Knowledgebase
Password Security
To avoid major pains with hacked user accounts, ensure you do the following: A. use a password manager to create ‘memorable’ passwords, e.g. a sequence of words, some upper and some lower case, separated by hashtags and with all letter ‘E’ changed to 3… could have an entropy of 110bits, typically anything above 50 is safe […]
Daniel Schagemann
Restart your Mac properly
Why should I restart? To keep your Mac running at its best, a restart often helps to set things straight. If your Mac is managed by an IT admin, e.g. via jamf, Mosyle or our own RADAR service, it is crucial to restart your Mac before you leave for the day, so the management system […]
Daniel Schagemann
Automate Mail with Applescript (up to 10.6)
Ever wondered how you can setup an automated mailing list to organise e.g. your sports team? Our problem: not getting enough numbers for our weekly team sport and having to go down to the park in vain! Our solution: setup our mac mini running 10.6 using apple script to send an invitation, collect and count […]
Daniel Schagemann
Archicad 27 replacement icon(s)
Please enjoy our alternative / replacement icons for Archicad 27. As usual all icons are available for free and as always in full Retina Display glory… Click here to download. To install, simply replace the original Archicad logo (Archicad.icns) with our new version (also named Archicad.icns) in the following location: macOS… /Applications/GRAPHISOFT/Archicad 27/Archicad 27.app/Contents/Resources/Archicad.icns Please […]
Daniel Schagemann
Smart Transmittal
Main principles The Smart Document Transmittal is an object that reads data from text files exported from Archicad files. It organises the data into a graphic document transmittal that is placed as object on a Layout. Conditions To allow the object to organise the data the following conditions must be met: The Archicad Revision management […]
Martin Petru
Apple Mail (macOS only) show sender email address
To ensure you can easily verify a sender is the actual sender of an Email in Apple Mail (macOS only) you can choose to always show the sender’s email address. To enable this do the following: Open Mail > Preferences > Viewing > untick “Use Smart Addresses” checkbox. If it is unchecked already and sender’s […]
Daniel Schagemann
IFC Interoperability Tips
The increasing complexity of modern construction projects has identified the growing need for enhanced collaboration and interoperability within the (BIM) framework. Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) play a pivotal role by establishing a standardised data exchange format, facilitating interoperability among diverse BIM software applications such as Revit and Sketchup. To meet this expectation for effective communication […]
Andrew Kim
Drawing Numbering System
Drawing Numbering System: A Scalable Solution One major challenge that most architectural practices face sooner or later is developing a logical and scalable Drawing Numbering System (DNS). A well-designed DNS should accommodate projects ranging from small-scale residential to large and complex institutional projects, which may be staged and spread across various sites. At the same […]
Daniel Schagemann
Icon creation tutorial for macOS apps
For a long time Graphisoft’s Archicad had the same icon for different versions, making it difficult to visually distinguish which version a file was opened in. To solve this annoying problem, in 2009 the macinteract team crafted our own icon set and made it publicly available – for a graphical history or as inspiration, please […]
Daniel Schagemann
Smart Views from Sun
Setup Confirm the Project North and Project Geolocation are set correctly: ARCHICAD > Project Preferences > Project Location… Place the Views from the Sun object into the model space or worksheet (3D guides available only if object is placed into model space). Align its centre with the centre of your project (i.e. typically the centre […]
Martin Petru
File Transfer Challenge: LAN vs. the Rest
To inform the discussion around working from home (WFH) or overseas requirements, as well as setting expectations as to what can be remotely worked on efficiently, we have conducted various file transfer tests over different types of connections. Parameters We used the LAN_Speed Test app to read and write files of various different sizes, over […]
Daniel Schagemann
Archicad Font Size : points vs mm
UPDATED 12/06/2020 > updated with latest info & process To the uninitiated trying to match the font size in Archicad to font size used in a document generated in another application, e.g. design reports may cause a major headache. Read on if you ever wondered how to get this right… Background (go straight to PROCESS […]
Martin Petru
VMware Fusion missing .vmx repair
If for some reason you can not start a virtual machine in VMware Fusion and it instead throws the following error message about a missing .vmx file at you, here is what you can try to get it going again. Open VMware FUSION, then go to File > New and in the opening window click […]
Daniel Schagemann
BIM Reality Check
Lately we have noticed there is lot more activity and discussion occuring in the field of BIM – for example various Australian organizations such as NATSPEC, BIM-MEP Aus and most recently the AIA have now published BIM guidelines which to varying degrees adapt those which have already been developed overseas. There are also an increasing […]
Daniel Schagemann
Oculus Quest in Architecture (on macOS)
Finally we have found some VR hardware that we think is suited to architectural offices – the Oculus Quest. You might rightfully wonder why we have been waiting for so long to jump onto the VR train? It is simple really, we have seen a many expensive VR systems come and go and were not […]
Daniel Schagemann
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