topic Re: Distance Check in Modeling

Distance Check

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:32:03 GMT

How can I check a distance after a wall is drawn? In AutoCAD there is a distance feature (DI - Enter) wherein you can verify the distance of the wall drawn. Is there such a feature in ArchiCAD?

susanmoses

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 17:30:29 GMT

In short no. Read the following post and you will get a way to obtain distances and a lot of conversation about whether or not AC needs a measuring tool like Autodesk products. I am firmly in the camp of it being a needed tool.

archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=7914&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=distance&&start=0

cheers - chris

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 20:05:40 GMT

or go to the menu

Window/Palette Display/Show Element Information

Re: Distance Check

Karl Ottenstein — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 20:16:02 GMT

susanmoses wrote:
How can I check a distance after a wall is drawn? In AutoCAD there is a distance feature (DI - Enter) wherein you can verify the distance of the wall drawn. Is there such a feature in ArchiCAD?

Hi Susan,

You say "distance", but it sounds like you mean "length"? Place the user origin on a hotspot at one end of the wall (hover, see checkmark, press alt-shift), then hover your mouse over the matching hotspot at the other end and read of the length in the "r" coordinate box ... if you have working units set to 1/64", the most accurate we can get with Imperial.

The alternative is to select the wall and bring up the Element Information palette ... which you should map to a shortcut key for convenience. (The trick to select what you just drew is to undo/redo - ctrl-z/ctrl-shift-z if PC ... cmd if Mac). Unfortunately, for we Feet/Inches types, there is a bug in the Element Info such that it only displays the correct length if your working units are set to decimal inches with max decimals (3). With fractions set at 1/64, the fractional part is truncated! It is unreasonable to work in decimal inch mode, of course...I'm reporting this bug now...

Karl

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 20:20:50 GMT

This is where the revit approach is clearly superior

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 12:56:12 GMT

Personally, I always use the dimension tool to check a length. Because snaps are always so uncertain in Archicad, the dimension reference lines gives a useful double-check as to where you're measuring to and from.

Re: Distance Check

Link — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 13:37:07 GMT

Because snaps are always so uncertain in Archicad

What? How?!

I've never had a problem in this regard.

Cheers,
Link.

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 13:55:25 GMT

I mean, if you have a number of elements close together, it's hard to be sure that the hotspot you have selected is really the one you want unless you zoom right in.

Certain other programmes (which shall remain nameless) enable you to specify 'endpoint' or 'intersection' etc - so you can be sure you're picking up the correct point.

Re: Distance Check

Karl Ottenstein — Fri, 30 Sep 2005 19:06:02 GMT

Keith wrote:
I mean, if you have a number of elements close together, it's hard to be sure that the hotspot you have selected is really the one you want unless you zoom right in.

And, so then how do you place your dimensions any more accurately? They need the same hotspots...?

Karl

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 08:43:35 GMT

Karl -

You're absolutely right - it's the same problem!

But the difference is: if you get it wrong - you can see that it's wrong because the dimension leader shows you that you've picked the wrong spot. Otherwise you proceed in blissful ignorance.

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 12:01:36 GMT

I simply draw a line since I am in relative co-ordinate all the time.. But there should be a tape measure feature.. somebody is hard headed at GS.

Re: Distance Check

Djordje — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 12:49:31 GMT

Keith wrote:
I mean, if you have a number of elements close together, it's hard to be sure that the hotspot you have selected is really the one you want unless you zoom right in.

Since we do have the scroll pan and zoom there is absolutely no excuse NOT to zoom. Especially that, unlike that other software that can force snaps, you don't have to regenerate and can zoom your eyes out if you like.

I agree though in the case of huge diameter circles, where it IS hard to find the center.

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 12:15:40 GMT

I always use shift-option(alt) to place a user origin where I want it, and then read the coordinte palette. works 90% of the time and is faster than drawing anything or using a separate "tool"

Wes

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 04:55:28 GMT

Keith wrote:
Personally, I always use the dimension tool to check a length. Because snaps are always so uncertain in Archicad, the dimension reference lines gives a useful double-check as to where you're measuring to and from.

That's how I do it, too, but the whole thing drives me completely mad, because it seems like every time I do a check on the same items, the dimension tool gives me entirely different information! I thought that once I had the check mark cursor, it would automatically measure to that one point, but it seems like it's affected by the exact position of the cursor, and it's impossible to contol.

