The GDL Cookbook
The main Cookbook website is on the Nottingham University server. Please visit the GDL Cookbook Website.
The main Cookbook website is at Nottingham University. Please visit the GDL Cookbook Website. Click the images above.
Try Cookbook 3.99 experimental Site: for this you will need the Flash6
Plug in for your browser.
GDL Cookbook Three
The GDL Cookbook is recognised as the world book on GDL. GDL Cookbook 3 was published in December 2000, and at 310 pages this is a monumental rebuild of the previous very successful editions. The new GDL Cookbook 3 includes everything in Cookbook 2, but adds 140 new pages, marching boldly into previously taboo territory such as Texture wrapping, Calculate, Labels and Zones, Spirals, Shadow casting, DXF conversion, Mesh making, Professional standards and more; and taking a fresh look at many previous topics such as lattices, macros, arches and Polylines. Existing users are offered a very economical upgrade scheme. The current edition from May 2001 is 3.01 which has fixed small errata in 3.0, has an extra page and an uprated CD.
- The
GDL Cookbook contains two main sections, the Discovery section
being all you need to teach yourself up to a competent level in 3D and
2D GDL. It is beginner friendly but fact moving. The Voyager
section takes off into more adventurous regions, investigating the more
complex commands and capabilities of GDL. The book is also full of Tips
and Tricks to make your life with ArchiCAD easier and more enjoyable.
The GDL Cookbook comes with a CD containing all the exercises
in the book, in version 6.0 and 6.5 ArchiCAD, and the contents of the
book itself are included in PDF form, immaculately thumbnailed and indexed
for rapid navigation. Put this in your Documentation folder in ArchiCAD,
and the Cookbook is available in the HELP menu. The
book is ArchiCAD 7.0 ready.
A primary difference between the Cookbook and the Manual: the Manual simply lists the commands with minimal explanation or illustration, the Cookbook explains techniques in a project based way - but it can also be used as a manual and the author uses it for this very purpose.- The GDL Cookbook 3.01 is published in May 2001, is currently OUT OF PRINT, I am sorry to say, it's only available in PDF form on CD.
GDL Cookbook Three
as a book is 30 pounds (UK sterling) or $45.00 (US). Postage
rate anywhere in the world is free for new sales, and prorata for upgrade
or educational sales.
The price for people upgrading from the original Cookbook, or the Student
price is 15 pounds or $22.50. Obtainable by fax or email,
payment by VISA or Mastercard, or within the UK, cheque or cash. No Sales
tax. It is 2lbs (900grams) so is not cheap to post, but is worth it when
it is in your hands. Postage for education or upgrade is $6 in Europe,
or $12 to the US and the rest of the world.
The main Cookbook website is at Nottingham University. Please visit the GDL Cookbook Website.
Future Publications
The Cookbook 3 is now well established as the main book for ArchiCAD up to 6.5 and 7.0. ArchiCAD 8.1 adds vastly more capabilities to GDL, which the experienced user who has been through the Cookbook can make use of. ArchiCAD 9.0 does not add a lot more GDL compared with the changes from 7.0 to 8.0.
If it can go Electronic: the alternative is to make it weight saving by moving to an interactive format, using web and flash, but there are problems - the huge workload in converting it, and making it interactive (animating the growth of Objects, eg), and questions about how to fund the new work if its available on the web. Ultimately it will have to be a CD 'boxed product'. The interactive version may be for beginners only. Ideas are appreciated.
David's publishing project with Graphisoft, originally in 2000, and completely rewritten for the Help Menu of ArchiCAD NINE in 2004. This is FREE to you. There should also be a PDF version of the book in your Documentation folder.
>>>>Things people say about the GDL Cookbook <<<<
David Nicholson-Cole is an architect and teaches at Nottingham University in the UK. He has been an enthusiastic evangelist for GDL (Geometric Description Language) and a busy producer of GDL objects since discovering the power (and the pleasure) of GDL. He is the author of the GDL Cookbook and Object Making with ArchiCAD. David has also travelled around the Globe at the invitation of ArchiCAD dealers and their customers, teaching GDL.
Tel 0115-945-5077
fax 0115-945-5121 mob 07970-059525 from
the UK
Tel +44-115-945-5077 fax +44-115-945-5121 mob +44-7970-059525 International
Email:
davidnc@gdlcookbook.com
