Working effectively with CAD plans Part 3 - Smart Merge
In the first and second part we talked about importing DWG drawings in an Archicad project using two methods: merging DWG and attaching Xrefs.
But What about exporting plans as DWG drawings ? It’s quite simple: with the right view plan opened, save it as DWG.
What if we take that a step further and export our projects plan in such a way to enhance the collaboration with other engineers ?
Archicad offers this with the Smart Merge.
Smart Merge (Round-Trip Conversion)
During the design process involving architects and engineers, you would want to exchange your different plans with other contributors to the project, and you will receive some drawings concerning structures for example.
Smart Merge allows you to work at the same time on the same project in ARCHICAD and AutoCAD and exchange the additional information with minimal loss and interference.
The Smart Merge allows you to deal with certain modifications made in Archicad and AutoCAD:
How to use Smart Merge ?
The first thing to do if you’re willing to work with Round-Trip Conversion is to prepare the file for Smart Merge.
With the right view opened:?
In the Settings panel form the DXF-DWG Translation Setup, click on Save Options and choose Prepare for Smart Merge for Saving Floor Plan.
The Archicad project must be save as a PLN in order to include all the necessary data for the merge operation, otherwise Archicad won’t be able to rebuild the model according to the modifications made in AutoCAD.
After sending the DWG file and receiving it with the modifications, merge it to your project as seen in Part one.
Now you have the modifications made in AutoCAD merged to your project with new layers named according to the modification types.
You can control how modifications are shown in Archicad through the Smart Merge Options.
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The Merge process affects only visible and unlocked elements.
Smart Merge Options
Open the Smart Merge Option dialog box through:?
File > Interoperability > DXF-DWG > Smart Merge Options
A configuration determines what will happen when you merge a DXF/DWG.
You can edit, duplicate or rename an existing configuration (.mcf file located in the Add-On folder). You can also create new configurations.
A configuration is made of a group of rules, it can contain a maximum of 16 rules.
If an element coming from the DWG file meets a condition of a rule, the actions of that rule will be executed on it.
A rule is made of a condition and one or multiple actions.
Stretching objects in AutoCAD is not recommended, the Merge function processes only size-preserving transformations.
Use Graphic Overrides to visualize modifications
According to the rules you set/edit in the Smart Merge Configuration, edited elements in AutoCAD will be merged in specific layers To track every modification might be a demanding work, and with the design iteration cycle it can be time consuming
The thing that I do to make tracking modifications easier and less time consuming is to use Graphic Overrides.
By setting the right (graphic override) rules, you will be able to visualize the modifications easily.
This is the third and last part of articles dealing with CAD related work in Archicad.
I would like to know how you work with CAD plans during you modeling and design process.
Also if you have any questions, ask them in the comments section.
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Hope this helps.