Archicad 19 patch Archives

Hey, welcome, everyone, to ARCHICAD Best Practices 2020.  Let me know that you can hear me and see my screen, and we’ll get going.  You can answer that in either the GoTo Webinar questions panel or in the new Slack channel there.  Alright, let’s see.  So, if you haven’t been using Slack, you can go to bobrow.com/slack, and then you’ll get the opportunity to put in your email and take a couple of quick steps, and you’ll be able to communicate with everyone else during the session or even between.  [0:00:53]

So, OK.  Looks like we’ve got a bunch of you here.  Ken, Susan, Scott, Reg, Jerry, Tom, Scott again, and Andrej.  OK, excellent.  So, we’re going to be using the 2020 channel here rather than the coaching calls.  Coaching calls would be for the sessions on Thursday, and this just sort of separates it out so it doesn’t become one long thing.  So, if you’re in the coaching calls one like Taren and Andy, please use 2020.  If you don’t see 2020 in your channels, just click on Channels.  That will allow you select it, and then just click on it, and then it will be in your sidebar.  [0:01:40]

There you go.  OK, Andy, and Taren.  Great.  Perfect.  OK, so we are rolling.  So, a few little updates.  As you can see, the course website is now taking shape.  We’ve had 4 lessons here.  These roughly correspond with the old Best Practices course with weeks 1, 2, 3, and part of 4.  So, I did the overview of Best Practices, how to get organized and get more organized, and then last week we also did do some library management here.  [0:02:22]

So, today, I’m going to be looking at advanced library management and complex project migration.  So, this is going to help you at different points in your ARCHICAD career.  When you have challenges migrating projects – just had one of our members send in a question about having a project that was done years and years ago in ARCHICAD 7 and how to get it into ARCHICAD 22, which can’t open up ARCHICAD 7 files.  [0:02:59]

So, we’re going to be looking at how you deal with very old files, and we’re going to be looking at how to deal with updating favorites, which are caused by some of the limitations in library management and migration.  So, let me get started here, then, with a concept of linked libraries versus embedded files and folders, and we’ll go switch over to a blank project file here.  I’m just going to open up the sample project again, so we have that as a reference because that does have sort of a series of things that it’s loading.  [0:03:47]

So, let me get the sample project here, and I’ll launch a new instance in the background.  OK, so in any project, and of course this is just a blank template file, so there’s nothing drawn.  Aa I mentioned earlier, and we go here to Library Manager, we are loading, generally, the library for the current version of ARCHICAD, and then there’s always a placeholder for the embedded library.  The embedded library may have nothing in it, or it may have a lot.  [0:04:24]

Here in the top-left, I can switch and say to show me what’s in any one of the loaded libraries.  So, what are loaded libraries?  They are either folders or embedded library.  Now, a folder on your computer or on your server has a path.  You can see that this is a path on my computer down here.  We can go add to this by clicking the Add button.  It says you can add all available library files, so let’s take a look at that.  [0:04:58]

For example, if I go to MasterTemplate at an older version of MasterTemplate, when I have it set up differently, we have AMT Library.  So, this is a folder that has some library parts.  You notice that these GSM parts are not – I can’t add them using this dialog, but I can add the folder, or I can add a library container folder, which would have the ending .lcf.  Right now, we’re just going to load in a folder.  [0:05:31]

I’ll say Choose This, and you can see that it’s now added to the list here.  If I want to look at what’s in it, I can click here and switch, but you see the AMT library – when I try to show the AMT library, it says I have to reload first.  So, basically I can tell it that I’d like to load it, but I have to reload and apply the change.  So, when I do that, it takes a few seconds to go and load this.  So, now here are things that are included in the MasterTemplate library from that version there.  [0:06:10]

Now, these library parts in general – library parts can be used from years and years ago.  There’s general compatibility with all library parts.  Some very, very old ones like from ARCHICAD 5 and earlier or 6 and earlier – on the Mac, they did not have endings .gsm, which stands for GraphiSoft something.  So, G for GraphiSoft, as far as I know.  GS, maybe.  [0:06:38]

So, very very old parts from the Mac, going back to 15 years ago, you may have to literally add a .gsm to them, but in general, any parts in the last 15 years should be able to be loaded and used and still perform reasonably well there.  Now, libraries can include objects, of course, that you place, like furniture, trees, equipment.  It will have symbols like your detail marker or other things that are symbolic, labels – so labels often use symbols to be able to do a more complex shape like here.  [0:07:20]

This object indicator is actually a label part that will create a frame with the little lozenge points on the end, and even the library – you also are going to be loading textures.  So, what are textures?  They are image files that allow you to visualize things, whether it’s tilework or stone or something else.  This isn’t the only way that you can show a surface with an appearance, but it is a common way to do that, and so these image files generally are .jpeg or .png files.  They can be loaded in in your library.  [0:08:01]

So, this particular folder – AMT Library – has a combination of objects, library parts, and textures there.  Now, it says all library parts were loaded successfully.  That was after I did the Reload and Apply.  So, there’s no issue with that.  Sometimes you’ll see a message saying there are duplicates or potentially missing parts, so the warnings here are things that you want to at least pay attention to.  I’m just going to say OK.  [0:08:31]

Now, in the background, I was loading the MasterTemplate sample project, so I’m now in the other project.  Let’s look at that project and see what is in the Library Manager here.  You can see that – let’s see. This library is in the project here.  Actually, this is – in the sample project, I’m just trying to see what this is here.  OK, I’m a little confused because I was opening something in the background here while I was doing it.  Let’s see.  If I switch back to the – Oh, I know.  [0:09:23]

Actually, here’s my sample project.  Let’s go to the Library Manager, and yes, OK.  So, in the sample project, we’re only loading the standard library, and the embedded library has the AMT library folder in it.  You’ll notice that it looks very, very similar because for the most part, the MasterTemplate library parts were just brought forward.  So, I know that’s a little bit subtle, and I’ll just repeat it.  In the sample project, I’ve got the standard library, and I’ve got an embedded library that contains folders including the AMT library and legacy objects.  [0:10:07]

