ARCHICADselect.com Tip of the Day

Tip of the Day - 1/8/2009

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

You can embed time-stamped notes in your ArchiCAD file by going to the File menu, and choosing Info, Project Notes. This is good for leaving notes about what you have done so that other users can see them, or as reminders for yourself.

Tip of the Day - 1/7/2009

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

If you have lost the Angle field from your Tracker and it is just showing X & Y coordinates, go to the Tracker pull-down menu and hit Prefer polar coordinates in Tracker

Tip of the Day - 1/6/2009

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Another handy object is Fill Types 12, this object displays all of the fills in your project in swatches so you can print these as a an office chart or as a printer check.

Tip of the Day - 1/5/2009

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Welcome back to ARCHICADselect.com Tip of the Day. We hope the break finds you refreshed and ready to attack the New Year with new found enthusiasm.

Tip of the Day - 12/24/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The ARCHICADselect.com offices will be?closed from 24th December and re-opening on Monday 5th January.??From everyone in the?team we wish you all a happy festive season.

Tip of the Day - 12/23/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When?placing a detail marker, if you want text to be included from the source view you have to un-check Copy construction elements only in details settings dialog.

Tip of the Day - 12/22/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Pens and Colors 12 object in the ArchiCAD Library 12 allows you to place an object that displays your current Pen Sets colours, this allows you to print these as a in office pen chart or as a printer check.

Tip of the Day - 12/19/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Make sure that you don?t use the Best Antialiasing option in your Lightworks settings unless you are really sure you need to. It will take an exponentially longer time than usual to render as it is much slower, and also can only run on 1 of your CPU cores, meaning that a Quad-Core computer will be no faster than a Dual or Single core.

Tip of the Day - 12/18/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To bring back the Status Bar , go to the Window pull down menu > Palettes > Status Bar

Tip of the Day - 12/17/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Changing the orientation of Door in Cabinet Builder is done using the flip button, choose the number of the component and hit Flip.

Tip of the Day - 12/16/2008

Jason Bishop - CADConsult — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can hide the content of your master layouts while in the Layout book by unchecking the Master items on Layout option under View>On-Screen View Options

Tip of the Day - 12/15/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

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 Hide Background

Tip of the Day - 12/12/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to see text within your Reference, turn it ON from the Trace & Reference Palette.

Tip of the Day - 12/11/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Did you know that you can check for updates to the CadimageTools directly from ArchiCAD 12. Just go to the File menu and choose Activate Cadimage Tools, and then hit the Check for Updates button to see whether there are any new versions available?to download from our website.

Tip of the Day - 12/10/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want some info regarding GDL , go to Help menu and click on AC12 GDL Reference Guide.? There are other helpfull guides within the Help menu also.

Tip of the Day - 12/9/2008

Jason Bishop - CADConsult — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When using non standard height walls with the bracing tool the achieved values may not be reflected in the totals cell because the factor (2.4/wall height) is greater than 1.3 as per Gib literature. The Cadimage Tools Bracing Tool recognises this and calculates totals accordingly.

Tip of the Day - 12/8/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you need some odd or fancy shaped walls, try using the polywall geometry method.

Tip of the Day - 12/5/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you have deleted one or more of the Interior Elevations in a group and want to get them back, you can do so easily by just right-clicking on the group marker, and hitting Restore all Interior Elevations in Group.

Tip of the Day - 12/4/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you?want to Upgrade your WIBU Key plug , go to https://upgrade.graphisoft.com in either Internet Explore (PC) or Safari (Mac)

Tip of the Day - 12/3/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When making a 'Window' selection, ArchiCAD can be set to either Partial Elements or? Entire Elements.

Tip of the Day - 12/2/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Missing some fills while working in plan? Make sure you have the Drafting Fills radio button selected in the Fill Settings Dialog box.

Tip of the Day - 12/1/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The 3D Document Tool makes creating figure ground plans of urban settings or shadow diagrams of individual buildings easy.

Tip of the Day - 11/28/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When you are photorendering a Flythrough or VR Scene/Object, for best results, use the Sorenson Video 3 Compression type in the Quicktime Compression Settings.

Tip of the Day - 11/27/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can turn off the wall fills by going into Model View Options and ticking Override Cut Fills

Tip of the Day - 11/26/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Shortcut Key to Drag Multiple Copies of an element is Ctrl + D?then Ctrl + Alt (PC) or Command + D?then Command + Alt (MAC)

Tip of the Day - 11/25/2008

Jason Bishop - CADConsult — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you are struggling to select the different geometry methods available in the Control Box (offset/parallel/perpendicular etc), just make sure that you hold the left mouse button down until the options appear - its not just a matter of clicking the button.

Tip of the Day - 11/24/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In the NZ AC12 Template there are two AC12 Pensets, both include a Twink pen and a Revisions pen. The Twink Pen is White and the Revisions will print Red so hopefully your contactors will take notice of them.

Tip of the Day - 11/21/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to make a Circular Slab, first draw a circle the shap of your slab. Select the Slab tool and Magic Wand(Space-click) the edge of the circle.

Tip of the Day - 11/20/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can use the Element ID Manager to re-number the IDs of any selected elements. Just go to Document ? Schedules and Lists ? Element ID Manager. Then choose the settings for the element you want to change ID?s for (ie. Slab ID, Window ID etc...), then go to the ID Format tab and set the way that you want the automatic numbering to be formatted.

