Professional Documents
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Introduction
This introductory chapter outlines the structure of the ArchiCAD
Reference Guide and highlights the new features found in
ArchiCAD 6.0.
necessary. Even concave wall shapes are possible, as the walls are
now cut by the roof polygon instead of an infinite plane.
For more info see: The Trim to Roof… command
description in the Options menu section of Chapter 5 and the
Roof tool in Chapter 4.
2D Productivity
New Relative Construction Methods
In the modified Control Box, Relative Construction Methods
enables the use of perpendicular, parallel, bisectrix, offset and
multiple offset construction methods.
For more info see: The Control Box under Construction
Techniques in Chapter 3.
New Snap Points
New and enhanced snap controls make it possible to find any kind
of division points of elements in the Floor Plan. Elements can be
halved, divided into any number of equal parts, or divided
according to a ratio or a distance. Temporary hotspots appear at
the division points, vanishing after a few seconds or after
completing construction.
For more info see: The Control Box under Construction
Techniques in Chapter 3.
order so that it covers all the elements below. This type of work is
ideal for detailing drawings.
Chapter 1
The ArchiCAD Workplace
This chapter introduces the visible elements of the Ar chiCAD
working environment. It will help you find your way around the
ArchiCAD Workplace and understand the role each component
plays in using ArchiCAD.
The 3D Window
The 3D Window is used both for three dimensional visualization
of an architectural project and for refining the design directly in
3D. It is directly linked to the Floor Plan Worksheet and to the
Section/Elevation Windows.
Either the complete project or just the parts you select can be
displayed in the 3D Window. Block, wireframe, hidden line or
shaded views are available in all types of parallel and perspective
projections.
- In the design phase, the 3D Window will serve as a source of
visual feedback for your work in 2D and for constructing and
modifying building components directly in 3D.
- In the production phase of your project, accurate 3D images
optimized for plotter output are also generated in this
window.
Section/Elevation Windows
The Section/Elevation tool in the Toolbox allows you to generate
any number of sections or elevations of your project in separate
windows.
There are two types of Sections/Elevations:
- Models consist of construction elements and any changes
made in these windows will automatically be updated in the
Floor Plan window. This means working in a Model window is
another way to access the digital building.
See also…
Working in Section/Elevation in Chapter 3, the Section/Elevation
tool in Chapter 4, and the Display menu commands in Chapter 5.
Calculation Windows
ArchiCAD provides different options for viewing on screen the
quantity calculations for either the whole project, selected sets of
elements, or zones.
Element and Component List windows will display a detailed list
of quantities of either the whole project or any desired part or
subset of it. ArchiCAD combines the building components of the
project with the Properties descriptions residing in the Object
Library to provide a detailed list of the elements and their user-
defined components.
Auxiliary Windows
A number of secondary windows are available at any time for
displaying information about the current state of the project. These
include the Project Notes, the Project Preview, the imaging and
listing Report and the Missing Library Parts windows.
Whenever you open the Project Notes window, the date and time
will be updated and a blinking insertion point marker will appear
next to the current date and time. Any text entered here is saved
with your Project.
Floating Palettes
A large number of floating palettes are available when working in
ArchiCAD. The following sections provide a description of the
individual boxes and palettes and sum up their availability for the
different window types.
The Toolbox
The Toolbox on the left edge of the screen shows a variety of tools
for selection, 3D construction. 2D drawing and visualization.
See also…
The description of the tools with their common and specific
features in Chapter 4.
The Info Box displays the icon of the active tool together with its
current construction and geometry method, the current elevation
or font size values, the name of the currently set library part,
fillpattern, font or line type, the current fillpattern and layer name.
When several elements are selected, the displayed information
concerns the last selected element.
If several elements overlap, successive clicking with the
Checkmark cursor (in Arrow mode) will cycle through the
selection markers of the available elements.
Elevation values are always measured from the Project Zero Level,
except for Doors and Windows where they are measured from the
bottom of the wall.
The Info Box is only available when working in any of the
construction windows.
It can also help you keep track of and easily access the Stories and
Sections/Elevations you create in the course of your work.
See also…
A detailed description of the way QuickViews work is given in
Chapter 2.
Chapter 2
Basic Concepts
Before you start your project, you need to know how ar chitectural
concepts are managed in ArchiCAD, including Scales, Grids,
Coordinates, Stories and Layers. You will also find it useful to
learn how existing elements can be selected, gr ouped and locked
for optimal management.
Scale
Traditional concepts of architectural scale do not apply to the
ArchiCAD worksheet, because you are building a real size digital
building.
Normally, you will vary the size of the worksheet and the area it
displays based on what you are drawing at the time.
You can change the magnification of this window or move freely
over the working area using the Display menu commands, for
example Zoom, Pan and Fit in Window (or their Display Bar
equivalents), as well as the horizontal and vertical scroll bars.
The scale you set is only important when you wish to preview
your printout on the screen.
The current scale and zoom levels are shown on the Display bar.
Double-clicking the Zoom in or Zoom out buttons results in a
200% magnification and a 50% reduction respectively, while
clicking the Zoom Level button displays the Project at its Actual
Size (100%).
A set of structural grid lines (the ArchiCAD Grid System) on the
worksheet provides a visual clue as to the current zoom level. The
ArchiCAD Grid System is described in a later section of this
chapter.
The Coordinate Box (shown below) always displays the actual size
and location of the element you are drawing, regardless of the
current zoom level and project scale.
The current scale factor and zoom level (a percentage of the actual
size) are shown in the Display Bar.
Note: Once you have set a scale for a project, it is maintained
if you export the project using the DXF or DWG format.
Specifying an Output Scale
The ArchiCAD Print and Plot dialog boxes allow you to specify an
output scale each time you print or plot your work. See the Print
and Plot commands in Chapter 5.
Actual Size
In addition to these scaling options, you can display your project
at actual size on screen by using the Actual Size command in the
Display menu or by clicking the Zoom level button on the Display
bar.
The Actual Size option displays a scaled image of your project on
the screen, as indicated by the “100%” zoom level in the Display
Bar.
See also…
The Display menu section in Chapter 5.
Scaled vs. Fixed Size Elements
According to their behavior at different scales, there are two types
of elements in ArchiCAD.
Scaled elements are rescaled according to their real size
whenever you change the project scale. Scaled elements include
all construction elements such as Walls, Objects, Slabs etc.
Fixed Size elements are printed or displayed on the screen at the
size you specify regardless of the scale selected for the project. For
elements that do not have any real size such as text blocks,
dimensions and arrowheads, you can specify a fixed size defined
in either points or millimeters.
When printing, ArchiCAD allows you to choose whether or not
you want the program to reduce or enlarge this type of element as
the drawing is reduced or enlarged according to the ratio of
drawing scale and printing scale. In order to avoid problems, Scale
is the recommended choice.
Dashed and symbol line types as well as vectorial and symbol fill
types can be defined as optionally fixed or scaled. You can set this
characteristic for each line type or fill pattern in the Line Types and
Fill Types dialog boxes (Options menu). This setting is valid for
the whole project and cannot be changed for individual
construction elements.
Changing the Project Scale
If you change the Project scale, the current view will change
accordingly, while the magnification will remain constant, i. e.,
fixed size elements will appear unchanged on screen.
Origins
All ArchiCAD drawing is performed in an invisible two-
dimensional coordinate system. Like in any coordinate system, all
measurements are made in reference to an origin.
ArchiCAD defines three coordinate system origins:
- The Project Origin is a constant location which remains
fixed for the life of your project.
- The User Origin is an aid to drafting and measurements. The
User Origin can be moved to any location, allowing you to
“reset the zero point” to any location. This is often helpful
when you need to draw elements with respect to existing
walls, slabs or other components.
Measuring Distances
To measure the distance between two nodes:
1) Move the User Origin to the first node.
2) Position the cursor over the second node.
3) Read the x, y and r values in the Coordinate Box.
Either absolute or relative coordinates may be used for measuring.
If you do not want to move the User Origin, start drawing a line
between the two points, read the coordinates, and then cancel the
line.
Now type x+3, y-3 (absolute values) for the second point of the
line.
Note what happens when you type the same values as relative
values (x3+, y3-) from the original starting point.
Grid Snap
The Grid Snap function allows precise graphic alignment of
elements at consistent lengths and distances. When the grids are
active, the cursor can only draw from one grid intersection to
another. This allows you to position the cursor accurately, even at
low zoom levels.
When Grid Snap is active, a small black dot will follow the
movement of the cursor, jumping from one grid node to the next.
This visual cue shows you where the next drawing action will take
place.
Note: When you are drawing an element with Grid Snap
active, you will notice the black rubberband line jumping
between grid nodes as you move the cursor.
Grid Snap is not available in the 3D Window.
Construction Grid
The Construction Grid is used to reflect any characteristic spacing
of your project. For example, if you were designing a traditional
Japanese home, you might define the construction grid around the
dimensions of a Tatami mat. The Construction Grid could also be
used to define the foundation footings or the column grid of a
building.
Auxiliary Grid
The Construction Grid can be enhanced with an auxiliary grid,
which is also visible on the screen. The auxiliary grid is often used
to indicate the thickness of concrete walls or foundation footings.
Grid Display
The Construction Grid is normally visible on the Floor Plan
worksheet. The grid lines can be turned off through the Grid
Display command in the Options menu.
Printing Options
The Construction Grid can be printed with the floor plan by
selecting the Yes radio button at Print Grid in the Print… dialog
box.
Note: If Grid Display is turned off in the Options menu, the
Construction Grid option will be invisible in the Home View
and Grids dialog box.
Snap Grid
The Snap Grid is an invisible grid that defines the smallest unit of
measurement relevant to your project. This may be inches, if you
The next two Grid Switch buttons allow you to toggle at any
moment between the “normal” and rotated grid.
Note: When using a transformed grid, mouse constraints are
coordinate values are calculated according to this coordinate
system.
The Skewed Grid is not available in the 3D Window.
See also…
The Mouse constraints explained later in this chapter and the
corresponding Preferences dialog box in Chapter 5 offer additional
help.
You can also show or hide each Layer depending on what you
want displayed, saved to a file format, printed or projected in 3D.
Layers can also be locked in order to prevent certain elements
from being selected or modified.
To automate the process of showing, hiding and locking layers,
you can store various setups in Layer Combinations and then
choose any of these by name from the Options/Layers hierarchical
menu.
Because each Tool maintains a default Layer assignment, elements
are automatically placed on separate Layers by using the Tool.
See also…
The Stories and Layers hierarchical menus are explained in the
Options menu section of Chapter 5.
list and either click the Go button to display it in the Floor Plan
window, or double-click its name in the list. This is the equivalent
of choosing Options/Stories/Go to story…
QuickViews
The QuickViews feature is available both for the Floor Plan and
the Section/Elevation windows.
The left side of the QuickViews palette displays all elements of the
current story or section, as well as the limits of the view whose
name is highlighted in the list to the right.
The view indicated by the frame when you activate QuickViews
will be the one you see in the worksheet, and the highlighted item
on the list will be the Current View. Update the overview to
reflect changes you have made on the worksheet by double-
clicking the overview area outside the frame.
Note: You can also update all overviews by using the Redraw
All Overviews command from the local menu opened by the
small arrow in the upper right corner of the palette.
You can change the content and extent of the view which will be
displayed in the worksheet window by adjusting the frame size
and location.
- To change the shape or size of the frame, drag its sides or
corners.
- To change the location of the frame, drag its enclosed area
with the Small Hand cursor.
- To use the framed drawing detail in the worksheet window,
double-click inside the frame or click the Go button.
These operations work like Zoom and Pan to let you construct
useful views of your work.
Note that the view is optimized so that if the shape of your frame
does not match the shape of the worksheet, the QuickView will be
resized to fit the screen without distortion.
The right side of the QuickViews palette lists views of the model
which can be recalled. The default names on this list are Current
View and Home (which corresponds to the Home View you set
for your project in the Home View and Grids dialog box or by
choosing Display/Set Home View). You can also add views of
your own to this list and display any of them on the worksheet
simply by double-clicking the name of the view you desire. Thus,
a particularly useful partial view is at your fingertips, without
requiring you to reproduce the right combination of Zoom and
Pan operations to get it.
A view name can relate to a variety of settings, indicated by the
appearance of small icons after the name:
- The view stores the current Zoom settings.
- The view stores the current state of Layers (visible/invisible,
locked/unlocked).
- The view stores all the attributes currently set in the Display
Options dialog box (Options menu).
- The view stores the Scale the view was recorded at.
These options can be set separately for each newly saved view
(see below).
The View List Editing Menu
The pop-up at the upper right corner of the palette allows you to
add or delete views from the list and update the current view.
To add a view, choose Save Current View…, and you will be
prompted to name the view described by the frame in the
overview area. You can also modify the names of existing views
by choosing Rename View.
A dialog box will appear, and you can choose which of the current
attributes (Zoom Level, Layers, Display Options, Scale) should be
saved with the view. It is also possible to define views that are
only visible on the current story or available across all stories.
Delete View removes the highlighted name from the list. With the
commands below, you can delete either all views or the views
shown for Stories and Sections.
Redraw Story/Section Overviews and Redraw All Overviews
update the information to include all modifications which you
have made. For single QuickViews, you can also this by double-
clicking the overview area outside the view frame.
Using the QuickViews Palette
The QuickViews palette is displayed whenever you click the
QuickViews button on the Display bar of the plan worksheet or by
choosing the Show QuickViews command in the Window menu
(when the palette is hidden).
You can choose to keep the palette displayed at all times by
enabling the small Pin button near the top of the palette.
With the Pin button’s disabled state, every time you go to a view
selected in the QuickViews palette, the palette will be hidden.
The appearance of the QuickViews palette can be modified with
the shape change control located just below its top left corner. You
can choose to display the full palette, the view listing only or the
overview window only (in this case, stored views and story/
section names are listed and accessible in the View List Editing
Menu).
Note: All these shape options are also available from the
Window menu if you choose Floating Palettes/Palette Shapes.
In addition, you can opt to see a magnified version of the
palette.
Saving QuickViews
QuickViews are saved together with your project.
Selection
Many ArchiCAD menus and dialog boxes operate on selected
elements, so you will often need to carefully control currently
selected elements. ArchiCAD provides several powerful methods
for selecting elements in your project.
Editing commands operate on:
- Selected elements if any, or
- None of the elements.
3D visualization and calculations operate on:
- Selected elements if any, or
- All of the elements.
See also…
Window-specific selection features in the Working in Section/
Elevation Windows and Working in the 3D Window sections of
Chapter 3.
Selection Methods
There are several methods of selecting drawing elements in
ArchiCAD:
- The Arrow tool, a specialized and powerful selection device.
- The Marquee, another specialized selection tool which
complements the Arrow tool.
- Shift-clicking, a keyboard selection shortcut which works
regardless of the active tool.
- Clicking with the right mouse button (Windows) or with the
Control key down (MacOS) regardless of the active tool (this
will also pop up the context menu appropriate for the clicked
element).
- The Select All command, a method which selects entire classes
of elements based on which tool is active (or all elements if
the Arrow tool is active).
- The Find & Select command, which allows you to select and
deselect elements based on a wide variety of criteria.
See also…
The Arrow and Marquee tools’ description in Chapter 4 and the
Select All and Find & Select commands (Edit menu) in Chapter 5
offer additional guidance.
You can open the settings dialog boxes of these elements, but you
cannot edit their parameters. The OK button that would allow the
validation of such changes will appear in grey.
Note for TeamWork users: Elements outside your own
workspace behave the same way as locked elements. The
appearing yellow box informs you whether the element is
locked, reserved by another teammate, or just not in your
workspace.
Grouping Elements
Groups can be created by selecting elements of similar or
dissimilar type and choosing the Tools/Group command. Grouped
elements can then be selected and modified together.
The following operations can be performed simultaneously on all
the elements constituting the group:
- selection;
- some of the Edit menu functions (e.g. Drag, Rotate, Mirror,
Multiply);
- attribute assignment.
You can even create elements in groups by activating the
Autogroup command in the Tools menu. If this option is on,
rectangular Wall elements and Polyroofs, etc. will automatically be
created as a group.
The following element types cannot be grouped: any of the
Dimension types, Zones, Labels, Section/Elevation lines, Cameras.
Doors and Windows can only be grouped as part of the Wall they
are placed into.
Elements belonging to other Stories and whose outline appears on
the current Story cannot be part of a group on this Story.
Note: Grouped elements' selection marks are small circles,
while ungrouped ones are marked by black dots. Individually
selected elements that belong to a group are marked with
empty selection dots.
Grouping and ungrouping are not available in the 3D Window,
you can only Suspend Groups.
Disabling Groups
To make all elements constituting a group independent again,
choose Tools/Ungroup.
You may, however, need to perform only a single operation on a
particular element or element type of the group. In this case,
suppressing the group assignment altogether is rather
burdensome, since you will have to select all the elements one by
one again to recreate the group.
The solution is to temporarily suspend groups by choosing Tools/
Suspend Groups. If this toggle command is preceded by a
checkmark, elements that have been assigned to a group can be
Group Hierarchy
Groups can be grouped into higher level groups. When
ungrouping a selection consisting of two or more lower level
groups, it will first be divided into the groups it comprises. You
may need to repeat the Tools/Ungroup command several times
before an element can be selected and edited individually.
When choosing Tools/Suspend Groups, ALL groups are
temporarily rendered inactivate, which means that single elements
can at once be selected and edited individually, even if they are
part of a complex group hierarchy.
8) 3D Structures
9) 2D Polygons
10) Figures
11-14) void by default
By default, the upper and lower 4-4 stack levels are empty. You
can bring or send elements of any type into these stack levels with
the Tools menu commands detailed above.
For example, bringing a Fill forward from level 9 to level 8, which
is the default level of structures, means that the Fill will overlap all
the unchanged fills remaining on level 9, but will still be
overlapped by all the unchanged structures on level 8.
Chapter 3
Construction Techniques
This chapter concentrates on the different construction aids,
techniques and tips available for constructing Virtual Building
elements. First, concepts and techniques available in the Floor
Plan worksheet are presented, followed by possibilities specific to
the Section/Elevations windows and to the 3D W indow.
Construction Methods
Construction Methods create special alignments, orientations and
styles for eligible elements. Construction Methods allow you to
determine important characteristics about the element you are
drawing or editing.
In the example shown below, the Reference Line characteristic for
the Wall tool is active.
If, for instance, the Text tool were active, the icons would change
and you could select the text justification settings.
Construction Methods are saved as a part of each element you
draw. They appear in the element’s Settings dialog box and may
be modified there after the element is created.
Selecting a tool will cause its corresponding Construction Methods
(if any) to be displayed in the Info Box. Click on the desired
Method icon to select it.
You can modify the construction method of several elements of
the same type at the same time by selecting them and explicitly
changing the construction method either in the Info Box or in the
appropriate Settings dialog box.
See also…
For more information, see the descriptions of the individual tool
construction methods in Chapter 4.
Geometry Methods
Geometry Methods are automated input techniques that create
special geometric configurations for individual elements. By using
Geometry Methods you can create Circles using a three-point
definition, as shown below, or Rotated Rectangle Fill polygons
when using the Fill Tool.
Geometry Methods are only input options, and are not stored as a
part of the element when you have finished drawing it.
Selecting a tool will cause its corresponding Geometry Methods (if
any) to be displayed in the Info Box. Click on the desired Method
icon to select it.
See also…
For more information on the Geometry Methods available for each
tool, see Chapter 4.
2) Draw an open or closed polyline. You can even use the Magic
Wand to trace an existing element’s contour to define the
polyline (see later in this chapter).
3) As usual, the base polyline can be completed by a double-
click or by hitting the OK button in the Control Box. When it is
completed, a rubberband outline will appear, starting from the
endpoint of the polyline and running perpendicular to its last
entered segment.
Similarly, you can trace shapes for making holes in any polygonal
element.
Note: ArchiCAD cannot transform elements into trapezoid or
polygonal walls. If you choose the Polygon Wall geometry
method when selecting a spline, arc or polygon type element,
this element will be transformed into a polygonal series of
walls. If the created polygon intersects itself, an alert will
appear to warn you about this.
Note for TeamWork users: When working on a Team
Project, the outline of elements that are locked, reserved by
others or outside your workspace can also be traced in order
to create new elements of different types.
The Magic Wand feature is not available in the 3D Window, except
for the creation of Slabs along Slabs or Roofs.
See also…
Magic Wand Settings are described in the Tools menu in Chapter 5.
Mouse Constraints
ArchiCAD’s Mouse Constraints are like having a computerized T-
square and triangle available while drafting in the Floor Plan.
Two Mouse Constraint mechanisms are available:
- Coordinate Constraints are used to lock any of the
Coordinate Box parameters.
- Angle Pairs are used to lock the cursor at a particular
drawing angle.
These features extend the power of ArchiCAD’s drawing
capabilities by making it possible to lock in a specific drawing
angle or position. These techniques facilitate the use of all the 2D/
3D Drafting tools.
Coordinate Constraints
You can constrain the movement of the cursor by pressing Option
(Macintosh) or Alt (Windows) and either x, y, a, or r on the
keyboard. The appropriate coordinate in one of the coordinate
windows will become framed, indicating its constrained status.
Having defined a direction with the cursor constraint, you can
even find outside reference points with the cursor.
By constraining x you get a vertical ruler. By constraining y you
will get a horizontal one.
Locking a (having defined it numerically or drawing in a sample
direction) will provide a slanted ruler. With r locked, you draw
radial lines of a length determined numerically or graphically.
Angle Pairs
To fully utilize the Angle Pair mechanism, you must become
familiar with two important concepts:
- A rubberband line is a thick line that tracks the cursor while
you are drawing or editing an element. Angle Pair Mouse
Constraints can only be engaged while you are defining the
endpoint of a rubberband line.
- The Angle Pair mechanism temporarily locks the cursor’s
Coordinate Box Polar Angle value using one of the three
angle pairs or the internal angle of an edited element. The
three angle pairs are set using the Preferences/Mouse
Constraints command (Options menu), and are explained in
detail later in this section.
Using the Angle Pair Mechanism
Constraining the drawing angle helps you precisely align or
connect new elements by maintaining a consistent drawing angle.
To use the Angle Pair mechanism:
1) Position the cursor close to the desired node from where you
wish to get the direction of constraint as you complete any
rubberband line.
2) Press the Shift key to lock in the desired angle. This will also
relocate the User Origin to the nearest node of the edited
element.
With the angle locked, you can move the cursor anywhere on the
screen and snap to any element without losing the orientation of
the line you draw. As opposed to most drawing programs, the
fixed angle will not jump from one predefined angle to the other
as you move around, but will remain steady at the angle it was
locked at.
The two examples given below use the Wall tool to demonstrate
what the Mouse Constraints mechanism does if you press the Shift
key during a drafting or editing process.
Drafting a New Element with Mouse Constraints
After you select the wall tool, click to set the element’s rubberband
line startpoint, move the cursor away from the startpoint, and
press the Shift key.
ArchiCAD will:
1) Move the Edit Origin to the startpoint of the rubberband line
(it appears as a heavy “X”),
2) Search for the enabled Angle Pair whose value is closest to the
position of the cursor,
3) Lock the rubberband line at the selected angle, and
4) Lock the Coordinate Box Polar Angle Value field at the
selected angle and display a box around the “a” icon as a
visual feedback.
On the figure below, you can see a normal and a constrained
rubberband line (note that the cursor is remote from the line and
Eligible Nodes
While Editing a Linear Element:
ArchiCAD searches for the closest node to the cursor’s position
from the edit node or the opposite node (e.g., a Line’s other
endpoint).
While Editing Polygonal Elements:
ArchiCAD searches for the closest node to the cursor’s position
from among the edit node or the neighboring nodes (e.g., the two
nodes adjacent to a Slab polygon’s node).
ArchiCAD will also:
- Search for angle pair proximity to the cursor and find the
closest constraint angle using the Edit Origin as the center.
Depending on which checkboxes are enabled in the Preferences/
Mouse Constraints dialog box, ArchiCAD selects from the active
angles and an additional one ,the Edit Edge’s own internal angle.
Hint: At a vertex where n edit edges meet at the Edit Origin,
ArchiCAD may also select from n possible internal angles
(e.g., where two adjacent edit edges meet at a Slab polygon
node).
ArchiCAD will also:
- Lock the editing vector’s direction at the nearest enabled
constraint angle possible
- Lock the Coordinate Box Polar Angle Value field at the
selected angle and display a box around the “a:” icon as a
source for visual feedback.
4) Type a and enter the desired angle (note that angle constraint
cannot be invoked when a coordinate is already constrained).
Editing Polygons
There are six polygon type elements in ArchiCAD with similar
behavior in creation and editing: Slabs, Roofs, Meshes, Fills, Zones
and polygon-type Walls. These tools share many editing
techniques that will be described below.
See also…
The additional possibilities available in the 3D Window under
Working in the 3D Window, later in this chapter.
Clicking the hole with the Checkmark, on the other hand, will
select the host element with all the holes it contains.
You can also move holes with the Marquee tool. Draw a Marquee
area around the ENTIRE hole, and then define the vector by
which you wish to move the hole.
Warning: If a part only of the hole is inside the Marquee area,
its shape will be distorted when stretched.
Zones are special polygons, you cannot select and edit individual
holes placed in them. Moving or modifying holes is only possible
with the Marquee tool.
If filleting the arc with the current radius would extend any of the
neighboring vertices, the radius will be limited automatically so
that the filleting arc contains the closer neighboring vertex.
Filleting at intersections of bent polygon segments works the same
way.
- graphically resize the whole polygon. The edges will be
replaced and stretched. If the action would result in a self-
intersecting polygon, automatic regularization occurs.
Splitting Polygons
Polygons can be split by using the Split command in the Edit menu
(see description in Chapter 5.)
You can only use straight lines or edges for splitting polygons.
Cursor Forms
As you work in ArchiCAD, you will see that in different locations
or situations the cursor will change its shape, informing you about
its relation to existing elements or actions expected from you.
In the Appendix at the end of this book, you can find a detailed
chart of ArchiCAD cursor forms.
Correcting Mistakes
The Cancel Button
If you change your mind before completing an operation, use the
Cancel button in the Control Box.
If you hit the Cancel button during a sequence of operations, your
actions will be reversed one by one with each pressing of the
Cancel button. If you change the active tool during such a
sequence the entire operation will be canceled.
Undo
Completed operations can be revoked by choosing the Undo
command (Edit menu). A virtually unlimited number of previous
steps can be undone by repeatedly choosing the undo command.
Accidental erasures are prevented through the Redo function. See
more about this function in Chapter 5.
Clear
Unwanted elements can be deleted by selecting them and
activating Clear from the Edit menu or hitting the Delete key on
the keyboard. Double-check that no elements other than the ones
to be deleted have been selected. Accidental or mistaken deletions
can be revoked by choosing the Undo command.
Other Methods
You can also stop a drawing operation by:
- Pressing the Delete key while drawing,
- Changing tools during the operation,
- Pressing the up, down or right arrow keys.
ArchiCAD 6.0 Reference Guide
79
Chapter 3: Construction Techniques
Selection
The contents of the Section/Elevation window depends on the
settings chosen for the corresponding section line in the Section/
Elevation Settings dialog box, not on what’s currently selected on
the Floor Plan. Selections made on the Floor Plan do not affect the
Section/Elevation windows in any way.
Selection made in a Section/Elevation window is totally
independent from any other selection made in other windows
(Floor Plan, 3D Window, other Sections/Elevations).
Editing in Section/Elevation
When working in a Section/Elevation window, you can use many
of the functions offered by the Menubar, the Toolbox, the Control
Box, the Coordinate Box, and the QuickViews palette, as well as
the options offered by the scroll bars and the Display bar.
Saving Sections/Elevations
Sections/Elevations are saved together with the project, but it is
also possible to save the contents of these windows as separate
files in a variety of drawing formats by choosing File/Save as...
See also...
The Section/Elevation tool in Chapter 4 and the Display menu
commands in Chapter 5.
Selection Methods
- Selection by nodes or edges:
Works the same as on the Floor Plan.
- Selection by surfaces:
You can select any element by clicking anywhere with the Arrow
tool on its visible surfaces, without finding any of its nodes with
the intelligent cursor. This works also in Wireframe, but in this
case you have no visual clue of which surface is visible.
This method only works with the Arrow tool. Shift-clicking with
other tools requires that you click on a node or edge, just like on
the Floor Plan.
- Selection by area:
With the Arrow tool, press the mouse button anywhere but on a
node or edge, and move the mouse while keeping it pressed. You
will draw a selection rectangle just like on the Floor Plan. All
elements which have a node within this rectangle will get selected.
No Selection Dots
If all of the selection dots of an element would be outside of the
current view, the element cannot be selected.
This means that in a zoomed view with a wall or slab leaving no
empty background in the image, you can draw selection
rectangles or deselect elements by clicking on the surface of this
element, without the risk of moving it without knowing.
Though it sounds restrictive, this rule is a great help when working
in interiors.
However, if using “automated” selection methods, like the Select
All command or using the Find & Select palette, even these
elements will get selected.
Trimmed Model Views and Selection Dots
In the case of trimmed 3D views, resulting either from a Marquee
area or the use of 3D cutting planes and the 3D Cutaway
command, some elements will be only partially visible.
If selected, selection dots of the whole element will get displayed
and all the nodes and edges can be found with the cursor. If
edited, a temporary ghosted image of the whole element will be
visible.
Elevation Control
Before you start drawing an element, set the controls and settings
to make sure that the element will be inserted at the right
elevation.
First, set Gravity as required.
Gravity On:
With Gravity, walls, columns, and library parts will be positioned
to the slab or roof surface you click. Existing elements of other
types will have a “transparent” behavior, i.e. the click will poke
through walls or objects and find the first slab or roof surface.
