Text in Elevation in GDL object

[dushyant]

Hi all,

Is it possible to add text (text2 or alike) for the elevational/sectional view of a GDL object? The 2D script affects only the plan view.

Thanks.

[DGSketcher]

@A_ Smith I simple terms yes, BUT if you look at the polygon for a single character it has many nodes and each node will form part of a triangulated mesh to create the face. This is what is meant when people refer to poly count, it isn't just a single shape, it is all the points that require connecting to form the surface that slow things down.

[A_ Smith]

Maybe you're right. But in that case countPoly has deceived me. Imo PLANE also has many nodes, though it is only 1 polygon.

[Barry Kelly]

My understanding is a single plane is one polygon, regardless the shape of the perimeter.

But we are getting a bit off topic discussing this. 🙄

Barry.

[DGSketcher]

I still think we are still on topic @Barry Kelly, the important bit is that a GDL shape may be correctly considered a polygon, but from the computer rendering perspective you need three nodes to create a face and in very simple conversion each additional node in the polygon creates a new triangular face. It is the process of generating all these triangles in 3D that makes using 3D Text a non-starter for general notes, even if each character was a single polygon. Obviously the 2D text generation process is very different, which is why we use labels overlaid on the 3D projections of Section/ Elevation etc.

It may be one for the wishlist or perhaps there are solutions using CALL for a label that would work. I don't know, but I would be interested to know if it was possible. @Peter Baksa ?

[Hmooslechner]

You could "fake" Text from "3D-Text-command" in the direction of the section. In 3D it's possible to turn things into the direction of the viewer. Dont know, if this would be possible for sections...

I have made something similar years ago with this - but without the turning to the viewer: https://bimcomponents.com/GSM/Details/18356 

[Peter Baksa]

Hi, answering some questions from many posts:

No, it isn't possible to execute 2D commands from 3D context, we don't have such tricks.

A text with 0 height renders faster than one with some height because there are less polygons covering eachother and also less shadow casting. MODEL WIRE also saves time.

But the biggest drawback is that section/elevation gives no information about camera placement and view direction, so the text (or LIN_ 's for example) would be noise on many views, mirrored on a backwards-facing view.

Zone Labels were introduced to allow 2D documentation on 3D views, labelling is the way to go to give a consistent user experience.

[dushyant]

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@Peter Baksa wrote:

No, it isn't possible to execute 2D commands from 3D context, we don't have such tricks.

I was considering a section or an elevation drawing to be 2D, just like floor plans. Floor plans also show either a full projection (reflected or otherwise) or a sectional view, only the section in this case is cut horizontally. So I was considering the elevation/section views to be 2D and asked if text2 could display there. Looks like in the Archicad world the sections/elevations are treated more as 3D than 2D -- Or that GDL's 2D is only for floor plans and the rest of the views (2D/3D) are derived from the 3D geometry.

Anyways, the solution is 'labels' in this case.

[Peter Baksa]

That's an interesting idea, but I think it would be a challenge to handle broken sections or elements intersecting the horizontal/vertical boundary of a section.