Recap Handout

Archicad
Beginner Tutorial
17th & 24th 2023
Intro
 Archicad is the OG (Original Gamer) of BIM. Developed since the early 80s.
 BIM is now a compulsory skill for the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and
Construction) industry.
 You can get Archicad Edu Version which has the full function for free at
https://myarchicad.graphisoft.com/
 Best way to learn professional software is to learn at your own pace and put in much
practice.
 Use Learn.Graphisoft.com to enrol on their free beginner course.

Ref: https://graphisoft.com/why-graphisoft/our-story
Interface
 ArchiCAD has a classic interface layout. It’s simple, open plan, and,

 Can be broken down into 7 main parts:

1. Menu bar - It’s where are the function tools, settings, and add-ons organised.

2. Standard toolbar - Quick access to a selection of editing tools. It can be customised.

3. Default settings - Settings for any selected tool or component.

4. Toolbox Palette - All design tools, 3D, 2D and Annotation. It can be customised.

5. Navigator Palette - Navigate through, and organise project views, also place to publish to pdf etc.

6. Working space or the Canvas - Your modelling and drafting space, depending on which view is on.

7. Quick view control - Quick setting to the view, scale, layer, pen sets etc…
1.Menu Bar 2. Standard Toolbar

3. Default Settings

5. Navigator Palettes
4. ToolBox Palettes

6. Working Space

7. Quick View Control

Building a small house
 Aim to build a single-story dwelling using 5 simple tools from the Toolbox palette.

 Focus of practice:
 a. Setting up the work environment.

 b. Learning the tools and making sure the settings are correct before building. Day 1 – Beginner

 c. Familiarise with drawing operations.

 d. Switch between views and save views.

Day 2 – Advanced
 e. Save the view to a layout and publish it to a PDF file.
a) Setting up the work environment.

Step 1. Make sure the “Guidelines”, “Snap Guides”, and “Show Tracker.” buttons are check

Step 2. Also, ensure the “Construction

Grid Display” button is checked under the
“View” menu.

Step 3. Ensure you are on “Ground floor

view” from the view map, and the drawing
scale is set to 1:100
b. Learning the tools and making sure the settings are correct before building.

Step 1. Click on the “Wall” tool

Step 2. Ensure Geometry Method is set to

the third one: “Rectangular.”

Step 3. Click on the wall icon on the

default setting bar to open the “Wall
Default Settings” dialogue box.

Step 4. Change the wall structure to

“Basic”, and change wall thickness to 90

Step 5. Also, go through other settings in the

drop-down list. Make sure the settings make
sense. Feel free to change the “Override
Surfaces” settings.
c. Familiarise with drawing operations.

Step 1. After setting up the wall tool, try to use the wall tool to draw a 10mx7m
square on the ground floor. Pay attention to the following:

• The blue dashed guidelines

• The number trackers near your cursor, which you can press “TAB” to
type in some numbers.
• Learn to use the Mid Mouse Button and the Scroll Wheel to move around
and zoom in on the working space/canvas.
• If you are happy with the walls you draw, hit the ESC key and return to
selection mode.
c. Familiarise with drawing operations. (Continued)

Step 2. Use the same methodology with the “Slab”, “Roof”, and “Mesh” tools to
add floor, roof and site mesh components to your building. Notice:

• Make you check the default setting of the tool before drawing.
• You can use the “Space Bar” key to activate the magic wand function and
click inside a confined area to speed up your modelling process.
• Use the small “Editing Toolbox” that appears near your cursor when you
have selected a component to edit the building components to your liking.
A useful one, in this case, would be: “Offset all edges.”
 c. Familiarise with drawing operations. (Continued)

Step 3. When you finish, either right-click on a blank space on the “Canvas.” and
choose “Show All in 3D” or navigate to the “3D/All tab” above the canvas space
to inspect your building in 3D.

Note: The “Shift + Mid Mouse Button” is used to spin the camera in 3D view.
And click “Mid Mouse Button” to pan the camera.

Note: You can use the “Window Tool” and “Door Tool” to add windows and doors on the wall in either
3D window or plan. Explore them and see what you can achieve.
c. Familiarise with drawing operations. (Continued)

Step 4. Try to achieve something like this:

Step 5. Now we built a simple house in ArchiCAD. This concludes the Day 1 beginner part of the
tutorial. On Day 2, the Advanced part, we tried to build a multi-storey building using the same
techniques.

The concept and workflow are the same when building a complex project. Learning different tools and
editing options and familiarizing the operations (e.g., shortcut keys) through practice is essential.
Check out the Learning Resource.pdf in the scratch folder to learn at your own pace.
d. Switch between views and save views.
1 2 3 4
(Some recaps on the essential skills needed to understand the BIM system)

Step 1. Understanding the logical relations between different views and saving
view settings is essential when using BIM software.

• On the navigator palette, four buttons let you switch between different
Views. These are:

1) Project Map
2) View Map
3) Layout Books, and
4) Publisher Set.

• Project Map is where all the model and drafting components live. You can
design in this view, but the view settings (Scale, Layer, Pen Weight) won’t
be saved in the “Project Map.” Some people use this view to design
because there is more freedom,

• View Map is more organised. It lets you save settings for each floor view,
elevation or section… Use the View Maps to decide how you want your
drawings to look like.
d. Switch between views and save views.
(Some recaps on the essential skills needed to understand the BIM system)

Step 2. The quickest way to save a View Setting is by using

the “ Get Current Window’s Settings” button in the “View
Setting” dialogue box. However, you can set the settings
manually in the drop-down lists.

Step 3. View settings and their attributes can also be

found in the “Quick View Control.” at the bottom of the
Canvas.
e. Save the view to a layout and publish it to a PDF file.

Step 1. After setting up a view, right-click on the view and choose “Place
on Layout” to save your drawing on a layout. Adjust it to fit.

Step 2. Navigate to the “Publisher Set” to Publish a PDF or DWG file.

Explore the options to suit your liking, such as file path etc…

The End of Tutorials

Now you have published a drawing using ArchiCAD.
If you have struggles, Check out
Learn.Graphisoft.com and LEARNING
RESOURCE.PDF file we prepare for you.