Tip of the Day - 11/19/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Pet palette lost off the screen? Options > Work Environment > Dialog Boxes and Palettes > Pet Palette movement > Follow Cursor.

Tip of the Day - 11/18/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To establish your required drawing settings (eg Title settings, Pen Sets?etc), select the Drawing Tool from the Toolbox and set up your default settings PRIOR to placing any drawings. You can even save these as a favourite. Much better than placing drawings and then changing their settings all the time !

Tip of the Day - 11/17/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To add a user defined guide line segment on a Mac use Shift + i and on a PC use Shift + ` (the button next to 1 above Tab)

Tip of the Day - 11/14/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When creating multi storey buildings, once you have generated one floorplate system, in the Storey Settings you can use the ?edit elements of selected storey? to copy paste elements to multiple stories.

Tip of the Day - 11/13/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to print a selection?of Layouts from the Layout book, highlight the layouts that you want to print, go to File >Print?and?tick?Selected layouts in Navigator, click Print.

Tip of the Day - 11/12/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When saving views of General Location views (Plans, Sections, Elevations, etc) set the zoom to none. This will mean as you add to these views they automatically fit to the content of the drawing on the layout sheet. No more cut off notes!

Tip of the Day - 11/11/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to navigate in 3D using 3D Explore "the running man icon" you need to be in a Perspective view (this will not be available in an axo view)

Tip of the Day - 11/10/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can get ArchiCAD to automatically place a veneer around your column by activating the Veneer option within the Geometry and Positioning and setting the desired thickness.

Tip of the Day - 11/7/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to read some ArchiCAD related books, go to ArchiCAD 12 Help Menu and click on Books about ArchiCAD

Tip of the Day - 11/6/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Remember, your ArchiCAD project file is your project, so make sure you save very frequently to ensure that your work is being recorded. To save, click the floppy disc icon in your toolbar, or hit CTRL+S(Windows) or CMD+S(OSX) on your keyboard.

Tip of the Day - 11/5/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Use the Design > Grid System ? to create quick structural grids that can include column and beam elements.

Tip of the Day - 11/4/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Want a hidden line style 3D Document? Simply set the Fill Uncut Surfaces with:?to a uniform colour such as white from with the 3D Document Settings Menu

Tip of the Day - 11/3/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can use the Spline Tool and the Bubble Line Type to create your Revision Clouds.

Tip of the Day - 10/31/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When you are making or modifying Materials, once you are done in the Internal Engine settings, change to the Lightworks Rendering Engine preview. Then click the Match with Internal Engine button and it will bring through the Internal Engine settings.

Tip of the Day - 10/30/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can set the Marker text independantly.? Within the Marker Settings, turn Off Unifrom Text Format, then set your Font type, size and whether it is?Italic, bold or underline.

Tip of the Day - 10/29/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to?toggle the Drawing Frames?ON/OFF, go to View > On-Screen View Options and click?on Drawing Frames.? NOTE: Drawing Frames don't print anyway, so this is just an on-screen option.

Tip of the Day - 10/28/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Offsetting a Spline is done by choosing the Polyline tool, choose Offset Relative Construction Method from the Control Box palette, then spacebar click to place a resulting Polyline based on the Spline shape.

Tip of the Day - 10/27/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

With lower resolution screens or some laptops, you may not be able to see all the Window Panel types in the pull-out list within Cadimage Tools Window Builder.? Simply hit the 'Down Arrow' key to scroll to the bottom of the list.

Tip of the Day - 10/24/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you install ArchiCAD on a 64-bit version of Windows, it?ll be installed to the Program Files (x86) folder on your C: drive. Everything will still work the same though, and the Cadimage Tools installers won?t need any settings changes to find it.

Tip of the Day - 10/23/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The shortcut key?to bring up the Layer Settings dialog box is Ctrl+L (PC) and Command+L(Mac)

Tip of the Day - 10/22/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When logged on to Archicadselect.com don't forget to have a look at the Local Resources page (NZ cutomers only) it contains country specific Objects, Templates, Documents and some additional Libraries.

Tip of the Day - 10/21/2008

Jason Bishop - CADConsult — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you've placed beams/walls etc then moved them up/down stories and can't see them in your saved views anymore, make sure that the Automatic option under storey assignment is not selected

Tip of the Day - 10/20/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When in Curtain Wall EDIT Mode you can use the Grips to select ALL horizontal or vertical panels.

Tip of the Day - 10/17/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To find out what version of a Cadimage Tool you have loaded?in your ArchiCAD 12, go to the File menu and click on Activate Cadimage Tools

Tip of the Day - 10/16/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When placing dimensions into a 3D Document, you can constrain your dimension strings to either Horizontal, Vertical or Any Plane.

Tip of the Day - 10/15/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you accidentally close a Tool bar or Palette and don't know what it was called, go to Work Environment and re-apply?your Standard?Profile (Standard Profile 12 or GSNZ 12).

Tip of the Day - 10/14/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you open up your file one day to find that for no apparent reason all of doors have disappeared, or you fills have all become solid, before you panic, check the Model View Options from Document > Set Model View. There are lots of settings in here regarding the way the model looks in the current view.

Tip of the Day - 10/13/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can easily place a sloped Curtain Wall by setting the Slope Angle into the Place Curtain Wall dialog.

