topic Re: Temporary dimensions in Documentation

Temporary dimensions

Anonymous — Mon, 22 May 2023 21:58:59 GMT

Hi, Roger here, I'm evaluating Archicad.
I have been using Autocad and Chief Architect for some years, and am looking to change to possibly Archicad or VW.
Hope you don't mind if I ask some questions to help me along.
I am trying to move walls into a new position after they have been laid out, normally I would do this by selecting the wall I want to move, this brings up a temporary dimension which I then type in the required distance and hit enter.
How do I do this in Archicad?

Re: Temporary dimensions

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 20:18:24 GMT

There is no directly adjustable dimension of this nature in Archicad.

This is going to sound quite complicated, but really it is not: I do this a lot.

Select the wall you want to move and start the Drag command (either CMD-D / CTRL-D or click on an edge and use the pet palette)
Drag it to the wall you want to measure off (but do not click) to get the perpendicular cursor
Hit the R key (for Radial dimension, D (distance) does the same thing)
Type your distance followed by the - (minus) key, then hit ENTER.
So, ignoring the spaces you would type "R 1000 - ENTER" to come back 1m.

What this does in effect is say "from this wall I want to go back 'x' dimension".

You can also use + instead of - to go beyond a point or use x+ or x- to go in positive or negative x direction, or y+ or y- for y direction.

Hope this helps.

It's slightly different for our Imperial friends, described in other threads on this forum.

Re: Temporary dimensions

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 05:56:51 GMT

Firstly thanks Stuart, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question.
Secondly Wow! What a seemingly complicated procedure for something so simple, but as you say its not that bad, it does work and I could get used to it.
Seems for such a renowned program that Archicad is, some things could be.. well easier maybe!
I will persevere with it.

Re: Temporary dimensions

Barry Kelly — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:10:31 GMT

You can just select a wall and start to drag it in the direction you want to go and then type a figure into the Tracker to move it that particular distance.

The method Stuart described is to move a wall (or anything else) a particular distance from any known point (not necessarily the walls current location).
It does sound a little long winded but it really is very simple.

Archicad will make so much more sense if you can find someone to sit down with for an hour or two to see how it works.
I am sure your local distributor will be willing to give you a demo - even if it is over the internet.

Barry.

Re: Temporary dimensions

aahatimo — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:14:44 GMT

roger,
is still miss the way walls could be moved using chief, and i have been on archicad for a long time! wish we could have equivalent function in ac. but you do get used to the workaround, until a post like this pops up.

Re: Temporary dimensions

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 11:37:27 GMT

Thanks for the replies!

Re: Temporary dimensions

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 07:07:42 GMT

Hi Rodger,

I use Chief as well as Archicad and really if they want to speed up productivity and make editing easier for us, they need to bite the bullet and put this method into Archicad.

The amount of extra users they would get from other packages would increase greatly. Their methods of moving and editing objects or elements is just too slow for me. I wish they would do something about it.

Re: Temporary dimensions

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 00:24:02 GMT

as a previous user of Chief architect & Revit, and a new user of archicad, it is something that needs to be addressed as moving items in archicad is so much more tedious. It it ever gets added please comment/advise.

Re: Temporary dimensions

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 05:39:13 GMT

Wow I didn't realise that I have now been using Archicad for 3 years now!
To be honest as I have progressed using AC I have found that temporary dimensions are less & less of a wish or must have for me, I use the method S2art describes in the first reply all the time now & it works well.
I suppose if a future version sees temp dims as a new feature it would be a good thing, but for me its not a big deal anymore.
Give it a go, I know I could never go back to Chief Architect, & I have never used Revit.
Archicad has lots of features that will more than make up for not having temporary dimensions.

Re: Temporary dimensions

Thomas Holm — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 19:47:16 GMT

s2art wrote:
There is no directly adjustable dimension of this nature in Archicad.

Well, there is, kinda. If you have activated the Tracker, you will get a live readout of the current coordinates, where you can type your desired distance and direction and hit return just as you want. To me, it looks like you can make it work just like you describe the temporary dimensions.

Re: Temporary dimensions

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 10:13:30 GMT

I just thought I'd resurrect this rather than start a new thread.

Is there an equivalent to temporary dimensions or an equivalent? It's something that I miss.

