Cadimage Tools Versioning

July 16, 2013, 3:47 pm

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If you’ve logged in to download your Cadimage Tools recently, you may have noticed a change in the versions numbers.

Until recently, all of our version numbers for the tools used the ArchiCAD Versions they applied to – so the ArchiCAD 17 Tools were all versioned as 17.x.xx

Due to changes we’ve been making in the way we deal with our add-ons, we’ve decided to change  up this versioning system so that it makes more sense internally, and also to our customers.

Now, instead of each version being tied to an ArchiCAD release, the version number will be based on the actual features in that version of the tool.

So what that means, is that if you download version 2.46 of Cadimage Objective, that version will look and work the same in ArchiCAD 17, 16, and any other ArchiCAD versions we make it available for.

It might take a bit of getting used to, but we think it’ll make a lot more sense in the long-run.

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Turn off Zone background colour

July 17, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Adding an accurate location

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If you are using Zones for your Room Data, you can turn off the zone colour by going to Document > Set Model View > Model View Options, then within Override Fill Display tick Override Zone Fills and choose to No Fill.

Adding an accurate location

July 18, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Grid Display and the Editing Plane

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If your project requires Sun Studies for consenting purposes or if you are wanting to do a sun study for evaluation purposes, it makes sense to get the geographical location as correct as possible.  We can do this by going to the 3D View Options > 3D Projection Settings… option from the View Menu.

In the dialog box that appears click on More Sun… button

In the next dialog box click on the Project Location Button

In the next dialog box that pops up, you can enter in the GPS co-ordinates either based on North, South, East or West.

If you don’t have these numbers off the top of your head, try going to Google Earth, which is free, Zoom in to the property in question and you will see displayed at the bottom of the screen the co-ordinates.

 

 

Grid Display and the Editing Plane

July 21, 2013, 1:30 pm

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One of the questions I get asked frequently while training people and on the support desk is how to turn off the Editing Plane and how to change the Grid display.  These are both quite simple things to rectify. To turn off the Editing Plane display, go to the View Menu and simply click on the Editing Plane Display option

 

If you want to change the color of the grid, first make sure you are in 3D window, then go to the View menu and this time choose the Grid & Editing Plane Options > Grids & Backgrounds… option.  In this dialog box you change the sizing and colour of the grids as well as the background colour.

Missed the Tip

July 22, 2013, 1:00 pm

≫ Next: NZ ARCHICADselect objects

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If you didn’t get a chance to read the Tip of the Day when it popped up in the morning, you can get it back.

Select Activate > Tip of then Day from the Cadimage menu.

Then click the Show Now button.

There is also a check box to stop the Tip of the Day appearing each morning, but surely you wouldn’t want to check this.

NZ ARCHICADselect objects

July 22, 2013, 3:29 pm

≫ Next: How to clear ArchiCAD’s Library Cache

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For ArchiCAD 17, the ARCHICADselect objects are being provided via BIM Components.

New Zealand ARCHICADselect subscribers can access all these objects direct from the Objects tool in the ToolBox – hit the Search icon, and choose to search on the BIM Components Portal or Both.  Once you have found your desired object, hit Download and Embed.

Once your objects are embedded they will remain with the project.

All the Cadimage BIM Components objects have been updated & simplified to be more user friendly.

Another advantage of using the objects direct from BIM Components is that they will always be the latest version if we update them at a later stage.

If you are migrating a project from ArchiCAD 16 it would be best to add the old library rather than have to download each object individually. To do this you can either embed the objects before migration, or copy the ‘ArchiCAD Select V16 Library’ folder from your ArchiCAD Library 16 folder to a general location like your GRAPHISOFT folder or your office library location on your server.

NOTE: You can still use your current ArchiCAD 16 ARCHICADselect objects in ArchiCAD 17.  Although this is not the desired workflow. These Libraries are currently still available from the Cadimage website. http://www.cadimage.com/mycadimage/downloads/resources

To get the most out of BIM Components, it may also be wise to register an account with BIM components so you can upload objects at a later date.

To do this go to www.bimcomponents.com, hit Register at the top right, and fill in the required registration information.

NOTE: If you are in a multi-seat office you may want to look at having one login for all staff, so any objects uploaded will all reside in the same User account.

Please check with your BIM Manager.

NOTE: You can also use your existing GRAPHISOFT details to register.

Once registration is complete you will receive a 32 digit code, this needs to be added to your ArchiCAD 17.

Open ArchiCAD, gotoHelp > Licence Information.  Hit Enter Registration Number… and copy and paste your code here.

