Grid tool and section marker display in section windows

[Anonymous]

I have been playing with some of the new feature in 10 and have a few questions that I have not been able to figure out. It appears that the view of the grid lines in the sect/elev window is controled individually within the setting dialog for each sect/elev window. This however is confusing, since some of these controls are adjusted by selecting the grid lines and using the grid line settings. Does anyone know of a way to make changes globally to all (or selected) sect/elev windows. I am having trouble figuring out how the grid lines is placed vertically relative to the position of the model. Without making any changes to the default setting the gird lines were placed 50 - 100' below my zero elevation of story one.

In addition I have tried to find the control which will allow me to see my section markers in the sect/elev window but have been unsuccessful. A search of the help menu and the manual has not helped. I recall that this was supposedly implemented in 10 and am excited about the feature. Thanks for any help you can provide.

[owen]

Gabor (or anyone else really!),

Can you respond to my post regarding this tool working when Hotlinked into another file. The appearance at the correct level in 3D seems to be working now, but the issue of gridlines appearing on the incorrect plan story (as set in Show on Story>Selected..), or not at all is still there.

There is one floor in particular (the retail/transfer floor refered to) which just refuses to Hotlink in at all ... this leads me to think AC thinks this story has no contents. Well it isnt, it has pretty much all the gridlines showing on it!

At the moment I cannot use this tool as the grid is linked into 3 files. Although merging the grid seems to work, redoing this for the 3 files if there are any changes is not really an option - it should work when Hotlinked shouldn't it?

Please let me know if you would like copies of the problem files.

[Brad Elliott]

Unfortunately this has to be classified as another "ArchiCAD almost works but totally useless tool"TM. As noted earlier you can not get the grid elevation correct in the section elevation tool. It always reverts to its initial arbitrary elevation. You can lock the grid in elevation which keeps it there but then if you move the grid in plan it can't update. But the auto dimensioning will move so it will no longer snap to the grid. Also the auto dimensioning in plan is not live so if you move the grid the static dimension remains. Not an expected ArchiCAD behavior. If anyone can prove me wrong please do.

[gkovacsp]

owen wrote:
Can you respond to my post regarding this tool working when Hotlinked into another file.

We identified this as a bug: hotlinking files, which contain CIRCULAR grid elements makes some elements - or the completre hotlink disappear.

We will upload a fixed grid tool to the goodies sites as soon as it is fixed with the other open issues (can't edit length on section etc.)

[owen]

Thanks for getting on to this so quickly

[Anonymous]

Brad wrote:
Unfortunately this has to be classified as another "ArchiCAD almost works but totally useless tool"TM. As noted earlier you can not get the grid elevation correct in the section elevation tool. It always reverts to its initial arbitrary elevation. You can lock the grid in elevation which keeps it there but then if you move the grid in plan it can't update. But the auto dimensioning will move so it will no longer snap to the grid. Also the auto dimensioning in plan is not live so if you move the grid the static dimension remains. Not an expected ArchiCAD behavior. If anyone can prove me wrong please do.

I have been able to edit the grid position and length, but not by using the hotspots. I have had to use a combination of the grid settings in the sect/elev default settings, and the settings of the grid tool itself when the grid is selected in a sect/elev window. some of these changes can be made by selecting all of the sect/elev that want to show grids and change them all at once, but some need to be changed in each "open" sect/elev. This is unfortunate - perhaps in the next generation we will have one more tab that addressees grid display in sect/elev windows such that changes can be made globally across the whole project with a toggle to have individual control within certain sect/elev windows.

[Brad Elliott]

I'm glad to see that there is some action on this part and hope that it will become useable shortly.

Mike, My problem is that it seems almost impossible for you to describe your process that works in a fashion that other people can duplicate it easily. How do you select all the sect/elev at once? Do you have full confidence that if you have to modify the grid it will update properly across all drawings without you having to reset everything again?For now I have a much faster and more flexible traditional way which is copy and paste from the plan.

[Anonymous]

Brad wrote:
I'm glad to see that there is some action on this part and hope that it will become useable shortly.

Mike, My problem is that it seems almost impossible for you to describe your process that works in a fashion that other people can duplicate it easily. How do you select all the sect/elev at once? Do you have full confidence that if you have to modify the grid it will update properly across all drawings without you having to reset everything again?For now I have a much faster and more flexible traditional way which is copy and paste from the plan.

I have just started playing with this in the last week or so, but I believe I have a method that works.

1. place the grid in the plan view

2. Adjust position of grid markers in section and elevation views. This is the step that can be done to all section and elevation that are currently placed on your plan in a single step. In the plan window select all of the sections and elevations. Open the "section/elevations selection settings" dialog box and adjust the "length" setting under the "grid tool" tab. This will adjust the position of the grid marker bubble in your sections and elevations.

3. Adjust the grid line length in section and elevation views. This step needs to be done while you are in each section or elevation window. Open a section or elevation window. Select all of the grid lines in that window and open the "grid element settings". Under the "marker" tab adjust the length (under the geometry tab). This will adjust the length of the grid line in that particulars section or elevation window only.

Play with the different settings in all of these places. Unfortunately you need to go to three different places to adjust the settings for the grid tool. Plan settings are handled by selecting the gird lines in the plan window and adjusting the setting in the dialog box. Section/Elevation settings are split between controls in the section/elevation selection settings dialog box and the grid element settings dialog box.

Good luck - it is confusing, but once set up in your template it is good to go...

[Brad Elliott]

2. Adjust position of grid markers in section and elevation views. This is the step that can be done to all section and elevation that are currently placed on your plan in a single step. In the plan window select all of the sections and elevations. Open the "section/elevations selection settings" dialog box and adjust the "length" setting under the "grid tool" tab. This will adjust the position of the grid marker bubble in your sections and elevations.

Problem is I don't have a Grid Tool tab in my section/elevation selection settings window.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to make sure we are talking about the same grid tool. Did you download the add-on from graphisofts web site?

[Brad Elliott]

Yes