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My latest free ArchiCAD tutorial video: Multi-Story Buildings – Basic & Advanced Strategies

As part of my personal Thanksgiving ritual, over the weekend I created another free ArchiCAD tutorial as a way of giving thanks to all of you. It is my privilege to be able to contribute to this vibrant community of creative design professionals.

 

ArchiCAD Tutorial | Multi-Story Buildings: Basic & Advanced Strategies

In this 30 minute tutorial I show several different approaches to modeling multiple story buildings, starting from simple schematic-level stacking and evolving into highly detailed methods that give beautiful section drawings automatically. The more sophisticated techniques are rather efficient, as they are actually fast and fairly simple to use once you understand what’s possible and how to set them up.

As a beginner, one starts with basic stacking of elements and simple walls with empty fills. The same approach may be used by a veteran user, but then developed further as the design is refined. Solid Element Operations make it easy to create a model that generates additional detail in the sections. The use of complex profiles allows even more complete detailing in the model, along with the possible separation of the structural floor from finish floor into separate elements. When done properly, the model generates views that can be used directly in enlarged wall sections with minimal cleanup, and little to add except for annotation.

Please enjoy my latest creation. If you learn something that helps you use ArchiCAD more effectively, click the Like button or better yet, post a comment on the YouTube page or as a comment here.

Check out my ArchiCAD Tutorials YouTube Channel for more free ArchiCAD tutorial videos.

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ArchiCAD Tutorial: Create a New 3D Object with Custom Hotspots and 2D Symbol

This ArchiCAD Tutorial has a little story behind it.

Last week I received an email from Francois Swanepoel, a colleague who works with ArchiCAD in South Africa. Francois asked me for some help with a GDL question, and pointed me to this discussion on ArchiCAD-Talk.

A series of posts ensued, which inspired me to create a new 30 minute video, which I just posted on my ArchiCAD Tutorials YouTube Channel:

ArchiCAD Tutorial | How to Create a New 3D Object with Custom Hotspots and 2D Symbol

What You’ll Learn in this ArchiCAD Tutorial

I explain and demonstrate how to create a custom 3D object from elements in your model, complete with custom hotspots on plan as well as in 3D. I used a special 3D Hotspot object which I scripted (downloadable without charge from the YouTube video page) to set the snappable points in the 3D model.

In the video I also show how to easily redraft the 2D symbol (which is normally scripted in GDL by ArchiCAD) to simplify it. This is often a confusing area for new and intermediate level users, since it is easy to create a custom 3D object but it’s not obvious how to change the 2D symbol if it doesn’t look the way you need.

I also show how to add in an opaque fill to cover up items below the object. I’ve had this question come up many times over the years. Users often want their new object to work in a way similar to standard library parts, which cover up floor tiles or other elements placed behind them in the Display Order.

I take a few minutes in this tutorial to demonstrate that old favorite technique (no longer as widely used or needed, but still useful) of rotating the viewing position to a side elevation to create a custom object with a different axis orientation. As many of you know, this can help simplify the creation of certain forms, since it is sometimes easier to draft something precisely on plan then flip it up to a vertical orientation.

I hope you enjoy my latest ArchiCAD tutorial – please check it out, click the “Like” button, and post a comment!

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Four more free ArchiCAD tutorials, three new ArchiCAD training mini-courses

During the past month, I released 4 more free ArchiCAD tutorials on my YouTube channel:

• Roof Modeling in ArchiCAD 15 and above
• Migrating Favorites
• Project Map vs. View Map
• How to Model Better in 3D and Draw Less in 2D

The response from ArchiCAD users around the world has been phenomenal, with 46,143 views in the past 30 days along with 126 Likes and 25 comments.

This has helped propel my ArchiCAD Tutorials YouTube channel to a milestone of over 450,000 views and 2,000 subscribers, solidly establishing it as the premier destination for ArchiCAD users outside of Graphisoft’s own sites.

