Step 3 : Publishing
A - Workflow & Project Setup
Until this point, you have only created the main ArchiCAD model. But when you want to share your creation (e.g. present it to the
staff jury), you have to do some additional work.
In ArchiCAD, the creation of layout sheets needs some preparation. In practice, this is usually configured by the template you
open, but for this introduction course, you need to make sure that you understand the full workflow. This manual text follows a
possible route to do this.
The logical order is to define views first, create a layout sheet next and then to drag the view on the sheet. However, views
are dependent on a few other settings, such as pen sets, display scale and layer combinations.
Defining Layer Combinations
All ArchiCAD objects are placed on layers. Any combination of layer settings can be stored as a Layer Combination.
Before you create a view, you need to make sure that a valid Layer Combination is chosen.
Display Settings for Model & Documentation
At the same time, the display settings define how the building is shown on screen. Before you create views, you need to
make sure that a valid Display Setting is chosen.
Similarly, the Display Scale defines how the font sizes are calculated and might define the display of certain scale-
sensitive elements, such as doors or windows.
Templates
In an architectural office, it doesn't make sense to create the whole set of configurations each and everytime someone
works on a Project. It is therefore of utmost importance to define a common set of Office templates, so no matter who is
working on a project, all designs will be displayed according to the office standard.
B - The Navigator
The palette which resides normally at the right side of the ArchiCAD interface, is the Navigator. This is where you can access all
different views on the building model: drawings, floor plans, 3D models, sections, elevations, perspective views, listings etc...
It works in four different modes:
Project Map
This mode is the default mode and lets you navigate the ArchiCAD project. You can double click on any entry and the main
view will display this part of the project.
View Map
In the View Map, you can navigate through the different views. So what is a view?
Views in ArchiCAD are named 'views' of the project, containing a fixed Layer Combination, a fixed Display Scale and a fixed
Display Setting. You can create a new view, by setting the current viewport to specific settings and then capturing that as a
new view. Views restore many settings and are important for creating predictable drawings. You can create multiple views
from the same story and have each displayed differently, e.g. "ground floor plan 1:50" versus "site plan 1:1000".
When you select a view, you can access and change its settings:
There are 2D and 3D views, but they all contain an Identification, which can be set manually or automatically (derived from the
Project Map), which is recommended.
They contain a Layer Combination and a Display Scale.
2D Views contain Model View Options, chosen Dimension style and optionally the zoomed position.
3D Views can be either 3D Model views or PhotoRendering Views. They can capture all current settings, such as display
filters, 3D Window Settings, Cutting planes and Cutaways and PhotoRendering Settings. To Redefine a 3D View, select the
current view, adjust the settings, reopen its properties and choose "Redefine Image Settings with Current".
Remark: When defining 3D Views, they will become drawings when placed on a layout. Renderings are bitmap images,
but 3D Window views can be vector drawings, allowing sharp lines and clean hidden lines for printing. You might have
to choose the Internal Engine rather then the OpenGL engine for the display, to have linework instead of pixels.
Layout Book
Views are collected into a seperate bundle of documents and sheets.
A Layout Book is organized as a hierarchic set of layouts and subsets. A subset can contain other layouts or subsets.
Each Layout has a numbering (which is usually automatic) and can contain drawings. Drawings are referenced documents,
referring to views of the current project, but they can also refer to images and external documents, such as PDF
documents or DWG drawings.
Layout Book = the top level, the complete bundle of documents
Layout = a single 'page' in the book, usually a large plot sheet
Drawings... = an item that is placed onto a layout: a drawing, an image, an external document
Subset = a folder inside a book, which can contain other layouts
Layout
Drawings...
You place views onto layouts as drawings. This way, the placed view will maintain the correct scale, layer combination
and display settings. At any time, you can continue working on the Building Model. When returning to the layouts, the
drawings will be regenerated to reflect all recent changes. When placing drawings onto a layout, ArchiCAD will
automatically apply a title to the drawing and (by default) creates an automatic numbering. Multiple drawings can be placed
onto a single layout.
Each Layout has an ID (usually assigned automatically, to maintain a consistent page numbering) and inherits the
characteristics of a Master Layout, which is an empty sheet, but which can contain a title block.
A drawing has an ID and properties.
Identification: Normally, the ID and the name are derived from the View, as to obtain automatic naming for the
drawing titles. Most drawings are references to source views of the current project and are updated automatically.
Properties: The drawing has a size and a scale, but it can be optionally resized or rotated, if required.
Frame: You can add a printable frame around a drawing, although this is seldomly used in current practice.
Title: each drawing that is placed onto a layout can be assigned a title, which automatically adds the correct scale,
name and ID of the drawing.
Editing Layouts & Drawings
Beware that when placing drawings onto layouts, they seem to act as regular ArchiCAD entities, having a Settings dialog
and a convenient Pet Palette. However, when you stretch a drawing, you are resizing it, so the scale will not make sense.
You can use the upper row of editing tools to edit the drawing border, which crops the drawing, rather then resizes the
drawing.
The Title is added automatically and will reflect any changes in Drawing Name, Scale and the global numbering. This
helps to obtain a consequent style throughout a Layout Book.