These are things that are in this particular project.  We’re using older library parts that, in general, we want to minimize, but there are times when library parts are not carried forward.  I’ll give you an example here.  This telephone object – which, if you look carefully, you’ll see it’s an office-type telephone.  They literally do not have that in the ARCHICAD 22 library, at least as far as I can tell.  Now, the styles for computer monitors, for telephones, for certain things have changed, so they’ve got other ones, but they don’t actually have office telephones that I saw.  [0:10:44]

So, in this particular project in MasterTemplate, actually, I’m loading in some of the things that I think are useful, like if you were looking for a phone to put on a desk, this at least communicates that for your design use to illustrate what – this is a desk, and it has a computer and a phone on it, etc.  So, these legacy objects are carried forward to facilitate certain things.  Telbar – another one where they’ve replaced the older styles with newer ones, and I think that this one actually is still useful.  So, I picked carefully things that were in older libraries, kept them in MasterTemplate in a special folder called Legacy Objects.  [0:11:33]

OK, so this is the embedded library in the MasterTemplate sample project, and if we go back to the blank project here, and we look at Library Manager, we’ll see that there’s a standard library, there’s the embedded library, and then this has loaded separately – the AMT library is loaded separately.  It’s not in the embedded library.    [0:11:59]

Now, if I want to simplify things, I’m going to want to use one of 2 different methods to do that.  There’s an option down here when you highlight something to – let’s see.  I think it’s Embed Placed Objects of Selected Library.  So, what does that mean?  It would look to see what’s in the current project that is in this library and add them to the embedded library and, while doing that, remove this setting to load the external file.  [0:12:37]

So, it’ll basically grab whatever it needs and add it into the project.  Now, let’s see.  Right now, if I do that, it would actually not load anything because this is a new project, and it’s not using any of those parts.  So, let’s just see what happens if I go and place a few of these parts.  I’ll go to the object tool.  Let me go in here to the object library, switch to my folder view, and we’ll see that we have generally the embedded library, the linked libraries, which will usually have the standard library folder, and now we also have loaded the AMT library.  [0:13:20]

There may be some things on the server, if you’re using BIM Server or BIM Cloud, and there are some built-in libraries that just provide some basic functionality for certain types of markers primarily.  So, if you were to load no library parts, you could still probably put down some type of a section marker or detail marker, etc.  [0:13:42]

Now, all of that being said, let’s look at the AMT library, and I’m just going to go put in a 2D object here that’s for showing roof slopes.  I’ll just say OK.  I’ll just drop it in.  So, this is just a 2D element that is provided inside MasterTemplate, and it does have some settings.  So, we can say that we’d like to change this slope here to 6 in 12.  It’s going to do a different type of a diagram for the roof slope here.  This is obviously intended to be used in a section or an elevation drawing to indicate the slope visually.  [0:14:22]

Let’s go in and take something else here.  So, this is a rather odd one here.  This is a particular piece of equipment that was in an older library, and it was dropped at a certain point.  It’s no longer in the library.  I’ve kept it because it was used in one of the projects that we were working with, so here are a couple of parts that are in this current project.  Now, I’m going to go to the library manager here and say, “You know what?  I really don’t want to load this entire library here, so go ahead and embed placed objects of selected libraries.”  [0:15:07]

So, when I do that, it will say, “All placed objects with their component parts will be embedded in the embedded library,” and if there are duplicates – if we were loading something from outside and there was a duplicate, you can generally say not to embed duplicated parts, so it will clean up some of your recordkeeping.  [0:15:27]

You could embed textures, so those image files that are in use in the project, if you want.  This would give you a more complete embed.  I’ll just say Embed Here.  It’s going to think about it for a couple of seconds and say changes to the library were successful.  Now, you see that it’s just got the embedded library in the ARCHICAD 22 library.  When I open it up, we’ll see that there’s a folder called From AMT Library, so it adds from to whatever the name was of that linked folder.  When I click on it, you can see these two parts are now embedded.  [0:16:05]

So, you may say, “Well, what’s the big point there?”  This was a very simple example to make it very clear what’s happening, but when you’re loading multiple folders from various sources, you may end up with duplicates.  You may end up with issues – error messages in the Library Manager, and this is one way that you can simplify, in any particular project, is basically to select Linked Folders and embed them using this command here and then, by removing duplicates during that process, it will reduce some of those issues.  [0:16:52]

Also, in the embedded library, you can reorganize things.  You can actually create folders using these icons here and move things around, so you can potentially collect and collapse and organize files from multiple places.  Now, in the Library Manager, if I go in here, there’s Add.  You saw the option to select a folder.  There’s also this option here to be more specific.  You can go add a link library or something from the server, and if you have other libraries that this particular copy of ARCHICAD has referenced at some point, you can go say, “Oh, just grab that.”  [0:17:38]

Then, you don’t have to search for it.  So, if I say, “Load ARCHICAD migration libraries,” you can see this library folder comes in.  We’ll actually see how this is used shortly, when I migrate a project.  So, that’s the little drop-down menu shortcuts.  Now, if you say, “I actually don’t need this,” you can simply say to remove it using this X, and it will disappear.  Now, when you remove a library from the project that’s loaded from outside, you’re not deleting any data in the project.  You’re simply saying, “I don’t need you to look and catalog and try to figure out all the parts that are in that external library.”  [0:18:21]

So, that’s important if you find that you’re loading a whole bunch of things, and you don’t even know what they’re for.  You can go and remove them, and then when you reload and apply, you can see if there are any missing parts.  This is something that I routinely do when I’m helping people simplify the library management is say, “What are you using these folders for?”  They may have half a dozen folders here, and they say, “I don’t know.  They’re just there.”  [0:18:53]

Alright, well let’s see if we need them.  So, when we remove them and we reload and apply, we can see if there are missing parts.  Let’s see if we migrate a project, what happens here. Let me check to see if there are any questions here.  So, Ken.  “Wasn’t seeing the screen, but then I figured it out.  I had too many windows open.”  Taren asks, “Is there an easy way to save library parts down to earlier versions of ARCHICAD?”  [0:19:25]

The ARCHICAD 22 file menu allows you to save a project down to ARCHICAD 21 format or earlier.  No, unfortunately, there are real limits to downgrading files, so I’ll give you sort of the nutshell.  You can save a project from one version of ARCHICAD to the previous version – from 22 to 21. If you needed to go back earlier, you can open it in 21 and save it in 20 and potentially go back a series of steps.  Painstaking, but possible.  Library parts from ARCHICAD 22 cannot be read by ARCHICAD 21, and similarly for all versions of ARCHICAD not being able to read library parts from a later version.  [0:20:16]

