topic Re: PROJECT2{??} and SEO ? in GDL

PROJECT2{??} and SEO ?

gaba — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 20:57:13 GMT

Can any variation or setting of the PROJECT2{??} function show the results of an SEO operation on a GDL object in a 2D plan?

Operating system used: Windows 10

Re: PROJECT2{??} and SEO ?

Barry Kelly — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 11:23:00 GMT

Not that I know of.

Project2 is simply showing what was scripted in the 3D script.

The 3D script has no idea of how the object is being affected by an SEO, just that is is being affected by an SEO.

All you can do is determine if an SEO is taking place and offer an alternative script which the Project2 could show.

But the alternative script is what you tell it to do, not what is actually happening with the SEO.

Does that make sense?

Barry.

Re: PROJECT2{??} and SEO ?

gaba — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 12:03:39 GMT

Too bad 😟, but thank you for the quick reply! 🙂

Re: PROJECT2{??} and SEO ?

Patrick M — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 01:57:18 GMT

in general, SEO's don't translate through to plan view, regardless of which tool is used. I think because the SEO trimming body does not actually 'trim' the element. The geometry still exists above/below/inside the target element(s); it just doesn't show (until you select the elements).
so a plan view of an object using project2 is still showing the projection of the 'hidden' portions of the object.

Re: PROJECT2{??} and SEO ?

Davor P — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 09:39:31 GMT

Not an answer but maybe useful or related, depending what you need the SEO to do.
1. If you need to see the true projection with the cut, you can create a plan 3D document
2. Finalise the operation - convert to morph
3. Project2{4} has an option of cutplane and you can set its height
4. SEO inside GDL with SUBGROUP command but this means operator needs to be part of the object

Re: PROJECT2{??} and SEO ?

gaba — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 09:47:14 GMT

Thank you for the diverse and inspiring ideas.

Many years ago, Cutting planes appeared in ArchiCAD; they were cool and easy to use, but they had limitations.
Therefore, I created an alternative solution with a dynamic model cutting mechanism, using a special OperatorSEOmobile object (built-in shapes: plane, cuboid, cylinder, etc.). Importantly, you can add a tag to each OperatorSEOmobile object.

The OperatorSEOmobile object "appears" (and cuts the model) or "disappears" (and doesn't cut the model) depending on the MVO settings.

MVO recognizes OperatorSEOmobile tags and uses them to filter the "showing" or "hiding" of specific OperatorSEOmobile objects to achieve the desired SEO effect.

Everything works great in the 3D window, but unfortunately, cutting GDL objects, among other things, doesn't translate dynamically to the 2D window.

Recently I decided to learn more about and use PROJECT2{?}... to show GDL objects in a 2D projection window cut by OperatorSEOmobile, but it really seems impossible for now.

Re: PROJECT2{??} and SEO ?

Davor P — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 23:34:49 GMT

That's pretty interesting!
Guess the 2D plan view in Archicad is analogous to 2D script in GDL - a separate environment where engine builds each element mostly isolated. Building material and wall interactions as some interactions between elements that do get resolved on symbollic level but SEO (un)fortunately doesn't. Personally I am not a big fan of boolean operations as they can have huge impact on performance if not used sparingly but they do have their place.
My questions would be - when a cutting element is off in MVO - do you skip generating the cutter geometry? And how does that impact the performance? Assuming the solid operation between elements is always established, just the operator geometry is not there so the cut doesn't happen. But is the performance still affected? And do you get any report warnings similar to those about degenerate geometry?

Re: PROJECT2{??} and SEO ?

gaba — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 12:56:15 GMT

1. A key aspect of MVO is TAG filtering for operators (with your own simple miniRegEx).

Based on this, specific behaviors can be enforced for individual OperatorSEOmobile.

This is somewhat similar to the graphic combination override mechanism, although it is more modest and limited to 10 levels of TAG filtering for OperatorSEOmobile.

Of course, by disabling MVO filtering, you can easily and simply enforce specific behaviors for ALL OperatorSEOmobile simultaneously.

As an aside, each OperatorSEOmobile has a simple toggle: whether it should respect MVO settings.

2. OperatorSEOmobile excluded from SEO or, conversely, participating in SEO (according to TAG filtering in MVO settings) can be subject to any combination of settings:
- move them "far, up, down, etc.", i.e., outside the area of influence;
- change the XYZ dimensions (e.g., reset the operator's body height to 0 or increase the height to create a solid from the plane);
- enable the wireframe without SEO influence (MODEL WIRE);

I usually use a downward offset (maximum below the entire model/building, e.g., -10 m) for OperatorSEOmobile excluded from SEO – it's the simplest 🙂.
For clarity, I store OperatorSEOmobile on a separate layer.

As a rule, OperatorSEOmobile excluded from slicing always switch to wireframe mode (MODEL WIRE) in the 3D script.

As a side note: active operators can be DISPLAYED as wireframes for clarity, but of course, in the 3D script, they act as SOLID MODELS.

3. How OperatorSEOmobile works:
- I insert OperatorSEOmobile into the project (+ select its native, simple shape: wall, cuboid, cylinder, etc.);

- I perform standard solid operations on design elements;
- Of course, you can further adjust the position/size of OperatorSEOmobile by observing how it cuts design elements;
- It's worth assigning a TAG in the OperatorSEOmobile settings so that MVO can consciously enforce the behavior of this OperatorSEOmobile.

4. How MVO works:
- At the highest [1] level of filtration, it imposes a common behavior (e.g., leaving the SEO influence zone) for all OperatorSEOmobiles, hence the filtering criterion: "*".
- Then, at subsequent levels [2], [3],...[10] of filtration, you can individualize specific OperatorSEOmobiles, meaning, for example, that they remain in their original location and thus influence SEO cuts.
- This means that the combinations of OperatorSEOmobile behaviors are, in a sense, cascading from the first to the last active filtration level.

Of course, in terms of GDL, most of the above-mentioned processes are not performed by the MVO, but by each OperatorSEOmobile individually.

This means that each OperatorSEOmobile checks whether its own TAG meets the MVO's cascading filtering criteria and analyzes the behaviors it should be subjected to.

In short, thanks to MVO, only the OperatorSEOmobiles that are supposed to clip something in a given view remain on the stage (and usually in their original position). The remaining OperatorSEOmobiles are supposed to move as far away from the stage as possible in that view (and not clip anything!) 🙂

5. Performance?
I didn't have a performance issue because I don't use many OperatorSEOmobiles (maybe a few or a dozen).
Besides, the very concept of "performance" would require METHODICAL testing in various situations, with different project sizes, project model complexity, etc.

Re: PROJECT2{??} and SEO ?

runxel — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 18:14:31 GMT

Very cool, very niche.

I make the same happen nowadays with SEO and openings on Design Options.
Openings even can have an effect in the floor plan. So for elements that are supported this is my favorite method.

Re: PROJECT2{??} and SEO ?

gaba — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 19:25:40 GMT

@runxel wrote:

I make the same happen nowadays with SEO and openings on Design Options.

Design option & SEO?! Wow, great idea! I hadn't thought of that before.

Besides, the Design option is a fairly new feature, and I haven't really warmed up to it yet. I tried really hard, but I reached a dead end and abandoned the Design option.