Publisher Sets
Although the main purpose of creating a Layout Book is plotting or printing, you can actually define different publisher
sets for different purposes. A publisher set is a collection of views, sheets, layouts or whatever you need to export. You
can define multiple publisher sets in a single project.
When creating a publisher set to print or plot, you can usually drag a whole layout book onto an empty or new
publisher set. You might need more sets in a single project, e.g. the set for the preliminary document bundle for
discussion with the client and another set for the full building permit documents.
Another set could be created to generate a full PDF booklet, for sending by mail.
It is even possible to export the 3D Model into an U3D-file, which can be embedded in a PDF
document. When a user receives this PDF document, it is possible to navigate the 3D model directly from
within the PDF document, without any additional software. Mac users need to make sure to use the Adobe
Reader and not the OSX Preview application, though...
Make sure to save the 3D Model into an U3D file first and then go to the Document Options > PDF
Options... for the particular PDF page in the Publisher set. There you can assign the U3D file to be
embedded by attaching it to an existing view.
Then you might want to create a set to upload the whole current project status onto a website (using an ftp-server),
where each drawing will be a DWF document which can be browsed online. This is useful when the whole current
design needs to be evaluated by third parties, using nothing more then a webbrowser.
Yet another useful goal of a publisher set is the export of all drawings to AutoCAD DWG documents, for use by a
consultant or engineering office.
What makes publishing so compelling is that the whole bundle of documents for a single export task can be regenerated and
recreated at any time, capturing all design changes. You don't have to remember which drawings need to be included and on which
scale and if the correct layers are visible to have the same output. You only need to make sure that the building model is up to date.
This is important, even for small projects by a single designer, but it is even more important in larger offices, where multiple architects
and drafters might be involved in a single project.
C - The Organizer
The Organizer is an enhanced view of the Navigator, displaying two Navigators alongside eachother. This allows an easier
transfer of views onto Layouts and of Layouts or views into Publisher Sets, using drag and drop.
To display the Organizer, click on the button in the navigator at the top-left.
The Organizer will display two navigators, which can be set independently (although the right navigator will always display at
least the same Navigator mode as the left one). By setting the two navigators to different modes, you can create three usable
working modes:
The Organizer - View Editor mode allows for an easy creation of Views, by choosing the source window and convenient settings
from the left side and dragging this onto the right side.
The Organizer - Layout Editor mode is used for dragging views onto Layouts.
The Organizer - Publisher mode is used when adding views or layouts onto publisher sets.
Master Layouts
When you add new Master Layouts, go to their settings immediately and make sure that their paper size is correct. It is
best to make them match your own printer.
You can then add drafting entities to create a Title block. Some people create GDL objects as Title Blocks, to maintain a
consistent and editable style over different projects. But it can be easily done by drawing some linework and adding some
texts with AutoText strings for automatically entered content. The following example displays a single sheet, including a
ground plan, a section and a schedule. You can add perspective drawings as well as renderings, if you want.
AutoText
A sheet to plot can contain drawings (with their titles), a title block (which is drawn on the Master Layout) and additional
drafting entities, such as linework and text. When you are creating Layout Sheets and are adding text, you can utilize the
AutoText feature. This is available while editing text and can be used in Layouts but also on regular drawings. When you
are editing, you can rightclick or click on the A-button with two arrows to display a popup where you can choose different
AutoText fields. These fields are not simply text snippets, but they are derived from the project information and (in case of
Layout sheets) can retrieve information, such as the current page number, page ID, current scale etc...
Then the AutoText dialog opens where you can choose any available field. The content of these fields is automatically
derived from the Project and Drawing information.
You can access the Project Info from the menu File > Info > Project Info...
When you add AutoText with Project info, the field content can be displayed immediately. When you add AutoText with
Layout or Drawing info, this will be visible as a placeholder (e.g. #Drawing Name) and only filled in on a sheet where this
info is available.
D - Publishing
When you have defined one (or more) Publisher sets, you can generate the whole output in a single step. ArchiCAD will
regenerate every part of the set that needs updating (which can take a while) and export the whole set into your chosen output:
a series of plotted or printed documents, a PDF booklet, a website with DWF drawings or a series of DWG files.
As an example, you can download an A3 PDF booklet (created in ArchiCAD 10, about 3,10MB) here.
The example that was used in the classroom in year 2007-2008 can be found here (ArchiCAD 11, about 14MB, including an
example of a set of published documents). When you try to load this into ArchiCAD 12, make sure to active both the 'ArchiCAD
12' and 'ArchiCAD 11 Migration' libraries, so all library objects will be restored.
The example that was used in the classroom in year 2008-2009 can be found here (ArchiCAD 12, about 11MB, as an archive
document).
Working with DWG files
Not elaborated here - There are specific Translation-configuration files for DWG exchange. You can choose between:
Exporting the ArchiCAD floor plans as seperate DWG files
Exporting ArchiCAD layouts as a DWG document with the layouts in AutoCAD Paper Space and the content of the
Paper Space viewports placed into Model Space as separate drawings.
Starting from a provided DWG file, which is set up with correct pens, layers etc... and use that as a reference while
preparing a translation.
Updated on 23/02/2009 by Stefan Boeykens.