topic Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane in Modeling

Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Nik — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 08:22:44 GMT

How do you stop slab elements that are above the floor plan cut plane from appearing on plan views? For example we have window reveals and other elements that are very high up (way above the cut plane), but are still appearing on the plan view despite setting the cut plane and range. Any thoughts?

Cheers, Nik

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Barry Kelly — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 08:49:59 GMT

Slabs don't react to Floor Plan Cutting Planes.

They don't have the ability to be symbolic, projected or overhead as other elements do.

I do wish there was consistency for all tools (goes the same for show on storeys).

I would add them into a "Slabs - 3D" layer, so you can turn them of in your floor plan layer combination, but leave them on for your section, elevation and 3D layer combinations (when ever you want to see them).

Barry.

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Nik — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 09:01:48 GMT

Thanks Barry, that's what I suspected.

It's very frustrating that you can't simply create a cut plane and see exactly what you would see if the model were cut at this point. We spend so much time playing around with layers, display order, cut/projected/overhead settings, etc just to get the plan to look the way it should. I guess it's the same reason that solid element operations don't show in plan, which also drives us crazy!

Nik

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

SenecaDesignLLC — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 15:38:18 GMT

I only use slabs for floors and ceilings.

i use objects or other tools so that i can control them better with the cut plane.

doing so results in less time messing with things for sure. all about reducing keytrokes!

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Rve — Sat, 25 Jun 2022 20:06:30 GMT

That’s right Nik, using ‘projected/projected with overhead/cut only’ is so 2010. Please make it possible to see exactly what is cut by the cutting plane, like Revit. What you see is what you get.

The way you look at walls, slabs, columns, etc. needs not to be defined by the object but by the view.

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Vanessa1 — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 08:07:52 GMT

agree that this is a super-basic industry-standard capability that is not offered. Slabs used for ceiling/ shadowline or joinery elements having to be assigned layers to control visibility when the visibility graphics is otherwise so advanced is extremely primitive.

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Eduardo Rolon — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 13:07:52 GMT

No its not. It is extremely flexible.

There is no "super-basic industry-standard capability" in any CAD/BIM software unless you mean one (i.e. Revit) and if you are honest they only changed the name.

Why is it so hard for new users to get the idea that AC is not Revit?

A per view setting only means that if you make a mistake in 100 views then you need to edit 100 views individually. But noooooo, you may say we can define groups of views and edit them at the same time in Revit but then you are using the equivalent of AC's Layer Sets and Layers just with a different name.

---

Though I do agree about the SEOs rep in plan…

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Karoly Horvath — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 07:56:27 GMT

@Barry ,

How about in some drawings I want to see the dashed outline of slabs above AND the normal outline of slabs on the floor, but sometimes I just want to see the slabs on the floor, not the outlines of the ones above...

Tricky, isn't it?

Not to mention that sometimes I just want to see a proper ceiling representation based on the model...

And if you say I should use 3D doc, then I cry. 😉

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Lingwisyer — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 08:19:28 GMT

Have you considered using a zero degree roof? I think I saw that they will be adding reference line selection to roofs too in the near future which makes this more viable. Though they should just make things consistent already, which is also on the road map...

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Barry Kelly — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 08:32:21 GMT

@Karoly Horvath wrote:

How about in some drawings I want to see the dashed outline of slabs above AND the normal outline of slabs on the floor, but sometimes I just want to see the slabs on the floor, not the outlines of the ones above...

Tricky, isn't it?😉

If you want to see slabs dashed in one view and solid in another view, then you would have to use Graphic Overrides to change the line type for the particular slabs, using criteria such as ID to filter just the slabs you want.

If you don't want to see the outline of the slabs above, then use layers to turn them off.

@Karoly Horvath wrote:

Not to mention that sometimes I just want to see a proper ceiling representation based on the model...

And if you say I should use 3D doc, then I cry. 😉

I have never use a 3D Document to produce a ceiling plan yet (not that I do many of them).

I am happy to just use layers.

But this way you don't have control of the view of elements based on the FPCP.

However, elements you don't want to see can be in layers you can turn off.

Display of doors and windows can be controlled with MVO.

Barry.

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Karoly Horvath — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 10:59:48 GMT

@Barry

It looks like you never do large and/or complex projects with soffits at varying levels, folds and sloping floors.

That's OK, but I do. Always.

So turning slab layers off is no good, unless I have a different layer for slabs at each floor and create a different layer combo for ceilings at each floor.

