topic Re: Details in Modeling

Details

Tom Krowka — Fri, 26 May 2023 13:29:36 GMT

As a new user,I have some questions about details. We have plenty of standard details we generated AutoCad. What is the best way to place them into an ArchiCad drawing. Should they go on a separate story, on a detail sheet that is the same scale that they will be plotted on? Text is coming out all kinds of screwy sizes.

Also, when I create a detail in Archicad, what is the best way to manage them to put in a library for future use. Should I save them out from the floor plan window as a .pln, .dwg or from detail window as a .mod or what. What is the best way to bring them back into the drawing. Most likely I'll want to change something on the drawing, so I don't want to Xref.

Should I put all details on a "detail story" that is set up at minus 10 feet, for example; then bring them into plotmaker? Again, I get messed up with text size unless I have a different scale detail story for each scale of detail?

I think I'm missing something here.

Thanks
Tom
version 8.1, windows xp

Re: Details

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 01:07:24 GMT

I recommend using the detail tool and merging or xRef-ing them in. The import is controled by the translator. You may need to customize one to get the text, pens, layers, etc. to come in right.

Re: Details

Djordje — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 05:08:11 GMT

wkarch wrote:
Also, when I create a detail in Archicad, what is the best way to manage them to put in a library for future use. Should I save them out from the floor plan window as a .pln, .dwg or from detail window as a .mod or what. What is the best way to bring them back into the drawing. Most likely I'll want to change something on the drawing, so I don't want to Xref.

In this case MOD might be the best way. The standard details thaty you already have in DWG or whatever should be kept in one place and used as needed as Xrefs or just placed in the Detail window as DWGs.

wkarch wrote:
Should I put all details on a "detail story" that is set up at minus 10 feet, for example; then bring them into plotmaker? Again, I get messed up with text size unless I have a different scale detail story for each scale of detail?

No need for this. In your Navigator, set up the Detail views and bring them into PlotMaker as any other view. Each detail window can have its own scale. If you are importing DWGs/Xreffing, the usual scale constraints apply - e.g. the DWG has to be made for the scale that the detail should be in. Don't forget that in DWG the text size is relative to the drawing, while in ArchiCAD it is goverened by the scale and defined as a printing height, that changes realtive to the drawing.

HTH,

Re: Details

Richard Morrison — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 06:15:32 GMT

Tom:

I've had good luck putting all of the office standard details in a single PLN file. Each story (can be zero height) has similar details, such as story 3 is conventional spread footings. I put all of the elements of each detail on a single layer, so each detail can be displayed easily by itself, and give each detail its own view (name/custom layer setting/etc.) so you can see a listing of all of the views in Navigator. Makes it very easy to browse through details to find the one you want.

Because I use MSA Detailer extensively and had many details already created, the 8.0 detail windows haven't worked well for me, because you can't do walls there (which are used by the Detailer for sheetrock, plywood, etc.)

Re: Details

Tom Krowka — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 15:07:20 GMT

Thanks for the feedback. A couple of questions, however.
Richard: As i understand your process, you draw everything in each detail on one layer. Do you then change lineweights on the detail by color? Doesn't the detailer bring objects in with predefined colors? It seems like you would spend a lot of time changing lineweights to get the details to look right. Or do all the objects have some type of consistency to the colors where they are cut so you could map color to lineweight for the plotter.
The single pln file concept sounds simple. Is that a single pln file for each detail, or do you put a group of details on each .pln? How do you get an individual drawing from the .pln that has many details on it into the current drawing.

Djordje: Text size question. If I set a text size of say, 7 points and draw a detail on a view that has a scale set of 3/4" to a foot, will the text point size stay the same if I change the scale in the view or in the plotmaker.

I'm trying to find the most time effective way to manage and draw details and still give them the hand drawn look, where items that are actually cut through have the widest line weight. I've tried the translator route and that seems to work pretty well, (although it is a pretty long list of pen translations ). In my previous life (so to speak) I had always drawn details at 1 to 1 scale in model space, then changed the scale in paper space and put the notes there. As a result, text and drawing were in two different places.

I had it all worked out in my other program, but am still floundering a bit in ArchiCAd.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Tom

Re: Details

Djordje — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 16:42:17 GMT

wkarch wrote:
Djordje: Text size question. If I set a text size of say, 7 points and draw a detail on a view that has a scale set of 3/4" to a foot, will the text point size stay the same if I change the scale in the view or in the plotmaker.

It always stays the same PRINTED size (please don't ask me to suppy you with an Imperial example! ) which means it is being resized relative to the drawing.

However, in PlotMaker you can resize to printing scale - which means it will resize proportionally.

Now I completely confused you, right?

Re: Details

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 19:56:54 GMT

I've created a Standard_Details.pln that has all of our standard detail (that never change) placed in individual Detail drawings.

In the Navigator, I have numbered the details with a prefix indicating what they are. For example, WT?? contains all wall types and UL?? contains all UL detail graphics. The view set contains a single view of every detail with the correct name for auto-titling in Plotmaker. These are grouped under folder with names like "WT - Wall Types", and "UL - UL Details"

Whatever we don't use, we just unlink from PlotMaker.

