concrete block, tilt-up, as well as new innovations for energy efficiency and
and concrete block, tilt-up, as well as new innovations for energy efficiency and
prefabricated components.

So overall, with so many different users and use cases, they opt for a simpler, less robust
template than is optimum for any particular office. It's up to you to add on to their
template: more layers and layer combinations, more composites, profiles and building
materials, additional interactive schedules, etc.

The main issue I have with that approach is that it is harder for individual users,
particularly beginning and intermediate level, to know what to add, and how to do it in an
organized efficient manner. It takes experience to understand the process, and even to
see what is possible.

TIP:
I have found that it is much easier to remove things from a template that you don't need, or
modify things that are already set up, than to create them from scratch. Whether you use
MasterTemplate or any other template, set up as much as possible ahead of time, then for
each particular project adjust it to suit and delete whatever is unnecessary.

THE BIRTH OF MASTERTEMPLATE AND THE QUEST FOR PERFECTION

In the spring of 2007, we were selling a lot of copies of ARCHICAD. Many of the firms who
purchased were asking for help in terms of training and setting things up for their office.

My top consultant, architect Scott Bulmer, was working overtime, and we sat down
together to figure out what to do.

Each time we went into a firm, we analyzed their needs, then set up their ARCHICAD
template with all the smart features we knew would make them more efficient. We
realized that we were repeating a lot of the same setup each time, and decided to create a
prototype template that we could easily adapt for each new firm.

Since our efforts were leveraged, we packed everything into it that we felt would be
useful, and put in extra effort to make it as clean, elegant and well organized as possible.

After setting up a number of firms using this prototype, we decided to create the
"ultimate" template that could help ARCHICAD users around the world, and
MasterTemplate was born.
 TIP:
Leverage your time by developing and refining your own company template; the payoff will be
felt in each and every project moving forward. Learn as much as you can and devote regular
effort to optimization; the ROI will be multi-fold.

MASTERTEMPLATE PRINCIPLES

We came up with some general principles, which included:

There should be a layer for everything, with a naming convention that makes it
easy to understand without a reference manual; yet no more layers than necessary
All commonly used drawings should be set up with corresponding layer
combinations and Views and pre-placed into the layout book
Anything that could be set up ahead of time to make things go faster during design
or documentation should be put in to the template, since it is easier to delete or
change things than create them from scratch.
Frequently used elements, settings and groupings (such as room arrangements)
should be easy to access with a combination of Favorites and an organized "kit of
parts"
Best Practices methods should be built into the project structure, including the use
of Clone Folders, automatic naming and numbering for layout subsets, and other
features that promote consistency and speed up development

A sample project was developed that showed most of the template features in context,
along with an extensive manual. Over time, I recorded several hours of carefully crafted
tutorial and training videos.

Over the past 10 years, we've sold over 1450 copies of MasterTemplate to users from 83
countries, making it the most widely used independent ARCHICAD template around the
world. New editions have been created for every ARCHICAD version from 10 through 21
with both USA and INT (metric) options.

TIP:
During and after each project, look at your file and decide what can be reused in your
template, such as composites, building materials and favorites. Over time, your template will
get richer and more perfectly suited to your design vocabulary and drawing standards.

******************************
Santa Bobrow interrupts this lengthy article on ARCHICAD templates to bring you this
jolly message:

HO HO HO

"Gift yourself any or all of Eric Bobrow's great ARCHICAD Training Resources and/or
MasterTemplate at 50% to 75% off during his HUGE Year-End Sale!"

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******************************

THE INTERACTIVE LEGENDS OF VISUAL FAVORITES

ARCHICAD's original Favorites palette, introduced in the 90's, was a simple text list of
elements. While offering a shortcut to frequently used elements, it quickly became
unwieldy as more items were added.
At one of the Graphisoft reseller conferences, I saw a presentation by Russ Sanders of
Orcutt Winslow Architects in Arizona, in which he showed how the firm set up common
components on a dummy story (one they set up below the actual building).

They showed these elements via Ghost Stories (the predecessor of Virtual Trace) and
used the eye-dropper to pick up their settings. They called it "ice fishing" - catching the
settings of these greyed-out elements on a remote story that looked partially obscured,
as if under the "ice".

After I showed this idea to my Los Angeles ARCHICAD User Group, some local users
experimented with variations of this approach, including Van Hohman and Tamir Barelia,
with the elements off to the side of the actual building. They kept this kit of parts in place
during early design, then deleted it later on.

As Scott Bulmer and I developed MasterTemplate, I coined the term "interactive legends
of visual favorites" to describe this approach.

They can appear similar to a standard legend, in which samples of graphic symbols or wall
or hatch patterns are displayed to explain or document the meaning or reference for each
element.

However, one interacts with the elements using the eye-dropper, rather than just viewing
them.

Below is an image of the original Interactive Legends in MasterTemplate, showing various

element groupings (e.g. wall types in the upper left, doors in the next section, then
window types; with some general fixtures, furniture and entourage in the enlarged call-
out).

These legends become a valuable "kit of parts" displayed as a visual array of favorites,
allowing easy organization into groups of related items.

While ARCHICAD 20 introduced a much more robust graphical Favorites palette, the
Interactive Legends of MasterTemplate still provide additional options.
Interactive Legends of MasterTemplate still provide additional options.

Prototype room groupings with typical furniture or fixture arrangements (that I call
QuickRooms) can be copied and pasted into a model then modified to suit the design.

Text and visual explanations are added wherever it is helpful.

In addition, in MasterTemplate we made two key innovations to the methods pioneered

by other users:

1. The Legends are accessed through a Worksheet Virtual Trace Reference, which
allows a quick back and forth between the active working view and the kit of parts.

2. The Legends are hotlinked from an external PLN file, allowing them to be easily
hidden from all working views and schedules. They can be retained in the file
throughout the project lifecycle.

TIP:
Create your own "kit of parts" from the elements used in your projects.
Add them to the standard Favorites palette, and also to Interactive Legends for quick access.
In MasterTemplate, you can add them to the Office Favorites PLN file, which is designed for
this purpose and is hotlinked into the template and all project files.

AS ARCHICAD ADDS NEW FEATURES, TEMPLATE DEVELOPMENT NEVER ENDS

Graphisoft upgrades ARCHICAD with new features and both dramatic and subtle
enhancements each year. Some of these allow you to do new things or automate manual
processes, others will speed up your work or make certain tasks easier.

It's wise to evaluate the new environment to see where the best practices workflow can
or should be changed, and then revise your office template to take advantage of
opportunities.

Over the past few versions, labeling and scheduling have become much more powerful,
and Properties data can now be attached to elements and referenced easily in both
drawings and schedules. The built-in Properties and Classifications are extensible, so in
MasterTemplate 20 and 21 I have added some key fields for drawing notes as well as
specifications for use in interactive schedules.