That's a no go.

I can use a GO and turn slab edges white and use an invisible line, but even the invisible line will have dots at corners...

Not to mention that any method like the GO is not a very intuitive one.

Unfortunately those who don't do complex projects seem to be lauder in the Graphisoft community, therefore the entire wish for a proper ceiling view (yes a view, like you get in Revit and other tools) was canned, taken off the wish list...

I just don't understand how people document without ceiling drawings. For us ceilings are one of the key coordination plans where all on ceiling services (lights, grills, sprinklers, warning signs etc) can be set out and coordinated with the engineers.

I'm not saying I can't achieve adequate ceiling plans from Archicad. All I'm saying is it is unnecessarily complicated to do so.

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Karoly Horvath — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 11:10:54 GMT

@Lingwisyer

Yes, I tried roofs, and when I have a sloped floor orj ust a ramp I have to use roofs, but it's not very intuitive and roofs don't solve the problem of proper plan representation on floors below or above.

The line between 2 roofs at same level and same surface can't disappear (like with slabs)

It is not possible to change the roofs reference plane...

Etc. Etc.

If at least slabs and roofs plan representation above or below home storey would be linked to floor plan cutting plane view range, a lot better representation could be done, but the proper solution would be a proper ceiling view. Same as the plan view but reflecting the model elements above the cutting plane.

I know I can do a 3D doc, but that is a dummy. Can't be edited, and doors/windows can't have symbolic views either.

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Karoly Horvath — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 01:29:55 GMT

@Eduardo

It's pretty clear that you don't understand the problem.

If I have a 10 storey building and I have concrete slabs that step up and down and if I want to produce a plan showing the soffits of the varying level slabs above me, how do I do it?

If I always model the slabs on the floor I'm standing on, they can be set to show a dashed line on the floor below, but then those dashed lines will always be there!

I will see the dashed lines of the slabs above, when I want to do a concrete set out plan of the floor that I'm standing on. At that point I don't want to see the dashed lines of the slabs above, but if I turn their layers off, I won't see the slab that I'm standing on either!

You can't solve this with layer combos unless you put the slabs of each floor onto a dedicated storey related layer.

If I'm documenting a small 10 storey building that would mean 10 extra layers and 10 extra layer combos. Do you really think it's a feasible option?

For those wo work on 1-3 storey projects, maybe, but even there it is a nasty workaround.

I mentioned earlier, that ceiling plans are key for services coordination.

Soffit plans would be key for form workers.

Today we try to avoid providing soffit plan like a plague only because it is very-very hard in Archicad.

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Lingwisyer — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 12:03:40 GMT

I was making reference to things on the Road Map.

Coming Soon: Consistency-All-Relevant-Stories-for-Slab
In Progress: Consistent 'Show on Stories' behavior for all construction elements

Was sure there was one about roof reference planes, but I cannot see it there...

If I'm documenting a small 10 storey building that would mean 10 extra layers and 10 extra layer combos. Do you really think it's a feasible option?

I have placed ceiling slabs under slabs that overhang just so that I can toggle toggle slab over to a limited extent.

Ling.

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Karoly Horvath — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 23:34:04 GMT

@Ling

I am not saying there are no "smart" workarounds to documenting slabs/ceilings properly, but they are all exactly that: workarounds.

Something basic, like a ceiling/soffit plan should be done natively, not with smart workarounds.

What we have now feels like as if we had to draw walls using lines and fills, then extrude them. Sure enough, that would produce the required results, but would it feel right in 2025?

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

jl_lt — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 14:47:24 GMT

Personally, all these documentation processes are beginning to not feel right in 2025.

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Lingwisyer — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 01:27:27 GMT

Yeah, so many of these things have been missing and requested for so long, yet update after update we have just been seeing things aimed at bigger multidisciplinary firms and AI features rather than core improvements...

Ling.

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

mthd — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 03:22:30 GMT

Would a staggered horizontal cut plane feature solve this problem for us ? If so why not make a detailed wish for it. We can stagger cut plane sections in the vertical plane. So why not in the horizontal ?

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

Lingwisyer — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 03:31:58 GMT

There were wishes for that in regards to buildings on sloping sites. Did any of them survive?

Re: Slabs and floor plan cut plane

mthd — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 03:38:33 GMT

Probably not, we will just have to draw our buildings sideways or rotate them so we can use the staggered cross section method lol.