Documentation Workflow in ArchiCAD 10

The big story in this department is that the PlotMaker, a standalone program previously, is now gone, its functions fully integrated into ArchiCAD 10. To new users this means nothing. To old users this means learning the new Navigator.

Other reviews have commented that it is somewhat confusing for a new user to navigate through the four different maps of the project: Project Map, View Map, Layout Book and Publisher Set. We would have to concur here; but the problem isn't the program really but rather that the Navigator is sophisticated and deserves extensive explanation.

The new Navigator palette's areas could be explained thus: The Project Map is a default tree-structure overview of the Viewpoints of your project, including lists and reports. The View Map includes predefined and custom-created Views of your project file. The Layout Book contains what you think it contains: Layouts. This corresponds to laying out views onto an architectural sheet. The Publisher Sets pane of the Navigator is the fourth and final element and includes your defined layout sets for various publishing output (printing, plotting and saving to a local or remote server).

The logical flow from within the Navigator works like this. From the Project Map you have predefined "viewpoints" such as stories, sections/elevations, plans, etc. You can enter a viewpoint and save it with particular settings. This then becomes a "view" listed in the View Map. From the View Map you can then place this view in a "layout" (Layout Book). A Navigator Preview palette can be opened up giving you a graphic generalization of the view's location in the virtual building. (see image 17).

17 - Navigator Preview palette	18 - Navigator Palette Layout Book

You might be wondering where do you set your scale? Since a view is a saved viewpoint, you create views for the purpose of placing them onto layouts at particular scales and settings. Click the Settings button at the bottom of the View Map pane. (see image 18). The Layout Book holds the layouts for the entire architectural project. It can contain drawings and information from other ArchiCAD files and external file sources. Normally you drag views from the View Map to the Layout Book in the Organizer. (see QuickTime movie qt-n02). Finally the Publisher Set pane is where you drag layouts to to create "sets" to be published via plotting, uploading to an FTP site or converted to a different file format. (see image 19).

This has been a somewhat detailed explanation of the four main panes of the Navigator palette. Now I'll briefly cover other key new features in this documentation focus.

QuickTime - qt-n02	19 - FTP publishing from Layout Book

ArchiCAD 10 features parametric associative Titles which are placed on drawings automatically. Information from the title panel of the drawing settings gets assigned and utilized by the drawing titles on that drawing layout. This saves architects a tremendous amount in coordinating their drawings. ArchiCAD 10 can now import PDF documents as drawings directly into layouts or model views -- a key benefit as PDF becomes even more valuable within the design and engineering worlds.

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