To keep an offset from the clicked slab or roof, open the Settings
dialog box of the tool you want to use and set the “To Element
Beneath” value as desired. If you specify an offset, the pointer will
still move on the slab or roof surface, and a small triangle that
moves with the cursor will mark the initial position of the element
you would create.
The Z field in the Coordinate box will display the elevation of the
surface at the cursor, while the Info Box displays the top and
bottom elevation values of the element you would create. All these
values change automatically as you move the pointer on slabs or
roofs of different elevation.
Gravity Off:
In this mode, the elevation of the User Origin is the principal
factor. Move the User Origin as discussed above to the proper
position, and in the Settings dialog box of the tools, set the “To
User Origin” or “To Project Zero” elevation values as desired.
If you specify an offset from the User Origin, the pointer will still
move on the horizontal plane defined by the User Origin, and a
small triangle that moves with the cursor will mark the initial
position of the element you would create.
The Z field in the Coordinate box will display the elevation of the
User Origin, while the Info Box displays the top and bottom
elevation values of the element you would create.
This applies also to element types which cannot use Gravity: Slabs
and Meshes.
Elevation of Doors and Windows
The elevation of wall openings is strictly determined by the
current values in the Door and Window Settings dialog boxes, and
is always measured from the bottom of the clicked wall.
Elevation and Stories
The 3D Window always displays a certain range of stories.
However there is no visual clue of which elements belong to
which story.
New elements are always added to the story within this range that
best matches their elevation. This means the following:
- If the contents of the 3D Window was defined either by
individual selection or a single-story Marquee area, then all
new elements will be added to the current story regardless of
elevation.
- If multiple stories are displayed as set in the Select Image
Items dialog box, then new elements within the range of a
displayed story will be added to that story, while elements
Creating Elements
In most cases, creating a new element requires one more step than
on the Floor Plan. After you define the position of the element on
the current horizontal plane, draw a vector for its height.
In all cases, double-clicking instead of drawing the height vector
will place an element with the default height or thickness set in the
Settings dialog box of the tool.
When drawing, use the Intelligent Cursor Switch and snap to
existing elements as required.
Walls, Columns, Objects and Lamps:
- Enter the floor plan geometry of the bottom of the element(s)
as you would on floor plan.
- Click the height. Note that the height of objects from older
libraries cannot be set graphically.
Doors and Windows:
- Click on a wall surface or reference line, or at an intersection
point of two wall reference lines.
- Click the position of the opening if placed by the edge or
placed on an intersection point.
- Elevation values come from the Door/Window Settings dialog
box.
- Click the orientation of the opening. A small stick will give a
visual clue of the clicked side.
Slabs:
- Enter the floor plan geometry of the top surface as you would
on floor plan.
- Click the slab thickness.
Roofs:
- Roof type elements cannot be created in the 3D Window.
Draw them on the Floor Plan and edit them in the 3D
Window.
Meshes:
- Enter the floor plan geometry of the base polygon as you
would on floor plan.
- Click the elevation of the bottom plane.
The projection mode switch in the top right part of the palette
toggles between view types like a similar control button in the 3D
Projection Settings dialog box.
The Editing-Motion controls include:
The Edit mode icon represented by an Arrow; with this mode on,
3D construction tools can be used and the elements edited.
The Motion tools that allow you to move around in the 3D
window by changing the 3D projection.
These tools are different for perspective and axonometric views
and are also modified by the Motion mode chosen (Camera or
Locked target). See details below.
The Undo button bottom right for undoing the last single view
change.
Navigation Basics
Navigation is controlled by Motion Tools and Motion Modes.
There are different options for perspective and axonometric views.
Each combination of Tools and Modes results in a different kind of
movement.
Regardless of Tools and Modes, you need to click in the 3D
Window to begin moving. Click first in the center of the image. A
simplified image of the model will be displayed. ArchiCAD will
ignore contours, at first then switch to rough shading, wireframe
or block modes. (Smaller models on fast computers produce the
best results for movement.)
In the middle of the image, a rectangle will appear. This is the
“neutral area”.
If you click anywhere between the rectangle and the window
border, you will begin moving. Click at the top or bottom for one
kind of movement, to the left or right for another, and in the
corner areas for a combination of the two.
Click close to the rectangle to move slowly, close to the window
border to move fast. To move at a constant speed, keep the mouse
pressed. Drag the pointer around to increase or decrease speed
and change directions. For extreme speed, drag out of the 3D
Window as far as your screen size permits.
Navigation in Perspective
Navigation in perspective view is defined by the combination of
Motion tools and modes.
Motion Tools
There are three Motion tools in perspective views.
1) Walk
- Top-Bottom: moves forward and backward horizontally
- Left-Right: turns around
2) Lateral Move
- Top-Bottom: moves up and down.
- Left-Right: moves laterally to the left or right.
3) Turn
- Top-Bottom: looks or turns up and down. Range is ±90
degrees; cannot turn upside down.
- Left-Right: turns around.
Motion Modes
The two perspective Motion modes are as follows:
- Camera: Keeps the physical distance between camera and
target constant.
- Target Lock: Keeps the current target at the center of the
image. (See also the “Look to” buttons later.)
Motion Tool and Mode Combinations
The following Motion tool/mode combinations exist in perspective
views (note that the tool icon changes in the Edit-Motion area
according to the mode chosen):
- Walk - Camera: Walk within a building, look around in
rooms.
- Walk - Target Lock: Move around in external views, move
closer and farther away.
The View Cone sliding switch is the only view control which can
also be used in 3D Editing mode. Drag the sliding switch to
change the view from wide-angle to telephoto.
Animation Controls
To fine tune the keyframes of fly-through animations, use the
small pop-up button at the top right of the palette.
With no or several cameras selected on the floor plan, you get the
following menu:
Chapter 4
The ArchiCAD Tools
This chapter provides a general discussion of the ArchiCAD
Toolbox as well as detailed instructions for the use, settings and
editing techniques available with each ArchiCAD tool. Where
possible, the procedures for drawing with the tool and editing its
output are expanded to include special tricks and tips that you
may find useful.
The Toolbox
The ArchiCAD toolbox includes a large number of highly
specialized architectural tools. These drawing tools are used in
almost every aspect of creating your projects. Some of the tools are
similar to those used in manual drafting, while others provide
capabilities far beyond what is manually possible. Once you
become familiar with the ArchiCAD toolbox, the tools will become
a natural extension of your drafting and architectural expertise.
Since many of the settings are common to most of the tools, they
are presented once and the description is referenced in
subsequent sections.
In the Toolbox’ default shape, related tools are grouped under a
single icon and the specific tools appear when this icon is flushed
out. To see all the tools at the same time, go to the Window menu,
choose Floating Palettes/Palette Shapes… and check the Extended
option.
Tool Groups
The tools are organized into functional groups.
Arrow, Marquee - The first two tools are used to select and
manipulate construction elements.
Wall, Column, Window/Door, Object/Lamp, Slab, Roof, Mesh
- The next series of tools combine actual 2D drafting and 3D
modeling capabilities. Elements created with these tools are
displayed on the Floor Plan as 2D construction elements, and in
the 3D Window as solid building components. Their textual
descriptions and components appear in the Component or
Element List.
Dimension/Radial Dimension/Level Dimension/Elevation
Dimension/Angular Dimension, Text/Label, Zone - These
dimensioning and labeling tools allow you to place a large variety
of textual information about the construction elements into the
Floor Plan, onto Sections/Elevations and into Zone Lists.
Fill, Line/Arc/Circle/Ellipse/Spline, Hotspot - These drafting
tools create elements seen in 2D views only. They can serve as
drawing aids, reference points or templates for generating
complex 3D elements.
Section/Elevation and Camera/VR - These two tools allow you
to define elevations and sections, parallel and perspective views,
sun studies, fly-through paths and VR camera positions on the
Floor Plan.
In addition, a sixth, optional group of tools may appear in the
Toolbox, provided that you have installed third party library part
editors (see Appendix).
Tool Availability
Depending on which window is active, all, some or none of the
tools are available:
- when working on the Floor Plan, all tools are available;
- when working on a Section/Elevation window, the Elevation
Dimension, Zone, Section/Elevation and Camera tools are
grayed. Construction tools can only be used for selecting and
editing elements, but not for creating new ones;
- in the Library Part 2D Symbol window, only the selection and
2D drawing tools (including the Text tool) are available;
Activating Tools
There are several ways to select a tool from the toolbox:
- Click its icon in the Toolbox.
- Press the up or down arrow keys on the keyboard to move
between tool icons.
- Press the right arrow key to toggle between the currently
active tool and the Arrow tool. This is useful when you need
to drag or stretch an element, and then return to drawing.
- Click an existing construction element while holding the
Option key (Macintosh) or the Alt key (Windows) to select the
tool which created the element. This action also loads the
element’s parameters for later use (see the Parameter Transfer
section later in this chapter).
all elements and reopening the dialog boxes, you will find your
previous default settings untouched.
The selected element(s) will be modified in both the Floor Plan
and the 3D Window, as well as in subsequent quantity
calculations.
Parameter Transfer
ArchiCAD allows you to pick certain settings of one construction
element and pass them to another with two simple keyboard
shortcuts. This facilitates the modification of either the default
values in a Settings dialog box, or the settings of existing elements,
without having to select tools and open dialog boxes.
Picking up the settings of an existint element:
Press the Option key (Macintosh) or the Alt key (Windows) on the
keyboard and at the same time click on an element. Now the
parameters of the element will have become the default settings
for the tool. (You can open the dialog box to check this.)
The settings will then be loaded and the tool activated. With the
next click, you can start drawing a clone of a clicked element.
This feature can be a real time-saver as the project is developed
and more and more of the elements used in the project are already
on-screen on the worksheet. Instead of opening dialog boxes and
setting all the characteristics repeatedly, the project itself can be
used as a graphic library of parametrized elements, which can all
be cloned with this simple technique.
Transferring a dialog box’s settings to an element:
Press the Option and Command keys (Macintosh) or the Alt and
Control keys (Windows) simultaneously while clicking on an
existing element. This will transfer the current default values.
Gravity
Walls, Columns, Objects and Lamps can be placed in relation
either to the current story’s zero level, to a slab or to a roof
beneath.
See also…
The description of the Gravity feature under the discussion of the
Coordinate Box in Chapter 3.
Construction Methods
Most tools have construction methods or types that you can
choose either from the Info Box or from within their own Settings
dialog box. See the discussion of individual tools for their specific
methods available.
Preview Area
Library Part elements (Doors, Windows, Objects, Lamps and
Zones) can be previewed in the General controls part of their
respective dialog boxes.
On the right hand side of the dialog box, the Preview area displays
the 2D Symbol, the hidden line side view or axonometry, the 3D
view shaded axonometry, the predefined preview picture or the
information notes of the selected or default Library part. If more
than one Library Part has been selected, it is the one selected last
that appears.
On the right, next to the Preview Area, one or two buttons allow
you to flip the 2D Symbol or the 3D View, and the button below
opens the Preview pop-up menu.
Use the Preview pop-up menu to display the symbol, the 3D view,
the preview pictures or even the info notes.
See also…
For information on how to assign a preview picture and
information notes to a Library Part, see the ArchiCAD Library
section in Chapter 6.
Outlines on Other Stories
The display of Objects, Lamps, Slabs, Roofs and Meshes on other
stories is controlled by three checkboxes, allowing you to display
these elements’ outlines on all stories in a Project or on the story
directly above or below.
If any of the checkboxes is active, you can edit the given element
on the stories where it is visible and not only on its own story.
This option can be set and unset for individual elementsand made
into the default setting for subsequent ones.
See also…
Chapter 5, Options menu, Layers hierarchical menu items.
Parameters
Library Part type tools’ settings dialog boxes share a first button
giving access to Parameters that affect the overall appearance and
behaviour of these elements.
See also…
The Door/Window, Object/Lamp and Zone tool descriptions later
in this chapter, as well as the ArchiCAD Library section in Chapter
6.
Model Attributes
The Model Attributes controls are common to all construction
tools. Most of the options will be described here, but see the
individual tools’ description for tool-specific information.
Roof Trimming
If any construction elements (Walls, Slabs, Library Parts) have been
trimmed to Roofs by using the Trim to Roof command, a button
appears in this part of the dialog box, allowing you to undo the
trimming and to return the selected elements to their original state.
See also…
The trimming process is described in Chapter 5, under the Trim to
Roof command (Edit menu).
Listing Attributes
The Listing Attributes tab page is shared by all construction tools
and the Fill and Zone tools, that is, all elements that can appear in
calculations.
See also…
The Calculate menu commands in Chapter 5 and Performing
Calculations in Chapter 6.
ID Field
Within this field, you can define an identifier for any element. This
identifier can then be listed in quantity calculations, and is also
included if either the project or a part of the project is saved as a
GDL script.
The text string within this field cannot exceed 15 characters. Any
characters can be used.
If a number is included anywhere in the 15 characters, drawing
successive elements will add one to this number for each new
element., provided that the Auto ID Increase checkbox is
enabled the Options/Preferences/Miscellaneous dialog box. Each
new element will have a unique ID.
If elements are duplicated or multiplied, the IDs of the replicas will
remain the same as those of the originals.
If you paste elements into a project, you may have elements with
conflicting IDs. ArchiCAD does not automatically exclude ID
conflicts. It is up to the user to designate different IDs for elements
which may be in conflict.
Note: All construction elements also have a unique,
automatically generated, internal ID which is conserved
throughout the life of the project. You can also use this
identifier for labeling or in lists.
Properties
Properties consist of components and descriptors. Construction
elements may be built of several components such as bricks,
insulation and mortar that are listed by code, name, quantity and
unit. Descriptors store extra information about the construction of
elements, including the period of construction, the quality of the
workforce and the area of formwork.
There are two ways to assign components and descriptors to
construction elements: by criteria or by assignment. You can
You can also click and drag to draw a selection rectangle around
those items you want to select.
Any element that has one of its nodes in the rectangle will become
selected, and selection hotspots will appear on each of the
elements. You can quickly select a series of different construction
elements this way, and then deselect unwanted ones individually.
Note: Walls, Lines and Arcs will be selected if the selection
rectangle crosses their reference lines.
When several elements overlap, successive clicking with the
Checkmark cursor will cycle through the selection markers of the
available elements. The Info Box gives you visual feedback about
the last selected element.
In the 3D Window, you can also select elements by simple clicking
one of their surfaces. See also the Editing in 3D section of Chapter
3.
Deselecting Elements
To deselect one or more elements, click or draw a selection
rectangle around the selected elements you want to deselect with
the Arrow tool while pressing the Shift key. Any number of
elements can be deselected this way, either individually or as a
group.
Click with any tool (including the Arrow) on an empty part of the
ArchiCAD worksheet if you intend to deselect all the selected
elements at once.
3) The wall will stretch and rotate to meet the new endpoint
location.
Note: You can stretch more than one selected wall or line at
the same time if you click-and-drag their common endpoint.
Objects and Lamps can be stretched by picking up and moving
their hotspots.
To stretch an object, select it and try to pick up one of its nodes to
graphically change its shape and size. This is only possible if the
hotspots were appropriately defined, i.e. the projected distance
between hotspots is identical with the object’s nominal size.
See also…
Editing in 3D in Chapter 3.
Moving Elements
To move an element, click on a node or edge of a selected
element. When you move the arrow cursor, the element will be
dragged by the vector the cursor has defined.
This function will also work when several elements have been
simultaneously selected. All of the selected elements will be
dragged along the same vector.
See also…
Editing in 3D in Chapter 3.
Marquee Tool
The Marquee tool is used to define areas for editing and
visualization purposes. The capabilities of the Marquee tool
overlap those of the Arrow tool, and are particularly useful in
selecting and moving groups of ArchiCAD elements.
Construction Methods
When working on the Floor Plan, the Marquee tool has two
construction methods available in the Info Box.
The Single Floor construction method allows you to edit, clear
and cut/copy/paste elements both onto and off of the floor you
are currently working on.
The All Floors construction method allows you to edit, clear and
cut/copy/paste elements both onto and off of all the floors of your
project.
Note: These controls are dimmed when viewing the 3D
window, since physical limitation is controlled by selection.
Drawing Marquees
To use the Marquee tool for selection and editing, you must first
define a rectangular or polygonal selection area by choosing one
of the Geometry Methods below. All construction aids are
available, including numeric input and drafting modifiers.
If you inadvertently start to draw the selection area at an
unintended point, either finish and start again, or click the Cancel
button and start anew.
- If you click a node or an edge inside the selection area, the
cursor will assume the Checkmark or Mercedes shape. If you
then move the cursor, the selection area will be moved with
all the nodes or edges included in it. (See Marquee
Techniques later.)
- If you click inside the selection area without touching a node
or an edge, the cursor will assume the Trident ( ) shape. In
this case, moving the cursor will only move the selection area,
leaving all enclosed elements unchanged.
Geometry Methods
There are three shape options for Marquees available as icons in
the Info Box when viewing the Floor Plan or a Section/Elevation
window.
The Polygonal method defines a selection area by any number of
points. You draw the contour lines individually. Completing a line
simultaneously begins the next one. You can close a Polygonal
Marquee by double-clicking the last endpoint, clicking OK in the
Control Box or by drawing the last endpoint on top of the first one
and clicking once when the Hammer cursor appears. When the
selection area is completed, it will appear as a dashed contour.
Selection Criteria
Selection by a Marquee area has different criteria depending on
what you intend to do with selected elements and which window
you are working in.
In the Floor Plan window:
- If you wish to cut, copy, clear, drag, mirror, rotate or duplicate
elements, they must have at least one node inside the
Marquee area in order to be selected. The edit operations will
act on the whole element.
- If you wish to stretch/shrink elements, the Marquee area
should include only those nodes of the linear, polygonal and
circular elements that you wish to move, otherwise the whole
element will be displaced. See details and example below.
- If you opt to view elements in 3D, any part of an element that
falls inside the Marquee area will be included (or excluded) in
the 3D view, even if there is no selection node or hotspot on
this part of the element. (See also Select Image Items in the
Image menu in Chapter 5.)
Note: If you have selected a concave area boundary with the
Polygonal method, the marquee polygon will be completed to
form a convex shape for the 3D view.
- If you wish to perform individual selection restricted to a
specific area by using the Select All... or Find & Select...
commands, elements that have at least one node inside the
marquee area will be selected.
In Section/Elevation windows:
- If you wish to cut or copy elements, they must have at least
one node inside the Marquee area in order to be selected. The
edit operations will act on the whole element, but in case of
construction elements, only a copy exploded into 2D drawing
elements will be actually copied.
- If you wish to drag or stretch/shrink elements, the marquee
can be used the same way as on the Floor Plan, but will only
affect 2D drafting elements. See also the Working in Section/
Elevation section in Chapter 3 for details.
- If you wish to perform individual selection, the marquee can
be used the same way as on the Floor Plan.
In the 3D Window:
- If you wish to perform individual selection, the extended 3D
marquee can be used the same way as on the Floor Plan. This is
the only function of the 3D marquee.
- If you wish to take a snapshot from the 3D drawing, you will get
a picture cropped by the 2D marquee.
Deselection
Deselection occurs when you either begin a new selection
rectangle or double-click on the worksheet outside the marquee
area with the Marquee tool selected.
If you choose another tool, the marquee area will be preserved in
order to save the recent selection area for further use.
When you remove the box, all the elements touched by it will be
deselected.
Stretching/Shrinking Polygons
Nodes of polygon type elements (Slabs, Roofs, Fills, holes, Zones)
which fall within a Marquee area can be moved to a new location
by using the Edit/Stretch command relative to the vector defined
by both a Stretch reference point and a Stretch-to point.
See also…
The Copy and Paste commands under File in Chapter 5.
Drawing Walls
There are a number of characteristics associated with ArchiCAD
walls which are set in the Info Box and the Wall Settings dialog
box. Before examining these wall parameters in detail, let us
consider how walls are drawn.
Geometry Methods
There are ten Geometry Methods available from the Info Box for
drawing simple and special wall configurations.
The icons in the top row allow you to draw straight walls:
The Single Wall method produces one Wall element at a time.
Each one is defined by drafting its Reference Line’s startpoint and
endpoint.
The PolyWall method produces a sequence of connected Wall
elements with automatically coincident Reference Line endpoints.
The first Wall is defined in the same way as a Single Wall, except
that as you define its Reference Line endpoint, you also
simultaneously define the next Wall’s Reference Line startpoint.
Double-click to complete (or click the Control Box’ Cancel button
to stop) drafting the last Wall element.
Construction Methods
The wall construction methods in the Info Box (see Chapter 3) and
the Wall Settings dialog box determine where the physical
thickness of the wall will be located with respect to the reference
line.
The reference line is used to connect walls precisely for clean
intersections, and to establish hotspots and edges for selecting,
moving or stretching walls.
Choosing one of the wall orientation icons will establish a default
orientation for the reference line, or change the orientation for any
selected walls.
You can modify the orientation of several walls with respect to
their reference lines at the same time by selecting them and
explicitly changing the construction method either in the Info Box
or in the Wall Settings dialog box.
Hint: While drawing a wall, if the gray outline of the wall is
not on the desired side of the rubberband line, you can
change the orientation in the control box on the fly and
continue drawing.
The dialog box consists of two parts. On the right, the available
settings define the geometry of the wall and is visible at all times
when the dialog box is open. On the left, three large buttons allow
you to define the various aspects of your walls.
Many of the settings are common to all or most tools. The
description of these settings was given in the Common Tool
Settings section of this chapter. Only differences and specific
settings are discussed here in detail.
General Settings
Elevation
In the right hand part of the dialog box, the first setting is the
actual height of the wall.
The next three fields show the base elevation of the wall relatively
to a number of reference planes. These settings are interrelated,
and you cannot set contradictory values.
Walls adhere to their active story more strongly than to the
absolute zero level. This means that if you change the elevation of
a story (see the Stories section of Chapter 5), any walls linked to
that story will change their elevation with it. The wall’s elevation
relative to the absolute zero level will automatically be updated.
The “to Element beneath” field will become active if the
appropriate Gravity state has been selected. See later for details.
Note: You have fast access to the absolute values of the Wall’s
elevation through the Info Box.
Wall Thickness
To set the thickness of the walls, type the desired value into the
appropriate edit box. You can also copy and paste values to and
from this box using the usual keyboard shortcuts.
Non-Parallel walls have two thickness fields for the starting and
end thickness values.
Thickness is not editable if a Composite Wall is selected in the fill
pattern pop-up palette. The thickness of these walls can only be
edited in a dedicated dialog box, by choosing Options/
Composites.
Hint: Select the composite wall you wish to edit, and click
OK. Open the Compositess… dialog box, and this type will
automatically be selected for editing.
Wall Offset
The distance of the Reference Line from the surface of a wall can
be set using the Offset edit box.
Walls with an offset can be used to trace the outline of a slab with
one of the internal contours of composite wall skins. An offset can
also help keep the reference line at either the center or border of a
wall structure skin.
Note: The offset parameter is not available (dimmed) when
you are drawing axial walls.
There are several predefined composite walls in the fills list of the
main Wall Settings dialog box, and these structures can be handled
with the same ease as single-skin walls.
Note: In Clean Wall Intersections mode, the cursor can snap to
the nodes of each skin at wall endings or intersections.
You can choose from the predefined composite walls by clicking
on the Fill pattern pop-up palette and choosing one of the
composite walls in the lower part of the box.
The pop-up control of the fillpatterns displays the active fillpattern
so that it reflects the current pencolor settings.
You can draw Composite Walls with multiple colors. The pencolor
definition of the walls is similar to those of library parts. You can
either use pencolors defined in the Composite Structures dialog
box or you can override these pencolors using a uniform pencolor
setting.
Marking the Use Line and Fill Color of Composite checkbox
will choose the multicolor definition of the chosen structure and
apply it to the wall. The checkbox is dimmed if the current wall fill
is a simple fill. Switching to a simple fill from a composite will
force the checkbox to be active.
Note: The overall thickness of Composite Walls cannot be
edited in Wall Settings, only skin by skin using the Composite
Structures command.
See also…
The Fill Types and Composite Structures commands in Chapter 5
(Options menu).
Pen Colors
The color (pen number) for the contours, the fill pattern and the
fill background of your walls can be independently set using the
pen number edit boxes. To set the pen number you can either
enter a pen number or click on the color pop-up menu and select
a color.
- The first pen number controls the contours of the wall.
- The second pen number controls the fill pattern’s color and
the internal contours of composite wall skins.
- The third pen number controls the fill background color.
See also…
The Pens & Colors command in Chapter 5 (Options menu).
Model Attributes
Surface Materials
Walls are displayed in the 3D Window or in a Photorendering
Window as solid objects.
You can choose either different or identical materials for the three
surfaces (reference line side, edges, opposite side) of your walls
from three pop-up menus.
By activating the Chain icon, you can define the same material for
all three surfaces.
Note: There is an important difference between surface
materials and fills. Materials affect only 3D renderings and
shadings, whereas fills affect only the Floor Plan and the Bill
of Materials.
See also…
The Materials command in Chapter 5 (Options menu). For more
about the Material settings, see the Common Settings section in
this chapter.
Section Pens
The Pen Color control in this tab page allows you to choose a
color for displaying the cut edges of walls in Section/Elevation
windows.
Log Details
Log construction is supported in ArchiCAD 6.0 for straight walls
only. Log walls will appear both in Sections/Elevations and the 3D
Window with some texture options that you can set in the Log
Details… dialog box.
Wall Techniques
Joining Walls Together
The way your walls are joined determines whether or not clean
intersections will be available. Clean intersections can only be
created between walls which are correctly joined.
The Reference Line is the focal point when you join walls, and the
reference lines of the walls to be joined must fit precisely. Simple
X crossings of these lines are not enough: Your lines should either
join by their endpoints or create precise T or L junctions as shown
below.
Splitting Walls
If you find it necessary to split a wall into two or more parts for
reasons other than to create a wall intersection, the technique is
similar to the one described above (Creating Intersections from
Wall Crossings).
1) Select the Wall(s) you want to divide.
2) Choose the Edit/Split command.
2a) If you want to split the wall at an intersection with an existing
linear or circular element or element edge: Click a linear or
circular element or element edge with the Mercedes cursor.
2b) If you want to split one or more walls along the same
imaginary line: Just draw a line between two empty spots of
the Floor Plan.
3) When the Eyeball cursor appears, click on either side of the
line/arc to choose which wall segments should remain
selected.
4) The selected Walls are split.
Adjusting Walls
If you want to lengthen or shorten walls you have already drawn
to meet another existing element or an imaginary line:
1) Select the wall(s) that you want to extend or trim.
2) Choose the Adjust command from the Edit menu.
3) Click the element edge or arc to which you want to adjust the
wall(s) or draw a line between two empty spots on the Plan.
4) All the selected walls that have either a real or a projected
intersection point with the clicked edge/arc or with the line
you just drew are either lengthened or shortened to meet the
defined edge/arc/line.
Curved Walls
When using any of the Curved Wall Geometry Methods, the walls
created are always true arcs, and not made up of straight wall
segments.
You can also trace the contours of any curved elements by walls
with the element transformation method detailed in Chapter 3. In
this case, whether you get real curved walls or a series of straight
wall segments depends on the current settings of the Magic Wand
Settings dialog box.
See also…
Element transformation in Chapter 3.
Drawing Columns
You may position columns by nine hotspots in any of the
geometry methods: by centerpoint, cornerpoints and four lateral
points. Centerpoint is the default but you can select any other
Anchor Point of the Core in the General Settings section of the
Column Settings dialog box.
Geometry Methods
There are two Geometry Methods available in the Info Box.
The Right-Angle method produces a column with a single
mouseclick that has sides aligned with the main grid.
The Rotated method produces a column that is not constrained in
its alignment at the time of placement, but can be freely rotated.
Click to define the centerpoint of the column, then click again to
set the angle.
- To place a column in any of the geometry methods by any of
the corners or middle sidepoints of the core, you have to set a
new anchor point for the column in the Column Settings
dialog box.
Construction Methods
There are two Construction Methods available in the Info Box.
Columns created with the Plain method are simply inserted into
any kind of wall by cutting a place for themselves.
These columns will always keep their own surface material set in
the Column Settings dialog box.
Columns created with the Wrapped method are smarter. If they
intersect with composite walls, they will be wrapped around by
specific composite wall skins. This means that the interior or
exterior sheathing of a wall can go around the structural column,
providing a uniform interior or exterior surface.
Column Settings
The Column Settings dialog box allows you to define the
parameters of selected columns, or to set default values for future
ones.
Many of the available settings are the same as for the Wall tool. See
the description of that tool, as well as the Common Tool Settings
section at the beginning of the chapter.
General Settings
Controls that are specific to Columns include:
- dimensions for the two sides of the rectangular core;
- veneer thickness;
- the Anchor point the Column is placed with.
Note: The thickness of the veneer is uniform around the core.
Zero thickness is used for columns without a veneer.
Core Symbol
Three options are available for displaying the Column Core’s
symbol on the Floor Plan: Plain, Slash and X.
Pen Colors
Different pen colors can be defined for the column’s contour, the
core’s fill pattern and fill background, and the veneer’s fillpattern
and fill background.
Fill Patterns
Different fill patterns (and backgrounds) can be defined for both
the column’s core and veneer.
Unwrapped Columns
Unwrapped columns do not modify the shape of the wall, just cut
out a place for themselves, breaking through all wall skins. The
connection line between wall skins and column are removed
where their fillpatterns match.
The contour of column cores with a slash or an X is always fully
drawn, regardless of any other factors.
