topic Re: drawing in 2D in Modeling

drawing in 2D

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:39:52 GMT

This is probably a silly question, but here goes:

How do you draw a 20'-0" length of wall using the wall tool? Or any length of line or wall for that matter. In Revit, you just select the wall tool, click the start point, drag in the direction you want the wall to go and then simply type in the length. But with ArchiCad it isn't that simple and I have searched and searched to no avail. Or maybe it's easier and i'm just missing it.

Please help.

Thanks.

Re: drawing in 2D

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:45:30 GMT

There are several ways to do this depending on the circumstances.

The simplest and most common is to start drawing the wall in the desired direction (using guides, constrains, snaps, or whatever) and then typing the length in the Tracker. If your Tracker is not showing you can make it appear by hitting the "j" key.

Re: drawing in 2D

Karl Ottenstein — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:48:26 GMT

bedrich7 wrote:
This is probably a silly question, but here goes:

How do you draw a 20'-0" length of wall using the wall tool? Or any length of line or wall for that matter. In Revit, you just select the wall tool, click the start point, drag in the direction you want the wall to go and then simply type in the length. But with ArchiCad it isn't that simple and I have searched and searched to no avail. Or maybe it's easier and i'm just missing it.

Ummm... it is that simple. Somehow, you have turned off the 'Tracker' (search the help file), and probably the Guidelines too.

As soon as you click on the start point and start moving the mouse away (released the button), the tracker should follow your mouse, waiting for you to simply type the length.

NEVER read the length and click. It will NOT be correct. I.e., if you see 10' in the tracker and click, you will be at something that rounds to 10 feet, not necessarily at 10 feet. You must actually type the 10.

Do note, since you are new, that you never have to type the ' or " symbols for feet or inches. See the help and training materials. A number without a symbol is feet. Numbers with a dash (minus) in between signify feet and inches. So, 3-6 is 3'-6". And finally the slash substitutes for the ", so you do not have to use the shift key. 5/ is the same as 5".

Karl

Re: drawing in 2D

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:00:55 GMT

Karl wrote:
A number without a symbol is feet. Numbers with a dash (minus) in between signify feet and inches. So, 3-6 is 3'-6". And finally the slash substitutes for the ", so you do not have to use the shift key. 5/ is the same as 5".

Just to be extra clear, this assumes the working units are set to feet and fractional inches. Other settings behave similarly but not quite the same. (Metric of course is stone simple.)

Re: drawing in 2D

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:05:41 GMT

yup you have deffiantly turned your tracker off

options>work environment>tracker

mine turns its self off all the time is there a quick key for it that i must be accedently hitting to turn it off?

Re: drawing in 2D

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:09:45 GMT

GeNOS wrote:
mine turns its self off all the time is there a quick key for it that i must be accedently hitting to turn it off?

The self-canceling Tracker is definitely an annoying bug. The quick toggle (by default anyway) is the "j" key (no modifiers).

Re: drawing in 2D

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:45:18 GMT

Thanks guys. Honestly, I looked through help and everything. It's just such a simple thing and is probably just set up on right most that the "help" options didn't have a solution that i could find. But mine was probably just turned off then. I'll check tomorrow. Thanks again.

Re: drawing in 2D

Karl Ottenstein — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:33:38 GMT

Matthew wrote:
Karl wrote:
A number without a symbol is feet. Numbers with a dash (minus) in between signify feet and inches. So, 3-6 is 3'-6". And finally the slash substitutes for the ", so you do not have to use the shift key. 5/ is the same as 5".
Just to be extra clear, this assumes the working units are set to feet and fractional inches. Other settings behave similarly but not quite the same. (Metric of course is stone simple.)

Thanks for that, Matthew. Bedrich7 says he is in Salt Lake City, so I just assumed he was working in Imperial as a new user... That assumption might have confused a bunch of other people!

Cheers,
Karl