Dear Community,
If you’ve worked with them before, you’ll know that point clouds bring extremely valuable real-world data into Archicad. However, oftentimes their dense structure can create excessive snap points in a project. This month’s tip explores solutions to this dilemma, originally presented as responses to a forum discussion where @CFS_Mike asked if there’s a way to turn off snapping for point clouds.
While the suggested solutions don’t exactly ‘turn off snap points,’ they do present a few methods for managing interactions and improving your workflow with point clouds. We’ll explore a solution shared by community member @runxel, along with other techniques to better control snaps and element visibility.
Snap settings in Archicad: what you can adjust
While searching for a way to control snapping behavior, @CFS_Mike came across a setting in Input Constraints and Guides.
What can you do in Input Constraints and Guides?
If you want to explore this menu yourself, you can find it under: Options > Work Environment > Input Constraints and Guides
This panel controls snapping and cursor behavior in Archicad. While it can’t disable point cloud snapping, it offers useful tools for refining snap point workflows.
The key settings available in this panel are:
- Snap Guides & Points: Controls the appearance and behavior of snap guides and reference points.
- Snap Reference Angles: Lets you define specific angles for snapping, useful for precise alignment.
- Autohide Snap Points: Helps reduce visual clutter by only displaying snap points when necessary.
- Guide Line Options: Adjusts how guide lines appear and function during modeling.
- Cursor Behavior Settings: Customizes the responsiveness and interaction of the cursor with snap elements.
Snap Point options
Another way to refine snapping behavior is by adjusting Snap Point Options, found under View > Snap Point Options. These settings allow greater control over how elements snap to different points along their geometry.
Available options include:
- Half: Divides an edge into two equal parts.
- Divisions: Divides an edge into the set number of segments. Range: 3-100.
- Percent: Divides an edge into two parts according to the set percentage.
- Distance: Divides an edge into segments that are the set distance apart.
- Best Division by Distance: Snap points will divide the edge into equal parts that are as close as possible in length to the distance defined here.
Note: Define your preferred divisions, percentage, etc. in the Snap Point Values Dialog Box.
These settings apply at the segment level, offering flexibility in how snapping behaves when modeling. If you want to learn more about snap points, click here
@Runxel’s tip: using Design Options to handle interactions with point clouds
By placing the point cloud in a passive Design Option, you have better control over how it appears in your model.
Here’s how you can do that:
- Open the Design Options palette by going to Design > Design Options. If the palette is not visible, enable it under Window > Palettes > Design Options.
- Create a new Design Option Set by clicking New Option Set, then add a New Option.
Create New Option in Design Option palette
- Move the point cloud to New Option
- Select the point cloud in your model.
- In the Design Options palette, assign it to the New Option by right-clicking on it and selecting “Link Selected Elements”.
- Easily toggle the point cloud on/off
- When you toggle it on/off, the point cloud disappears without affecting other elements.
- Since the Design Options palette is non-modal, it stays open, making toggling quick.
Easily toggle the point cloud on/off with Design Option
Bonus tool: Fade and Lock the point cloud for better visibility
Use the Fade Environment option to fade the Point Cloud, reducing its visual impact while modeling new elements. This helps maintain reference visibility without it dominating the view.
To prevent accidental selection while keeping the Point Cloud visible for reference, use the Lock command by selecting the Point Cloud and go to Edit > Locking > Lock. This keeps the Point Cloud in place while allowing snap points to remain active.
This method keeps your workflow smoother by highlighting relevant elements and locking references such as a point cloud (similarly to the Trace Reference feature)
Additional methods for controlling snap point visibility when working with complex geometries
While Design Options offer the most flexibility by allowing visibility control and locking reference elements, you can also use Graphic Overrides and Layer Combinations as alternatives.
- Graphic Overrides: Adjust the appearance of the point cloud by modifying its color or level of transparency
- Layer Combinations: Toggle the visibility of the Point Cloud by placing it on a dedicated layer and switching between predefined layer combinations.
Thank you, @runxel for the insightful tip using Design Options. This solution offers a practical way to lock interactions while keeping the point cloud visibility at hand.
Click here if you want to look at the forum discussion. If you want to learn more about how to work with point clouds, you can also check out this guide here.
Remember to share your challenges, solutions, and insights. Your contribution could be the next Tip of the Month!
Cheers 🎉