I also find that no matter how I enter items, they always seem to end up just a little bit off of the actual dimension I've tried to enter, not *quite* as long as they're supposed to be, or not *quite* at the exact location. This happens even with entering the exact distances I need in the X and Y coordinate boxes. I end up with anywhere from a few eights of an inch off to whole inches and feet sometimes. This happens whether or not there's another object there. I simply don't get it.

The whole thing is such a problem, I'm seriously considering dropping Archicad at this point because it's just taking me too damned long to enter the most basic information. What am I missing?

Here's a screenshot of the most recent problem I've been having with this.

Wendy

Re: Distance Check

Dwight — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 05:19:17 GMT

That is likely a tolerance error.

How are your working units and dimension units set up? Do the tolerances match?

You'll also want to be sure to set your temporary origin to the start point for each offset - an error of several feet indicates a faulty origin point location.

US manual pg 337 and other places, too.

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 05:55:20 GMT

Dwight wrote:
That is likely a tolerance error.

How are your working units and dimension units set up? Do the tolerances match?

I've always used the default settings; I don't think I've ever changed them in any version of AC. This particular project is my first one in AC9, too, so I don't *think* I'm bringing any bad old habits over from 8.1, although I did open an old project in it, and I'm getting weird stuff loading in the libraries of the new file that pertain to that project, so who knows. (No, I still don't really understand dealing with loading the libraries no matter how much I mess with this program, especially between versions, but that's obviously another thread.)

Working units are set at 1/64 and dimensions at 1/8. I just tried setting them both to 1/8 and 1/16, and a few other combinations, and I'm still seeing the discrepancy no matter what. The bottom dimension changes around, up to the 1/16 setting, while the top one remains steady.

What I really don't understand is, even with them set differently, and all these very simple orthagonal elements placed using the shift key to ensure absolute straightness, how I could be getting one dimension at one point along here and another at a different point, no matter *how* the tolerances are set. It makes even less sense when both are set the same. Maybe I'm missing something, but this just doesn't make any logical sense to me.

You'll also want to be sure to set your temporary origin to the start point for each offset - an error of several feet indicates a faulty origin point location.

That I've at least managed to learn to do recently, and also finally learned how to place objects by using the control box settings, but I'm still ending up with incredibly weird results sometimes that have to be done over and over to get them right <sigh>.

While I'm at it, how do I cut a hole in the slab this way? I know to select the slab first, of course, and usually my holes just go right in, but adding in putting in the dimensions first seems to be stopping the whole process, and I get nothing. I finally had to place a box made with lines and then just trace it, a step I thought I'd finally learned how to skip.

Thanks.

Wendy

Re: Distance Check

gpowless — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 13:30:04 GMT

I learned this lesson a while back.

Sometimes the walls or elements get slightly skewed most often by stretching the wall in one direction without constraining the other. Having had to redo a whole lot of dimensions because the cursor jumped in the y direction while stretching it in the x, I have since adapted by making sure that I specify both constraints even if one is zero when stretching or moving elements.

To see if this is the problem, make sure that your settings to not have the custom mouse constraint set and then move the node of the wall along the horizontal axis while locking the y axis (holding the Shift). If the node moves even slightly, you have corrected the issue.

The other possibility that I have encountered in the tolerance solution is to select the wall and "nudge" it 1/64" in the x direction (again while constraing the y direction to zero). Sometimes that is all the wall is out and the dimensions should correct themselves if this is the case.

Good luck.

Gregg

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 14:46:07 GMT

Wendy,

It is impossible to know just from the screenshot, but it looks like the stair is very slightly askew or that there is an internal error in the stair part itself. The discrepancy presumably comes from the difference in which end of the stair to which the dimensions are snapped. It might clarify matters to extend the lower string to the same wall corner as the upper one.

Re: Distance Check

Dwight — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 17:10:29 GMT

The slightly-off-axis-custom-constraint is the strong contender here for culprit.... when you hold the shift key, this often happens... check mouse preferences,,,

Re: Distance Check

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 23:18:17 GMT

Dwight wrote:
The slightly-off-axis-custom-constraint is the strong contender here for culprit.... when you hold the shift key, this often happens...

So, if I'm understanding you guys correctly, you're saying that holding the shift key, which is *supposed* to ensure the element is laid down straight, really doesn't do what it's supposed to do with complete accuracy??? If that's the case, then how *do* you ensure you've got an arrow-straight line? I find it almost impossible to always eyeball it. But it would certainly explain some other very strange happenings I've also seen that I've had a hard time wrapping my head around.

check mouse preferences,,,

All four boxes are checked, angles are set at 45 and 30 degrees, the cursor snap range is 3 pixels, and for line drawing, "CAD-like" is checked, whatever that means.

Wendy