measuring distances

[Anonymous]

hi there. i am new to archicad, coming from autocad for what seems like ages! i've taken the basic tutorials, but can't seem to find the answer. how do i measure distances between things in archicad? for example, the distance between the edge of a table and a wall? also, i'm on a mac, so the keyboard is a little different. please help....thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hi Marta, welcome to the world of workarounds.

There are several ways to measure distances, try the search feature (top of page under Graphisoft banner) and you'll come up with lots of results.

Personally, I tend to draw a line from point to point and read off from the co-ordinate toolbar before clicking the second point.

Hope this helps.

[__archiben]

marta wrote:
i've taken the basic tutorials, but can't seem to find the answer. how do i measure distances between things in archicad?

there are many ways of finding relative distances between yourself (your cursor) and other elements, all of which require a thorough understanding of the various origin types, etc . . . once you get used to how the origins can work for you, you'll find having to activate a tool especially for measuring to be a cumbersome idea . . .

the easiest and probably most popular method is a quick reposition of the user origin by hovering over a node and pressing ALT + shift together. you need to ensure that your 'delta' buttons are depressed so that the co-ordinate box shows relative rather than absolute values, and then you can simply read off x, y, radius and angle values from the user origin directly out of the co-ordinate palette.

there is also a discussion here on the forum (link below) regarding the need for a dedicated measuring tool where other methods of measuring are also discussed . . .
http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=8365

my opinion is that a tool for measuring is unnecessary, although a clearer idea of distance between things for people who require it isn't a bad idea.

HTH
~/archiben

[Anonymous]

thanks for that. i read the thread you sent me. seems like the line method will work for me for now. i think the shift +alt thing is a little too complicated just yet. i've only been playing with archicad for 2 days, so not sure how to do the delta button depression thing. thanks again.

[Anonymous]

I am going to try that way, Ben, as after some experimenting it is actually easier than it sounds. And you don't have to worry about the selected tool (you can use marquee, wall, roof, slab, text, line, arc, fill, section/elevation, mesh, polyline, spline too with the same results) not having the correct layer turned on.
So don't listen to me, Marta, listen to ~/archiben.

[Anonymous]

Marta, see attached image. Delta buttons indicated (shown down = on). Actually, if you placed the origin as Ben stated (shift-alt while over a node) delta button doesn't have to be down as it is reading distance from placed origin anyway. Otherwise it will read it from project origin (0,0). Double click on button shown to reset origin after reading distance.

Hope this doesn't confuse you more, it is easy, just have a play.

[Anonymous]

stuart,
that's make sense. here's the really bad thing, i'm on a mac, so i don't have shift +alt. do you know what that would be? not only did i change from autocad to archicad, but i went from a pc to a mac. i'm trying to get with the new technology...

[__archiben]

marta wrote:
thanks for that. i read the thread you sent me. seems like the line method will work for me for now. i think the shift +alt thing is a little too complicated just yet. i've only been playing with archicad for 2 days, so not sure how to do the delta button depression thing. thanks again.

marta

there are three different origin types. the first two, available constantly, are the 'project origin' and the 'user origin'. the project origin is a fixed 0, 0, 0 point that can never be moved. the user origin is an origin point that you can define and redefine wherever and whenever you want.

the co-ordinate box can be made to display values from either the project (absolute) or user (relative) origins by switching toggling on and off the 'delta' buttons in the co-ordinate box. (see attached).

if you also turn on your help tags (menu: Help>Show Help Tags) and hover for a while over this button, you will get an a further description of this function.

the third origin appears only during editing operations and usually defaults to a position logical to the element that you are editing and relevant to transformation you are performing. this 'edit origin' temporarily cancels out the 'user origin' but note: you can still redefine this edit origin just as you would the 'user origin' during an edit operation ("on the fly").

knowing (and getting used to using) the ALT + shift button combination is a very powerful technique that you will find you'll use almost constantly and subconsciously as you work.

try it out! take 30 minutes or so to experiment with these different origins and watch what happens all the time in the co-ordinate box . . .

~/archiben

[__archiben]

marta wrote:
stuart,
that's make sense. here's the really bad thing, i'm on a mac, so i don't have shift +alt. do you know what that would be? not only did i change from autocad to archicad, but i went from a pc to a mac. i'm trying to get with the new technology...

i am on a mac and i have had shift + ALT since as long as i've been using macs! (13+ years!)

if you're in any doubt, the ALT button is the one that looks like a sideways two-pronged fork. it's normally found between the 'command' key (the one with an apple on and the key to all keyboard shortcut combinations on a mac) and the control key.

you know which one's shift, right?

~/archiben

[Anonymous]

wow! now i feel really ignorant! yeah, got the shift. my alt button says option, and nothing that looks like a sideways two pronged fork. thanks. good thing i'm a better architect than computer whiz! thanks again.