What is the difference between the Figure & Drawing tools?

[Anonymous]

What is the difference between the Figure & Drawing tools?

Why are there two tools that are so similar?

Which tool would be best for me to bring in PDFs of architectural drawings so I can draw minor changes over them and then make a print of the original PDF showing the minor changes that I've made?

[Laszlo Nagy]

Good stuff guys, I have forwarded it to GS Publishing Department.

Also, as I see Karl has already copied it to the Tips section, so that is also taken care of.

[Anonymous]

Hi,
Is there a same type of write up for Detail Tool vs. Worksheet Tool?
Thanks,
Joseph

[Link]

Joseph wrote:
Hi,
Is there a same type of write up for Detail Tool vs. Worksheet Tool?
Thanks,
Joseph

I think that on the surface the Detail and Worksheet tools GS intends for them to be identical. There's been mention that they may split the functionality of the tools, with perhaps the worksheet going 3D, but I'm not holding my breath. 

I think the biggest difference is that (for some inexplicable reason) the detail tool has it's own origin, making it the only viewpoint tool to do so. This can prove problematic when copy pasting, trace referencing (as the detail does not underlay exactly over the original!) and explaining to beginners. 

Perhaps related is that details always seem to be created at the same scale (1:100 for metric users), while worksheets are created using the scale of the viewpoint they were created in. Again the detail tool is the odd one out. 

When a worksheet is created with no boundary, it defaults to a source marker. When a detail is created with no boundary, it defaults to a linked marker. These geometry methods have differing icons between the two tools also. 

There's a start to the list!

Cheers,
Link. 

[Laszlo Nagy]

Two differences that come to my mind:

1. The Detail Tool will create a new viewpoint that is at half the scale than the viewpoint it is created in. E.g. if you have 1:100 scale in the Floor Plan Window and you create a Detail, it will be in 1:50 scale. This comes from the thinking that Details are in smaller scale than normal drawings.
The Worksheet Tool retains the same scale.

2. The "Copy Construction Elements Only" checkbox is checked for the Detail Tool as default, not checked as default for the Worksheet Tool.
This is coming from the thinking that in Details you will mostly create new dimensions and annotations, while a Worksheet may show an enlarged portion of the Floor Plan and dimensions/annotations are still useful.

[Anonymous]

When you create a new Independent Detail it takes on the scale of the Floor Plan window, even if you are within another Detail window (which is at the scale you want the new one to be). I find this very annoying. Surely if you're in a detail and you create a new one, there's a fairly good chance you'd want similar properties for the new detail.

Note: AC11, maybe they have changed this in later versions ?

[Link]

Okay, so we all just contradicted each other.

I think Laszlo is right though (in AC14):

A newly created detail will always default to half of the scale of the viewpoint it was drawn in.

A newly created worksheet will always be the same scale as the floor plan window.

Although even after a New & Reset both the Detail and Worksheet had 'copy construction elements only' unchecked by default.

Cheers,
Link.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Link wrote:
Although even after a New & Reset both the Detail and Worksheet had 'copy construction elements only' unchecked by default.

Cheers,
Link.

Funny, after a New & Reset, for me, the checkbox is checked for the Detail Tool, unchecked for the Worksheet Tool.

[Link]

I guess it depends on the localized template?

Cheers,
Link.

[Laszlo Nagy]

Yes, it could be due to differences in localized versions.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Karl wrote:
most up-to-date version is here:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/Difference%20between%20Drawing%20and%20Figure%20Tools

Just discovered a huge error in the article above which I'm editing now, pending any ideas here from the community.

It appears that most of us who were testing this Figure vs Drawing functionality were on Macs.

Working with a Windows client today, I discovered that the Figure Tool can NOT place PDF's on Windows. He was on Windows 7 64 bit, so I just tested on my end on XP with the same result. ("Unrecognized file format.")

The BIG downside is that Windows users do not have the option to distort PDF files via the Figure Tool. They must first use Photoshop (or something) to convert the PDF to an image file first. (The PDF that my client today had was stretched in the X axis and we could not place correct for this distortion directly with the PDF in ArchiCAD as I could on my Mac.)

Just updating this thread for completeness...

Karl