Re: Details

Tom Krowka — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 20:50:55 GMT

Jay:

Does that mean you can link multiple .pln drawings to the same plotmaker .lbk?
If however, you plot that .lbk at some future time, does that link have to exist in the same path, or is the detail self contained in the .lbk?

Tom

Re: Details

Tom Krowka — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 21:47:59 GMT

Jay:

One more question. Are all the details you create in your standard detail plan at the appropriate scale.....are they at the same scale that they will be plotted at? Do you put the notes with the detail?

My earlier text question......if I put the notes on in the standard pln at 7 points, then change the scale of the detail on plotmaker, will the text still plot at 7 points without any additional input from me.

Sorry about all the questions, still trying to get a grip conceptually. I've autocadded too long.

Tom

Re: Details

Djordje — Sun, 11 Jan 2004 17:41:31 GMT

wkarch wrote:
Does that mean you can link multiple .pln drawings to the same plotmaker .lbk?

Right.

wkarch wrote:
If however, you plot that .lbk at some future time, does that link have to exist in the same path, or is the detail self contained in the .lbk?

If you save the LBK with the drawings included, it will be. If the project is archived, then it probably is not in the same place any more - the relative paths are preserved, but the absolute is looked for and of course it is not found. You can relink. However, it is best to archive the LBK with the drawings included AND keep a PDF of the latest submitted or valid version - in that case, anybody can print it properly anywhere.

Re: Details

Rick Thompson — Sun, 11 Jan 2004 18:23:37 GMT

I too have gone to the effort to redraw all my typical details on one pln. With appropriate layering and navigator set up creating new details is very quick and easy. I organize common types to stories and use layers to make different variations. After doing this I am very satisfied with spending the time to do this. If I need a variation on a detail it is very easy to copy/paste, turn on and off layers, etc. I will attach a pdf screen shot for what it is worth.

Re: Details

Tom Krowka — Sun, 11 Jan 2004 18:42:50 GMT

Is the pdf for a paper reference to determine what the last valid copy was? Or is it saved from the .lbk as a .pdf that you can then print at 24 x36 size at any time without having the .pln and .lbk to open?
That sounds like a great idea, if it's done that way.

Re: Details

Richard Morrison — Sun, 11 Jan 2004 20:09:37 GMT

Tom:

Quick answers to your questions:

1) I have spent time with MSA detailer changing the library parts so they open with the correct line width (i.e. pen number). So when I select a 2x4, the colors are all correct, but I may need to change the layer. (Layers and colors are not tied together the way they are in AutoCAD.) You can use the "Active Layer" function to keep everything you draw on layer 49, say, or use the Edit Selection Set to change every selected element's layer at once. Doesn't take much time at all.

2) That's a single PLN for ALL standard details, but each detail has it's own VIEW. Then just import this detail plan in Plotmaker and select the desired detail view to import. If you've been careful with naming views, you can get the detail to self-title and number correctly and add the scale, all in Plotmaker.

Re: Details

Tom Krowka — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 14:28:32 GMT

Richard:

One last question, I promise. When you create your standard detail sheet, is each detail with notes drawn in the scale that it will be plotted.
That must mean you have a bunch of views already set up; one for each typical detail scale, right?

Trying to get this right.

Tom

Re: Details

Richard Morrison — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 17:32:25 GMT

Tom:

There is a view (which includes the scale) for EACH detail, not each scale. In AC, double click on the view, and that one detail pops up by itself at the proper scale.

Import that view (i.e. detail) into PM, and it arrives at the correct scale, too. Hope that's clear.

Re: Details

Tom Krowka — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 18:08:00 GMT

I think I finally got it.

Thanks to all

Re: Details

Tom Krowka — Mon, 12 Jan 2004 23:24:40 GMT

OK, I lied. I do have one more question. Let me know if I'm setting this up right. Navigator has several stories that have been renamed for typical detail types like wall section, trim, footings, etc. When I draw a detail of that type, I draw it on that story (detail type). Then I create a view of that detail by saving it in the view set folder.
Is the navigator stories(detail type) used just to draw the detail type on? There doesn't seem to be any way to establish the detail type heirarchy then individual details within the larger heirarchy in the view sets.
Likewise, there doesn't seem to be any way to establish a directory heirarchy from the navigator.
I'm trying to set up a Windows type directory tree. Can I do such a thing with Archicad?

Thanks again,
Tom

Re: Details

Richard Morrison — Tue, 13 Jan 2004 04:01:14 GMT

Tom:

You can do all of this, but you'll need to get comfortable with Project Navigator, which is far from intuitive.

Have the Navigator set up so you can see both the Project Map and the View Sets windows. Get the layers and view correct in AC, then drag the Story icon over to the View Set window. Once there, you can rename with the correct name of the detail, and create hierarchies and folders to your heart's content.

Re: Details

Tom Krowka — Tue, 13 Jan 2004 14:25:14 GMT

Thanks for the info. I will try it again. Hopefully, this time I'll get it.