Below, the same column variations are shown in three different
situations:
1) The column stands free of any walls
2) The column is placed in a composite wall
3) The column is placed in a plain well.
Wrapped Columns
Wrapped columns can only break through the core skins of
composite walls. The other wall skins wrap around the column
keeping their thickness all along.
Wrapping will only occur if:
- the column was placed using the Wrapped Method,
- it intersects a composite wall,
- the composite wall type has wrapping skins,
Columns in 3D Views
Free standing columns are modeled as single rectangular blocks.
Columns intersecting with walls are modeled in a special way.
Walls run through continuously, and the protruding parts of the
columns are added as prisms, stuck to the wall surface. This
method gives perfect results in both shaded or wireframe views.
Please note that all columns placed with the Wrapped construction
method will inherit the surface material of the connecting walls,
even if there are no wall skins configured to actually wrap around
the columns.
If a column goes beyond the base or the top of the connected
walls, you need to model it from separate pieces placed on top of
each other.
The above view was created using six columns, as shown below.
Simple Openings
1) Open the appropriate tool (Door or Window) settings dialog
box by double-clicking on the tool.
2) Click on the Empty Hole button in the Preview area.
3) Adjust the size parameter edit boxes by typing in a new height
or width if desired.
4) Click along the reference line of an existing wall.
See also…
Options for accessing Library Parts in the ArchiCAD Library section
of Chapter 6.
Geometry Methods
You have a choice of two Door and Window Geometry Methods
to facilitate placing your openings.
Doors and Windows can be placed either by their centers or their
corners. These options are selected using the Geometry Methods
in the Info Box when either the Door or the Window tool is active.
When placing a door or a window by its corner, the special
Double Eyeball cursor appears and, as you move the mouse, it will
flip the outline of the opening from one side (1) to the other (2),
prompting you to click (3) when you are satisfied with the
opening’s position.
This works the same way at wall corners.
Note: The placement mode you have chosen is valid for both
types of openings until you explicitly change it.
Opening Locations
You can place a Window or Door opening at any Checkmark or
Mercedes cursor position on a wall’s outline, rather than being
limited to a point along its Reference Line.
By turning on the Clean Wall Intersections mode from the Options
menu, any point where two or more Wall outlines meet becomes
available as a placement position for openings.
Note: In some cases the cursor takes on the Mercedes shape
although the opening cannot be placed. The reason is that an
edge of another drawing element (slab, roof, fill or line)
coincides with the outline of the wall. Switch off the Clean
Wall Intersection option on the Options menu to make sure
that you find the reference line of the wall.
Dislocated Openings
If you attempt to place a window or door near the end or top of a
wall, where there is not enough room to accommodate it, a dialog
box will be displayed to warn you and give you the option of
discarding the opening.
Construction Methods
By selecting any of the three Door or Window Construction
Methods in the Info Box you can define how the default or
selected Door/Window will be positioned in the opening.
- The Edge method will place the Window or Door at either
edge of the opening in the wall. Clicking with the Eyeball
cursor decides which edge is chosen.
If this method is selected, the sill depth is automatically set to zero.
- The Sill method will place the Window or Door within the
opening with a sill of the depth currently defined in the
Window/Door Settings dialog box at the selected side of the
opening. The Eyeball cursor will prompt you to choose a side.
- Doors: the click defines the swing direction of the door. For
doors without a German type reveal, sill depth will be
measured from this side. For doors with a German reveal, sill
depth will be measured from the opposite side.
To place a door or window with a different orientation than the
above, place, then select it and check the Flip checkbox in its
Settings dialog box. The door/window will change its orientation
to the other side of the wall while it will maintain its sill/reveal
depth from the originally clicked side.
General Settings
In the right hand part of the dialog box, in addition to the Preview
area discussed in the Common Tool Settings section, controls are
Here you can enter values in the edit boxes for head depth, sill/
threshold depth, left and right jamb depth and reveal depth.
Note: For composite walls ArchiCAD does not turn the skin
opposite the reveal inside the opening, if the reveal depth is
less than the remainder of the wall’s thickness.
The sill width specifies an offset for the opening away from the
face of the wall in the direction you have defined by clicking with
the Eyeball cursor. (This has no effect if you choose the edge
positioning construction method.)
Use the Flip checkbox if you want to change the opening side of
the door/window while keeping the frame in place.
Opening Dimensioning Options
The Window and Door tools feature customizable Dimensioning
options formatted in a subdialog of their Settings dialog boxes.
The dialog box is displayed by clicking the Setup button.
The following options are parameters unique to an individual
Window or Door and include:
- A user-selectable dimension font and font size (plotter fonts
include italicization angle).
Parameters
Clicking the first large button in the left part of the Door/Window
Settings dialog box will show the first tab page.
Nominal Dimensions
The dimensions for your openings are defined in four edit boxes
under Parameters.
The width and height of openings can be modified by changing
the first two parameters. The sill and header heights are linked: if
you change one, the other will be updated. If you change the
height of the opening, the header will be revised automatically
The physical size of Wall holes can be larger than their nominal
size, depending on local standards.
See Dislocated Openings earlier.
Additional Parameters
Additional parameters in the dialog box affect not only 3D
visualizations, but also the floor plan representation (GDL
description of windows/doors with parametric 2D script).
2D Wall Framing
Automatic 2D Wall Framing causes ArchiCAD to provide default
door and window framing details when you add openings to your
project.
You can switch automatic 2D wall framing on or off around an
opening on a floor plan by clicking on the wall framing radio
buttons.
If you omit automatic wall framing, you can manually add any
kind of reveal or inner or outer sills to the 2D representation of
your doors and windows.
Note: To see these 2D manipulations reflected in the 3D
model, you must add true 3D elements to the incomplete hole,
or modify the GDL macro of the door or window in question.
Model Attributes
Clicking the third button from the left in the Window/Door
Settings dialog box allows you to define attributes for the 3D view.
Surface Materials
In addition to the Surface Material options for the door or window
defined in the pop-up menu, several different materials for
individual parts of the door or window can be specified in the
GDL description using the additional parameters of the opening
(see ArchiCAD Library section in Chapter 6).
Checking the Use Object’s Materials checkbox will ignore the set
material and will apply the same material that was used when
creating the library part.
Note: Stretch will always effect the overall size that can be
different from the nominal size.
Mirror
Rotate
Multiplying Openings
You can create copies of your openings by using the Drag a Copy,
Mirror a Copy and Multiply/Drag or Elevate commands on the Edit
menu.
All of the above commands are useful when you need to change
the opening direction of an existing opening or place several
identical openings in a wall. A complete description of the way
these commands work is provided in Chapter 5.
Positioning Objects
To position an object, click on the desired position in the floor
plan. You can use numerical input, gravity, rulers or the grids to
assist you in positioning objects accurately. This allows you to fit
fixtures or furniture to corners, specific positions, or to each other
with great accuracy. Fitting an object to a specific position (a chair
to a table for instance) is further helped by the object’s hotspots
because the cursor is sensitive to these points.
Object Hotspots
Unlike walls or other elements constructed on the fly, object
symbols have a predefined geometry and the cursor can only snap
to predefined hotspots of the symbol. The cursor is not sensitive to
edges within symbols.
Geometry Methods
Four geometry methods are available in the Info Box for placing
Object and Lamp type Library Parts.
- The Orthogonal method automatically places Library Parts in
alignment with the grid lines unless you specify a rotation
angle in the Settings dialog box before placement. The Object
can later be rotated with the Edit/Rotate command or by
modifying the rotation angle parameter value in its Settings
dialog box.
- To place a Rotated Library part, first define an Object
Reference Point by clicking any point. Use the resulting
rubberband line to place the Object Rotation Vector. This
rubberband line can be constrained using any of the Drafting
Modifiers or enabled Mouse Constraint angles.
- The Diagonal geometry or input method works like the
rectangle geometry method used for walls, slabs, etc.
- The Rotated diagonal geometry or input method works like
the rotated rectangle method used for walls, slabs, etc.
These methods let you define the A and B parameters of the
Object or Lamp graphically on the Floor Plan.
Object and Lamp settings shared by all other tools are discussed in
the Tool Settings Common Elements section.
Only differences and specific settings are discussed here.
Parameters
Dimension and Position Parameters
In addition to the length and width of objects and lamps, you can
set here a horizontal rotation angle.
Activating the Chain icon to the right of the length and width edit
fields allows you to link the horizontal and vertical parameters of
your objects and keep their original proportions.
Mirrored Objects
Below the horizontal angle field, a checkbox can be used to place
Mirrored Library Parts or to mirror them after placement. This
option reflects the entire 3D description of the Library Part across
the Y-axis defined by the Object Hotspot you entered in the Object
Settings dialog box.
Note: In addition, the Mirror parameter is included in any
parameter transfer through the Settings dialog box (see
Parameter transfer earlier in this Chapter).
Lamp Parameters
Some parameters related to are unique to Lamp type Library Parts.
Object Techniques
Stretching Objects
Object stretching is based on the same rules as the diagonal input
methods.
To find out whether an object can be defined graphically (or
stretched with the Arrow tool) at a given hotspot, ArchiCAD
checks for the presence of other hotspots in the symbol which
could possibly be the counterside of the stretched rectangle. This
stretched rectangle is a theoretical A*B sized one. The
stretchability of the object depends on the presence of such
hotspots.
Geometry Methods
Polygon - You can draw the contour of the slab by clicking its
outline on the screen, using the mouse or keyboard. All the
construction aids (including numeric input) are at your disposal.
To close the contour polygon, double-click the last point or click
on the starting point of the contour a second time. You can also
click on the OK button in the Control Box.
The OK button becomes active after you define the third node of
the slab contour. Clicking the button will automatically return you
to the starting point of the polygon from the penultimate node.
This removes the need to zoom in when the starting point is
extremely close to some other sensitive points on your floor plan.
You can abort the construction of the slab by clicking the Cancel
button in the Control box.
Rectangle method - a single Slab element with four rectilinear
Slab polygon edges. The rectangle is defined by placing two
opposing corner nodes (the startvertex and endvertex). The
startvertex defines one corner of the rectangle and the endvertex
defines the opposing corner. A Rectangle Slab is always aligned
orthogonally with the grid.
Rotated Rectangle method - a rectangular Slab with a rotation
vector defined for the Rectangle’s Base Reference Line. This vector
also defines the length of the two edges parallel to it.
Hint: You can unlock the length component constraint and
use only the rotation angle component of the rotation vector
by hitting the Shift key.
Slab Settings
The Slab Settings dialog box’ contents is similar in many respects
that of the Wall Settings dialog box. Only settings specific to Slabs
will be discussed here.
General Settings
Thickness and Height
The thickness and elevation of each slab can independently be
defined. The elevation, relative to the top of the slab, can be
defined relative to the zero level of the active story or to the
absolute zero level prevailing in the design. The elevation
references are interrelated so that when you change one, the other
is automatically updated. The slab elevation relative to the active
story has priority. If you change the elevation of the active story
using the Stories command on the Options menu, your Slab will
go with it, and the elevation relative to absolute zero will
automatically be updated.
When choosing a composite structure, you can either set a new fill
color, fill background and section outline color for the strucure or
apply the predefined colors of the composites. In the latter case,
check in the Use Fill Colors of Composite and Use Background
Colors of Composite checkboxes. Both of these checkboxes
become automatically dimmed if you choose a simple fill.
Slab Techniques
Integrating Slabs with Walls
If you build a wall on top of a slab and an edge of the wall
coincides with any part of the contour of the slab, the coinciding
line between them will be automatically omitted in 3D
visualizations. This feature ensures correct hidden-line exterior
views as shown in the following figure.
See also…
Editing Polygons in Chapter 3.
Geometry Methods
The Roof tool has six geometry methods, allowing you to create
both simple and complex roof shapes. The detailed description of
the steps needed with the different methods is given in the next
few sections.
- Polygon method: Creates a polygon shaped roof. See detailed
description under Drawing Simple Roofs.
- Rectangle method: Creates an orthogonal rectangular roof.
See detailed description under Drawing Simple Roofs.
Pivot Line
The pivot line is the most critical element of designing simple
roofs. This is a horizontal non-printing element which is part of
the lower surface of the roof.
The roof pitch is interpreted as a pivoting angle around this line
and the elevation of the roof’s bottom edge is defined by the
elevation of the pivot line.
Note: The pivot line of the roof, being an abstract construction
aid, will be displayed only if you turn on Show Pivot Lines
in Display Options (Options menu).
The edit field at top left in the dialog box contains the height of
the Dome roof as measured from its centerpoint. This value is set
by default to the maximum allowed, i.e. the height of a semi-
sphere structure. By entering a smaller number, you can flatten
your dome. The next edit field contains the elevation of the
dome’s base.
The number of strips and segments that make up the dome can
also be defined in this dialog box: they are limited to 90 and 360
respectively.
The roof thickness measured perpendicular to the roof’s elevation
can also be set, while the roof edge’s trimming is controlled by the
radio buttons on the right. The three options available are
perpendicular, vertical and horizontal trimming.
Once the dome is created, its parts can be edited as individual
pitched roofs, but not as a whole.
Once the curve has been defined, you will have to define the
length of the curved roof by defining the startpoint and the
endpoint of the roof. At the same time, you will be able to specify
in which direction the cross-section curve should be interpreted
and which side should be the top.
When you have defined the curve, you will see a rubberband
boundary, whose ends are connected to those of the cross-section
curve. One of the sides of this boundary is the imaginary “floor”
and, at the same time, the side of the barrel roof. With a first click,
you define the starting point and the shape, and with the second,
the length of the barrel roof. The resulting roofplanes are
individually editable.
The number of roofplanes generated depends on the settings of
the Magic Wand Settings dialog box (Tools menu).
Only linear segments are applicable for Roofs, even if you choose
Best Match.
Note: ArchiCAD only allows the construction of curved roofs
that can be hit by vertical rainfall. This avoids the construction
of self-intersecting or reclinate roofs. This also means that the
same curve may be valid for the generation of a roof from one
angle of the boundary box, and invalid from another angle.
This is because the shape of the roof is determined not only
by the curve that it is constructed from, but also by the angle
of the boundary box that it is associated to.
Roof Settings
Most of the settings for Roofs are identical to those of the other
construction tools. Only specific settings will be discussed here.
General Settings
Elevation
As shown in the figure, the elevation of the pivot line can be set
relatively to the zero level of the active story or to the absolute
zero level for the project. The two settings are interrelated and, as
for slabs or hip roofs, the active story reference has priority.
This means that if you move the active story vertically, the roof
will move with it and will maintain its relation to it. Its elevation
relative to the absolute zero level will automatically be updated.
Roof Pitch
The pitch unit depends in the setting you choose in the pop-up
menu near the Roof Pitch edit field.
You can define the pitch either in degrees, in percentages, or in
the amount of roof rise per 12 feet or 12 inches of horizontal run.
The roof pitch is typically positive, but it can also be a negative
value, in which case the resulting roof is “reversed”: the side
defined with the Eyeball cursor going upward will instead go
downward.
Thickness
You can set the thickness of the roof, either vertically or normally
using the edit boxes shown left.
When choosing a composite structure, you can either set a new fill
color, fill background and section outline color for the structure or
apply the predefined colors of the composites. In the latter case,
check in the Use Fill Colors of Composite and Use Background
Colors of Composite checkboxes. Both of these checkboxes
become automatically dimmed if you choose a simple fill.
Model Attributes
Roof Edge Angle
This setting defines in fact the base and fascia boards of a roof.
They can be set to either be perpendicular to the elevation or the
Roof Techniques
Roofs are complex objects, and can be manipulated with several
powerful ArchiCAD techniques.
Note: You can only create Roofs in the Floor Plan, but it is
possible to edit existing ones in either Section/Elevation or 3D
view.
Selecting Roofs
Roofs can be selected by their reference lines, contours and nodes.
You can edit any of the values in this dialog box, causing the roof
to pivot around the pivot line so that its pitch will be modified.
Hint: If you Command-click/Control-click on an endpoint of
the reference line, you can edit the elevation of the whole roof
without changing its pitch.
Note: Command-clicking/Control-clicking on a roof edge does
not open the elevation dialog box, since this action is reserved
for making roof intersections, as discussed later in this section.
3D Roof Intersections
In addition to the floor plan contour flexibility of the roof,
ArchiCAD facilitates the three-dimensional fitting as well, through
its 3D intersection capability.
Consider the two roof faces below:
When the two ridge lines meet on the Floor Plan, this means that
they are in fact intersected in 3D.
The setting you make in this dialog box apply to all selected
roofplanes that meet the common ridge line on the Floor Plan.
You can also use remote roofs and even roofs on other stories
whose outline is shown on the given story for trimming elements
to the plane of that particular roof.
Just select the walls and/or columns you intend to cut, then
Command-click (Macintosh) or Control-click (Windows) on an
edge or node of the roof you want to cut them with. The reverse
procedure will also work: select the roof you want to cut with and
Command-click (Macintosh) or Control-click (Windows) on the
individual walls/columns you want to be cut.
Geometry Methods
Meshes can be constructed using four different Geometry
Methods:
- Polygon method;
- Rectangle method;
- Rotated Rectangle method;
- Regular Sloped Mesh method.
The first three methods work the same as in the Slab and Fill tools.
See the sections about the Geometry Methods of those tools for
details and Construction Aids in Chapter 3.
The Regular Sloped Mesh method helps you create regular meshes
with plane surfaces quickly. After defining the rectangle contour of
the mesh, the Regular Sloped Mesh dialog box opens
automatically.
In the first part of the dialog box you can set the number of
divisions in either coordinate direction. Then must then set the
elevation of three mesh corners; the fourth one is generated
automatically.
On confirming the settings, ArchiCAD will draw the mesh.
Construction Methods
The three options available in the Info Box and the Mesh Settings
dialog box give a choice between meshes created as superficies,
meshes created with vertical sides (skirt) and meshes created as
solid bodies. Your choice may constrain the options of Materials in
Model Attributes and Elevation.
Drawing Meshes
There are two phases in the drawing of a mesh.
Firstly, draw a polygon with any of the geometry methods, set in
the elevation of the basis plane that you defined previously in the
Settings dialog box.
You can edit the polygon after selecting it and resetting the Mesh
tool as described in Chapter 3, Editing Polygons. Clicking the
border-line of the polygon will open the pet palette. By clicking
one of its nodes, you can edit the elevation of nodes if you choose
the last icon of the pet palette as shown here.
This action opens the Mesh Point Height dialog box where you
can apply your new setting to all the nodes of the mesh by
checking the Apply to All checkbox.
Second, with your mesh still selected, choose the Mesh tool.
Draw an open line or a closed polygon by clicking twice at the last
node or clicking the OK button in the Control Box. Confirming a
closed polygon, the New Mesh Points dialog box opens where
you can define the new nodes as the points of a hole or of the
superficies.
If you draw outside of the contour of the first polygon, only nodes
within the contour will constitute the mesh.
You may continue developing your mesh later by adding new
nodes, polygons and editing elevations later as well.
Mesh Settings
The Mesh Settings dialog box allows you to specify the parameters
for selected or default meshes.
The composition of the dialog box is in many ways similar to that
of the other tools. See the Common Tool Settings section at the
beginning of this chapter for general details.
General Settings
Elevation
In addition to the elevation of the mesh’s basis plane, you can set
the depth of the mesh body or sides below the basis plane.
Show Ridges
With the two radio buttons you can set whether to show all ridges
or only those that you have defined when drawing the mesh.
If you create your mesh as a solid body, you can define section
outline, fill and fill background colors.
Model Attributes
Materials and Smooth Ridges
According to the Construction Method applied, you can assign
materials to different sides of the mesh block.
Mesh Techniques
Meshes are complex objects that can be manipulated with several
ArchiCAD techniques. See polygon editing in Chapter 3.
6'
- Dimension Values are the text blocks containing the length
of the dimension unit. To select a dimension value by itself,
click on the lower left corner of the text.
Drawing Dimensions
Let us first examine the power of the Dimension tool with a simple
example:
Geometry Methods
Once the Dimension tool has been selected, there are three
Dimension Geometry Methods available in the Info Box that allow
you to specify the orientation of the dimension chain:
The Vertical method creates Dimension chains that are always
vertical, regardless of the angle of the nodes or element being
dimensioned.
The Horizontal method creates Dimension chains that are always
horizontal, regardless of the angle of the nodes or element being
dimensioned.
Construction Methods
There are three construction methods, or types, available for
Dimensions. These are available as icons in both the Info Box and
the Dimension tool's settings dialog box.
With the Linear method, distances between two adjacent
reference points are measured and displayed.
With the Cumulative method, the first reference point is
considered the zero point of the dimension chain. All dimension
values of the chain will give you the distance between any
reference point and the zero point.
With the Base-line method, measuring the dimensioning distances
is the same as with the Cumulative method, but only pointers are
shown on the screen instead of whole lines and the zero point is
not marked.
After you have marked your second reference point, the OK key in
the Control Box will also be activated, indicating that you can
create a valid dimension chain from now on.
Dimension Settings
Markers
Using a pop-up menu, you can set the desired marker form. The
last marker type is special, as it results in a double dimension line
enclosing the values. With this marker, value position settings are
not effective.
Number Style
These controls allow you to set the look of the dimensioning texts.
The Size and Italic settings are available for dimension chains as
well as for individual dimension units.
The Italic option appears in the dialog box if you use bitmap/
TrueType fonts. If you select vector fonts, the slant option appears
instead, allowing you to set the angle of the slant. Italic used for
bitmap/TrueType fonts translates to a 75° slant if the font is
changed to vector fonts.
With the radio buttons, you can determine the position of the
dimension values in relation to the dimension lines.
Witness Lines
You can set the format options for witness lines in this section.
Witness lines can be applied to the entire dimension chain, to
selected dimension units or to individual dimension points.
You can also create dimensions without any witness lines or with
predetermined, short witness lines by clicking on the appropriate
radio buttons.
Using the short witness line option, the witness line length will
automatically be fitted to the marker (and thus implicitly to the
appropriate text size).
To draw longer witness lines you have two options:
1) Use a Custom Width witness line.
2) Keep a uniform clearance between the reference point and the
end of the witness line using the Dynamic Witness line option.
Both the length and the clearance of witness lines can be defined
by using the Options button as explained later in this section.
Static Dimensions
By clicking the Static Dimension checkbox you can create non-
associative static dimensions. These are purely graphic forms
which are not associated with any of the 2D or 3D elements in the
project.
Dimension Options
Clicking the Options button, under the Static Dimensions
checkbox, displays the Dimension Options dialog box.
In this dialog box, you can modify the font, size, style and
pencolor of the dimension text and define a custom angle for it.
You can edit the value field, but it is updated if you modify the
dimensioned element or change units in Preferences/Dimensions.
Note: The same feature is available for all dimensioning tools,
including area texts placed with the Fill tool.
Dimensioning Techniques
Dimensioning Wall Thickness
If you click on the reference line of a wall perpendicular to the
direction of the dimension chain, both of its sides will be marked.
Overlapping Points
The associativity of dimensioning requires a refined marking
procedure for the overlapping points of different elements.
To determine which overlapping node the reference point will be
assigned to, follow these steps.
1) It will be evident that you have arrived at an overlapping
element if the dimension markers are accompanied by
selection dots on one of the overlapping structural elements.
2) If the selected element is correct, simply click on the next
node. Clicking the OK button will confirm the element
without activating the Hammer cursor.
3) If you want the dimension point to refer to another
overlapping element, successive clicks at the same node will
cycle the selection dots across them.
Note: In everyday use, just place the markers, regardless of
the selection dots. In most cases, you will not know which of
the overlapping elements will be modified later.
4) To accept this second structure, click on the next point or
complete the dimension. If you need yet another element,
click on the point again. Repeat these steps if you cannot
decide which element you want in the first cycle.
"
-9
2' 0"
-1
6'
" "
-9 -6
2' 5'
0" 1"
-1 '-
9' 22
See also…
These transformations are described in further detail in Chapter 5.
24'-2"
The result:
10'-9" 10'-5"
10'-9" 6'
The result:
delete
the result:
10'-9" 13'-5"
If the deleted point was at the end of the chain, the last unit
disappears and the chain becomes shorter.
delete
10'-9" 13'-5"
The result:
13'-5"
The result:
10'-9" 7'-5"
13'-5"
16'-9"
The result:
The second chain will be deleted and its reference points added
to, and dimensioned by, the first (selected) chain.
You can use this technique even with dimension chains that are
not parallel with one another and/or have no overlapping parts at
all.
24'-2
"
The result:
Unit:
Chain:
Clicking at the desired length will cut (or stretch) the witness lines
involved.
Dynamic witness lines will never extend beyond the reference
node of the dimensioned element.
To manually set the nonexistent or short witness lines you must
first change them into one of the long types by resetting them in
the Dimension Settings dialog box.
Construction Methods
Two Radial Dimension Construction Methods, or types, are
available from either the Info Box or the tool's Settings dialog box.
- With centerpoint: When you select this type, and place a
radial dimension on the plan, the centerpoint of the arc will
automatically be marked by placing a crosshair there.
- Without centerpoint: In this case, no centerpoint mark will
be placed at the centerpoint of the curve.
Type
You can also select the Radial Dimension type here, as in the
Control Box.
Label Orientation
Three radio buttons allow you to choose the label orientation. It
can be either continuous with the dimension line, always
horizontal or always vertical.
Prefix
This field allows you to define an optional prefix that will appear
before the value of the radius.
'
+8
2) Click with the Level Dimension tool at the location you want
the marker placed
The elevation reading of the selected slab will be displayed at the
indicated location, complete with a standard elevation marker. The
marker may be placed away from a remote selected slab and still
remain associative.
Associativity
Level dimensioning is associative: when you change the elevation
of dimensioned stories, the dimension value will automatically be
updated.
With slabs, level dimensions will only be associative when placed
on selected slabs.
Geometry Methods
Two Geometry Methods are available for the Elevation Dimension
tool through the Info box.
- The Point method places an elevation dimension in your
project. Select the Elevation Dimension tool from the Toolbox,
then click anywhere on the worksheet. The distance from the
current User Origin along the Y axis to the place you have
clicked will be displayed, along with a standard elevation
marker.
- The Series method places a vertical stack of markers aligned
to an invisible vertical line.
To place a Series Elevation Dimension:
1) Select the Series Method icon from the Info box.
2) Click at the vertical positions on the elevation elements you
want dimensioned.
3) Double-click to finish placing elevation points.
4) Click with the Hammer cursor to define the position you want
the markers aligned to.
Geometry Methods
You can choose between two Geometry Methods, either from the
Angular Dimension Settings dialog box or from the Info Box: acute
and obtuse angles.
- When you place angle dimensions using the Acute method,
only the quarter of the space in which you click with the
Hammer cursor will be dimensioned.
The following examples, wherein we dimensioned the same two
edges of a general shape quadrangle, show the different
variations.
141.57
°
38.43°
38.43°
218.43°
321.57°
321.57°
218.43°
The same settings are available here as for the Dimension and
Radial Dimension tools in regard to the numbers’ style, pen color
and types of witness lines. Here you can also select dimensioning
for either acute or obtuse angles.
Number Placement
The first radio button will always place the dimension value
outside the dimensioning curve, while the last will place it inside
of it.
Number Orientation
If the first radio button is switched on, then the angle’s
dimensioning value will always be horizontal. With the second
button active, the dimensioning value is always in radial direction
while with the third one, it will be parallel with the tangent of the
curve next to it.
Text Settings
The Text Settings dialog box gives you complete control over the
orientation and typography of your text elements.
See also…
For more information about scaled and fixed size elements, see
Chapter 2 as well as the description of the commands related to
printing and plotting in Chapter 5 (File menu).
Text Direction
The Angle of the text block can be set in the text angle edit box. A
separate slant value can also be set if you are using plotter fonts.
The slant box is only visible when a plotter font has been selected.
Text blocks are always readable from the bottom or from the right
after a rotation or a mirroring.
Leading
Leading can be set either relative to letter size or in absolute
values.
Justification & Anchor Point
These settings will help you place your text blocks in the most
pleasing or practical arrangement. Just click on the left, right or
centered justification, and then click the location where you want
to position your text block.
The anchor point is useful when you are editing text elements.
When you change font sizes or other text characteristics, the
anchor point will remain fixed, keeping the position of your text
fixed relative to the surrounding elements.
Display Options
Text blocks can be framed with brackets at each corner handle.
This makes the text blocks easy to locate and edit, while keeping
the text readable. Another option (Greek) is available for
displaying a text block with the text illegible but with uniform gray
patterns substituted for the actual text. Greek text can also be
displayed with handles.
These options are available in the Display Options dialog box
under Options.
Note: Text will automatically be displayed as Greek when the
size of the letters relative to the drawing scale or zoom level
becomes too small. When editing text blocks, all Greek texts
are temporarily enlarged.
Text Techniques
A large number of techniques are available in ArchiCAD for
selecting, formatting or editing Text Blocks.
21'-3" / 17'-6"
21'-3" / 17'-6"
Living Room -
vaulted
21'-3" / 17'-6"
Placing Labels
You can use two types of Labels in ArchiCAD:
- Custom Labels are manually drawn on the Floor Plan, and
cannot be linked to elements.
- Auto-Labels linked to elements are generated through the
commands of the Tools/Labels submenu. There you can
choose either to automatically label every newly created
element of the classes selected in the Automatic Labeling
dialog box, or to add labels to selected items only. Auto-Labels
can be included in Bill of Material listings with the elements
they are linked to. See also the Calculate/List Setup command
in Chapter 5.
Notes: Auto-Labels are linked to elements: if you delete the
element, the Auto-Label is deleted with it. On the other hand,
deleting the Auto-Label does not affect the element it is linked
to.
