GRAPHISOFT ArchiCAD 29

About GRAPHISOFT ArchiCAD 29

ArchiCAD works from a single building model rather than a folder of unrelated drawings. Walls, slabs, roofs, doors and windows are real objects carrying material, thickness and performance data, and every plan, section, elevation and schedule is a view onto that same model. Move a wall and the change propagates to everything that shows it, which removes an entire category of coordination error from a project.

The drawing production side is unusually strong for a modelling package. The layout book holds sheets with title blocks, drawing numbering and revision tracking, views place onto sheets and update automatically, and the annotation, dimensioning and hatching tools are good enough that the output leaves the application as a finished document set rather than as a base for someone else to draft over.

Object libraries do most of the modelling work. The bundled library covers the standard construction elements plus fittings and furniture, objects carry parameters so a door adjusts to its opening rather than being replaced, and custom objects can be built from the modelling tools or scripted for repeated components.

Collaboration is built in through the shared project model, which lets several people work in the same file at once with reservations on the parts each is editing, over a local network or a remote connection. Exchange with other disciplines happens through IFC, and the structural and services models arrive as reference layers that can be checked for clashes.

What is included in this build

• Single building model driving plans, sections, elevations and schedules automatically
• Layout book with sheets, title blocks, drawing numbering and revision tracking
• Parametric construction elements carrying material and performance data
• Large bundled object library with parametric fittings and furniture
• Custom object creation through modelling or scripting for repeated components
• Shared project model for several people working in one file with element reservations
• IFC exchange with structural and services disciplines plus reference layers
• Visualisation with a built in renderer and export to external rendering packages

Changed in version 29.2.1.5101

• Faster view regeneration on very large models
• Improved IFC import fidelity from structural packages
• Layout book handling of large drawing sets made more responsive
• Additional parametric objects added to the bundled library
• Reduced file size on projects with heavy library usage

Installation walkthrough

These steps assume a clean machine. If a previous release of the same application is present, deal with that first, since an overlapping install is the most common cause of a setup that stops halfway.

1. Install the current graphics driver before starting.
2. Disable real-time protection and extract the archive to a short path.
3. Run setup as administrator and let the library stage finish completely.
4. Choose the regional standard and interface language during setup, since it affects default templates.
5. Reboot once, then set the project and library folder locations on first launch.

System requirements and file details

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