ArchiCAD Essentials ITG E-Guide

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide
Graphisoft
Visit the Graphisoft website at www.graphisoft.com for local distributor and product availability information. Graphisoft ArchiCAD Interactive Training Guide (International English Metric version) Copyright 2008 by Graphisoft, all rights reserved. Reproduction, paraphrasing or translation without express prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Trademarks
ArchiCAD, Virtual Building, Virtual Trace and Virtual Building Solutions are trademarks of Graphisoft. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Credits
We used the following ArchiCAD project in the training exercises: Microsoft Hungary Office Complex in Graphisoft Park, Budapest, Hungary Architect: Lukcs & Vikr Architects, Hungary www.lukacsesvikar.hu Photo: Tams Bujnovszky
CONTENTS
Chapter One: Introduction___________________________________ 5 Step 1. Getting Started with the ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Step 2. Introduction to the Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Step 3. Introduction to the ArchiCAD Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Step 4. Navigating in the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Step 5. Working with Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Chapter Two: Creating Masses and the Building Structure ________20 Step 1. Creating the Masses of the Building . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Step 2. Creating the Structural Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Step 3. Creating Exterior Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Step 4. Editing Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Step 5. Creating Slabs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Chapter Three: Creating Curtain Walls and Exterior Openings_____49 Step 1. Placing Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Step 2. Creating Window Curtain Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Step 3. Creating Curtain Walls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52 Step 4. Exploring 3D View Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67 Step 5. Placing External Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69 Chapter Four: Creating Interior Walls and Openings _____________73 Step 1. Creating Interior Structural Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Step 2. Creating Interior Partition Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85 Step 3. Placing Interior Openings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87 Chapter Five: Solid Element Operations, Creating Objects and Terrain ___________________________________________________92 Step 1. Solid Element Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92 Step 2. Placing Objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99 Step 3. Creating the Terrain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109 Chapter Six: Creating Zones, Sections and Elevations____________112 Step 1. Creating Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112 Step 2. Creating Sections and Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117 Step 3. Creating Interior Elevations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131 Chapter Seven: Dimensions, Schedules and Partial Structure Display _________________________________________________ 134 Step 1. Creating Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134 Step 2. Creating Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142 Step 3. Partial Structure Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147 Chapter Eight: Creating Drawings, Worksheets and 3D Documents ___________________________________________ 157 Step 1. Importing Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157 Step 2. Using Trace & Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159 Step 3. Creating a 3D Document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165 Step 4. Cross-referencing Markers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176 Chapter Nine: Creating Presentation Images__________________ 182 Step 1. Creating Fills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182 Step 2. Presentation Renderings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193 Chapter Ten: Layouting and Publishing the Project ____________ 200 Step 1. Creating Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200 Step 2. Placing Views on Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212 Step 3. Publishing the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218
Contents
Chapter One: Introduction
Step 1. Getting Started with the ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide. In this guide you will be provided with step-by-step instructions to put together a building model using ArchiCADs BIM architectural environment, also known as the Virtual Building concept. 1 Install ArchiCAD on your computer to complete the steps of this interactive training guide. 2 If you do not have ArchiCAD yet, please visit the following websites to obtain a free ArchiCAD installer: If you are a student or a teacher, visit https://eduregistration.graphisoft.com/ to register and download a fully functional Education Version of ArchiCAD for Students and Teachers.
STEP 1. GETTING STARTED WITH THE ARCHICAD ESSENTIALS INTERACTIVE TRAINING GUIDE
BASIC ITG Chapter 01_01.mp4 Watch Movie This interactive training guide was written to ease and speed up your learning process, saving you effort and time. Please read the three steps of this short introduction to familiarize yourself with the interactive training environment of Graphisoft ArchiCAD. Every chapter of the interactive training guide contains the following elements: a section of the PDF Guide with detailed explanations and screenshots; narrated movie clips providing step-by-step instructions; an ArchiCAD training project file to complete the exercises. The PDF guide can be printed, and all the narrated movie clips can be launched from the PDF. However, we recommend that you play the movie clips within ArchiCAD while completing the steps using the training project files and ArchiCADs movie player. To best enjoy the unique benefits and simplicity of learning in an interactive environment, we recommend that you install the interactive training guide as well as the latest version of Graphisoft ArchiCAD on your computer.
If you are a professional architect, visit https://trialregistration.graphisoft.com/ to register and download a fully functional 30-day trial version of ArchiCAD. Projects saved with this TRIAL version can be automatically upgraded to FULL versions upon purchase of a commercial license.
3 Start the Graphisoft ArchiCAD installer and follow the installation wizard to complete the process.
In case you have not done so already, please install the interactive training guide on your computer. 4 Start the installer of the interactive training guide and follow the instructions on the screen. We recommend you install the guide to the default location suggested in the installation wizard. Once you have successfully installed both Graphisoft ArchiCAD and any of the Interactive Training Guide packages, please proceed with the following steps to initiate the interactive learning environment. 5 Start ArchiCAD on your computer by double-clicking its desktop shortcut. Please note that ArchiCAD is available in several localized languages for both Macintosh and for Windows operating systems make sure to choose the language and installer version that best suits you.
