Disappearing Dimensions - AC15 (no teamworks issues)

[rob2218]

Well...here's the thing.
I place some dimensions on some objects that are on different renovation filters. Some are in "NEW" and some are in "EXISTING" and when I leave and reenter the PLN file...."some" not all dims are gone.....what the heck is this GS?

I mean....really? It seems to happen randomly.

Can GS look into this please? I hate having to recreate certain dims and it's becoming a nuisance to continually having to keep scanning thru each drawing sheet to try and determine WHICH dims are missing.

My boss keeps yelling at me cause he insists that I'm not putting in the dims that he needs and I know I do because I've made print outs of the sheets, and the DIMS ARE THERE....yet they disappear...randomly.

Please find the FIX here G.S.

[Katalin Takacs]

Hi Rob,

we have a wiki article about a very similar issue. It describes the cause and the solution as well, please check it out:
http://archicadwiki.com/Bugs/DimensionLossInRenovationFilter

Best regards,

[Dennis Lee]

Ah, great. Another embarassing mistake due to ArchiCAD. So are we supposed to explode all the dimensions from now on until the hotfix comes out?...These kinds of errors can have financial impact on the architect. Can we please get a emergency hotfix for these critical bugs ???

[Dennis Lee]

Or at least put a warning on the hotfix download page stating that the "hotfix may give you these known bugs...", please. These kinds of RANDOM errors are very hard to deal with, and very costly at crunch time.

[Katalin Takacs]

Dear Dennis,

We got a report about this problem some weeks ago first, and we are fixing it as soon as possible. This means it is scheduled to be fixed in the next ArchiCAD 15 Hotfix.
By the way, this bug was not installed with the Hotfix, unfortunately the issue exists since ArchiCAD 15 was released.

About the most frequent problems we are writing articles in http://archicadwiki.com/Bugs section to help the Users to avoid similar issues, to explain their causes and give workaround possibility.
It is worth to check the latest news of this page. If you create an account on ArchiCAD Wiki, you can also subscribe to Bugs (or any other) page, to get the latest updates automatically.

[rob2218]

thanks Katalin,
I'll create an account for myself right now.
I enjoy working with Archicad. it's been a real pleasure.
I'm an "Archi-advocate" if you will.

Though, this one particular bug "the disappearing dimensions" really is a nuisance I must say.

Imagine if you will...trying to convince your boss that you did indeed put those dimensions he asked for from his redline check set onto the database....yet they are not there.

Sometimes, trying to convince your boss you did do the task requested when the proof is unavailable is just not acceptable to them.....so hence why users are fairly frustrated with this particular bug issue.

When will the new hotfix be released? will it come out after AC16 is announced?

[Katalin Takacs]

Yes, I know it is a frustrating and important issue, that's why we fix it ASAP.
Unfortunately I can't let you know much about the next Hotfix, but both of you will be personally informed when the fix will be available.

[Dennis Lee]

Thanks Katalin,

It's really a welcome sight to see your active participation on the forums! I also appreciate your answer. However, I hope you understand that it really is disheartening to come across these random - behind your back - errors, because we architects pride ourselves in the quality of our drawings (and depend on it), and when you can't trust your most basic tool, you really don't know what to do. I feel these random and hidden errors that change the output is a totally different class of bugs in comparison to the upfront errors and bugs that we encounter. While I do understand that there are other issues to consider when issuing a hotfix, I do hope that GS can implement a quicker, emergency fix for these kinds of bugs.

rob2218, I'm coming from the other side - although I do a lot of modeling / drafting also, I have employees who I depend on for drafting / plotting / submitting, and I did think it was their mistakes also at first - but felt bad for suspecting them after I find out this is because of archicad.

In this instance, we found out that our final plots had missing dimensions on two sheets (5 sets) , so she had to use white out and pen to hand write them in. Lot of wasted time and effort, but still better than if we had submitted with all the missing dimensions!

[rob2218]

Dennis,
you will find Katalin of GS to be a welcome breath of fresh air here on the forums.
She's quick to try and catch as many questions as she can.
I've only known of her a short time and she's so far impressed me how quickly she can address issues...........good job Katalin.

On another note...I'm a freelance BIM manager. I work for many different local and remote firms helping them with their BIM issues and setups.....and I have to tell you...this "disappearing dimension" really is in a class all by itself only because it's too subtle and too easily missed. And you can't really predict "where and when" these dimensions will disappear.

It does appear that it occurs on items being placed on renovation filters, then switching back and forth from different renovation filters but really...it's a tough one to accept.

As long as the workaround of "placing static dimensions" still holds true...then it's a temp fix better than none.

I hope GS gets their hotfix out quick. I'd surely love to see the auto-dims start to work properly again....

[ksjhawk]

Rob...

Take heed, this does not only happen with dimension strings tied to items with different renovation statuses. It took me placing dimensions 2-3 times on a column grid before realizing something was wrong. I would place a string on the grid (these are grids made with the ArchiCad Grid Element Tool), come back to the drawing later, usually after send and release, and the dimensions would be missing. Both the dims and grid are on the same renovation filter, both New, but the dims disappear unless you change the string to static.

I feel your pain and hope this is resolved in the very near future.