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How to hide something according to criteria

Robert Nichols
Advocate

I want to hide certain elements/objects in my reflected ceiling plan, but have them show in floor plan and all 3D views. I'd rather not use layers for this, as the type of item could be anything - toilet accessory, hose bibb, specific cabinet, etc. I don't like layers that have odd collections of construction elements whose only thing in common is desired graphic behavior.

 

Ideally I would add a custom property to my environment ("Hide on RCP"), then flag that when needed.

 

I use a lot of custom GDL objects, and I could easily modify them to respect the HIDE RCP property, but I'd rather not write my own GDL simply to add this feature to AC objects that otherwise are fine.

 

Graphic Overrides was created to address this sort of thing...but lacks an option to simply not draw/show something. 

Mac Studio, 32gb ram, ArchiCAD v26 (Apple Silicon) MacOS 13
16 REPLIES 16
stefan
Expert

Life would be a lot easier if you can have a "HIDE" option in the Graphic Override settings. The only way to hide objects based on criteria is by layer, which is too limiting. I cringe at having to set transparent surface color and white pen... 

--- stefan boeykens --- bim-expert-architect-engineer-musician ---
Archicad27/Revit2023/Rhino8/Unity/Solibri/Zoom
MBP2023:14"M2MAX/Sonoma+Win11
Archicad-user since 1998
my Archicad Book
DGSketcher
Legend

@Robert Nichols Picking up on the comments of @Patrick Hayes, if you can hide stuff in 3D with a GO, then have you considered using a 3D Document from plan RCP? Not had to do it myself, but the option is there.

Apple iMac Intel i9 / macOS Sonoma / AC27UKI (most recent builds.. if they work)
Erwin Edel
Rockstar

Alternatively to using the renovation status, you can create custom renovation filters and 'pin' elements to a specific filter. They will not show up on any other filter, regardless of renovation status. There is a button at the top right of the renovation palette that looks like a set of floor plans, if you select an element and click it, it will change to a floor plan with a pin or vice versa.

 

It is a pity, you dislike layers as a solution, since a robust layer system should tackle this easily. Or maybe that's just how the Dutch layer / specification system works.

Erwin Edel, Project Lead, Leloup Architecten
www.leloup.nl

ArchiCAD 9-26NED FULL
Windows 10 Pro
Adobe Design Premium CS5
stefan
Expert

Layer systems are OK, but there is no option to hide only "some" walls based on criteria or only show certain doors where information is missing. You can colorise them with the GO, but cannot control visibility. This would really strengthen how you can inspect your model based on rules (think about the Solibri Classification or the BIMcollab Zoom Smart Views). Almost, but not fully.

--- stefan boeykens --- bim-expert-architect-engineer-musician ---
Archicad27/Revit2023/Rhino8/Unity/Solibri/Zoom
MBP2023:14"M2MAX/Sonoma+Win11
Archicad-user since 1998
my Archicad Book

Thanks for your reply, Erwin.

We do a lot of renovation work, so we need our office standard to accommodate intended use of the renovation filter feature. I have used it as you described a couple of times, which is what really makes me want a HIDE function in the GO rules!

 

Regarding layers, I disagree. Creating a new layer just to accommodate a relatively eccentric graphic need suggest an ongoing accumulation of layers where graphic needs would start to dominate any other logic information layer setup. 

 

Like so much of CAD organization, we're talking about universal systems versus particular needs. The items I want to hide on ceiling plan, but show in plan/elevation, are relatively few. So, I'd rather solve the problem by attaching a single flag to the element (custom property). Otherwise, I would be creating a new layer, that I will always have to scroll across in other contexts, and it will only be populated with a small (sometimes zero) number of elements. In this case, I think the particular solution beats the universal.

 

Mac Studio, 32gb ram, ArchiCAD v26 (Apple Silicon) MacOS 13
stefan
Expert

Having a "hide" option as part of a GO rule or a "show only" option would be very flexibly and powerful. E.g. hide all doors where fire rating is filled in ...  A layer wouldn't help, since doors sit on their wall's host layer and you don't want to hide ALL doors.

--- stefan boeykens --- bim-expert-architect-engineer-musician ---
Archicad27/Revit2023/Rhino8/Unity/Solibri/Zoom
MBP2023:14"M2MAX/Sonoma+Win11
Archicad-user since 1998
my Archicad Book

Although I don't need any convincing of the need for better element visibility control, I do think that it would be a mistake to introduce it in Graphical Overrides as it would split the control between two settings and make AC even harder to overview. Ultimately visibility is about inclusion/exclusion in a dataset and Graphical Overrides is about how the data is represented and this distinction should be kept. However, the implementation of a invisible linetype would have a similar effect while keeping the distinction.