Wishes
Post your wishes about Graphisoft products: Archicad, BIMx, BIMcloud, and DDScad.

Calculator

Anonymous
Not applicable
I think a calculator would be a good idea.
A calculator that you could have show up on each screen and info box etc in which you were working. Something like a a share trading portfolio screen that stays with you. This would be useful when calculating heights for walls, slabs, mesh points, etc.
AC is nice and accurate but it would be good to have the tools to help in creating the accuracy IMO.
Cheers,
20 REPLIES 20
Anonymous
Not applicable
I keep a calculator in my dock so it is handy for those few times that I need it.
Anonymous
Not applicable
I use the Microsoft calculator that comes with Windows but the problem with that is it keeps shutting down to the bottom toolbar when I change any screen window. I am suggesting something that stays open if possible.
Only a small item but one I think could be useful.
RandyC
Advocate
preferably a conversion calculator !

Randy Clarkston
ArchiCAD 4.5 --- 27 , Win 10 , dual monitors, 64 gb ram,Nvidia GeforceRTX 2080 TI, I-9
Anonymous
Not applicable
Take a look on the download sites. I just did a quick search on versiontracker and got 145 hits. I used to use third party calculators on both my Macs and PCs.

On the Mac, I now use the one that Apple includes with the OS since it is so well done.

I have to admit that I don't remember what I use on my PC. I have hardly used it for over a year now. (I have no active PC clients right now - maybe I should find one so I can justify buying one of those HP 17" laptops.)
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
I agree with Graeme. I have wished for inline calculations all along, but have only needed it now and then, so am only voting Important and not Essential.

The difference between using external calcs is that no extra clicks or copy/pastes are required. See the screenshots of Quicken and QuickBooks below. In each, you just type a math operator after typing a number, and the calculator pops up - UI with buttons for the consumer-level Quicken, adding-machine tape with a record of what you've typed in QuickBooks (I prefer this visual feedback). Press enter and the calc is completed and entered into the field.

The only flaw in the QuickBooks UI that I would like to see avoided if this is added to AC is that the little audit tape pops up in an inconvenient location, frequently blocking numbers that you want to use in the calculation.

Quicken, being for consumers, has a little button next to numeric fields so someone could click and bring up the calculator (unnecessary extra step) and they could then click the buttons on the mini calculator if they are happier with that than just using their keyboard.

Karl
inline-calc.gif
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Anonymous
Not applicable
Having a calculator is an excellent idea. I use the Windows built-in one but it's inconvenient and too large in Expert mode.
And Karl's idea is really nice.
But, here it is how it works in AutoCAD (sorry about nagging it again) :

You have a distance, for example 324, and you want to draw a line at one third that lenth starting from a certain point. So you start drawing the line and just type 324/3 and press Enter. Now you have a line with a lenth of 108.
Nice, isn't it? And you don't have a pallette blocking your drawing!
calc illustration.jpg
Anonymous
Not applicable
kliment wrote:
Having a calculator is an excellent idea. I use the Windows built-in one but it's inconvenient and too large in Expert mode.
And Karl's idea is really nice.
But, here it is how it works in AutoCAD (sorry about nagging it again) :

You have a distance, for example 324, and you want to draw a line at one third that lenth starting from a certain point. So you start drawing the line and just type 324/3 and press Enter. Now you have a line with a lenth of 108.
Nice, isn't it? And you don't have a pallette blocking your drawing!
Now that's a calculator that I could support! I've always said "why not let the computer do the math?"
Anonymous
Not applicable
The examples given by Karl and Kliment are excellent and very much along the lines of what I was thinking.
As an aside, I like the way the Info Box has the combined heights shown and this would be useful to have in the Toolbox Setting box also. So say having a starting elevation of 3000mm and then adding 2000mm of wall height the combined height of 5000mm is then shown in the Info Box but not in the Tool Settings at present. I often use this combined height to work out, or confirm, correct heights. These finished heights are important as they refer to undersides of slabs and roofs, etc. Perhaps it is unnecessary to include twice but I often find myself shutting the Tool Settings to look at the Info Box settings.
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
A long time ago I had the idea that you could have a calculator while entering numbers in any field, like the X or Y field in the coordinate box. Currently by pressing X1000+ will add 1000 to the current value in that field. It could work with other, more complex numerical operations as well. Maybe by pressing a key on the keyboard, a small calculator would pop up and when you got the result you were looking for, pressing the same key would make the pop-up calculator disappear AND enter the result in the field you were just working in.
Would be very handy and elegant.
Laszlo :
Loving Archicad since 1995 - Find Archicad Tips at x.com/laszlonagy
AMD Ryzen9 5900X CPU, 64 GB RAM 3600 MHz, Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB, 500 GB NVMe SSD
2x28" (2560x1440), Windows 10 PRO ENG, Ac20-Ac27