6 replies to this topic

[Keith Almond]

All of us have a workround for something or other, it may be a simple idea that saves time or something quite complex that makes something work that otherwise would be awkward. I'd like to suggest that you post anything that may make life easier for others.

[Keith Almond]

I'll start the ball rolling with a simple one ...

 

I'm sure you've all at sometime or other tried to change a simple symmetrical wall to another simple symmetrical wall with the CHANGE WALL command ... say for instance a 8" poured concrete wall to a 10" poured concrete wall. Softplan (in it's infinite wisdom) doesn't bother to ask how you want them alligned, it just centres them, and forces you to redo all your dimensions.

 

However, if you change them to an wall that's not symmetrical (for instance 2" x 6" with brick - it doesn't matter what), it does ask how you want them aligned.

 

So if you change 8" poured concrete to 2" x 6" with brick, align outside with outside, and then change 2" x 6" with brick to 10" poured concrete - again, align outside with outside - it preserves all the relevant dimensions, and can save quite a bit of time.

[Keith Almond]

One that's bothered me for years is the wall definition menu. My walls are complex, with lots of differing pen colours and thicknesses, so when I SAVE a SIDING A wall as exactly the same wall, but with SIDING B (or anything else for that matter), when it arbitrarily changes all the settings to the default and I have to reset them all, I get rather frustrated.

 

However, recently I've come up with a workround for this too:

 

Instead of using the dropdown to change Siding A to Siding B, add Siding B as a new material. Then click the Siding A heading on the left ... this will highlight all the boxes in that material. Right click - COPY, and then click the Siding B material (not the dropdown, just the material only box) and PASTE. This will PASTE ALL the attributes from Siding A to the Siding B material, and reposition the material in the definition menu. You can then remove the Siding A material.

 

It's a lot quicker than trying to remember what all the settings for the previous material were.

[Yvon Gonthier]

However, if you change them to an wall that's not symmetrical (for instance 2" x 6" with brick - it doesn't matter what), it does ask how you want them aligned.

 

An option that I started to use a while ago for my interior walls is the intergration of a "None material" in my wall definition so that I could select the alignment when changing for example from a 2 x 4 wall to 2 x 6 or between a 2 x 6 wall to 2 x 6 with sonopan panels on one side. Position the none material on the exterior face and set width to zero. I was planning to expand this to standard concrete walls.

 

The only drawback is knowing which side is your exterior unless you don't mind using a different color/texture for the exteior face but you loose that function if you use a specific color for a Layer or Building Option. If you could define the None material as No Print, that would be great (unless you can and I haven't figured it out. I tried setting it to a large pen width and dashed so that it would be visible when activating Display Print Pen Style but it will still print a wide dashed line even if the material width is set to zero.

[Yvon Gonthier]

Don't know if this qualifies as a workround but is a great tip I add from another forum user concerning Building Options (can be used also for layers or other items). We now have the possibilty to create multiple Building Options for the same items which was limited to one before and Groups. In this example, I have an option for the side wall in siding or brick and a standard or optional 1rst floor. I use to have 2 drawings for the 1rst floor, side elevation and section. When you group drawings, items that were on a single Building Option, ex. Side wall (siding) can be intergrated only in one group. You can copy and paste a line from one group to another but that copies only the text and items such as fill color but not the items themselves.

 

You can edit one item, select the different options & groups they relate to (ex. Side wall (siding) in Side Siding-Standard ground and Side Siding-Optional ground) and then use Repeat Edit or Repeat Edit (Box) to modify the balance of the items but this can get extensive and complicated based on the number of items and also that you need to deal with ceilings, interior trims, etc... as well as items that may not be visible such as dimension extensions and more.

 

You can do all of this in a simpler and quicker way;

1. Edit an item that's on the Building Option you want to attach to different Groups and select the different Options
2. After, select Edit or right click on another item that's on the Original Building Option that you want to change,release and scroll over item, down to Info, over to Building Option so that Add Selection appears
3. While all of these are still on screen, move your mouse to the Tool Bar and select (left click) on the Repeat Edit Button
4. All items that were on the original Building Option now are on the different Options in the different Groups

Attached Files

•  Group Building Options.JPG   181.59KB   2 downloads

[Tom Rogers]

This is one that I actually just learned from watching the Bath friday fundamentals today.  To get a good quality working 3D model that doesnt have to take forever to generate:

 

I used to do all my 3D models in textured or if wasn't too worried about finish I could use shaded.  However I found today a combo of both.  If you use shaded 3D mode you can go to mode options and under the face options tab click textured and it gives you a little bit of both.    Screenshot (46).png   504.43KB   6 downloads

 

Perhaps it is just me but I love this look for working renderings

[Jim Johnson]

This is one that I actually just learned from watching the Bath friday fundamentals today.  To get a good quality working 3D model that doesnt have to take forever to generate:

 

I used to do all my 3D models in textured or if wasn't too worried about finish I could use shaded.  However I found today a combo of both.  If you use shaded 3D mode you can go to mode options and under the face options tab click textured and it gives you a little bit of both.   Screenshot (46).png

 

Perhaps it is just me but I love this look for working renderings

Also,  While in Shaded Mode, go to Mode Options under the Line Options Tab and try checking "Display Texture Lines".  It allows some control of the lines.