Overview
ArchiCAD works on the principle that you model the building once and every drawing comes out of that model. Plans, sections, elevations, details and schedules are all views of the same thing, so moving a wall updates the plan, the sections that cut through it, the elevations that see it and the quantity schedule that counts it, in one operation. Anyone who has spent an evening reconciling drawings by hand after a late change understands immediately why that matters.
This is the full installation with the licensing already applied, so there is no license key server to configure, no dongle and no education watermark on the output. The object library is installed complete, the rendering engine is present, and team working is available for anyone who wants to share a model between machines on a local network.
Modelling the building
The tools are the building itself rather than abstract geometry: walls, slabs, roofs, beams, columns, stairs, railings, doors and windows, each carrying the properties that make it a real component rather than a shape. A wall knows its composite build up and shows the right hatching in a section without being told. A stair is generated from a run and adjusts to a floor height change on its own.
The complicated parts, which are always stairs, railings and roof intersections, have improved considerably in recent cycles. A stair that fails the rules it is given says so and shows where, rather than quietly producing something unbuildable, and railings follow their host through a change instead of being rebuilt.
Documentation and schedules
Views are placed on layouts, layouts are collected into a publisher set, and the whole set issues in one operation to files or to a printer. Because the views are live, the drawing set is always current, and revision management tracks what changed between issues so a recipient can see what is new.
Schedules are queries against the model rather than tables typed by hand. A door schedule counts doors because they are doors, with whatever properties you choose as columns, and it updates when the model does. The same mechanism produces area calculations and quantity takeoffs, which is where the modelling effort pays for itself.
Collaboration, exchange and visualisation
Team working splits a model across several machines, with each person reserving the elements they are editing and everyone else seeing the changes as they are sent. It runs over a local network here without a hosted service, which suits a small office better than the usual alternative.
The open exchange formats are supported in both directions for handing a model to a structural or services consultant and receiving theirs back, with clash checking against the received model. Visualisation is built in with a physically based renderer, and the common third party rendering plug-ins install into this build normally.
What you get
- Single building model producing plans, sections, elevations and schedules
- Component based tools for walls, slabs, roofs, stairs, railings and openings
- Composite build ups that section and hatch correctly on their own
- Layout and publisher sets that issue a whole drawing set in one operation
- Revision management showing what changed between issues
- Live schedules and quantity takeoffs queried from the model
- Team working across a local network with element reservation
- Open format exchange in both directions with clash checking
- Built in physically based rendering plus third party plug-in support
Inside the archive
- ArchiCAD 29 application, offline installer
- Complete object and material library
- Layout and drawing set templates
- Team working component for local network sharing
- Language packs for the interface list shown above
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 10 version 22H2 or Windows 11, 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | 64-bit multicore, 8 cores or more recommended |
| Memory | 16 GB minimum, 32 GB for large projects |
| Graphics | 6 GB VRAM with an OpenGL 4.5 capable driver |
| Storage | 25 GB free for the install and library |
| Display | 1920 by 1080 or higher, two displays recommended |
Installing it
- Unpack to a local drive with at least 50 GB free during install.
- Suspend real time protection for the whole install.
- Run setup as administrator and let the library finish copying.
- Do not run the license manager afterwards. Licensing is applied in the build.
- Open ArchiCAD once, pick a template, and set your working units before starting a project.
Mirrors
| Route | Region | Note | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct, primary | Europe | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Direct, secondary | North America | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Torrent magnet | Global | Recommended at this size | Online |
Release history
- Stair rule validation now reports the failing segment rather than failing silently
- Fixed railings detaching from their host after a level change
- Faster publisher output on sets above 200 layouts
- Clash checking extended to received consultant models
- Schedule recalculation moved off the interface thread
- First post of the 29 cycle
- Library rebuilt with the current object set
Questions about this release
Is a license server needed?
No. The licensing is applied in the build, so there is no server, no dongle and nothing to configure.
Does team working need a hosted service?
No. It runs over a local network here, which is what a small office actually wants.
Can I exchange models with consultants?
Yes, through the open formats in both directions, with clash checking against what you receive.
Will third party render plug-ins install?
Yes. The plug-in interface is untouched in this build.
Comments
Stair validation actually tells you what is wrong now. That alone saved me a day.
Team working over the office network with three of us. Reservations work, no hosted anything.
Comments are read before they appear. If a build stops working, say so here and it gets rebuilt rather than quietly left up.
Issued a 180 layout set in one publisher run. No license manager anywhere, opened straight into the template picker.