Ceiling Editor object for design

[Bricklyne Clarence]

Message from the Moderator:
We have created this new thread for the discussion of the Ceiling Editor Object.
There have been some questions regarding it as can be seen from the following few posts.
From post 5 of this thread you can find the detailed introduction and explanation of how the object works:

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=208515&highlight=#208515

Please use this thread for the discussion of this Object.
Thanks

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Bricklyne's original post:

Cross-posted these questions/suggestions for the new object over at LinkedIn, just in case anyone hasn't seen them.

Having not had a chance to try it yet, the obvious question (for me, at least) is how this object behaves in terms of 2D representation in plan and more pointedly RCP's (Reflected ceiling plans.) and if it does so, to what degree of control and manipulation can a user control the plan representation (LineWeights, Fills, symbolic representation of lights, vents, sprinklers etc) ad information, in conjunction with other ceiling plan information (like electrical light wiring layouts, possibly MEP info, and ceiling finish and material information).
And if not, would it mean having to re-reproduce all this information in 2D for the aforementioned reflected ceiling and lighting/electrical/finish plans?

It would be nice to have some level of consistency and correlation, if not parametric associativity, between what is displayed in the 3D and 2D windows without having to duplicate everything everytime and going back and forth during every change in either of the windows.

The other question would be whether there would be any possibility of having the objective version backward compatible, as in readable in ArchiCAD's pre-version 16 formats (specifically versions 14 and 15).

Otherwise, great object and nice start to the Wish upon an Object initiative so far.

[Jere]

Excellent, thank you!

[sedley]

Here is my two cents.

1. It would be great if a schedule can be develop that will list and quantify the objects used in the ceiling editor object.

2. I should now be easy to develop a floor tiling object similar to the ceiling editor.

[Anonymous]

I am highly impressed by this object. A lot of hard work obviously went into this. Not only is the 2D documentation superb and adaptable, the 3D element looks great and so do sections through the object!

All that said, this object is not useful to me. In the United States the most typical light fixture type in a grid ceiling is a 2'x4' florescent fixture. With this object we cannot use the 2x4 fixture in a 2x2 grid, which is probably the most used grid. I do not see any way of accomplishing with this tool.

I congratulate manuBIM on their great accomplishment and applaud Graphisoft for the Wish Upon an Object idea, but also wish for the ability to place 2x4 lights in a 2x2 grid.

[Anonymous]

Thanks clifton,

it will be considering in the next version.

[kevin b]

I am having the same issue as a previous poster, about the editing nodes being disabled. They are disabled before I even place the object. As a test I downloaded both the US and the INT version, and it is only in the US version that they are disabled.

[kevin b]

So its seems to be working now. Once I had placed one using the Interior Accessory option I had to S&R before I could place a new one manually.

The tools is so close to being great except that graphically it is not useful to us (and I would guess many others in the US at least) due to the fact that there does not seem to be any way to change how the accessories look in plan (RCP), graphically it does not follow standards that we use. The symbol for a 2x2 fluorescent light is what we would typically use for an HVAC supply diffuser. And there doesn't seem to be a way to differentiate between a supply, return and exhaust diffuser, symbolically. Same for sprinklers. If there were a way to change the graphics for the RCP symbols this would be very useful.

[Anonymous]

Hello, I found an other ceiling editor on applecoredesign.com and that has a custom component feature (File -> Libraries and Object -> Save Custom components -> Save Ceiling component). Is that possible to create custom components that can be inserted into the ceiling?

It could be referring to the US symbol standards discussed earlier.

http://store.applecoredownloads.com/bim-products/gdl-objects/suspended-ceiling.html

[Anonymous]

Hi Andras,

I helped develop this ceiling object with Applecore GDL programmers. We are an interior design company in the UK and we needed a product to help is develop produce ceilings layout in 3D that we could exported out to 3d max (vray). The product how to allow for flexible ceiling layouts (even with curved edges or atrium voids), different grid sizes, different ceiling tile detail, different ceiling services setting out (3 x 3 grid or 4 x 4 grid, with the flexibility to alter it to any size), ability to alter services type (luminaire, PL downlight, custom light fitting which we model in-house within our archicad model, or just an open blank space), ability to alter finishes to grid and tile, ability to turn grid frame on and off, ability to alter setting out angle of grid and origin of services setting out even ability to alter individual light positions within grid. Is has a few more extra functions which is great.

I have used this object for every archicad model / max model since its development. Works great with Bimx, although custom lights you have to be careful with not going overboard with the polygons. You have to be careful with large open plan offices as archicad can get a bit slow (depending on spec of comp), but can easily be managed with splitting the ceiling grid up which you can then easily align up.

All in all a great object and I would recommend it but like all things there are limitations but with a great imagination / adaptation most things can be overcome.

Hillsee

[Anonymous]

HI HILLSEE33:
Clifton WROTE:
"In the United States the most typical light fixture type in a grid ceiling is a 2'x4' florescent fixture. With this object we cannot use the 2x4 fixture in a 2x2 grid, which is probably the most used grid."

Could your ceiling object do this?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Visually you can make it work with custom ceiling tiles. (refer to attached picture).

However plan view is more difficult. Apart from drawing extra lines on to split the 1200 x 600 grid into 600 x 600 grid which defeats the object of creating the ceiling grid.

I hope this helps.

Hillsee

[/img]