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SCHEDULE - 3D Axonometry of curtain wall

Anonymous
Not applicable
Dear community, I am having a problem with the axonometric view of curtain walls and I am going a little crazy trying to solve it. (I did google first, and went through youtube videos and Graphisoft helpcenter to no avail). I honestly hope someone can help me, and that there is a solution to my problem.

Some technical information: using Archicad 22 (European international version 7000).

So, the problem:

I'm preparing a listing of used furniture in a project, using a schedule for elements defined as furniture. To help the people reading this listing, I have added the 3d axonometric view. It works fine in all library elements, but the curtain wall elements look like crap.

I have used the curtain wall to build a picture frame, but it shows the element out of scale (looks like a 100x100mm square instead of the A4 it actually is).

This is the preview:



This is how the actual thing looks like:



My tried solutions:

- Tried to build the curtain wall in a clean default environment to make sure it's not something in my own settings that might be the cause of the problem. Didn't help.
- Model view: I have confirmed that the model view is set up to all elements detailed in the curtain wall settings
- Curtain wall itself: I have made sure all elements (especially the frame) is setup as full 3D detail level. Even though that should have no influence, I also checked that the projection mode is at "all projected". For the sake of my sanity, I have also tried the same element with a default simple frame to see what happens, and pretty much the same thing happens (out of scale and proportions):



- Profile: I tried to find a problem with the profile itself, but there isn't anything in there related to 3D detail level
- Schedule: I tried reducing the scale to fit, but it has had no effect.

Does anyone have a solution or a tip on where the problem could be? I officially run out of ideas.

I thank you all in advance, I hope there is someone with an idea... Right now the only solution is a layout cheat with a 3D document, but I honestly would like to avoid that (I mean, automatization is here to help us, right?).
5 REPLIES 5
Barry Kelly
Moderator
The 3D axonometric view of a curtain wall does not show the actual curtain wall.
Because a curtain wall can be the whole facade of a multi-storey office building.
It show a sample of the curtain wall scheme only.

The 3D axonometric view really only works for objects (including doors and windows).


Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
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Anonymous
Not applicable
Yes, the curtain wall can be whole façade, but that doesn't mean that the 3D Axonometry shouldn't be with the correct proportions and sizes. Exactly because curtain walls can be used to design a modular façade, it should in fact show the correct proportions to easily distinguish each module. Otherwise this means this feature has not been properly implemented.

I have that exact problem with my façade, which is made with very distinct modular elements with fixed sizes, and the listing shows squares.

But in the end, what you are telling me is that it has not been programmed to show the proper element, just a silly schematic with random measurements that help no-one.

Which means I have no possible solution I guess it's one more suggestion to send to Graphisoft for their "wish list implementation".
Barry Kelly
Moderator
Helm_Arch wrote:
Which means I have no possible solution I guess it's one more suggestion to send to Graphisoft for their "wish list implementation".

You could try saving the curtain wall as an object.
Then it will show 3D in schedule.
I have not tried saving a curtain wall as an object.
If that doesn't work you can convert to morph and then save as an object.
It won't be parametric of course.

There is a picture frame object in the default library as well.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
Another "workaround" you can use is to display only the Curtain Wall in the 3D Viewpoint in Axonometry, save a View, place the Schedule on a Layout, and place the View of the Curtain Wall as a Drawing in the desired cell of the Schedule. You may have to place a solid white fill below it and above the Schedule's Drawing so it overlaps the default Curtail Wall preview in the Schedule.
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
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No you guys 😕  ...this is not what we want to hear 😉😄 

 

We use the Curtain Wall tool to also create shelving, custom block walls & facades and even other element types in some cases.

 

I came looking for a solution to the same problem to help a client, but understand the display limitations as you outline them here. Thank you at least @Barry Kelly & @Laszlo Nagy  for your workaround suggestions.

 

  • I understand what Barry says about creating objects from the front view to place as schedule preview. With hotspots in the Object it can be dimensioned. This object can be placed inside the schedule field if you click on "Annotate". Or alternatively all these curtain wall view objects can be placed on a Worksheet and scheduled (but then you loose the ability to automatically pull Properties from the actual curtain wall. And yes there's also the disadvantage of losing the live updates from the actual curtain wall in the 3D model will create a lot of tedious re-work if the actual curtain wall design needs to change.
  • I partially like what Laszlo suggests to place the Schedule Drawing on the Layout and a separate Drawing of the 3D Axonometric View on the Layout, over the schedule.
  • We can also just copy the 3D Curtain Wall from 3D Axonometric View / 2D Elevation View and paste it to a Worksheet (which then explodes it into 2D Fills & Lines. Then Simply cut the the 2D Fills & Lines and paste them into the schedule preview field and manually dimension the Fills & Lines. This is also disconnected from the actual curtain wall in the 3D model.

In all 3 cases you have to create an 3D Axonometric View / get a 2D Elevation View of the curtain wall as a starting point.

 

I did a quick test and want to suggest the following to further improve this workaround:

  • get a 3D Axonometric View of the  the curtain wall only 
  • create new 3D Document and save this as a live 3D View 
  • dimension & annotate the 3D Document as needed
  • then place this 3D Document View over the Schedule Drawing on the Layout

This feels like the shortest and easiest to manage workflow. It keeps the drawing a live 3D drawing that updates as the design model is updated + there is no re-work as with the object and 2D Fills & Lines routes. The only aspect that will still be a pain, is to keep checking and aligning the Schedule & 3D Document drawings on the Layout before publishing.

Regards
Francois Swanepoel
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