Auto-Labels can be placed in any layer regardless of the linked
element’s layer. However, if the element’s layer is hidden, linked
auto-labels will not be displayed even if residing in a visible layer.
Auto-Labels
If you choose Automatic Labeling in the Tools/Labels menu, any
newly created element of the selected classes will appear with its
Custom Labels
To draw a custom label:
1) Click where you want to place the arrowhead to point on the
floor plan.
2) Draw a rubberband line from your starting point and click
where you want the first section of your leader to end.
3) Draw another rubberband line in the direction set by the Label
Settings dialog box for the label handle. Clicking where you
want the end of the handle will open the label text box
automatically.
4) Type the label text you desire (up to 25 characters) in the text
box and click the OK button or type Enter to complete the
operation. A label with the default settings will be placed.
Label Settings
The Label Settings dialog box gives you control over the
orientation, typography and text of your label elements.
Label Text
You can define here the text of both Auto-Labels and Custom
Labels.
- The text appearing on Auto-Labels can be either their ID code
or the automatically generated internal ID. If you edit this text,
the label type control (see below) is automatically set to
Custom.
- Custom Labels can only have Custom texts which you can
modify at will.
Label Techniques
You can change a selected label’s leader length and direction as
well as the text block handle’s length by repositioning the
selection nodes with the cursor when the Label tool is selected in
the Toolbox.
You can select a label by any of its three selection nodes (arrow,
leader elbow or leader end).
A selected label can be manipulated as a whole with all Edit
commands.
Note: To drag a Label text, you must select it with the Label
tool active.
available for defining the zone. You can finish drawing the
polyline either by clicking again at the starting point, by double-
clicking the last point, or by clicking the OK button in the Control
Box: in this case, the contour will automatically be completed.
Both Automatic Zone Recognition methods are based on the
fact that most zones are surrounded by walls and the only
openings in them are doors and windows. Click with the cursor
inside an area completely surrounded by walls and ArchiCAD will
automatically recognize it as a zone space by placing a zone fill
and a zone stamp in it.
The two optional methods controls this recognition. If you choose
the first icon of Automatic Zone Recognition, ArchiCAD will
always define the zone area by the inner edges of walls.
Clicking the icon of the other method, ArchiCAD considers the
reference lines of the walls as the boundaries of the zone. Even if
you constructed walls with inner reference lines, the zone fill does
not overlap the wall symbols until you command Bring to Front in
the Tools menu.
If the zone has openings that are not doors or windows, ArchiCAD
will continue searching for boundaries outside the spatial unit that
you wished to identify as a zone. In this case, the result may not
be what you expect (figure on right below). In this case, using the
Polygon method is recommended.
With stand-alone zones, i.e. zones that are not connected to any
other, automatic recognition may produce the desired result even
if the zone is open. ArchiCAD will search around the walls
surrounding the zone and when it fails to find one, it automatically
closes the zone.
Zone Settings
Zones are Library Parts, and their settings dialog box has very
much the same look as the Object or Door/Window settings dialog
box.
You can set the desired color for your zone in the pen number edit
box or you can use predefined stamp colors by checking the Use
Zone Stamp Colors checkbox at the bottom.
Height, Elevation and Subfloor Thickness
Zones are defined by the whole volume of a space above the level
of the actual story. However, you may wish to exclude the volume
of floor structure in the entire zone. Then, you type the subfloor
thickness in the appropriate edit box and it will reduce the height
of the room.
Parameters
With the additional parameters of the zone stamp, you can adjust
the 2D appearance and contents of the zone stamp, as well as the
appearance and contents of the zone list.
An unlimited variety of zone stamps can be scripted in 2D GDL
and, accordingly, the contents of the parameter list may vary from
zone stamp to zone stamp. These parameters have an effect both
on the appearance and the contents of the zone stamp.
Measured Area
In the case of selected zones, you can find the area of the last
selected zone appearing in this box. When creating a default zone,
the box is dimmed.
Zone Techniques
Most of the techniques described under Editing Polygons in
Chapter 3 are available for Zones.
The most important exceptions are:
- Holes in zones can be stretched with the Marquee tool, but
otherwise they cannot be selected or deleted separate from
the zone.
- Zones cannot be dimensioned, since they already contain
dimensioning data.
See also…
Update Zones command in the Tools menu section of Chapter 5.
Geometry Methods
Drawing Fills is similar to creating Slabs or Roofs. There are three
Geometry Methods available for the Fill tool, each of which is
covered in its own section below.
Cursor Snap and the other construction aids are available to help
you fit your pattern to existing structures.
Polygon method - you draw the contours of an area with the
mouse.
1) Choose the Polygon geometry method from the Info box.
2) Define the contour polygon of the area you intend to fill by
clicking on each node of the area.
Rectangle method - the rectangle shape is drawn with reference
to opposing vertices and the active grid.
1) Choose the Rectangle geometry method from the Info box.
2) Define the contour rectangle of the area you intend to fill by
drawing a diagonal line across the area.
Rotated Rectangle method - the rectangle is drawn with
reference to two vertices and a reference line.
1) Choose the Rotated Rectangle geometry method in the Info
box.
2) Define the rotation vector of the fill by drawing the line that
will form the fill’s base reference line.
3) Define the contour rectangle of the area you intend to cover
with the fill by moving away from the baseline to the intended
length of the fill. Note that the rotation vector normally defines
the length of the two edges parallel to it. You can override this
constraint by pressing the Shift key when you draw the
rotation vector.
Fill Settings
The Fill Settings dialog box allows you to set the characteristics of
selected fill elements, or to set the defaults for future fills.
Most of the Fill tool’s settings have already been discussed in the
Common Tool Settings section. Only differences and specific
options will be presented here.
Fill Patterns
To select a fill pattern, choose one from the fill pattern pop-up
menu shown below. The fill patterns are displayed in alphabetical
order from left to right and top to bottom.
The pop-up control of the fill patterns displays with the current
pencolor settings: both fill color and fill background.
Fill Orientation
Two fill orientations are available in the Fill Settings dialog box
and as Construction Methods in the Info Box. These options are
only applied to fill patterns if displayed in vectorized form.
- Link to Project Origin begins the fill pattern at the project
origin and displays that portion of the pattern which falls
within your fill boundaries.
- Link to Fill Origin begins the fill pattern at the origin of the fill
element. When drawing with this option the first click
determines the Fill Origin and the second one the endpoint of
the orientation vector.
You can also set fill orientation as a display option under Fill
Handles in Options menu, Display Options.
Fill Techniques
All editing techniques described in Chapter 3 under Editing
Polygons are available for Fills.
Geometry Methods
Four Geometry Methods are provided for drawing lines.
The Single Line method produces a single straight Line defined
by a startpoint and endpoint.
The PolyLine method produces a series of straight Lines joined at
their endpoints. As you click to complete one Line, you
simultaneously begin the next one. Clicking the Cancel button in
the Control Box or double-clicking the last endpoint completes the
PolyLine. Each of the Lines in the PolyLine is an individual
element that can be edited separately.
The Rectangle method produces a PolyLine consisting of four
Line elements with coincident endpoints. The Rectangle is defined
by placing two opposing corner nodes (the startvertex and
endvertex). The startvertex defines the Y coordinate of the Base
Reference Line of the Rectangle and the endvertex defines both
the X and Y coordinates of the opposing corner. The Rectangle
Method’s four Lines are always aligned orthogonally with the grid.
The Rotated Rectangle method produces four PolyLines as with
the previous method, except that you first define a rotation vector
for the Rectangle’s Base Reference Line. The rotation vector also
defines the length of the two Lines parallel to it. By hitting the Shift
key once, you can unlock the length component constraint and
use only the rotation angle component of the rotation vector.
Line Settings
The controls of the Line Settings dialog box are similar to those of
the other tools, discussed in the Common Tool Settings section of
Arrowhead Settings
The line tool shares the same arrowhead selections as the
Dimension tool. You can modify the Arrowhead style of existing
lines by selecting them and opening the Line Settings dialog box
wherein you have to click in the selection box. In this box, you
can also choose a default style - without selecting lines - for
subsequent lines. Note that the size, pencolor and penweight for
arrowheads can independently be specified.
Construction Methods
Four Line Construction Methods are provided:
Line Techniques
A variety of techniques are available for modifying and editing
lines.
Midpoint of a Line
To find the midpoint of a line element, move the cursor close to
the area and watch for the Checkmark cursor to appear. This
technique can help you to locate midpoints between elements.
Geometry Methods
The Info Box houses seven Geometry Methods available to assist
you in drawing Arcs, Circles or Ellipses.
5) Click to complete.
When you want to select or edit the curve, each arc is handled
independently.
The Diagonal Ellipse method creates an Ellipse constrained into
a rectangle.
The method stretches the inellipse of an invisible rectangle held by
the two points of its diagonal.
1) Click the starting point of the imaginary rectangle.
2) By stretching the imaginary diagonal, you get ellipses of
different sizes drawn into the invisible rectangle.
3) With the second click you choose the ellipse of the
appropriate size.
4) In the final phase ArchiCAD holds the ellipse while you define
the sides of angle of the arc. Firstly you define with a
rubberband line the side where the angle starts from. Then a
different side that closes angle while ArchiCAD follows the
angle with the Elliptical Arc. Neither sides of the angle remains
visible when the final arc is drawn.
Arc/Circle Settings
Arrowhead Settings
The Arc/Circle tool shares the same arrowhead selections as the
Dimension and Line tools, except for the double-line style. Note
that the size, pencolor and penweight for arrowheads can be
independently specified.
Only Arcs drafted with this tool may retain Arrowheads: Circles are
closed elements with no startpoint or endpoint to receive an
Arrowhead, and therefore do not support them.
- If you begin to draft an Arc with Arrowheads and decide to
close it either while drafting or later, the Arrowheads will
simply disappear.
- If you convert a Circle to an Arc by opening it as described
below, you must add Arrowheads to it using the Arc/Circle
Settings dialog controls.
Construction Methods
Four Arrowhead Construction Methods are available for Arcs.
These are identical to those available for Lines.
Arc/Circle Techniques
The following techniques can be used to define and modify arcs
and circles.
In the Toolbox’ default shape, the Line, Arc/Circle and Spline tools
are represented by a single icon. If you do not see the Spline tool’s
icon in the Toolbox, click the Line or Arc/Circle tool’s icon and
press the small arrow in the bottom right corner of the icon and
flush out the Spline tool. Another solution is to choose Window/
Floating Palettes/Palette Shapes and check the Extended option
for the Toolbox.
Geometry Methods
There are two ways in which splines can be defined within
ArchiCAD. Each of them results in a different type of spline:
Natural and Bézier. The switch allowing you to choose the spline
type is located in the Spline Settings dialog box and in the Info
Box.
Natural splines can be defined by placing nodes, which the
program automatically connects, thereby generating a smooth
custom curve. The angle of the tangent and the shape of the spline
generated with it is affected by each subsequent node defined.
You can conclude this operation either by double-clicking on the
last node, or by clicking the OK button in the Control Box.
Clicking OK always results in a closed spline.
Construction Methods
Four Spline Construction Methods are available from both the Info
Box and the Spline Settings dialog box. These are identical to
those available for Lines: No Arrows, Start Arrow, End Arrow and
Double Arrow.
The Arrowhead style can be set to any of the 14 styles available in
the Spline Settings dialog box.
Spline Settings
The controls of the Spline Settings dialog box are similar to those
of the other tools, discussed in the Common Tool Settings section
Arrowhead Settings
The Spline tool shares the same arrowhead settings as the
Dimension, Line and Arc/Circle tools. Note that the size,
penweight and pencolor of arrowheads can be independently
specified.
Only open splines may retain arrowheads: closed splines are not
open elements with start and end points, hence no arrowhead is
available. If you begin to draft a spline with arrowheads, and
decide to close it later, the arrowheads will simply disappear.
Spline Techniques
Dragging Splines
You can use the Arrow tool to drag a spline by its endpoint, nodes,
or perimeter.
When the Spline tool is active and a Spline is selected, you must
use the Drag command to move the entire spline.
Editing Splines
When the Spline tool is selected in the Toolbox, you can freely
edit selected splines in the following ways:
- You can reposition nodes by clicking and dragging either
spline nodes (including the endpoints) or spline editing
handles (Bézier splines only).
- By clicking on the perimeter of a spline, you can create a new
node which is then ready to be edited by dragging.
Notes: To reposition several nodes at the same time, use the
Marquee tool.
Hotspot Settings
Section/Elevation Settings
The Section/Elevation Settings dialog box provides several
controls for creating and formatting the floor plan appearance of
the section line.
Pens
You can select different pens for the section line and the ID.
Line Types
You can choose any line type from the scrollable pop-up list to
represent the Section on the Floor Plan. You can also create
custom line types through the Line Types command in the Options
menu.
Note: If you want to have a Section Line that appears only at
the section segment points, define a dashed Line Type with a
5 mm Dash and a Gap as long as possible, and assign this new
line type to the selection Section.
See also…
The Line Types command (Options menu) in Chapter 5.
Arrowheads
You can select the desired arrowhead type to mark the orientation
of the section. You can then define the size of the arrowhead and
designate whether it will appear at one or both ends of the line.
Horizontal Range
Section depth can be defined as either limited or infinite. If the
depth is set to Limited, the view will not show any element
beyond the limit line.
Vertical Range
The resulting view can optionally be delimited by two horizontal
planes. Limitations can be useful for detail drawings.
Cut Elements
These controls define the pencolor of cut elements in the Section/
Elevation window. Uncut, but visible, elements inherit their
respective Floor Plan pencolors.
The fills of walls, slabs roofs and library parts can be set
independently for each element in their Settings dialog boxes. To
see these colors in the Section window, activate the Use
Elements’ Section Colors checkbox.
Section/Elevation Techniques
The following paragraphs concern the editing of section lines on
the Floor Plan. Techniques available in Section/Elevation windows
are detailed in Chapter 3.
Selecting Sections/Elevations
You can select a section line by any of its edit nodes. These can be
found at both ends of the section line, at the midpoint of each of
its segments, at the midpoint of the limit line if present, or at the
section, offset or limit lines where the cursor changes to a
Mercedes.
Camera Types
Double-clicking on the Camera tool’s icon in the ArchiCAD
toolbox will open the Camera Settings dialog box.
The contents of the Camera Settings dialog box is different for all
three type of Cameras.
This dialog box and the floor plan are simultaneously active, so
you can alter the settings, the camera locations and orientations
without repeatedly opening and closing the window. However,
the dialog box disappears while the 3D Window is open.
You can choose the camera type you want to use either by clicking
the corresponding tab at the top part of the dialog box or as a
Construction Method from the Info Box.
Defining Fly-Throughs
Placing several cameras defines a Fly-Through path whose
parameters you can adjust in the Path dialog box that you can
open by clicking the Path… button to the bottom left of the
Camera Settings dialog box.
target
sun
other cameras
handle
path
active camera
One of the cameras will be active at a time. This is the only camera
displayed with its sun and view angle markers. The active camera
is always the one which was last placed, unless you select another
one. Any cameras placed on the floor plan will be attached to the
current Fly-Through path after the active camera.
Note: Collections of 3D parallel projections can also be linked
to create a Fly-Through, but these are handled differently from
perspectives. Only a single set of parallel projections can exist,
and you edit it in the 3D Projection Settings/Parallel
Projections dialog box, and not through the Camera Settings.
Also, since the viewpoint distance is infinite for parallel
projections, you cannot display them on the Floor Plan
worksheet.
See also…
For more on Fly-Throughs, see the Create Fly-Through command
in Chapter 5 (Image menu).
Camera Settings
The Camera Settings dialog box allows you to make settings for
the default and selected Cameras, create and modify Fly-Through
paths, and set a number of other parameters.
Every new project has a default path named 00: Untitled Path
where the first cameras you place will reside. You can rename this
set, as seen below.
If there is more than one Fly-Through path in your project, you
can switch to any of them by using the path name pop-up list.
You can start a new collection of 3D projections by clicking the
New... button. In the Add New Path dialog box you can type a
name for the new path. The checkbox option lets you duplicate
the current set when you define a new one. This allows you to
keep an original while modifying a copy under a different name.
Parameters
Using the six boxes in the middle section of the Camera Settings
dialog window you can enter parameter values numerically for
viewpoint height, viewing distance, view cone, azimuth, roll angle
and target height of the selected camera. Just below them, a
couple of further edit boxes allow you to define the sun angle’s
parameters.
Motion Controls
The two Camera Motion Controls define the shape of the camera
path during the Fly-Through animation as follows:
Motion Resolution
Each 3D Projection you add to the path is considered a keyframe.
ArchiCAD can interpolate between keyframes to create In-
between views which produce a smoother animation.
Increasing the number of In-between frames increases the
smoothness of the apparent motion in the fly-through, but these
additional images require more time to create and more disk
capacity to store.
Display Options
In the Display Options pop-up menu you can select from among
four choices which aspects of the current Path you want to see on
the floor plan.
The Cameras and All radio buttons allow you to specify a range
of keyframe numbers to be displayed, or indicate that all the
frames in the Projection path should be displayed. This setting will
be used as a default in the Create Fly-Through dialog box, so that
only the visible part of the path will be processed.
You can also specify the Pencolor used for displaying the path on
the floor plan.
Sun Options
The Sun dialog box can be opened by clicking this button at the
bottom of the Camera Settings dialog box. For more on these
options, read the Create Sun Study command description (Image
menu) in Chapter 5.
Pens
You can a choose a pencolor for the camera in the bottom right
section of the Camera Settings dialog box.
To modify the color of the path, use the Path… button to go to the
Path Options dialog box.
Applying Camera Settings
To apply the settings made both to the Camera and the Path, click
the Apply button bottom right of the dialog box. You don’t need to
close the dialog box to see your changes appear.
Camera Techniques
Once selected, a camera can be manipulated with most Edit
commands. The edited camera(s) will be made part of the current
Fly-Through path.
If the Camera tool is selected in the Toolbox you can reposition
any selection node to change the camera’s 2D position. To change
the curvature and tangent of the path, move the endpoints of the
arrow.
Note: This applies only to Bézier type paths. If the path is not
visible, activate it in the Path options… dialog box.
VR Objects
ArchiCAD allows you to create navigable objects taking advantage
of Apple’s QTVR technology. You define a spherical path for the
camera along which sphere or part of a sphere the viewpoint can
optionally be positioned and navigated. The navigable object can
be viewed in Apple’s QTVR Player application.
Note: RealVR technology can only create VR Scenes, not VR
Objects.
Defining a VR Object
First, select VR Object among the Camera Type tabs or in the Info
Box.
With a single click on the floor plan you can place a VR Object
camera with default parameters. Further clicks on the floor plan
will not create new cameras, you can only have one camera active
at a time.
If the corresponding extensions are properly located in the
ArchiCAD Add-Ons folder, you can generate the VR Object movie
using the Create VR Object ... command in the Image menu.
See also...
The Create VR Object ... command (Image menu) in Chapter 5.
VR Object Settings
Most of the controls of the dialog box are the same as for simple
Cameras. Only differences and specific settings will be discussed
here.
Below the New, Rename and Delete buttons, you can find a pop-
up list containing the names of available VR Objects. Each new
project has a default VR Object named 01 Untitled Object whose
name will be used for the first camera you place.
Parameters
Using the edit boxes in the middle section of the Camera/VR
Settings dialog box, you can enter parameter values numerically
for object radius, center height, view cone, number of parallels
and meridians, start and end angles of default or selected VR
Objects.
The more parallels and meridians you define for the object, the
higher the resolution will be.
With the Lowest View and Highest View values you can define a
full sphere, a hemisphere or a particular section of a sphere for
navigation.
Checking the Sun Moves with Viewer checkbox will always define
the Sun’s position relative to the current viewpoint.
See also…
The Create Sun-Study command (Image menu) in Chapter 5 for
more information about the Sun subdialog box.
View Direction
A couple of radio buttons near the bottom of the dialog box allow
you to define whether the viewing direction will point to or away
from the center of the object.
VR Object Techniques
Once selected, the object can be manipulated using the cursor or
the Drag, Mirror or Rotate commands in the Edit menu. If the
Camera tool is active, you can reposition any of the selection
nodes to change the object’s 2D position. The sun and the camera
can be repositioned by their respective selection nodes.
There is a view cone displayed at one of the object’s nodes. If you
activate the 3D Window with the object selected, ArchiCAD will
create a 3D projection using this view cone. To modify the
location of the view cone, select it, drag its node, and position it
onto another node of the object.
VR Scenes
With ArchiCAD you can create navigable panoramic scenes using
the QTVR or RealVR technology. You define one or a series of
cylindrical panoramas to be viewed in the corresponding player
application.
When VR Scene is selected either with the Camera Type tab ob top
of the Camera Settings dialog box or through the Info Box, the
window’s content changes as shown below.
Defining VR Scenes
Placing several panoramic cameras defines a multi-node VR Scene.
One of the cameras will be active at a time. This is the only camera
displayed with its sun marker. The active camera is always the one
which was last placed, unless you select another one. Each
panoramic camera is assigned the name Panorama-x (x is the
camera’s sequence number) by default. The name can be changed
in the Panorama name edit box in the middle section of the
Camera Settings dialog window.
Creating VR Scenes
If the appropriate VR extensions are properly installed, you can
generate the VR Scene by using the Create VR Scene… command
in the Image menu. See that command’s description in Chapter 5.
VR Scene Settings
Most of the controls available are the same as for other camera
types. Only differences and specific settings are discussed here.
Only the current VR Scene is displayed on the Floor Plan. Its name
appears in the Scene List pop-up menu below the three control
buttons.
Parameters
You can use the edit box to enter parameter values numerically for
the viewpoint height of the selected camera.
VR Scene Techniques
Once selected, a panoramic camera can be manipulated using the
cursor or most of the Edit menu commands. If the Arrow tool is
active, you can reposition any of the selection nodes to change the
camera’s 2D position. If the Camera tool is active, you can also
change the sun’s position by pulling its node with the Checkmark
cursor.
To define another node as the initial node, just select it (with the
Camera tool active) and drag the circle representing the starting
position on top of another node’s centerpoint.
Chapter 5
The Menu Commands
This chapter reviews all of the commands available through the
ArchiCAD menubar. Each pull-down menu is presented in a
separate section. Within each section, the commands on a pull-
down menu are examined top to bottom, with text and
illustrations describing the capabilities of the individual
command.
New
Choosing the New command replaces the currently displayed
project. The new project (named Untitled), adopts the
environment of the previous one, with the active library, default
parameters, grid, etc.
As ArchiCAD keeps only one project open at a time, the current
project will be closed. If you have any modifications not yet saved,
you will be warned to save them.
Open...
The Open command allows you to open existing documents of
the types recognized by ArchiCAD. The Directory dialog box
allows you to navigate in the file system and select the file you
want to open.
Note: The command is not available if any window of a
library part is active.
If the Show Preview checkbox is active, additional pieces of
information appear in the Directory dialog box, including the
Project Preview and the Sign In IDs (TeamWork only).
Solo Project
Files opened with File/Open or created with File/New are Solo
Projects (*.PLN). Solo Projects can later be transformed into Team
Projects by sharing them in TeamWork-capable copies of
ArchiCAD.
This type of document is the main native document type of
ArchiCAD. It includes the model of the building as floor plan
drawings of all stories and all the 3D data belonging to them. This
format provides the elevations, sections and 3D visualizations.
Environment data like default settings, attributes and Library
references are also included.
When opening a Solo Project, all windows of the current project
will be closed, and you will be prompted to save any
modifications if necessary. When opening existing documents,
you must ensure that you still have the Library used when creating
the original plan. If your original library is not available, the
objects you used from it cannot be displayed: an alert appears
informing you that items are missing from the current library.
Activate the Missing Library Items window from the Window menu
to see which items are missing. You can print this window or save
it and then search for place them in the active library set.
To ensure that no items are missing and/or that your files can be
opened with all library parts present even on another computer
platform, save them in Archive format.
Archive File
Archive (*.pla) documents can be opened when the Solo Project
Archive format is selected in the Directory dialog box.
An Archive is similar to a simple Plan, but it includes not only
references to the library, but all the library parts and properties
used in the project.
When opening an Archive, a new library will be created from the
embedded library parts. You will see a new dialog box to name
the library that ArchiCAD creates for this type of document. This
library contains all the items saved with the Archive and it will be
your active library from then on.
When creating this library, ArchiCAD automatically converts
library parts into the format needed by the computer platform you
are working on (Macintosh or Windows).
See also…
The Save Special/Archive… command later.
Draft
In TeamWork-capable copies, if a Team Member signs in to the
Team Project, his or her own computer will load in a copy of the
project. He or she can then save this copy by choosing File/Save.
A Draft of the Team Project is then created, whose operation is
identical to Solo Projects, but still contains the signing in and
reservation details.
Draft files can be opened in copies of ArchiCAD lacking
TeamWork functionality by choosing File/Open but will be
transformed into plain Solo Projects when saved.
Draft Archive
In case of Off-Line work, it is important for the Team Members to
have at hand all of the Team Project Library Parts as well as the
properties when saving the Local Draft. In this case, the solution is
to save a Local Draft Archive.
AutoCAD DXF and Drawing Files
AutoCAD DXF (Drawing eXchange Format) and DWG files are
opened as 2D drawings from the Directory dialog box when
choosing this file type.
Note: These file formats are only available if the appropriate
extensions have been properly installed in the Add-Ons
folder.
Zoom (Macintosh only) and Wavefront Files
ArchiCAD supports the native file format of some popular
Macintosh programs used in architecture. The icons here will give
you access to Zoom and Wavefront files. The 3D models contained
by these files are interpreted as a set of lines (i.e., as a 2D drawing
only).
Note: These file formats are only available if the appropriate
extensions have been properly installed in the Add-Ons
folder.
Picture Files
A number of additional formats are available for opening through
the Directory dialog box. Unlike Project, Archive, DXF, DWG and
Zoom files, pictures are not opened as projects and they do not
replace the currently open file. They are displayed as Model
Pictures. Within their windows, you can select areas and copy
them to the Clipboard and then paste them either on the Floor
Plan or in a Section/Elevation window.
If you choose to open the file as read only, you will be able to see
and modify the whole file, but you can only save it under a
different name or into another location. If you try to overwrite the
original file, you will again be notified that it is in use and that you
cannot replace it with your modified project.
You can also choose to open the file with full access. However,
you should be very careful about using this option.
There are a number of reasons why ArchiCAD may state that a file
is in use although it actually isn't:
- The person who last used the file did not properly open and
close the file in ArchiCAD, e.g. because of a system crash.
- You have made a copy of a file that was in use at the moment,
and the copy of the file also includes the name of the person
who was using it during the copying operation.
Note: If you do open a file with full access while another
person is using it, you will both overwrite each other's work
without getting any further warning message from ArchiCAD.
Therefore, be extremely careful when opening a file with full
access in any case other than the emergencies mentioned
above.
Merge…
The Merge command allows you to paste the elements of another
Project, a Module or a picture file into either the current Project or
the currently open Section/Elevation window.
Modules
A Module file (*.mod) is a set of ArchiCAD construction elements
that is merged with the current story of your project.
A Module document is an extension of the Clipboard concept.
Instead of copying elements in one project and pasting them into
another, you can use the Module format as a permanent holder of
copied elements.
Modules do not include any information about the story they came
from, so they can be inserted into any story of the current project.
Modules include attributes (layers, pen colors, fill patterns,
materials etc.). If merged, the elements will take the attributes from
the target project, referring to them by an internal index number. If
the source project and the target project carry the same attribute
sets, the module will look just like it did when it was saved in the
source project.
The elements of a Module will become independent of each other
after being placed.
The contents of the Module will be loaded into the Clipboard and
automatically pasted on the Floor Plan.
The elements will be surrounded by a dashed rectangle. Click
within the rectangle to move the elements to the desired position.
Click outside the rectangle on the worksheet or click OK in the
Control box to place the elements.
You can place the same elements repeatedly with the Paste
command.
See the Save as… command later in this chapter about the creation
of a Module.
Note: When merging a Module into a Section/Elevation
window, only 2D Elements will be pasted.
Close
This command has the same effect as clicking the Close Box in the
active window on the screen. When the Floor Plan window is
closed, an alert box is displayed prompting you to save changes
before closing.
Closing the Floor Plan window closes the entire document (but
Library Part windows will remain open). Closing any other
window will only close that particular window. The only
exception of the Library Part Master Window: closing it will cause
all other windows belonging to that library part to be closed.
Save
Choosing the Save command saves the contents of the currently
active window.
If the document has been saved before or has been opened from
an existing file, the Save command saves all changes to that
document.
If the document is new (i.e. if you used the New command to
create it, or started the program directly from the ArchiCAD
program icon), choosing Save opens the same dialog box as the
Save as... command.
Note for TeamWork users: If you have signed in to a Team
Project, choosing the Save command prompts you to save a
simple Draft copy of the project, together with your sign in
options and reservation details. To save a Draft Archive,
including the Library Parts, you have to choose Save Special/
Archive.
Saving aTeam Project
In TeamWork-capable copies, the Administrator first saves the
Team Project by sharing it. Following that, the Team Project will be
saved every time a Team Member makes changes to it by signing
in and out, sending and receiving changes, modifying passwords,
etc.
Save As...
The Save as... command works similarly to the Save command,
except that it allows you to:
- save the project document under a new name, keeping the
new one open, or
- export the contents of different project windows in a variety of
file formats.
After you have chosen the command, select the file format you
want to save your document in.
Saving Calculations
Basic Component, Element and Zone Lists can be saved as Plain
Text, Tabulated Text or Spreadsheets, while formatted lists
optionally including graphic information can be saved in RTF
(Rich Text Format), ArchiCAD Project or PlotMaker drawing
format.
