How to make non-horizontal beam?

[Anonymous]

Hi, I m trying to switch from autocad (that I used for about 10 years) to archicad. So far I think archicad has to improve way of 2d drawing and make it easier with little tools that make work much comfortable (like autocad tools "polar" ; "otrack"; or just when I click enter wit my mouse (5 button mouse) i should automaticly repeat last operation, that little things in combination with intelligent pen that is in AC today present would speed up work much better). However, I think AC is a great program and has a great potential.


Can someone tell me how to make non-horizontal beam (beam that is not horizontal, that is for example under the roof instead of wood construction)? I know I could make it with gdl blocks or pick the wooden rafter from roof construction and change the material to concrete, but this is not a solution for profesional planners, its time and energy consuming, and beside that, it will not be presented in 2d floor plan with dashdot centerlines and dashed contour lines, i would have to draw them manually (more extra work).


I hope my question wasn't too long!

[Anonymous]

I think you'll find that a beam can only be horizontal for now. It is a long-standing wish that sloping beams be allowed. You may be able to find another standard object that displays the way you want. You will find that the "workaround tool" (not documented) is used a lot.
As for your "polar" request (if you mean a polar array, it's been a while since I used AutoCAD), there is a Rotate option in Multiply command that will do this.

HTH

[Barry Kelly]

Nikola wrote:

Can someone tell me how to make non-horizontal beam .....

If you don't want to use an object then how about trying the roof tool.
You will need to draw it in a different manner (i.e. draw the perimeter of the beam in plan) but you should be able to get what you want.

The tool names can be a little misleading.
The wall, slab and beam can all be used to model exactly the same element, just with different methods of input.
A roof is just a slab but on a slope.
A wall can also be cut so its top and bottom surfaces slope (a sloping beam).

As someone said a long time ago the tools should really just be called "Horizontal thingy", "Vertical thingy" and "Sloping thingy".

Barry.

[Thomas Holm]

I usually use the roof tool for sloping beams. However, if you want centerlines, you'll have to use the wall tool instead. Draw the wall, then cut it above and below using roof elements as cutters, either with "trim to roof" or with Solid Element Operations, in which case the roofs have to stay on as invisible operators.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your answers!

The trick with roof tool works (I mentioned it in my question) just like cutting-trimming walls, but it takes much more steps to get result than I would like, but you helped me to better understand how archicad works.

[Steve Jepson]

Actually, a rafter can look just like a beam in 2d and have different contour lines and centerlines.

Many people have tweaked the gdl script to get just the kind of beam you are looking for.

Ask Peter Devlin about it.

[Anonymous]

I am forced to my limit by having to use autocad in school and if you push and hold shift in AC it has the same effect as polar and ortho. i recently switched from one community college to another and we no longer have AC. I am forced to learn the wickedness of the world. it is torture but i keep pluggin' along to get the grade and then it is done with.