Tip of the Day - 10/10/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If a new ArchiCAD (Hot fix) or Library Update becomes available you will be notified with an on-screen alert if the Check for Updates function is turned ON. Go to Options > Work Environment > Web Options and tick the Check for Updates box.

Tip of the Day - 10/9/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

With Cadimage Tools new Stair Builder comes the new Railing Tool.? Railings can be placed on stairs, slab edges or any where else (pool fencing)

Tip of the Day - 10/8/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The PDF Manuals for Cadimage Tools (such as Door & Window Builder etc) are available under the ArchiCAD Help menu after you have installed these tools - please be sure to look through these.

Tip of the Day - 10/7/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In ArchiCAD 12, the Hotlink Manager now has the ability to display the Hotlink hierarchy in a browser window. This is a great reference to show you the location and status of all hotlinks, as well as their relationships to each other.

Tip of the Day - 10/6/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can add Texture Fills to your 2D Views by using Image Fills.? When creating a new fill, choose Image Fill, then within the Fill Texture tab hit Load Image and choose your image file. NB: Don't forget to set your Image Size.

Tip of the Day - 10/3/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to have a look at some example files done in ArchiCAD , go to Help menu and click on ArchiCAD Example Files

Tip of the Day - 10/2/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When using ArchiCAD's Nudge function (select an object and hit Shift + Arrow key) to set the nudge factor go to? View > Grid Options > Grids & Background

Tip of the Day - 10/1/2008

Jason Bishop - CADConsult — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you are placing Skylights in a project and they won't adjust to your roof angle etc, it is because you need to place them using the Skylight dialog from the ToolBox, it is not just a straight Object placement from the library.

Tip of the Day - 9/30/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

ArchiCAD 12's improved dimensioning logic allows you to place dimension lines in any direction.? Within any planar view (plan, section, elevation, detail etc) you can limit the placement to X & Y only using the Toolbar icon.

Tip of the Day - 9/29/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can use the Go button on your toolbar to quickly move to 2D, 3D, and Layouts, as well as the last opened Elevation, Section etc..

Tip of the Day - 9/26/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to change the Story Level lines in your Section\Elevation views from Solid to Dashed line . Bring up the Section\Elevation settings > Story Levels > Show Story Levels > choose the Dashed line type

Tip of the Day - 9/25/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Graphisoft have included their Grid Tool Goodie with ArchiCAD 12, you can easily place an entire Grid System from Design > Grid System, and add individual Grid Lines by selecting Grid?Element from the ToolBox.

Tip of the Day - 9/24/2008

Jason Bishop - CADConsult — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When you realise that the camera in View > 3D View Mode > 3D Projection Settings (perspective settings) is actually looking from the moon towards Jupiter instead if towards your model, use the shift key + left mouse click to reposition the view cone then Alt key + left mouse click to locate the view distance.

Tip of the Day - 9/23/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can check out some instructional videos on how to use the Cadimage Tools such as the new StairBuilder and Key Notes. Follow this link to view the Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/cadimagetools

Tip of the Day - 9/22/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

From within the ArchiCAD 12 Hotlink Manager you can select a Hotlink and click to Open in Seperate ArchiCAD session, make your changes, save, and update changes back into original project.

Tip of the Day - 9/19/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to turn OFF the Story Level lines in?your Section\Elevation views. Bring up the Section\Elevation settings > Story Levels >Show Story Levels > None

Tip of the Day - 9/18/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can set your walls to Intersect, Butt or Overlap by using the Wall Priority settings within the STRUCTURE tab of ?Floor Plan and Section.

Tip of the Day - 9/17/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you find you are having trouble selecting and/or drawing in ArchiCAD and you have a little dot following your cursor around (like in this image), then you have inadvertently turned on your grid snapping. You can turn if off but hitting the Grid Snap icon in the toolbar or go to View > Grid Snap in the pull-down menu, or just hit the S key on your keyboard.

Tip of the Day - 9/16/2008

Jason Bishop - CADConsult — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can filter your door and window schedules using an Element ID filter in the Door and Window Schedule settings > Criteria. For example, if you dont want to schedule your garage door with the rest of your doors which have an ID starting with D, give the Garage door a different ID, say GD01 (Listing and labelling tab in door selection settings or Element ID manager) then add a filter where "Element ID starts with D" which will omit the Garage Door from the schedule.

Tip of the Day - 9/15/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can get the Dimension Tool to automatically dimension the height of openings by ticking Display the Height of Openings as well, within the Dimension Details section of the Dimension Settings.

Tip of the Day - 9/12/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Whilst placing dimensions if you accidentially select a dimension point you can remove it by clicking back on it.

Tip of the Day - 9/11/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When you are about to install ArchiCAD 12 make sure that you remove the ArhiCAD WIBU-Key plug before installing ArchiCAD12.

Tip of the Day - 9/10/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Anti-aliased text (Windows Only) ? Don?t like the anti-aliasing that is automatically applied to all in text in ArchiCAD 12? You can switch it off by going to Options > Work Environment > Advanced Redraw Options. Drag the 2D Drawing Hardware Acceleration Level slider down to Off.

Tip of the Day - 9/9/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can change the Roof Slant Units from degrees to percentage with the Pull-out menu to the right , within the Roof Selection Settings.

Tip of the Day - 9/8/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To create a Barrel roof please see Archicad Help?: Virtual Building : Construction Elements : Roofs : Create a Barrel-Vaulted Roof. The number of segments created is determined by Options > Magic Wand Settings (so for eg. setting "segments along arcs" to 20 will create 20 segments to describe the roof.

