Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

3D surfaces not aligning

Anonymous
Not applicable
Hi ARCHICAD Wizards,

I am having immense trouble trying to align 3D textures on different objects. In this particular example I have a vertical timber cladding surface. The selected object is a bulkhead element made using the Slab tool. There is a slab above which has the same external surface. You'll see that on the left hand side the timber surfaces are not aligning, but the right hand side it is.

I have tried resetting the origin, reset the texture, flipping the slabs, but nothing seems to work.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Ben
17 REPLIES 17
Barry Kelly
Moderator
When setting the origin you need to make sure you are choosing exactly the same origin position for both slabs (x, y and z position - although z is not so important for a vertical material).
You may have the same 'x' position so the front surfaces seem to line up but if you pick different 'y' position (i.e. further along the side of the slab) then those sides may not line up.

It is easiest if you select all elements you want to have aligning textures and set the origin for all of them at the same time.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
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Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Anonymous
Not applicable
Barry wrote:
When setting the origin you need to make sure you are choosing exactly the same origin position for both slabs (x, y and z position - although z is not so important for a vertical material).
You may have the same 'x' position so the front surfaces seem to line up but if you pick different 'y' position (i.e. further along the side of the slab) then those sides may not line up.

It is easiest if you select all elements you want to have aligning textures and set the origin for all of them at the same time.

Barry.
Hi Barry

I am 100% sure I am selecting the exact same spot. See attached screenshot where I have isolated the two slabs in question. I am resetting both slab's origins at the same time clicking on the corner spot where the purple circle is. See attached.

Prior to that I reset both textures as well.
Barry Kelly
Moderator
It sounds like you are doing it correctly.
Is the element on to p a slab?
It seems to have a cut-out at the side which a slab can't have unless there is a Solid Element Operation in play or possibly a Priority Base Junction with a hidden element.

This is one of those situations where it is hard to say exactly without having the actual file.
If you want you can select those 2 elements in plan, go to the FILE menu > External Content > Save Selection As Module.
Then ZIP that MOD file and attach it to this post.
I should then be able to see exactly what you have.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Anonymous
Not applicable
Barry wrote:
It sounds like you are doing it correctly.
Is the element on to p a slab?
It seems to have a cut-out at the side which a slab can't have unless there is a Solid Element Operation in play or possibly a Priority Base Junction with a hidden element.

This is one of those situations where it is hard to say exactly without having the actual file.
If you want you can select those 2 elements in plan, go to the FILE menu > External Content > Save Selection As Module.
Then ZIP that MOD file and attach it to this post.
I should then be able to see exactly what you have.

Barry.
Hi Barry,

Thanks that's very generous of you. I am unable to attach the module file to this post as it's larger than the allowed size. I have dropbox-ed it for you in this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uqfhaifonfeq0ro/3D%20texture%20issue.zip?dl=0

Thanks,
Ben
Barry Kelly
Moderator
I don't have exactly the same texture as you but I did see the same problem.

What I notice is the direction of the texture in the plan surface is different for both slabs.
Changing the direction fixes the problem.
Select both slabs and use "Set Direction" by clicking on the underside (or top) of one of the slabs.

Barry.
align_texture.jpg
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Anonymous
Not applicable
Barry wrote:
I don't have exactly the same texture as you but I did see the same problem.

What I notice is the direction of the texture in the plan surface is different for both slabs.
Changing the direction fixes the problem.
Select both slabs and use "Set Direction" by clicking on the underside (or top) of one of the slabs.

Barry.
Genius!!!!!!!!!! Thank you very much.
What on earth could be the reason for this? Surely the top surface should not affect the side surfaces and vice versa.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Barry wrote:
I don't have exactly the same texture as you but I did see the same problem.

What I notice is the direction of the texture in the plan surface is different for both slabs.
Changing the direction fixes the problem.
Select both slabs and use "Set Direction" by clicking on the underside (or top) of one of the slabs.

Barry.
Now that you have solved the issue of the two slabs, I'm wondering if you could shed any light on this one...which is that I cannot align the texture of the wall under the slab. See attached. There is no "top" surface as such for the wall so i'm not sure what I can do to make this align. I have tried resetting texture, setting the same origin with everything selected, flipping the wall, to no avail. I have also drop-boxed this here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d7ak9tcmqvzgwxc/3D%20textuer%20issue%202.zip?dl=0
I have included the jpeg of the texture for you.

Sorry - I should have included this query in the first post as well.
3D texture 3.jpg
Barry Kelly
Moderator
You can either rotate the wall texture by 180° or rotate the slab (all slabs) texture by 90°.

I am not sure why but it seems that the origin is moved slightly for different rotations - even though the same starting point is chosen.

Barry.
align_texture-2.jpg
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Barry Kelly
Moderator
I think the problem is exaggerated with your texture because the start and end planks are cut in half but are not exactly the same width.
So when the texture is aligned one way it will be in a slightly different position when rotated 180°.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
Dell XPS- i7-6700 @ 3.4Ghz, 16GB ram, GeForce GTX 960 (2GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11