So, although you can migrate forward very smoothly, migrating backward is very very limited.  In the libraries that GraphiSoft provides, they do mark library parts and say in version 22 to say what it’s compatible with or what it actually is based on in earlier versions.  So, we’ll take a look at this.  This is somewhat advanced, but we’ll just look at it for a couple of minutes and move on.  [0:20:49]

It is useful for certain complex situations.  So, if I go to my – instead if Library Manager, I go to Libraries & Objects.  I say Open Object.  I can then go and open from the standard library or the embedded library parts.  Let’s go and say, “Let’s open the Object Library .lcf.”  So, this is a field that is in the ARCHICAD library folder.  The file contains all the stuff that you’re used to working with, so let’s look at equipment here, and let’s look at office equipment and say, copier desktop.  Alright, let’s try that.  We’ll say view that.  [0:21:35]

So, now I’m opening the definition of this library part that’s different than the settings.  When you’re working, and you say, “I want to pick this copier,” you open up the Object Settings, and it’ll show you a preview of it.  It’ll show you some parameters that you can change, but you’re not looking at the definition of it.  You’re looking at the instance of it.  [0:21:56]

Now, you can see there’s a little preview here, and there’s a whole bunch of stuff here.  We’ll be dealing with more complex or dealing with creating your own library parts and modifying GraphiSoft parts in a later section of the course, but right now, I want to point out that the parameters – I’m sorry, the parameters here.  Some of these you’ll see when you place the part.  For example, it may have copier type, and you can see there’s type 1 and type 2.  [0:22:34]

If I go back to the floor plan, let me just go and find this part here.  So, I’ll just type in “copier” here, and here’s the one that we’re just looking at.  You can see, if I flip through this style – style and dimensions.  OK, here’s style 1 and style 2. You can see the differences of them.  They don’t have numbers here, but there’s a choice of two different styles.  [0:23:06]

In the library part definition, you can see that it’s got type 1 and type 2.  So, this is a different way of looking at it, and there’s all sorts of reference information that’s in the library part.  You don’t need to understand that now.  The point that I want to make right now is this migration one.  You’ll see that there’s a field here which has an ID.  It’s basically saying that this part, if you were saving it as something in ARCHICAD 21, it can do an automatic migration.  [0:23:39]

So, if you had your building model with this in it, and you saved it back in 21, this is one of the parts that would automatically just get swapped for a 21 version.  So, GraphiSoft parts in general will go forward or back one version pretty smoothly if GraphiSoft hasn’t made a change to them.  It’ll just say, “You know what?  Just swap this with the equivalent one from earlier.”  I don’t quite know.  There’s a second one that has a zero.  Maybe that’s sort of a fallback, and it goes back to an even earlier version of ARCHICAD.  I’m not sure.  [0:24:15]

Basically, this is set up.  If you create your own library parts, you probably won’t have this migration set up here.  I think you can go New, and you can define something, but that’s obviously not something I want to delve into right now.  So, all of that being said, when you save back a library part – let’s just go back to Slack here.  When you save the file back to 21, it will tell it to use the 21 library wherever possible.  Anything that was using a 22 library part that doesn’t have a migration, it will show a dot.  It will say, “I can’t find that.  I can’t use it.”  [0:25:01]

So, on a practical basis, if you’re trying to work with a colleague or a consultant or another firm, and they have an earlier version of ARCHICAD.  Let’s say they have ARCHICAD 18 or something.  You basically want to work with the ARCHICAD 18 library because 22 can work with earlier libraries, but 18 won’t be able to work with a later one.  That’s the only way to work effectively, and in fact, it’s very very painful to, say, take that 18 file, work on it in 22, and then try to get it back into 18 because you have to save it from 22 to 21, then open in 21 and save it in 20, and so on.  So, several steps to do it.  [0:25:49]

So, on a practical basis, it’s very cumbersome and not recommended.  If you can run 18 on your current computers, and they have 18, that’s the way to do it.  So, those are the limitations.  Moving forward is pretty easy.  Moving backward is very, very limited.  Alright, Jerry says, “Is there a way to save a number of embedded .gsm objects to an external .lcf file, create an .lcf so it can be used in other projects?”  OK, very good question.  [0:26:22]

First, I’m going to show you just how you export things that are embedded.  So, let’s close up the library part here, and now I’m in this project with just a couple of parts.  Let me go to the File menu, Library Manager, and I can go into the embedded library and either select a folder or, when I have the folder on the left side, select the individual parts or a couple of parts like this, and I can use the option here that says – Sorry, this one.  Export Selected Library Items Into a Local Folder.  So, that means it will basically take whatever you have selected – in this case, these two, or if I highlight this, it will be the folder.  [0:27:13]

I could select more than one folder.  So, I can select a few different things here – whatever I want and then say I’d like to export them.  When it does that, it’s going to go – let’s just say I’ll put this on my Downloads one here.  So, it’s going to export it, and what will we see when I get there?  You’ll see there’s now a folder called From AMT Library, and it has those two parts.  So, these are exported, and this is a way that you can use them in other projects.  You can literally go and grab them and drop them into the embedded library, or you can use the linked option – add a Linked Library to add that folder.  [0:28:00]

This is a way that you can accumulate files in your library for an office library.  So, the office library could have any of these.  You can just drop them in.  You can organize them, of course, in groups – maybe furniture versus landscape items versus image folder with textures, etc.  So, Kjetil says, “If you receive a .pla file, it only includes the library objects that are used in the file.  If you load library 22, you get many duplicates.  How can you avoid duplicates?”  [0:28:39]

OK, so we’re going to be looking at .pla files.  They are plan archives, so you could say it’s a plan.  Of course, it’s an ARCHICAD project file with plan sections, elevations, etc., and layout book, but the A here stands for archive, so we’re going to be looking at that.  Let me just see where I am in the explanations.  OK, so I’m talking about the linked library folders and how you can embed individual files and folders in the embedded library.  [0:29:14]