Tip of the Day - 9/5/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to turn off the roof pivot lines then go to View menu>On-Screen View Options>Click on Roof Pivot Lines.? Note the Roof Pivot lines don't print anyway, this is just an on-screen clarity option.

Tip of the Day - 9/4/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you are trying to print a reduced A1 at exactly A3, i.e. 50%.? You need to Print rather than Publish.? Be in the Layout Book, select the Layouts that you wish to print, go to File > Print in the new dialog set the Source to Selected Layouts in Navigator, select your Printer (probably a PDF printer) set your paper size (A3) and set your Size to Custom and say to use 50%.? The resulting PDF's will be A3 and recipients of these files can print at 100% to their A3 printers.

Tip of the Day - 9/3/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to find out about the New Features in ArchiCAD 12 , go to the Help pull-down menu?and Click on AC12 New Features List.

Tip of the Day - 9/2/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you use a Workstation Graphics card in your computer (I.e. an nVidia Quadro or AMD FireGL), we highly recommend that you use the ArchiCAD certified driver version with it. To check which driver version has been certified by Graphisoft, lookup your card in the table here:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/Video_Cards_for_ArchiCAD_12?
Or here for ArchiCAD 11:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/Video_Cards_for_ArchiCAD_11?

Tip of the Day - 9/1/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When placing an object you have the ability to control its visibility on different Stories.? Within the objects?Settings, go to Floor Plan?and Section > FLOOR PLAN DISPLAY > Show on Stories, use the pullout menu to the right and choose the desired story visibility.

Tip of the Day - 8/29/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you are using a wide screen monitor, menu items may be falling off the bottom of your screen. Use the down arrow to access these additional items.? The Help Menu and Cadimage Tools Window types are typical culprits.

Tip of the Day - 8/28/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can get ArchiCAD to interrogate your printer/plotter to find out what its minimium margins are.? Open the Settings of your Master Layout, use the pulldown menu next to your specified sheet size and select either ?Import settings from Printer or Import settings from Plotter.? This will display your minimium margins in the boxes to the right.? Be carefull though if you out-source your printing and plotting, as their margins may be different to yours and you may get scaling issues.

Tip of the Day - 8/27/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

By default the Dimension Tool is set to dimension only the Core of a composite wall.? You can change this by entering the Dimension Settings, go to Dimension Details and un-tick Dimension only the Core.

Tip of the Day - 8/26/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You have 3 options on how your Mesh is represented, the first option will just show the mesh surface, the second option shows the surface and the sides and the last option shows the surface, sides and the earth infill.

Tip of the Day - 8/25/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can angle columns by choosing Slanted from within?Geometry & Positioning and setting your angle from horizontal.

Tip of the Day - 8/22/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To get the surface are of a roof, turn on the Element Information Palette, go to Window > Palettes > Element Information.? Within this palette select the Element Surface icon (second to last) and select you roof.? The Surface Top is the area you want.

Tip of the Day - 8/21/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can make your mesh see-through to see your survey plan beneath by activating the Trace tool (Alt + F2) and setting the Fills to be Transparent.

Tip of the Day - 8/20/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can pickup the properties of an object using the Alt key and place another identical object, or you can inject the properties using Alt + Ctrl (PC) or Alt + Command (MAC) into a 'like' object.

Tip of the Day - 8/19/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When adding text you have two options for Scalability, Scaled and Fixed.? Scaled means that the size of the text will change with the scale, Fixed means that the text will always show at the size nominated on the Layout.? The default is to have this set to Fixed, so that when you change the output scale the text remans at the height you specified.

Tip of the Day - 8/18/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can place angled (sloping) beams by selecting?Inclined Geometry from within the Geometry & Positioning, and setting your angle.

Tip of the Day - 8/15/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The shortcut key to go from plan view to 3D is F3, to go back to the Plan view hit F2.? To go from plan to a 3D selection or Marque Area hit F5 (PC) or F4 (MAC)

Tip of the Day - 8/14/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can easily add PDF content to your ArchiCAD.? Open the view were you want to place the PDF (Plan, Detail, Worksheet), select Drawing from the ToolBox, click on you ArchiCAD workspace, from the following dialog set the File Type to PDF, and browse for your PDF , click Open to place.? When placing PDF content onto a Layout you will get an extra option from the initial dialog, choose External Content, then the File Type, then place.

Tip of the Day - 8/13/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to know what Add-Ons are loaded?within your ArchiCAD 11, go to Options > Add-On Manager..., the list displays the Add-Ons.

Tip of the Day - 8/11/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Status Bar at the bottom left of the screen always prompts you for your next action.

Tip of the Day - 8/8/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you set the Slab to show on Home & One Story Down . The slab shows dashed in the story below. If you want the slab showing up as soild lines , go to Options > Project Preferences > Construction Elements and?beneath Below Home Story?choose the Solid line type .

Tip of the Day - 8/7/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to make changes to yout Toolbox or Infobox you can right-click on it and got straight to the corresponding page within the Work Environment.

Tip of the Day - 8/6/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you have updated the settings of you current View Map saved view, you can apply?those settings?to other saved views, by highlighting them all in the View Map tree, then right click, select View Settings... and hit the Get Current Window's Settings button.? This will Update all the selected views to the same Pen Set, Model View Options, Dimension Style etc, as the current view.

