Each month there are one or more coaching calls; this is a recording of the session on March 11, 2014January – June 2014
ArchiCAD Training – Coaching Call – March 11, 2014
| Thank you for visiting the Best Practices Course website. The video lessons are available for members only. If you are an active member and would like to watch the ArchiCAD training video on this page, please login to the website. If you are not currently a member, please visit the following pages for more information and to sign up for the Best Practices Course, the QuickStart Course or for the Best Practices ArchiCAD Coaching Program. Eric Bobrow, Creator of the Best Practices Course |
ArchiCAD Training Session Notes
| QUESTION | ANSWER SUMMARY AND NOTES | START TIME |
| Selecting individual walls within a group | If all walls select when clicking on one wall then go to Edit>Grouping and suspend groups, ungroup, and/or turn off autogroup. | 0:01:41 |
| Saving tpl file in Mavericks 10.9 | Check that Permissions are set correctly by selecting file in finder>get info>Sharing and Permissions>set to Read/Write or unlock using your administrator password. | 0:03:30 |
| Also try Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility>Repair Disk Permissions | ||
| Or save as pln in another folder or on desktop, do your work and save, close ArchiCAD, then move the file in your finder and rename it with tpl ending. | ||
| Call Graphisoft if all else fails. | ||
| How to dimension property boundaries at right angles | Use hotspot and use measure tool. Click on hot spot then boundary. There is a perpendicular snap allowing you to find exact dimensions. | 0:14:06 |
| Use the dimension tool but there is no perpendicular snap. You can dimension to any angle then rotate the dimension using the rotate tool which has a perp. snap. | ||
| How to dimension in 3D documents | 3D documents are created from 3D views by right clicking empty space in view>New 3D Document from 3D> in current versions or Capture 3D Document from 3D in older versions back to v. 12. Name the document and it is added to your project map. | 0:17:53 |
| Answer begins after model is built to work from. | 0:25:00 | |
| You can add text or dimensions to 3D documents as in other views, but you can not rotate them. Using the dimension tool it will attach to elements, tab through to find the correct element, click on two points to dimension, double click to set dimension. You then have option to set your orientation. The dimension is editable after it is set. Selecting horizontal points to dimension will give you the option of vertical or horizontal orientation by moving your mouse/hammer around. | ||
| If you change elements in 3D view their dimensions will automatically update in your 3D document. | ||
| How to dimension complex elements in 3D documents | You can switch dimension options to an angle and then your dimensions will measure the angled distance not on the XY axis. You can control this three ways. First, restrict to XY axis, second control it with your oval and be careful and select the square option, third dimension from all your points on the line including one on the XY axis and one that is not, set dimension, then delete the points you don’t want included. | 0:39:45 |
| Making contour lines | If you receive file with no contour lines but points with XYZ coordinates in a text file go to Design>Place Mesh from Surveyors Data in vers 14 and later but it wont give you contour lines. You can take a slab and use Solid Element Operations with the mesh and get contour lines then view from above and copy and paste to plan. | 0:46:48 |
| Contour Maker | Download from Graphisoft website. Automatically generates terrain but as an object that is not snapable unless you explode it into line work. Create a new mesh then trace the lines using magic wand or spline then set heights. | |
| Magic wand with mesh tool | Magic wanding with the mesh tool is prone to issues. Best practice is to manually trace the lines vs. trying to select them to reduce the number of polylines. Too many polylines will slow down your model generation. If you redraw contour lines using spline tool you have the option to limit the number of points but if you are working with a polyline that already has a lot of points, ArchiCAD does not have a tool to simplify that. | 1:01:24 |
| Contouring mountains | If you have contour lines every foot, start with lines every 5 to 10 feet. Put in more points near the building and fewer farther away. Put in detail on obvious outcroppings but not too much detail away from building and set proper boundary points, then do points every 50 feet farther away. | 1:08:04 |
| Source view zooming | Deselect “Ignore zoom and rotation when opening this view” in the settings of the source view. | 1:12:55 |
| What should ground zero be in a split level when the main first floor is higher than the garage first floor. | Levels. Project zero can have a reference to anything from sea level to project location, etc. You can set it. Options>Project Preferences>Reference Levels will show your set levels. In Story Settings you can set your floor heights. Depending on the height of your elements you can choose to put them on the same story or create a new story if they are significantly different. Look at other videos about split levels for more information about cut planes with regard to window and door placement. | 1:18:06 |
| Basement design, walkout basement | Show mesh on main floor and basement level. Use solid element operations to remove mesh from building interior by using the mesh as target and basement slab as operator then remove with upward extrusion. To do simple grading outside structure, extend slab to cut mesh as needed. You can ad retaining walls if necessary. Set main level at zero then the basement level at minus ten feet or whatever your room height is. | 1:29:31 |
ArchiCAD Training – Coaching Call – March 11, 2014
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