rotating plans

[Anonymous]

I'm quite new to the wonderful world of Archicad and I'm finding myself in need of some help.

In order to save time and to be more clear I made a video screenshot of the issue I'm having which you can access via the following link:

http://screencast.com/t/BJB2VMrFCX

Thanks for any input,

Chris

[Dwight]

Welcome to our forum.

Please create a signature for yourself with the Archicad version you are using and some information about your system.

You have actually pointed out a good issue - should the building model ever be fragmented? The prevailing attitude here is that a building model is assembled as a unit - layer combinations and view controls extract different views for different purposes. Managing this can be tricky.

My solution to your dilemma is to draw the building plan as you have it and place the site plan to match. All together-like. Control what you see with layer combinations.

When you do an actual drawing layout on a sheet, you can rotate the placed site plan view to reflect true North. Then you independently rotate the title bar back to horizontal.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Chris,

Nice Jing video.

I'll always have the building orthogonal, as you do, for producing drawings.

In days-before-11, I'd do as Dwight mentions and rotate the site to match the building - then rotate the result back on the layout sheet. This allowed the use of the 'ghost' story to overlay the building on the rotated site. Downside includes annotating the site at some odd angle, and a little backwards thinking (rotating the site the opposite direction as the structure would be rotated).

In 11 and above, you can can rotate your 'trace reference'. So, the site can be drawn as you have it, and with the floor/roof plan as the trace reference, you can rotate the reference to the desired orientation for aligning things, etc. You'll either have to do 2D tracing of the roof footprint/etc or will have to stack a drawing of the roof onto your site plan and then rotate that stacked drawing into the right position. Downside is the possibility that you don't rotate the placed structure drawing the correct amount or place it in the right place on top of the site drawing on the sheet. Also, you cannot generate any 3D imagery that includes the site with this trick. So, it's kind of lame.

What I have preferred doing since 11 is to have a separate site file and to then use the multistory hotlink feature to link the entire building into the site file, where I rotate it and elevate it as needed, visually (or precisely) to fit the site. The entire building is there and responds to layer control, but as a hotlink, it behaves like a multistory group and is manipulated as a unit.

This is particularly nice when there are multiple buildings, or the client wants to see multiple orientations (must make multiple hotlinks, each with a different 'master' layer).

But, it can be overkill if you have just one simple site plan layer/object/etc. In my case, I usually have the surveyor DWG info, a modeled site mesh, and frequently bits and pieces of surrounding Google Earch terrain. In the first method above (rotating the site), it is easy to accidentally forget some piece of this total site 'information' when you rotate the site [all of this stuff must rotate together], particularly if on separate stories since you cannot group it in that case.

With the hotlink method, the building is oriented orthogonally, the site is oriented with north straight up, and you just rotate the hotlink. There is little opportunity to screw up by rotating the wrong thing or using the wrong rotation angle. I think. All of your sheets are in the building file - and the site plan view from the site file is just linked to a sheet in the building file, so that all drawings come from the one layout set. Definitely way more complicated than doing it the time-honored way mentioned by Dwight, and not something I would necessarily recommend to a complete beginner.

Just some ideas anyway.

Karl

[Dennis Lee]

I have used Karl's second method for projects with multiple buildings. For a single building project though, I tried having a separate story for the site plan and liked it as well.

For example, a two story building w/ a roof story:

1. story 1, site plan. Story 4,5,6 for building first, 2nd, and roof plan. Stories 2 & 3 are there to take the place of the building's 2nd and roof floors.

2. Site plan is drawn at the preferred orientation on story one.

3. Building plans are drawn at its own orientation on stories 4-6.

4. Every once in a while, I would marqee the building on stories 4-6 and save as a module.

5. From the site plan (story 1), I hotlink the module file, rotate to fit, elevate to fit.

6. Whenever the building changes, I can just select and overwrite the module file, and the site plan will update with the new hotlink.

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot for the replies. I'll give 'em a try.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Thank you for updating your profile... could have saved us some time by providing that info earlier. 😉

Because you have the Start Edition
http://www.graphisoftwest.com/pageview.aspx?id=20985

you cannot use hotlinks, so your option is limited to Dwight's suggestion.

Cheers,
Karl

[Chazz]

Chrisdell wrote:
In order to save time and to be more clear I made a video screenshot of the issue....

Dude, you just increased the bandwidth of our typical forum discussion by about 1000%. That was such a clear and concise summery of the problem and such a great use of the medium it blows my mind. I support others in using this technique. Awsome.

Except in this case you didn't really have to because we all know this exact issue and have wrestled with it and debated various approaches endlessly over the years. Two sentences and we would have grokked it.

I'm solidly in the Dennis Lee camp. I like keeping everything in one PLN file and I like using hotlinks but I guess with the Start edition, hotlinking is not an option. One cheat around this (never done it) is to create a GSM object of your exterior walls, etc., and plop that in your site plan on a lower story. If there are changes to the footprint, you could just overwrite the GSM file. You would want to set this site plan work well off to the side on a lower floor so that it would not be included in any all-story marquee 3D views of the main building.

Dwight's approach is very pure and would get you in good layer management discipline. But it is work. Good luck.