No Snap Points in Trace Reference in AC18

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Some time ago I had written a post about inactive snap points of windows/doors when overlapping a window/door from ground floor with a window/door from 1st floor using the Trace reference.(there would be no snapping points to fix the exact position for the windows/doors in the Trace Reference)

As nobody answered, I continued looking for the solution (it took me long time and many experiments, really)..Here is a print screen of one experiment I've done and this what I have found and if I am wrong, please correct me.
In a new project I've drawn 2 walls, which have the hight on 2 levels from ground floor up to the roof.On the first wall I placed randomly some windows. I then switched to the 1st floor and drawn some randomly windows on the 2nd wall. Then I tried to line up windows from the two walls using trace reference. Ironically, when the walls are set to be visible on all the storeys the snapping points would stop working in TRACE REFERENCE and when it is set to be visible only to home storey, the snapping points work properly...I did the same experiment in AC17 and there it works properly..

Maybe it is not such an important issue you would say... but it is really, really annoying for those who work with walls which have the heights of many storeys.

Am I the only one to have discovered this BUG ?
Hope to get some improvements from Graphisoft..such a shame..

[Steve Jepson]

perhaps a better example is here.

The roof is copied and rotated from who knows were to be where it is. I make it fit and now I want to adjust the roof reference line so it is not sticking out in the middle of nowhere and perhaps getting in the way.

I can not select the node on the end to shorten the reference line.

I don't like having to slow down and fix this crap.

I should add...in the 3D window. It is adjustable in the floor plan. Butwant I don't to go there and fix it. I am working in the 3D window.

Too many things you can't do in the 3D window. Like use the roof wizand to place some rafters. Things like that annoy me. I want full functionality in the 3D window. It is not efficient to keep jumping back and forth to get the job done.

[Steve Jepson]

and another typical problem with snaps

I want to center the door in the middle of a line. The snap point should pop up when I move my cursor onto the line. It does not. I have to let go of the door highlight the line so the snap pops up, and then hurry back to grab the door and move it before the snap disappears on me.

I don't like having to put the cursor on the line first, then move the door.
It should work either way.

see link below to video of this

http://screencast.com/t/T6vW5u4fgQ

[David Maudlin]

Steve wrote:
Here is another time when I can't select even the node.

I am not seeing this bug, I can select and move the ends of the Roof pivot lines in the 3D Window. When I select the pivot line the Pet Palette appears.

David

[David Maudlin]

Steve wrote:
I want to center the door in the middle of a line. The snap point should pop up when I move my cursor onto the line. It does not. I have to let go of the door highlight the line so the snap pops up, and then hurry back to grab the door and move it before the snap disappears on me.

I don't like having to put the cursor on the line first, then move the door.
It should work either way.

If you have the Coordinates Palette showing, you will see that the Angle is locked, keeping the movement of the Door parallel to the direction of the Wall. If you unlock the Angle (option-A on Mac), you will be able to move the cursor to the Line to find its center point while dragging the Door. The Door will still move along the angle of the Wall.

David

[Steve Jepson]

or click on the letter a

Should that really be necessary? I think the snap point of a line should show up any time you move the cursor over it. Just like it does if you move the cursor over it before you move something to align with it. And it should not be necessary to unlock the angle of the cursor.

No, it's not a bug. And it is not a big deal to compensate for this dysfunction. It's just irritating.

[Steve Jepson]

and what setting is keeping me from being able to select the node of this roof reference line in 3D view?

http://screencast.com/t/WVnbGH2jwNFa

Note that in this second video after I shortened the roof reference line in 2D, I go back to it in 3d and I can adjust it, unless it is adjusted wider than the roof.

I don't think it should work like this either. No, not a bug. Just dysfunctional interruption when I don't want to fuss with it. The node should be selectable any time you can see it. Clearly it is not.

http://screencast.com/t/2eAoEYxnE

[Laszlo Nagy]

Steve, the Roof Pivot thing seems like a bug as other points of the Pivot can be found by the cursor. Just a guess that if may have something to do with the fact that the Pivot goes through the Roof and that may complicate things. But it is just a guess.

The other thing: I agree, this should not happen. The Angle field of the Coordinate Palette should not become locked to the direction of the Wall just because we are moving a Door in the Wall. As we can see after unlocking the Angle ArchiCAD will be smart and project whichever point we find with the cursor to the Wall's Reference Line and use that point.
So I think this is just an oversight which should be remedied so there is one more useful thing in the program.
I will forward these to Graphisoft.

[Steve Jepson]

The list of missing snap points and nodes in 3D and Elevation views is as long as your arm.

It is not as it they overlooked just one small thing for one or two special circumstances.

It would take me all day to post every example I run into. None of them are going to stop me from getting what I want to accomplish done but when I am running into one of these situations every 5 minuets or so, day after day, year after year, it gets to be annoying.

Here is another example where there are not convenient snap points or nodes when I would like to see them ( see picture)

I can't place the cabinet conveniently in the 3D window.
I have to do it in plan view. I can't do it in elevation view either, for the same reason. There is not a snap or node at the center of the cabinet, except in the plan view.

This is the fundamental problem I am having with the snap points and nodes.

This could be a matter of user settings for something. ? I don't think so.

the line you see highlighted above the cabinet is a morph. I thought perhaps I could get a snap point on that to center the cabinet on. Nope. The morph sill not show a center snap point either.

[Laszlo Nagy]

The Cabinet thing is not a bug, this is how the GDL Object's hotspots are scripted. You can make a wish about this, it may get good support and we can forward it to the Graphisoft GDL guys.

The Morph thing is curious. It totally works for me in 3D. I just placed a single Morph edge on the face of the Wall and when I move my cursor over the Morph edge, the Special Snap Point appears at its middle.

I would consider updating graphics drivers just to make sure that is not the reason for any of these issues.

But Steve (and anyone else), if you encounter similar issues, please report them, this is how we can tell Graphisoft they could or should be fixed/modified/improved.

[Steve Jepson]

probably my settings for Special Snap Points or something.
Also, you can turn on a water waste connection to get a center of cabinet node.

There are lots of ways to get by with out it, but I think it should be there with out any of that.