Tutorials on AUGI

This link will take you to the latest in a series of tutorials on the AUGI website for Autocad Architecture - this one on 2010 version. They are really designed for the newbie but I often find I pick up or am reminded of a great tip here and there. Also check in the archives for older posts. He recently went thru the basics of creating and displaying walls.

Roof Object - small Part 6

This is the 'advanced' image that the ADT/ACA help menu gives you on the roof object. No wonder most people will convert to slabs if that's all you can do with it! (It's not - see here). Little of the roof object's secrets are divulged in the help menu.

After I posted my roof object demonstration file showing the 'trim the roof object for an extra vertices' trick, Doug posted in the NG that he could simply recreate the whole roof quicker than trimming it to gain extra control points. I think this is important to note because of course 'just because you can do something ...... ' Doug I believe was at least partly referring to the ability to change from hip (slope) to gable as you are creating the roof by altering the settings in the properties pallete. I tend to forget and have to alter it afterwards anyway. Some with the grips, others by edge editing and others by trimming. It's just good to know that you have these options.

I hope that Doug will confess when he resorts to trimming the roof instead of recreating :-)

update:
If my instructions on adding a vertice to the roof object are unclear to you, you can check out Odin's excellant tutorial here.

Copy & Paste Trick

Did you just spend time creating one thing (like working on a complex aec item) to realise you deleted something else a little ways back accidently. Here's a trick I remembered whilst fiddling with the roof object.

I had just created a new shape and had spent some time editing and experimenting (fiddling). Now I had what I wanted. But I had damaged another roof and I didn't know what I did. So I Cntrl-C'd the new object and then Cntrl-Z (undo) back to restore my original object. Then I just pasted back in the new object! That was easy! Probably only works on a dumb object like a roof or acad objects though. A more complex object like a curtain wall assembly would assume the paramaters of the style set in the drawing. To use this trick for a styled object like a curtainwall object you would need to change the style name slightly before pasting it back in, thereby preserving your latest adjustments.

Mike Williams has just reminded me about the 'OOPS' command, which will restore the last deleted object which may help you in a different situation.

All tricks & tools for your enjoyment!

Bring Display Order above object.

I am so tired of adjusting draw order! Why would I want text or even tags obscured by other objects like hatching? Why would I want hatching above other objects?  Okay sometimes I might.  Anyway I don't know why they buried the display order option on your right click deep down in the 'Basic Modify tools' but it's easy to bring it up one level so it's right there and available on your right click.

To accomplish this, type CUI and make sure you are looking at the contents of your ACA.cui.(drop down at top - shown with a tick).  Track down to the shortcut menus and it's in at least 2 of the menu's as shown in the picture, tucked under the BMTool's menu.   Drag it up and drop it into the position above.  Can you pick the error I made.  I have put it before and then after the Isolate Objects menu in the two different spots.  It's important to be consistent in placement as it will help you find it quicker each time - so I fixed it.  Now my draworder is found on the first menu displayed on the right click and I don't have to go search for it. 

BTW :  I find it more efficient to have the tool at my right click rather than a tool bar, pallete or ribbon.  I did even try to alias the draworder commands but the syntax failed for reasons I'm not smart enough to deduce.

Ever trimmed a viewport?

I must have been over excited after discovering the using the trim command on a roof object because I just trimmed a viewport and thought the result was cool enough to post. I turned the viewport frame red to show it up better.  Notice the RHS (Right side image) is missing.  But it still works just fine.

To post something more helpful, did you know that you can create a viewport from a shaped polyline?  Great for setting up partcular details where you need to exclude portions or interlock together tightly with other details. Use the 'Object' option in the MView command and select a predrawn closed PLine.

