On Land

2D Moulding JAM9 is the current standard 2D moulding object. It is part of the whole moulding profile scheme, where I can add a new shape in one place and offer it for use in as many objects as we want. The Crown Tool, baseboard, rake, shed crown, door and window trim, etc., etc., are all hooked together. The 2D object offers all the shapes of all types.

I notice that a lot of people still use the individual shape objects in 06 Wood & Plastic / 2D Smoot. This doesn't hurt anything, but be advised that I don't use them and I don't maintain them, i.e., I don't make new ones. I can think of several reasons to use the old ones though:

• Habit.

• There's a shape in there that you can't find in 2D Moulding JAM9.

• You like seeing the shapes in the object browser.

The first one, you're on your own. The other two I believe I've covered with this revision.

I've gone through the old folder and incorporated all the shapes into 2D Moulding JAM9. I think. You'll let me know of course, just like you would if you needed a shape for the first time.

I made a graphical browser for the shapes.

I also reordered the list a bit. This is just a very cumbersome list. The current scheme is groups of:

• Crowns (including cove, rake, and bedmould)

• Casing (including fluting)

• Base (including cap and shoe)

• Panelmould (including nosing)

I hope it makes your shape choosing all that it should be.

Roof plans used to be a wormhole to the drafting dimension. With cover fills and flexible story display, they're just regular plans with a couple special annotations.

To be clear, all that old fashioned stuff about pasting from 3D and whatnot is no longer with us.

• What Shows.

Roofs on the A Roof2 layers. Gutters (on F Gutter). Top elements of chimneys on A Fireplace or A Roof2. Notes on +A Arch Note Reg Scale. +A Misc Line. There is no longer a layer for 'roof plan lines'. The roof plan uses the same layer combination for output as the rest of the plans, A1 Floor+Roof Plan.

Roof elements will be placed on the lowest story on which they should be visible, and they need to show enough stories above to be visible on the roof story. For some roofs this means 'one story up', and for some it means 'all stories above' (custom setting). Much more on roofs in plan in AC10 here.

• Annotations.

For the slope arrow, use a line with an arrowhead at one end. The arrow points down.

Note the roof materials, gutters, crickets, etc.

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In Archicad 10, sections can automatically show story level markers and lines. They are feature-limited but I think they're worth using.

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This is our 'stair helper'. As described here, I'm not a fan of all-in-one solutions for stairs or other complicated assemblies. I would rather build from discrete parts, each of which does its own job well. The main structure of a stair consists of slabs for landings and Stair Body objects for the flights. The railings and newels are separate.

The RiserMeter is one piece of the whole stair method complex. It performs several helpful tasks:

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The browser interface of the object tool etc allows the library person (me) to gracefully deprecate old objects, and steer users toward the good ones.

When we update an object, we move the old one to the xOld R&D folder. This folder loads, so placed instances of old objects will continue to work. The updated one is the only one visible in the proper folder, so there's no question about which one is right. There's a Center Line symbol, it's in Graphic Symbols, and that's it.

Can't do it with markers. The marker chooser makes things more confusing than they need to be. For example, on the detail marker list, three out of thirteen items are meant to be used.

Attic dormers have long been a black art in AC modeling. The 3D cleanup improvements in AC10 make their behavior much more predictable. In order to see these improvements, make sure this box is checked in Preferences -> Construction Elements:

I can't say I've observed a performance hit in using this. No matter, it needs to be on.

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Make it Flat or not. If it's arched, you can set either the Spring Height or the Arch Height, and the other dimension will change to maintain the overall height.

You can show Joint Lines representing the stones, and set a Stone Max Width. The lines use the Joint Pen. (The lines on the old arch broke in AC10.)

Turn the keystone off by setting the Keystone Height to zero. The Key Base Width controls the width of the keystone. (At this time, the flat arch can't have a keystone.)

Jambs of two arches

The overhead lines (Cased Op Lines) can be switched off individually.

Two mitered blobs

Despite the version number, a minor update to the Cab Blob. Now you can miter it. No, they don't do that in real life; it's a 'blob' remember.

Also, almost unintentionally, this is the first 'important' object I'm no longer maintaining in AC9. There will be more of this going forward as 9 finally goes under for the last time.