The ArchiCAD splash screen will appear shortly after you start the program, and the Start ArchiCAD dialog will be displayed. 6 Select the Standard Profile for the active Work Environment in the Start ArchiCAD dialog. Select the Open Project option, then click the Browse button to locate the ArchiCAD training project file on your local computer. If you installed the interactive training guide to its default location, then you will find its folder in the Graphisoft folder of your machine. The Graphisoft folder is located in the Applications folder on Macintosh, or in the Program Files folder on Windows operating systems.
7 In the Open file dialog, click to select the BASIC ITG Chapter 01.pla ArchiCAD Project archive (.PLA) file from the Chapter 01 folder of the ArchiCAD Essentials training guide. Click Open to proceed.
Please note: You do not need to complete the chapters of the guide sequentially. You can select any of the chapter folders and open the ArchiCAD project archive files (.PLA) located in these folders. 8 Select the Read elements directly from archive option in the Open Archive Project dialog for Active Library Usage. Click the Open button.
ArchiCAD will open the selected archive project and read all the library elements directly from the archive file. The ArchiCAD training project files are all saved as archive files. This is important because the library elements have different names in localized versions of ArchiCAD (localized meaning translated to foreign languages and customized to meet different local standards). Lets see how to use the ArchiCAD Movie Player! 9 Open the ArchiCAD Movie Player from the Help > ArchiCAD Movie Player menu (in case it did not open automatically).
The Movie Player will open and the first training clip will be automatically loaded.
Step 2. Introduction to the Building
10 Feel free to reposition the movie player window on the screen by dragging it by its title bar. You can also resize the player window at the right-bottom corner if you wish. 11 Click the Play button on the player to start the first clip. You can pause the movie at any time, or use the slider to repeat or skip any parts of the clip.
Please feel free to contact Graphisoft and its worldwide partners if you have further questions: www.graphisoft.com.
STEP 2. INTRODUCTION TO THE BUILDING

BASIC ITG Chapter 01_02.mp4 Watch Movie Lets have a quick overview of the training project. About the location of the project: Budapest the capital city of Hungary was created with the unification of the separate historic towns of Buda, Pest and buda in 1873. Whilst the area had been inhabited from early times, it was from this date that the citys expansion into a world capital really began. Budapest is bisected by the River Danube, with the city as much a natural geographical center as it is the countrys transport hub. The ancient city of Aquincum was on the north-eastern borders of Pannonia province in the Roman Empire. The ruins of the ancient city can be found today in buda, close to Graphisoft Park.
12 Simply repeat the actions in ArchiCAD as they are presented by the narrated training movie clip. 13 Once the movie is over and you have completed the current step of the exercise, click the Next button to proceed to the next step of the exercise and open the corresponding training clip. You can also click the Previous button if you wish to open the previous clip.
The title bar of the movie player always indicates the number of the current step and the total number of steps available in the current chapter. Now that the training environment has been set up, you are ready to proceed with any chapter of the guide! We hope that you will find this guide useful and will agree with what experienced architects worldwide say: ArchiCAD is easy to learn and fun to use.
Step 3. Introduction to the ArchiCAD Environment
Graphisoft Park was established in 1998. It accommodates one of the largest development departments in the AEC software industry in Europe. The high-tech office park on the banks of the Danube houses Graphisofts expanded headquarters. It also spurs the growth of local software companies through seed projects. About the building project: The training project for this Interactive Training Guide is the new Microsoft Headquarters building being built in Graphisoft Park in buda. The office complex was designed by Lukcs and Vikr Architects Ltd. (http://www.lukacsesvikar.hu). The new Microsoft Headquarters building is a 10.500 m2 (113.000 square feet) office complex. The project is divided into two buildings connected by bridges. The exposed brick wall finish corresponds to the neighboring historical industrial buildings of the buda Gas Factory, completed in 1914.
STEP 3. INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHICAD ENVIRONMENT

BASIC ITG Chapter 01_03.mp4 Watch Movie
After opening the project file, you will see the Floor Plan displayed in the Floor Plan Window in the middle of your screen. Right below the menu bar, you will find the Standard Toolbar and the Mini Navigator Toolbar to its right. With the help of these Toolbars you can quickly reach the most important menu commands and navigate among the main Views of the project. Left of the Floor Plan Window you will see the Tool Box. This Palette contains ArchiCAD Tools arranged into logical panels (Design, Document, More). The Info Box above the Floor Plan shows the parameters and setting possibilities of the selected Element or Tool. In the right side of your screen you can see the Navigator Palette. The Navigator is used for navigation around the various Windows and Views of the Project and the various portions of the ArchiCAD environment.
