On Land

(Defunct. This is better.)

Favorites are preset configurations of the tools. They enable you to quickly configure a tool for a given purpose, like option-clicking without the need for a placed element.

I have never developed a strong affection for them, for several reasons. They were terribly implemented when they started, in AC6.5 if memory serves. Until AC8, there was no button for favorites in the settings box (?!!). Finally, in a far-along project, option-clicking is still the fastest method. Modules are also nice.

In AC8 the feature is mature enough that I can recommend you try it.

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For calling out wall types and other assemblies. This object is accessed under the detail tool.

Typically you will have the detail drawn before placing this object. In this case, check the 'Link to Detail Drawing' box. (If it's checked by default, uncheck it and check it again. This is the only way to change the reference.) Select the appropriate detail from the list.

The symbol has the tag on the right by default. To flip it, go to settings and check the 'flip' box. Detail markers cannot be mirrored. (?!)

The wall thickness can be set in the settings or graphically edited. The wall should be contained between the two triangles. The tail end and the tag end of the marker are also stretchable with the arrow tool.

The subject

The unique ID of the detail will display in the top half of the tag. (Use the same info for the 'number' in the drawing title object within the detail.) In ArchiCAD, the bottom half is blank. If 'Auto Sheet Number in PM' is checked in the settings, the sheet number of the drawing will be displayed in PlotMaker automatically.

With the Stevens project, we have started incorporating wall types, and other assemblies, into the construction documents.

Wall types are very circumscribed details showing what a wall is made of. Once you have the types defined, you are able to use very brief notations in other details to specify the walls. They are more accurate and easier to maintain, because they are only drawn once.

Use detail windows for assembly types. Details must have unique IDs, which is OK in this case because the types should have unique IDs too. Here some examples of names and IDs I used for Stevens:

W1 : 2x4 partition (Wood #1)
W2 : 2x6 partition (Wood #2)
WB1 : 2x6 Wall with brick veneer (Wood & Brick # 1)
CS1 : 10" Concrete with 8" Stone (Concrete & Stone #1)
F1 : Strip footing (Footing #1)
F2 : Pad footing (Footing #2)

For scale, I have found that 3"=1' (4) is good for walls and 1 1/2"=1' (8) is good for footings.

As I have developed these drawings for Stevens, then for Prill, I have been creating modules of them at 3 Resources : Modules : Assembly Types. For your projects, merge each drawing you need into a detail window. You can, of course, modify these for your needs. As you create new assemblies, save modules! By definition, these drawings will be simple and broadly useful.

To call out wall types in wall sections, use the detail tool with "Assembly Marker JAM81".

Like This

Detail Tool JAM81 is accessed under the detail tool and can be used in place of 'Detail Marker JAM8'. More on detail windows here. More on the detail tool here.

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As a companion to the detail window post, an overview of the detail tool.

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Update: I have expanded on this topic here". I have strikethrough'd the really wrong bits here.

(I am planning a tech meeting for this topic the week of the fifth.)

Q What is a detail window.
A new kind of window in AC8. A hybrid of a section window and a patch.
Like a patch, they can be generated from existing geometry. Like a section, they can be renewed. Unlike a section, they cannot be model views, only drawings.

Q What are they for.

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In AC9, the keyboard shortcuts are part of the Work Environment. They are stored at 3 Resources : Work Environment : RND Profile.

Keyboard shortcuts are customized at Options | Customize | Keyboard Shortcuts, Tools tab. The settings are saved in a preferences file called ArchiCAD 8.1 Lasting.Prefs. The local version of this file is located at home : Library : Preferences : Graphisoft : ArchiCAD 8.1.0 vn, where n is the current version.

Launch ArchiCAD, and all should be well.

You have clicked some points for your dimension string. You have not checked the geometry method for the correct orientation, horizontal or vertical. Well over half the time, due to Murphy's Law, the wrong one is selected. You click to place the string, and get nothing. You have to start over. You are sad.

If you are dimensioning walls, you should be clicking on the line of the wall, rather than the corner, in order to dimension the core. (This isn't the tip; it is current standard practice. I hope someone is praying for you if you aren't dimensioning this way.) Choose the third, arbitrary angle, geometry method. With this setting, the string is forced to orient perpendicular to the wall, regardless of the wall's direction.

For two strings with the same orientation, select one, then Cmd+click on the other. The second string will disappear, and its points will be added to the selected string.