Tip of the Day - 8/5/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To get to your Favorites Palette you can either go to Window > Palettes > Favotites or go to Edit > Element Settings > Favorites

Tip of the Day - 8/4/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When Migrating a Teamwork file it is recommended to convert the project back to Solo project, then migrate it to the new version, upgrading any objects you may need to, and then re-share into a new Teamwork file in the new version.? Before you do any migration on any file save your original file to a backup.

Tip of the Day - 8/1/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When needing to input degrees, minutes & seconds for Site Boundaries, go to Options > Project Preferences > Working Units & Levels... and change the Angle Unit to degrees, minutes, seconds.?When inputing your angles, use the Space key between each unit.??Don't forget to change back to decimal after you have placed your boundaries.

Tip of the Day - 7/31/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to put some elements which are on different layers onto the same layer. Be on the Arrow Tool select all the elements,?in the Info box there is Hammer icon (Edit Selection Set) click on this icon and change the layer within the new dialog box.

Tip of the Day - 7/30/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can use the Marquee tool to shift parts of a polyline without having to move individual nodes. Just draw a Marquee enclosing the line segments you want to shift, and then use the Stretch command to move them where you want them. This also works for slabs, fills, and polywalls.

Tip of the Day - 7/29/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you know your town planning boundary heights and angles, you can set these as your defaults before you place the Cadimage Tools boundary objects, ArchiCAD will then use the appropriate setbacks for you boundaries. Within the Selection Settings of the Boundary Object go to Defaults set a new City name, change the Boundary Height and?Daylight?Angles and hit Save.

Tip of the Day - 7/28/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Don?t forget about the Magic Wand tool! You can use it to trace the shape of pretty much anything in ArchiCAD. Select the tool that you want to use, hold down the SpaceBar, and click on the element whose shape you want to trace. You can have walls automatically go all the way around slabs, roofs created at the top of all walls, slabs in the shape of fills you have drawn, and much much more!

Tip of the Day - 7/25/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can find the source of a dimension by?pre-selecting (use Shift Key)?the dimension witness line and ArchiCADwill highlight what was originally selected to create the dimension.? In this example the window was the source of the pre-selected witness line.

Tip of the Day - 7/24/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Looking for more GDL Objects?? have a look at? http://www.archicadwiki.com/LinkCollection/GDL_Object_Downloads?for a comprehensive list of ArchiCAD Object Download Sites.

Tip of the Day - 7/23/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To show a mass model in 3D with doors and windows showing as empty openings you can use the Filter elements in 3D to hide windows and doors, go to?View > Elements in 3D View > Filter Elements in 3D...

Tip of the Day - 7/22/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If your Info Box palette has disapeared, to bring it back go to Window > Palettes and click on Info Box. All your other palettes are here also.

Tip of the Day - 7/21/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you have placed an element on an incorrect story, select it, go to its selection settings, within Geometry and Positioning, select the down arrow next to Home Story:, choose Select Story... and from the new dialog choose the Story you wish the element to be on.

Tip of the Day - 7/18/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Did you know that you can make any walls into Log Walls? Just click on the Log Details... button in the Wall Settings. You can set the height, shape and radius for your logs. And if you want to go back to a normal wall, simply set the height back to 0.

Tip of the Day - 7/17/2008

Jason Bishop - CADConsult — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can right mouse click (CTRL + click for Mac) on a Hotlinked module in the 2D or 3D window to edit module in a separate instance of Archicad. If it doesn't select, turn off Suspend Groups to ensure the module is selected as a single group.

Tip of the Day - 7/16/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The easiest way to get to the Interactive Training Guide (ITG) download ?link is to click on the Help menu within ArchiCAD and click on ArchiCAD 11 Training Guide

Tip of the Day - 7/15/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To save a Cadimage Tools Keynote Favorite, simply place a Keynote, set it to look the way you want, with it still selected click on Save Label?within the Keynote Favorites palette, and within the next dialog add an appropriate?title and click Save Style.

Tip of the Day - 7/14/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Where?has the?Hotspot Tool gone? In the More section of the?ToolBox (at the bottom)

Tip of the Day - 7/11/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can launch an additional session of ArchiCAD?from the?File > New or? File > Open File dialogs. Check Launch a new instance of ArchiCAD

Tip of the Day - 7/10/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can quickly flip through library parts in the object tool by clicking on the Next and Previous Library Part buttons in the Preview and Positioning pane.

Tip of the Day - 7/9/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to refer to the manuals of the Cadimage Tools which are installed on your machine, go to the ArchiCAD Help pull-down menu and click on the corresponding PDF manual.

Tip of the Day - 7/8/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To add a spot height to a mesh, have the mesh selected, and the mesh tool selected in the ToolBox,?set the Geometry Method to Polygonal, then simply double-click on the mesh, in the new dialog select your Mesh Point type.? Now you can select the point and set its 'Z' height from the Pet Palette

Tip of the Day - 7/7/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To change the colour of?your Reference, open the Trace & Reference palette, by clicking on it in the Toolbar or go to Windows > Palletes > Trace & Reference. Click the colour swatch below Reference: and select a new colour from the pullout.

Tip of the Day - 7/4/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can dynamically change the roof slant angle by choosing Change Roof Slant angle from the pet palette when editing a roof pitch in 3D window.
Note that the hinge for the roof is the roof pivot line.