There are a lot of us ArchiCAD users out there – I recently checked and my tutorials have been watched by users from 201 countries. I didn’t even know there were that many countries… ;->

Thanks to all of you – it is my pleasure and privilege to be able to share these tutorials with you, and help you get the most out of ArchiCAD!

To celebrate, I am giving away to five lucky YouTube subscribers one of my new specialty training courses.
Each day I will announce another prize – this is going to be fun.

I’m picking winners at random from my list of YouTube subscribers, giving preference to those who have posted a comment on the videos.

(If you subscribe now and post a comment, you’ll be in the draw!)

THREE NEW SPECIALTY ARCHICAD TRAINING COURSES
ON SALE FOR $47 EACH THRU FRIDAY OCTOBER 19

To celebrate this YouTube milestone, and the first anniversary of my QuickStart Course on ArchiCAD Basics, I have put together a new series of affordable training resources – three sets of lessons from the Best Practices Course focused on specific topics:

FastTrack! Course – speed your ArchiCAD design and production with these tips and tricks; retain control and improve quality while working at top velocity (8 hours)

RoofDesign Course – learn the fastest ways to create roof models and drawings using ArchiCAD’s Best Practices; build roof systems quickly and accurately (5+ hours)

SiteModel Course – create topography based on DWG surveys or PDF drawings; master the mesh tool and model terrain and hardscape, do site improvements and calculate cut and fill (3.5 hours)

These specialty courses will retail for $97, but during my introductory promotion you can enroll for only $47!

Each course has a set of video lessons to help you master a specific topic. You can go through them at your own pace, as the videos are available on demand in our member area. Watch them in your web browser or download them for permanent reference.

Get all three courses for only $97:
ArchiCAD Training Three-Pack – get all three – the Fast!Track, RoofDesign and SiteModel Courses – over 16 hours of high quality training for only $97 during my introductory sale!

QUICKSTART AND BEST PRACTICES ARCHICAD TRAINING COURSES ON SALE TOO

As part of the anniversary celebration, I am also putting the QuickStart Course on sale for $147, a savings of $50 off the standard price of $197. A two-payment option is available, so you can get started learning ArchiCAD for only $77.

The Best Practices Course is on sale for $597, a savings of $100 off the standard price. The Best Practices Course includes the entire QuickStart Course, so you can go through the basics as well as all the intermediate and advanced topics. (The new Fast!Track, RoofDesign and SiteModel Courses are all included as well, since they are excerpts from the big course.)

When you enroll in the Best Practices Course, in addition to permanent access to the member area for all the training videos, you also get 6 months of membership in my ArchiCAD Coaching Program. Three times each month I hold a live 90 minute webinar in which I answer questions from members, either sent in ahead of time or asked in the chat box.

This ArchiCAD Coaching Program a great place to get your personal questions answered, and learn how to apply Best Practices principles in the context of real-life projects. You can even send me a project so I can show how things can be done or cleaned up in your actual file.

CELEBRATING ARCHICAD, HELPING ARCHICAD USERS

I’ve been working with ArchiCAD users for over 22 years now, and I’m more excited than ever about what architects and building designers can do with this program. As I’ve broadened my focus over the past two years from being an ArchiCAD reseller in California, I’m delighted to get to know and help ArchiCAD users from around the world.

I’m truly delighted to share all of these resources with you, and to give you the best deal possible on high quality ArchiCAD training and coaching. Please check out the course pages to see all the details about each one, and choose the best option that suits your needs and budget.

If you have any questions or comments, please drop me an email or post a comment on any of these website pages. I look forward to hearing from you, and working with more and more of you to help you master ArchiCAD and get the most out of this powerful but often enigmatic software.

Best regards,
Eric Bobrow

P.S. If you purchase any of my training courses, THEN win one of the prizes, don’t worry. I’ll give you another course, or refund what you paid, or give you a credit towards the Best Practices Course equal to twice what you paid.

