The Global ARCHICAD Community

[Anton Kazmin]

I’ve just finished manufacturer’s object library for ARCHICAD and Revit. When I was asked to do this job hourly, I had to estimate three times the time for ARCHICAD GDL programming than I had to for the same Revit family. Revit family editor lets me do all the BIM object creation tasks at least three times as fast, hence the difference.

I think the time has come to finally create a visual GDL editor to supplement all the other great features of ARCHICAD.

Today, world’s BIM software acceptance hinges on BIM object availability, and no matter the refined parametric ARCHICAD libraries we have now, they are no match for countless manufacturers’ objects that need to be created daily to represent all the BIM building components. Without proper GDL visual editor ARCHICAD is loosing the battle and people choose BIM applications with better BIM object support.

I can’t think of any feature for AC23 and beyond that may have as high growth impact potential for ARCHICAD franchise than easy to use Visual GDL editor.

[Gianluca Ardiani]

Totally agree.

[DGSketcher]

Speak to your GS supplier regarding Library Part Maker which is available in a number (not all countries) and does the basics of what you are asking for. What it doesn't provide is parametric adjustment, but aren't a lot of manufacturer's objects static anyway?

I haven't looked at the resulting GDL code, but perhaps a few tweaks by an experienced GDL programmer may make the parts parametric.

[vdentello]

At least some colors in the scripting UI, like any other interface or auto completion, that'd be a huge step. (I know that there are 3rd party editors, but...)
That would be my biggest wish for now.

O even something like "get" from current 2D or 3D window (instead having to undock window and drag element to script). That'd make things a lot easier.

Another idea is primitives, when we convert Archicad's native cylinder object as an object, it becomes a macro with a call. That macro could be be transformed to a simple 3D cylinder for example. This way, people could assemble their objects and save as something.

[Tomek Piatek]

I am an experienced Revit user and an ex-software engineer. I have switched jobs recently and went from Revit to ArchiCAD. I can see some real advantages that ArchiCAD has over Revit but that whole GLD business ain't one of them. Revit's family editor is a killer feature.

I don't really care for all those arguments that GDL object are so much smaller than Revit families. Who cares. Memory is dirt cheap these days. GDL is an obscure and difficult to use programming language. The built-in "IDE" is far too limiting and simplistic. The whole thing needs to be overhauled as the current implementation is no longer fit for purpose.

Firstly, I'd like to see GDL replaced with a modern language, like Python for example (I'm not hung up on this, JavaScript will do just fine too). Secondly, I'd like to see a graphical geometry editor. Of course there needs to be a way to connect the interactively designed geometry with code. Now, THAT would be a killer feature that would leave Revit tumbling with the weeds.

[petsagouris]

+1

GDL sucks, object system sucks. It is too limiting and too hard to use.

[henryL]

A visual gdl editor is a must have feature, all main competitor have a built in visual editor.
Revit has Dynamo
Vectorworks has Marionette
Allplan has Allplan Visual Scripting
Archicad ?
I do a lot of documentation on my projects and standard labels and 2d objects does't always fit my needs. A visual script editor with 3D/2D capabilities is what we all need.

[Tomek Piatek]

@henryL I think you're mixing up some concept here. By analogy to Revit, Dynamo and Marionette do not serve the same purpose as Revit's family editor. They are tools for programmatic/parametric design and geometry generation and general programmatic control over a project.

I think that ArchiCAD has something much, much better than any of the competitors. It's called Rhino. Rather than reinventing the wheel, and making it a suboptimal wheel in the process, Graphisoft entered into a collaboration with Rhino folks and we now have a live bridge between ArchiCAD and Rhino. This is waaaaay better than Dynamo or Marionette. In my opinion of course Time will tell how advanced and integrated the bridge becomes.

Now, when we talk about a visual GDL editor we mean a tool for making loadable 3D objects, like chairs, cars, that sort of thing. Like Revit families. I don't think that this sort of thing can be farmed off to a 3rd party app because it requires far too great a level of integration and access to the internals of ArchiCAD.

[henryL]

@Tomek yeah i maybe mixed up thing but i think thread title is misleading. What what you're asking for it's not a visual gdl editor, you want an interface to draw parametric object as Revit with zero GDL code, so why should it called visual GDL editor?
Look at this video about allplan visual scripting
https://youtu.be/7vfKu07mdCc?t=409
i think this kind of object production could be the key to accomodate different archicad users starting from architects to gdl programmers.
@Tomek one more thing Archicad hasn't something much better. Rhino is a third party software. Grasshopper is the best parametric/algorithmic design tool on the market but all the parameters are stored on grasshopper and on archicad you receive just a mere 3D object.

[licheng6095]

There is no need to recreate a wheel. I hope to use the grasshopper to create parameterized GDL scripts in the future. I can use GDL commands directly in GH.In the end, GH can be directly converted into GSM, making it a true GDL parametric model.