How to create LIVE Detail Floor Plans

[Anonymous]

Hello everybody and happy NY!

I need to create detail floor plans and I would like them to be live.
If I simply use the main floor plan 1:100 as source, I then have to create a specific layer combination 1:25 to turn off the 1:100 2D line work/text and turn on the 1:25 2D line work/text.

The problem is that:
-I need to draw a fill to cover everything else around the area I need to detail in order to create a white background for txt and 2D work.
-I need to create separate layer combinations for each of the following detail plans, to avoid overlapping of information.

It would be perfect to have a dynamic detail marker tool that keeps everything live instead of exploding everything in 2D.

Is there any option that I should but I am not aware of?

Hope I have been clear and someone has an answer for it.

Cheers

[Anonymous]

Deviz wrote:
It's really dumb that ArchiCAD doesn't simply allows to cut a free-form detail marker, which makes everything else around disappearing and leaves the live model to be documented.

You can cut a freeform detail or worksheet but then you have to do the annotations in the detail/worksheet window so it's no longer a live model view.

I wonder what system does Revit have for this!!!

Revit has the advantage here (to a point). You can create as many levels as you like with the extents individually set. In other words, plan views are pretty much like horizontal sections. Unfortunately the method is not intuitive and from what I've seen most users don't know how to use it very well. As I recall the extents are strictly rectangular. Managing overlapping enlarged plan views still has its share of complications.

[Laszlo Nagy]

This solution deserves a place in the Tips and Trick section so I made a copy of it there.

[Anonymous]

Well, pretty good job for a beer o'clock one. It all does make perfect sense, thank you.

Now we just have to push Graphisoft to make a tool that does make more sense than us having to work around a non-sense way to create detail plans

Enjoy your week

Claudio

[Anonymous]

That's a great method Barry. I'll have to recommend it to my clients. To me it seems pretty close to the ideal of live enlarged plans and plan details though it will still require morfe than one annotation layer in the case of separate but adjoining drawings which require overlapping dimensions etc.

[Anonymous]

I did start creating my detail plans creating one layer combination for each area (1,2,3) and assigned the 5 layers where I put the annotations to it to each one of those layer combinations (dimensions, lines, text, fills and grids).
I then placed my fill over the whole floor plan and cut a hole over the part of plan I want to document.
I thus started documenting it and realized that I need to be very careful not to click on any point over the model by mistake, since it's hidden under the white fill. I then reconsidered the Barry option once again but I personally can stand having the floor plan with all the annotations sitting on top of each other, it just make the editing very complicated and would force me to print much more often to check the final result. Sorry Barry.

To avoid that issue I thought of using the 75% opaque fill and it works just fine.

One thing that Graphisoft should think of implement, is to have the option 'opaque' and 'frame' already available for text, available also for dimensions, and allow the frame around leaders to have its own pen number. That would help Barry's option to be suitable in more situation I guess.

We hope that Graphisoft will take this issue in consideration as priority since detail floor plans are 'normal routine' type of document for architects and exploding everything in 2D using the existing detail marker tool is not coherent with the ArchiCAD philosophy to use the model for documentation.

[Barry Kelly]

Deviz wrote:
I then reconsidered the Barry option once again .....

I like that but can't claim credit for it.
This is the way we were shown some 10 years ago when we started.
I assume it would be a fairly well known method but if not I am happy to share.

Deviz wrote:
..... but I personally can stand having the floor plan with all the annotations sitting on top of each other, it just make the editing very complicated and would force me to print much more often to check the final result.

I agree it looks a bit messy but you do tend to get used to it.
No need to print, just set up your layout page early in the process and keep an eye on it. What you see there is what you will print in the end.

Deviz wrote:
Sorry Barry.

No need to be sorry.
We all should work in the method that best suits our individulal needs.
So long as you get the results you are after and you are happy with your method then all is good.
It is interesting and helpful to see how others in this forum tackle particular problems.
It is good to share all of these methods though because even though it may be a standard method for some of us it seems it may not be so obvious to others.
Especially to those just starting.

Barry.

[Richard Morrison]

I do live enlarged plans all the time, and while Barry's scheme works, I'm scratching my head trying to understand the advantages of using an "overlay" in layout.

I just have one extra layer called "Enlarged Plan." Take the 1:100 plan and change the scale to 1:25 (or whatever), and zoom into the room you want to annotate. Add all of the annotation for the enlarged plan on the "Enlarged Plan" layer. (The "Active Layer" toolbar is good for this.) Now save the view and send to layout. You can save a view for each room. What am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Richard wrote:
I do live enlarged plans all the time, and while Barry's scheme works, I'm scratching my head trying to understand the advantages of using an "overlay" in layout.

I just have one extra layer called "Enlarged Plan." Take the 1:100 plan and change the scale to 1:25 (or whatever), and zoom into the room you want to annotate. Add all of the annotation for the enlarged plan on the "Enlarged Plan" layer. (The "Active Layer" toolbar is good for this.) Now save the view and send to layout. You can save a view for each room. What am I missing?

It comes down to whether you want to mask the area around the rooms or details being enlarged for drawing the notes and dimensions. Since the early days I have used fills or custom drawing frames (2D library parts) for this purpose. The method Barry describes provides the effect without the need for the mask.

[Richard Morrison]

Thanks for clarifying that. I guess I have always taken the approach that showing a little "context" is a good thing. And if the enlarged plan has enlarged annotation in an adjacent room that would show up in the view, there's nothing wrong with just showing both rooms in the same enlarged plan. But then, I'm not as fussy (I'd use a different word, though... ) as some.

[Anonymous]

The other issue is when there are adjoining rooms to be noted and dimensioned on separate drawings. This gets even trickier as it requires two (or more) annotation layers.