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The Navigator has four buttons in its upper-right corner.
This is the Project Map. It lists the so-called Viewpoints of the Project. There are various types of Viewpoints, which all correspond to standard architectural project views: Stories, Sections, Elevation, Interior Elevations, Worksheets (for any other kind of drawing that does not have a dedicated Viewpoint type such as a Site Plan), Details, 3D Views, Schedules/Lists, etc. Under each category, you can see the actual Viewpoints created for the Project. For example, under Stories, you can see 0. Ground Floor (0 being its number and Ground Floor being its name). 2 Click the second-to-left of the four buttons in the upper-right corner of the Navigator.
1 Click the leftmost of the four buttons in the upper-right corner of the Navigator.
This is the View Map. The View Map contains Views. The difference between Views and Viewpoints is that Views are Viewpoints saved with certain settings. When a View is saved, it stores the current Scale, Layer Combination, Zoom Factor and several other settings. Let us examine the example of Scale. If the Scale is 1:100 and you switch to another Viewpoint in the Project Map, the Scale will not change. However, if you switch to a saved View in the View Map, and the particular View you activated has a Scale of 1:50 stored for it, the Project will switch to that scale. So Views always restore those Scale, Zoom, Layer, etc., settings that were in effect when they were saved. They help you define how you want your Project to look on the screen and when printed, and save it for fast and easy restoration of the state at any time.
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3 Click the third of the four buttons in the upper-right corner of the Navigator.
This third button is the Layout Book button. The Layout Book is basically a collection of Layout sheets onto which you place Drawings. This is where you prepare your drawings for printing/plotting or saving as files. Normally, you could just go to any Viewpoint or activate any saved View and print it (e.g., print the Ground Floor Plan from the Floor Plan Window). However, in the Layout Book, you can create sheets, draw lines and place Text elements, place images of the Project (in short, create the look of your final printed sheets), and place your Drawings on these Layouts. Drawings placed on Layouts are generated from Viewpoints or Views. They are updated as the project evolves, and they can receive Titles that are automatically generated upon placement. Layouts can also contain so-called AutoText elements, which are Text elements the values of which automatically change based on whichever Layout they are on, which placed Drawing they refer to, etc. These features will save you the time of having to set these separately for each placed Drawing. 4 Click the rightmost of the four buttons in the upper-right corner of the Navigator.
This is the Publisher Sets button. Here you can create lists of files to be printed/plotted or saved in a number of file formats (e.g., PDF, DWG/DXF/DWF, DGN, various image formats). You can predefine how files should be saved/printed/plotted and store them as Publisher Sets, then later publish the whole set with a mouse click. For example, you can define all sheets that are needed for building permit documentation. Or you can define a set of files that you need to send to the structural consultant in DWG/DXF format. You do not have to save the DWG/DXF files one-by-one. Instead, you can define a Publisher set and you publish it at any time with a mouse click: the files will be automatically generated for you by ArchiCAD, based on the latest state of your Project. Finally lets open the Favorites palette, since we will use this frequently throughout completing the chapters of this training guide. 5 Activate the Window > Palettes > Favorites command to display the Favorites palette on the screen.
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6 Click and hold the bottom right corner of the Navigator palette to resize it so that the Favorites palette will fit under it.
7 Click and hold the title area of the Favorites palette and move it towards the bottom-right corner of the screen. Move the Favorites palette under the Navigator palette and resize it so that the Palette fills the space under the Navigator.
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Step 4. Navigating in the Project
STEP 4. NAVIGATING IN THE PROJECT

BASIC ITG Chapter 01_04.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Switch to the View Map of the Navigator. Click the + sign (triangle on MacOS) to the left of the Microsoft Hungary Office Building text at the top (if its not open by default). This reveals the hierarchical structure of folders within the View Map. Open the ArchiCAD Guide folder as well.
2 Activate the 1.1 Ground Floor pre-set View located in the Chapter 01 folder by double-clicking on its name in the View Map.
This reveals that the View Map contains pre-set Views grouped by Chapters of the Interactive Training Guide. We will always use pre-set Views located in the folder of the current Chapter we are working with at the time.
This displays the Floor Plan. The Scale, Zoom Factor, Layer combination and other settings are restored based on the settings saved with the View. 3 Hold down the middle mouse button (scroll wheel) and move around (pan) with your mouse. As you can see, at the moment you pushed down the middle mouse button (scroll wheel), the cursor turned into a hand symbol, signaling that you entered the Pan mode. When you move the mouse
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you can drag the View around in the Window. Perform panning a couple of times to familiarize yourself with it. 4 Start turning the mouse wheel to zoom in and out in the Project. You can use the mouses scroll wheel to quickly zoom in and out of any portion of the current Window. When you do this, the position of the Project directly at the position of the mouse cursor will stay in place and all other portions of the Project will zoom in and out around it. 5 Perform some zooming and panning for practice. These two functions are available in all Viewpoints of the Project for fast and easy navigation. 6 Activate the 1.2 Generic Perspective pre-set View located in the Chapter 01 folder.
