downloading the educational version of archicad

open your web browser, (firefox, internet explorer, netscape, opera, etc.) and surf to graphisoft.com, click on the "download archicad 10" icon (red icon with photo of students sitting in the grass, middle-right),

on the next screen, click on the same "download archicad 10" icon, red with photo of students sitting in the grass, only larger, at the top or bottom of the screen,

now do these 3 steps:

choose country ("usa", for example),

choose a platform: windows xp, mac osx (power pc), or mac osx (intel-based),

now click "register&download".

Welcome to the Graphisoft student & teacher registration webpage!

Follow the simple registration wizard:

This wizard will take you through the registration process that is necessary to download Archicad^® 10 Educational Version. After completing this registration process, you will receive your personal Temporary Serial Number (30 days) and the download links by email.

• Step 1: Choose Location & Platform
• Step 2: Provide your basic information, select software
• Step 3: Confirm details
• Done! : Download instructions will be sent by email

Choose a Country/Region: *

- Argentina Australia Austria Bahrain Belgium/Dutch speaking Belgium/French speaking Bolivia Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burundi Canada/Eastern Canada/Western Chile China Colombia Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Ecuador Egypt Estonia Ethiopia Finland France Germany Greece Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Italy Japan Jordan Kenya Korea Kuwait Latvija Lebanon Leshoto Lithuania Luxemburg Malawi Malaysia Mauritius México Mozambique Namibia Netherlands New Zealand Nigeria Norway Oman Perú Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Saudi Arabia Serbia-Montenegro Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Swaziland Sweden Switzerland/French speaking Switzerland/German speaking Switzerland/Italian speaking Syria Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Turkey UAE Uganda Ukraine United Kingdom Uruguay USA Vietnam Yemen Zimbabwe Others

Select a platform: *

- Windows XP Macintosh OS X (Power PC) Macintosh OS X (Intel-based)

Registered users: Log in

on the next screen, fill out your personal information, use your real name or the one printed on your student ID; You will be asked to verify it later:

Your Details
Your full name : *
Your E-mail address : *
The school/college you are currently attending? : *
Where did you hear about the free downloadable Archicad 10 Educational version? : *	- Apple ArchitectsJURY.com website Fellow students Professor Web advertising Print advertising Press Chat-room Local Reseller Download.com Other
What is your current student/teacher status? :

The next page displayed will be:

Graphisoft student & teacher registration

Please check for the last time

Please look through your registration data, and make sure that it’s correct! Do note that this cannot be changed later!

The Serial Number and the download link will be sent to this E-mail address.

Your full name :	The name you entered previously
Your E-mail address :	The e:mail address you entered previously
Choice of download	Archicad 10: The country you entered previously
I allow Graphisoft, or its Local Partner, to occasionally contact me at this email address with general information on their products and services. Note: this email address will be handled confidentially and will not be disclosed to any 3rd party.
I allow Add-on product vendor(s) (e.g. Artlantis) to occasionally contact me at this email address with general information on their products and services.

you will now receive an e:mail with a temporary, 30 day serial number from graphisoft. if you haven't received an e:mail from graphisoft within a few minutes, check your bulk/junk/spam mail folder. It will look something like the sample e:mail below. the next step is to open the graphisoft e:mail and click on the links provided to begin the download process of both archicad AND the training guide and any add-on/plug-ins you selected during a previous step.

Dear ‘your name,’

(Whatever name, first and last, that you submitted to graphisoft in a previous step.)

Thank you for registering with Graphisoft for an Archicad 10 US American version Serial Number.

Your Temporary Serial Number is:
SA7T1-E2OPM-ACMM6-OKE1L

The name connected to the Serial Number is:
’your name’ (Whatever name, first and last, that you submitted to graphisoft in a previous step.)

This number, in combination with your name, will allow you to install and use the Archicad 10 US American version for 30 days, starting from today.

Please be aware that you must enter the serial code number exactly as it appears above. We suggest that you use the "ctrl-c" "ctrl-v" copy and paste method in entering your serial code number.

During your 30-day trial, every time you launch the program, you will see a dialog box that prompts you to progress through the registration process. Please follow these steps in order to convert your trial version to a free 1-year license. You should be redirected to a website where you can submit information which will be used in order to evaluate your student/teacher status. You may be contacted by one of our Graphisoft partners in order to verify your student/teacher status. Please be sure to check all of your email folders, including your Spam/Bulk Folders, for this communication from Graphisoft.

Follow one of the links below to download your Archicad 10 US American Installer Package.