Tip of the Day - 7/3/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to turn off the info shown on the Cadimage Tools Boundary object (boundary height & daylight angle).? Open the?Boundary Objects Selection Settings go to Boundary>Settings and un tick Show Boundary Data? To completely remove all the text un tick Show Text? as well.

Tip of the Day - 7/2/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When using Cadimage Tools Door Builder you can set your Section fills to be transparent or not.? Go to the Door Settings, select Symbol and set the Section Fills & Pens > Background Pen.

Tip of the Day - 7/1/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

There are a whole bunch or great keyboard shortcuts in ArchiCAD which will help you to draw as fast as you can think. To see a list of them all, go to Options > Work Environment > Keyboard Shortcuts, and then click on the Show Shortcut list in Browser button at the bottom of the screen.

Tip of the Day - 6/30/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

A yellow outline around a fill denotes it is a complex fill and shouldn?t be used for large areas, just for details drawing.

Tip of the Day - 6/27/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If setting a limited vertical range for a Section or Elevation be sure to enter a value in the top field first (i.e. if you leave this as 0 and try to enter a value in the lower field ArchiCAD will always recalcuate the lower field to be 0 based on 0 in the top field!)

Tip of the Day - 6/26/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Generally we place a stair on the story where it starts (Home Story), and we want it to show on the story that it finishes on (One Story Up).? Within the Stair settings goto Floor Plan and Section > FLOOR PLAN DISPLAY and set Show on Stories to Home & One Story Up.

Tip of the Day - 6/25/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If your Tool Tips (Help Tags) have disapeared, you can turn them back on by going to the Help menu and hitting Show Tool Tips (PC) or Show HelpTags (Mac)

Tip of the Day - 6/24/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The ArchiCAD 11 Library Guide accessed via the Help menu provides a pdf document showing all of the objects available in the standard ArchiCAD Library 11.

Tip of the Day - 6/23/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you accidentally place a door or window in a wall facing the wrong way, instead of redrawing them, just flip them from here in the Door or Window Settings dialog:

Tip of the Day - 6/20/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If your X and Y inputs within your Tracker are not going in the correct direction, i.e Left & Right for X and Up & Down for Y, you may have set your Grid to Rotated (and set the rotation is to 90deg.)? To remedy this go to VIew>Grid Options and click Orthonogal Grid

Tip of the Day - 6/19/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to show Contour lines in 3D go to View>3D View Mode>3D Window Settings, set Contours to Draft or Best

Tip of the Day - 6/18/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To have Cadimage Tools doors opening?automatically in an animation
go to Doorbuilder Settings > Symbol > Opening Doors and check the Opening in Animation box, setting the Camera Proximity to suit.

Tip of the Day - 6/17/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Drawings Titles : To make the drawings place with NO title. Open a Layout, open the default Drawing Tool settings, goto Title, and select No Title.

Tip of the Day - 6/16/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can set the shape of your Marquee area to either polygon, rectangle or rotated rectangle by selecting the corresponding icon.

Tip of the Day - 6/13/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To Update a new Cadimage Tools Door & Window Builder Schedule, be in the Schedule Worksheet and hit the green Update icon on the Schedule Palette.

Tip of the Day - 6/12/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can save out just a single story or a range of stories to Module files by hitting the Options button in the Save Plan dialog box. The Default value is All Stories, but you can change to just the Current Story or specify a Story Range. This is useful for saving out just the data you need for use in Hotlinking.

Tip of the Day - 6/11/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want the Area of the Fills to show up on the plan then bring up the Fill settings>General Settings>Tick Show Area Text

Tip of the Day - 6/10/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want all the Line Tools to use the same lines (i.e. the same line that you just used) open the default settings and tick Uniform Settings for Line Tools. Now if you set the line to dashed and Pen 65, and got to the ployline or Arc, the line type will be dashed and set to use Pen 65.

Tip of the Day - 6/9/2008

Nic Rogers - CADConsult — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can save Interactive schedules in Microsoft Excel format. On Windows: Open the Interactive Schedule, Go to File > Save As > .xls. On Mac: Open the Interactive Schedule, Go to File > Save As > tabbed text. Open the .txt file with MS Excel and the tabbed text will be automatically translated into the correct rows and columns.

Tip of the Day - 6/6/2008

Nic Rogers - CADConsult — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Emailing large PDF drawing booklets generated in ArchiCAD can be a problem if you are using a slow internet connection. With the Mac OS X image utility, Preview, you can resave a PDF?to a reduced file size. Open the PDF Drawing Booklet with Preview. File > Save As > PDF, rename the File (just in case) Open the Quartz Filter tab and choose Reduce File Size, click Save

Tip of the Day - 6/5/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can set the orientation of composites to act as one or?aligned to each wall.? Go to Options > Element Attributes > Composites, within Edit Selected Item change the Orientation to suit.

Tip of the Day - 6/4/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you can't see your Zones, check your Model View Options.? Document > Set Model View > Model View Options...? and look at Zone Background within Options for Fills & Zones

Tip of the Day - 5/29/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to change your Tracker from X,Y Coordinates to Distance and Angle coordinates while drawing a wall ,line, slab etc. Right mouse click and select Prefer polar coordinates in the Tracker from the dialog.

Tip of the Day - 5/28/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When modeling meshes, be careful that your surveyor's contours don't touch or overlap. If they do, it will create an anomaly in your mesh when you magic wand them.