7 Hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard and also hold down the middle mouse button (scroll wheel). The mouse cursor changes to a different cursor shape, showing that you entered the Orbit Mode . Move the mouse to Orbit around the 3D model. In case your mouse does not have a scroll wheel, you can switch to the Orbit Mode by activating the Orbit button on the bottom of the 3D Window. As you can see, you can freely rotate the model around in 3D. Do some Orbiting to get a general idea of how to do it. If you are too close to the model, you can zoom out. The model always rotates around the portion that is located in the middle of the 3D Window, so you can pan around the model and then Orbit so it is rotated around any desired point. The model can be orbited in any direction, so you can move around it as if you were moving on the surface of a sphere. Spend some time familiarizing yourself with zooming/panning/orbiting in 3D. Also try using these functions in combinations. 8 Activate the 1.3 Section pre-set View located in the Chapter 01 folder.
The 3D Window is opened and the 3D Model of the Project is generated. Here you can pan and zoom the same way you did in the Floor Plan Window.
A Section View opens up. Sections/Elevations/Interior Elevations are generated based on their Marker placed on a Floor Plan. They can be set to be automatically regenerated each time you open their Viewpoint. Any change you make to the model on the Floor Plan or in any View will be automatically carried forward to all other model Viewpoints, and they will be refreshed to show the latest state of the Project. If you change a Wall in a Section, the change will show on the Floor Plan, in other Section/Elevations, in 3D, etc.
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9 Zoom in and then select any Wall in the Section by SHIFT-clicking it. Click the Settings Dialog button in the Info Box.
10 Press the ESC key or click the Cancel button to leave the Wall Settings Dialog. 11 Activate the 1.1 Ground Floor Plan pre-set View located in the Chapter 01 folder to return to the Floor Plan View. 12 Activate the 1.4 Window List pre-set View located in the Chapter 01 folder.
When any element is selected, the Info Box shows its settings (such as Elevation, Height, Thickness, Material, etc.). When you enter its Settings Dialog, you can see all these settings arranged into logical panels within the Dialog. You can change the settings of any element here in the Settings Dialog, or you can select elements and modify their settings in the appropriate field of the Info Box.
An Interactive List shows up, showing a list of Windows that were created in the Project. This List is also based on the model of the Project and always reflects its latest state. It is also interactive, which means that if something is changed here (e.g., clicking any row and modifying the height of Windows listed in that row), the changes will be reflected in all other Viewpoints: the Floor Plan, Sections/Elevations and the 3D of the Project will show these Windows with the modified height. With this integrated approach you can be sure all Views of your Project are coordinated with one another at all times. Even better, this is executed automatically by the program.
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Step 5. Working with Stories
STEP 5. WORKING WITH STORIES

BASIC ITG Chapter 01_05.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Select the Design > Story Settings menu item to go to the Story Settings Dialog.
Here we can review and edit the Stories used in this Project. Take some time to understand the dialog. You can set Story Number, Names, Elevation, and Height to next Story here, and you can create and delete Stories as well. With the help of this Dialog you can also copy or cut and paste certain selected elements of a Story to another Story. 2 Click once to select the Roof from the Story list. Click the Insert Above button to create a new story above the roof and enter Site Plan for name.
The Stories will always be inserted above/below the Story currently selected in the list.
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3 Make sure that the newly created Site Plan is still selected and enter the value 3600 in the Height to Next field.
The Ground Floors elevation will stay at 0 for the Project, although you could set it to any other value. The elevations of all other Stories above and below are calculated from this reference elevation value. 4 Click OK to accept these changes and leave the Dialog. Notice that the title area of the Floor Plan window displays 5. Site Plan in its name. This means that the newly created Site Plan is currently active.
6 Enter 0 into the input field in the Go to Story dialog and click OK to go to the Ground Floor. Notice that the Floor Plan title bar displays 0. Ground Floor now.
7 Open the Project Map of the Navigator and notice that the new Story Viewpoint appeared under Stories as well.
5 Activate the View > Navigate > Stories command and notice that the Stories menu lists various options, like Go Up a Story or Go Down a Story as well as Go to Story. Activate the Go to Story command.
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8 Switch back to the View Map of the Navigator.
We hope this short introduction helped you appreciate that the Virtual Building approach (also called BIM) is an integrated 3D Model, where all data comes from and is generated from a building database that always shows the latest state of the Project model, no matter which Viewpoint you are working on. We also hope you will appreciate the advantages of this approach when compared to more traditional workflows and approaches. We will now start to actually create the Project, so you will be able to see the potential, speed, and accuracy of the Virtual Building concept. This concludes Chapter 01. Please carry on with the rest of the Chapters to see more ArchiCAD in action.
