Can't add this dimension

[Steve Jepson]

Here is an interesting dimension problem.

I want to add a dimension from the center of this footing to the edge of a wall. I can't do it because of how the footing(drawn as a wall) is oriented.
I draw my footings as walls so they will clean up nicely.
If I rotate the footing it wont clean up.

It acts as if it will place the dimension but it wont do it.
Apparently you can't dimension from mid point on the the side of a wall to the edge of a wall. ??

You can try this with any two walls. Draw one vertical and the other horizontal.

Try to dimension from the center snap point on the edge of the vertical wall to the edge of the horizontal wall. Can't do it.

I think this is a bug because you should be able to add a dimension from any two snap points.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Steve wrote:

Karl wrote:
Dimensions are associative to element hotspots.

The Special Snap Points (half, division, percent, etc) that you are talking about are not hotspots, but temporary snap points and so cannot be dimensioned to.

You can on a line. Why not a wall?

Also on a wall you can not place a dimension node on a divisions mark, but you can place a dimension node on the midpoint edge of the wall. It just wont finish the job.

This line business is pretty weird. If you have special snaps set to Half, the middle spot is associative, even if you later turn off special snaps or change to 3+ divisions. If you turn on 3+ divisions for special snaps and dimension to any of THOSE special snap points on a line, the dimension is NOT associative: drag the line around and you'll see the dimension chain just sit there.

If you look at your original screenshot, you'll see that in spite of clicking on the special 'half' snap point, the dimension tool behaved as if you clicked on the side of the wall with the mercedes cursor: there are two dimension marks on your wall, one on either side of the wall width at the center.

Arguably, there is either an aesthetic UI issue or a functional issue (and possibly both):

UI flaw: With the current behavior, IMHO, we should not see the checkmark cursor at special snap points with the dimension tool if it is going to behave like a mercedes-click: we should just see the mercedes cursor along the entire edge

or, functional flaw: dimensions to special snap points should be made associative based on the special snap point "formula" at the time of creation: so if set to thirds, the dimension would "remember" to associate itself 1/3 of the way from the same end no matter where the element was moved or how it was stretched (etc)

or, unintentional bug/feature: it should not be possible to associatively dimension to the midpoint of a line as is now the case. (If that was intentional, it should also work for a spline, 2D fill, etc to be consistent - but it doesn't.)

I guess one thing consistent about ArchiCAD is inconsistencies. 😉

Cheers,
Karl

[Steve Jepson]

The clean up shows that the elevation for the top of the spot footing is the same as the continuous footing. Lines are very important in my foundation plans because they indicate a step up or down in elevation.

There is a rebar schedule to show the reinforcement for F2.

[vfrontiers]

Don't mean to prolong this, but if you simply turn the FOOTING 90deg will it not clean up with the skinnier footing? (like they are crossing).. And if the footing was based on CENTERLINE, then you could dimension to that?

I am imagining that your STEMs are set to a different joinery number, so there is no chance of healing to the wrong wall...

[Steve Jepson]

Yes! Thanks Duane for pointing out the obvious.
It cleans up perfectly like that and there is no more dimension problem.

I opened up an old project to see how I did it before and all the spot footings are drawn perpendicular to the smaller continuous footing.

[David Maudlin]

Karl wrote:
This line business is pretty weird. If you have special snaps set to Half, the middle spot is associative, even if you later turn off special snaps or change to 3+ divisions. If you turn on 3+ divisions for special snaps and dimension to any of THOSE special snap points on a line, the dimension is NOT associative: drag the line around and you'll see the dimension chain just sit there.

A long time ago (I don't know which version this changed) lines always had a mid point selection dot, visible when the line was selected. This mid point selection dot is now gone. The mid point was part of the line, the other temporary special snaps are not. If you dimension to the mid point of a line, you will get the round (associative) dimension mark, and this dimension will change if the line is stretched. If you use the special snaps, you get the square (non-associative) dimension mark, and these stay in place if the line (or other element) is stretched.

David