The office library folder I just mentioned – basically, without trying to demonstrate because I don’t have a really good example here, you can have a folder with multiple things in it that you load into many of your projects.  Maybe all of your projects load an office library as well as the standard library.  This is an effective way to manage supplemental objects and library parts for an office. [0:29:47]

If you add more elements to that office library – so let’s say you create more in any project, or you purchase or acquire in some way or download additional parts.  Maybe they’re from manufacturers.  You can now actually get ARCHICAD-native parts or convert Revit or Sketchup parts into ARCHICAD standard parts.  Those things would naturally go into an office library that you can then have access to in all your projects.  You’re going to be loading in, then, your standard library, your office library, and then of course, you have your embedded – whatever is embedded that is specific to this project.  [0:30:36]

Now, supplemental library folders – let’s say that you were to get a library of landscape elements, and you have a project that’s really focused a lot on the terrain and landscaping.  So, you might load that library.  It may be very big, with lots of trees and plants and textures and things like that, and maybe you don’t want to load that library in other projects, like where you’re doing an urban project, which doesn’t require that.  So, you can have folders that you load in for specific project types, maybe even for specific applications, like a remodel project versus new or for a particular company. [0:31:26]

If you’re doing a chain of restaurants, you may have some components that are only used for that client and things like that.  OK, so we’re now moving into .pla archive files versus the embedded library.  So, your question – I guess that was Kjetil, was about an archive.  That was a good one here.  So, let’s just look at the MasterTemplate sample project.  [0:31:55]

So, this project here uses a fair number of parts.  It’s not a very big project, but there’s probably a few dozen components that are in use.  If I wanted to send this to someone else, I can, of course, save it and send them the file, but if they don’t have all of the libraries that I have, then a really useful way to send files to a consultant or to me, when you’re trying to get some help, is to go Save As and then change the file type from solo project, which would be the typical one, to ARCHICAD archive project.  [0:32:40]

By the way, the only things that we’re seeing here – brief mention.  Here’s where you would save backwards to ARCHICAD 21 – whatever is the previous version from the current one.  Here’s where you would save to create a template, if you were working on that type of a process.  You can be saving the entire project as an object, which is an interesting option but not generally useful for what we’re talking about now.  There are other options here, including exporting to .dwg.  [0:33:15]

So, let’s look at saving it as an archive project.  When I do that, there are some options, and I click on Options here, and let me explain these because they are important to know.  The background picture is an image that you can use behind your 3D window.  It might be just a sky with clouds, or it might be a specific image of the sea that you are able to see from the window of the project.  [0:33:51]

This is something that’s not widely used because one limitation is that you only have one background picture in use at a time, and unless it’s just something like a cloudy sky, it won’t be accurate as you turn around.  As you move around to different vantage points, it’s going to look the same behind, but sometimes that’s useful, so you can include that.  [0:34:15]

You can include all the parts in the favorites or the loaded libraries or not.  If you don’t say to include all parts in here, then it will just have the parts that are actively placed in the project. So, wherever I place something on the floor plan, and it’s in the plans, the stories, or in the 3D model that you could see – 2D or 3D, those will be included automatically.  You can also say you’d like to include the parts that are in the favorites.  This means that when you carry across this file and the file is opened, the favorites will definitely have all of their components available.  [0:35:03]

You can include linked textures, so these are the image files that are used for surfaces.  Again, not the only way to get a surface to appear a certain way, but often used to make it look like brick or steel or something.  Properties are not very widely used, but they are a form of data that you can carry across if you are working with older style calculations of things, then this can be useful.  [0:35:37]

Include All Drawings – if you think about it, when you place a drawing on a layout sheet, most of the time those drawings are from the project itself, but sometimes you can place a .pdf or a .dwg or external files in there.  You can decide whether you need to include them.  Of course, this makes your file bigger, but it does mean that it's more self-contained, so if we say, “Yes, I want to include all drawings,” then anything that you’ve placed will be carried along as part of this .pla file.  [0:36:10]

If you’re linking to external files, like in MasterTemplate we have a kit of parts that are hotlinked in. They’re called the Interactive Legends.  You could say, “You know what?  I don’t want the person who opens this or myself two years from now or 10 years from now opening this archive – I don’t want to require that they search for that hotlink.”  That can be useful if, for example, you have a project with several buildings in it, you could say, “I’ve got the site, and now all these buildings that are linked in, I would like to break the nested hotlinks so they would basically all be part of the same file.”  [0:36:59]

So, this then makes it a more complete but of course larger file.  Compressed file is sort of standard.  This is just making it a little bit smaller on disk.  Now, if you say, “I want to save all parts in the loaded libraries, it will literally make everything in the libraries that you’ve loaded a part of this archive.  The archive will get much bigger because the standard library is about 500 MB, give or take.  [0:37:34]

By the way, I’m seeing – let me just interrupt this for a minute.  So, Michael Knapp is writing that at first he didn’t have audio.  Now he’s connected but asking how he can open up later to get the entire presentation.  So, a little brief clarification here.  Again, in the new website, ARCHICADtraining.com where we’ve got the 2020 course – all of the lessons are posted with the recordings and, in general, with some notes and supplemental materials and a transcript that allows you to scan.  Obviously, you can sort of skim through this pretty quickly rather than watching the whole thing.  [0:38:33]

You can see some timestamps here, so this is at 1 minute and 28 seconds.  This point is at 2 minutes, etc., so you can scroll down through here.  So, you’ll be able to watch this, Michael and everybody else, when it is – this is going to be number 5.  Now, separate from that, Michael, if you haven’t gotten into Slack, very briefly go to bobrow.com/slack, and you’ll be able to supply your email and then go through a couple of quick steps to have access to the ARCHICAD training workspace, and then you’ll be able to type in your questions here and see what everybody else is doing.  [0:39:16]

Alright, getting back to the actual lesson, but I wanted to make sure that Michael wasn’t left hanging there.  We are just in the middle of saving an archive, and I’ve explained some of these options.  I’m going to cancel this so it’ll have the standard options when I go to options here.  These are the common options.  So, including the parts in the favorites, the textures, and the properties, but not including any external drawings or hotlinks and not including the full contents of the loaded libraries.  [0:39:55]

I’m going to go and just save this in my Download.  Actually, just save it into my Downloads folder, just so it’s convenient for me to find, and it will now spin its wheels for a minute or two and save out a version of the file that, in general, should be pretty much self-sufficient that will not require loading external libraries and will come up and look the way we see it here.  [0:40:25]