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Chapter Two: Creating Masses and the Building Structure
Step 1. Creating the Masses of the Building
CHAPTER TWO: CREATING MASSES AND THE BUILDING STRUCTURE

In this Chapter we will start building the office building. First we will create the main masses of the building. We will then create the Structural Grid System along with Structural Columns. We will follow with the creation of Exterior Walls with the help of the Masses created earlier. After this we will create Slabs for the building in order to complete the building envelope. 2 Switch off Grid Display from the View menu..
STEP 1. CREATING THE MASSES OF THE BUILDING

BASIC ITG Chapter 02_01.mp4 Watch Movie Open the Basic ITG Chapter 02.pla ArchiCAD project file to complete this stage of this interactive, hands-on ArchiCAD training guide. Please study the Getting started with the ArchiCAD Interactive Training Guide Step of Chapter 1 if you need further information on how to set up ArchiCAD, adjust the necessary ArchiCAD Work Environment, or open the training guide project files. 1 Switch to the View Map of the Navigator. Open up the "ArchiCAD Guide" folder in the Navigator and activate (by double-clicking) the 2.1.1 Mass-01/01 pre-set View located in the "2.1 Creating Masses" folder within the Chapter 02 folder. 3 Activate the Zone Tool (in the Design group of the Toolbox), and make sure that the Zone Tool is set to the Polygonal Construction Method in the Info Box (this will let you define the polygon outline of the zone with successive clicks).
4 Activate the Mass-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
The Info Box is a place where you can see, check and modify most of the settings of elements without having to go to the Settings Dialog. If you need to know the settings of the last selected element, just take a look at the Info Box.
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Step 1. Creating the Masses of the Building
5 Draw the polygon outline of the Zone by successively clicking to the locations defined by the points of the Label arrows shown on the Floor Plan. Follow the numbering: first click on the location at the point of Label arrow 1.1, then on the location at the point of Label arrow 1.2, and so on. You will know that your cursor found the point of the Arrow when the cursor shape turns into a checkmark (for the first point of a Zone polygon) or a filled black pencil (while drawing the zone polygon).
6 Double-click to activate the next pre-set View 2.1.2 Mass-01/02, located in the "2.1 Creating Masses" folder in the View Map of the Navigator. A new set of Labels appears on the Floor Plan, showing another part of the plan. In this step you do not need to activate a new Favorite, because the pre-set Views name still calls for the Mass-01 Favorite. 7 Create the Zone with the same method used in Step 4. Again, the Label locations (except the last Label) define the Zone polygon, while the last Label defines the location of the Zone Stamp. 8 Activate the next pre-set View (2.1.3 Mass-02/01), located in the "2.1 Creating Masses" folder.
After youve clicked at the point of Label arrow 1.11 thereby closing the Zone polygon click once more at the point of Label arrow 1.12. This last click places the Zone Stamp, which is a tag giving textual information about the Zone and its geometry. For the Masses, we set it to display only the name of the Zone.
9 The name of the pre-set View now contains Mass-02. This means you need to activate that Favorite. Do so by double-clicking the Mass-02 Favorite in the Favorites Palette list.
Hint: Generally, the name of the pre-set View will tell you the name of the Favorite that needs to be used in the step. In case of the pre-set View shown above, for 2.1.1 Mass-01/01, 2.1.1 is the number of the step, Mass-01 is the name of the Favorite to be used, and /01 shows that it is the first element or element group created using that Favorite. Thus, in later steps, you will always know which Favorite needs to be activated for that step.
Hint: When you activate a Favorite you can see the settings it stores in the various fields of the Info Box. You can also just select any Favorite in the Favorites Palette (single-click) without activating it and the Info Box will display the stored settings until you keep the cursor above the Favorites Palette or click a different Favorite. 10 Create the Zone using the methods of the previous steps. 11 Activate the next, 2.1.4 Mass-02/02 pre-set View located in the "2.1 Creating Masses" folder. 12 Create the Zone using the methods of the previous steps.
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Step 2. Creating the Structural Grid
13 Make sure the Zone Tool is still active and choose the Edit > Select All Zones menu command. This will select all Zones you created so far.