ArchiCAD users – this is going to be fun!

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Keeping Things Up to Date

I haven’t paid attention to this website for a while, and I intend to change that. When I last posted here in June, I was in the middle of presenting a series of webinars on Internet Marketing for Architects. Now, almost three months later, I’ve launched an entire course on Internet Marketing for Architects, and presented 8 out of 12 weekly training lessons with very positive feedback.

It’s been a rather all-consuming summer of work on many fronts: in addition to launching the IMA course, we upgraded MasterTemplate for ArchiCAD 16, I’ve been creating more lessons for my Best Practices Course, and producing more videos for my YouTube channel.

Traffic to my YouTube channel has continued to increase, and we recently passed 400,000 views, less than 5 months after hitting 200,000. I guess I must be doing something right… people are recommending the channel to their friends and colleagues, and we now have over 1850 subscribers.

This fall, I’ll be launching several different initiatives that I’m excited about. To start out, I’ll be introducing a series of 3 mini-courses for specific ArchiCAD topics: Site Design and Terrain Modeling, Roof Design and Documentation, and the FastTrack! Course on optimizing your speed and accuracy in general. Look for an announcement next week on these very affordable and extremely targeted training series.

I’m going to celebrate the YouTube milestone by awarding 4 prizes for these new ArchiCAD training courses to subscribers. If you’d like to win one of these all you have to do is visit my YouTube channel and subscribe (just click the button – it’s easy). I’ll pick 4 subscribers and give them a free training course to thank everyone for their support and encouragement as I continue to develop my comprehensive Best Practices Course into the richest and most effective training for ArchiCAD users.

I’ll be back soon with more news about the fall. There is a LOT that I have in the pipeline that I know you’re going to love!

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Internet Marketing for Architects Webinar Series

Wow, how fast things change. In my last post here on this site on March 27, my YouTube channel had 191,727 views; as of today (less than 12 weeks later) it’s at 312,375! My reach (the number of people I’m influencing) has gone up dramatically.

The Power of Internet Marketing

I’m truly seeing the power of internet marketing. In March, I was just starting to see the possibility that one of my websites could rank on page 1 for a Google search for ArchiCAD. As of today, I occupy positions 6, 8 and 10 on page 1 for my three sites. Anyone who is doing research on ArchiCAD will quickly become aware of my products and services, and eventually visit my websites and perhaps become a client.

These strategies work just as well for architectural firms. One of my clients is a small firm in Los Angeles that now sits firmly in the #1 position for some common Google searches, and brings in all the work they can handle from their online efforts.

If you’d like to learn more about how to use Internet Marketing strategies to bring in more clients and projects, and grow your business as an architect or building design professional, I invite you to join me in one of my free training webinars.

Can you afford to wait any longer to master Internet Marketing?

Attend this free training webinar and learn:

• Why the old marketing methods aren’t working the way they used to
• How smart internet marketing strategies can bring in new design jobs
• The common problem with architect websites and marketing materials
• The blind spot most architects share
• How a small firm was able to compete in a large city, and how you can too
• 8 effective, easy to implement ideas you can use right away to bring more visitors to your website, and ultimately more new clients and projects

After attending this content-rich 60 minute training session, you’ll have a roadmap for how to get started, and know the most important things to focus on that will bring in the greatest results in the shortest period of time.

• Click here to sign up now for this exciting free webinar training!

Space is limited, sign up today to avoid disappointment – you can’t afford to miss this training. It’s going to give you a roadmap for how to bring in more clients and projects for your design firm.

When you learn these valuable and practical online techniques, you’ll be way ahead of your competition.

If they learn these methods and you don’t, well…what can I say? It’s going to make it much harder for you!

Best regards,

Eric

P.S. Help me out…I’d love to know your most burning question or frustration – or two or three – on this topic. Post a comment here or send me an email – it will help me a lot as I prepare what I’m about to share with you on how to apply internet marketing strategies for architects.