Tip of the Day - 5/27/2008

Nic Rogers - CADConsult — Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Use the Text 3D 11 object if you wish display 3D signage in your ArchiCAD model. Object Library 11 > Basic library 11 > 1.1 Furnishing 11 > Decoration 11 > Text 3D 11

Tip of the Day - 5/26/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 26 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When making changes to your Camera settings (i.e. Changing the height, view angle, sun settings etc..), make sure that you hit the Apply button once you are done. Changes to the settings are not actually made until you do this, so make sure to hit it before you move on.

Tip of the Day - 5/23/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can save an Artlantis file straight from ArchiCAD. Be in a perspective 3D view. Make sure that the layers you want to see are turned on, as ArchiCAD will only export elements that are currently visible. Once you are ready, go to File>Save as... , set the Save as type: to Artlantis R-Studio File 1.2 (.atl), and then hit Save. Then just hit Export in the following dialog, and your Artlantis file is ready to go.

Tip of the Day - 5/22/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to send a small part of your project, you can save it as a module file . Select the elements you want, copy them to your Clipboard, ctrl+C (PC) or Command+C (Mac), then go File>Save as Module file from clipboard.

Note: If the selection contains elements that cannot be modified (e.g. they are locked, located on a locked layer or reserved by another Teammate), an alert will warn you.

Tip of the Day - 5/21/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To create a beam with a slope, i.e. a rafter or pergola member, within the Beam Settings set to Inclined and input the desired angle.

Tip of the Day - 5/20/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Tue, 20 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can quickly print the region inside the active marquee by selecting Marquee Area in the Print dialog.

Tip of the Day - 5/19/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can move the elevation Marker Head independantly of the elevation line. Select the elevation line, click the black hotspot in the center of the marker head, from the Pet Palette select Move Elevation Marker and choose your new position.

Tip of the Day - 5/16/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In the Library Manager History tab you can select and delete old and inactive Libraries. Choose the Libraries and click Delete this will clear them from your History. This is especially useful if you are auditing and archiving old Libraries and don?t want users or yourself inadvertently selecting inactive Libraries.

Tip of the Day - 5/15/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Ever wondered what those numbers are at the bottom right of your ArchiCAD Window?
The one on the left (with the drive icon) indicates how much hard-drive space you have free. If you click on the icon, the text will cycle through all of your available hard-drives and/or network drives.
The one on the right (with the chip icon) indicates how much memory (RAM) you have free. If you click on that icon, the text will cycle between free memory, and free space in the Pagefile.

Tip of the Day - 5/14/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you want to turn the section information into just lines and files. Open the section selection settings, within General change the Status: to Drawing

Tip of the Day - 5/13/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Within Publisher, if you create a folder first, THEN place your layouts into that, if you need to change your output format you only have to change the Folder settings, not each individual Layout.

Tip of the Day - 5/12/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To change the pens colour of your Vectorial Hatching in Section or Elevation, go to Options > Element Attributes > Materials? Select your material > open the Vectorial Hatching Tab > select the define Pen Colour button > choose the appropriate pen.

Tip of the Day - 5/9/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When several elements overlap your Element Information Pop-up will say Multiple Elements (TAB), to cycle through the elements press the TAB key until the desired element is highlighted.

Tip of the Day - 5/8/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can quickly and easily move the Sun in your project by dragging it to where you want it in the 3D Projection Settings (View > 3D View Mode > 3D Projection Settings). The same goes for the Camera in this dialog.

Tip of the Day - 5/7/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you use both ArchiCAD 10 and ArchiCAD 11 at the same time, how do you know which one is which? Go to Help and click on About ArchiCAD, this opens up a splash screen with the respective logo.? To turn this off click on the about screen.

Tip of the Day - 5/6/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Built in Marker for the Detail tool has 7 different options for the detail polygon or bubble shape.

Detail selection settings > Marker > Marker geometry > Marker Polygon

Tip of the Day - 5/5/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When using a new iMac and squeezing the side mouse bottons, it brings up the Dashboard, open Preferences from the dock and click Keyboard and Mouse settings. Click on the Mouse tab and change the side buttons to Application Switcher, this will allow you to see all the ArchiCAD windows you have open and choose which one to work in.

Tip of the Day - 5/2/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The Filter Elements in 3D command is a great way to selectively view your model in 3D. Just go to View>Elements in 3D View>Filter Elements in 3D. There you can set your 3D window to show a selected set of stories, change the way the marquee works, and filter elements by type. Just make sure that you set it back to the defaults once you are done!

Tip of the Day - 5/1/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To undo the Roof Trim operation done on the walls. Select the walls, bring up the wall selection settings, within the Model section click Undo Roof Trim

Tip of the Day - 4/30/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When selecting multiple walls, beams and lines the Polygon editing tools become available in the Pet Palette. All selected walls will remain linked, making changes quick and easy.

Tip of the Day - 4/29/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

By varying the arrow head and style of dimensions you can use dimensions as double ended and stylized labels, useful for labeling framing and areas.

Tip of the Day - 4/28/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can assign transparent materials to your zones, for great effect in you bulk and location studies.