How to clear ArchiCAD’s Library Cache

July 29, 2013, 8:31 pm

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There is currently a known issue with library caching in ArchiCAD 17.

This is done to speed up your library loading times when you first open a project, but sometimes it doesn’t update the cache when it should. This will cause problems with updates to our tools until it is fixed – in the meantime though, it’s pretty easy to clear it yourself:

The best way to fix this is to remove the cache & let it rebuild with your latest library

To do this follow the steps below:

In Windows, first ensure that you show hidden folders – there is a great guide on how to do it here:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/show-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-vista/

Once this setting has been set, go to: C:\Users\[your username]\Appdata\Local\Graphisoft\ArchiCAD-64 Cache Folder

In Mac OSX, go to your Finder and click ‘Go’ from the top menu

Then hold down the ALT key and the Library option will appear

Click on that, and then continue to: Library>Cache>Graphisoft>ArchiCAD-64 Cache Folder

Now delete the ArchiCAD-64 17.0.0 NZE R1 or ArchiCAD-64 17.0.0 folder

This contains the cache of your libraries & add-ons – by deleting it we force ArchiCAD to rebuild it. It will use what is in your library folder currently and will get the latest version, which will resolve the issue.

Create a drop shaped window.

July 30, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Edit Keynotes On the Fly…

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Cadimage Windows flexibility allows you to create Drop shaped windows.

 

Just select in the Setout options the ‘Head shape’ to be  a “Gothic Arch’ and the ‘Sill shape’ to be an ‘Elliptic Arch’

You can change the  shape of the drop/window in Elevation or Section with the interactive nodes.

 

 

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Edit Keynotes On the Fly…

July 31, 2013, 1:00 pm

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With ArchiCAD 17 we have introduced a new Palette for Keynotes, the Edit Keynote Palette.

To activate it select Keynotes > Edit Keynote Palette from the Cadimage Menu.

It works in combination with the Keynotes Palette, if you select a Keynote in the Keynotes Palette, the Edit Keynote Palette will be populated with the selected Keynote information.

You can use this to check the entire contents of the selected Keynote, or you can adjust it and either Update the selected Keynote by clicking the Update button (1), or Add a new Keynote by clicking the Add button (2).

When you have completed making changes to the keynotes click the Update Keynote Labels button (3) to update any labels which have already been placed.

Tip of the day ideas?

August 1, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Afterhours help

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You may have noticed tip of the day have been pretty minimal lately.

The truth is we are running out of ideas! After producing tips for years on all the little features that you may not have known about we are running out of ideas on new tips which do not repeat one we have published earlier of which there is hundreds!

If you have any tips you would like to share with us which could help others please just respond to this or send an email to support@cadimagegroup.com and we will get working on another well documented tip to help all our customers out there

Afterhours help

August 4, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Keynotes Search Function

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If you are like me and find that the best time of the day to get productive work done is once everyone else is in bed, you might have a situation where you need help, As much as I like working late too, our support center is not open 24 hours (occasionally they let us go home!)

The ArchiCAD community is a global workforce and there is a good chance that some one on the other side of the world who is awake has encountered your problem before, so if you find yourself in a situation where you need some help at 3AM, there are a multitude of places where you can find help about ArchiCAD.

Try these to start with:

http://www.archicadwiki.com/FrontPage

http://www.graphisoft.com/support/

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/Archicad

Failing that of course, you could always try simply typing your question into Google!

Keynotes Search Function

August 5, 2013, 1:00 pm

≫ Next: Are you sick of filling in the same forms

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Keynotes for ArchiCAD 17 allows you to search for a word or phrase.

Bring up the Keynotes palette using the Cadimage > Keynotes > Keynotes Palette menu.

Type the word or phrase you want to find into the search field (1) and your list of keynotes will only contain notes with that word or phrase.

It can show Keynotes for just the selected Category or you can select All Categories (2), to search the whole keynotes database.

Click the x button (3) to cancel the search or just type a different word or phrase to do another search.

Are you sick of filling in the same forms

August 6, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Do you draw a lot of repetitive details?

≪ Previous: Keynotes Search Function

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Do you have forms that you need to fill in on every job?  The one that springs to mind for me is the Building consent Application files.

Heres a simple tip to help you.  Download the PDF copy of your forms and place them onto a layout, This means the form is already there and ready to be printed as a part of your documentation set.

In this case I have the Auckland Council Building Consent page

 

You may also notice that I have added Autotext fields to this form.  This of course means that the information I add for my Title blocks will now show up on the application form as well.

