Viewpoint ID

[Anonymous]

Team,
Within our office there is a debate regarding the organization of the viewpoints, views and Layouts. For example, in our office the actual layout number, (i.e A5.10) is placed as the viewpoint ID along with a name for the viewpoint. This then translates to the View map as the Reference ID. Obviously, once the views are placed on a Layout, the numbers should ideally match. Unfortunately, if a sheet changes (which sometimes happens) from one layout to another there would be some rework to do to rename the Viewpoint ID’s. The Question:
Is there anyway to have an option which allows the Project Map Reference ID name link back to the layouts? That way when placed on a layout, the ID will reference the sheet which it is placed and it will automatically update if a sheet number changes?
Frankly, I feel ID’s should be used to help organize the project and make signing into teamwork easier. When disseminating work (red lines) to multiple people it can be beneficial to provide individuals with sheets, which they can then sign into when accessing the file.

Anyway, I understand there is no one way to do anything in Archicad so what do you guys think? All your feedback would be welcome.

[TomWaltz]

I think you would have better luck with a numbering system that groups similar details together, probably also grouped by sheet series.

Making the user manually tie the viewport ID to the sheet seems like extra unnecessary work to me.

[Laura Yanoviak]

TomWaltz wrote:
Making the user manually tie the viewport ID to the sheet seems like extra unnecessary work to me.

However, tying the View ID to the sheet (as is James Murray's practice) is the best solution I have found so far.

[Anonymous]

Does James have some kind of description of how he does it? fom my take that method would require some additional work if the sheets ever change? Or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance

[Laura Yanoviak]

jorgec wrote:
Does James have some kind of description of how he does it? fom my take that method would require some additional work if the sheets ever change? Or am I missing something?

James' site: On Land

We don't use the system for Viewpoints, because more than one View can be created from a single Viewpoint, so in our case it's only necessary to manage (i.e. manually change) View ID's.

[Link]

jorgec wrote:
Is there anyway to have an option which allows the Project Map Reference ID name link back to the layouts? That way when placed on a layout, the ID will reference the sheet which it is placed and it will automatically update if a sheet number changes?

No - it's a one way street. Viewpoint ID> View ID> Drawing ID> Layout ID. Although at the last step, the drawing can get it's ID from it's position/order in the layout.

jorgec wrote:
fom my take that method would require some additional work if the sheets ever change?

Indeed it would - and it seems like a lot of overhead to me. Viewpoints are a means to an end - we need them to create views. Maybe consider using the view map for sorting, and match it identically to the layout book. This is quite flexible, and to make it a little more friendly when signing into a teamwork project, ID the viewpoints by category.

Cheers,
Link.

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the insight on this. I am trying to come up with a more effective system for the office but it's been challenging. This office has always placed the actual sheet # as their ID something I want to try and avoid for all the reasons you have suggested.

To me the fact that we have to constantly adjust the ids to reflect the changes is ineffective yet it's something they have done from day one here.

Again, thanks for the help. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Guys, heres a response from one of our users.

Its interesting to see different responses. Some of which tie drawing names to the id, but everyone has the same problems and nobody does it the same. We definitely should add it to the wish list for future development. How easy would it be if there was an option to have ALL the ids linked to one another from the project map, to the view map, to the layout?

[James Murray]

jorgec wrote:
Does James have some kind of description of how he does it? fom my take that method would require some additional work if the sheets ever change? Or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance

Hi, just saw this. The key is that the IDs roughly follow the sheet number. Building elevations are A2-1, A2-2. Building sections follow starting at A2-3 or -4. Wall sections are A3-1 etc. I don't care if the number matches the exact sheet number. The goal is to have the viewpoint list generally follow the order of drawing/sheet type.

I would never change an ID from A2-5 to A2-6 just because the drawing got moved. The important thing is that all the building sections precede all the wall sections. Fuzzy is OK.

Admittedly, this method gave more leverage before there were dedicated Elevation and Interior Elevation viewpoints. But the point stands because the lists can still get extremely long, and who knows when we'll be able to do a proper search.

Also, it may be a factor that I use, OMG, clones. So: There's a 1/4" scale clone of the Sections for building sections, and one at 3/4" for the wall sections. One develops the habit of visually skipping over the region of the view list that doesn't apply to the task at hand.

[Chazz]

James wrote:
and who knows when we'll be able to do a proper search.

Something I wish for all the time --though apparently not enough to actually post a wish).....

Lately I've been using OSX's spotlight more and more (did you know it does arithmetic calculations too? Add, subtract, multiply, divide) and wish for search like that in other apps. Having it for Navigator/Organizer would be a big help. The bogus search function in the Object Tool settings could serve as a sort of anti example of how it should function.

While I'm so far OT, I would also like to posit that being able to assign color to the views, folders, layouts, (maybe even layers and layer sets) etc would be very helpful: Elevations are green, large scale floor plans are blue, wall sections are purple.... We're supposed to be a visual people, right?