In the new release of ArchiCAD 15, there has been a improvement in Library Management, specifically in object update and replacement.
Before I go further, I will quickly explain why migration libraries are required.
In each new version of ArchiCAD, a new oblect library is included during installation, superceeding the previous version's library.
You may ask "Why do I need to add the newest libraries? Can I not just stick with the libraries I have?"
You can definitely stick with the existing libraries, but with each new version of ArchiCAD, new features are added to the object (esp. Doors & Windows) and you can only access those new features with the new libraries.
For example in ArchiCAD 15, there is a style of windows called 'Historic Windows' which are not available in previous versions.
'Consolidation' is the process of automatically switching out older libraries and referencing newer libraries and migration libraries.
- If you had started a project in ArchiCAD 14 , it will reference the ArchiCAD 14 Library (and all the objects and textures inside that folder)
- If you open this project into ArchiCAD 15, it will still only reference the ArchiCAD 14 library.
- If you remove the reference to the ArchiCAD 14 library (i.e. no library loaded) , you will have lots of missing object symbols (dots) on your Floorplan
- If you then add ONLY the ArchiCAD 15 Library , the objects in your Floorplan would not be replaced - the objects in ArchiCAD 14 and 15 are not the same name, for example 'W1 Casement 14' is not the same as 'W1 Casement 15'
- If you referenced BOTH the ArchiCAD 14 Library AND the ArchiCAD 15 Library, you would see lots of 'duplicate' objects in the Library Loading Report – because the texture files from both libraries are the same name
So you see the problem with either 'switching' libraries or 'doubling up' on the libraries, there will always be an issue..
This is where a 'Migration Library' becomes important – a 'Migration Library' is a smaller library which contains all the objects in one library that are not included in the next version's library.
For example,
- the 'ArchiCAD 14 Migration Library' contains all the objects from ArchiCAD 14 Library that are NOT included in the ArchiCAD 15 Library
- the 'ArchiCAD 13 Migration Library' contains all the objects from ArchiCAD 13 Library that are NOT included in the ArchiCAD 14 Library
This means that you can reference as many Migration Libraries as required, because they do not create duplicate entries in the Library Loading Report.
This also means that if you combine a standard library with a migration library, you basically get access to two full libraries.
For example, the ArchiCAD 15 library combined with the ArchiCAD 14 Migration library gives access to ALL the ArchiCAD 15 objects AND ALL the ArchiCAD 14 objects – with no "duplicate objects" and no "missing objects"!!
In previous versions of ArchiCAD (11,12,13) the full libraries & migration libraries are required to be located and switched manually.
In ArchiCAD 15, "Library Consolidation" is enhanced, and is based upon the fact that all ArchiCAD Migration Libraries from ArchiCAD 10 to ArchiCAD 14 are included in the ArchiCAD 15 installation.
The 'Consolidate Libraries' button is found in the Library Manager dialog (File > Libraries & Objects > Library Manager).
Workflow - Opening an ArchiCAD 14 file in ArchiCAD 15
- Open the ArchiCAD 14 file in ArchiCAD 15
- Goto File > Libraries & Objects > Library Manager
- Note that the ArchiCAD 14 Library in referenced
- Click on the 'Consolidate Libraries' icon, then accept the dialog
What will happen next:
- The ArchiCAD 14 Library will be removed
- The ArchiCAD 14 Migration Library will be added
- The ArchiCAD 15 Library will be added
- Any other non-standard libraries will be left unaltered
The new enhanced feature in ArchiCAD 15 is very productive.
ArchiCAD 15 will then analyse the project and find any ArchiCAD 14 objects currently placed in the model and REPLACE them with its newer ArchiCAD 15 counterpart.
This means that your model will then contain the most up-to-date version of all obejcts.