topic Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9 in Documentation

Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Anonymous — Thu, 25 May 2023 22:08:50 GMT

We have started to use v9 for production. Something strange is happening on one of the designers jobs that I'm not experiencing myself and I can't figure it out.
We have windows and doors that are showing OK in AC9 yet showing as transparent in PM9. Seems to be something with the views? We can't quite figure it out. The drawing was an existing 8.1 pln that was opened in v9 and then saved. Some of the pieces were saved but most everything was redrawn. Any clues?

Chris

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 19:10:55 GMT

Yes, we have had the same problem. We have our model in 8.1 and the LBK in PM9. However, we've noticed that it only happens on certain computers in the office. For example, if my co-worker updates the drawings the windows and doors appear, but they disappear when I update the drawings. Maybe try updating the drawings on different computers in the office...it might be a way to work around the problem.

We think it may have something to do with the libraries associated with BGAC (BG ArchiCAD) for PM9. I opened BGAC and added the 8.1 library in the library manager, but its had no effect. We're still searching for a solution...

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 19:37:35 GMT

Don,

We found out how to fix this. You will need to turn off Transparency in Shading from the 3D Window settings. Then you will need to redefine your viewsets. These can be configured independantly.
You can find some info on this if you do a search in the Help file.

Chris

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:04:40 GMT

Thanks Chris, but that didn't help any. We've tried redefining view sets, layer combinations, we checked to make sure that windows and door will appear in plan (under display options). I can see the windows and doors in AC, but they are lost when transfered to PM. they appear as blank spots in the walls in the LBK. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

Thanks

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Laszlo Nagy — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 10:36:25 GMT

It is true that transparency setting in AC9 is now a piece of information that is saved with Views. This was not so in AC 8.1 and earlier. So I would keep searching in this direction.

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 13:21:07 GMT

What we did was regenerate the elevation, turned off the transparency, then updated the view. Worked for us. There are also transparency settings in the Display options. I beleive the bottom tab. Sorry, I'm not into AC at the time.

Chris

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Ignacio Azpiazu — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 17:00:06 GMT

If I am getting it right there are two subjects to the thread:

- regarding transparency in glass, resaving the views after having switched the 3D window settings did work for me (open each view -which will set 3D transparency to 'on' each time, in my case), change the 3D window setting, resave the view; I would have never figured this out without this thread so thanks very much everybody;

- regarding disappearing doors and windows it sounds like a Display Options setting ended up inadvertently saved in the view; but I don't understand how that can happen if the same file and the same view are saved on one computer and not happen if they are opened-saved in some other computer.

By the way, the idea of setting transparency for the elevation views through the 3D window is totally counterintuitive, and the fact that Transparency does not show in View Settings & Storing Options in View Editor/Publisher makes it perverse. GS should correct this in an update.

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 18:18:29 GMT

the following is more like my case:
..."disappearing doors and windows it sounds like a Display Options setting ended up inadvertently saved in the view; but I don't understand how that can happen if the same file and the same view are saved on one computer and not happen if they are opened-saved in some other computer."

like i said we think it has something to do with BGAC for PM9 and the Libraries associated with it, but we haven't been able to figure it out.
so far we have only been able to get around it by updating the LBK using one comuter in the office that some how brings the windows & doors back when we update the the drawings in the LBK. its a plan view not an elevation or other 3D view....so not quite the same problem Chris is having.

we've tried all the usual & wierd computer fixes (like renaming views, turning on/off the program, reimporting the view, checked the display options to assure doors and windows are on in plan view, etc.) any suggestions are appreciated!

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 01:04:22 GMT

we have some to find that the problem is happening w/ all library parts. doors, windows, toilets, bath tubs, sinks, etc. pretty sure it has something to do with the libraries, but not sure yet how to correct the issue.

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Djordje — Wed, 24 Nov 2004 18:27:43 GMT

dkg wrote:
we have some to find that the problem is happening w/ all library parts. doors, windows, toilets, bath tubs, sinks, etc. pretty sure it has something to do with the libraries, but not sure yet how to correct the issue.

Please describe your library management

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:33:25 GMT

the CAD file is on the server, but we use our local copies of ArchiCAD 8.1 and its local libraries when we open the file. we can see the library parts on every computer in ArchiCAD, but loose some of them when going to PM9.

Re: Window & Door Disappearing in Plotmaker 9

Stig Bengtsson — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 11:24:14 GMT

We have had problems with windows and doors disappearing in PlotMaker when a layout book created on one computer is updated on another computer.

We had a similar problem when we opened a project, created in the International AC9, in the Swedish version with the localized library. Windows and doors disappeared but if they were simply selected and the settings window opened and closed they would appear again.

Going back to the PlotMaker problem, I first thought our problem was multiple libraries on the offending computer. We had recently installed the localized AC9 with the Swedish library but we still had the international library on that computer. I thought ArchiCAD was using the Swedish library and BG-ArchiCAD was looking at the International library so I deleted the the International version and its library but the problem persists.

