adding insul. to injury

[Anonymous]

So...as there was no good insulation line-type for use in plan (as is our office standard to do), I made a nice looking one. PROBLEM IS, when I take it into PM to do a little linework and editing, and explode the drawing to manipulate it, the insulation itslef EXPLODES to what appears to be its "true" width, eg 5 1/2", rather than about 1/8" which is what I want at 1/4 scale... any ideas as to why this happens, or how I can prevent it? Did I maybe make my line all wrong?

[Anonymous]

Zobi wrote:
...PROBLEM IS, when I take it into PM to do a little linework and editing, and explode the drawing to manipulate it,...

WHY would you explode the drawing in plotmaker??? Can you not make the modifications in Archicad???

[Anonymous]

ok, great! so this gets right to the ROOT of the QUESTION:
how/ where/ when does one stop modelling and start drawing? Additionally, WHERE does one do such drawing? In my case, here was my thinking: I wanted to show the outside edge of the roofs, but not any of the ridges or valleys. My thought was, take it into PM, blow it up, and pull out those few lines I didn't want. Alternatively, I could NOT show the actual roof edges, projected onto the ground floor, but do a ghost-story tracing of their outline. I suppose it's a technique thing, and I just don't know yet what is the most efficient.
I'd rather NEVER explode the drawings, ever, but do EVERYTHING in AC, and then just use PM to organize and print...for the S/E, it appears that I can create the views "as lines", and then alter as I see fit from within AC, but for the PLAN view, I don't know what recourse I have other than to fake the lines in by drawing them initially. Perhaps this is the prefrerred course to take? All advice is more than welcome.
Thanks...!

[Anonymous]

Zobi wrote:
how/ where/ when does one stop modelling and start drawing?

That's the age old question. I used to only model until the model was essentially "dried in"; Floors, walls, doors, windows and roof.
As the tools and computers have become more advanced, more can be accomplished in the model. But each person needs to decide this for themselves and their experience level.

Additionally, WHERE does one do such drawing?

The easy answer to this is always in Archicad. Plotmaker has limited drawing tools, that in my opinion are just for creating title blocks.

In my case, here was my thinking: I wanted to show the outside edge of the roofs, but not any of the ridges or valleys. My thought was, take it into PM, blow it up, and pull out those few lines I didn't want. Alternatively, I could NOT show the actual roof edges, projected onto the ground floor, but do a ghost-story tracing of their outline.

This is defintely a problem with the roofs and keeping the model "live". I would suggest creating the roofs on an upper story and then just tracing (in Archicad ) the outline on the lower story.

I suppose it's a technique thing, and I just don't know yet what is the most efficient.

There in a definite learning curve. Keep at it and keep experimenting. You will discover different ways to accomplish what you are trying to do. Also keep posting here and you will learn a lot; from much more experienced users than I.

[Anonymous]

Zobi

Definitely better to cheat in ArchiCAD than in Plotmaker. For a start any changes you make in PM will have to be re-done when you make any revisions.
For your roof example, I tend to put the roof itself onto a layer that is not displayed in floor plans, and trace the outline. I rarely want to see all the hips and valleys in plan anyway, and dotted lines lap each other forming a continous line etc etc etc. (I know you can get dotted lines to match each other by drawing the roof planes individually in the correct direction, but what a hassle, especially on complex roofs).
I've been using ArchiCAD for nearly three years now, and i don't think I've done two projects in the same way. Experimentation with different techniques shows that no two projects are the same, but you will find that some buildings require a bit of lateral thinking to get the results you want.
Oh, and i try to never explode elevations and sections to 2D, haven't had to do that for a long time. At 1:100 or 1:50 scales you can easily get away with modelling fully, adding necessary detail with 2D lines and the odd fill or patch to cover irregularities.
If you can get hold of Project Framework book it has a lot of good tips for things like layer management, how to work around double height spaces, ad lots of other tips and tricks. Latest version is still only 8.1 I think, but this sort of stuff is still relevant.
Sorry to get a little off original topic, but 'keep it up" is the main message here. Your line scale issue might be to do with "scale with plan" or "scale-independent" setting when you create your line type. Experiment.

440 v 350 posts, still not as experienced as Millard.
Cheers