Tip of the Day - 4/25/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

No Tip of the Day, as today is ANZAC Day. For our overseas registered members, ANZAC Day commemorates the loss of New Zealand and Australian Soldiers in the First World War landing on the Galipolli Penensula in 1915. For more information see http://www.anzac.govt.nz/

Tip of the Day - 4/24/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To toggle the textbox handles on and off go to View > On-Screen View Options > Textbox Handles

Tip of the Day - 4/23/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

By default Zones will not show in 3D. To make them show go to View > Elements in 3D View > Filter elements in 3D... and tick the box next to Zones.

Tip of the Day - 4/22/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Use the Text 3D 11 object if you wish display 3D signage in your ArchiCAD model. Object Library 11 > Basic library 11 > 1.1 Furnishing 11 > Decoration 11 > Text 3D 11

Tip of the Day - 4/21/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Using View > Elements in 3D view you can filter your 3D view based on storey, marquee and element. Useful when generating 3 Dimensional cutaway views. In this example we have filtered out everything above ground floor storey

Tip of the Day - 4/18/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you use ArchiCADs Auto Text for common notes like Roof Falls, if your roof pitch changes you can change all the instances at once by updating the Project Info. File > Info > Project Info..., hit New and add your text, then use the Text tool to place. If the pitch changes go back to Project info and edit.

Tip of the Day - 4/17/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Got a new iMac and missing the third (scroll wheel) mouse button? Open Preferences from the dock and click Keyboard and Mouse settings. Click on the Mouse tab. Change the scroll wheel tab to Button 3. Oh yeah, all round ArchiCAD - Mac goodness.

Tip of the Day - 4/16/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When buying a new PC, most vendors now offer the option of using a 32-Bit or 64-bit Operating System.

ArchiCAD 11 supports both options, with the only functional difference being that the 64-bit edition can use more RAM(4 Gb+).

Be aware though, that if you choose the 64-bit option, ArchiCAD plus any tools you install will reside in the ?Program Files (x86)? folder, not the ?Program Files? folder as it would have in the 32-bit edition.

Tip of the Day - 4/15/2008

James Service - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

In order to get your windows and doors (if you have more than 10) to number correctly you need to number them 01 02 03 04 ?? 09 10 11 etc.

Like all computers it reads the first digit then the second digit, 10 therefore before comes before 2, 02 will get around this.

Tip of the Day - 4/14/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When using the Cadimage Tools Boundary Object, you can turn off the Boundary Height and Daylight Angle information and leave just the Bounday Dimensions. Go to the Object Selection Settings, within Settings, untick Show Boundary Data?

Tip of the Day - 4/11/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can join sections of paralell wall together using the Merge Walls command. Select your pieces of paralell wall, go to Design>Complex Profiles>Merge Walls. The wall sections don't even have to be touching.

Tip of the Day - 4/10/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can create nice views of your model with the roof only shown as an outline by setting the roof Layer to wireframe within the Layer Settings Dialog.

Tip of the Day - 4/9/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

When making a new Door Schedule using Cadimage Tools Door & Window Builder, you can filter out certain doors by hitting the Edit Filter button in the Schedule Settings and typing in the ID of the doors you want to exclude (Does Not Contain).

Tip of the Day - 4/8/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

As a quick reference guide print out the free QUICKtips Index and the TIP Sheets Index from www.archicadselect.com and have them handy, when you have a query just check the topics and see if there is some information already available.

Tip of the Day - 4/7/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If you have forgotten your password to ARCHICADselect.com, hit the 'Forgot your Password?' button in the Login box. Type in your e-mail address that you registered with and click Reset Password. You will now be sent an e-mail, within the e-mail click on "Click here to enter your new Password". Within the web page, enter your new Password and click Reset Password.

Tip of the Day - 4/4/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

If a Rebuild does not show up your modelling changes you can do a 'Deep' Rebuild. On a PC hold down the Alt key and go to View > Refresh > Rebuild & Regenerate. On a Mac hold down the Shift key and go to View > Refresh > Rebuild & Regenerate.

Tip of the Day - 4/3/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Where do I put an updated ArchiCAD Library?. If you do a Check for Updates and find that there is an Updated Library, download it and extract it into your ..\\Graphisoft\ArchiCAD\ArchiCAD Library 11 folder. It will replace the existing ArchiCAD Library 11.lcf file. You may wish to backup (save) the old one before replacing it.

Tip of the Day - 4/2/2008

Mark Horrocks - Graphisoft New Zealand — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

To change the colour of the Trace Reference, open the Trace & Reference Palette; either go to Window > Palettes > Trace & Reference or click on the down arrow to the right of the Trace & Reference Icon in your Toolbar and select Trace & Reference at the bottom. From wihin this palette select the Reference Color icon and choose a new colour.

Tip of the Day - 4/1/2008

Haritha Achyutuni - Graphisoft New Zealand — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT

What are goodies and where do I find them?

'Goodies' are another source of ArchiCAD Add-Ons. They are not integrated into ArchiCAD?s default interface. To access them, go to Help > Archicad 11 Goodies, this takes you to a web page containing the add-ons for Mac and PC, and Read Me files with instructions on how to install and use them.

Tip of the Day - 3/31/2008

Joshua Osborne - Graphisoft New Zealand — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

You can import attributes (linetypes, fill patterns, composites etc)from other pln files using the Attribute Manager, which lives in the Options menu, under Element Attributes.

Tip of the Day - 3/28/2008

Andrew Ecker - CADConsult — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

As cameras do not belong to a layer, to change their display settings, open the Camera Settings Dialog and click on Path... , set the Display Options to what you want.