Archicad Modules
Demeter Exekutor
Another idea that embodies this key principle is to save and reuse room modules. For example, after you create a kitchen with lots of carefully crafted objects that all fit together, save this group of elements for later reference and possible reuse.
The HLM is referenced from either a MOD (module) or a PLN (standard project) file. When you choose the HLM, you need to specify either MOD or PLN in the file type menu (at the bottom of the dialog); if the desired file appears grey, then double-check if the file type is set appropriately.
Once a HLM is placed, one may drag or rotate it as a whole, or create copies using any standard method (e.g. Drag a Copy, using the Option or CTRL key while dragging, or simply a Copy and Paste, etc.).
When you select a HLM, you will see that the selected elements have square handles, a visual indication that the elements are referenced to an external source and may not be modified. If you hover over the HLM with the Arrow tool, you will see information about the actual HLM name. Right-click on the HLM (with Groups Enabled) and you will see specific options that allow you to review and change the Hotlink Module Settings, or to Edit the Module in a Separate ArchiCAD instance (which can also be requested in the Hotlink Manager).
HLM files can contain one story or multiple stories,. When you place the HLM you can choose to include a single story or a range of stories. In ArchiCAD 17 there are additional options for how structural elements are linked to the stories, allowing a standard HLM to reconfigure and stretch or reduce its height to match the destination story structure, or to retain its original heights for walls, etc.
When the external file is revised, and the HLM instances are no longer identical to the reference, one may update them using the File menu > External Content > Hotlink Manager. ArchiCAD will inform you about any HLM files being out of date when you open or save the file, or when you open the Hotlink Manager.
It is possible to change the base elevation or rotation angle of a HLM, or mirror the HLM, using standard commands (Elevate, Rotate, Mirror) or with special options inside the Hotlink Module Settings dialog. Annotation elements such as text and labels have an option to allow their angle to remain fixed, for example at 0 degrees, even when they are part of a rotated or mirrored HLM; the anchor point of the text will determine how this rotation is managed.
There is an option for each HLM to leave out or ignore nested modules, which is useful when you want to hotlink in a building into the site plan file, then hotlink the site plan back to the building PLN without getting into a circular reference.
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What I am going to do is actually go and place a copy. By dragging it and pressing and releasing the Option key on the Mac or the Ctrl key on Windows, there is a little plus sign that gets added. I can then move this into a new position. This is now another copy of it. I will drag it into position touching the wall here, which is how I want it to sit, and I will drag another copy. So I will use the option to drag a copy or the keyboard shortcut here, and place it over in this position. [0:08:39]
Now you may have noticed that these have different colors. If I select them, you can see these brown, blue, and greenish dots. Whereas this, these are round dots. These are elements that are grouped together. There is a subtle difference visually here. These are editable; these are referenced to the outside. That will become abundantly clear in a minute. I will go and suspend groups here so I can edit this chair individually, and I will go and select a different chair. [0:09:18]
So that was handled, but notice there is this other thing here, which is elevation. Suppose that we had a split level construction, or we were placing elements; perhaps even an entire building repeated multiple times on a site. You can say I would like to move this up or down. In this case, zero on the story is fine. That is exactly what we want. But there will be times we will want to move it up or down. We can rotate it, and also potentially move it up or down relative to the story. If we put it on another story, it would make sense that it would have a height relative to that story as a reference. [0:20:20]
This text is on a text layer, A-ANNO-TEXT. What that means is that all of these elements, when they are displayed around, are controlled by those layers. I will open up my palettes for quick layers here, then say that I want to hide the text. I will hide the layer that the text is on. You can see they all go away. Just like you would expect, if I undo this and do the reverse, I will hide this layer, and all of the other ones go away. So it is just like standard elements, however there is one extra feature. [0:23:18]
If we go into the Layer Dialog, remember that there was a layer, A-ANNO-REFER, reference annotation. This is the master layer for this module, for these copies. If I turn off just that single layer, you will notice that all of these elements disappear. The original elements are there because the text layer is on, the equipment or furniture layer is on. But the master layer has been turned off for these elements. This is a powerful feature here to control the hotlinks as a whole. [0:24:01]
Having them separate can simplify matters for one thing, without having to use any teamwork or collaboration technology, you can have two different people working on two different buildings. Another is that your whole layout books and everything are just focused on one particular building. But perhaps you want to see all three of these buildings on the same site for visualization. Maybe you are doing walk-throughs, animations, or some overall site plans or elevations of the entire project. You could then hotlink in an entire building. [0:30:44]
So you would have rooms, and you might have rooms 1-25 in this wing, but you are going call them rooms 201-225 or 301-325 or 401-425; you will have the story number as a prefix. So if we were to take the entire story floor plate as a module, and have the zones with the correct information that this is room 25, or 22 or 18 on this story, but prefix it with the story, you would be able to generate schedules for any of the floors by combining the story number with the zone number, which indicates the particular room. [1:12:57]
Alright, so it looks like there are no further questions, so we will finish this up. If you do have any follow-up questions or those of you who listened to this or watched this in the Best Practices member area, please add your comments and questions to the page down below. This has been Eric Bobrow, thanks for watching.
The Info Tag distinguishes selected elements belonging to a Hotlink. A selected element which is part of a Hotlink will be marked with hollow squares. If we select several Hotlinks, their selection dots will have different colors to help us distinguish them.
We use the .mod format because it is optimized for Hotlinks. This is the smallest, in file size of the above-mentioned formats and we can publish it from the Publisher, most often just a single story. Creating modules through Publisher controls better saving options, locations and updating.
Any file that is already a Host for Hotlinks can be used as a Source to another Host. In that case the Hotlinks in that file will become Nested Hotlinks. Simply put, it is a Hotlink inside of a Hotlink. Nested Hotlink data is embedded in theHost project. Similar to normal Hotlinks, a nested Hotlink will still be visible even if its Source file is inaccessible. We can skip placing a nested Hotlink.
When hotlinking a file to a new Host file only the used Attributes will be appended to the Attributes of the Host file. There are certain rules followed by ARCHICAD in case of Hotlink files Attributes:
In case the Host file and the Hotlink file have different number of stories and different heights you can control how the Hotlink will be placed in yourHost project and how it will adjust to its elevations.
You can choose between keeping the existing Story Structure of your Hotlink Source or adjust to the Host Project Elevation. Also you can offset the placed Hotlink. And as a final step you get to select to which of your Host Project stories you want to associate your Hotlink stories. See Story Management of Hotlink Modules
If a Hotlink contains new properties that are not contained in the Host project, they will be shown grayed out in a Property Manager of the Host. We can search and schedule them, but in order to edit or delete a property from the Host we need to merge it into the Host from the Property Manager dialog.
This is my longest problem. We can't update some modules, but one team member can, and he is leaving now. We are using minus levels to create modules. I've tried finding the problem inside the module, however, there are several modules.
Since I was working as a GS support team in the past; I've tried releasing everything I know: deleting the local cache, finding* a problematic module and fixing it separately, replacing it with recreated version... Nothing solved my problem. It only works for one user in a 4 people team. Unbelievable!
Since the early days I've always used the simple method editing the modules in another Archicad. However on the last project we ran into a few attribute problems and it was suggested we use the Iceberg method. Personally I don't like lots of negative stories and the thought of overwriting a module file makes me uneasy.
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