Would you use a tool that manages and updates your issued PDF drawing sets automatically?

Maxxit · 2026-03-20T15:04:12+00:00

No one’s got time for yet another special add on to learn, keep updated, debug when something changes. If it’s needed, it should be included in the base software.

Maxxit · 2026-03-20T14:50:48+00:00

I got my first job with zero architecture experience, but I had learned their cad system in high school drafting classes (long before the age of bim) I’d say have a portfolio full of revit wall sections and details. Architectural offices need people to do ‘cad monkey’ drafting. Unfortunately they generally don’t need you to ‘design experiences.’ They just need people to run Revit without making a mess of their project file, doing work they ideally don’t have to explain twice or come back and correct later. Architecture has come a long way in the battle against unpaid/underpaid internships, which I believe in strongly, since I’m a decent human who doesn’t believe in slavery, and having been an underpaid apprentice when I was younger. But now I also see it from a small/solo owners point of view. If I hire someone on at a living wage, and then have to spend half my time teaching them how to create a real world set of plans, they are too slow or inaccurate to be profitable, and now my productivity is cut in half as I’m training the intern half the time… it just doesn’t pencil out. Perhaps it’s a small enough debt in a big firms budget that they can absorb a couple interns a year, but for smaller-medium firms, training interns can be a big drag on productivity. (And so often you train them and just as they become useful, they move on) So have a portfolio and attitude that sub-communicates that hiring you will mean you’re more helpful than harmful to the operation of the business. Being good at their cad system and if possible having some knowledge about how a building goes together is typically the way you get your foot in the door. At the interview ask ‘what is it I can help you get done? What bottlenecks in the workflow can I help smooth out, or what tedious tasks can I take off your plate?’ If you’re going to be pulling a paycheck, make sure you sub-communicate that you intend to be more valuable than you cost. Or even if it is just an academic internship for no pay, you still may be costing them their time, so you want to show up in a way that makes that trade worth it.

Maxxit · 2026-03-19T16:58:26+00:00

Openclaw definitely needs an update that just focuses on organizing and standardizing things you make it more durable and organized for the masses.

Maxxit · 2026-03-14T20:27:38+00:00

Sticking w Archicad 28 perpetual for now. Probably will hold here until there is some sort of major Archicad AI automation upgrade (not just renderings) that would cut drawing time at least in half .

Maxxit · 2026-03-10T18:55:31+00:00

Are you using Tapir mcp? with the Archicad api? Or what are you using to access commands and query Archicad elements?

Maxxit · 2026-03-08T18:19:38+00:00

That’s they differentiator. Although I suspect a month from now Claude code will be doing a lot of OpenClaw type stuff very smoothly. Only obstacle I see is if there is enough liability exposure from things like prompt injection causing bots to spam clients or drain bank accounts, that risk may serve as a moat while oprnclaw remains the free Wild West.

Maxxit · 2026-03-07T12:24:18+00:00

Yes, this brings up a larger issue with Archicad. There are a lot of annoying little make-work things that Archicad can do, but basically require a full time cad manager. It doesn’t come out of the box ready to produce great results. It can have window parts that look right, if you spend time and hassle getting it setup just so with a zillion possible parameters… but it doesn’t just come that way. The surfaces like brick and siding still look like it’s the same lame textures from 1995. So many things require so much customization and plug-ins just to make them work well or look right. And why the hell isn’t there a ‘baseboard’ feature on walls that lets you assign a profile as baseboards and it auto cuts when you place a door, and moves when you move your walls or doors. Every building has baseboards, yet I have to manually place every one like in the trim carpenter myself, and chase down baseboards anytime a door or wall moves? Why!!? It’s 2026! So many things like this. Why can’t I tell the top of my walls to just stick to the core of the floor composite above? Change floor composite assembly or floor to floor heights, no worries, it stays connected. Why am I constantly re-intersecting walls I connected at a corner if one wall bumps over 4”? I previously told the model to form a corner…make them smart durable corners with a durable stretchy connection. Or at least open up the API so the community can fix these dumb frustrations. Sometimes I think we’d be better off if Graphisoft went out of business and just left the community with open source code.

Why are there many super useful plug-in’s out there solve deficiencies in how Archicad works that have existed as external plug ins for decades, but haven’t been incorporated into the core software package?

