topic Re: Cursor Precision - Or Not in Documentation

Cursor Precision - Or Not

Anonymous — Tue, 30 May 2023 13:18:53 GMT

One of the most annoying things in ArchiCAD is the cursor precision -- or IMprecision as the case may be. For example, everybody has experienced placing the pixel at the point of the arrow right on the end of a line or corner and NOT getting a check mark. Then you move away 3 or 4 pixel and it shows up. Why? How hard is it to know where the end of an element is? How hard is it to make the cursor's hot spot the pixel on the end of the arrow?

Related to this is something that bit me three times just in the last five minutes. I had a small rectangle and I wanted to draw a dimension starting at the upper-right corner. I moved from the top down until I got close enough that the pointer changed to the check mark, but when I clicked, it put the dimension mark on the LOWER-right corner. The corners are clearly 4 or 5 pixel apart from each other at the zoom level I was working in. Also, the cursor is clearly 3 or 4 pixels ABOVE the upper-right corner because of the first problem I mentioned, yet it picks a corner that is 7 to 9 pixels away from the point of my cursor!

When you're trying to hit a deadline TODAY, these stupid problems just ratchet up the stress! I have enough stress, thank you. PLEASE fix these problems.

Or am I just nuts?

Re: Cursor Precision - Or Not

Anonymous — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:39:44 GMT

Hello Jay,
Does it help to set your cursor snap range to one ?
Peter Devlin

Re: Cursor Precision - Or Not

Anonymous — Wed, 21 May 2008 19:53:18 GMT

I tried 1 but it was too strict. 2 isn't bad, but I think I'll try 3 and see how that works.

That still doesn't answer the question of why it sometimes won't select an element you are directly on top of, or why it will select an element that is farther away from your cursor than another element. It's almost like a larger snap range creates a selection DONUT with a dead spot in the middle -- which I find somewhat unintuitive.

Re: Cursor Precision - Or Not

Anonymous — Wed, 21 May 2008 20:28:35 GMT

Hello Jay,
I have not experienced this "DONUT" effect probably because
soon after starting to use Archicad I got into the automatic habit of
always zooming in before doing any operation to make sure
I was selecting the right thing. Maybe I developed the habit because
I was experiencing this donut effect. I don't remember.
Peter Devlin

Re: Cursor Precision - Or Not

Anonymous — Wed, 21 May 2008 20:46:47 GMT

A similar thing happens with dimensions, where an element may highlight when the dimension cursor is over it, but then the node goes to a different element if you are not zoomed in close enough. Very annoying.

Re: Cursor Precision - Or Not

Karl Ottenstein — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:22:31 GMT

Jay wrote:
For example, everybody has experienced placing the pixel at the point of the arrow right on the end of a line or corner and NOT getting a check mark. Then you move away 3 or 4 pixel and it shows up.

I've never experienced this. Snapping has always done exactly what it is supposed to do for me...

Karl

Re: Cursor Precision - Or Not

__archiben — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:44:45 GMT

somewhere along the line (9>10 or 10->11 . . . i forget which), graphisoft 'dumbed down' the default cursor snap range from the 3 pixels it had been since day dot to the 5 pixels it now is.

i couldn't get used to it so i switched it back to 3 . . . thank the stars for work environment profiles, eh? i tend to zoom in most of the time - i don't think i've fully trusted archicad since 8 anyway . . .

cheers
~/archiben

Re: Cursor Precision - Or Not

Anonymous — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:03:05 GMT

Karl wrote:
Jay wrote:
For example, everybody has experienced placing the pixel at the point of the arrow right on the end of a line or corner and NOT getting a check mark. Then you move away 3 or 4 pixel and it shows up.
I've never experienced this. Snapping has always done exactly what it is supposed to do for me...

Why do I always get the defective one?!?

Re: Cursor Precision - Or Not

Anonymous — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:07:19 GMT

s2art wrote:
A similar thing happens with dimensions, where an element may highlight when the dimension cursor is over it, but then the node goes to a different element if you are not zoomed in close enough.

I forgot to mention that part. When something is highlighted and I click, I generally want to be working on the highlighted object -- or maybe I'm just thinking inside the box.

Re: Cursor Precision - Or Not

ci-JoshOs — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:15:42 GMT

I have to say that i have never experienced this issue either. Obviously GS have not seen it either, hence no fix for it.