Why?

[Anonymous]

I'm running AC13

Why does it change the 3D appearance of my custom profiles just like that? I checked the custom profile to set it back to look ok, but the parameters where all correct. So, I checked the custom material to set it straight, but it was all ok too. So, why, all of a sudden, did AC change the appearance, it's been ok since I made it 2 days ago. Even restarting AC didn't help.

Why does AC spontaneously change the layer combinations every now and then, it is extremely frustrating when things keep disappearing. And yes, it does happen, the last time I noticed exactly when AC all of a sudden removed my roof layer from the layer combination as I switched view.

Why does AC make hip roofs of different thicknesses in north-south and east-west directions respectively? I made a hip roof with 17 degree angles on north/south facing roof sections and 36 degree angles on east/west facing sections. At the base of the roof the east/west sections are thicker than the north/south ones. It does not look pretty in 3D and on elevations/drawings. I have not been able to come up with a way to fix it. Also, when connecting the top angle of the east/west roofs to the north/south ones, there's an offset in 3D even though they've been connected in the 2D drafting.

I'm sorry guys, I'm probably in the grey zone of the netiquette here, or way out. But up until now I have invested more than a full week into AC trying to accomplish a very small and simple project, and AC just seems to pose one obstacle after another requiring workarounds after workarounds just to accomplish the simplest things. Like a custom wall with vertical board panels, a hip roof with different angels on orthogonal facing roof sections, or just something as simple as a true black and white outline drawing, which I would have expected to be 1 or 2 clicks away, not 1,5 days of unsuccessful trialnerrorerrorrerror.

I'm beginning to realize why it was so hard (impossible actually) to find a good simple tutorial to get started and going with AC - even the simplest project gets extremely complicated in AC, and Graphisofts own are based on tons of presets, not a good way to make a tutorial, it's pretty much like giving a six piece mona-lisa puzzle to art students.... Sorry guys, but unless someone reveal the secret to me about AC, I'm through investing time in it, and certainly won't any money, and it is out the window in this office.

And yes, I am frustrated! With more than 30 years computer/cad experience, I know I have the right to be... 😉

[Anonymous]

Thanks Peter, I don't know exactly what the problem was or what happened there. But I solved it by making a new symbol fill type and applying that to the material used, I also removed the texture, using the texture wasn't really what I wanted in the first place anyway. Using the symbol fill isn't either but it'll do for now. I think the only solution to getting what I really want is using SEO's. It's one of those things I find odd about AC, with the complex profile tool you can create walls with specific structure, but in one dimension only. Being given the possibilty to create repetitive horisontal structures would add a lot, and I believe help many in what they do frequently with walls. It seems to me working with SEO's take away a lot of the benefits with the simplicity of creating walls, moving around doors, windows, openings etc in the walls. As far as I have understood, once you start working with SEO's, they're pretty much dead objects that need to be moved around manually once you change something around them, like SEO's used to create a wooden exterior cladding and then you want to move a door a few inches to the side, you need to move, delete and/or add the SEO's. Or can this be handled by the element operations. Can all SEO's composing a wall be joined to one and operated on with a door that can then be moved along the wall and co-exist with the SEO's in the same manner as with an "ordinary" wall? I realize now I should have tried that right from the start. On the other hand, the more SEO's are used, the closer we get to any CAD-program. It seems to me.