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Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

Stretch walls, lines etc. w/ the "R" distance

Not applicable
I used to stretch walls, lines etc. w/ nodes and the "R" distance command all the time. This commmand now 45% of the time makes the line or the wall the distance I am trying to extend the wall or line with the stretch, a 40' wall becomes 2' instead of 42'. . I restretch a couple of times and usually by the 3rd time the wall ends up where I want it. Same situation on other machines in the office.
Any help, any toggle to shut on or off anywhere?
9 REPLIES 9
Link
Graphisoft Partner
Check your relative/absolute settings for R in the co-ordinate box. The Delta sign next to the R should be indented.

BTW - This should be in the Working in ArchiCAD section - you'll get faster replies there.

Cheers,
Link.
Not applicable
I can recreate the issue with Delta relative/absolute toggled and untoggled, walls and library parts. Both ways are regular in their inconsistency as to when it stretches to the "R" distance and when it shortens to the overall length.
Barry Kelly
Moderator
DHURD wrote:
I can recreate the issue with Delta relative/absolute toggled and untoggled, walls and library parts. Both ways are regular in their inconsistency as to when it stretches to the "R" distance and when it shortens to the overall length.
You will find it depends on the position of your mouse when you press SHIFT-R.

i.e. if it's closest to the end of the wall, the distance you want will be added to the wall (or subtracted if you position the mouse behind the end of the wall).
However if you mouse is closer to the beginning of the wall then the wall will become as long as the distance you specify in R (in which ever direction your mouse was heading.
Yhere is an imaginary halfway point along the wall which determines what will happen.

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Link
Graphisoft Partner
Yhere is an imaginary halfway point along the wall which determines what will happen
This is funny stuff - an imaginary halfway point!

Sorry mate - Bugs aside, I really don't think there is an imaginary halfway point! No offense - but there is a logical explanation for all of this, which is namely the Edit Origin. The Edit Origin appears whenever you create or edit an element.

If the co-ordinate method is set to Relative, it will by default appear at the other end of the element (if you are stretching via the pet palette) or temporarily locate itself to the edit's reference point (eg. the drag reference point for example). Measurements for edits or element creation are then measured ~relative~ to that origin. If you use the R co-ordinate, then it naturally depends on the direction you have set your angle (by way of entering an angle or simply moving you mouse in the required direction) as to which direction this radius will be set.

If the co-ordinate method is set to Absolute, the Edit Origin will be located at the User Origin (or default to the Project Origin if the User Origin has not been relocated). Measurements for edits or element creation are now ~absolute~ - around the User Origin.

That's about all there is to it. Although it should be pointed out that the Edit Origin can be relocated anytime during any operation and depending on how they were coded, some Library parts act differently to all other elements in ArchiCAD in that they will stretch using their absolute overall length only. Oh and keep an eye on your grouping. Only ungrouped or suspended elements can be stretched.

As for Derek's problem, I would put a couple of beers on the idea that he may have his grid skewed!

Cheers,
Link.
Not applicable
Hi, Derek.
It seems to me that my previous posts were killed here
So, I'll repeat

Hold SHIFT while pushing "R" for 42' and do not hold it to get 2'. That's all

Peace
Barry Kelly
Moderator
Link wrote:
Yhere is an imaginary halfway point along the wall which determines what will happen
This is funny stuff - an imaginary halfway point!

Sorry mate - Bugs aside, I really don't think there is an imaginary halfway point! No offense - but there is a logical explanation for all of this, which is namely the Edit Origin. The Edit Origin appears whenever you create or edit an element.
Link, seems you don't believe me
No offence taken by the way - but have you given it a go

Draw a wall - any length.
Now select the wall and grab one of the corner nodes and start stretching it.
Hold the cursor near the node you selected and press the SHIFT button and you will see a small X (user origin) appear on that node.
Any distance you add with R will move that node of the wall in whatever direction you were constraining with the SHIFT by the distance you specify.

Now select the same node again and start stretching the wall.
this time move the cursor near to the node at the other end of the wall (at least more than halfway - it not really imaginary - it is the actual halfway) and press the SHIFT button.
The user origin now appears at this end and any distance you add into the R co-ordinate will make the wall exactly that long in whatever direction you held the SHIFT.

Of course this only works with the SHIFT being held.
Don't hold it and the user origin will be the opposite end of the wall to that which you are stretching and all distances will be relative to that point - unless the DELTA buttons are not pushed in in which case the distances will be relative to the page origin (0,0).

Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Not applicable
My question has been answered. I was working at supersonic speed and rolling off the shift before I got to the "R" key. That explains why the same wall was doing different things (no matter which side of the imaginary center I was), sometimes I got it, sometimes I didn't. I'll just press the shift key harder.
Thanks Link.
Thanks Barry.
Djordje
Virtuoso
DHURD wrote:
My question has been answered. I was working at supersonic speed and rolling off the shift before I got to the "R" key. That explains why the same wall was doing different things (no matter which side of the imaginary center I was), sometimes I got it, sometimes I didn't. I'll just press the shift key harder.
Just use your small finger ...
Djordje



ArchiCAD since 4.55 ... 1995
HP Omen
Link
Graphisoft Partner
Link, seems you don't believe me
No offence taken by the way - but have you given it a go
Hi Barry

Apologies for my previous response - I was feeling quite jovial that day! And I no I hadn't tried it!

You are of course correct in what you say and for the purpose of being concise and informative to others, I would like to confirm that this is still all about the Edit Origin. As discussed already, this is different from the User Origin and the Project Origin and the respective relative/absolute delta buttons that refer to them in the coordinate box.

We know that:

1. If the delta button is indented, then the editing coordinates are set to relative - to the Edit Origin.

2. If shift is pressed, the mouse movement is constrained to the angles set in the 'Mouse Constraints and Methods' dialog in Preferences.

What you have pointed out is that when shift is pressed, the edit origin is automatically relocated in a timely manner to the nearest end of the wall. ArchiCAD assumes that the user would prefer to reference the stretch from the nearest end of the wall, which is typically desirable, but has nothing to do with point 2 really. It seems unusual to me that the shift key has an effect on the Edit Origin, especially when an angle different to the wall is constrained. Makes me wonder why the Edit origin isn't always at the end of the reference line when stretching with the pet palette.

Sorry again for my previous reply and I hope you didn't take me too seriously!

Cheers,
Link.