Also you can match properties to get an adjacent viewport to follow scale and layer settings (inside the viewport) as well as the expected behaviour. So for e.g. if you already have a viewport set up and decide you wanted to use a special shape instead of the std rectangle, you can create your viewport shape, zoom in to match closely the view scale you want and then (moving to paperspace) matchproperties to get the new viewport set exactly as the old including layers.  Once created, you have the freedom to move the corners around to reshape it.  Want to add more points?  Just select the viewport, right click and select the Viewport Clip option - Polygonal and redraw a new viewport boundary with extra vertice if you require.

(BTW the viewport I trimmed was created using the above PLine (object) option in case you just tried to trim a regular viewport :-)

Lisp on Auto

Hey you gotta check out these couple of posts from a clever Autolisp programmer. Not sure what they can be used for, they don't even look like autocad, but Andrea Andreetti has done some amazing code here in the AUGI newsgroups. Make sure you scroll down and get the latest version he has posted.here >>> Dynamic Line Modeller and his Dynamic LineEditor Tool

Follow the links and see this pic come alive.
Here's his website where he has some other great tools.

Thanks for sharing Andrea!

ACA2010 and a snap problem,

Now that I have moved up to ACA08/09 and have even tried rendering, I have some newbie tips to help you to have a go at rendering. But for now you might have run into this 'feature' if you've upgraded.

In ACA09 if you add an aecmaterial to an object, display it in 3D (isometric), turn of layer 0 and regen, you possibly won't be able to snap to much of your objects except a baseline. The workaround is to keep your layer 0 on. It appears to relate to what layer your materials are set to. I advise to leave them on layer 0 but if you put a layer into your mat definition the problems goes away, or at least shifts layers. If you put it on the same layer as the object, the material is applied to then it won't be frozen when you are trying to snap to it. But I don't like the idea of building in layers in your styles as it reduces your flexibilty so I will have to live with it.

BTW this wasn't a problem in ADT6!

Oh and did I tell you that I got ACA10. Received my discs here in Aus before most in the U.S.!
.........It's not fixed in v10.

Is 10 worth the upgrade? I don't know yet. I'm still trying to find everything! I'm very anxious to find out what the new fluid modelling tools can offer to site development. I certainly think it will add to the use of entourage. Imagine a double bed with slightly rumpled bedspread, a dining chair with a cushioned seat, a lounge with cushions and curves. I was hoping to see that you could import a .max file with it's curves but no. Still just .3ds
I'd like to comment on all the fancy modelling but I can't find it :-) I'm sure it's in there unless they removed that for us ACA loosers! er I mean users. Even the 'brilliant' contextual ribbon has nothing to offer. So I loaded the acad.cuix and got the mesh modelling tools!

update "The ‘new fluid modelling tools‘ Ribbon is invisible by default in ACA 2010 . You can show it by right clicking your ribbon tab, and choose "Show Tabs -> Solids" - anon"

Thanks

But time is gone...... to explore another day.

TipBits

AutoCAD Typing Tip.
Did you know that in many places you can type the first letter of what you are after and it will scroll to items beginning with that letter.  The best place to try this is in the layer drop-down.  Hit the drop down arrow to display the list and for e.g. if I want to go to the wall layer which is way down the list I type 'w' and it scrolls to the first w in the list.  Now you may have 'A-' at the beginning, I now have '1' but you will still have several different groupings (if not why the prefix?) that you can type.  If I want to go to the roof of level 1, typing '1' gets me close. Typing 'S' gets me close to my 'Site' levels.

Try it in the colour, linetype and plotstyle dropdowns. Generally any dropdown will respond. In the layer manager itself.  Try it in your plotter dialogue box when you change printers. (remember your printers 1st letter for quick setting).  There are lots of places where this will just give you that little bit of speed and if you are impatient like me it will be appreciated.

Moving Objects
Did you know that you don't need to type the move (or m) command to move something.  If the distance is arbitary like text or a tree then you only need to select the item to highlight it,  place your curser on it (not the grip) and press and hold your left mouse button anywhere on the object and you can move it.  You can select multiple items and move them all as long as your mouse hold starts over one of the objects.

aecRoof Object - Part 5 - Wow look what I found out!

