topic When shall we have such a feature in AC? in Modeling

When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 11:12:22 GMT

Recently installed Autocad 2006. There is a new feature I have wished for a long time - a built-in calculator!

This is the calculator I have always wanted - simple and showing all the operations I have done! I even installed some stand alone applications since the Windows calculator sucks.

When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 15:01:41 GMT

I use the built-in calculator when I am working in MacOS. Very nice.

I don't use it much though so I haven't looked for a better Windows version.

For me it's not a priority in ArchiCAD. Perhaps you should post to the wish list so others can vote.

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Erich — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:00:35 GMT

Personally, I have never liked on screen type calculators. I would much rather use a physical calculator if I need one at all. Generally you can enter information much faster and more accurately - and they are platform independent

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:42:26 GMT

Erich wrote:
Personally, I have never liked on screen type calculators. I would much rather use a physical calculator if I need one at all. Generally you can enter information much faster and more accurately - and they are platform independent

True if you do a lot of calculations. For the odd occasions that I need one I don't want to lug around the extra kit. Besides I like to be able to copy/paste the result.

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Jere — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:32:43 GMT

I use the Logitech DiNovo desktop. Any results that are obtained using the numberpad/calculator are stored on the clipboard. Can't get better than that for simple operations (+ - * / )

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Djordje — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:04:57 GMT

It is called ArchiCalc.

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

__archiben — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:56:06 GMT

i copy/paste values to and from the dashboard calculator . . . no need to leave archicad: just squeeze the mouse

~/ben

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Link — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:24:46 GMT

FYI The Windows Calculator can be changed to Scientific mode via the View menu, and values can be copy/pasted too.

Would be great if calculations could be done on the fly when entering coordinates, but that''s another story.

Cheers,
Link.

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:04:52 GMT

kliment wrote:
Recently installed Autocad 2006. There is a new feature I have wished for a long time - a built-in calculator!

This is the calculator I have always wanted - simple and showing all the operations I have done! I even installed some stand alone applications since the Windows calculator sucks.

When shall we have such a feature in AC?

I want to suggest to use this one:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard_mice_combos/devices/164&cl=us,en

I have nice experience with this one. You can put the numberblock separately on left side, you can change it in calculator function, and the best one:
you can put the number of result from calculator directly in AC, through ctrl+y.

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Chazz — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 15:19:43 GMT

Link wrote:
Would be great if calculations could be done on the fly when entering coordinates, but that''s another story.

Actually, I think this is THE story. Other page layout software had this in the early 90's. Why do you need to figure out what the new wall height is when you add 3'-11-3/4" to it rather than just typing the "+" sign in and putting in the value?

People, we're dealing with computers here. Adding and subtracting is something they LIKE to do.....

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:21:30 GMT

Chazz wrote:
Why do you need to figure out what the new wall height is when you add 3'-11-3/4" to it rather than just typing the "+" sign in and putting in the value?

Well, there are CAD-programs that have this functionality in dialogs & properties window... I'm surprised ArchiCAD is not one of them. One would expect this to be in every relevant program that deals with dimensions.

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:41:05 GMT

Chazz try typing in the amount THEN the plus sign, ArchiCAD can do simple add and subtract calculations in the tracker and most of the info box parameters
Do a search if you need more info, there has been lots said on this over the years

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Rob — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 05:40:20 GMT

I do not think that AC should have built-in calculator it would be just another resource wasting... I prefer to use a normal (physical) calculator which is faster and more flexible than clicking on screen digits like an idiot. Eventually I use the dashboard calculator (when on Mac)... with PC I do not dare to touch that ancient piece of code called 'calculator' - it looks like it was designed by Bill Gates himself in 1978...

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Rod Jurich — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:04:18 GMT

Rob wrote:
/.......with PC I do not dare to touch that ancient piece of code called 'calculator' - it looks like it was designed by Bill Gates himself in 1978...

And totally agree regarding your calc comment Rob.

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:59:23 GMT

A very old discussion about direct calculations during the coordinate input! There I explained how it works in AutoCAD. And it works marvelously! http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=15394&highlight=calculator#15394

This calculator is an extension of the above mentioned features! I treads values directly from the drawing! I also admire Unit conversion and Variables!

Djordje wrote:
It is called ArchiCalc.

An Add-on again! I sometimes wonder if this is another way to squeeze more money from the users!It is simple enough so other firms can make it, but GS does not include it in the package, because users will get it for free!

Jere wrote:
I use the Logitech DiNovo

Thank you, Jere and ArchiUser for this suggestion! I wanted to buy a diNovo some time ago but it is shamelessly expensive in Bulgaria! I bought a Cherry eVolution set at half the price!

Link wrote:
FYI The Windows Calculator can be changed to Scientific mode ...

This is the only usable mode because in Simple mode the calculator does not recognize the priority of mathematical operations! Something which even the cheapest Chinese Physical one does! 😉

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 12:12:40 GMT

Just saw that this discussion is from 2004!
So, no chances for improvement! Perhaps the wishes section of the Forum should be removed?

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Laszlo Nagy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:11:04 GMT

Well, in the last many years I have seen many, many user wishes implemented in ArchiCAD. So I would not say that the Wishes section is entirely useless.

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

__archiben — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:39:03 GMT

kliment wrote:
Just saw that this discussion is from 2004!
So, no chances for improvement! Perhaps the wishes section of the Forum should be removed?

not at all - it's probably more because it's a pretty lame wish. there is no need for yet another calculator inside archicad. it's like spell-check: there should be only one, system-wide dictionary that all apps use. why duplicate basic resources?

we apple users are pretty well off with our dashboard calulators - maybe you should talk to bill about fixing up that old piece of code instead of bothering GS? besides, doesn't vista have some kind of widget thing going on these days as well?

~/archiben

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Rex Maximilian — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:37:17 GMT

~/archiben wrote:
...it's probably more because it's a pretty lame wish.

So Ben, tell us how you really feel.

Re: When shall we have such a feature in AC?

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:40:14 GMT

I wonder why this topic wasn't transferred into the wish section?
We could all start voting "not-needed"...

The forums can be very helpful but this wish is useless and will not help AC any further. As I will speak for myself, GS - sorry for bothering

There are other, essential topics / issues to take care of.