Over there under LINKS is a link to ArchiCAD-Talk. This is the main user discussion board for all things related to our chosen lifestyle. If you have a question I can't answer, poke around in there. If something isn't known to someone on this board, it isn't known. You must register in order to post, but you can browse and search anonymously.

At 3 Resources/AC Program Files you will find AC8.1 v1 1410 USA Updater, an update patch for 8.1. Go ahead and run it. It requires a restart. I have no idea why.

Update: In AC10, they made some changes to wall cleanup that simplify this process quite a bit.

Yes. Perfect. If you're into that sort of thing. It takes some doing.

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Forgot something else...

In 8.1, we have the option of placing a marquee to limit the print area, instead of fiddling with the window itself.

Print Marquee Area, among other things.

Click 'Copies and Pages' and select 'ArchiCAD' to view these options.

This is the official announcement.

At this moment there are 8.0 and 8.1 project templates in the zTemplate folder; kindly ignore the 8.0 ones until Monday.

Feel free to review these posts:

8.1 General

New Composites

Copy Transformations

Satellite Library

Print Marquee Area

...along with any others that strike yer fancy.

As far as I know, this option has always existed, but I've only fully internalized it recently.

Try this display option in your working plans and sections views:

Uniform Solid and friends

It causes walls in plan, and all elements in section, to display as solid fill of the pen of the fill pattern. In plan, this means that only the corner of the wall itself can be detected, not the inside drywall corner. This eliminates the problem of accidentally aligning counters, floor fills, and such to the core of a stud wall.

I have taken the liberty of changing the working views in the templates to employ this option.

Exposé is a window-clutter-management feature of OS X 10.3 Panther.

With one keystroke, you can 1) Show all open windows and select one, 2) Show all the open windows in the current application and select one, 3) Push everything aside and view the desktop. The default keys are F9, F10, F11 respectively, but they can be changed at System Preferences | Exposé.

This is the coolest thing in interface design since the mouse, and as ArchiCAD users, it's extra-cool for us.

Come to think of it, I do have a lot of windows open.

This is about four years old but I wanted to explicitly point it out...

All the attribute-related options on the Options menu (Pens and Colors, Line Types, etc.) use the Ctrl+Opt+Cmd modifier combination with the initial letter of the attribute.

I'm sensing a pattern.

Oh, those three.

Update: A couple of these (notably materials and composites) broke in AC9 due to conflicts with default shortcuts in OS X. Pens and fills still work. Keep the Attributes toolbar on.

Obsolete. We're not using cach libraries at this time.

It's good to have the libraries on the server so we are all up to date all the time. But loading libraries from the network is slow. This is a big problem when updating views in PlotMaker. The satellite library is an attempt to have it both ways. It has been bumpy in the past, but I've tried it again and can cautiously recommend it.

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Forgot something...

The copy transformation modifier key is now Option instead of Command. Instead of drag a copy being Cmd+D+Cmd, it's Cmd+D+Opt. Same for mirror and rotate.

Update: For AC10 I put the quick layers commands in the main toolbar, so you don't need the palette.

Window | Floating Palettes | Show Quick Layers (Ctrl+L).

Quick Layers Palette

The Quick Layers palette enables you to:

Unhelpfully:

• Toggle the display of all the layers. All the showing layers become hidden, all the hidden layers show. Shrug.

• Ditto for lock/unlock. Shrug.

Very helpfully, under 'Selection's Layer':

• Hide, lock, or unlock the layer of selected elements, even for multiple layers at a time. Similar to the 'Layer' sub-context menu.

Remember?

Unhelpfully again:

� Hide or lock all layers. Big shrug.

The palette will close when you quit ArchiCAD, unlike the standard palettes. Just reactivate it when you start with Ctrl+L.

I've added a module for Site Plan info to the Modules folder (in 3 Resources). It contains all the elements for contours, boundaries, notes, etc. I did not include separate note stuff for the 120 & 240 Note layers, but you'll probably live. N.B.: 8.1 only!

AC8.1 improves Composites substantially. A summary.

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Starting Monday, Dec. 8, we will be moving to ArchiCAD 8.1 and PlotMaker 3.1. This is a relatively minor feature update, with noticeable performance and interface improvements. No, it's not perfect, but it is better. Unlike the 7 to 8 update, we will move current projects over.

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