Now, there are limitations to the .pla format, and that’s what Kjetil’s asking about.  In order to demonstrate those limitations, I’m going to open the .pla file and compare it to what we have here, and we’ll look at some of those limitations.  Now, the use case for .pla – so here’s a warning.  Cannot find some library parts or internal macros. They will not be included in the archive.  So, I’m not sure what is missing.  We’re going to find out when we open up the .pla.  [0:41:06]

I’m going to go ahead and say Save anyway, and then after we see what’s missing, maybe we can find why it’s having some problems with this.  This may be trivial.  It may be something that actually means nothing in terms of using the file, or maybe somewhat of an issue in terms of things not working properly.  [0:41:27]

So, when it completes this operation, we’ll go ahead and open it and compare.  A .pla has all of this stuff encapsulated into a file.  It has the project, the actual .pln, and it also has library parts and supporting files that we normally load from outside – from the library folder.  This is now complete.  We’ll go here and say Open.  So, here it is.  By the way, I’m still in the .pln version, but I’m now going to open this, and I’ll launch a new instance so we can have both available.  [0:42:15]

So, when I open this, it’ll take a moment to start up a new copy of ARCHICAD – a new instance, and then ask me some questions.  The reasons that you would use a .pla are primarily twofold. One is when you want to send a file to someone else who doesn’t have access to all of your local files – perhaps it’s a consultant.  Perhaps it’s me who’s helping you with a question on your file.  You also can use this when you’re saving a project for the long-term.  You’re possibly still working on the project.  You just want to have a record at this point in time when you submitted to the city for approval or something.  [0:43:03]

You can do that, but more commonly, you would do this when you’re saying, “Oh, the project is complete, and I don’t know when I’m going to open it up again.”  Maybe it’ll be in a year. Maybe it’ll be in 20 years when the client comes back and says they’d like to do a renovation.  When you save it as an archive, you increase the likelihood that you’re going to be able to open it and see everything that you need.  [0:43:31]

Alright, now I’m in another instance of ARCHICAD, and I’m about to read this project, and it says, “Do you want to read the elements directly from the archive?”  This is the library.  You want to extract the elements to a folder, or maybe you already have a library or libraries that have all the parts, and you don’t even need the archive information.  You just need the .pln from it.  [0:43:56]

Well, let’s start from the top here. It will not extract the library elements, saving this space, but use it if you do not intend to work on the library parts and intend to preserve the archive format.  So, basically, the library parts will be sort of locked in there, and we can do a redesign of the building, but we can’t do library management in the archive.  [0:44:22]

So, let’s just open it here, and we’ll see what comes up. The building should look pretty much intact.  The libraries should be available, but there are some limitations in terms of what it’s giving access to.  If you think about any given project, there are windows in this project, but even though there might be 15 windows in the project, they’re only using perhaps a handful – 2 or 3 or 4 variations of windows.  Double-hung and a feature window and a casement window – 3 or 4 window types.  [0:45:06]

In the library, there are many window types.  In the archive, we will not have access to them.  So, here you can see it’s opening up. It looks exactly the same as far as I can see right now.  I’m not seeing any warning messages, so there’s nothing that came up to say something’s missing.  Let’s go to the Window tool and open it up, and it’ll show that I have this window available or that window.  It’ll show that there’s one fixed window here, three here.  So, there are just a handful of these windows.  [0:45:46]

Let’s go to the normal project here, and let’s open up the Window tool, and you can see there’s a whole lot of windows.  So, obviously these other windows were not in use in the project.  So, the archive only carried over the ones that were in use.  It did the minimum.  Now, if all I need to do is open and print or mark up or maybe do some changes and partitions, but I’m going to use just the same library parts, then the archive format can be maintained.  [0:46:27]

In general, if you’re going to be doing any work, you’ll need to deal with this in a more sophisticated fashion.  Here we’ve got the archive format file with the very limited library parts.  I would like to look at the Library Manager and see what we’ve got.  So, when I do this, you’ll see that it is loading not the ARCHICAD 22 library, but it’s loading its own file.  It’s loading this file as the source of library parts.  There’s also an embedded library.  If you go to the embedded library, it’s the same as it was because it’s basically the .pln file carried over, but if I look at the sample project, it’s got a bunch of stuff here, but again, when I go to the windows, there’s only a very limited number.  [0:47:29]

So, this – what looks like a folder is actually the file itself, and it is now very limited here.  Now, how can we deal with this?  Well, one option is that we can save a copy of this out locally and then work with it.  I’m going to go and export this, and I’ll just put it in the Downloads.  So, it’s now going to create a copy of the archived library parts on my hard drive.  [0:48:10]

Now, one side benefit of doing this is that I will have access to the individual library parts that I don’t normally have.  So, let’s just look at that. Here it is in my Downloads.  Here is the folder that was just created.  It has something named ARCHICAD library 22, but it’s really just a subset of it.  Here’s the object library 22 .lcf.  Now, .lcf is normally just a single file, and this can open up a new window and just contrast it here.  [0:48:48]

I look at the ARCHICAD 22 folder, and I look at the ARCHICAD library 22.  You’ll see object library 22 .lcf is a file. It’s rather large – 366 MB.  It contains all the library parts.  Here, I’ve got the object library 22 .lcf, but it is a folder, and if I went into Openings, Windows – in here, we looked at the fixed window.  Here’s that one window here and two casements, etc.  [0:49:28]

So, what’s happened is by saving an archive file and then opening it up and then later exporting the archived library components from the Library Manager, I now have access to all the individual parts that were in the library whereas previously, I couldn’t.  Now, why would this be important?  Well, let’s go back to Slack here.  If you have duplicates, how can you deal with it?  Well, remember when I loaded a folder as a linked library, and then I said embed what’s in use, but leave out the duplicates?  This is a way that you can automatically have ARCHICAD remove the duplicates.  [0:50:28]

You can also manually go and say, “I’ll load this as a folder, but let me remove the duplicates.”  You can go search for duplicates and pull them out, so there are two ways – manually or by going through an embed process there.  Now, Andy says, “Could this method be used to essentially extract your model components for schedules, as in the example of only the windows that the project used?”  [0:50:56]