Archicad 10 US American (317.4 Mbytes)

• LIMELIGHT NETWORKS - **
• DOWNLOAD.COM - *****

DOWNLOAD THE INTERACTIVE TRAINING GUIDE

Artlantis Studio 1.2.2 Windows XP

• Artlantis - *****

Accessory tools 10.3 Windows XP [NO SERIAL REQUIRED]

• Accessories tool - *****

Door & Window builder 10.6 Windows XP [NO SERIAL REQUIRED]

• Door and window builder - *****

Thanks for your interest in Archicad. We hope our solution supports a creative, profitable and enjoyable career for you in architecture.

Kind regards

Graphisoft Education Team

Plain Text Attachment :

SA7T1-E2OPM-ACMM6-OKE1L

The following step is to get your 1-year license from graphisoft. graphisoft requires a scanned or digital photo of your student or teacher id. once graphisoft approves your proof-of-student/teacher info, graphisoft will send you a 1-year serial number so you can use archicad for the entire semester.

3.17.2007

save as ..

when saving the file under a different name, to keep a record of the progress of different stages of your work, for instance, the "save as .." command is the way to go. it's under the file menu just below "save", or you can get to it thru "cntrl-shift-s" (for pc's).

the tricky part: i realize many of you know "save as .." from other programs, it's basic stuff, but archicad will default to saving as a photoshop image file, a ".psd" file. so while you're busy coming up with a clever name, you may be saving as to a file format that cannot be retrived as a functioning archicad file. if you still have the file open and have realized this mistake, simply "save as .." again as an archicad file, which is an "archicad solo project" file or ".pln". otherwise, you'll just have to redo the work you did since the last save. autosave may be your saving grace. archicad autosaves your open file every few minutes; you may have noticed the bulldozer icon appearing as the cursor for a few seconds. the back-up archicad files have the same name as their original file, only ending in " .bpn". if open this, your work should be restored.

oddities of archicad

ICONS:

• when the cursor changes to a bulldozer icon, archicad is autosaving the current file.

• when the cusor appears as a rope (i think is the best way to descibe it), you are in the marquee tool.

• looping arrows: orbit mode is active

• hand: "talk to the hand," you can the move view by clicking and moving the mouse.


• scissors: trim. you are in the trim tool, used to to trim walls flush to other walls. to access this command, hold down the cntrl key for pc's, or the command key for macs.

• magic wand: magic wand. hold down the space bar to access this command. an example of how the magic wand rocks is, after drawing a uniquely shaped slab, click on the wall tool, hold down the space bar and hover over the slab with the cursor until you find a hot point or tick, the wand will turn black and BAM, you have walls on your slab.



other odd icons,

• camera = ?

• white arrow = ?

* trident (3-pronged pitch fork) = marquee tool

movies

VR scenes

VR objects

shortcuts/quick keys

shortcut keys:

F2 • 2D plan view
F3 • 3D view
ctrl-d • drag
ctrl-e • rotate
ctrl-u • multiply

tips

feet-inches:
when typing in a wall, for example, it is not necessary to type in: 10'6". you can type in: 10-6, and archicad will convert it to 10'6". this will save you lots of time.

the basics

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rendering tips

trees:
trees take up a lot of rendering time. each leaf has to be rendered seperately, so for an average size tree, having 5000 leaves, archicad has to take the extra time to render each leaf as a seperate polygon. it can take forever if you put trees in your model. without them, your house looks unrealistic and the scene lacks depth.
the solution:
use bitmap trees. essentially bitmap trees are cardboard cutouts of actual trees. the background even shows through the branches, just like a real tree. they need to be placed perpendicular to the camera angle before rendering; otherwise they would look narrow and askew or even just like a line, in parallel to the viewer/camera angle. it's pain to move each tree for different views. you can just have different trees for different layers and turn off the ones you don't need in the current render. note: when using the "hand" sketch render option, bitmap trees will appear as rectangles. i have real trees on a seperate layer that i turn on only for "hand" sketches.

cool things

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books and tutorials

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resouces

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archicad

archicad is a 3D modeling program, designed for architects, to build housing plans in 2D, as well as 3D models at the same time. the models have textures, like brick or paint and can be rendered and animated for walk-through videos of the housing project. no more drawing by hand or using autocad. autocad thinks and draws in lines. archicad thinks and draws in objects, like windows and doors. when you place an object, like a window, in a wall, archicad knows to erase that portion of the wall and does it automatically. it even does this when you move a window or door.
cool stuff.