You can store these modules in special folders, where they are
accessed using the Module format of the Merge... command.
Picture File Formats
The screen representation of both Projects and 3D views are
stored as 2D objects using a variety of picture file formats (PICT/
BMP/TIFF/GIF/JPEG). This is the only format in which you can
save the complete contents of shaded or rendered 3D
representations.
The Floor Plan is saved at the current scale as a drawing, including
lines, circles and other objects.
This format is read into ArchiCAD using the corresponding format
of the Open... command, but the resulting document cannot be
manipulated like an original ArchiCAD Project, since it is just a set
of pixels.
topCAD file (Macintosh only)
This option saves Projects or 3D representations in topCAD
format, and the resulting document can be imported into topCAD,
the powerful 2D technical drafting program also produced by
Graphisoft.
GDL File (*.gdl)
Choosing this file format allows your project to be saved as a GDL
script description. The Geometric Description Language (GDL)
provided with ArchiCAD is used to create or modify elements in
the ArchiCAD Library. It is only available when the Floor Plan
window is active.
The GDL option allows 3D models created in ArchiCAD to be
assigned to a Library part and used in other ArchiCAD plans as
objects.
The saved elements will be the same as those displayed in the 3D
Window. To control which elements to save, use selection, the
Marquee tool, and the Select Image Items command.
Note: For more information about the interpretation of GDL
coordinates for windows and doors, see the ArchiCAD Library
section in Chapter 6 and the Door and Window tools in
Chapter 4.
2D Elements (*.2dl)
Although 3D models are an end product of the program, you can
still modify or touch up selected 3D views (usually elevations and
You are also offered the option of removing the redundant lines in
the resulting file. Checking this option will remove all overlapping
lines before saving the file.
Warning: In some cases this option may take very long and
consume a lot of memory.
Save Special
This hierarchical menu contains a number of options for saving
your working environment.
Archive…
ArchiCAD Projects may refer to a number of items called Library
Parts, stored as outside files in Library folders or directories. You
need to designate one or more active Libraries when starting a
project. If you then open the project in another environment (for
example on a different computer), these outside files may be
missing.
If you want to ensure that all files referenced in the Project are
included, you should use the Save Special/Archive… command.
Documents saved as Archives are stored together with all the
Library parts and properties contained by and defined with the
Project.
Further options allow you to include in the Archive the
Background picture and the linked texture files for photorealistic
rendering, and to save any picture files in a format available only
on either the Macintosh or Windows-based PCs in a format (TIFF)
that can be read by both platforms.
A further checkbox allows you to include in the Archive all items
of the currently active libraries, even those that have no instances
placed on the Floor Plan.
Hot Links…
Whenever you save from ArchiCAD a file in PlotMaker format and
place that file into a PlotMaker Layout through the Add Drawing…
command, a direct connection is created between the saved file
and the Layout.
Hot Links help you to further improve this connection and give
you the possibility of updating several files simultaneously.
When choosing Save Special/Hot Links, ArchiCAD prepares and
displays a list of files saved in PlotMaker format from the current
Project's Floor Plan or Section/Elevation windows, containing the
name and destination of the files, as well as the name (if any) of
the layer combination that was active when saving.
By clicking the Save button, the current contents of all listed
windows will be saved again using the same files names, layer
combinations and drawings scales as previously.
By selecting items in the list, you can also delete or update them
individually with the Save button.
Note: Before saving Hot Links, remember to refresh your
Section/Elevation windows in order to save the latest changes.
ArchiCAD Object
Choosing this command saves the Floor plan - or the selected part
of it - into the 2D and 3D Script sections of a new ArchiCAD
Library Part.
Project Info…
Choosing this command displays editable information about the
currently open Project.
Load Libraries…
Choosing the Load Libraries… command opens a dialog box from
which you can specify Library folders/directories. These folders/
directories are accessed as active Libraries.
Note: The left part of the Load Libraries dialog box is similar to the
Directory dialog box. The major difference is that you choose one
or more Libraries rather than individual documents. To open a
highlighted folder/directory, double-click on its name or click the
Digitizer Setup…
After a standard ArchiCAD installation including the Digitware
folder, you will have access to the most commonly used digitizers.
Using a digitizer, you can transfer coordinates quickly and
efficiently from a hard copy to the ArchiCAD Project.
Choosing the Digitizer Setup command displays the Digitizer
Setup dialog box. The controls available in the Digitizer Setup
dialog box are discussed in the following sections.
Drawing Scale
When the paper drawing to be digitized is absolutely precise (i.e.,
not distorted by a change in humidity or other factor) and is set to
a standard scale, use the Drawing Scale edit box to adjust the
digitizer scale.
Set Distance
Use the Set Distance button to set the scale when the drawing to
be digitized is not of a standard scale, or the paper is distorted for
some reason.
A dialog box appears where you can set the real distance between
two digitizer puck clicks on the paper document.
Note: Before using the Set Distance function, set the Drawing
Scale to 1. If you neglect this step, the digitizer scale will be
improperly set.
Set Origin
This control defines the origin for digitizer input. After clicking the
Set Origin button, click with the digitizer puck on your drawing
paper at the location you want the counterpart of the ArchiCAD
worksheet origin to be set.
Set Azimuth
The Set Azimuth button allows you to define the direction of the
x–axis on the drawing paper. When you choose the command, the
program waits for a digitizer puck click. The line connecting this
point with the previously defined origin corresponds to the
horizontal orientation of the ArchiCAD worksheet.
Note: The three buttons above are only active if the Digitizer is on.
See the Turn Digitizer On/Off command below.
Configure
At the top of the dialog box you will see the name of the currently
selected digitizer. The Configure function is only available when
the Digitizer is off. See the Turn Digitizer On/Off command below.
The two pop-up menus or combo boxes at the top of the dialog
box allow you to choose the driver for your digitizer by selecting
both the vendor and the type of your digitizer.
Connection Port
This control allows you to define the port which your digitizer is
connected to.
Once you have selected a digitizer, you can set communications
parameters for the digitizer: Baud rate, Data bits, Stop bits,
Parity and Report format. A picture of the current DIP switch
settings for many of the popular digitizers is displayed to assist you
in setting up your digitizer. Refer to your digitizer manual for more
details.
The contents of the driver list depends on the digitizer drivers you
have placed on your computer.
- On the Macintosh, the digitizers drivers must be placed in the
Digitware folder of the Graphisoft folder which can be found
either in the System Folder or in the same folder as ArchiCAD.
Plot Setup…
Choosing the Plot Setup… command enables you to specify the
plotter driver, paper size and other characteristics of your plotter
output. The following sections describe the plotter setup
commands in detail.
Selecting a Plotter
The manufacturer's name and the type of the currently selected
plotter are displayed in the two pop-up menus (combo boxes) at
the top of the dialog box. To change brand names or plotter types,
use these two menus.
The contents of the plotter list depends upon the plotter drivers
you have placed on your computer.
Language Driver
HPGL-2 and RTL (raster plotters) HP DesignJet 750C
(Hewlett-Packard standard)
HPGL-2 (pen plotters) HP DraftPro Plus
(Hewlett-Packard standard)
HPGL Generic HPGL
(Hewlett-Packard standard) (plotter origin: bottom
left)
HP 7885A DraftMaster I
(plotter origin: center)
DMPL DMP 62
(Houston standard)
BGL (Benson/Schlumberger/OCÉ) Benson 18xx series
Benson 1645-R
PCI (pen plotters) 1023
PCI (electrostatic plotters) 5855
(CalComp standard)
Connection
You can specify in this area the connection type you intend to use
with your plotter. The connection options are rather different on
the Macintosh and under Windows, so they will be discussed in
separate sections.
Connection Options (MacOS)
This pop-up menu appears in the MacOS version. The content of
the pop-up depends on the kind of CTB connection tool that has
been installed on your computer.
Standard connection methods:
- Modem Port
- Printer Port
Some of the plotters support only serial connections. In this case,
you have to choose one of these two serial connection ports.
- AppleTalk
To use the standard AppleTalk connection method, Open
Transport (part of the MacOS from System 7.5.2) must be installed
on your system, and your plotter should support the AppleTalk
network protocol.
- Optional communication methods
You can use special 3rd party CTB communication tools with
ArchiCAD and PlotMaker, e.g.:
AppleTalk Printer Tool: To use this third party tool, you need to
install the AppleTalk Printer Tool software from Microspot, and
your plotter should support the AppleTalk network protocol.
TCP/IP CTB tools: To use these tools you need to install MacTCP
and a third party TCP/IP CTB tool (e.g. Outland TCP, TCPack), and
your plotter should support the TCP/IP network protocol.
Note: If your plotter supports any of these network
communication methods, use this rather than any of the much
slower serial connections. We suggest to use AppleTalk
whenever possible. If you can only use a serial connection
with your plotter, set the baud rate to the highest available.
Connection Options (Windows)
This pop-up menu appears in the Windows version. The content
of the pop-up depends on what ports are present on your
computer.
- COM1, COM2...
DIP Switches
For some plotters, a picture of the DIP switches is displayed to
indicate the current settings.
Spool Folder
In this part of the Plot Setup dialog box, you can define a Folder
for spooling files to be plotted either from your own computer or
anywhere on the network. For details, see the description of the
Plot… command below.
Font Usage
Under the name of the selected plotter, the Font Plotting… button
gives you access to a dialog box where you can define the way
your text blocks will be plotted:
The dialog box contains the list of all the fonts placed in the Fonts
folder (Macintosh) or of the system's TrueType fonts (Windows).
Note: ArchiCAD for Windows can only use TrueType fonts.
Bitmap and PostScript fonts are not supported.
The fonts you currently use on your Floor Plan are shown outlined
(Macintosh) or in italics (Windows) in the list.
You can either choose the optimal settings for the given plotter, or
manually override them.
Three are three ways to plot a font type:
- Substitute it with the plotter’s built-in font. This is the fastest
way to plot texts.
- Use the vector fonts contained in the Vector Fonts folder,
placed either in the same folder as ArchiCAD or in the
Graphisoft folder inside the System Folder (Macintosh), or in
the directory pointed to by the "Graphisoft Shared Folder"
Windows Registry item. The vector fonts are a good
compromise between fast output and high quality plots.
- Use bitmap (Macintosh only), TrueType and PostScript fonts
generates the highest quality plotted output.
To change the substitution, select one or more system fonts in the
list, click the Manual Setting button and choose a plot mode from
the first pop-up menu on the list.
- If you choose Plotter, no further options are available.
- If you choose Vector, you can choose a vector font from a
second menu.
- If you choose Bitmap (Macintosh only), you can switch
bitmap smoothing on and off.
- If you choose TrueType or PostScript (Macintosh only), you
can set a limit for the font size to be filled on the output. Font
sizes below the limit will be plotted as outlines only (to save
plotting time and ink).
Notes: TrueType, PostScript and Bitmap are alternatives, only
one of them is available for each font. PostScript fonts can
only be plotted if Adobe Type Manager is set up and running
on your Macintosh. The three buttons at the bottom of the
dialog box allow you to automatically set one of the three
possible options for each font.
Plot…
When you choose the Plot… command, the Plotters dialog box is
displayed with information on the plotted output’s layout and
scale.
In the upper part of the dialog box, you can choose to either send
the plotter output to the selected plotter through the transmission
port, direct it to a Plot (Data) file or write it into the Spool Folder
you specified beforehand in the Plot Setup dialog box.
You can designate files to be plotted later by plotting them in the
background. You can also send files to a plotter bureau on a disk
or through a modem.
The radio buttons in the middle of the dialog box allow you to
control the plotting process.
- Plot with…: All pen slots uses different plotter pens for the
different logical pens defined for your construction elements,
while Slot 1 only plots all the elements with a single plotter
pen (or in black when using raster plotters).
- Text & Markers: Fix Size will plot all the text blocks and
markers at their exact size in the current paper units regardless
of the plotting scale. Resize to Plotting Scale outputs text
blocks and markers in proportion to the size of other elements
according to the plotting scale. If this button is selected,
plotting at a scale other than the drawing scale will result in
enlargement/reduction as in photography.
- Plot Grid: This option allows you to include the construction
grid on the plotted output and to choose a pencolor for the
grid.
The lower part of the dialog box affects the way the plotted output
is sized to the paper.
You can resize your drawing by setting a different scale in the
Plotting Scale edit box.
The Sheet Layout area shows you how the drawing will look on
paper.
See also…
Scale and Output in Chapter 2 and the discussion of Text Size for
the Print command.
PlotMaker
Although ArchiCAD directly supports high quality plotter output,
Graphisoft recommends the use of PlotMaker for final layouts.
PlotMaker is a utility program developed to facilitate sophisticated
plotter output. The program allows you to arrange different
drawings (plans, elevations, sections, perspectives, etc.) on the
same sheet, aligning them precisely to each other. You can also
Page Setup…
The Page Setup… command enables you to set the page size,
orientation, and other features of printed documents. The effect of
the command depends on the printer driver selected in the
Chooser (Macintosh) or in the Printers Control Panel (Windows)
See also…
For further information on this feature, refer to your Macintosh,
Windows or printer manuals.
Print…
Use the Print… command to print your Project. The printer should
be selected in advance, using the Chooser (Macintosh) or the
Printers Control Panel (Windows).
When you choose this command, the Print dialog box is displayed,
allowing you to set the printing parameters. The upper half of the
dialog box provides the normal print settings, copies, page range
etc. The lower half displays parameters that are unique to
ArchiCAD.
Printing Scale
By default, output scale is calculated according to the page size
and orientation established in the Page Setup dialog box. This
results in your document filling up as much of the page as
possible.
You can reset the printing scale using the Printing Scale edit box.
The Sheets to Print window provides a preview of the number of
sheets needed to print your Project, and shows how the images
are tiled if multiple sheets are necessary.
Text Size
The Fix Text Size and Size Text to Scale options offer important
choices if you want optimum Text scaling when printing or
plotting.
These options also affect the output characteristics of other
elements such as arrowheads, scale-independent dashed line
types and fill patterns. These options include:
- Fix Text Size - Outputs text at its exact size in the current
Paper units (inches or millimeters). To keep text at exactly the
same size even when the printed size of the project changes,
choose this option. This is acceptable for enlargements but
can produce unwanted effects with reductions. Text may
overprint other elements as they shrink.
- Size Text to Scale - Outputs text in proportion to the size of
other elements. This method is good for enlargement of a
project for a presentation to be seen from a distance. It
Recent Documents
This menu item lists the last opened documents for easier access.
Quit
Choosing the Quit command closes all ArchiCAD windows and
exits the program. The command can be chosen from any display
mode and a warning message is displayed prompting you to save
changes before quitting.
Note: Each time you quit ArchiCAD, all the current
preferences and settings will be saved in the ArchiCAD
Preferences file.
Undo/Redo
The Undo and Redo commands allow you to undo (revert to a
previous step) and redo a large number of construction
operations. The name of the command to be undone is displayed
in the menu along with the Undo or Redo command. This
capability also allows you to test tentative solutions by trying them
out until you arrive at the desired result.
Cut
The Cut command removes selected elements from a project and
places them on the Clipboard for future use via the Paste
command. It can also be used for dialog box or coordinate box
numeric field contents. Cut can be used in construction or text
editing modes.
The part of the drawing to be cut is determined by the selection
you have made.
Note: The Cut command is not available in the 3D Window.
Copy
The Copy command is similar to the Cut command. It puts the
selected construction or text elements on the Clipboard, but the
selected elements are not removed from the original document.
Elements to Copy
With the following pop-up menus you can define which elements
of the 3D View you want to copy to the Clipboard.
Paste
The Clipboard can be used not only to hold ArchiCAD elements
for pasting, but also to import bitmap graphics and other types of
information. With the Paste command, you can paste the contents
of the Clipboard onto the current Project or a text window.
Clear
Selected items are removed from Project or text windows when
you choose the Clear command. As opposed to Cut or Copy, the
cleared elements are not preserved on the Clipboard. They are
easily retrieved by Undo.
The keyboard equivalent of Clear is hitting the Backspace or
Delete key.
Clearing construction elements in any construction
window (Floor Plan, 3D Window, Model type Section/
Elevation) will also delete these elements from all the other
windows.
Note: Clearing any additional (i. e., manually added) elements
from a Section/Elevation Model window or any elements from
a Section/Elevation Drawing window will leave all other
windows unchanged.
Select All...
Choosing the Select All … command selects all the elements of the
currently active window that have been created by the currently
active tool in presently visible layers. The name of the active tool
is added to the Select All ... command’s menu title.
- If the Arrow tool is active when you choose the Select All…
command, all the elements in visible Layers of the active
window of the Project will be selected.
- If the Marquee tool is active, all the Figure type elements on
the active story will be selected.
Note: If you choose the Select All command while a marquee
area is defined, only elements inside this area will be selected.
In this case, polygons, objects, columns and splines should
have at least one hotspot inside the marquee area, and linear
elements should have at least a small part inside the marquee.
See also…
Selection in Chapter 2.
When you have chosen all the criteria you need, simply click Add
to Selection and all the elements corresponding to the set
characteristics will be selected without having to close the dialog
box.
You can also use this dialog box to deselect selected items. Just
check your choice and click the Deselect button in order to leave
only the desired elements selected.
Example:
Let us assume that you wish to select all exterior walls excluding
those in red.
First, select all walls placed on the Exterior Walls layer whose
bottom elevation is more than 2.7 meters.
Stretch
The Stretch command is used to stretch or shrink any selected
ArchiCAD element. To use the command, select any elements in
the Floor Plan or 3D Window, then choose the Stretch command.
Once the command is active, you can grab an endpoint of the
selected element and move it to a new position.
Resize
Choosing the Resize command allows you to enlarge or reduce
selected elements either through numeric input or graphically.
The dialog box opened by this command offers further options for
resizing the thickness of Walls/Columns, library parts, text
elements, arrowheads and markers
Split
This menu command allows you to split walls, lines, slabs, roofs
and fill polygons along a line segment, arc or polygon edge.
1) Select the elements you wish to split.
2) Choose the Split command.
Adjust
This menu command adjusts (extends or trims) the endpoints of
Walls and Lines to a line or arc segment or polygon edge.
1) Select the Walls and/or Lines you wish to adjust.
2) Choose the Adjust command.
3) Draw a line segment, or click an existing line, wall, polygon
edge or arc/circle with the Mercedes cursor. The endpoints of
the selected walls and lines will be adjusted (extended or
trimmed) to meet the drawn or clicked line/arc/edge. Only
those elements will be affected which intersect (or would
intersect) with the chosen line/arc/edge.
Click to Trim
Select Click to Trim and click an element. The clicked part of the
item between the two nearest intersection points will be deleted.
Only displayed intersection points are considered, intersection
points outside of the current view are not taken into account.
You can also use the Cmd/Ctrl-click shortcut to trim non selected
elements. If any element is selected, using this technique will
either split the items or calculate their intersection.
Items that can be trimmed are: walls, lines, circles and arcs.
Note: The Click to Trim command is only available in the
Floor Plan and for construction elements only in Section/
Elevation windows. It is not available in the 3D Window.
Trim to Roof...
You can cut gable shapes from walls, columns, slabs and library
parts (including doors and windows) to fit under roofs with the
Trim to Roof command. For the command to be available, at least
one roof or one element of the above types must be selected.
If walls, columns, slabs and library parts are selected, they will be
trimmed to those roofs that are crossing them. If one or more roofs
are also selected together with these objects, the elements will be
cut only to those roofs that are selected together with the objects.
The objects are cut only if they are partly or wholly under the roof.
You always need to define which elements should be cut in the
appearing dialog box.
If only roofs are selected, you will have to define what elements
you want to be cut by the roof by checking the types in the dialog
box. Once you define these, all underlying elements of that types
will be trimmed by the roofs.
Trim Top/Base
The defined elements can be cut by either the upper or lower
slope of the roof depending on the radio button you switch in the
dialog box.
If the Trim Top radio button is active, elements will be cut by the
roof's lower slope.
If the Trim Base radio button is active, elements will be cut by the
roof's upper slope.
If you trim a wall with a roof that crosses the wall entirely, the wall
will be cut into two parts. One with a cutting at the end, while the
other will be a separate wall without any cut. This second wall will
start from the point where the roof ends.
There is one exception from this. If you have an opening that
would have points in both parts of the wall after the trim, the wall
will remain one piece.
Trimming Slabs
Slabs can also be trimmed by the lower or upper slope of roofs
with the help of this command. However, there is a big difference
between trimming slabs and trimming walls, columns or library
parts. While other elements can be partly trimmed, slabs are
always cut along the whole section line of the roof and the slab,
effectively removing the cut part of the slab.
Drag
The Drag command allows you to move any selected construction
element in the Project.
1) Select the element(s) you intend to move.
2) Select the Drag command from the Edit menu.
3) Define the length and direction you intend to move the
selected items by drawing an appropriate line (a drag vector).
Rotate
The Rotate command allows you to rotate any selected element in
the Floor Plan or in the 3D Window or manually added elements
in the Section/Elevation windows.
Even in the 3D Window, rotation is always performed across a
horizontal plane.
Note: Rotated text blocks, labels, dimensions and fill polygon
area labels are always readable from the bottom and the right
side of the drawing.
To use the Rotate command:
1) Select the element(s) you intend to rotate.
2) Choose the Rotate command.
3) Define the Center:
– Click at the center of rotation
Rotating Openings
Rotating Doors and Windows works differently from other rotation
operations. To rotate an opening:
Mirror
The Mirror command creates a mirror image of any selected
construction element on the Floor Plan or in the 3D Window.
Any number of openings can be mirrored at a time. Text, line
arrows and dimensions will not be mirrored - only their bounding
box will. The characters remain readable.
Mirrored text blocks, labels, dimensions and fill polygon area
labels are always readable from the bottom and the right side of
the drawing.
To use the Mirror command:
1) Choose the element(s) to be mirrored.
2) Define the axis of the mirroring with two clicks, as if you were
constructing a line.
Mirroring Openings
If you click outside the wall that contains the selected opening, the
opening will be mirrored at its central axis.
1) Choose the opening you want to mirror .
2) Choose the Mirror command.
The opening will be mirrored at its central axis. The opening
direction will change laterally, while the opening remains facing
the same side of the wall as shown in the figure below.
If you click on the reference line of the wall that contains the
selected opening, the opening will be mirrored to the line that is
perpendicular to the wall at this point. The mirroring does not
occur if the opening would fall entirely beyond the end of the
wall. However if the opening would fall partly on and partly off
the wall, you are prompted to choose whether or not you wish to
keep the opening.
Note: Any number of openings can be mirrored at the same
time.
Drag a Copy
The Drag a Copy command works like the Drag command, except
that the original element remains intact and selected while a copy
is moved to another location.
Note: If you are making a single copy of an opening, the
easiest way is to option-click (Macintosh) or alt-click
(Windows) the opening to pick up its parameters, and then
place a clone of it with the next click. See Parameter Transfer
in Chapter 4 for details.
Rotate a Copy
The Rotate a Copy command works like the Rotate command,
except that the original element remains intact and selected while
a copy is rotated.
Note: This command is not available for Doors and Windows.
Mirror a Copy
The Mirror a Copy command works like the Mirror command,
except that the original element remains intact and selected while
a copy is mirrored.
The command works on Doors and Windows too, provided that
you click on the reference line of the wall that contains the
opening and that the mirrored opening would not fall off the wall.
Elevate…
The Elevate… command allows you to move selected elements
vertically along the Z axis.
In the 3D Window, all you need do is either choose Elevate (any
tool can be active) or click one of the element's nodes (Arrow tool
active) and choose the second icon from the appearing pet palette.
You can then graphically or numerically move up and down the
selected elements. See more details in Chapter 3.
In the Floor Plan or Section/Elevation Windows, choosing the
Elevate command displays the Elevate dialog box for specifying a
positive or negative vertical displacement along the Z axis for one
or more elements.
Multiply…
The Multiply… command creates any number of exact copies of
selected elements using the following methods and options:
- Drag the copies along a straight path with a Multiplication
Reference Line.
- Rotate the copies using an angle defined by a Multiplication
Reference Arc.
- Elevate (stack) the copies with a vertical displacement (similar
to the Elevate… command, but it also makes copies).
- Create a matrix of copies along two multiplication reference
lines defined by strokes.
- Elevate and drag or rotate (stagger-stack) the copies, using
both a Multiplication Reference Line or Reference Arc and a
vertical displacement. This is useful for conditions such as
linear or circular stair risers or a sloping landscape’s contours
(stagger-stacked slabs).
Multiply Options
A set of radio buttons specifies the type of multiply operation to
perform.
Vertical Displacement
Vertical displacement will define the value that is added to the
elevation of each subsequent copy of the multiplied object even
during dragging, rotating or arraying the copies.
and not by a value in the dialog box. In this case you only push a
radio button in the dialog box whether you need vertical
displacement or not.
Tool Settings
This is a dynamic menu item, as its name changes based on the
current selection or active tool.
- If no element is currently selected, the command opens the
settings dialog box of the active tool with the default settings.
- If one element is currently selected, the command opens the
dialog box corresponding to that element with the settings of
the selected element.
Text Style…
The Text Style command opens a dialog box determining how
your text will look both on screen and for printing.
Tabs
Here you can define the number of character spaces ArchiCAD
uses when you press the Tab key.
Find Selection
This command searches for the selected string in the text
according to the direction set in the Text Window Find dialog box.
Go To Line
This command allows you to go to the desired line by simply
entering a number in the edit box. This feature is especially useful
when editing or checking GDL scripts.
Comment/Uncomment
These commands are available for the Library Part 2D, 3D and
Properties Script windows only. They allow you to change
selected command lines into comment lines and vice versa. The
Check Script
With this command, you can check whether the syntax of the GDL
script in the active window is correct.
If you wish to check all the scripts of the current library part,
activate its master window before choose the command.
Note: This command is also available as a shortcut at the
bottom of the text window.
Open Debugger
This command is only active when a GDL Script window is in front
and allows you to debug GDL Scripts. See the description of the
GDL Debugger window in the ArchiCAD Library section of
Chapter 6.
Group
Creates a new group with the selected items. Elements of different
type can be grouped together and you can even group existing
groups.
See the description of ArchiCAD's basic concepts in Chapter 2
about the behavior of groups.
Important: If you save the project in ArchiCAD 5.0 format, all
group information will be lost.
Grouping/Ungrouping is not available in the 3D Window.
Ungroup
Deletes the group information from the selected items. They
become single elements again.
Group information is hierarchical, which means that if two groups
have been grouped into a higher level group, choosing Ungroup
will first separate the two groups and you will have to choose
Ungroup again to see single elements.
Suspend Groups
Temporarily switches off all group information. Any grouped item
will be treated as ungrouped. This allows you to easily and swiftly
modify any single element of the group without affecting the
others. By choosing the command again, groups will be resumed.
A checkmark in front of the command's name indicates whether it
is active or not.
Note: There are two icons in the Control Box that have the
same effect as choosing Suspend Groups.
Suspend Groups is also available when working in the 3D
Window.
Autogroup
This toggle command allows you to automatically create elements
in groups. If autogroup is on, items that are generated at the same
time (rectangular walls, polyroofs, etc.) will be grouped together.
Bring to Front
On this command, selected element(s) will overlap all other
elements.
Bring Forward
On this command, selected element(s) will overlap all the
unchanged elements of their own and any lower classes, but it will
still stay below the elements of higher classes.
Send Backward
On this command, selected element(s) will be overlapped by (sent
behind) all the unchanged elements of their own and higher
classes, but it will still overlap the elements of lower classes.
Send to Back
On this command, selected element(s) will become overlapped by
all other elements.
Lock
Choosing the command locks the selected items to prevent them
from accidental modification. Locked elements can still be selected
and used for relative construction, and you can even pick up their
settings through parameter transfer.
Note for TeamWork users: You can only lock items that you
have reserved. Locked items cannot be reserved by others.
The locking information is kept even after you have signed
out from the Team Project.
Unlock
Choosing this command will unlock the selected item(s).
Note for TeamWork users: You can only unlock items
locked by you.
Create Patch…
With this command, you can save the area enclosed by the 2D
Marquee as a parametric 2D Library element. You can later use this
to “sticker” your plans in order to provide the necessary detail in
Plan and Section views while saving time on modeling.
To create a Patch, enclose any area of the Plan or the Section/
Elevation window within a Marquee, and select the Create Patch…
command from the Tools menu. The dialog box that appears will
let you specify the location and name of the created element.
You can easily navigate between the loaded libraries, using the
pop-up list at the bottom of the dialog box.
If you check the Place Patch Now checkbox, you can place the
created element immediately after it has been saved.
Tracing Method
With the two radio buttons on the right, you can choose between
two transformation methods.
- With Best Match, transformation is made by curved segments
following as best possible the natural form of Circles, Arcs and
Splines.
- With Prefer Linear Segments , only linear segments are used.
Explode
Choosing this command will turn elements selected on the current
Story or in the current Section Window into basic elements (lines
without arrowheads, circles, arcs, elliptic arcs, splines, unframed
fills, single-line texts). Original elements are deleted from that
location.
Exceptions:
- In Section/Elevation windows, cut construction elements
cannot be exploded, since these cannot be deleted in Section
view;
- Zone polygons and stamps;
- Section lines and Cameras;
- Basic 2D elements.
Some examples:
- Slabs, Roofs and Meshes are decomposed into lines.
- Walls and Columns are decomposed into lines and fills. (Doors
and Windows inserted into Walls are also exploded.)
- Doors and Windows (if selected without the Wall they're
placed into) are decomposed as library parts and are replaced
by empty hole type openings.
- Dimensions are decomposed into lines and the basic elements
of arrowheads (lines, circles, arcs, fills).
