Dimensions Suddenly Changed

[Bob Moore]

I was working in AC 18 on an independent work sheet and when I went back to the floor plan the dimensions had shifted 1/16" give me some strange dimension that will be tough to use in the field.

[Jefferson]

Hi Aaron -

Thanks for the reply - you're saying it's an issue and I have to live with it? Not that I doubt you, but I can hardly believe this would be unchecked at this point in the program's evolution - PLEASE tell me it isn't so!

I would love to go metric but it's not an option for my location and work. Further I didn't see this issue early on with 19. Although, having made a colossal jump from V 12 it's not like I am tracking well on all issues.

Not to be intentionally obtuse, but I'm not certain what it is you do to work around/with this? Can you elaborate, and I presume you have taken this up with GS support? I couldn't find any other posts on the topic than this one.....

Coming from a construction background the importance of accuracy is not lost on me so I take great pains to build an accurate model, at least as accurate as AC will allow [64ths]. Using total dimension strings, drilling down to correct errors - like everyone else I'm sure. Inaccurate models equal inaccurate plans and soon you're not working if that's the quality of your output.

This is real productivity killer.

[Aaron Bourgoin]

I come to the metric world from the 1/64th world. I was dismayed to discover fractions of millimetres in the project I started working on.

Over time, I've come to realize that this probably started the day a project commences. I say that because a project usually starts with a survey, dimensioned in metres to two decimal places. From this, a planning study commences based on setbacks and other zoning imposed constraints to form an as-of-right proposition.

However, the surveyors round their dimensions rather than construct a figure that closes with vectors drawn as dimensioned. And so the building footprint will inherit any fractions introduced by the surveyor's drawings.

The next project I start will commence with a project boundary rationalized from the dimensions as I doubt a surveyor will take their work back and correct it.

From there, the responsibility is my own.

[Richard Morrison]

Jefferson wrote:
Hi Aaron -

Thanks for the reply - you're saying it's an issue and I have to live with it? Not that I doubt you, but I can hardly believe this would be unchecked at this point in the program's evolution - PLEASE tell me it isn't so!

Jeff,
Looking at the behavior in your video, it looks a lot like the Options>Project Preferences>Working Units have been set to 1". You might look at that and change it to 1/32" or 1/64" if it has been reset somehow.

[Jefferson]

Richard - thanks for taking the time to respond - This program has always had a lot of setting options which can both advance you and or pin you to the mat. I tend to experience both :-]

Link Ellis suggested I check my dialog auto update time setting - - either he intuited I'd screwed that up or he's really good.......I'm thinking the latter.

Aaron - Near as I am following your replies it sounds like you are either forced to or have chosen to put an inordinate amount of trust in surveyor's accuracy. In my end of the spectrum/neighborhood, working off/from/with their tolerances would be suicidal. Their data is a necessary reference but certainly not "spot on".

[Aaron Bourgoin]

Jefferson wrote:
Richard - thanks for taking the time to respond - This program has always had a lot of setting options which can both advance you and or pin you to the mat. I tend to experience both :-]

Link Ellis suggested I check my dialog auto update time setting - - either he intuited I'd screwed that up or he's really good.......I'm thinking the latter.

Aaron - Near as I am following your replies it sounds like you are either forced to or have chosen to put an inordinate amount of trust in surveyor's accuracy. In my end of the spectrum/neighborhood, working off/from/with their tolerances would be suicidal. Their data is a necessary reference but certainly not "spot on".

I agree. Which is why having a boundary object in ArchiCAD might be a help. That or reconstructing a boundary using circles to build the chords that define the property lines. It's a task that comes right at the beginning of a project and is rarely looked at. People are in too much of a hurry to do this at the start. Unfortunately, the inaccuracy starts there. On Day One.

[Katalin Borszeki]

Hi! When using feet & fractional inches as working units, the correct format of the dimensions lokks like this: 1’-2 3/4". As we can see on the video you have posted, you attempt to enter 1’-2” 3/4. This is an invalid format so after hitting Enter, ARCHICAD fixes it to be correct.

On the other hand, the issue might also be that you do not press enter, and ARCHICAD doesn’t let you finish typing. In Options > Work Environment > Dialog Boxes and Palettes, please set “Dialog-box Auto Update Delay” to a higher value. After this, the delay will be longer and if this is the problem, you do not run out of time.
Tx,