Manipulation and Editing

In my little test project I setup a building with three floors, a flat roof, an open stair and some large and small windows and doors. Manipulating objects is just as easy in 3D as in 2D for most if not many items. ArchiCAD 10's new pre-selection feedback makes selection easy and confident. And a truly exciting capability is watching ArchiCAD 10's new Tracker palette and its Pet palette follow the cursor as you graphically manipulate elements. You have to see it to appreciate it. (see QuickTime movie qt-r01).

QuickTime - qt-r01: Tracker and Pet Palette Follow-me Cursor

After I modified the slab area (see movie above) it was time to insert a stair from floor 1 to floor 2. I quickly inserted a stair object. Unlike 2D CAD programs you can quickly evaluate a building object in 3D in ArchiCAD 10 and make adjustments. Simply select an object using the Arrow tool and right-click to bring up the Selection Settings for that object inside of a context menu. (see image 06). I needed to adjust the stair geometry and this is accomplished in the settings palette. The Preview and Positioning settings all have a similar set of controls.(see image 07). On the right there is a preview box with elevation, plan and axon views of the object (the OpenGL view is chosen in the image).

07 - Selecting objects in 3D	08 - Stair Settings - Dimensions

As with all parametric objects in ArchiCAD, the amount of dimensional parameter control is very high. Via the settings here you literally "build" your stair -- either prior to its placement or after it, as I have. This notion that the program builds your objects based on your data inputs is what "virtual building" is all about in the physical object sense. Objects can also be laden with data to enable cost estimating and energy analysis, for instance.

Creating Documents

The document creation process is one of the joys of ArchiCAD 10. At any time you can begin setting up elevation and sectional views, as well as details and enlarged plans. This process is semi-automated. When you establish your stories in ArchiCAD 10 plans are setup for you automatically within the Navigator. Details that you create using the Detail tool (see image 09) or sections or elevations made using the Section tool are also created this way.

09 - Creating Details	10 - Navigation Control Options

The Navigator palette presents the structure of your project in a consistent framework. The four areas of it are: Project Map, View Map, Layout Book and Published Sets; and all have their individual settings pertinent to that section. (see image 09 - 10). For example the Layout Book settings enable you to set your ID preferences. Your View Map settings determine things like scale, 2D and 3D cut plane and representation settings. The Navigator centralizes all PlotMaker functionality so PlotMaker is now gone in ArchiCAD 10.

So that is our general but brief run-through on using ArchiCAD 10. So let's focus in on some of the new features in the next section.

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