- Library parts are decomposed into the basic elements of
library parts.
Line Extras
The Line Extras submenu contains three menu items acting on
selected lines. Lines are stretched or trimmed by the commands
depending on whether or not they intersect; if they do not, a new
length is determined in order to make an intersection or to meet
the fillet or chamfer.
Fillet
Joins two line endpoints with an arc.
Chamfer
Joins two line endpoints with a line segment.
On choosing this command, a dialog box will appear, prompting
you to set the radius for the chamfering.
Intersect
Causes two lines to meet at a point.
You can define whether the level lines should be placed on the
top or bottom level(s) of the selected roof(s) by selecting the
appropriate radio button in the top part of the dialog box.
In the fields in the middle, you can specify the height level where
you want the level lines to be placed. The height can be relative to
the Story's own level or to the Project Zero.
When the Omit Lines Outside Roofs checkbox is enabled, level
lines which fall outside the floor plan polygon of the roof they
belong to will not be drawn. If the checkbox is disabled, all
resulting lines will be drawn. In this case, lines which fall outside
the roof polygon will be drawn to be of equal length to the pivot
line of the roof they belong to.
When the Group with Roof checkbox is activated, level lines will
be grouped with the roofs they belong to.
Note: This option is greyed if the Suspend Groups toggle is
active.
Labels
Choosing the Labels menu item opens a submenu allowing you to
control the way automatic labels are placed on construction
elements.
Automatic Labeling
On choosing this command, a dialog box appears:
The controls on the left side of the dialog box allow you to enable
or disable automatic labeling for different element types.
You can also choose between two label text options: the labeled
element’s ID number or its internal, unique ID.
The Auto-Label orientation icons are available both here and in
the Label Settings dialog box after being placed (see their
description under the Label tool).
Update Zones…
When you modify your design, associative zones do not
automatically adjust themselves to the changes. Choosing the
Update Zones… command will adjust the Zones to your updated
design and alert you about any problematic Zones that might have
been created. The dialog box that appears also provides you with
feedback on how each Zone has changed.
The dialog box shows Zones that have been updated. Zones that
present problems will be preselected
Load Add-On…
Add-Ons are small pieces of software that add functionality to
ArchiCAD.
- Import/Export Add-Ons are filters that allow you to open and
save ArchiCAD data in different foreign file formats, including
DXF and DWG. Loaded Add-Ons' names appear in the
Open… and Save as… dialog boxes.
- Tools type Add-Ons add editing possibilities. Their names
appear under the Load Add-On… menu command in the
Tools menu.
All Add-Ons placed in the Add-Ons folder located in the same
folder as ArchiCAD will automatically be loaded and available on
starting the program.
With the Load Add-On command, it is possible to make available
to ArchiCAD Add-Ons that are in other folders or that were placed
in the Add-Ons folder while the program was already running.
On choosing the command, a Directory dialog box appears,
allowing you to choose an Add-On to load (if any are available).
You can select either a standard scale from the pop–up menu or
you can type in a special, nonstandard scale into the text input
window.
Display Options…
The Display Options command opens a dialog box where you can
customize the way the various construction elements are displayed
on the Floor Plan worksheet. The second set of options (under the
separation line) affect not only the elements’ display on the Floor
Plan, but also their behavior on printouts, plots and in exported
file formats.
Fill Handles
This control allows you to show or hide the handles of vectorial
Fills linked to the Fill Origin.
See also…
The Fill tool in Chapter 4.
Text
Text blocks can be displayed in a variety of ways:
- Simple text (unframed)
- Framed text with handles which make the text blocks easy to
locate and edit, while keeping the text readable.
- Greek text (an illegible text block with uniform gray patterns
substituted for the actual text).
- Greek text with handles.
Notes Text below 5 pt (actual screen size) will be always
greeked. Greek text above 48 pt will be displayed as normal.
See also…
The Text tool in Chapter 4.
Figure Handles
Figures can be displayed with or without handles or as
placeholders only.
Section Depth
Section depth can be displayed or hidden on the Floor Plan
See also…
The Section/Elevation tool in Chapter 4.
Line Weight
There are two display options for Lines on the Floor Plan.
- True Weight mode, where all pens are displayed, printed and
plotted with their correct weight as set in the Pens & Colors
dialog box.
- Hairlines mode, where all pens are displayed, printed and
plotted as thin lines of one pixel width (or the printer’s
minimal lineweight). This allows for faster screen redraws.
Construction Fills
There are four options available for displaying the fills of
construction elements.
- The Empty option causes construction elements to appear
without fills. Beyond the possible visual aspects, an obvious
benefit is faster redrawing of the screen.
- With the Solid option, construction elements appear with a
solid (100%) fill.
- The Bitmap Pattern option is what you generally use for
construction. In Bitmap Pattern mode, construction elements
will be displayed as bitmap patterns.
- The Vectorial Hatching option puts the vector hatch
equivalent of your bitmap pattern on the screen.
Polygon Fills
Three options are available for displaying polygon fills: solid,
bitmap pattern and vectorial hatching.
Zone Polygons
Three options are available for displaying Zone polygons:
Construction Grid
Horizontal and vertical spacing can be independently defined for
the construction grid in the Spacing Steps edit box. The
Construction parameters are used as follows:
- Spacing values determine the distance between grid lines.
Snap Grid
The horizontal and vertical spacing of the Snap Grid can be
independently set. Fitting the Snap Grid to existing structures, or
to the Construction Grid, is possible through the Offset setting.
The Offset values shift the Snap Grid by the amount shown in the
edit boxes.
Since the Snap Grid is measured from the current User Origin, it is
recommended that you move the User Origin instead of setting a
numeric offset for the Snap Grid.
Note: The offset value cannot be greater than the current
Spacing value.
Grid Snap
The Grid Snap command acts as a toggle between the last grid
type used (Construction or Snap) and no grid snap. When the
command is checked, Grid Snap is active. When the command is
unchecked, Grid Snap is disabled.
Grid Display
When the Grid Display command is checked, the grid lines are
displayed on the screen. When the command is unchecked, the
grid lines are hidden. These grid lines are defined using the Home
View & Grids command.
The grid is not displayed (regardless of the menu) if it would be
too dense on the screen (if the smallest distance between two
adjacent grid lines would be smaller than 3 pixels). To see the grid,
define a larger grid or zoom in. This setting is also effective in the
Home View & Grids dialog box.
The cursor is sensitive to both the inner and outer points of wall
intersections, such as the ones at the corners of a room. This
makes area calculations and the dimensioning of wall intersections
easier and more precise.
You can see the reference lines of walls and roofs more distinctly.
A more simplified display of walls (block forms) is provided to
help you sort out complex intersections, and screen redraws are
considerably faster.
Disabling this command can be useful when you are drawing at an
intersection of several construction elements. Having the reference
lines visible helps to accurately select the element desired.
Stories
Choosing the Stories menu item opens a submenu with commands
that allow you to:
- Define the vertical structure of your design, story by story.
- Navigate between stories by determining which story is
currently displayed.
- Move elements and items between them using a special Cut/
Copy and Paste function.
All Story functions are controlled through the Stories submenu.
The Stories and their elevation value defined in the Story
Settings… dialog box are displayed at the bottom of the submenu.
The current Story is shown with a checkmark in the listing and the
name appears in the title bar of the Floor Plan window.
Note: Stories are also listed in and can be accessed from the
QuickViews navigation floating palette. See the palette’s
description in Chapter 2.
Story Settings…
If you choose the Story Settings… command from the Stories
submenu, the Stories dialog box is displayed which allows you to
completely define the vertical structure of your Project. Each of the
controls available in the dialog box is described in the following
sections.
Event List
To help you keep on track, all the story editing steps you make are
listed in the Event List. When you click OK, a final prompt asks if
you are sure that you want to proceed with the operations.
Go To Story...
This command opens a dialog box allowing you to jump directly
to an existing Story and provides you with a range indicator of
how many Stories currently exist. If you enter a Story index
number outside the existing range, it is ignored when you click
OK and you remain in the current Story.
Layers
ArchiCAD layers are used to organize the elements in your
drawing for selective displays and quantity calculations.
Choosing the Layers hierarchical menu item in the Options menu
displays a submenu containing the Layers commands. The current
Layer command is shown with a checkmark.
Layer Settings…
The Layer Settings… command displays the Layer Settings dialog
box which allows you to define the layer settings for your Project.
The currently defined layers for your Project are displayed in the
scrollable list on the left side of the dialog box. To select a layer,
click it so that it appears highlighted.
Pens
There are 99 pens represented in the tablet. Their serial numbers
are indicated by their position in the tablet. The top row contains
pens 1 to 10 from left to right, the row below, pens 11 to 20, and
so on.
Colors
There is a default color assignment for each pen, but you can edit
any color for a specific pen by double-clicking its pen box. In the
appearing Edit Color dialog box, you can select color graphically
or numerically by mixing the HSL (Hue–Saturation–Luminosity) or
RGB (Red–Green–Blue) components.
When you click OK, the new color appears in the box for the
given pen.
After the colors have been redefined, the ArchiCAD construction
elements immediately change to the new colors.
Penweights
There are 99 pens defined in ArchiCAD. Different mappings are
used to translate ArchiCAD’s 99 pens into output on the selected
output device. These mappings are summarized in the table
below.
Line Types…
When you choose the Line Types… command, a dialog box is
displayed allowing you to select, modify or delete the standard
line types (solid, dotted, dashed, etc.). You can also define your
own customized line types.
Dashed Lines
After editing the name of the new line to be created, make sure
that Dashed is selected as the line type and press the OK button.
You will then be presented with a dialog box made up of two
basic parts. In the lower part of the box, right under Edit selected
type:, you will be able to graphically edit the first component of
the line you wish to create. The black and white flags represent
sections of the dashed line. New sections can be added or deleted
as needed by moving the little pyramid shaped marker below the
numerical input boxes.
Each black flag represents the end of a dash in the line, the length
of which can be edited either by dragging the flag in a horizontal
direction, or by editing its value in the Dash edit fields. The little
white flags represent the gap between each dash section, and can
be edited similarly. The values in the numerical input boxes are
given in the respective measurement standards defined under the
Drawing Units... section in Preferences (Options menu). If for
example, your drawing units are given in meters, you will be given
a scale in millimeters. Likewise, if you choose feet and inches as
your drawing unit, you will be able to define these values in
inches.
Symbol Lines
Symbolic lines are created by first drawing the stencil on the Floor
Plan, using Lines, Arcs and Hotspots. Once you have finished
drawing the line type stencil, select all of its components using the
Arrow tool and choose Copy from the Edit menu. Now select Line
types... from the Options menu, and click on the New button.
Select Symbol as your line type from the dialog box, and edit the
name you wish to give to this new line.
You will be presented with a new dialog box:
Press the lower button under the graphic editing section labeled
Paste line component. The previously captured line component
will appear in the graphic editing window. You may edit the scale
of both line component and the gap between each component, by
either dragging the little flags in the window or editing the
numeric values underneath. The line component will be scaled as
a whole. Modifications in size are reflected in real time by the
change of the values in the numerical editing boxes.
Notes: Only Arcs, Lines and Hotspots may be used in the
definition of symbolic lines. If the selection of components
copied from the floor plan includes splines, fills, text or other
elements, these will not be pasted into the Line Types dialog
box.
Regular Copy-Paste operations do not function in this dialog box.
Modifying a Symbol Line
If you wish to change a symbolic line after the original
components have been deleted from the Floor Plan, you must first
choose the line to be edited within the Line types... dialog box,
and press the Copy line components button. By pasting these
components on the Floor Plan, they become editable once more.
See the above for details on how to define this newly revised
group of elements into a line type.
Fill Types...
Fills are geometric patterns that can be used for walls, columns,
slabs, pitched roofs and fill polygons. Each fill has two faces:
bitmapped and vectorial. In a project, all fills are displayed either
as bitmapped or vectorial patterns. You can set this option in
Display Options (Options menu).
Selecting the Fill Types… command displays a dialog box that
enables you to edit bitmapped patterns and vectorial hatches for
the Wall and Fills tools. Both of these fill types can be displayed on
screen and printed, but only vectorial hatches can be plotted.
Clicking the button of the current fill type, a list appears on the
right side of the dialog box, displaying the graphic representation
of all available fill types.
To get rid of redundant fill types, select the one you want to
remove and click the Clear button.
If you want to change the name of an existing pattern, select the
desired fill type, click the Rename button and type in the new
name.
You can return to the default patterns at any time by choosing
New and Reset from the File menu.
Bitmap Patterns
The smaller pattern window allows you to monitor and edit the
bitmap pixel by pixel. The new pattern remains associated to the
selected name and vector fill. Bitmapped patterns are displayed
much faster than vectorial patterns. They can be printed, but
cannot be scaled, zoomed, or rotated.
To edit bitmapped patterns, select a pattern from the list, then
click with the arrow in the bitmap pattern window to turn pixels
on or off. An example of the modified pattern will be shown in the
pattern list.
Vectorial Patterns
Vectorial patterns are made up of individual line segments as
opposed to bitmapped fill patterns. They are displayed slower in
ArchiCAD, but they can be plotted, scaled, rotated and zoomed.
The large sample window in the left section of the dialog box
displays the vectorial pattern of the selected fill type. The
Symbol Fills
Symbolic fills are created by first drawing the stencil on the Floor
Plan, using Lines, Arcs and Hotspots. After finishing the fill type
stencil, select all of its components using the Arrow tool and chose
Copy from the Edit menu. Select Fill types… from the Options
menu, and click on the New button. Select Symbol Fill as your fill
type from the dialog box and edit the name you wish to give to
this new fill.
A new dialog box will appear:
Press the Paste button above the sample window. The previously
captured fill component will appear in the sample window. You
may edit the horizontal and vertical stroke, scale and motif size as
well as the rotation angle by editing the numeric values.
Displaying Fills
The setting chosen in Display Options/Construction Fills and
Polygon Fills will decide whether bitmapped patterns or vectorial
hatches are displayed.
The printed output also depends on the Display Options setting,
while the plotted output and the drawing exported to PlotMaker
always use vectorial hatches.
See also…
The Display Options command (Options menu) in Chapter 5.
Plotting Fills
The following is a comprehensive table of the behavior of fills on
screen, printers, raster and pen plotters in both ArchiCAD and
PlotMaker.
Composites…
Walls, Slabs and Roofs can have composite structures. Columns
have separate fills for their Cores and their Veneers.
Above the List, three controls allow you to manage the composite
structure list to suit the needs of your Project:
- Add a new composite structure by clicking the Duplicate
button. The currently selected composite structure will then
be duplicated and “copy” will be appended to its name.
- Rename existing composites by clicking the Rename button.
- Delete the active item of the pop-up menu by clicking the
Clear button.
Defining Skins
On the left side of the dialog box, select a skin by clicking either
its name in the list or its corresponding graphic representation.
You can edit the skins individually by using the controls below the
list.
You can modify the thickness, fill pattern, fill orientation and
pencolors of any structural skin.
Independent pencolors can be for both the outline, fill and fill
background of each skin.
To draw the line between two skins, ArchiCAD checks for and
uses the skin with the heavier outline pencolor. In the case of
equal pen weights, the pencolor of the skin lower in the list will
be prioritized.
The orientation of the vectorial fills of walls can optionally follow
the angle of the wall.
Structural (Core) Skins
All composite structures include structural, load-bearing skins,
which play an important role when connecting Walls and
Columns. By default, the structural skin is the thickest one, but
you can change this setting with the corresponding checkboxes.
You can choose more than one skin as part of the core, but the
structural skins must be located next to each other.
Note: Fill patterns enabled for walls in the Fill Types dialog
box are available for composite wall skins as well.
Important: When drawing a trapezoid Wall with a composite
fill, you’ll notice that only the Core skins’ thickness follows the
thickness of the Wall along its length.
Availability
Composites are available for walls, slabs and roofs. You can select
the construction elements you wish to use the selected composite
structure type with.
See also…
The Wall, Slab, Roof and Column tools in Chapter 4.
Materials…
Choosing the Materials… command displays the Materials dialog
box which allows you to determine the characteristics of the
materials used for the materials of the construction elements.
The Tool Settings dialog boxes for each 3D drawing tool allow you
to select materials for ArchiCAD construction elements. Shaded
images in the 3D Window will use material colors only, but when
your plans are rendered using the PhotoRender Projection
command (Image menu), all the characteristics of the materials are
used in the rendering process. The Materials dialog box contains
controls for every aspect of ArchiCAD surface materials.
The pop-up menu at the top of the dialog box displays the current
material set available in the project.
Editing Materials
You can edit the characteristics of surface materials using the color
and material type functions described below. By selecting a color
and a basic category, even a non-experienced can create attractive
new materials quickly.
Color
Define a color for a material by double–clicking the Color box.
This opens the Edit Color subdialog box where you can select
your color graphically or numerically by mixing the HSL (Hue–
Saturation–Luminosity) or RGB (Red–Green–Blue) components.
Material Type
Select a material type from the Type pop-up menu where several
characteristic surface options can be found.
Auto Preview
You can check the new material by activating the Auto Preview
checkbox. This will demonstrate the new visual attributes with the
currently set sunlight characteristics in the sample box on the left
side of the dialog box.
If you get a “strange” result, make sure that the sunlight color is set
to white.
Note: The Auto Preview function is not available if the Apply
Data file is not properly installed or has been removed from
the ArchiCAD Folder.
Expert…
Clicking the Expert… button expands the Material dialog box to
include a large number of controls for reflection, transparency and
emission attributes. You can also choose options for 3D Hatching
and Textures associated with either standard or custom Materials.
Note: The dialog box appears in this expand form until you
click the Novice… button.
Reflection Attributes
Most of the reflection attributes of materials are set as a percentage
of their theoretical limit. You can edit the values both numerically
and with a sliding switch.
The Ambient control sets the percentage of ambient light the
material is able to reflect. This determines how much a material is
subject to brightening effects (as opposed to shades or highlights
caused by directional light).
The Diffuse control describes the surface quality of the material.
Uneven or rough surfaces tend to reflect incident, directional light
in a non–directional, diffuse way (set close to 100 %). Diffuse
reflection carries the color of the material rather than the color of
light.
The Specular setting is the opposite of Diffuse. It is a directional
reflection carrying the color of the incident light rather than that of
the material. An extremely smooth and saturated hard surface will
produce strong specular reflections (set close to 100%), while a
soft and light material will produce hardly any (set close to 0%).
Specular Color is theoretically identical to the color of directional
light, but the program lets you define it independently. Double-
click the sample color here to display the Edit Color subdialog
box, in which you can establish your definitions.
Shininess is the ability of a curved surface to reflect directional
light from a point–like source (i.e. sun, flashlight, spots, etc.), in a
more or less focused fashion. The more focused the reflection, the
more shiny the surface appears. Highlights are confined to a small
area if this control is set close to 100, while a low value results in a
wider highlight area.
Transparency Attributes
The following attributes control how light penetrates a specified
material.
Transmittance indicates the percentage of light that can
penetrate the material. Glass is at the top of the scale and opaque
materials are at the bottom.
Attenuation controls how fast transmittance diminishes as the
object’s surface becomes less perpendicular to the viewing
direction. Any number in a continuous range from zero to 100 can
be set.
Emission Attributes
The following attributes control the fluorescence of materials.
Emission color is set by double-clicking the Color box. In the
appearing Edit Color subdialog box, you can select your color
graphically or numerically by mixing the HSL (Hue–Saturation–
Lightness) or RGB (Red–Green–Blue) components.
Attenuation dictates how sharply the intensity of emitted light
decreases as the viewpoint is moved further and further from the
object.
3D Hatching
It is possible to choose a fill pattern for the material that will be
displayed in the 3D Window when choosing Analytic Shading or
Analytic Hidden Lines and switching on 3D Hatching in 3D
Window Settings. You can choose among Fillpatterns available for
the Fill tool.
Note: 3D Hatching does not affect PhotoRenderings, so its
effect cannot be seen in the sample box.
See also…
Image Menu/3D Window Settings... later in this Chapter.
Textures
You can associate a Texture to any standard or custom Material.
The name of the currently active texture file is displayed in the title
of the dialog box. The size in pixels of the image is also shown.
In the left part of the dialog box, a sample box displays the texture
as it would look in a simple square. With the pop-up menu below
the sample box, you can choose a ratio for repeating the same
texture at the given dimensions.
In the middle section of the dialog box, a number of controls
allow you to define the size, angle, origin and proportions of the
texture as it appears on the elements that share the material the
texture is associated to.
- The first two edit fields define the vertical/horizontal
proportion of the texture.
- Checking the Keep Original Proportions checkbox below
these fields will ensure that you see the proportions of the
original texture file on all elements.
- The next edit field allows you to define an angle at which the
texture is applied to elements.
- You can also choose, with a set of radio buttons, the way the
texture sequence is arranged by rotating and mirroring
operations.
- Activating the Random Origin checkbox will choose a
random point where applying the texture starts from. This
option is useful if there are several identical elements in the
model that should look different.
At the right side of the dialog box, options are provided for Alpha
Channel control.
In 32-bit color images, the Alpha Channel is an extra channel in
addition to RGB components that can be edited in painting
applications like Adobe Photoshop. ArchiCAD allows you to take
advantage of the information placed in the Alpha Channel in
several ways, e.g. for masking elements in PhotoRenderings.
Surface: If the alpha value is white, then you get the color of the
texture, while if it is black, then the material’s original color will be
valid in the given pixel of the given surface. If the value is a shade
of grey, than the two colors will be mixed and the result will
appear in the PhotoRendering.
Ambient: The same as above, but applied to the Ambient color
instead of the Surface color.
Specular: Controls to what extent the Specular effect is taken into
account. If the alpha value is white, the Specular effect is entirely
taken into account at the given pixel. If the alpha value is black,
the Specular effect is entirely disregarded at the given pixel. Here
again, intermediary values are allowed.
Diffuse: Controls the effect of diffuse light the same way as
above.
Zone Categories
Zones sharing the same function or purpose can be grouped in
categories. ArchiCAD’s Zone Categories enable you to take
optimally advantage of the possibilities offered by the Zone tool.
Zone Categories are defined by the following set of attributes:
- Category Code aids in the fast identification of the categories,
and in some countries this number can be set according to the
local standard. It can also appear in the zone stamp.
- Category Name describes the purpose or functionality of the
category. Please note that the zones have their own names,
which can be different from the category names.
- Category Color helps to identify the zones of the same
category on the Floor Plan.
- A Zone Stamp can be assigned to each zone category. You
can set default values for the parameters of each category.
When you choose the Zone Categories command, a dialog box is
displayed, allowing you to create, modify or delete zone
categories.
The default values you enter here will appear in the Zone Settings
dialog box when you select the given zone category.
The parameter list of the stamp contains many more elements than
that of the Zone Settings dialog box.
Some of the parameters are internal variables of the Zone library
part. These variables are assigned values when you define the
zone in the Floor Plan. Depending on the design of the zone
stamp, these variables may also be displayed in it. When the zone
is defined, the default values are automatically overwritten with
real, measured values.
The internal variables of the default parameter list are:
- Measured Area
- Zone Perimeter
- Zone Hole Perimeter
- Walls along Perimeter
- Surrounding Wall Surface
- Total Doors Surface
- Total Doors Width
- Total Windows Surface
- Total Windows Width
- Convex Corners
- Concave Corners
The user-defined variables of the Zone library part appear at the
end of the default parameter list. These parameters also appear in
the parameter list of the Zone Settings dialog box.
See also…
The Zone tool in Chapter 4 and the List Setup and Zone List
commands (Calculate menu) later in this Chapter.
Preferences
When you choose the Preferences hierarchical menu item, a
submenu is displayed containing the seven preference commands,
as well as the Menu Shortcut Keys command allowing you to
customize menu shortcuts.
All of these commands in turn access dialog boxes that control
operational options that streamline your everyday use of
ArchiCAD. The preference command list is also accessible at the
top of each of the seven preference dialog boxes. The sections
Drawing Units
The Drawing Units dialog box controls the drawing unit system
used, the fractions or number of decimals to be displayed, the
angle unit system, angle accuracy and the desired decimal display
of text height and rotation angle values in dialog boxes, the
Coordinate Box and the Info Box.
The following five length units and Angle Unit Systems are
available:
Surveyor’s Unit angles are measured from the North direction (set
in the Sun dialog box), in every other case angles are measured
counterclockwise from the horizon.
The accuracy of numeric and angular display, as well as the
decimal displaying of the text height and rotation angle values,
can be set using the corresponding pop-up menus.
Dimensions
Dimension preferences provide a mechanism for customizing and
storing different Dimensioning Standards. This is useful for
working on several Projects with differing levels of accuracy
Mouse Constraints
The Mouse Constraints dialog box provides control over the angle
pairs used for Mouse Constraint with the Shift key.
Note: When using the Relative Construction Methods in the
Control Box to set a reference edge or vector, the value in the
Custom Angle pair field is overwritten with the angle of that
element edge/vector. If you disable the Custom Angle pair
value in this dialog box and then use one of the Relative
Construction Methods, the Custom angle pair is re-enabled
with that angle value.
See also…
Refer to the Mouse Constraints section in Chapter 2 for further
details on Mouse Constraint mechanisms and options.
Remote Elements
The Remote Elements dialog box allows you to define the line
type used for displaying construction lements on stories other than
the one they were created on. You can decide to display Slabs,
Roofs, Meshes and Objects on their own stories only, one story
above and/or below, or on all stories, by using the corresponding
checkboxes of their dialog boxes. The available line types are
those defined by the Line Types command.
Auto-Rebuild
With Auto-rebuild on, the 3D display of your plan is updated after
each modification to the floor plan as soon as you activate the 3D
Window.
With Auto-rebuild off, the 3D model does not show the
modifications until you choose the Rebuild command (Display
menu). Switching this option off can be useful if you want to keep
an already existing 3D image in the window for a longer period,
and you want to avoid accidental rebuilding of it.
3D Settings Changes...
With this option on, changes to the 3D imaging settings
automatically bring the 3D Window to the foreground and start the
imaging process.
When this option is off, you can modify both the projection and
the imaging method, so that imaging will not be started between
modifications.
You can also work extensively in the 3D Projection Settings dialog
box, so that clicking OK will keep your settings but will not initiate
imaging.
Keep Zoomed Detail...
Selecting this checkbox will keep the zoomed part of the 3D view
in the window even when the 3D Window is rebuilt. When this
Data Safety
The Data Safety dialog box contains a number of features to
minimize the risk of data loss and file corruption. This is especially
important if your power lines suffer from voltage spikes or
failures, or if your computer is prone to software conflicts.
Autosave
The Autosave function controls a number of options protecting
you against losing work. If you are forced to restart your computer
for any reason, the next time you launch ArchiCAD, a dialog box
gives you the option of resuming the interrupted work.
When Autosave is triggered, the Bulldozer cursor may appear
momentarily on the screen. Any changes made to the Project since
the last Autosave (or manual Save) are stored in the ArchiCAD
Temporary Folder. Even with large Projects, Autosave should
complete its very efficient cycle within a few seconds.
Autosave is On by default. To turn it on manually, simply open the
Data Safety dialog box and click the Autosave On radio button.
Click the Autosave Off radio button if you’re sure that you will not
need Autosave.
To configure the Autosave method, click either of the Save every…
radio buttons. The two options operate as follows:
- By selecting the interval–based method, you can enter a value
(measured in seconds) for the length of Autosave’s wait cycle
between saves.
- Selecting the action–based method and entering a value
triggers Autosave after you perform that number of undoable
actions in the Project.
As opposed to a manual save, you can still use Undo and Redo
commands (Edit menu) after Autosave performs its operation,
unlike in the case of a manual Save.
There are three limitations to Autosave functions. The following
items must be manually saved:
- Open Library Parts
- Completed PhotoRendering Images
- All types of Calculation Lists
Undo Limit
An edit field below the Autosave options allows you to set the
number of undoable steps. The default value is 20. See Undo and
Redo in the Edit menu.
Backup Copy
Selecting the Backup Copy checkbox will always create a backup
copy of the previously saved version of your work, by appending
the “.bak” extension to its name.
Miscellaneous
The Miscellaneous dialog box contains a number of various
options including the location of the ArchiCAD temporary folder.
Line Drawing
The Line drawing options affect all onscreen vector drawing
operations such as drawing walls or dragging an element.
Two drawing methods are provided to suit individual drawing
preferences. The Mac-like (Macintosh) or Standard (Windows)
mode, and the CAD-like (Macintosh) or CAD (Windows) mode.
With the Standard drawing method:
- Click and drag the element you want to move.
- Release the button.
For multistep operations such as drawing arcs, the first vector is
entered by dragging, then the following steps are entered in CAD-
like mode as described below. If you press x, y, r, or a in the
middle of a Standard drawing operation, or if you release the
mouse button on the tool window or in the menubar, CAD-like
control will temporarily be in effect.
With the CAD-like drawing method:
- Click at the starting point.
- Move to the endpoint and click again
Background Appearance
You can choose from using the drawing background, transparent
fills or the fills’ background color for displaying sections of
constructions.
Display Startup Dialog Box
If this option is checked a dialog box appears on the screen when
starting ArchiCAD, which allows you to choose from creating a
new project, opening a project, signing in to a Team Project
(TeamWork only) or opening any existing document.
Auto Plan Redraw
If this option is checked, floor plans are automatically redrawn
after each modification.
Enable Drag-and-Drop
With this option you can control the availability of the Drag and
Drop function. See description in Chapter 2.
Auto ID Increase
Using this checkbox, the ID number will automatically increase
when creating a new element.
3D Projection Settings…
Before you display a 3D view or ask for a photorealistic rendering,
you can choose from a number of view options in the 3D
Projection Settings dialog box.