So, schedules are a whole different thing.  Schedules are not part of the library, so let me just cancel out of this.  Here’s some in this file.  So, what is a schedule?  Schedules are a particular style of viewpoint in your project map.  You should have views of those schedules or at least the ones that you’re working with here. This is a folder with some of the schedules that are defined in the project that may be placed into layout sheets.  [0:51:35]

So, schedules are reports, and they’re part of the .pln itself. The .pla includes the .pln, so the schedules are there, but it has nothing to do with the libraries.  We’re talking about library management right now.  OK, so here is an interesting use case that I’ll explain by showing you something here.  So, if I go to the folder where I developed MasterTemplate here, and I look at this library – so this is a folder that I just created to keep track of some libraries, and what we’ll see is that I have a bunch of folders within here, and you’ll see this one called ARCHICAD library 22.  [0:52:20]

Now, what is that?  That is the entire ARCHICAD library loaded from the standard file.  Let’s go find the openings here and the windows and the wood windows here.  We’ll go to, let’s say, fixed windows.  See, there’s several here.  We go to the casement, and there’s a whole bunch of them.  Alright, so why do I have this on my computer?  Well, when I’m working with files that need to be used in multiple locations – for example, in the U.S. as well as internationally, there are some things in the U.S. library that I like to give or include in MasterTemplate for international users.  [0:53:15]

So, I didn’t actually have to save the windows out, but there were some extra things that I include in the MasterTemplate library. Let’s see.  If we go AMT 22 Int Embedded Library, you see this thing that says ARCHICAD Library U.S.A. and Legacy?  I basically manually grab stuff that I wanted to include in here.  Now, one of the things that was interesting is that those of you who have been in ARCHICAD for more than a couple of years know that the stairs and railings changed a whole lot going inversion 21 with new commands and entirely new feature sets.  [0:54:03]

Sometimes, it’s useful to be able to use one of the older stairs and have access to that.  I basically saved all of the stairs from the 20 library and included them in MasterTemplate.  The detailer library are some 2D components that some of which were discontinued by GraphiSoft in 21.  I felt that it was useful to maintain them, so I extracted them.  How did I get them?  I basically used the option when I went Save As, and we saved an archive project, and I go to Options.  [0:54:45]

I basically said, “Include everything in all parts in the library,” so I actually had a blank project loading the standard library, and I said, “Let’s save that blank project with all parts in the loaded library.”  So, now it has the entire library included.  I then opened that .pla and, after opening it or while opening it, let’s just show this.  I extracted those parts to that folder that you saw there, so if I go to Open, let’s say that I want to open this .pla again.  [0:55:22]

I’m not going to complete it, but if I select it as a .pla, and I say to open this, it’s going to ask me how I want to deal with the libraries.  Right now, it’s closing the current file that I’ve got, and it’s going to ask me how to deal with the libraries.  So, in a moment, we’ll see the option to leave them embedded in the archive or to extract them to a local folder.  So, basically, by saving out an archive with all parts and then opening it and using the option that says Extract to a Local Folder, I’ve got a copy of the library that was a whole lot of parts, a whole lot of files rather than one file with all the parts embedded.  [0:56:18]

Now, why does ARCHICAD or GraphiSoft use the .lcf format – Library Container File format?  Because it’s one file, it’s a little easier to manage rather than thousands of files.  It’s probably faster for ARCHICAD itself to locate and work with those files, and it is simpler for management.  If you want to replace the whole thing with an updated version of the library, that can be done.  [0:56:54]

So, here’s what I did to get that complete version of the library down wherever that was – probably this folder here.  I said, “Extract Elements to a Folder,” and I did that when I had an archive when I had all library parts from that library.  So, when you have all of those around, you may not find this useful in the near-term, but you should remember that sometimes it’s helpful to be able to grab individual parts or folders and drop them into an embedded library, so you’re only getting certain things.  It just allows you to manipulate it more easily.  [0:57:36]

Now, here’s this option that says Select a Library, so I could say that I’d like to load in a folder that has everything or one or more folders, so I’m going to say to ignore the .pla library parts and just go grab stuff.  This is what you might do when you’re in another instance of a project, but it’s using the same library stuff as you already had.  No reason not to use a standard library.  So, these are the options here for an archive.  [0:58:13]

I’m just going to cancel that, and we’ll just see, from my notes, where we’re going to go because I think we’re not probably ready, having covered the theory of it, to look at a couple of use cases here.  We’ll just see here.  So, using a .pla to expand a library and edit the contents, so we expanded the .lcf – Library .lcf file and edit the contents.  That’s what I just went over.  [0:58:55]

Now, let’s talk about migration from earlier versions, and we’re going to be coming back to some of the optimization of the libraries here, but I want to switch to something that has come up in some recent support tickets that people have sent in.  So, for example, I have this ARCHICAD – let me just cancel this here.  [0:59:21]

Alright, let me go to this copy of ARCHICAD here.  This is the one that I just placed a couple of small elements in and let me load in something.  Let’s just bring up my support tickets here.  So, Chris said – I wonder if Chris is on the line here right now.  Yes, you are, Chris.  So, Chris, this is for you.  I’m going to open up your line just in case there was some useful discussion here.  So, Chris, how are you doing?

Chris: Pretty well, thanks.  Yeah.  It was very helpful what you did earlier this week.

OK, well let me just get my volume up here.  OK, so you are working on a hotel job that was worked on last 15 or 16 years ago.  It was done in ARCHICAD 7.

Chris: Yeah, 2003, I think it was.

