Slab Editing

[Anonymous]

After 20 years of using AutoCAD I am new to Archicad. Please bear with me as I ask what must be very basic questions to some of you.

I purchased the educational version of ArchiCAD 9 a couple of years back. I purchased Virtual Tutor 9 at the same time. I have spent limited time learning ArchiCAD 9 with the help of the tutor. It was just enough to know I wanted to try the full program.

I have recently purchased the full license. I have version 11 and have recently received version 12. I have ordered the tutor for 11 but it has not come yet.

At the moment I am using the Virtual Tutor with ArchiCAD 9 to learn the basics. I will switch to the 11 tutor when it arrives.


Here is my first question:

In the editing slabs section of the tutor there is an exercise to modify a boomerang shape to a Swiss Cross. The exercise shows how to select the slab and then activate the edit tools by left clicking on the slab. It shows how to add a node and then to align the new node at a relative distance from an existing slab node.

The exercise says to click the add-a-node function, then to move the cursor over an existing node until the cursor pen turns black. The tutor then shows how to type in “X” (or “Y”) and a specified distance in order to align the new node at a 90 degree angle, and at the specified distance, from the existing node.

I select the slab, I left click on a slab segment and the edit function box appears. I make sure that the add-a-node function is selected. I then move the cursor over an exiting node, type “X”, and then type -20 to align the new node at negative 20 units to the left of the original node. The new node aligns horizontally but not at 20 units.

I have done this procedure in both the X and Y coordinate directions. I always get a new node that aligns at 90 degrees to the original node but not at the X or Y distances I specify.

I also tried this exercise in ArchiCAD 11 just to see if I had accidentally messed with some of the default settings in 9. I got the same results.

What am I missing here?

[Anonymous]

Put the - (minus sign) after the number, so you type x 20- ENTER and it will select a point 20 units to the left of where the cursor hovers.
x 20+ ENTER will place it 20 units to the right.

[Anonymous]

That’s the way the tutorial says to do it. However, it doesn’t work that way in my ArchiCAD 9 educational nor does it work that way in my ArchiCAD 11. I’ve tried it both ways.

Do you think the U.S. version is upside down?


The only way I can get a node to move left is to type –X. The only way I can get a node to move down is to type –Y.

Typing X- moves the new node right. Typing Y- moves the new node up.

It is the same when I try to create a new slab using X,Y coordinates.


Other suggestions?

[Anonymous]

You do need to type the minus before the value.

At least here in the US. Perhaps it's different in NZ since those folks are all upside down anyway 😉

[Dwight]

PEBCAK a possibility?

[Anonymous]

Matthew wrote:
Perhaps it's different in NZ since those folks are all upside down anyway 😉

That must be it, 'cos it works for me.

Dwight wrote:
PEBCAK a possibility?

[Ralph Wessel]

Matthew wrote:
You do need to type the minus before the value.

That depends on what you're trying to achieve. Typing a number followed by + or - makes ArchiCAD act like a RPN calculator, i.e. the number is added to or subtracted from the number you started with.

Say, for example, you wanted to draw a line 22.5 degrees lower than the current value in the 'Angle' field, you could type "a 22.5 -"

However, if you simply wanted to draw at an angle of -22.5 degrees, you would type "a -22.5".

[David Maudlin]

highlander:

If you are using English units, and typing the distance and then the direction in the minus direction, the first minus is interpreted as the separator between feet and inches, so you need to type a second minus to get the direction. So if you wanted to move 20 feet, 0 inches to the left, you would type, for example, "x20--". If you search this forum you will find differing opinions about putting the direction before or after the distance, either can work, but they don't work identically.

You should add a Signature to your Profile (click the Profile button near the top of this page) with your ArchiCAD version and operating system (see mine for an example) for more accurate help in this forum.

David

[Anonymous]

PEBCAK is always a possibility. That is why I ask what I’m missing. But it’s not a very useful suggestion for help.


Thanks to those for the useful suggestions.


David (anyone named David is a gentleman and a scholar), thank you very much. Your suggestion works and explains the problem nicely.

[Anonymous]

Glad you got it sorted, Highlander.

David, you may want to change your signature message to "You should add a Signature to your Profile (click the Profile button near the top of this page) with your ArchiCAD version and operating system (see mine for an example) as well as whether you work in metric or imperial units for more accurate help in this forum.