All Relevant Stories for ArchiCAD Objects?

[Anonymous]

Does the Floor Plan display of "All Relevant Stories" work with ArchiCAD objects?

I'm using the steel column object from the ArchiCAD 14 Library to span more than two stories and would like it to show on relevant stories. But that display does not seem to work for the columns or possibly any other ArchiCAD object in the Library. Why is that?

Home Story, All Stories, Home Story & One Up or Down seem to work but not All Relevant Stories. Would it be simple enough for me to alter some GDL scripting? My proficiency there is intermediate at best.

I know I could use complex profiles but this project is being shared via IFC format and am trying to minimize complex profiles where possible.

[Erika Epstein]

No.

The other floor plan options work such as one story up and down, would that suffice? I recall this coming up before.

Re using a custom profile and IFC,: this use, on a completely symmetrical object, rather than a non-symmetrical one such as an eave trim should be problem free. BUT do a round trip test.

Non-symmetrical custom profiles require the user to think ahead so that the direction they draw the wall/beam is always the same. Having available Mirror image custom profiles can also simplify modeling. If you are doing quantity take-offs, this too should be factored in to your choice of solution.

HTH

[ztaskai]

There is a reason why this one floor display option doesn't work on all library objects (yes, just this one option). ArchiCAD cannot trust the height value the objects tell about themselves (in the ZZYZX parameter). It is so because a lot of legacy objects don't use this value correctly (e.g. it is the default 1 meter) or are measured downwards (e.g. hanging lamps).

There is a way to tell ArchiCAD about the real height of the object and after that all relevant stories will work. Set the parameters 'ac_toplevel' and 'ac_bottomlevel' using the parameters command.

Most hanging objects set this correctly in the standard ArchiCAD Library. Unfortunately, the columns don't we're going to look into that.

Regs,

[Anonymous]

ztaskai wrote:
There is a way to tell ArchiCAD about the real height of the object and after that all relevant stories will work. Set the parameters 'ac_toplevel' and 'ac_bottomlevel' using the parameters command.

So if these parameters are present in the part (and presumably set correctly) this will enable the "All Relevant Stories" option for that part?

[ztaskai]

Matthew wrote:

ztaskai wrote:
There is a way to tell ArchiCAD about the real height of the object and after that all relevant stories will work. Set the parameters 'ac_toplevel' and 'ac_bottomlevel' using the parameters command.

So if these parameters are present in the part (and presumably set correctly) this will enable the "All Relevant Stories" option for that part?

Yes. Just one thing I didn't write earlier. Their correctness is tested in exacly one way: the top has to be above the bottom. Other than that, these parameters are trusted (since they are new and don't have legacy usage).

[Anonymous]

ztaskai wrote:

Matthew wrote:

ztaskai wrote:
There is a way to tell ArchiCAD about the real height of the object and after that all relevant stories will work. Set the parameters 'ac_toplevel' and 'ac_bottomlevel' using the parameters command.

So if these parameters are present in the part (and presumably set correctly) this will enable the "All Relevant Stories" option for that part?

Yes. Just one thing I didn't write earlier. Their correctness is tested in exacly one way: the top has to be above the bottom. Other than that, these parameters are trusted (since they are new and don't have legacy usage).

Cool. I'll have to start incorporating this into my parts. I have been getting away from all the old bounding dimensions (A, B and ZZYZX) due to legacy issues and quirks in their behavior. Are there plans for this to supersede the ZZYZX values in the info box (elevations) and pet palette (stretch height)? Or is this already the case? These are the only reasons I still use ZZYZX.

Are there similar parameters to replace "A" & "B". Then we could be done with the last vestiges of the old 26 parameter limit and the legacy quirks they carry.

[Anonymous]

Erika wrote:
No.

The other floor plan options work such as one story up and down, would that suffice? I recall this coming up before.

Re using a custom profile and IFC,: this use, on a completely symmetrical object, rather than a non-symmetrical one such as an eave trim should be problem free. BUT do a round trip test.

Non-symmetrical custom profiles require the user to think ahead so that the direction they draw the wall/beam is always the same. Having available Mirror image custom profiles can also simplify modeling. If you are doing quantity take-offs, this too should be factored in to your choice of solution.

HTH

Thanks for posting Erika (and for the straightforward NO, ha). The other floor plan display options would work for some columns, and not for some. Otherwise I would have to create a dedicated layer to not have those columns show up on my roof (or even foundation) plans. But there may be no need since I did a round-trip test with the complex profile columns and IFC/Revit models. So far they showed up fine. Thanks for the vote of confidence - that's what I needed.

Matthew wrote:

ztaskai wrote:
There is a way to tell ArchiCAD about the real height of the object and after that all relevant stories will work. Set the parameters 'ac_toplevel' and 'ac_bottomlevel' using the parameters command.

So if these parameters are present in the part (and presumably set correctly) this will enable the "All Relevant Stories" option for that part?

Since I'm still curious about this, is there a simple way to set these parameters? I see them in the column parameters list but do not know what to do with them.

[ztaskai]

Matthew wrote:
... Are there plans for this to supersede the ZZYZX values in the info box (elevations) and pet palette (stretch height)? Or is this already the case? These are the only reasons I still use ZZYZX.

Note, that ZZYZX is there for a reason: the user can find the primary dimension parameter in any object at first glimpse. So whenever applicable, you should make the ZZYZX parameter available when producing objects for public use. This goes for A-B parameters also.

The new parameters have superseded ZZYZX in the elevation display in the info box. 'Stretch height' and 'elevate' don't use them yet but they should (I guess we have a bug entry about that). But again, stretch will always work with ZZYZX - it just has to consider the base height coming from ac_bottomlevel.

Matthew wrote:
Are there similar parameters to replace "A" & "B". Then we could be done with the last vestiges of the old 26 parameter limit and the legacy quirks they carry.

No and there are no plans to replace A & B. As I wrote above, they serve a general usability purpose. Plus, ArchiCAD uses them to determine the (estimated) 2D boundig box of the objects in several functions.

This 26 parameter limit doesn't ring a bell here:) Please, let me in on it.

Regs,

[Anonymous]

ztaskai wrote:
This 26 parameter limit doesn't ring a bell here:) Please, let me in on it

In the early days GDL was limited to 26 user parameters which were the letters of the (Roman/English) alphabet. There were also 52 globals which were a letter followed by an underscore or a tilde. Some of these were reserved for the user. I don't recall when this changed, perhaps version 5 or 6.

[ztaskai]

Oh, I see:) I hate one-letter variable names too. But I found my peace with A&B. There is an upside in having these general parameter names this short. I see a problem only when meaningless names are used for less general and less generally known things. Tastes differ, of course...

Regs,