STEP 2. CREATING THE STRUCTURAL GRID

BASIC ITG Chapter 02_02.mp4 Watch Movie In the next step we will place a Grid system with Dimensions, along with Columns placed at the Grid intersections. These Columns, Dimensions and Grid Elements will use the settings set by the Favorites that we will activate in the following steps. These will serve as the default for these Columns/Dimensions/Grid Elements. 1 Click an empty area on the floor plan or hit the Escape button to deselect the Zones in case they are still selected. Activate the Arrow Tool in the Tool Box or hit the Escape button once more to achieve the same result. 2 Activate the 2.2.1 Structural Grid pre-set View located in the "2.2 Creating Structural Grid" folder. 3 Activate the Column Tool. Activate the Column-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
Hint: In the top-left corner of the Info Box you will see information telling you that four Zones are selected and all of them are editable. If you Lock an element or Lock the Layer containing the element, the element becomes un-editable until you unlock it. The Editable info tells you whether all elements you selected will be modified if you make any changes. 14 Activate the 2.1.5 Masses in 3D pre-set View located in the "2.1 Creating Masses" folder. The 3D Window opens and shows you the masses of the building.
Hint: If there are numerous Favorites listed in the Favorites Palette, such that you would have to scroll through them to find the one you need, you can activate the Tool of the element type you want in order to activate its Favorite (in this case the Column Tool). Only Favorites belonging to that element type will be displayed in the Favorites Palette.
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4 Activate the Dimension Tool in the Document group of the Toolbox. Then, activate the Linear Dim-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
5 Activate the Grid Element Tool in the More group of the Toolbox. Then, activate the Grid Element-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
Hint: The More group of the Tool Box is not expanded by default: you need to click its title to expand it. 6 Select the Design > Grid System menu item to open the Grid System Settings Dialog.
A Grid system is a collection of elements, including Grid Elements, Columns, Beams and Dimensions. Grid Elements are always placed, while other element types can be placed optionally. Here we will set the various settings for the Grid System we are going to place. In the General Settings panel of the Dialog, you can set whether the grid will be orthogonal or radial. Further, you can select which element types should be generated along with the Grid Elements. Hint: If a panel is not visible because it is closed for space-saving reasons, you can expand/collapse it by clicking on its title (such as Naming Rules). 7 Check the Elements at Grid line intersections checkbox. In the drop-down list to its right, select Column.
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This will place Columns at each Grid line intersection point when a Grid System is placed. 8 Click the Settings button to the right of the drop-down list you just set.
You can specify the settings for the individual Grid Elements in the Grid Elements panel. 10 Click the Grid Element Settings button to go to the Grid Element Settings Dialog.
This opens the Column Settings Dialog. The settings you now see in the Column Settings Dialog are the ones that were set by applying the Column-01 Favorite. This is why we applied Column and Linear Dimensioning Favorites in earlier steps: they will be created with those settings when the Grid System is placed. Click Cancel to leave the Dialog. 9 Check the Dimension lines and Total Dimension checkboxes. Enter 1000 and 500 respectively into the fields to the right of the checkboxes.
This will cause Dimensions and Total Dimensions to be generated for the Grid Elements and will set their distances from the end of Grid Elements. Both Dimension lines and Total Dimensions have a Settings button. These let you enter the respective Settings Dialogs. The Chain button to the right of the two Settings buttons links the two Settings. By clicking this button, the settings you set in either Settings Dialog will be applied to both Dimensions.
Grid Elements have their own settings, including Show On Story, Grid Line type and Pen (both on the Floor Plan and in Sections/Elevations), Naming rules for the Axes, settings for the Markers placed at either or both ends of Grid Elements, etc. It is possible for Grid Elements to be displayed on any selected Story as well as in Sections, Elevations or even in 3D Views. Hence, you need to place only one Grid System; it will automatically be displayed in all desired model Viewpoint types. 11 Click Cancel to return to the Grid System Settings Dialog. The Naming rules panel lets you specify the Identifier names for Grid Elements to be generated. They can be set to be generated automatically, e.g., letters starting from A for horizontal Grid Elements, and numbers starting from 1 for vertical Grid Elements. In the Grid Positions panel you can set the spacing for both horizontal and vertical Grid Lines. 12 In the Horizontal grid lines field enter 7500 in the Distance field for Grid line B.
13 Click the + sign above the horizontal Grid line list twice to specify two new horizontal Grid lines. Hint: The distances automatically assigned to these Grid lines are the same as the distance of the Grid line preceding them.
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14 Modify the Distance value for Grid line C to 9000.
19 Place the Grid System by clicking on the point shown by Label 1.1, then by clicking again on the point shown by Label 1.2.
15 Now, in the Vertical grid lines field, enter 7500 in the Distance field for Grid line 2.
16 Click on the + sign above the vertical Grid line list successively until you have nineteen Grid lines set. 17 Modify the Distance value for Grid line 9 to 5200.
The first click defines the position of the first Grid line intersection. The first and second clicks together define the horizontal direction of the Grid System. An Information popup appears stating, As the result of the last operation, Elements have been created and/or changed their position on currently unseen Stories. This is because the Grid System and its components are created on all Stories. We can ignore this message in this case. 20 Click Continue to have the Grid System generated.
