The Z-Axis

[Chadwick]

I am student and I am trying to decide between using ArchiCAD 9 or ADT 2006 - we have both available to us. I love ArchiCAD for its single file approach and GDL objects but as far as I can tell, you cannot rotate objects in the Z axis. Is there a way to get around this? I am almost thinking of sticking with ADT just for this reason. Am I crazy?

I apologize in advance if this has been answered here before.

[Anonymous]

Chadwick,
I need to be sure what you are calling the "Z" axis because
in Achicad rotation about the "Z" axis (as this is conventionally
understood in Archicad) can be done easily by at least three methods.

Rotate the object in plan with the Rotate command
or
In the library part settings with the plan preview rotate the object
with the curved arrow graphic .
or
In the library part settings
set the Z rotation in the angle field.

As this is so easy I wonder if you mean something different
by the term "rotate objects in the Z axis"
Please explain.

Peter Devlin

[Chadwick]

I understand all of those concepts but they are all still rotating in a 2D plane. What I am saying is, if for example I have a chair as an object, I want to rotate it so it is upside down or turned at 45' angle. I dont know if this any more clear - but I guess rotating in the 3rd dimension is really what I am getting at.

[Anonymous]

Chadwick,
Turning a chair upside down would be in Archicad terminology
rotating about the either the "X" axis, the "Y" axis, or a vector of both.

You are correct that usually in Archicad this is only possible if
the library part has parameter settings for these types of rotations.

As for the Archicad tools, the only tool that allows for this is the roof tool
as this tool creates a slab type object that can be rotated about it's
local "X" axis which is the roof pivot line.

Peter Devlin

[Anonymous]

Hi Chadwick,

Peter is right you cannot rotate objects along diffrent axis than Y - live on the plan, but you can do that easy in gdl script. Since I learnt this long time ago it solved 80% of my modeling problems. Once you go thru this you will find it intuitive.
Every object (even those you created yourself using basic AC tools) can be rotated along any axis using simple "rot" script. For example "rotx c" means "rotate object along axis X because of parametr C". Of course, what you really need is rotation along X and sometimes Z axis. Rotation along Y axis you can do on the plan so there is no need to modify object's gdl script because of that. Anyway see attached step-by-step pic to see how to do it. Hope it will help and you will stick with AC from now. Good luck.

P.S.: I don't need to remind you that you should do a copy before you start to modify, do I?

[Anonymous]

1/3

[Anonymous]

2/3

[Anonymous]

3/3

[Chadwick]

Thats exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much. I'll give it a try and let you know if I have any problems.

This forum is wonderful.

Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

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thanks vey mush for this wonderful lesson
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