E.g. If I have a window that is 1543 from a corner of the wall, in revit I'd select the window and type 1200 to make it 1200 from the wall.

In archicad I'd select the window and move it 343 in the right direction.

This is fine for simple differences but I did find it a lot quicker and easier being able to edit temporary dimensions (or when dimensions on a dimension line become temporary when the object is selected).

If there is not a current function within archicad, does it have potential for future consideration? I think it would be a useful addition to Archicad

Re: Temporary dimensions

Brett Brown — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 10:28:41 GMT

Yes I wish Archicad had temporary dimension like Revit and Chief Architect. Easiest way to do that in Archicad is to select window, drag to the corner and type R 1200 minus enter as said previously. No mental arithmetic needed. cheers

Re: Temporary dimensions

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 10:55:03 GMT

Thanks Brett, that's the other variation of what I do.

Is it a wishlist item?

Re: Temporary dimensions

Link — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 15:17:54 GMT

When about to place the window, hover on the corner and type X1200+ and hit enter. I think of the + as meaning relative to where the cursor is. You can also input X-1200+ to go left (-X). Similar for Y. Pretty quick once you get your head into it.

Cheers,
Link.

Re: Temporary dimensions

runxel — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 15:45:55 GMT

Link wrote:
When about to place the window, hover on the corner and type X1200+ and hit enter. I think of the + as meaning relative to where the cursor is. You can also input X-1200+ to go left (-X). Similar for Y.

Or even easier: just always put the plus or minus behind the number, if you want it to be relative. If it is in front, it's absolute.

Re: Temporary dimensions

Anonymous — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 16:41:37 GMT

Thanks guys. Tips like those are a massive help

Speaking of + and -, can you input formulas in Archicad?

I used to enter e.g =235+568+1392 into dims/temporary dims in revit or more complex formulas. Typing imperial dimensions in whilst working in metric proved handy sometimes too

Re: Temporary dimensions

Link — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 18:31:09 GMT

runxel wrote:
Link wrote:
When about to place the window, hover on the corner and type X1200+ and hit enter. I think of the + as meaning relative to where the cursor is. You can also input X-1200+ to go left (-X). Similar for Y.
Or even easier: just always put the plus or minus behind the number, if you want it to be relative. If it is in front, it's absolute.

But that's relative to the origin right? So you'd need to set the user origin first?

thompsonmp wrote:
Thanks guys. Tips like those are a massive help

Speaking of + and -, can you input formulas in Archicad?

I used to enter e.g =235+568+1392 into dims/temporary dims in revit or more complex formulas. Typing imperial dimensions in whilst working in metric proved handy sometimes too

No equations, but you can enter imperial dimensions as decimals.

Cheers,
Link.

Re: Temporary dimensions

runxel — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 10:31:14 GMT

Link wrote:
But that's relative to the origin right? So you'd need to set the user origin first?

Nope 🙂 (and a little bit yes)
Doing this will actually set the user origin temporarily to the point where your cursor is at that point.

thompsonmp wrote:
Speaking of + and -, can you input formulas in Archicad?

Not at the moment, but I think there was a wish already somewhere here.

Re: Temporary dimensions

sinceV6 — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 14:38:52 GMT

thompsonmp wrote:
...
I used to enter e.g =235+568+1392 into dims/temporary dims ...

You can, after either hitting X, Y or R (and result will depend on what you use), keep using "+" or "-" after each number.

When moving something, you would CTRL-D, click, R or X, then 235+ 568+ 1392+, ENTER
After each "+", snap guides will show.

Best regards.

Re: Temporary dimensions

Link — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 02:16:23 GMT

runxel wrote:
Nope (and a little bit yes)
Doing this will actually set the user origin temporarily to the point where your cursor is at that point.

I've not seen the edit origin move from coordinate input alone, but I guess it could be possible depending on the User Preferences in your Work Environment and your use of the Coordinate Box.

Would be interesting to see this in a screen capture movie.

sinceV6 wrote:
You can, after either hitting X, Y or R (and result will depend on what you use), keep using "+" or "-" after each number.

When moving something, you would CTRL-D, click, R or X, then 235+ 568+ 1392+, ENTER
After each "+", snap guides will show.

Great info!

Cheers,
Link.