There are two main dialog boxes for setting up 3D views: Parallel
Projection Settings and Perspective Settings. You can easily switch
from one to the other with the button at the top right corner.
Perspective Settings
ArchiCAD gives you full control over the look of the perspectives
you generate for your project. You can easily set all the relevant
parameters, such as viewpoint location and elevation, target
location and elevation, width of the viewing cone, and sun
position, as described below.
2) For a two point perspective, set the viewpoint and target point
elevation to the same value. The other settings can have any
value.
3) For a three point perspective, set the viewpoint and target
point elevation to different values.
4) To get a top view in perspective, set the viewpoint elevation
higher than that of the target point elevation, drag the target to
the desired location on the plan, then set the distance to zero
by dragging the viewpoint until the numeric field displays
zero. (You cannot type zero in the Distance field.)
5) For a fast preview of projections, use the Block 3D modeling
option described below. You can check the general look of
the projections very quickly in the 3D Window this way.
Resetting Viewpoint & Target
After zooms, pans, or numeric distance settings, the viewpoint
and/or target point may occasionally disappear from the preview
area. To retrieve them, simply Shift-click where you want the
viewpoint and Option-click/Alt-click where you want the target
point to be in the window. They will immediately move to the
points where you clicked. (See the Display menu later in this
chapter for information on Zoom and Pan.)
Note: If you need to change the direction only of the
viewpoint, you can do so by simply clicking into the preview
window.
Cameras and Perspectives
You can copy a camera’s settings into the Perspective Settings
dialog box by selecting a single camera on the Floor Plan and
opening 3D Projection Settings. You cannot, however, modify a
camera using this dialog box.
Light Direction Setting (Sun)
In the projection preview area, the dashed line from the center of
the area with a sun icon at its end shows the direction of light for
shaded and rendered representations. The sun icon can be
dragged around the perimeter of the plan, but it cannot be
positioned closer. Its distance is regarded as infinite. Both its
Altitude and Azimuth can be set numerically in the edit boxes
below the viewpoint and target settings.
More Sun…
Clicking the More Sun… button gives access to the Sun subdialog
box for a series of more sophisticated sunlight settings (used for
photorenderings).
Note: This dialog box can also be opened from the Camera
Settings dialog box.
Sunlight Parameters
Characteristics of light can be set in the upper part of the Sun
dialog box.
Double-click the color box to go to the Edit Color subdialog box.
The color of directional light (with a color intensity between 0 and
100%) can be set here.
- You can decide how much of the directional light is
represented in nondirectional, ambient light.
- Both the color and intensity of directional light can affect the
ambient light, according to the percentage specified in the
Contribution to Ambient (%) field.
Ambient Light
As opposed to directional light (e.g. the sun), ambient light is
nondirectional and can stand as a substitute for the rich reflected
and inter-reflected light experienced in a real environment. It can
brighten otherwise overshadowed surfaces.
Ambient light may have its own color (in a pink room for instance)
and its intensity may have to vary to obtain special effects in
renderings.
- Its color is set through the Edit Color subdialog box. Double-
click the sample color to open it.
- Its intensity can be set between 0 and 100%.
Fog
To further enhance the realism of your renderings, this
atmospheric effect alters light in proportion to the distance from
your viewpoint. You can set the color of the fog by double-
clicking its sample box to access the Edit Color dialog box. You
can also set one of four levels of intensity for the effect with the
radio buttons.
(To achieve a typical misting effect, set the color to white, and this
will fade the more distant objects. To use light decay, set the fog
color to black, and this will darken the more distant objects.)
Note: In order to apply this effect, make sure that Fog is
activated in the PhotoRendering Settings dialog box, described
below.
Apply
Click this button to test the sunlight, ambient light and fog settings
you have made on a neutral white material.
Set City...
Click the Set City… button to specify a geographical location by
latitude and longitude, or by specifying a major city close to your
site from the scrollable list.
Customized Axonometrics
You can create your own customized axonometry either by
entering values for the angles and ratios of the three coordinate
axes or by manipulating the house icon in the preview area:
- To rotate an axis about the origin, click on or near it and drag it
to the desired orientation.
- To rescale and rotate an axis, click within the circle at its
endpoint and drag it to the desired position. (If you only want to
rescale, it is easier to enter a value in the edit box.)
The adjustments you make here are continuously reflected both by
the values displayed in the edit boxes, and by the distortion of the
house icon itself.
Simply click the Sun or Camera icon and drag it to the desired
location. The effect of your changes is shown by the rotation of
the house in the preview area and by the values in the edit boxes
to the right of the control.
To move the camera or the sun in 45° increments, click once near
the desired direction on either of the gray circles.
To move them in 5° increments, drag the camera or sun icon.
To move to any in-between position, type the desired numeric
value into the edit fields.
The Azimuth of the camera and the sun can be set either
graphically or numerically, but the sun Altitude angle can only be
set numerically.
Hint: Unless you are an experienced ArchiCAD user, it is
generally best to begin with a predefined projection from the
palette, then rotate the view with the camera angle control,
and finally make minor adjustments with the rescaling
features.
More Sun...
You can open the More Sun subdialog box from this window. See
its description under Perspective Projections above for detailed
information.
Recording Parallel Projections
The Pre-Sets Button opens a subdialog box where you can store
and retrieve settings. You can also use this sequence of
axonometric views for a future animation. Animations based on
axonometric views are not fly-throughs in the same sense as
perspectives, even though they are created with the same
Stories to Image
The stories to be modeled can be specified both in a continuous
range, as well as through the All Stories option. This is subject to
selections on the floor plan.
Element Types
The Element Types to Image checkboxes allow you to turn
construction elements on and off. With doors and windows
switched off, openings are interpreted as empty holes. Individual
selections overrule these settings. Selection marquee selections
will observe the settings here.
Marquee Effect
If you use the Marquee tool to create a selection rectangle prior to
modeling, it can be used directly or inversely through a third set of
options. With inverse use you can exclude internal elements of a
house when you need only external views of the 3D model. The
Marquee can affect multiple stories, not just the current story, as
described in Chapter 4: Marquee tool.
If the Trim Elements to Marquee checkbox is checked, the model
will be clipped at the Marquee’s boundaries. Otherwise the model
will not be clipped, but all those elements will be displayed which
has at least one hotspot inside the Marquee.
3D Window Settings…
Choosing the 3D Window Settings… command displays a dialog
box that allows you to define the characteristics of the image in
the 3D Window.
The settings you can make are categorized as follows:
- Methods, where you can set different parameters of Hidden
Line and Shaded 3D Modes,
- Effects, where you can specify the use of 3D hatching and
shadow-casting, and
- Display, where you can set the size and background of the
3D Window, as well as line weight used in the display.
Each of the 3D Window controls are discussed below.
See also…
Choosing materials and hatching patterns is discussed under the
Options menu/Materials... command in this Chapter.
Transparency in Shading
This control allows you to view elements with a transparent
material definition in shaded views and not only in
photorendering. This option is not available when printing to a
PostScript printer.
Vectorial Sun Shadows
In the 3D Window you can enable ArchiCAD’s shadow-casting
capability, as well as specify that shadow contours be shown, if
you wish.
Note: ArchiCAD calculates the shadow of each individual
element in your model. If you choose Contours Off, each
shadow remains an independent entity, but if you choose
Contours On, the individual shadows are merged into each
other where they overlap, resulting in one - or a few - large
shadows. (You would notice this if you saved the 3D image as
3D Cutting Planes…
Choosing the 3D Cutting Planes… command displays the 3D
Section dialog box. By using 3D sections, you can get either
ordinary cross sections or special sections to visualize the project
in new ways. This command is not available if the 3D window is
closed or empty.
Note: While the Section/Elevation tool is best suited for
sectional drawings, 3D Cutaway can be useful for special 3D
visualizations allowing an insight into building spaces.
The 3D Section dialog box has options for controlling all aspects
of the 3D section process. Each of the controls in the dialog box
are described in the following sections.
Cutting 3D Sections
The three basic orthogonal representations of your building (front,
side and top) are displayed in the 3D Section dialog box.
To create a section, draw a line through any of the views which
represents a cutting plane perpendicular to the given orthogonal
view. The Eyeball cursor appears after you have drawn each line,
prompting you to click on whichever side of the line you would
like removed. The parts of the project views displayed as shaded
will be removed, leaving a sectional view of the model.
To create ordinary cross sections, draw a single line and set a view
in the 3D Parallel Projection Settings which is perpendicular to the
section plane.
When drawing the line, you can use the rulers or numeric input
the same way as on the floor plan. If you miss with your first
attempt, double-click the line of the cutting plane with the
Mercedes cursor. The line is removed and you can start another.
If you want to remove all cutting planes, click the Clear All
Cutting Planes button.
When the cutting planes are correct, click the OK button to return
to the 3D model.
Hint: The number of cutting possibilities offered here is much
greater than you generally need in architecture. You can,
however, make good use of them when you are dealing with
non-orthogonal details or when showing material cutaways.
For generating straightforward sections, use the Section/
Elevation tool. (See Chapter 4.)
3D Cutaway
3D Cutaway is an imaging mode in ArchiCAD. If it is active, the
cutting places defined in the 3D Cutting Planes dialog box are
applied to the model every time it is rebuilt. To activate 3D
Cutaway, select its menu item. A checkmark placed before the
name of the command indicates that it is active. To deactivate 3D
Cutaway, choose the command again and the checkmark
disappears.
Note: The 3D Window must be open for this command to be
available.
Once the sectional 3D model has been created, you can save it in
a variety of formats for additional work. (See the File menu
commands earlier in this chapter.)
Block
If you choose Block mode, the 3D window will show only the
blocked volume of each element without placing any holes into
them. It uses the Pencolor of each element.
Block is the fastest 3D display format available. It can only be used
for information about the placement of the elements in the project,
but it gives you a quick way to check, for example, whether the
angle of your view is appropriate.
Wireframe
Choosing Wireframe mode creates a view showing all the edges
and lines of your Project using the Pencolors of the elements.
This shows much more detail than Block mode but is still quickly
processed. If you have many elements one behind the other, this
type of view can be hard to interpret. For better legibility try the
next mode.
Hidden Line
Choosing Hidden Line mode creates a view like a wireframe but
with those lines which are blocked from view by solid objects
removed. It draws in the Pencolors of the elements.
This type of view is the best choice for easy interpretation, if you
do not want a shaded view. It is also suitable for hard copy output
on a printer.
On pen plotters, Hidden Line views provide the best results,
especially with the Analytic method. Hidden Lines can be saved in
many file formats, either as 2D or 3D files.
Shading
Choosing the Shading method causes your 3D model to appear
with all of its visible surfaces shaded according to the light
direction set in the 3D Projection Settings dialog box. The colors of
the surfaces are determined by the material attributes of the
construction elements (regardless of the color of light set in the
Sun dialog box).
If contours are switched on in the 3D Window Settings... dialog
box, they will appear using the Pencolors of the elements.
Shading is good for:
- Fast on-screen feedback,
- Easy checking of surface colors, and
- In any presentation where photorealistic quality is not a
requirement.
Note: You can trade accuracy for speed in the Hidden Line
and Shading modes by using the Raster rather than the
PhotoRendering Settings
The PhotoRendering Settings submenu contains four commands.
These in turn access dialog boxes wherein you can find different
settings for the photorendering process. The four commands are
also available from the top of each of the four dialog boxes. The
following sections describe these dialog boxes.
Note: The speed of PhotoRendering is defined most of all by
image size, while model complexity affects speed if Shadows are
used. The PhotoRendering effects define the final quality or
character of your rendering.
Effects
Choosing Effects displays the following dialog box:
Fog
Check this option if you have set fog color and intensity in the 3D
Projection Settings dialog box and wish to use it in your
PhotoRendering.
Note: When the Method control is set to Flat Shading, fog
settings are ignored.
Smooth Surfaces
Curved surfaces, which are normally approximated by flat planes,
are represented by more lifelike surfaces when this option is on.
The degree of smoothing is set through Method control, with up to
one pixel accuracy.
Note: When Method is set to Flat Shading, no smoothing is
implemented.
Lamp Falloff
If Lamp Falloff is not checked, the angle falloff and distance falloff
values in the GDL Scripts of Lamps will be handled as being zero.
This results in a sharp border between illuminated and dark areas.
If it is checked, the values originally given will be used, resulting
in a smooth transition between illuminated and dark areas.
Note: Lamps must be enabled at the Light Sources checkboxes
for falloff to operate.
Textures
If this box is checked, bitmapped pictures referred to in the GDL
script of some library parts will appear on the corresponding
surfaces.
It also controls whether the textures linked to materials in the
Materials/Expert dialog box are displayed in PhotoRenderings as
described.
Light Sources
You can select which Light Sources (Sun, Lamps or both) you want
to use to illuminate the model during the PhotoRendering process.
You should select at least one of the two choices.
The Lamps checkbox can only be effective if Lamp type library
parts have been placed on the plan. They must be switched on in
their Settings dialog box.
Note: You cannot select Lamps as a light source when the Flat
Shading method is used.
Shadow Casting
Here you can define which of the available light sources you want
to cast shadows in the PhotoRendered picture. Select the High
Accuracy checkbox if you notice incorrect results on your
PhotoRendered picture, especially missing shadows of relatively
small elements. This may occur if you zoom in on a small detail of
Picture
ArchiCAD PhotoRendering supports precise horizontal & vertical
pixel size and dots per inch resolution. This makes it possible to
merge background bitmap images of known proportions and
resolutions with PhotoRendering images.
You can make a powerful graphic statement by placing a rendered
model against an existing picture as the background. Just turn on
the Picture radio button and search for the appropriate picture
from the Directory dialog box.
If you want a different picture for the background, click the Open
Picture button and select another picture.
Overexposure Correction
You have three options for correcting possible Overexposures.
(Overexposure occurs when the computational method leads to
the need of brighter color than the brightest white on the monitor.)
Memory
In the Memory dialog box you can see information about the size
of the available memory. ArchiCAD can also make an estimate of
the amount of memory that is needed for your PhotoRendered
image, if you click the Estimate Complexity button.
PhotoRender Projection
This command instructs ArchiCAD to make a photorealistic picture
of the current projection according to the settings described
above. This will appear in a new window which is not editable.
You can have several Model Picture windows on your screen at
once to compare different settings. You can also save them as
bitmap files for processing or for use with other programs.
You can use the Marquee tool to select and copy parts of Model
Pictures.
Important: PhotoRendered Model Pictures are not saved with
your project. If you wish to keep them, you have to save them
Create…
The name of this command changes according to the type of
camera currently selected in the Camera/VR Settings dialog box
(Camera, VR Object, VR Scene).
Note: In order to use the second and third options, the
necessary add-ons must be properly installed.
See also…
The Camera tool in Chapter 4.
Create Fly-Through…
If the simple Camera is selected in the Camera Settings dialog box,
“Fly-Through” is added to the name of the command.
The Create Fly-Through command creates a series of normal or
photorendered 3D pictures defined by the parallel projection set
or the current camera path. You can either have the resulting
animation shown immediately on screen, or save these pictures in
the desired file format and show them in the future using the
PlayBack utility provided with ArchiCAD. This utility makes it
possible to view a movie of your Project without having ArchiCAD
installed or running.
In order to issue the Create Fly-Through command you must have
at least one Pre-set Parallel Projection or an animation path with at
least two cameras.
The two main parts of the appearing dialog box allow you to set
the source and results of the Fly-Through.
Source
You can choose whether you want to use ordinary 3D views of
your project with settings from the 3D Window Settings dialog box
and the mode (Wireframe, etc.) selected in the Image menu, or to
create PhotoRendered images for the Fly-Through.
You can define the route of the Fly-Through either from the Pre-
set Parallel Projections or from the current Camera Path.
By checking the Rebuild Model for each frame option you can
create additional animation effects, provided that you have placed
in your project any Library Parts whose appearance changes with
every frame. You can learn how to achieve this by using the
appropriate GDL Global variable (see GDL Reference Manual).
See also…
Pre-sets... under 3D Projection Settings earlier in this chapter.
In the lower part of the Source section, you can decide whether
you want to use only the keyframes of the chosen projection set,
or the in-between frames as well, and specify whether the Fly-
Through should contain all frames from the set, or only some of
them.
Result
With the pull-down menus you can define the format and the
number of colors for the saved pictures.
Output formats include:
- series of PICT (Macintosh)/BMP (Windows) stills
- PICS (Macintosh)/BMS (Windows) files
- Scrapbook (Macintosh only)
- QuickTime movies
- AutoDesk’s Animation Pro FLC files (Windows only)
- Video for Windows (AVI) movie files (Windows only)
- 2D Elements
- PlotMaker drawings
- topCAD drawings (Macintosh only)
Also available are some extensions (depending on what you have
in the Add-Ons folder) supporting multiple camera settings, like
RenderMan and Camera.
Checkboxes let you choose to do the following:
- Remove redundant lines from Parallel Projections.
For a detailed description of the Source and Result options, see the
Create Fly-Through command above.
Note: Apple and Graphisoft recommend using the Cinepack
compression method.
Clicking Save… in the dialog box will prompt you to name your
navigable object file.
All the 3D data you need will be exported into this new format.
You can view the result by launching QTVR Player.
Create VR Scene
If the VR Scene option is selected in the Camera Settings dialog
box, “VR Scene” is added to the Create… command name.
You must have the appropriate VR extensions (QuickTime VR or
RealVR) properly installed on your computer in order to take
advantage of this option.
Choosing the command will open a dialog box where you can set
a few options for creating panoramas or pictures that you can then
view in the appropriate player applications.
With the View Cone, you can define the camera’s viewing angle,
within which you can create an initial zoom factor as the default
setting for the panoramic view. This initial zoom factor cannot be
greater than the View Cone.
Three options are available for creating VR panoramic scenes.
Choosing Scene (default) will allow you to save all the panoramas
defined on the Floor Plan, together with a control file containing
the navigation data. To properly view the scene in QTVR Player,
you need to open this control file.
Choosing Panoramas will allow you to save the panoramas
defined on the Floor Plan without a control file. You can view any
of the panoramas in QTVR Player individually, but you will not be
able to navigate between them.
Choosing Pictures will allow you to save pictures of your
panoramas that you can then edit as bitmap images. These files
cannot be viewed in QTVR Player. After editing the files
(modifying the background, adding extra elements), you must use
Apple’s QTVR tools in order to manually create a file viewable in
QTVR Player.
Set Date
You can define a particular day of the year for the previously set
geographical location in the upper left part of the dialog box. Use
the pop-up menu to select the month and type the day in the edit
box or use the arrows to advance up or down.
Use the radio buttons in the middle left section of the dialog box
to define a full Sun Study from sunrise to sunset for the selected
day or specify a part of the day for the Sun Study.
Type a number in the Interval edit box or use the arrows to define
the time between two frames in minute intervals.
New Properties
Properties are logical definitions created in ArchiCAD as Library
Part types called Property Objects.
Property Objects can be linked to elements in two ways: either
automatically by matching criteria as set in the Criteria dialog box
(see later), or individually from the Settings dialog boxes of the
different elements (Walls, Slabs, Roofs, etc.) by clicking the Assign
Properties button and selecting a Property file. It is also possible
to combine the two methods.
Choosing the New Property command opens a new, empty
Property Object that you will be able to edit.
Edit Properties…
Choosing this command allows you to select an existing Property
Object and edit it in its Master window.
Note: If you choose this command when any construction
element(s) are selected in the Project, it will automatically
open all directly assigned Property Objects
Parameters
In this section of the dialog box you can set default values, types
and names for the variables that define the attributes of Property
type Library Parts. These parameters can help you check whether
the components have been defined correctly.
Note: Parameters will not appear in the calculation lists. You
can only set their default values as you would for any other
Library Part type and use them in scripts.
See also…
Parameters in the Library Part definition section of Chapter 6.
Local Components
By clicking the New button, you can create a new local
component line, that is, a component that will only be applied to
the Library Part in which it has been defined.
You can edit the code, name and quantity of the local component
whose Keycode you selected from the corresponding pop-up
menu. Units can also be changed through the Unit pop-up menu
and by typing an expression in the Proportional with editable
field. This can be any GDL expression using global and local
variables. For example, if you wish to calculate only the wood
cover surface of a roof-edge, enter the expression
"ROOF_EDGE_SURF".
See also…
Global variables are listed in the GDL Reference Manual.
Local Descriptors
By clicking the New button, you can create a new local descriptor
line, that is, a descriptor that will only be applied to the Library
Part in which it has been defined..
You can edit the code and the text of the local descriptor whose
Keycode you selected from the corresponding pop-up menu.
Clicking the Full Text button will give you a longer description of
the element or structure. This description may include technical
parameters that are independent from the ones preset in ArchiCAD
or other useful assembling or safety instructions.
Components and Descriptors Linked to Central
Databases
Clicking the Link to Database checkbox (enabled when either
the Components or Descriptors button is active) allows you to
link an existing local Component or Descriptor to a central
database, provided that the reference has been established. You
can replace this reference with another one from the same
database by clicking the Set button.
You can also break the link by deselecting the Link to Database
checkbox. In this case, you will get a local copy of the record.
See also…
Components and Descriptors are described later in this chapter.
Criteria…
This command opens a window that allows you to define listing
criteria. Criteria can be a combination of the following parameters:
Element Type, Pen Color, Fill Pen, Fill Type, Layer, Line Type, up
to three different Materials, Name, ID and Properties.
Existing Criteria appear in a list in the bottom portion of the dialog
box. Only one criterion can be selected at a time, and may be
edited as described below.
Each of the criteria can be assigned to a Property Object. Elements
that match one of the criteria will be listed using the properties of
the appropriate Property Object.
Assign Properties
To assign properties to a criterion, select it from the list and click
the Assign Properties button. A dialog box appears, the same
one that can be accessed from the Settings dialog boxes of the
individual elements.
In this dialog box, you will be able to select a Property Object
from the loaded Libraries. The components or descriptors of the
selected Property type Library Part are displayed to help you make
your choice.
On returning to the Criteria dialog box, the name of the selected
Property Object will appear in the selected criterion line.
Important: If you click OK in the dialog box, ArchiCAD will
overwrite the existing listcrit.txt file or create a new one if
there is not one present.
Note: If an assigned Property Object is missing from the active
Libraries, all criteria lines assigned to it will appear in grey. If
there aren't any Property Objects in the loaded Libraries, you
cannot create new Criteria at all.
Components…
Databases referred to by the Property type Library Parts can be
edited by using this command. Database records are identified by
Keycode and Code.
Choosing this command opens the component database
(compdata.txt) with its editor.
Click the New button to insert a new component into the
component list under the current key.
Note: New Components can only be created if there is a Key
Database (listkey.txt) file available in one of the active
Libraries.
You can edit the Code, the Name and the Quantity in the text field
above. These parameters can only be edited when the
corresponding radio button is active. Units and References can be
chosen from pop-up menus.
Note: The Reference works as a default setting for element
quantity calculations and can be overwritten from the
Proportional with field if a component is referred to from a
Property Object.
To remove an existing component, highlight its name and click the
Delete button.
Important: If you click OK, ArchiCAD will overwrite the
existing compdata.txt file in the Library.
Descriptors…
Databases referred to by the Property type Library Parts can be
edited by using this command. Database records are identified by
Keycode and Code.
Choosing this command opens the descriptor database
(descdata.txt).
Click the New button to insert a new descriptor into the descriptor
list under the current key.
You can edit the Code and the Short Text in the text field above.
These parameters can only be edited when the corresponding
radio button is active.
Clicking the Full Text button opens the Full Text editor, where
you can enter a longer description of the element or structure,
including technical details such as assembling or safety
instructions.
Note: The Short Text is always the first line of the Full Text
and can be edited without opening the Full Text editor.
To remove an existing descriptor, select it and click the Delete
button.
Important: If you click OK, ArchiCAD will overwrite the
existing descdata.txt database file.
Keys…
Keys are categories that can help you to logically group
components and descriptors, for instance by subcontractor, by
profession or by cost.
Clicking the New button inserts a new key into the list, while
clicking the Delete button will remove the highlighted key from
the list.
Important: If you click OK, ArchiCAD will overwrite the
existing listkey.txt database file.
Units…
This command opens the Unit database, where you can set up
quantity units that can be referred to from the Components
database. All units have a Code that must be unique for
identification purposes.
To define a new unit, click the New button. Options available for
defining the unit are:
- Unit: when this button is active, you can define any name for
the quantity unit. On the right hand side of the dialog box, the
Conversion button is also activated, allowing you to choose
a conversion unit. ArchiCAD uses conversion units for internal
conversion.
This means that unique Codes are required under a given Key, but
the same Code can exist under several Keys at the same time.
Error Handling
A database record is invalid if its Code is missing or its identifier is
not unique. When editing a record, validity is checked
continuously. If an invalid record is detected, the program beeps
and the record’s text style changes to italic.
In this case you need to fix the Code before clicking any controls
other than the Code editor field, otherwise the invalid record will
be purged immediately. Once the Code is fixed and the record
becomes valid, its style is changed back to plain.
In the Criteria database, a record is considered to be invalid if all
conditions are disabled or there are identical records found (i.e.,
all conditions and even the assigned Property Object are the
same).
Invalid records are not checked when opening a database with its
editor in ArchiCAD.
When you click OK, the program will check invalid records and
you will be warned that all of these will be missing from the saved
file.
Note: Component and Descriptor records with missing
Keycodes are not considered invalid, which means that they
can be saved and referred to from Property Objects (the
Keycode part of the identifier will be empty). All such records
appear in the editor when Missing is chosen from the Key
pop-up palette.
New records have to be created under existing Keys. Therefore the
New button is grey when Missing Key has been chosen.
Criteria records are displayed in grey if the Property Object
assigned to them is not found in loaded libraries.
List Setup…
Detailed calculations can be produced from your Project based on
the properties of the Walls, Slabs, and other construction elements
used in the Project. The List Setup command is used to define
which elements, components or zones will be calculated to
produce the report, as well as the complexity and the format of the
output.
Choosing the List Setup… command displays the following dialog
box.
In the List pop-up menu, you can choose the type of list created
(Element, Component or Zone). The contents of the window will
change according to the choice you make here. Lists can be stored
under different names and only the names of the sets belonging to
the type chosen will appear in the List Set pop-up menu.
placed in the Library. This allows you to use the same settings
for different projects.
- When starting ArchiCAD without opening a project file, list
sets are loaded from the Preferences files (listset.txt will not
be loaded from any of the loaded libraries;
- When opening a Project file, list sets stored in the project will
be loaded (listset.txt will not be loaded from any of the
project's libraries;
- When choosing File/Load Libraries, the first listset.txt file
found in any of the selected libraries will be loaded.
Element Lists
The first choice in the List type menu is the Element List. The
Element List provides information about construction elements
that you select to include in this dialog box.
Filters
Filters determine the elements to be listed. You can further refine
the Element List through additional checkboxes and other controls
in order to include or exclude elements meeting particular criteria.
Complexity
The controls of this part of the dialog box determine the amount
of information included for each element in the report. The
individual characteristics of each element are added to the report
for greater detail, or removed for brevity.
On the left, properties of elements can be controlled, while on the
right, parameters can be selected.
In the Keys list, you can select the desired Keys for filtering the
components and descriptors to be listed. By activating the All
checkbox, all properties under all Keys will be included.
Below Keys, a number of buttons help you define a combination
of components and descriptors. When clicking the Select...
button, a further dialog box opens for selecting Components or
Descriptors to be listed directly from these databases.
Note: Only Components and Descriptors under selected Keys
are available here.
Choosing the Plain option lists raw data in an editable text format.
Some basic alternatives are available even in this simple format.
Component Lists
The second choice in the List type menu is the Component List.
This list provides information about construction elements'
components that you previously select to include in this dialog
box.
Filters
In the Keys list, you can select the keys for filtering the
components and descriptors to be listed. Activating the All
checkbox will enable all components and all descriptors under
any keys.
The other options are the same as for the Element Lists.
You can further filter Properties to be listed by choosing
components and descriptors directly from the databases and by
enabling or disabling local properties.
Global parameters of elements that Properties are extracted from
can be chosen from the corresponding list.
Complexity
Global Element Parameters and Properties can be selected as
described in the Element Lists section.
Zone Lists
Filters
There are controls specific to Zones in this window.
You can either use all zone categories from the Project by marking
the All checkbox or select by clicking the zones to include in the
report.
Zones can also be filtered by defining conditions for their Zone
Number with a pop-up menu and a text field.
The Skip Zones without Zone Numbers checkbox allows you
to omit from the report zones without a number, while if the Skip
Zones without an ID checkbox is active, zones without an ID
number will be ignored.
Complexity
Controls specific to Zone Lists include the following:
- The Keys list allows you to filter components and descriptors
to be listed.
- The All checkbox, if active, causes all additional parameters of
placed Zone type Library Parts assigned to Zone Categories to
appear on the list.
- The As in Library Parts button allows you to select Zone
type Library Parts from loaded Libraries in the Select Library
Parts dialog box. In this case, only additional parameters that
are identical to those included in the selected Library Parts will
be included in the list. Parameters found in selected Library
Parts can be further filtered for selected parameter types.
- The Related Constructions option helps you select the
elements and constructions related to the chosen zone (see
below).
Related Constructions
This button is only available for Zone Lists, not for Element or
Component Lists.
Zone definition is not restricted to geometrical information. It also
contains the construction elements related to the zones,
specifically the walls around the perimeter of the zones, the doors
and windows of the surrounding walls and the objects inside the
zone.
In this tab page, you can set the keys, components, descriptors,
additional parameters, global element parameters and parameters
of selected element types of the related constructions selected in
the Complexity tab page.
