7 replies to this topic

[Troy Walsh]

Hi Everyone;

 

I've only been using Softplan for about 2 weeks now.  I'm a former 'Cad' guy.  So I have a 7 plex I'm designing and dealing with the client I've only drawn one unit for proposal and design.  Now I want to copy the entire floor plan from a specific location to a specific location ??? .  I'm hoping this is possible and i don't have to draw 6 more units from scratch  !!!! .. Help if you can, much appreciated ..

 

Troy

[Matthew Dunson]

Excellent question, there are many ways to duplicate items in SoftPlan. In your scenario where you are designing a multi-unit complex, Softplan has the ability to create Nested Regions to where you can duplicate a single drawing and have any changes affect any of the copied instances (useful for duplexes, apartment complexes, town homes, etc. all with the same floor plan design). I would recommend watching this official SoftPlan video that is about 5 minutes long and explains a useful tool in your scenario: (it is worth the 5 minutes  )

 

(184) SoftPlan Nested Regions - YouTube

 

However, there is a few other manual tools to copy objects within SoftPlan. Under 'Tools' called 'Group Box' is used to group items all together and allowing them to duplicate as a group. Select the tool 'Group Box' and place a selection around your desired items. It will look like it did nothing, but it is essential in the next steps.  Next, you can use the tool under 'Move' called 'Copy'. Select the 'Copy' Tool (c for shortcut) and make sure before you click on one of the grouped items to copy, enable Group in the top ribbon (near the 'Attach' toggle). Right click an object in your initial 'Group' selection and when moving the selection to your desired copy location, you will see the objects selected in the group (ensuring you have 'Group' enabled in the top ribbon) will be copied along the selection and placed when you right click again to finalize. This grouping property also works with 'Move' and 'Align'. Before using any of these three tools, make sure you want either 'Attach' and especially 'Grouped' enabled since doing any of these tasks will affect any objects in a group if 'Group' is enabled in the ribbon.

 

Another tool is 'Copy Block' under 'Move' and the tool named 'Copy Block'. This works similar to grouping items in the initial method, but it copies under a box selection to the desired location.

 

Your scenario more than likely would be useful to explore Nested Regions as explained in the video since SoftPlan released this feature for your specific purpose. All of the other tools explained are manual methods and can still be useful for copying grouped items, but exploring Nested Regions is a great way to be efficient with your project. Hopefully that helps and gets you started a little bit.

[Wendall Hilty]

Another very useful copying tool is the clipboard. This is mostly used to copy items from one drawing to another or even to a seperate project. Select the EDIT tab at the top and click on COPY TO SOFTPLAN CLIPBOARD. You will than drag a box over any items that you want to copy. Navigate to the page you want to copy to and select EDIT>PASTE FROM SOFTPLAN CLIPBOARD. You will then get the option to select HOLD POSITION or PICK POSITION. HOLD POSITION will drop the copied items in the same area they were copied from (based on location or reference circles) while PICK POSITION will let you choose the location.

[Troy Walsh]

thank you both very much .. I did find the copy to clipboard Wendall but I was having difficulty trying to pick the location i wanted the copied area to paste too ... I will definitely look at the nested region 'Newbee' .. 

 

Thank you again .. for the two weeks using it, I already don't like using cad for existing client changes .. LOL 

[John Jones]

Take a look at Selection Set in combination with Snap.  This should allow you to move/copy multiple items to/from an exact location. 

[Fred Russell]

read this post maybe too fast, but from my take I would suggest using copy block and move it anywhere and then use group to group that copy and then move just a wall to a specific spot and the rest will follow to that specific spot, then turn off group and go back and ungroup it probably and do more.

 

I haven't found nest that useful, I think it is more of a future purpose in the program, seems i read that

 

Gotta find selection set

[Wendall Hilty]

If you use copy block (or move block) there are a couple of things you can do to get your items to the exact right spot. Select COPY BLOCK under MOVE and click on SELECT MOVE POINT in the status bar (upper right). You may also want to turn on SNAP. This way you can draw the box around your items and zoom in and click on the spot where you want your cursor to be located e.g. the corner of a wall. If you hit F12 at this time it will unlock it from the horizontal/vertical bounds and you can move it freely in any direction. If you have a line or something prepared to mark the new location you can bring your cursor to that spot and accurately click to release the copied items.

[Troy Walsh]

Thanks Wendall Hilty;

 

I only have version 2018, so the nested option isn't available, this copy from snap point is exactly what I'm thinking for.  Awesome !!! .. Thanks again for posting ... it worked fantastic !!!!