 

Do you draw a lot of repetitive details?

August 7, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Framed opening

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Do you find that you are constantly drawing the same details?  Ok so they might not be exactly the same but are close enough.  Why not make a module file of the detail so that you can take some of the repetitiveness out of the job.  It is a really simple process.

Firstly draw the detail up the way you want it to appear and then select all the elements:

 

In this example I have used a standard roof to wall junction.

Once you have selected everything, simply copy all of the elements by either using the right click context menu or by using the Edit>Copy… menu command.

Once the elements have been copied, simply go to File>Save As… In the Format type make sure you choose the Module File From Clipboard option.

Give your module a name that you can remember and save it into a folder somewhere
Tip:

If you are replicating details that appear in either codes or standards, create a folder with the name of the standard and save the detail with the same figure number as in the standard.  That way once you’ve looked up the detail in the appropriate code or standard you will know where to look in your library of details!

 

 

Framed opening

August 8, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Change the Doors+Windows Schedule Margin colours.

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You may be aware of the ‘Empty opening’ option in ArchiCAD, however sometimes you may require a frame or jamb to be applied to this opening.

With the Cadimage window we have taken this into consideration and within the list of Panel Types there is an option for ‘Open’

The means you can control Frame, Trims and appearance of this opening much more than the ‘Empty Opening’

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Change the Doors+Windows Schedule Margin colours.

August 11, 2013, 1:35 pm

≫ Next: Get your stories straight

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You can change the colour of the pen of the margin in your D+W Schedule.

1. Select the margin

2. Open the settings.

3. Go to the Fills and Pens section of the Parameters and change them.

 

 

Note: Don’t try to delete the margin, it’s part of the schedule functionality. If you don’t want to see the margin, change the pen to be transparent.

Get your stories straight

August 12, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: Emphasise what is important

≪ Previous: Change the Doors+Windows Schedule Margin colours.

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We quite often see using stories in place of layer combinations.  While this system does work in some respects, It is not an ideal way to work.
With the use of layer combinations there is no need to create additional stories.
Below is a very basic schematic diagram of how I would normally setout my layers and stories.

 

 

As you can see, using my layer i can have different forms of framing on the same stories.  In this situation, anything that resides below the top of my slab , or the u/side of my flooring, goes onto my foundation layers and the mid floor framing goes on my framing layers.  This way I can turn on my floor framing and ensure that my floor beams relate correctly to the supporting wall structures under them

Emphasise what is important

August 13, 2013, 1:30 pm

≫ Next: How to quickly morph a Bullnose Verandah

≪ Previous: Get your stories straight

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Generally when we are creating renderings what we are trying to create is the concept of the design.  And lets face it, most of our clients when presented with a design will make comments about the colour schemes or the type of furniture.  I have found that a good way of dealing with this is to model the building almost entirely in a white color.  This way they look at the building as a whole form and don’t focus on the wrong things at the design stage.

If I need to model contextual information I model the elements in a semi transparent white colour.

 

The image above was a very quick render which clearly shows the context of the building to the site and additional things like vehicles and planting being shown indicative  by nature of the transparency.  This also works well with furniture internally to show possible furniture layouts

 

How to quickly morph a Bullnose Verandah

August 14, 2013, 1:30 pm

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A Bullnose Verandah is one of the more complex elements you may want to model in a house

We can no longer use the roof tool since it doesnt allow curves.

And the Shell tool may be overly complex & wont give any profile to the roof.

My suggested solution to a customer recently was to draw a normal single plane roof (with Perpendicular edges) & apply a covering (turning Framing off so they touch)

You can then select both the Roof and the Covering and right click to choose ‘Convert Selection to Morph’

 

A really useful thing to do now is to join then, to do this select both and right click and choose Boolean Operations>Union

Then in 3D select a point and use the Tube option to start extruding the roof:

Now pick the edge of the roof as the reference plane using this tool:

You can then choose a tangent curve (Chord) method to get the finishing curve to the roof:

Now simply using Split and Mirror a copy and now your left with a well modeled bullnose verandah roof with minimal effort.

 

Add some light to your images

August 15, 2013, 1:30 pm

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When doing internal renderings, try to remember that sunlight travels in through windows and reflects off surfaces.  To emulate this effect simply place in some window lamps.  These objects can be found in the Lightworks folder in the Lamp default settings dialog box:

Simply place the object to the inside face of the window with the dome facing in, then size and position it to cover the window.

The results can be seen below:

 

Without window lights

With window lights