Yeah, yeah.  Let me just zoom it up a little bit so you can see that.  Alright, so 2003.  It won’t open in ARCHICAD 22.  Let’s just demonstrate what happens when I try to open it because you gave me a link to it, so I downloaded that.  So, here, I’m going to go and say Open, and this is in my Downloads.  It says Hopkins PON.  I’ll say Open it.  It says version 7 down here.  Say to open it, and I’m not going to save the little tiny bit that I did on this file.  [1:00:59]

So, this cannot read old document version 7.0.  OK, so you’re stuck, but GraphiSoft does recognize that’s an issue.  So, if you do a search online for GraphiSoft file converter, you will find a link to this page.  When you go here, it says you can download old ARCHICAD packages which are pre-installed and updated for the latest available build, and you can use it to convert your old ARCHICAD files.  Alright.  [1:01:35]

Now, it says, “Can you run these things in a newer version of Windows? Can you run it in a newer version of Mac?”  So, there are limitations.  There is a version to open up ARCHICAD 7 files in ARCHICAD 7, but you can’t run it on a recent Mac because it doesn’t have some support for the way the programs were compiled in terms of just software code, but what you can do is if you have ARCHICAD 19 or actually probably 22 can still read files from 8.1 and above.  [1:02:18]

So, you just missed the cut there.  ARCHICAD 7 is a couple of years before that – yeah, 2 years before that, but if you want to open an ARCHICAD 7 file, you can install the one for ARCHICAD 10.  Let’s see here.  ARCHICAD 10 packages can read files back to 6.5.  So, that’s sufficient.  You would have an issue if you wanted to go back to ARCHICAD 4.1 on the Mac.  I believe you said you’re on a PC.  You were able to run the ARCHICAD 7 package and open it, but then you were stuck there?  [1:02:58]

Chris: Yeah.  Yeah, it was because of the Java, so it would probably work if I loaded a different Java package, but now that’s messed up my current system, so I was a bit reluctant to download and install the Java it was asking for. 

Yeah, so what you want to do is download and install the ARCHICAD 10 package here.  So, I’m going to go download – let’s see, this is U.S.A.  Actually, you’re in international, so I’m just going to go get the international version here.  So, this has been updated to work with recent versions of Mac, and it would work for Windows, I’m sure, just fine.  [1:03:39]

It’s warning me that it’s not sure whether I want to keep this because it’s an executable file.  Say, “Yeah, keep it.  In fact, go ahead and download it.”  It’ll download that in a few seconds.  I’ll install it.  No, we’ll see if I can actually demonstrate this, but if I can’t right on the fly, the basic process is install this, open it up.  It should recognize your ARCHICAD key, or it may actually run without a key, but just not let you do anything other than open files and save them.  [1:04:14]

So, maybe limited in terms of functionality, or it may be functional but just allow you to re-save, which is what we want.  We want to convert the 7 file to 10, and then once it’s in 10, we can open it up in ARCHICAD 22.  So, this is downloading it.  It’s going to take one more minute here.  Now, just in case I can open it, I’m going to open up ARCHICAD 22 International Version.  It would correspond to what you have in the UK, so that’s sort of up and running when we reach that point.  I will see if we can open it.  [1:04:57]

So, the basic idea is you go to this page, you download a version of ARCHICAD 10, if you want to open files from 6.5, 7, or 8, and then if you really have something before 6.5, then you can load in some earlier versions here, but on Mac there may be some separate issues.  You might have to get someone on a consulting basis who still has an older Mac operating system to install it.  [1:05:28]

So, I’m just going to say this one we’ll open later.  This is the 22 version waiting to open up some file.  Let’s see.  This is just about ready to finish downloading – 7 seconds left, and it’s downloaded.  Now let me just open it.  So, it’s opening this.  It’s going to allow me to install it.  So, here it’s actually interesting.  It’s not an installer.  It’s actually loaded it as a disk image, so that’s interesting.  I don’t even have to install it.  I believe I can just double-click on the ARCHICAD here.  Can’t be opened.  [1:06:18]

So, this is a setting right now from the Mac that says, “You know what?  I don’t know who made this, and I want to be careful, so I’m not going to allow you to open it because it’s from an unidentified developer.”  In order to allow it on the Mac, I need to go to my System Preferences, to Security here, and then let’s see.  General here – allow apps.  So, it’s telling me I couldn’t open up that version of ARCHICAD because it’s from an unidentified developer, but I can say open anyway.  [1:07:01]

Are you sure you want to do it?  I’ll say yes, I do, and now I think we can probably close that up.  ARCHICAD is not optimized for your Mac.  Now, let’s see whether I can do it.  I said OK.  I got the message.  It’s not optimized, but it’s for file conversion only.  It said you can’t use it to run ARCHICAD to do real work, but I’m going to launch it.  Let’s see if it actually runs.  [1:07:28]

Optimized is different than functional.  In this case, it may run slowly.  It may not use all the latest features, but it looks like it’s starting up.  I’m going to go say Open a Project, Browse for a project here.  This is your old file here that I’m going to find, and it’s in the Downloads folder.  Here’s the .pln – Version 7.  We’ll say Open.   [1:07:57]

So, Brian says, “Interesting.”  Let me just open this up.  It’s saying there are some libraries that are not found.  I can’t really deal with that right now. I just want to see if I can open it a re-save it.  I’m going to say Done.  Right now, this is a Library Manager, and I’m going to say, “Done.”  I’m not going to try to look for the libraries.  I’m just going to try to open this file.  [1:08:18]

Do you want to convert your older corner window library files to be compatible with ARCHICAD 8 and later?  Yeah, go ahead.  If you had any corner windows, some changes would happen.  Library Manager is saying, “You know what?  I’m not sure where the libraries are.”  I’ll just say reload here.  Not sure.  Do you want to convert your older skylight parts?  Convert.  So, I’m just following some things here, and it’s saying some skylights couldn’t be converted.  Maybe some other things were loaded, but it looks like it’s coming up.  [1:08:51]

Now, we can see the building.  Obviously, the library parts are showing as dots.

Chris: Alright, well they would be doors and windows.

They would be doors and windows, and you probably have the libraries.  You probably have those libraries on your computer somewhere.