Ok here is the secret that no one has shared if they found it. At least not on online. But to me it exponentially explodes the usefullness of this clever tool. Especilly if you are into residential work - read on.

Some years ago I tried to slice a roof object to see what it would do. It went crazy! and I abandoned the crumpled mess to it's doom. But this clever little tool was just doing it's job. It was obeying the rules set for it.

Try this - Draw a line thru a roof object, TRIM one side and then edit the cut edge. (To do this, For 1 or more edges select the roof object and right click. Select 'edit edges/faces'. For all the edges at once, click on the roof and then on the properties pallete click on the edges/faces).

The Height is reset down to 0 and the slope is set to 90 (of course). That's gonna mess up the equations!

Reset those edges as per the rest of your roof, give it a height and set the pitch back to the main roof and voila. It's sanity has returned.

But all you did was shorten it. Not much gain there. Now the real trick.

Draw your line across a corner. ah........ TRIM the roof object. Now you have an extra edge and an extra vertex to play with. Wow. All of a sudden the roof object is editible. The perceptive among you will realise the potential this gives this object. No more recreating that complex roof arrangement or exploding to slabs just because you can't bare to do all that again.

Now maybe I will post some detailed how to's here but for now I have posted a .dwg file in '07 format here at AutoDesk NG or here at Augi ACA Tips & Tricks so you can download and have a look at the versitility this object has. In the file I show you tricks on trimming and how you can save a complex roof creation that requires editing, how to overhang the roof object, some very weird roof shapes and solutions to some of the common situations we all come across and generally try to reveal the hidden secrets of this clever tool so you can predict it's behaviour.

Why didn't anyone share this? I guess the ruling paradigm is to convert to slabs so most have not really explored the roof object's potential. I should point out that the roof object will not give you areas or quantities without some clever programming. The way our industry here is set up we don't need it.

Now my call, in the spirit of opensource, is for you to post your complex roof solutions (just the roof object itself) append to my post and the community can benefit.

I also want to tell you about http://www.archidigm.com/ and also look at the advanced roof tool from http://www.visionrez.com/ so come back.

I have 'just a little' obsessive personality and I drive around looking at buildings to judge how I can built it using ACA objects. Lately it's been roof's and here in Perth Australia, there are only a small percentage of roof shapes that cannot be done with the roof object. Ok in the US, you do build complex roofs and the visionrez tool has been built with you in mind. But for the rest of us the old roof tool may just have some more milage to offer.

So remember : Cutting corners is now the recommended method of editing your roof object. (You heard it here first :-)

Best to ya (Click here to view all the roof tips).

ps. I am now going to have to rewrite sections of my roof posts now! You can edit!

That Roof Object again

Ok I am now about to contradict everything I have whinged about with this 'object'. I now know how to add a vertex to the roof object!! It's true - it can be done. Wow! I'm blown away. And the secret is so simple it uses autocad commands! No wonder I didn't find it until now. Did you know about this?? Why didn't anyone tell me? Is this common knowledge?? If so then I'm a red-faced carpet snake!

Anyway I am going to share the secret with you!

One of the things I have enjoyed about doing this blog is that I have taken the time to stop and actually work thru the issues I have come across and in a way that I can explain to share with others. So many things have dropped into place as I've tried to organise my chaotic ways. Working for yourself has advantages but it also has downfalls. Now to that roof.

Something that has puzzled me is that essentially the roof object is programmed mathamatics and should be predictable. It may have limitations but they should be able to be understood and worked within or around. When using the roof object it can do some strange things but they should be able to become known and anticipated.

Hey before I get into the roof object again here's a great thing you can get into.

Great Daily Tips for AutoCAD (and ACArchitecture)

I just recently signed up for tips from Mike Williams, an experienced AutoCAD user and (I think) of ACArchitecture as some of his tips are for ACA. One of the strengths (and weaknesses) of ACA is it's AutoCAD base and we all use heaps of AC methods as much as ACA.

