export model by floors to nwc or dxf

[Anonymous]

When building a large model in Archicad, it was necessary at certain stage,to split model into levels, so it will be manageable for our MEP subs to manipulate with in Microstation and Autocad. Model was exported in .dxf format, using "Generic Perspective" view, "filter elements in 3D", then stories shown in 3D were set to "from story" "to story". Since our subs need to be able to see one floor at a time, I needed to be able to export clearly cutted floors, with all relevant objects visible in the floor. As it seemed to me, perfect solution for clear cut would be checking the " trim elements to story range" box, so all 2-3-story high elements will be cut in respective floor parts. I was only half right. Only vertical elements can be cut like that; Stairs, slabs, meshes are visible ( and cut) only within the range of their "designated" floor, and disappears on other floors, even if option "seen on all relevant floors" is chosen. My question would be- is there any other way to trigger horizontal elements to be shown, or I need manually split all my model to floors, and not to use "story range trim" option? As for now, I do split my model, and It is very tedious process. If you have any suggestions on how trick the trim option for horizontal objects in 3D view, I would appreciate your advice.

[owen]

Have you tried using the 3D Cutting Plane options in the 3D Window?

It is a bit fiddly but you could save a 3D view of each Storey with Cutplane Settings to trim off everything above and below the storey limits.

IMO this is what the 'Trim To Storey Range' option should do but doesn't

[Anonymous]

Owen, thank you for reply.
Yes, your suggestion was in my list of solutions;
however, this method is not very accurate ( unless you using 1mm thick meshes as your cut planes, and snap your selection.. hmmm )...
I guess the way to override this problem is to establish a rule, that every horisontal objects will be drawn 2-3 times, each duplicate will have different floor affiliation. This way at least final consumer will not end up with duplicates, as it is very difficult to filter them in clash detection.

My status quo for now: I am not cutting floors, but showing objects in "all relevant stories". THat means, I wil have same stair 3 times in dxf or nwc, by creating 1-st, then 2-nd then 3-rd floor.
If i am not doing this- then my sub can miss this object, while looking at 2-nd floor only ( if stair is on 1-st floor).
For BIM it is a very serious issue, i guess.

[Karl Ottenstein]

deniscell wrote:
Owen, thank you for reply.
Yes, your suggestion was in my list of solutions;
however, this method is not very accurate ( unless you using 1mm thick meshes as your cut planes

The cut plane dialog is archaic, but the planes have zero thickness and can be placed precisely using coordinate entry. Once defined, the planes can be memorized as part of a 3D view. The collection of 3D views can then be published as dxf with one click from a custom publisher set. I think?

Cheers,
Karl

[Erika Epstein]

Would creating modules of each story achieve want you want?
You can create a publisher set of module views and from these export to your subs.

[Djordje]

Well ...

I am old fashioned enough to say that you should NEVER stretch objects across a few stories, unless they really do span a few stories (large glazing, curtain walls ...)

Even then, building the model storey by storey automatically takes care of many of the documentation issues, and reduces the dependence on the automatic algorithms, that - you should always remember this! - are most probably designed and tested by the people who understand architectural practice, but are coded by the programmers.

In your case, the three storey staircase is IMHO a bad modeling practice. Think of the plan - how is that stair going to show up on a storey up or down? Can you have more than 20 risers in a flight? And so on ...

Therefore, if you have built your model storey by storey, all would be well ... anyway, I don't see a reason for a slab to span more than one storey, so would really like the explanation!

It is best to use the cutting planes, which BTW you can set exactly at a certain point by typing in the Z value, save a 3D view for each of the cuts, and then publish the set to DXF (why DXF????) or DWG.

The other way is to save your model as an object, then script in the cutplanes, and export the model ... but that requires some GDL coding.

Maybe you can set up the SEO - huge slabs to subtract, cutting off the chink below and the chink above - one layer for each, again save the 3D views and export?

Maybe you could also export the whole model for reference and your subs can then patch it up in whatever they use?

[owen]

deniscell wrote:
Owen, thank you for reply.
Yes, your suggestion was in my list of solutions;
however, this method is not very accurate ( unless you using 1mm thick meshes as your cut planes, and snap your selection.. hmmm )...

Sorry my explanation was a little on the short side and so seems to have been misunderstood .. (although in my defence it was far later .. or earlier than i should have been up)

I was not refering to SEO's (which you are right in thinking would be a hassle, although not inaccurate - use slabs as Djordje suggested) but rather the 3D Cut Plane available via in the dialogs i attached earlier (shown using the default AC menu layout). As Karl and Djordje say these can be defined using coordinates so it is very accurate ..

cheers,

owen