Weve now set everything needed before placement. 18 Click OK to close the Dialog. As you can see, not only Grid Elements, but also Columns and Dimensions were created.
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21 Activate the 2.2.2 Structural Grid Done pre-set View located in the "2.2 Creating Structural Grid" folder.
automatically, and these elements to be added to it. Groups are useful when you want to move related elements together. You can Group them, and when the Edit > Grouping > Suspend Groups toggle is OFF, they can be moved only together. They can be edited individually only when groups are suspended. 23 Click anywhere on the Floor Plan to deselect the Grid lines. 24 Select the Edit > Grouping > Suspend Groups menu item to Suspend Groups.
This will show the entire Structural Grid we have just created. 22 SHIFT-click on any Grid line on the Floor Plan to select it and notice that all other Grid lines are also selected. This is because of a feature called Autogroup. If you check the state of the Edit > Grouping > Autogroup toggle, you will see that it is ON.
We used the Suspend group command here because we need to modify the location of Grid Lines. 25 Select the horizontal Grid Lines by activating the Arrow Tool, or by holding down the SHIFT-key, then drawing a selection rectangle by clicking near Label 1.1 and Label 1.2 to define the diagonal of it.
When several elements of the same element type are created in one step, the Autogroup feature causes a new group to be created
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Hint: Do not click at the point of the Label, because that will select the Labels instead of drawing a Selection rectangle. 26 Select the Edit > Move > Drag menu command and click anywhere to define the starting point of the Drag vector.
After you click, a little info box called Tracker appears to the right of your cursor. The Tracker shows the Distance and Angle of the cursor for the first entered point. With its help you can accurately input numerical values. Hint: The Tracker can also display X, Y and Z coordinates. The Tracker automatically expands to show these when you click their input shortcut keys (X, Y or Z, respectively). 27 Move the cursor horizontally to the right (the Tracker should display 0.00 degrees in the Angle field) and enter 5000 on the keyboard, then press ENTER. Then click elsewhere to deselect the currently selected elements.
Hint: You may activate the Drag command by right-clicking on an empty area with the elements selected and selecting Move > Drag from the appearing Context Menu. The Move command only appears when one or more elements are selected.
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30 Select the Edit > Move > Drag menu command (or activate it from the Context Menu) and click anywhere to define the starting point of the Drag vector. Then move your cursor vertically upward (the Tracker should display 90.00 degrees in the Angle field) and enter 5000 on the keyboard, then press ENTER. Then click elsewhere to deselect the currently selected elements.
When starting to enter a numerical value, it always gets entered into the default field, which is the Distance field. Otherwise each input field of the Tracker has a shortcut key: R for relative distance, A for angle. Hint: You can make sure the Angle value is correct by explicitly entering it into the Tracker by pressing the A key (which will activate the Angle field of the tracker) and typing 0 into it. Then you can press the R key to activate the Distance field and type 5000, then press ENTER to accept all numerical input values. 28 Make sure that Guide Lines are switched on in the Standard Toolbar.
The Grid lines are now at their correct positions. 31 Switch to the Project Map in the Navigator and double-click on the names of each Story (such as 1. First Floor, 2. Second Floor) to check that the elements are indeed there.
29 Select the vertical Grid Lines by activating the Arrow Tool, then drawing a selection rectangle by clicking close to Label 2.1 and Label 2.2 to define the diagonal of it.
Hint: The placed Columns extend only from the bottom of the Ground Floor to the top of the Second Floor, thus they are visible only on these Stories.
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32 Right-click on an empty area of the Floor Plan, and in the appearing Context Menu, select Show all in 3D to go to the 3D Window and see what we have so far.
33 Right-click any Column, and select Column Selection Settings from the appearing Context Menu.
As an alternative, you can click the Column icon in the left side of Info Box to go to the Column Settings Dialog. 34 Find the Show on Stories setting under FLOOR PLAN DISPLAY in the Floor Plan and Section panel of the Dialog.
The 3D Window shows the Masses created in Step 01, and the Columns that were created during the placement of the Grid System. As you can see, these are multi-story Columns extending several Stories. These were set to be shown on all Stories they cross.
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Step 3. Creating Exterior Walls
This setting is set to All Relevant Stories. This results in these Columns being shown in all Stories from Ground Floor up to the top of the Second Floor, because - based on the bottom elevation and height of the Column - these are the Stories it crosses. 35 Click Cancel to leave the Dialog and click anywhere to deselect the column. To return to the Floor Plan, right-click on an empty area of the 3D Window, and in the appearing Context Menu, select Go to Floor Plan.
STEP 3. CREATING EXTERIOR WALLS

BASIC ITG Chapter 02_03.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Activate the 2.3.1 Wall-01/01 pre-set View located in the "2.3 Creating Exterior Walls" folder of the Navigators View Map.