We are using OSX 10.3.6 with the project files, AC-teamwork and PM-lbk located in the public folder on one of our 6 computers on the network. The AC library loads on each individual computer and the project specific library is located with the project files.

Stig

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

AndorSzoke — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 15:42:40 GMT

Hi,

My colleague Greg Kmethy has just wrote a technote on how to manage network libraries in ArchiCAD 9. I hope this helps:

"If you are TeamWorking, or storing files and libraries on a network server, you have to set up a system to ensure that all the necessary libraries are available to all the users that use the files. This is all the more important, when you link ArchiCAD projects stored on a server into PlotMaker files, since you cannot control the library management of the background ArchiCAD. This technote describes what are the best practices to manage network libraries.

Using Network libraries only

The full paths of the used libraries are always saved into the ArchiCAD project files. In case of TeamWork files, those libraries are saved into the file, that were loaded when the file was shared. However, the Team Leader can change this by signing in the project with exclusive access, loading/unloading libraries, and sending the changes into the plp.

If all the referenced libraries are accessible for the user in the network, ArchiCAD will automatically load them, and the library manager will not appear when opening the file. On MAC, ArchiCAD will try to auto-mount the necessary locations. BGArchiCAD will load the libraries automatically too.

Using Network and local libraries

If you are using both local and network libraries, then a local path, only available for the user that last saved the file, will be stored in the file. This local path may not work for the other users accessing the file. In this case ArchiCAD will not be able to load the libraries from the stored locations, therefore it will ignore these paths, and will auto-search for the libraries. ArchiCAD will search for libraries in the following order:

- In the folder where the Project file is located

- In the folder where the ArchiCAD executable is installed

- At the locations defined in the Projectname.xml file (where projectname is the actual name of the loaded project file)

If ArchiCAD is able to collect all the necessary libraries from these locations, then ArchiCAD will open the file without presenting the Library manager. BGArchiCAD will also successfully find all the necessary library parts. Note, that if not all of the libraries are found using this algorithm, then ArchiCAD will discard the result of the auto-search, and will present you the Library Manager. BGArchiCAD will not load any libraries and will warn you about that.

Also note, that the auto-search will also fail, if there are paths stored in ‘Projectname.xml’ that are not accessible for the user.

To create a ‘Projectname.xml’, use ‘Default Libraries.xml’ as a template. This file is located at:

Windows: Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Graphisoft\ArchiCAD 9.0.0 XXX R1

MAC: Userhome/Library/Preferences/Graphisoft/AC 9.0.0 XXX v1

Example: We have two company-default libraries, Library1 on Server1 and Library2 on Server2 on the network. The XML will look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>

- < <LibraryLocationsFile>

- < <LibraryLocationsList>

< <LibraryLocations>lan.flat://Server1/Folder1/Library1</LibraryLocations>

< <LibraryLocations>lan.flat://Server2/Folder2/Libray2</LibraryLocations>

</LibraryLocationsList>

</LibraryLocationsFile>

So, the best standard to manage libraries is to:

- store standard libraries - that you do not modify, like the ArchiCAD 9 library - locally next to the ArchiCAD executable file

- store company standard libraries - that you frequently modify - on a server, and include their path in an XML file

- store project specific libraries next to the project file."

Best Regards,

Re: Window & Door Transparency in Plotmaker 9

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 18:40:37 GMT

AndorSzoke wrote:
ArchiCAD will search for libraries in the following order:
- In the folder where the Project file is located
- In the folder where the ArchiCAD executable is installed
- At the locations defined in the Projectname.xml file (where projectname is the actual name of the loaded project file)

...
So, the best standard to manage libraries is to:
- store standard libraries - that you do not modify, like the ArchiCAD 9 library - locally next to the ArchiCAD executable file

- store company standard libraries - that you frequently modify - on a server, and include their path in an XML file

- store project specific libraries next to the project file."

Andor/Greg-

Let me get this straight - GS made archicad look for the library automatically (good idea), but did not tell it to follow the default folder structure that the installer uses when placing the program on the hard drive?

When I install ac, the library automatically goes into a folder called "ArchiCAD Libraries" next to the application. My reading of this would be that I must manually go to every user's machine, and relocate the .pla to fix a path error that GS wrote into the program. This really ought to be fixed!

Sorry to rant a bit, but this business of library location has got to be communicated more clearly to your customers. We recently had a huge job get plotted before someone noticed that the libraries didn't get loaded properly in PM.

In v8.1 on mac, the speed of loading libraries over the network was enough of an incentive to use the local library solution, even though we have found it to be unreliable (despite properly setting up the teamwork file, the library paths still get messed up sometimes in PM)

On v9, according to a few tests on our G5's, loading ALL libraries from the server was just as fast as loading from the local drive. With this problem finally fixed, we've gone back to having all libraries available over the network. No more problems locating libraries - just like it was with v6.5 (finally)

whew - comments?
Wes