.3ds to archicad, again...

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I posted a topic a while back on importing from .3ds to .gsm and didn't get too many answers. I would have imagined that this would be a common workflow method - a tool like maxonform is redundant if you already own 3ds max, isn't it? As the wall and slab tools are pretty limited in AC, I bring in alot of freeform objects from 3ds max via Zoom Gdl for my college projects.

What I'd like to know, is... is it possible to get each vertex of the imported object to act as a hotspot in the 3d window? ie. so I can snap to it to aid placement of other objects or whatever.

Whilst I'm at it,..one other thing that would be great to do is to have the imported object behave as a solid - ie. when cut in the section window, it actually shows a cut face - not just a hollow shell.

I hope it's clear what I'm driving at. I think AC is a fantastic program for organising projects, but has had a lot of justified criticism as regards its lack of freeform modelling - resulting in a lot of people steering clear of it because of a particular AC-feel to alot of designs they have seen - I suppose this happens when people start creating with out-of-the-box library kits etc, instead of trying to extend the program's palette.

And lastly, although I've tried again and again, I can't really make head nor tail of Gdl and how it's implemented in AC - the documentation provided doesn't seem that helpful. So, hopefully any solution doesn't require too much coding or whatever it's called Phew! Longer post than I intended...

[David Larrew]

What I'd like to know, is... is it possible to get each vertex of the imported object to act as a hotspot in the 3d window? ie. so I can snap to it to aid placement of other objects or whatever.

The answer is "Yes". The problem is that you will need to assign each point a graphic editable HOTSPOT in the 3D script. This could be a daunting task for even a seasoned GDL person.

Whilst I'm at it,..one other thing that would be great to do is to have the imported object behave as a solid - ie. when cut in the section window, it actually shows a cut face - not just a hollow shell.

The answer is "Yes" and/or "No" - Depending on the converted geometry from the 3DS file. In some geometry you can assign the entities as "SOLID" in the 3D script.

And lastly, although I've tried again and again, I can't really make head nor tail of Gdl and how it's implemented in AC - the documentation provided doesn't seem that helpful. So, hopefully any solution doesn't require too much coding or whatever it's called Phew! Longer post than I intended...

Unfortunately I've already answered this question... Yes, you will need to do some GDL "coding".
GDL is one of ArchiCAD's greatest strengths and weaknesses... GDL is powerful and allows highly parametric object creation, but you need to have some interest/knowledge in writing code. And, yes, the provided GDL documentation is a hard read for designers like us. I would suggest the "GDL Cookbook" if you were interested in learning more about GDL.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your thorough reply David...I guess GDL is the way to go for now, but I suspect in the future, as BIM develops, we'll probably see GDL coding integrated into the Archicad GUI, in the same way that Windows replaced the old MSDos input method...