Making a section marker

[Sam Karli]

Hi,
I want to make a custom Section Tool ending sign, but do not know, how to make such an object. A link for a similar thing will be enough.

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Sam wrote:
Hi,
I want to make a custom Section Tool ending sign, but do not know, how to make such an object. A link for a similar thing will be enough.

Thanks in advance.

You might post an image of the marker you are trying to achieve. Perhaps there are settings in an existing marker that will get you there. Otherwise it will take re-scripting the marker in GDL. There are many on this forum who I am sure you could contract with to develop a marker suitable to your needs.

[Sam Karli]

Hi, thanks for your help, I've decided to walk on the harder way: to develop an own maker sign in a .gsm, and I have solved the first problem, and understood that the .gsm format has an inner "type", and changed it to "Section Marker", and the Section Sign worked, albeit, certeanly, it did not show the "name" of the section ("A-A"), i have to code it, and will search another section marker to analyze.

My next two questions:
1. Can I "upgrade" the .gsm objects? I want to develop them as I progress with the Archicad learning, and want to see the results in my current plans.
2. What is the variable I can reach the section's name through? Or can I found somewhere the "built-in" section markers as .gsm files that i can analyze? I have found only 9.0 gsm files that were incompatible with my 8.1.

Many thanks

Since then I managed to extract the section marker symbol form the default Archicad library, and in the 2d descriptoin there is a line that I need:

text2 0,0,txtcent

where the txtcent is the name of the section sign (ie A, E1, etc.)

i don't know from what the Archicad knows that tis is the name of the section. Now I can draw lines through gdl but cannot draw the text. (style was set to 0)

thx

[Anonymous]

You might post your question in the GDL / library section of the forum since really you are looking at scripting issues.

[David Maudlin]

Sam wrote:
1. Can I "upgrade" the .gsm objects? I want to develop them as I progress with the Archicad learning, and want to see the results in my current plans.

Sam:

Yes, you can upgrade the objects, but placed objects will retain the settings they had when placed, not the updated default values of the object (unless a new parameter is added, it will have the default value). In some cases you may need to reload the libraries (if altered macros are involved), or rebuild the plan view to see the changes, this depends on the script.

HTH

David

[Sam Karli]

Thanks all,
I have nearly finished my (yet very simple) section marker, but I still cannot access the name of the section ("A", "E/1"). Where are the "real" GDL docs where I can find such variable name? Does a real "paradise" of such info exist on the web?

Or can I extract built-in library elements to study? (I think the default objects are built in, aren't they?)

I've found a "Section marker ppV8.gsm" file, but it did not work. I simly can't find an example.

[Anonymous]

To open an existing section marker in the script editor:

1. Make a section using the section tool
2. Set the marker to the one you want to examine and select it
3. Go to File > GDL Objects > Open Object (This will open whatever library parts are selected)

Setting the section number/name is a little more complicated. There are standard parameters called AC_MarkerText_1 etc. that show the drawing and sheet numbers/names etc. These can also be set to automatically display the correct values in PlotMaker when the drawings are placed on their sheets, but there is much more to this than I can go into here.

Keep at it and you can probably figure it out. Surely there must also be someone in Budapest you could hire to give you a bit of GDL instruction. Once you have banged your head against a few things you will have plenty of questions for an expert and can make the time very well spent.

You could also come to ArchiCAD University in September. There are always excellent courses at all levels in GDL, and there a bunch of us experts who can be coaxed out of our secrets for the price of beer in the pub

[Sam Karli]

Oh Matthew, You are all at least gods of Archicad and I am a fool. I did not realize that when I changed a new library part's subtype to "Section Marker" new variables are added, like AC_MarkerText_1. I've been searching for exactly this variable. My first .gsm is ready.

Now I can start making it scale-dependent

Many thanks for all!

One more question:

How does the professional develop the .gsm files? Do You run an Archicad to code the .gsm, and another to try it in a plan/model, or are there wiser methods?

[TomWaltz]

I usually just have a "workshop" PLN file that I do all my development work in, and keep all my stuff under development in a separate library from everything else.

[Anonymous]

I do much the same as Tom. I also add XXX (ie Section Marker XXX.gsm) to the file names to ensure that no one uses them in a real project. Once they are done I save a copy without the XXX. I also generally append a few characters to identify the parts as project specific, company standard, etc. In this case the XXX is replaced by a project code or company name abbreviation.