Chris: Yeah, those CADImage ones, but again, I’ve had issues in the past where I’ve not been able to update old versions of CADImage windows.  So, similar process.  [1:09:21]

Alright, so here we have the file, which could not be opened up in 22.  It can be opened up in 10.  I’m not going to worry about the library parts.  I’m simply going to save a copy of this in version 10 format.  So, I’ll say 685 Hopkins in AC 10 format, and just say Save.  It did that.  I’m going to quit out of this because I don’t think there’s anything more I can do in this version of ARCHICAD.  Now, that version 22 file – OK, that’s this one here.  ARCHICAD 22 is here.  OK.  [1:10:14]

Cancel.  I’ve got too many ARCHICADs running.  Let’s see. This untitled one?  OK, so here is the ARCHICAD 22 International Version.  I’m going to say, “Go ahead and open this project, please.”  I’ll go browse for a project, and this one should be able to open up a file in 10.  It would not open up the original one, but it should be able to open this up.  You see it says Version 10 format.  Ignore these dialogs there because those are from old things.  [1:10:54]

So, it’s saying I haven’t updated my international version of ARCHICAD 22.  I’m not going to worry about that right now. It’s saying I don’t have libraries here.  So, let’s just see and make sure that it opens, and then we can deal with libraries.  So, Library Manager says some parts may have some issues.  Load the correct library parts using Library Manager, so I’m just going to say continue here, and in a moment, I’m sure we’ll have the basic shell of the building in there.  [1:11:34]

Now, if we want to load some old library parts, let’s look at support for older libraries.  Now, you mentioned there’s CADImage parts in there.  So, CADImage is a developer of ARCHICAD add-ons, including libraries, and you might need to get some support from them if you need help with it.  Let’s see.  From unknown libraries – these are the parts that are missing, so these are things that we’re seeing the dots on here.  [1:12:11]

If I say to open up the Library Manager, and I can do it from the File menu or from that little button, I can go and say I’d like to add in some libraries.  Now, if we’re migrating a project simply, then what we would want to do is I’d want to load in the ARCHICAD library 22 here because that will give me access to the standard library.  I also would want to load in the ARCHICAD migration libraries.  Now, this would be support.  I’m getting some sounds.  Is that from your side, Chris?  [1:12:50]

Chris:  Yes, just the dog in the hallway.

OK.  Alright, I’m going to go and mute you for now.  OK, so in general, loading the migration libraries here will help you to support files that come from ARCHICAD 12 or 14 and things like that, but to find the ARCHICAD library 7, which is what really matters in this case – let’s say probably matters, we can also do a search on the GraphiSoft site for libraries here.  Migrating libraries, library enhancement, libraries help center, libraries root here.  [1:13:35]

So, you can search for this.  Let’s just go, actually, to the downloads, because I believe that you can find, in the Downloads for ARCHICAD here, Libraries & Objects, find GDL elements.  I’m not sure.  Let’s see.  Here’s the file converter.  That’s another way to get there.  For earlier downloads, please consult the Archives Downloads page.  So, my guess is that probably this is where we need to go for a very old library.  [1:14:09]

These guidelines are current as of Archicad 19.

You can install Archicad from the disk image on the server. It's also available from Graphisoft directly. We keep copies of Archicad installers going back, well, back far enough that not all of them will run on our current platforms. They are located at 3 Resources/AC/AC Program Files/[versionNumber].

(A word on disk images because they are still weird after all these years. A disk image (extension: .dmg, often called a dmg) is file which, when opened, mounts a volume in the local filesystem just as if you had inserted a physical disk. It will appear in the Finder sidebar, and will probably open a window. Some applications are drag-installable, and to install the application you just drag it from that window to your Applications folder. Sometimes they even provide an alias to your Applications folder to make the process clearer. Once you have installed the application, you can/should eject the imaginary disk.)

Archicad is not drag-installable, so you need to run the installer. When the window opens you will see an icon named "Archicad 19 Installer". Don't run that. After a blissful two version hiatus, the extraneous flashy installer interface is back. Scroll down and open the "Archicad 19" folder. Double-click the "Archicad Installer" in there.

Archicad doesn't use the standard package installer. It uses a custom installer written in Java. Mac OS X currently ships without Java installed. Even so, you might/probably have Java installed because it's required for other things. If not, the system will prompt you to install it, which is pretty automatic and takes a couple minutes. Then the installer will launch. I ignore the warning about closing all other programs.

Follow the directions. AC19 uses only CodeMeter keys, so that option is gone. I don't customize the installation. Use the default location, /Applications/Graphisoft. I don't import Work Environment settings; as far as I can tell this has never worked properly. (Maybe it works now. Fool me 4-6 times, shame on me.) Yes on the Dock icon, no on the Desktop icon, yes on checking for updates.

New version installations usually require a restart, but in 19 it hasn't been the case for me. Restart if it asks you, but you need not restart immediately. If you need to apply hotfixes to the version you are installing, you can do so right away without restarting first or even running the original version. Run the main installer, run the most recent hotfix, then restart just once.

After restart, there are a couple things that are beyond the scope of the installer.

Goodies

Goodies, which term is just awful, are quasi-non-supported add-ons available from Graphisoft. Even though they don't support them. Three of them are core functions which for some reason Graphisoft likes to pretend aren't core: Accessories, Check Duplicates, and Polygon Count.

The goodies used to be separate downloads, but now they share one installer (at least in the USA version), where you can select which ones to install. The goodies installer is a dmg located on the server next to main Archicad installer. Run it and choose the goodies name-checked above.

Work Environment

Our Work Environment is heavily modified, and to me the default Archicad environment is profoundly disorienting and I can't do anything with it at all. So right after the first launch I import the work environment. The work environment is stored in the preferences, so if you are re-installing a version you have used in the past, the work environment might be OK at first launch.

DXF-DWG Translators

In version 19 I have abandoned custom translators. The default translators meet our needs, and if they need to be tweaked we will tweak them. The templates should default to "03 For as is output" and "02 For editable import".

DisableCrossPlatformMountingFeatures

If you ever take solo projects away from your usual network, and have external resources (libraries, modules, drawings) on a server, you need to know about dcpmf, to (help?) prevent Archicad from spending ten minutes wailing into the abyss about the mysteriously vanished IP address ZOMG.

Archicad Updates

Since you wisely opted to let Archicad check for updates during installation, it will do just that periodically (weekly, or change it in Work Environment), and eventually you will be notified upon launching that an update is available. It could be for the application or the Archicad library or both. Go ahead and do it; they usually fix more things than they break. The updates, identified by a sequential number like 6 and a build number like 5019, will wind up in your downloads folder. The files are disk images once again, and the update process is very similar to the original installation. It knows what to update and usually doesn't require a restart.

If you are installing a version that has an update, always install the goodies before the update.

If you are installing a version that has had several updates, you only need to install the most recent one; it includes all the previous fixes. We keep the most recent update dmg on the server next to the main installer.

The only caveat for updating immediately is if you are working in Teamwork. In that case, all users in a project have to update together, along with the BIM Server application which is running the project.