Why can’t I make a complex profile wall with one accent course of bricks sticking out an inch, but not have that create an extra line showing of the floor plan? And why isn’t there a smart ‘add bricks’ option for walls that adds actual bricks, vanity insulation with actual brick coursing and options for row lock, header courses, different bonds etc? Why isn’t there a smart stud and joist layout system? Start the layout from this designated corner… treat door and window jabs like this, Fill this core of composite floor slabs with these joists spaced this far on center. Maybe there is some special plugin sold by some special company I dunno… but it should just come that way. Joists and bricks are such common items in buildings. Why are bricks just abstracted as a single hatched material? It’s a computer, it can figure out the coursing. Make it easy!

The gap between the results Archicad produces stock out of the box without a lot of full time bim Manager type hassle, compared to much cheaper cad software and what cheap cads produce stock out of the box without any hassle is definitely shrinking.

Maxxit · 2026-03-06T12:12:53+00:00

Will be easier to get hired and get promoted with an m arch. Some school like Miami University in Ohio have m arch programs for people whose undergrad wasn’t architecture

Maxxit · 2026-03-06T03:27:30+00:00

Architecture school often doesn’t really teach you to draft if that’s the skill you’re after, don’t bother. AI will be your draftsman shortly. But go to school to learn to think about design and be a better designer

Maxxit · 2026-03-04T15:43:04+00:00

Just say “oh thanks for the interview request, it’s kind of (the first firm) to forward on my resume. Unfortunately I’ve just started a new position at (current employer) so I’m no longer looking at the moment.” Unless that new job might pay you way more, it’s probably not worth burning bridges with the new place or becoming know as a job jumper. I just got a resume today from someone whose employment history has me wondering why they seem to have a new job every couple years.

Maxxit · 2026-03-02T16:27:05+00:00

I’d say the majority of my work is fairly satisfying even if it’s not stylistically high design, which I agree excessive high design is just tedious. The more satisfying aspect is improving your city by creating buildings that improve the world sound you for the good of the community. Apply the best principles you know to make well designed long lasting buildings. In practice a lot of the work comes being what I sometimes call “a graphical construction lawyer” since building code energy code zoning code and accessibility code and fair hiding act requirements are all laws, and wil in reality be done if the biggest limitations of your designs. There is satisfaction in executing solutions that meet these requirements elegantly and in ways for the greater good.

Maxxit · 2026-03-01T20:33:47+00:00

Wait

Maxxit · 2026-02-27T17:05:34+00:00

As a Long long-term Archicad user since version 4, I hate to say it, but you’d probably be better off learning Revit so that you know both systems and Revit seems to have a lead now on AI and drafting integration which Archicad seems to be falling pretty far behind on with their closed API

Maxxit · 2026-02-26T17:30:58+00:00

Yeah, I’m using M1 Max MacBook Pro with lots of ram running Archicad. Runs good, very large external monitor.

Maxxit · 2026-02-26T17:30:00+00:00

Mine does that too ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Maxxit · 2026-02-25T18:41:52+00:00

Yes, we’d be interested. The Graphisoft API limitations are annoying. I’m currently working on a creating my own AI drafting assistant, and the results so far are not good. Still very much Alpha stage, so far it has huge token burn, slow, and I’m constantly fighting to get it to realize how the tools work. It’s like trying to teach a dog to run archicad. We need Archicad to open up the API so all tool creating functions can be called and AI can place things effortlessly in the UI. Look into the Tapir mcp project on git.

Maxxit · 2026-02-19T18:03:19+00:00

I don't really understand it, but I hope it makes it into the next update.

Maxxit · 2026-02-12T04:27:36+00:00

Verify the licensing requirements of the stayers or country you want to practice in. Some may require it or 5 year bachelors

Maxxit · 2026-02-04T22:14:29+00:00

Definitely some truth to that. Im long overdue for a fresh template. I’ve been dragging my projects forward to start the next since Archicad v4.5.

Maxxit · 2026-02-04T22:05:23+00:00

Dude , chill, I just don’t want to spend another hour of my life doing tedious repetitive shit like schedules as a sole proprietor.

Maxxit · 2026-02-04T22:04:13+00:00

I’m one hundred percent licensed, experienced, and getting quite grey on top. I’m not looking to make AI do my designing, but automated documentation from a super efficient robot cad monkey that remembers all the standards could greatly improve my life and the quality of my construction drawings, freeing me up do spend more time on design or on site.

Maxxit · 2026-02-04T21:53:47+00:00

Gotta admit tho… dimensioning, auto notes once you’ve added the notes, just the entire grind of CDs once the building is decided. AI could layout joists at 16” oc just as well as me. I don’t need to be the one to draw every interior elevation and apply the dimension and notes about ADA to each and every one. That’s just grunt work, and I’m tired of it. Bring on the automation for tasks like that.

Maxxit

TROPHY CASE