Great bite sized tips in your email everyday! I've already learnt a couple of new tips and been reminded of tips I've forgotten.

Oh and the roof object . . . . . . . . . come back in a couple of days . . . . . . it may blow you away like it did me!

aecRoof Object - Part 4

Now I am talking mainly residential roof's here but I don't discount the commerical roof, with many commercial buildings built using residential practise. You may need to refer to the earlier parts of this series 1, 2 & 3.

The simple Cutout for the roof object is just a matter of tracing the outline of your roof and editing the edges (right click option) of the cut out portion and changing the overhang and the slope to 0. Just remember if you miss a point (vertex), you have to recreate the whole roof!

What about the Cutback eave? I showed this in my wall example, having to edit my external cavity wall to cater for a cut back eave. This happens not infrequently here in West Aus. So how do we wrestle the roof object into cutting back the eave and showing the eave in one straight section. You would assume that you should have two end points and a point (vertices) for where the roof eave changes from overhang to none but you will be wrong. The Roof object can't do it and your eave goes strange. You need to have an extra point and the extra edge has to have 90 degree slope. That's illogical to the roof shape but it works. Once constructed you need to drag your points very close together so that the raking portion of the eave appears at right angles to the roof pitching line for a spandrel to end the eave overhang.

What about different plate heights? Can the Roof Object handle this? Very easily!
Construct your roof at your main height. Select your roof, right click and select 'Edit Edges'.Select the edges you want to raise and enter the new pitching height. You are done.

But remember that the roof object can't overlap itself so for e.g. the eave can't overlap the lower roof portion. So how can you do that? Resort to slabs? Chicken! Here's a method that takes a little planning.

Create the main roof and trace around the valley connecting the main roof to the raised portion. These connecting edges will get a 0 overhang and a 90 slope. Now create a second roof to position into the breach and you are done. Your new roof can now overlap the main roof and there are no unwanted lines on your drawing.

Tip: As I've pointed out before, don't worry about getting this cutout right for your design development stage. Just overlap roof objects as required to get your outer shape as you need. Once the design is final you can plan & trace and replace so your sections will look correct too.

Well that's probably as many tricks as I know to using the aecRoof Object without resorting to slabs. Hopefully I've helped you to be able to use it more extensively, at least in the design process and be able to get it to look how you want.

Oh and I have added some more detail for a reverse Dutch Gable and some interesting tips for gable infil and about the behaviour of the aecRoof object as a barge to Part 2 of this series. It's in the centre of the post if you don't want to read it all again.

Happy Roofing!

I've developed a Lisp !

It'th True! I'm slowly (very) developing a lisp. I have finally dived in and started to learn AutoLisp and enjoying learning my first programing language. Ok I did type in a random dice program in basic but that shouldn't count. And yes even VBA has been pushed aside in Autocad 2010 but Autolisp should be here for years to come. I've been trying to reconstruct a useful program that allows you to pick 2 corners of a room and it prints the size in metres in the centre of the room. Great for marketing plans. Turned a functioning program into one that simply delivers "nil". Some work to do!

AUGI is a great resource for learning lisp and has a newsgroup and some great tutorials you can download. Of course there is Adesk's own newsgrops.

I also plan to get my thick head around OpenDCL, an open source version of the programming of the dialogue boxes that you use.

My long term goals in case anyone (anyone?) is interested.

1. Program to facilitate levels within one drawing. Should be fairly simple. Manipulate layers, elevation and display rep. Need to automate text & dims to the appropriate level as well. Got most of it sorted in my head and manually tested and satisfied with outcomes.

2. Program to enable one touch to shuffle a multi-building drawing (either blocks or x-ref's) to a level assigned in a tag and toggle back to 0 elevation. Multiple unit developments on a hill side can't display plan view and create elevations at the same time if cut plane no longer intersects houses at different levels.

Let me know if you are interested, could help me, want to laugh at me or have any comments that could help.

(setq salute "best to ya")
(princ salute)