Placing windows, doors and interior

[Anonymous]

Excuse me...but I'm new to this Archi-business. Previous experience of Arcon, a bit of Revit and some Chief Architect.

When inserting a window, internal wall or door in previous programs, as soon as I got close to say the outside walls (which I can place... ) you would get live 'on-the fly' dimensions that appear. You then type in a figure and its done. Simple.
This doesn't seem to be the case with Archicad ? I have read help and this just seems to show you how to place an internal wall, window or door but oddly no mention of actual precise placement. This seems quite basic to a CAD environment.

Any help most appreciated

[Karl Ottenstein]

It sounds like you've not received any hands-on training or walked through the training guides? Wishing for AC to behave like other software won't help you learn how AC does things... the learning curve is quite large.

Window and door dimensions (and 100's of other parameters) are set up in the settings dialog typically before placing into a wall. There are a variety of placement methods for anchoring the window/door. Alternatively, you can place the W/D and then later open its settings to set the RO, actual size, and various other parameters and then move it to where it needs to be.

[Anonymous]

Karl

Thanks so much for the prompt reply, but.....I have worked through some examples and looked at guides and the supplied help, and none have shown how to do this ? Incredible.......I understood that you can adjust a myriad of criteria around a window or door and that all seems pretty well organised. I still need though to place these things accurately and was wondering how you all did it given the lack of info on such a basic matter.

Having checked the forum I'm not alone, and it seems this is what I have been used to in live on the fly dimension has been sorted with an add-on.

http://simpleaddon.com/Eng/mw_product.html

Its a shame you have to pay and add-on in such a well 'developed' program.

Does anyone has another way they can actually explain easily as I shouldn't take more than Two steps, or is it a well kept secret ?

[Karl Ottenstein]

There are all kinds of methods folks use to accurately place a window/door initially including taking advantage of the 'minimal space' hotspots for offsets from existing geometry.

Personally, I find it faster and more visual to place the W/D near where I want it, undo/redo to select it, and then drag a desired hotspot to the final location... or to a temporary location (face of interior wall) and then drag back the desired offset using the Tracker to enter that offset.

"Desired hotspot" will differ depending on if you've set up your casing/trim/etc fully initially. Maybe it is the RO that you want positioned at a precise place. Maybe it is the inside face of jamb to align with a window above. Maybe it is the outside of trim, to align with a wall. There's not a magic one-size fits all solution in my limited experience.

Of course, if I'm aligning with a known element (vs offsetting from other geometry), it's easy, using either the W/D tool's center or edge insertion method.

Dozens of ways of doing it.

[Anonymous]

Karl

Thanks again for your time, but I'm not really any clearer on the dozens of ways. Maybe its wrong to ask for such simple help but I was just interested to see if there was a simple solution to place a window, door or wall a know dimension from say an inside corner or another wall etc

I assumed from other software it would be a one click job but...... undo/redo, temporary location...drag and desired hot spot sound a little more involved and complex for such a simple and repetitive task.

Anyone out there have a one or max two click solution for this, select window select ? then place ? Or is really just complex in Archicad ? If it is then so be it, but if anyone has a solution they can explain I would be grateful.

[Anonymous]

There is a way to place items relative to a known point. This can be used for all sorts of things, including doors and windows, whether placing them initially, or moving them after they have been placed.

Hover your mouse cursor over the point you want to set the distance from but do not click.
Type "X" or "Y" and input the distance you want for the dimension followed by + or -.
Then press ENTER.

To offset 600mm to the right you would type "X 600 + [ENTER]" and to offset to the left "X 600 - [ENTER]" (ignore the spaces between characters and the quote marks)
"Y 600 + [ENTER]" would go up and "Y 600 - [ENTER]" down.

Notice the +/- is after the number - this will add or subtract the distance from the current cursor position.

It sounds a bit confusing but once you get the hang of it it's real easy and does make sense. (Note if using Imperial units you need extra - to distinguish from feet-inches)