Format
On the Format tab page of Zone Lists, Zone parameters
(properties) and Related Constructions parameters (properties) are
separated. This means that Zone parameters always appear in the
first section and Related Construction parameters in the bottom
part of the list. However, you can arrange both Zone and Related
Construction parameters in the order you wish.
Listing Attributes By
All available listing engines placed in the Add-Ons folder next to
ArchiCAD appear in a hierarchical menu. By default, the ArchiCAD
Listing Engine will be active.
The listing engine chosen from the hierarchical menu will open its
own dialog box in which listing attributes (Property Objects in the
case of the ArchiCAD Listing Engine) can be assigned to project
elements. This dialog box can also be accessed from the Listing
Attributes tab page of the individual tools' settings dialog boxes
through the Assign Properties… button.
Note: External listing Add-Ons may also work with drafting
elements such as lines, arcs and splines, but ArchiCAD's own
built-in engine only works on 3D construction elements and
fills.
If any listing engine has more than one command, they will
appear in a submenu under the corresponding listing engine's
name.
Redraw
Operations such as transformations and deletions may leave your
screen strewn with unwanted artifacts. This is just a temporary
screen display problem (your prints and plots will be fine) and can
be corrected by choosing the Redraw command, which cleans up
your screen.
Rebuild
By choosing the Rebuild command, you get a more thorough
refreshment of your windows than the Redraw command can
achieve.
When Clean Wall Intersections is active, some intersections are not
cleaned up properly at the time of the construction. The Rebuild
command ensures that they are correctly cleaned up even in the
most complex cases.
Rebuild Model
When working on a dynamic section, the name of the Rebuild
command changes to Rebuild Model .
If you modify elements in the Model window, some complex
changes (e.g. modifying a library part) do not appear automatically
in this window and you have to use the Rebuild Model command
to see them properly.
Rebuild Drawing
When working on a static section composed of 2D drawing
elements only, the name of the Rebuild command changes to
Rebuild Drawing.
Choosing the Rebuild Drawing command will refresh the screen,
but it will not renew the Section window with any elements that
have been created or modified on the Floor Plan after the creation
of the Drawing window. To achieve this, use the Renew Section/
Elevation command below.
Unlink Section/Elevation
This command is only available when a dynamic Section/Elevation
window is in front.
If you unlink a Model type Section/Elevation, the construction
elements it contains are converted to 2D drawing elements (lines,
arcs and fills).
Warning: This command is not undoable.
Renew Section/Elevation
Once a dynamic Section/Elevation has been unlinked from the
Floor Plan, the name of the Unlink Section/Elevation command
changes to Renew Section/Elevation. This command is only
available for static, Drawing type Sections/Elevations.
This command updates the Section/Elevation window to conform
with the modified Floor Plan. ArchiCAD recreates the view without
removing the elements that you added to it in the Section/
Elevation window with the tools that are available there.
See also…
The Section/Elevation Window in Chapter 1 and the Section/
Elevation tool in Chapter 4.
Zoom In
You can enlarge details of your drawings and 3D views as follows:
1) Choose the Zoom In command.
2) Draw a rectangle around the detail you intend to enlarge with
the Zoom In cursor. You can draw the rectangle regardless of
which tool is currently active.
The area surrounded by the rectangle is enlarged to the size of the
current ArchiCAD worksheet.
Zoom Out
The Zoom Out command has the opposite effect as the Zoom In
command. The whole on-screen worksheet is squeezed into the
rectangle you have defined with the Zoom Out cursor. Squeezing
(like enlarging) is optimized, so no distortion results.
Note: Clicking the Zoom Out button in the Display Bar also
activates this command.
Pan
Choosing the Pan command allows you to move over the entire
virtual worksheet in increments you define by the Pan vector. The
zoom level is always maintained.
To pan around a worksheet, activate the Pan command and draw
a line with the Hand cursor. The whole on–screen area will move
by the distance and direction defined by that line. You can even
use rulers or numeric input to approach currently invisible, distant
parts of your worksheet.
Zoom to Selection
Choosing this command when you have made a selection will
zoom the view to show the selected elements only.
Fit in Window
The Fit in Window command sizes your Project to accommodate
all the construction elements in the visible layers of your drawing.
Actual Size
By choosing the Actual Size command you get a zoom level where
your drawing elements appear at the same size they would assume
on paper if represented at the actual scale (the one set in Set
Drawing Scale…).
This feature can effectively be used with large displays, where the
screen size is comparable to the output paper size.
Hint: Use this command prior to pasting a scanned site plan
or anything else that should appear in real paper size on the
worksheet.
Note: Clicking the Zoom Level button in the Display Bar also
activates this command, changing its text to 100%.
Full Screen
This command is available for Windows only. It will hide the
StatusBar and the Toolbar, maximize the main window and show a
Menubar that is only one pixel high.
A floating window will appear as an icon in the top left corner.
Clicking it will return you to the normal screen size.
Hitting the F12 key works as a toggle for this command.
Home View
The Home View command returns you to the current home view
defined in the Home View and Grids dialog box (Options menu)
or by the previous command (Save Current as Home View).
To change this original state, go back to the Home View and Grids
dialog box and change the corner values of the preview area or
click the Current View button. You can also choose a view with
the Display menu items and the scroll bars and choose Save
Current as Home View (see above).
If you quit ArchiCAD, the current setting will be saved in the
ArchiCAD Preferences file.
Previous View
The Previous View command moves you one step back from your
previous Zoom In, Zoom Out, Pan, Home View or Fit in Window
operations.
This command can be repeated up to the last 19 steps.
Clicking the Previous View button in the Display Bar also activates
this command.
Note: You can also return to any previously defined and
named view by choosing its name in the QuickViews palette.
Next View
This command is the inverse of the previous one. When you have
gone back several steps behind, you can return forward (until the
very last generated view) by choosing Next View.
Clicking the Next View button in the Display bar also activates this
command.
Floating Palettes
The Floating Palettes menu item allows you to control the shape
and display of the Toolbox, Coordinate Box, Control Box, Info
Box and QuickViews palette. When you choose the Floating
Palettes command from the Windows menu, a submenu will
appear as shown to the left.
With this submenu you can open and close any of the Palettes and
control their size and shape.
Palette Shapes
The Palette Shapes… command in the Floating Palettes pop-up
menu opens the Floating Palette Shapes dialog box where you can
choose between different on–screen representations of the
particular floating windows.
Magnified, Compact/Extended
The Magnified option displays an enlarged version of the floating
palette, while the radio buttons determine whether extended or
compact versions of the palettes are displayed.
Window List
The Window List is displayed below the Floating Palettes
command. When you first start ArchiCAD, the window list will
show the basic display windows. As you open other display
windows, their names are added to the Window List.
Selecting a window brings it to the front and makes it active. The
active window is marked on the list by a checkmark.
The 3D Window, the calculation windows and the Project Notes
are available even if they are closed for the moment. The closed
windows of open library parts can also be opened and brought to
the front in a single step.
A detailed description of each window type can be found in
Chapter 1.
Chapter 6
The ArchiCAD Library
This chapter introduces element types stor ed in outside files,
including Doors, Windows, Lamps, general Objects and
calculation database components such as Zone stamps and
Property Objects.
Libraries in ArchiCAD
Whenever you need either a complex element that exceeds the
capabilities of the basic set offered by ArchiCAD or a type of
element with a specific role and behavior, you can rely on pre-
defined, fully parametric objects stored in a folder or set of folders
called the Library(ies).
This folder or set of folders can be specified in the File/Load
Libraries dialog box and is loaded on startup.
Library Handling
ArchiCAD libraries contain many types of prefabricated elements.
Normally, these items are arranged hierarchically within the main
Library folder/directory.
You can use specialized libraries for different applications (e.g.,
residential projects and industrial building design) to avoid the
need for extremely large libraries. There are also different libraries
corresponding to different national standards.
Startup Library
When you start ArchiCAD for the very first time, it searches for a
Library under the name “ArchiCAD Library”.
If ArchiCAD’s default Library is found on the hard disk in the same
folder/directory as ArchiCAD, it is opened and used as the active
Library. Otherwise, the Load Libraries dialog box appears,
prompting you to choose a folder/directory to be the startup
Library.
- If you have already used ArchiCAD and start the program by
double-clicking its program icon, the Library set used in the
previous session will be active.
- If you have modified the name of a folder/directory in the
active Library set, or changed its location in the file hierarchy,
it will not be found and the Load Libraries dialog box will be
displayed.
- When you open a Project from within ArchiCAD (with the
Open... command), or by double-clicking a Project file in the
Finder/Desktop, it is opened with the Library set it was
originally created with.
If you have modified the name of a folder/directory in the active
Library set, or changed its location in the file hierarchy, the Project
opens using one of the following protocols:
- If the currently active Library set includes folders with the
same names as the original ones, the Project is opened using
this current Library set.
- If the original Library set included folders with names different
from those in the current one, ArchiCAD will try to find
Libraries with the same names in the folder/directory of the
Project. If there are folders with those names, the Project is
opened with them.
- If there are no folders bearing the original names, the
following dialog box is displayed. You can either specify a
controls. Once you have chosen the parts, they will appear on the
Project.
You can then return to the Finder (Macintosh) or the File Manager/
Windows Explorer (Windows), put the missing parts into one of
the folders of the current Library set, and refresh the Library set by
opening the Load Libraries dialog box and simply clicking Done.
Alternately, you can add the folders where the missing parts are
located to the Active Libraries list in the Activate Libraries dialog
box. In both cases, all your parts will automatically appear in the
Project.
The simplest navigation tools are the arrow icons located in the
corner of the Preview area. They allow you to browse your active
libraries. Only windows will appear in the window dialog box,
and only doors will appear in the door dialog box.
The pop-up arrow next to the Library Part’s name opens a
hierarchical menu:
- The Choose Other Window/Door/Object command will
open a simple Directory library box allowing you to freely
navigate in the file system, both inside and outside your active
libraries.
- The list of Windows/Doors residing in the currently active
folder are shown underneath the Empty Hole option and the
name of the folder. To select a new folder, use the Choose
Other Window/Door command.
The final symbol that appears on the floor plan will be created
from the elements of this window and the 2D Script, if one exists.
The 2D Symbol Fragments switchboard described later aids you in
working with the 2D Symbol window.
2D Script
In this script window, you can create a parametric 2D symbol
using the transformations and elements available for the two-
dimensional space in GDL.
2D Full View
The 2D Full View window allows you to check the symbol that
will be shown on the Floor Plan.
If there is a 2D Script defined, the 2D Full View will be calculated
according to the script, even if the 2D Symbol window contains
drawing elements. However, the 2D Script can refer to 2D Symbol
Fragments.
To exit 2D symbol editing, close the symbol editing worksheet
window or choose a different window either from the Activate
Window menu of the master dialog box, or from the Window
menu.
3D Script
In this script window you can find and edit the GDL description of
the Library Part (door, window, object or lamp).
When you have finished with the description, you can exit the
editing window by clicking on another window or the editing
window’s close box.
Note: This window is not available for Zones or Property Objects.
3D View
In this window you can see the 3D view of the Library Part
converted from your GDL Script. The viewpoint and other aspects
are controlled using the 3D Projection Settings dialog box (Image
menu) or the 3D Navigation floating palette. This will not interfere
with your settings for the Project 3D Window, since these settings
are stored separately for Project 3D and Library Part 3D.
2D Symbol Fragments
This switchboard lets you show and hide the Fragments of the 2D
Symbol while you are editing it. Fragments work like layers, and
they are useful for organizing the various graphic elements (lines,
arcs, text, etc.) which compose the plan symbol of the Library Part
(see the discussion of the 2D Symbol and 2D Script windows
above.) There are 16 Fragments available for use with each Library
Part.
Fragments are especially useful for letting you easily replicate
parts of the Symbol. You can draw a figure in the 2D Symbol
window with the various graphic tools, and refer to it by its
Fragment number in a GDL 2D Script that incorporates the figure
in the final symbol in a variety of rotated and translated positions.
(See the GDL Reference Manual for more detailed information on
the 2D Script.)
To set which Fragment you are drawing in when editing the 2D
Symbol window, choose a number in the settings dialog box of
the tool you are using.
The switchboard buttons have the following features:
- Show All displays all Fragments of the symbol superimposed
on one another.
- Hide All clears the 2D Symbol window of all Fragments.
- The list of numerals from 1 to 16 lets you display one or more
Fragments for editing. You can show or hide a Fragment by
clicking the corresponding button on the switchboard.
Note: Fragments that are hidden are not available for storing
new graphic elements. If you select a hidden Fragment in the
dialog box of the tool you are using for editing the symbol,
you will get a warning asking you to change your selection or
Show the selected Fragment.
Components
A series of Components can be assigned to each Library Part,
defining the composition of the Library Part for use in listing and
calculation features. When you press the Components button in
the Library part dialog box, the lower part of the dialog box
changes.
Editing Components
You can create new components by pressing the New button in
the dialog box. The new Component will be activated, and you
can immediately assign values to it in the Title Bar by clicking on
the field you wish to edit, and then typing the value or choosing
one from the pop-up menu.
The Set button only becomes active if the selected Component has
a live database connection. By pressing this button, you can assign
a different value to the component from the database.
You can delete a component at any time, simply by selecting it
from the list and pressing the Delete button.
Descriptors
A series of Descriptors can be assigned to each Library Part to
describe the Library Part for use in listing and calculation features.
Descriptors behave the same way as Components.
Properties Script
Opening the Properties Script window enables you to attach
descriptions and technical data to a Library part using the Library
Part's variables and the related commands and expressions of GDL
(Geometric Description Language). The worksheet is a normal text
window similar to the 2D and 3D Script windows.
Comment
The Comment text type window, similar to the 2D, 3D and
Properties Script windows, makes it possible for you to attach
notes or messages to a Library part. The script in the Comment
window does not affect the Library part’s behavior or appearance
in any way. The script can be displayed in the Object, Door,
Window, Lamp Settings dialog boxes via the pop-up menu next to
the Preview Area in the upper left part of these dialog boxes.
See also…
For more information about the Preview Area, refer to the
corresponding sections in Chapter 4.
Preview Picture
Opening the Preview Picture window enables you to attach
characteristic graphical information to a Library part. The graphic
in the Preview Picture window does not affect the Library part’s
behavior or appearance in any way.
The Preview Picture is displayed as the default representation of
your library part in the Object/Door/Window/Lamp Settings dialog
boxes.
The Preview Picture window is a PICT (Macintosh) or BMP
(Windows) type window and cannot be fully edited. You can
paste the contents of the clipboard into the window as well as
select, cut, clear and copy either an individual part or the whole of
the window’s contents.
Accessing Library Part windows
The windows described above can also be accessed through the
Window menu, where all the available Library Part windows
appear in submenus next to the name of the previously opened
Library Part.
Hotspot Checkbox
Where applicable, the Hotspot on bounding box checkbox will
appear in the Library Part dialog box.
If you mark this checkbox, ArchiCAD will associate five hotspots
with the 2D symbol of the Library Part which are independent of
hotspots defined in the part’s GDL script. These five hotspots will
be located at the four corners and at the center of the symbol’s
bounding box (the imaginary rectangle which circumscribes the
symbol).
Special Attributes
Icons and edit boxes are displayed for special attributes of items in
the middle section of the Library Part dialog box. Special attributes
are those parameters of a Library Part which are the minimum
required to define an item of that type. (These are usually the most
frequently changed parameters of an item.) The exact number and
kind of special attributes varies with the type of Library Part.
For Windows:
For Doors:
The Framing on Plan buttons and the edit fields work just as they
do in the Door/Window Settings dialog boxes. See Chapter 4 for
their description.
Nominal Frame Thickness & Opening Oversizing
In the Nominal Frame Thickness & Opening Oversizing edit fields
you can enter real numbers or parametric GDL expressions to
define the geometric relationship between the wall opening and
the door or window library part.
See also…
For detailed information about GDL editing, refer to the GDL
Reference Manual supplied with ArchiCAD.
Parameters
Obligatory Parameters
A horizontal line separates obligatory parameters from additional
parameters. Obligatory parameters are:
- x and z dimensions for Windows and Doors;
- x and y dimensions for Objects;
- x and y dimensions, on/off selection, color components and
intensity for Lamps;
- for the obligatory parameters of Zones, see the Zone
Categories command in the Options menu section.
The obligatory parameters are those ascribing the minimum
attributes required to define a Library Part of a given type. They
are automatically placed at the top of the parameter list when you
create a new Library Part, although values are not yet assigned to
them. The GDL description of a given type of part will always use
these parameters (A and B for Objects, Doors and Windows, and A
through G for Lamps) to define these obligatory attributes. These
parameters are also represented by icons in the upper section of
the Library Part’s dialog box, and you can change them either with
those controls or by entering values directly into the list. (See
Special Attributes above and Editing Parameters below.)
Note that there are two kinds of obligatory parameters for a Lamp:
- physical characteristics (x and y dimensions, described by
parameters A and B);
- illumination characteristics (on/off, color and intensity,
described by C through G).
Additional Parameters
Under the line in the parameter list is an editable list of additional
parameters. The parameters named here are optionally available
for use in the GDL description of the Library Part and are referred
to as C, D, E, etc. (H, I, J, etc. in the case of a Lamp) or as character
strings. The values specified for them will become the default
additional values displayed when you open the appropriate
Settings dialog box from the Toolbox.
The optional parameters are typically used to define such things as
the number of windowpanes or door panels, the usual materials of
a part, etc.
Each line of the editable parameter list consists of an icon
(required), the parameter letter or a string variable (given), a
descriptive text (optional, but recommended) and a numerical
value. The icons control how the values are interpreted by
You can edit the fields of the array by clicking on them; the field
can be edited in the right side of the dialog box. Where variable
types allow, you can choose values from a pop-up menu.
You can insert rows into the array by selecting the button with the
row number of the array on the left of the dialog box, and pressing
the Insert button. Deletion is performed similarly.
You can insert columns into the array by selecting the button with
the row number of the array on top of the dialog, and pressing the
Insert button. Deletion is performed similarly.
For more information on the Value List Script and arrays, please
refer to the appropriate section of the GDL Reference Manual
supplied with ArchiCAD.
Editing Parameters
You can change the contents of the parameter list by clicking the
line you wish to edit. For obligatory parameters, only the
numerical value after the “=” sign is editable. For optional
parameters you can edit the type icon, the descriptive text and the
numerical value.
Highlight the row you wish to edit by clicking it with the cursor.
The Variable, Type, Name and Value fields become editable in the
title bar.
The parameter types (identical for obligatory and optional
parameters) are the following:
Length: specifies physical dimensions of the Library Part (and
makes conversions to whatever units you are using.)
Angle: specifies angular values in decimal degrees for such
GDL operations as rotation transformations and defining arcs.
Real Number: specifies decimal non-dimensional values for
uses like including a magnification factor in a GDL calculation.
See also…
The GDL Reference Manual gives you detailed instructions on how
to create or modify a GDL script and how to incorporate
parameters into it.
Source Debugging for GDL Script Windows
When viewing the 3D or 2D Script window of a Library Part,
choosing the last command of the Edit menu allows you to debug
the script.
The set of buttons marked with arrow icons perform the following
actions:
The debugging process starts when the first button from the left
(Run) is pressed.
The second button from the left (Step) allows you to execute the
highlighted instruction and update the 3D model (or the 2D
drawing). If the instruction is a macro call, the debugger will
execute it without stepping inside the macro.
When clicking the third button from the left (Step In) on top of a
highlighted macro call instruction, the debugger will step into the
macro and the debugging process will continue inside the macro.
When pressed on top of any other instruction, the effect is the
same as for the previous button.
If you press the fourth button from the left (Step Out), the
debugger will leave the macro and continue the process at higher
level, with the first instruction following that macro call. When
pressed inside the main macro, its effect will be to execute the
whole macro.
Finally, the button with the cross (Kill) stops the debugging
process.
The debugging process can also be controlled from within the
script by using the special GDL command, BREAKPOINT. The
debugger will stop at a BREAKPOINT if its parameter is true.
Breakpoints can be enabled or disabled in the pop-up menu
located in the top right corner of the Debugger window.
During the debugging process, the global variables, parameters
and variables of the macro can be examined by adding them to the
list, using the New... (adds one) or Add All (adds all the
parameters and variables to the list) buttons. Their value can be
modified without interrupting the process by typing the new value
in the box and pressing the Modify button. Any item can be
removed from the list when highlighted by clicking the Remove
button. The type of the variable or parameter is indicated in the list
with the signs: -∞ ...∞ for numeric variables and “...” for string
variables.
Performing Calculations
All construction elements created in ArchiCAD contain information
about their size, geometry and quantity. With the help of
additionally linked properties, various calculations can be
performed whose results can be listed on screen in separate
windows, printed or exported in a variety of formats for post-
processing.
Calculation lists contain numeric data, descriptive text and even
graphical information about your project. Lists are created by
choosing Calculate menu commands.
The following paragraphs discuss the way property data is
organized in ArchiCAD and how the contents and the layout of the
different list types can be defined.
See also…
For detailed explanation of the Calculate menu commands, see
Chapter 5.
Property Objects
At the core of the property data structure is the Property Object
that can store such details as manufacturer data, prices, schedule
symbols, and other properties. These Objects have special
relations:
- Access to simple databases containing essential numeric and
descriptive data called Components and Descriptors.
- Links to construction elements (walls, slabs, windows, etc.)
whose parameters they can be linked to for calculations.
See also…
Calculate/New Properties and Edit Properties are detailed in
Chapter 5, and the ArchiCAD Library is described earlier in this
chapter.
There is also a basic list setup included in the program for each list
type. These simple lists lack the rich environment of format
templates.
List Content
For each list type you can filter the items to list as well as define
how complex the description of single items should be in the
report. Additionally, in the case of zone lists, related constructions
can also be added with all of their details.
See also…
Filters, Complexity and Related Constructions are described in the
List Setup section of the Calculate menu (Chapter 5).
List Layout
Output lists can either be raw data sheets in a simple text window
or formatted layouts with graphical content.
In both cases, powerful sorting techniques are available and
default parameter denominations can be replaced by custom
names.
Exporting Calculations
Unformatted lists can be exported in both tabulated text and
spreadsheet format. Formatted lists can be saved as 2D ArchiCAD
or PlotMaker drawings as well as RTF (Rich Text Format) files.
See also…
Saving calculations is described in Chapter 5 (File menu).
Appendix
Cursor Forms
Standard cursors in the worksheet:
Tool-specific cursors:
Zoom In - zooming in
Hand - panning
In the first case, a duplicate of the library part will be created and
you will be prompted to rename it.
In the second case, you will work on the original file, which
means that all library parts bearing the same name will be
modified in the Floor Plan; moreover, any further instances you
wish to place will also include the changes you made.
Note: If the third party editor is not available, its icon does not
appear in the Toolbox, and any library part created by it can be
opened through the standard ArchiCAD Door, Window, Object or
Lamp Settings command. If you modify and save library parts
created by external editors when the editor is not available, they
will become standard ArchiCAD library parts that can no longer be
opened by the original application.
Index
Symbols
2D Elements
fly-through pictures saved as ~ 404
saving in ~ format 267
saving the 3D window in ~ format 264
2D Full View 445
2D Script 441, 445
2D Symbol
~ of Library Parts 441, 444
Fragments 447
tools available in ~ window 100
3D Cutaway
~ command (Image menu) 391
3D Cutting Planes
~ command (Image menu) 388, 391
3D Display formats 391
3D Hatching 359
~ assigned to Material 111
3D Imaging
~ Progress 369
Selecting elements to use in ~ 384
3D Navigation Palette 19, 93
editing controls 84
Editing Mode button 84
Editing-Motion controls 93
Intelligent Cursor Switch 85
Look to 96
Pointer Lines Switch 85
3D Projection Settings
~ command (Image menu) 375, 445
3D Report 369
3D Script 441, 445
3D Section
~ dialog box 388
saving ~ cuts 391
3D View
~ window of Library Parts 445
Suspending ~ 33 ID Numbers
Grid Display internal unique ~ 112
~ command (Options menu) 31, 334 Image Brightness 400
Grid Snap 30 Image Menu 375
~ command (Options menu) 33, 333 Image Size & Background
Grid Switch ~ command (Image/PhotoRendering Set-
~ buttons 25, 32 tings) 397
Ground Color 397 Imaging and Listing
Group dialog box (Options/Preferences) 428
~ command (Tools menu) 316 Including a Background Picture 399
Groups 45 Increase Indent
~ and Layers 46 ~ command (Edit menu) 315
~ and Workspace Reservations 46 Info Box 18, 51, 81, 102, 115
Group Hierarchy 46 ~ functions 52
~ shape and size 434
H Construction Methods 52
Elevation values 34
Hairlines Geometry Methods 52
Line display option 330 Integer
Height ~ type parameters of Library Parts 458
~ of a Dome Roof 168 Integrating Slabs with Walls 164
Hidden Line Intersect
~ command (Image menu) 386, 392 ~ command (Tools/Line Extras) 322
Hidden Nodes in 3D 86 Intersections of Walls with a Vertical
Highlights Displacemen 136
~ in PhotoRendering 394 Invalid values 105
Holes
~ in Polygons 73 J
moving ~ 74
Home View 38 Jamb depth 151
~ command (Display menu) 432 Joining Walls Together 134
Home View & Grids… JPEG
~ command (Options menu) 30, 33, 331 ~ format for Textures 362
Horizontal Geometry Method merging ~ files 261
~ for Dimensions 183 opening ~ files 259
Horizontal Orientation Method saving in ~ format 267
~ for Labels 214
Horizontal/Vertical Angle Pair 67 K
Hot Links…
command (File/Save Special) 270 Keeping the zoomed part of the 3D view
Hotspot Settings 236 ~ when recreating the 3D window 368
Hotspot tool 236 Keycode
Hotspots 64 defined 448
Library Part ~ 451 Keys
HP DesignJet ~ command (Calculate menu) 415
~ plotter 278, 386 creating new ~ 416
defined 415
I
L
ID Fields
~ in Tool Settings 112 Label selected elements
~ command (Tools/Labels) 323
~ command (File menu) 268, 399 ~ command (Edit menu) 43, 124, 293, 315
Saving Library Parts 460 Select Image Items…
Saving Model Pictures 265 ~ command (Image menu) 384
Saving Sections/Elevations 82 Select Library Browser
Saving the Sun Study 409 ~ command (Window Settings) 441
Scale Selection
~ & output 23 ~ area 118
~ & vectorial Fill patterns 351 ~ by surface 86
~ button 16, 23, 328 ~ criteria for the Marquee tool 120
architectural ~ 21 ~ in 3D 85
Changing ~ 24 ~ in the Section/Elevation window 81
Digitizer 274 ~ methods 43
Drawing ~ 21, 23 ~ methods in 3D 86
Lines Types & Scaling 349 Arrow tool 43, 114
Output ~ 23 Element Types for 3D Imaging 384
Plotting ~ 284 Hotspots 44
Printing ~ 286 Layers 44
saving ~ in QuickViews 39 locked elements 44
setting the drawing ~ 327 Marquee 43
Scaled Elements 24 Shift-clicking 43
Stories for 3D Imaging 384
Schedule Marker 152
Send Backward
Scrapbook
~ command (Tools menu) 317
fly-through saved as ~ 404
Send Backward:
Scroll bars
~ command (Tools menu) 48
~ in Floor Plan window 22
Send to Back
Section Depth
~ command (Tools menu) 48, 317
~ in Display Options 329
Series Geometry Method
Section Lines
for Elevation Dimensions 200
placing ~ 237
Set City
Section Points
dialog box (Image/3D Projection Settings) 379
~ on remote intersections 64
Set Date
Section/Elevation Settings 238
~ for Sun Studies 409
Section/Elevation tool 11, 19, 110, 237, 390
Set Home View
Arrowheads 239
~ command (Display menu) 433
displaying Section Depth 329
Font & size 239 Set to Current Projection 383
Line types 238 Setting Up a Skewed Grid 32
Section Pens 240 Shading
selection 240 ~ command (Image menu) 392
techniques 240 ~ mode 386
Vertical Range 239 Shadow Casting
Section/Elevation windows 11, 241 ~ in 3D 387
~ in QuickViews palette 37 ~ in PhotoRendering 396
copying/pasting ~ contents to the Floor Plan 123 Shininess
Drawing type 80, 81 ~ options for Materials 359
elements appearing in the ~ 384 Show All Layers
file formats for saving ~ 264 ~ command (Options/Layers) 343
Model type 80 Show QuickViews
naming ~ 239 ~ command 40
tools available in ~ 100 Shrinking
types 11 ~ Doors/Windows 155
working in ~ 80 ~ Elements 115, 295
Select All
Z
Zone Categories 216
~ command (Options menu) 362
creating ~ 363
Zone Fill 215
Zone List 425
~ window 13, 216
Complexity 425
Filters 425
Format 426
formats for saving the ~ 265
Related Constructions 426
Zone Polygons
~ in Display Options 330
Zone Settings 217
Zone Stamp 215
default parameters 363
Zone tool 72, 215, 441
~ and Drawing Order 50
Categories 218
Category Code 362
Category Color 362
Category Name 362
Definition Methods 216
height and elevation 219
moving holes 75
name and number 218
Parameters 219
Stamp Preview 218
techniques 219
updating zones 324
Zone Stamp 362
Zone Stamp Text Size 218
ZOOM
~ files 442
opening ~ files 258
Zoom In
~ button 22, 430
~ command (Display menu) 16, 430
Zoom Level
~ button 16, 24, 432
saving ~ in QuickViews 39
Zoom Out
~ button 22, 431
~ command (Display menu) 16, 430
Zoom to Selection
~ command (Display menu) 431