Flatten merge unify consolidate join poly

[Anonymous]

I've read a lot on this and I don't think there is a definitive answer...


Ok, so ArchiCAD has a main feature, that allows us to create an elevation (or section) from a 3D model. I like this.

I now have a 2D drawing consisting of Lines and Fills... but I want to edit them further without changing the model, so I make a 'new independent elevation' and copy all the elements over.

This drawing has over 50,000 elements (granted it's down to the trees... one of them alone has about 10,000 pieces). I've tried unify and made some polylines; I've tried consolidating lines and fills; but I can't significantly reduce the number of elements to get a clean/simplified PDF export.

Ideally I want to merge everything into one vector.

I've spent many hours trying to combine all the objects in archicad, illustrator, autocad and acrobat but i still can't get a unified vector. Am I wasting my time?


Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you are wasting your time, correct the model

[Anonymous]

by "correct the model" do you mean, delete the trees?

[Anonymous]

Turn the trees off in the 3d model before you flatten the drawing, then use 2d trees in the flattened elevation. They can have their own fills so will mask the building behind without any further editing.

Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

...And you could also use 'Find & Select' to select just the lines of the flattened trees which should be on their own layer.

[Anonymous]

What I mean by 'correct the model' is that we should not be editing 2d line work, model what you want to be built , advantages of BIM are lost once you start editing in 2d because it is not modelled correctly.

Enough of the evangelising, if you just want to improve the 'architectural' quality of the drawing by changing line weights, fills etc I would draw over the top of the live elevation with lines and fills but put them on a layer that can be turned off without affecting the model elevation.

Regards
Scott