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

Deleting Excess Mesh Points

Anonymous
Not applicable
Hi,
I am new to this excellent site.
After years of working with AC I just found that one can delete excess mesh points! I have often created too many points in a mesh and had to keep all points not knowing how to delete. I would then assign heights to the extra points to make them fit the site profile.
Dragging the extra mesh point outside of the site mesh and dropping seems to delete the points.
This does not seem to be in the AC manuals....or have I missed it?
12 REPLIES 12
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Graeme wrote:
After years of working with AC I just found that one can delete excess mesh points! I have often created too many points in a mesh and had to keep all points not knowing how to delete. I would then assign heights to the extra points to make them fit the site profile.
Dragging the extra mesh point outside of the site mesh and dropping seems to delete the points.
This does not seem to be in the AC manuals....or have I missed it?
Welcome, Graeme.

This is a new one to me, and would be a great tip if I could get it to work! I'm wondering if it works only with certain mesh points. I just tried to drag an 'extra' mesh point from the middle of a contour as shown in the attached image. Where the rubber band lines crossed the mesh boundary, I ended up with two new points, and the original single contour became two separate ones. I hope I'm doing something wrong, as what you describe would be nice. What I do now to delete a point is to drag it onto an adjacent point.

Thanks,
Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Anonymous
Not applicable
Hi Karl,
The difference is my points are not linked along a contour. I gave up using the magic wand for site levels for this reason, ie that all points are linked.
I like to add points to a mesh often along a contour, but not linked by the magic wand. These points can then be moved around independently and placed along buildings so that finished levels can be created. Also with the edge levels correct around the mesh placing points within the mesh are then averaged between site levels which can be useful.
I suggest setting up a simple mesh, placing some points within the mesh by clicking with the mouse, and then dragging a point outside the mesh and hopefully watch them disappear. I hope it isnt just a fluke of nature/AC on the site I currently working on (which is complex and convoluted).
Regards,
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Graeme wrote:
I suggest setting up a simple mesh, placing some points within the mesh by clicking with the mouse, and then dragging a point outside the mesh and hopefully watch them disappear.
Hmm. Must be something new to me ... I don't see any way to add a point not connected to a contour by clicking inside a mesh with the mouse. I can only draw closed shapes or contours to get new points ... or add a new point to an existing contour ... and then they are attached to a contour and I cannot drag them off the mesh without the problem noted earlier.

Puzzling.

Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Anonymous
Not applicable
Karl Ottenstein wrote: I don't see any way to add a point not connected to a contour by clicking inside a mesh with the mouse.
The meshes I create have "User Defined Ridges" selected in the dialogue box. Then after a simple mesh is created say a 4 sided rectangle then select the mesh/select the mesh tool/left double click with the mouse within the mesh itself/a dialogue box comes up asking "Add New Points" or "Create Hole"......select "Add New Points"/ also select "Fit to User Ridges"/a new mesh point is then created/select the edge of the mesh/the new point will be then displayed as a dot/this new point can then be selected by a left mouse click/pet pallette comes up and it can be moved or height set/try moving around or setting the height/can be done in 3D or 2D.
From the manual Page 105 Vol 1, AC 8:
"You may continue developing your mesh later by adding new nodes, polygons and editing elevations later as well. When you add new points or create a hole in a mesh, ArchiCAD offers several ways to define the relationship between the newly created points and existing ones.

When you add points to the selected mesh, in the New Mesh Points dialog box you can choose between adding new points and creating a hole. Located below the two radio buttons, the pop-up menu contains three choices that produce different results.

If you choose Fit to User Ridges, the new points will be placed on the current surface of the Mesh, and only user-defined ridges will keep their height. This method is recommended for renderings."

Hope this helps. I dont know how to post a picture yet but I will if I learn how to do this.

Regards,
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Graeme wrote:
Then after a simple mesh is created say a 4 sided rectangle then select the mesh/select the mesh tool/left double click with the mouse within the mesh itself/a dialogue box comes up asking "Add New Points" or "Create Hole"......
You originally said 'click'; now you say 'double click'. Neither creates a point for me. I only get the dialogs that you and the manual mention if I drag and create a new rectangle which adds a minimum of 4 new hotspots. (Or, as I wrote before, a new point can be added along an existing contour via the pet pallete.) I'm trying this in 8.1R1...looks like you're in 8R3. Tried it there as well with the same result.

AHA / EUREKA! What you're describing only happens (double clicking to create a point) if the polygonal geometry is selected for the mesh tool. This is a revelation to me.

Finally figured that out after reading for the 10th time the part of the manual on adding new points that starts "Draw an open line or a closed polygon..." ... and with rectangular geometry selected, only rectangles could be drawn ... so of course, polygonal geometry would allow drawing of lines. The manual talks about double clicking the last point of the line, but doesn't mention that you could simply double click.

Am I the only one that didn't know this, or should we nominate Graeme for a tip: both the creation of single mesh points, and their deletion (by dragging off the mesh)?

Thanks, Graeme!

Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Anonymous
Not applicable

Pleased it worked for you Karl. AC is a complex program with many features and no doubt you and others will be able assist me with my difficulties in the future.

Regards,
Anonymous
Not applicable
Over 11 years later and you guys just made my life sooooo much easier. Someone should make this into a tutorial video. Editing meshes have been the bane of my Archicad work. But I think you guys just changed that!! Cheers!
Anonymous
Not applicable
As a new user and student - I've been trying to delete nodes from the mesh, I stumbled on this post.

After some thought - I realised that the nodes where grouped.

Where I highlighted the mesh, selected the contour and ungrouped it. Where upon I was then able to complete the process Karl described in which you simply drag the node off the mesh to remove it.

Also you can then select the final polyline on the mesh if needed and delete it.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Another way is to drag a point in mesh on top of another point.. seems to work.