Wallniche side materials

[runxel]

What's the secret for having custom surfaces in a WALLNICHE?
The status bit 256 is set, the materials (surfaces) as well, but it changes nothing.
Any insight here?

[Kristian Bursell]

I battled with this initially too. In the end I found you just use the wallniche without the material set for each line and instead set the material before. You can even see in my example where I hid my original material setting.

for k = 1 to vardim1(nodes_x)
	put _nodes_x, _nodes_y, 31	!1+4+8+16, MATWallReveal
next k
material MATWallReveal
wallniche nsp/3, 1, 2+16,
	0,0,1,	0,
	get(nsp)

"MATWallReveal" in this example is a variable determined by either the external and internal wall surfaces or by a custom setting when the user opts to turn the custom setting on.

if bCustRevealMat then
	MATWallReveal	= _iSurfaces[5][1]
	MATWallOpposite = _iSurfaces[6][1]
else
	if WIDO_REVEAL_SIDE then
		if elTYPE = 1 then MATWallReveal	= WALL_MAT_A
		if elTYPE = 1 then MATWallOpposite 	= WALL_MAT_B

	else
		if elTYPE = 1 then MATWallReveal	= WALL_MAT_B
		if elTYPE = 1 then MATWallOpposite 	= WALL_MAT_A
	endif
endif

so simple... once you know.

[Barry Kelly]

Funny, I was working on this just last week.
This is what I used.

	
	m1=1	!!the polygon will create a visible edge upon entry into the body being cut
	m2=1	!!depth - the lengthwise edge of the cutting form will be visible
	m3=1	!!the polygon will create a visible edge upon exiting the body being cut
	m4=1	!!outside - the bottom edge of the cutting form will be visible
	m5=1	!!inside - the top edge of the cutting form will be visible
	m7=0	!!controls the viewpoint dependent visibility of the lengthwise edge

	MATERIAL rear_mat
		WALLNICHE 4, 1, 1*0 + 2*0 + 8*0 + 16*1 + 32*0 + 64*0 + 128*0 + 256*1,
		0, 0, 1, 0,
			-(a*0.5),0,1*m1 + 2*m2 + 4*m3 + 8*m4 + 16*m5 + 64*m7,bot_edge_mat,
			(a*0.5),0,1*m1 + 2*m2 + 4*m3 + 8*m4 + 16*m5 + 64*m7,left_edge_mat,
			(a*0.5),b,1*m1 + 2*m2 + 4*m3 + 8*m4 + 16*m5 + 64*m7,top_edge_mat,
			(-a*0.5),b,1*m1 + 2*m2 + 4*m3 + 8*m4 + 16*m5 + 64*m7,Right_edge_mat

The material for the rear of the niche is set with the standard MATERIAL command.
The edges are all controlled in the niche code.

Barry.

[Lingwisyer]

Would not the point of 256 be to have each side of the niche independent? Setting a material before hand only allows you to define a uniform side material.



Ling.

[Kristian Bursell]

Sorry I was not assuming a different material for each side. I have not needed this yet so haven't tested it.

Barry seems to have it working fine though, and that is with the 256 (+ the 16 also).

Perhaps the issue runxel is witnessing is due to the settings of the mask codes as well.

[runxel]

Guys, thanks for so much input!
That was very helpful indeed! Glad to have you all here.

I got it sorted out.
So what was the issue here?
First of all, the first status bit j1 cancels the 256 j9 bit!
This is not documented in the GDL manual, and in the german translation I had open the wording is a bit off, so I misinterpreted that the first bit has to be set, while it is in fact the other way around.

[Ahmed_K]

Oh god, gdl, the BIG SECRET OF ARCHICAD...
How do you learned it please, a 500 page book (gdl cookbook) wont be helpful to implement gdl quickly and use it's power in an office

[Steve Jepson]

Form me, I don't really need to do very many things with .gdl.   So it is a smaller thing to learn how to use a few scripts that I never wrote myself anyway 🙂  .  Mostly is is a matter of just adding a few lines of script to some existing object to get it to do what I want.