On Land

This object builds a model of any pen set in the project. Yes, a model. There is a block for each pen, which is the color of the pen, and the height of the block is the width of the pen enlarged from mm to meters.

There is no REQUEST for pen set data in GDL. So to get the pen set data, we need to export it to XML from Attribute Manager.

Then we run a series of regex find/replace operations in BBEdit, using an Automator application. This strips out all the XML formatting, leaving only the pen set data, and then adds some GDL code.

These are the regex operations:

1. Strips tabs
2. Replaces empty description tag with <Description></Description> for symmetry with non-empty descriptions
3. Reformats width but I don't see the effect; must be for special cases
4. Reformats each pen block into one line of #, width, RGB
5. Replaces "1," at the beginning of each pen set with "PUT 1,"
6. Deletes other attribute types
7. Deletes header stuff before the first PenTable
8. Converts PenTable tag to ID and name, code to put ID and name into arrays
9. Puts pen #, width, RGB into PenData array, after pen 255
10. Deletes all closing tags

As you can see, I can't remember why we need step 3, but I was afraid to remove it.

Just for fun, here is the search string for step 8:

<PenTable Idx=".*" Name=".*">\n<OdbObj Mv=".*" Sv=".*">\n<OdbRef>\n<guid>.*</guid>\n</OdbRef>\n<CreaTime>.*</CreaTime>\n<ModiTime>.*</ModiTime>\n</OdbObj>\n<Name>(.*)</Name>\n<Index>(\d*)</Index>\n<Flags/>\n<ModiTime>.*</ModiTime>\n<RegMemoTable MemoNumber=".*" Mv=".*" Sv=".*"/>\n<ReadOnly>.*</ReadOnly>\n<Pens>

These get replaced with this:

IDseed = IDseed + 1\rsetID = \2 \rsetIDs[IDseed] = setID\rsetNames[IDseed] = `\1`

The resulting text, which is bunch of PUT statements and arrays being filled, is copy/pasted into the Master Script of the template model object.

So now we have an object that knows the name of every pen set, and the weight and RGB of every pen in each one.

The names go into a VALUES{2} parameter list so the user can choose the pen set by name. I'm sorry they're not in alphabetical order; I could probably fix that.

The 3D script builds a matrix of blocks, each one with a custom material defined by the RGB of the pen.

The 2D is just a PROJECT2, making this, it just has to be, the most computationally intensive 2D pen table object anywhere.

You can graphically select the pen set using the slider marked with a plus sign at the bottom of the table.

Note: The object ignores the current model pen set. The colors and weights only come from the pasted data.

Archicad 23 or 24
A Mac
BBEdit
Free Time

In Attribute Manager, select all of the pen sets and copy them to the right by index. Export the XML attributes file. Drag the XML onto the Pen Data application icon. BBEdit will launch if it is not running, and the converted XML text will be presented in the front window, as well as copied to the clipboard.

Open the object and open its master script. Delete the sample text from between the two lines of asterisks. Paste the converted text here. Do a save as on the object. Place the object in the project. The pen set can be selected in settings, or by sliding the control at the bottom of the table.

Another idea: Graphically editing the weight of the pens via the height of the blocks, then rebuilding the XML file through crazy string operations, so we could import it back into Attribute Manager. This is not implemented at this time.

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I am a Field Notes fan. They make awesome versions of a completely ordinary product: disposable pocket size notebooks of the type that would be given out as marketing by midwest farm/feed and hardware shops in the mid to late-mid 20th century. They make books in a different style every 3 months. If you subscribe, you get the new designs each season along with surprises. This May, a surprise was, they made a final exam type 'blue book', which you may remember from some phase of school.

I went to a preppy middle/high school for some years and my earliest memory of these books is from 8th or 9th grade.

Along with the books, which are 3x better executed than any blue book I have ever seen in the wild, comes a challenge/assignment/contest:

"Using one of the enclosed Blue Books, please submit a written essay relating a notable dramatic or humorous event that happened while you were in elementary or high school." And they list grading criteria including penmanship (in all caps), which I blame for my loss.

As we used to say in architecture school, I went around the program. This is not a memorable story from whenever, but it is a good idea IMO, and when you have an idea you should follow through with it. It is below the fold, and yes I wrote this out longhand and put it in an envelope with a stamp.

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Adam Savage is a huge fan of The Shining. In homage, he built a replica of the Overlook Hotel's hedge maze model which is so awesome that... well, watch the video. I am a huge fan of The Shining, and of Adam Savage. In homage, I made this Archicad model of the Savage replica.

I used much less time, material, and skill, but I followed a similar process to that shown in the video: Figure out the grid, figure out the scale, obsess over screenshots, find good materials, and don't let it go even as it takes longer than it should.

While Adam makes clear that his model is a replica of the (prop) model inside the hotel, not a model of the maze itself (which likely does not 'exist'), my model is roughly 50:1 scale with the replica, restoring it to 'real life' scale, based on the discussion in the video.

So this is a virtual model based on a video of a real replica of a lost real model of a likely unreal maze from a movie. (No, the maze isn't in the book IIRC.)

If you want a "model" of the maze, i.e., a miniature replica at 1:50 scale, suitable for modeling the Overlook itself, you can save the whole thing as an object and then shrink it. Use the saved view called 'Top View', select all elements, then File -> Libraries and Objects -> Save Selection As... -> Object. When placing the object, link the XYZ dimensions with the chain button and set the length to about 8 feet / 2.5m. Put it on a table.

Here is the PLA file (8MB). Here is the desktop BIMx file (4MB). Here is the Graphisoft BIMx viewer page. Here is an STL file (1.3MB).

Marco "Tumblr, Instapaper" Arment tells Dan Benjamin:

One of the reasons many of us...love Apple products is because they think about a lot of the details that a lot of other manufacturers don't, in both hardware and software. And it's those little details that a lot of people think don't matter, or aren't worth the time and money to get right, that add up to a really great experience and goodwill from your users. So that's always been a high priority for me, to try and get all the details right.... Even if somebody has never run into something, I'm still happy it's there, because for the few people who do run into it, it makes them a little bit happier. If you look at a lot of the features of luxury cars, for instance, they're features that most people won't ever use. And they accidentally discover it sometime, they're just a little bit delighted by that.... And if we can do that same thing in software by providing these little delights to users, or by smoothing over a few rough edges that they should never have to see, that adds up to a significantly better product than one made by a firm that doesn't really care about those details.

I find less irritating tools to be less irritating.

It is awful to hear that David Foster Wallace has apparently taken his own life. Really not happy with that. I don't have anything constructive. If you like reading and you haven't read Infinite Jest, you should. There's an investment of time and attention (about a kilo), but it's the best novel that I know of. The cover copy says it's a comedy but, though there's a lot of funny in it, it's ultimately sad. It will be sadder going forward. His sober-gonzo travelogue reporting is all-funny, see the essay collection A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, especially the title track. Hmm, that title has suddenly gotten a little weightier.

He was raised on literary and general cultural irony but concluded that the ironic position risked disengagement from the reader and isolation from reality. Which reality might be painful. Which pain might be Too Much.