2026-03-19 10:08 PM - edited 2026-03-19 10:09 PM
Hello,
I am trying to extract the finishes for the zones in my project. I use a Surfaces schedule. It works fine, it inherits the finishes of the walls, the cropping objects precisely. The problem is — I cannot convince Archicad to subtract the areas of the doors and windows, even if I use the „Reduce exposed area“ menu/window.
If I visualize the zone in 3D, I see it with the wall finishes, but I cannot see „through the windows“ in the room — the surface is not interrupted.
Any helpful suggestions are very valuable!
Thank you in advance!
Nic
2026-03-19 10:33 PM - edited 2026-03-19 10:34 PM
Can you show your Scheme Setup Dialog (criteria and schedule fields), and maybe also a 3D View of one of the Zones and its surrounding Walls that shows what the expected Surface values are, plus the generated Schedule that shows what the schedule displays?
2026-03-19 10:40 PM
there is a schedule field for walls/slabs/roofs called "conditional area"... it used to work, but have found it's a coin flip lately. Fortunately I haven't needed quantities in quite a while; if I did, I'd probably be looking at solibri or some other BIM coordination solution
2026-03-19 10:59 PM
Hello Laszlo,
thank you for your quick response.
Here you may find the images.
What bothers me is that there is no „hole“ in the zone where the window is…
2026-03-20 12:03 AM - edited 2026-03-20 12:12 AM
I would recommend that you try to schedule Walls instead of Zones. You can use the Related Zone Name/Related Zone Number parameters if you want to show the relevant Zone data.
For the criteria, you may need to do it like this:
Element Type is Wall AND
Related Zone Number is not ...
and just leave the Related Zone Number value field empty (to indicate an empty string or nothing). This will filter out those Surfaces that do not belong to a Zone, such as exterior Wall surfaces (since that side of those Walls does not have a Related Zone, the Related Zone Number/Name parameter will contain an empty text).
2026-03-20 05:24 AM
Thank you, Laszlo.
It works, but not precisely. The filter works at the entity and not at the surface level.
Then comes an apparent misfunction in the "Reduce Exposed Area" filtering. I get the masonry surfaces ('Caramida - rosie') in the list even if they are completely covered by the neighbouring walls.
I attached the new list, built on your suggestion. If I misunderstood something, plese be so kind to correct me.
Lot of Thanks,
Nic
2026-03-20 08:36 AM
Hi,
I think it may benefit you to take a look here: https://help.graphisoft.com/AC/27/INT/_AC27_Help/060_ElementParameters/060_ElementParameters-30.htm
Those are the wall listing parameters that you can access in the surface schedule. You can easily see the difference between surface area of the wall inside face (net) and inside face surface etc. Maybe all that you need is a redefining of your fields in your schedule.
And for double-checking, you can also include the surface of openings (Analytic Surface Area of Openings on the Outside Face) and added to the surface area (net) it should result in the total inside face surface. In that way you can be sure it measured correctly.
2026-03-20 09:37 AM
Thank you!
I solved the problem another way. I generated the list of finishes as best as Archicad could, then I generated a second list in which—due to errors in 'Exposed Area (by Criteria)'—I managed to obtain the list of openings (doors and windows) for each space (yes, it is possible). I exported the two lists to Excel and subtracted one from the other there. The lack of full functionality in this option—'Exposed Area (by Criteria)'—needs to be urgently addressed by Graphisoft (honestly, I think it’s a deeper issue regarding the relationship between walls, windows, and doors on one hand, and zones on the other). Referencing walls to generate a list of areas is just a workaround!