2 Activate the Wall Tool, then in the Favorites Palette activate the Wall-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list.
Hint: You may also find the needed Favorite in the list of the Favorites Palette without choosing the Wall Tool beforehand. After double-clicking it, the elements Tool will be activated automatically. However, if you activate the Tool first, only the Favorites of the active Tool will be displayed in the Favorites Palette. 3 Notice the location of Label 1 on the Floor Plan. Now, SPACE-click (hold down the spacebar and click) anywhere on the edge of the Mass polygon. As an alternative, you can select the Window > Floor Plan menu item to return to the Floor Plan.
When the spacebar is pressed, the cursor shape changes to the so-called Magic Wand shape. This is a feature used for tracing elements for the creation of new elements. When you keep the spacebar pressed while clicking an element edge, ArchiCADs Magic Wand will take any consecutive path of edges the clicked edge is part of, and will use that Polyline for the geometry of
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the newly created element. In this case, we have the Wall Tool active, so it will create Walls. The consecutive Reference Lines of those Walls will now lie along the contour of the Mass polygon.
You can see the Exterior Walls that were created in this step. These are multi-story walls, extending from the Ground Floor up to the top of the Second Floor. Multi-story elements can save modeling time, as you dont have to create them in all relevant stories. Also, should their geometry change, you can change them just once instead of changing them on each Story one by one. In the case of a building with several or dozens of Stories, this makes a big difference. 5 Activate the 2.3.3 Wall-01/02 pre-set View located in the "2.3 Creating Exterior Walls" folder.
6 Notice the location of Label 1 on the Floor Plan. Now, SPACE-click anywhere on the edge of the Mass polygon.
4 Activate the 2.3.2 Walls in 3D pre-set View located in the "2.3 Creating Exterior Walls" folder.
This will create the other sequence of Exterior Walls.
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7 Activate the 2.3.4 Walls in 3D/2 pre-set View located in the "2.3 Creating Exterior Walls" folder to see all the Walls created so far in 3D.
10 Draw a selection rectangle by clicking close to Label 1.1 and Label 1.2 to define the diagonal of it.
8 Activate the 2.3.5 Complex Walls pre-set View located in the "2.3 Creating Exterior Walls" folder. 9 Activate the Marquee Tool and select the All Stories (thick Marquee icon) Selection Method in the Info Box .
11 Activate the 2.3.6 Complex Walls in 3D pre-set View located in the "2.3 Creating Exterior Walls" folder. In the front area of the 3D View you can see the section Profile of the exterior Wall we just created. Notice that it is a Wall with a Complex Profile with some zinc covering at the top.
This shows one of ArchiCADs great features, which is the possibility to create such section Profiles and apply them to Walls/Columns/Beams to create the exact geometry we need.
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12 Select the Design > Complex Profiles > Profile Manager menu item to go to the Profile Manager Dialog.
14 Click the Edit Chosen profile button.
13 From the Choose Profile drop-down list, select the following Profile: Ex-Conc+Brick veneer.
A graphical editing window (similar to the Floor Plan or rather a Section Viewpoint) opens. Here, using fills and lines, you can create the exact Section Profile of the structure you wish to create. 15 Using the mouse, zoom to the top of the Profile in the editing Viewpoint. If you click on any of the Fills, the Components Selected panel of the Dialog lets you set its properties, such as material, contour pen and line section, line type, etc. You can also set those components of the structure that are to be Core components. A Core component could be the structural part of a complex structure. For example, when exporting drawings to structural consultants, you can display Core components so only the structure will be exported in saved drawings.
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19 Activate the Arrow Tool from the Tool Box and make sure that the Quick Selection Method is switched on in the Info Box.
16 Close the Profile Manager without saving any changes (click the Close button in its Title bar). Go back to the Floor Plan by clicking the Floor Plan button in the Mini Navigator Toolbar.
Then right-click on an empty area and select the Remove Marquee menu item from the context menu to remove the marquee from the Floor Plan.
When Suspend Groups is OFF, selecting any member of a Group will also select all other members of the same group. When you move any element of the Group, all other elements of the same Group will also be moved. Also, it is not possible to edit any element of the Group unless groups are suspended. We need to modify some of the Exterior Walls, so we suspended Groups. 20 Hover your cursor over the lower horizontal side of the Wall indicated by Label 1. Keep your cursor over it.
Hint: When nothing is selected and a Marquee is displayed, another method for removing the Marquee is to press the Esc key once. 17 Activate the 2.3.7 Modifying Walls pre-set View located in the "2.3 Creating Exterior Walls" folder. 18 Make sure that the Edit > Grouping > Suspend Groups toggle is switched ON (switch it ON if it is OFF).
There are several things you can notice here. The first is that a small Info Tag appears to the right of your cursor. This Info Tag lists some of the most important data about the element your cursor is over (e.g., that it is part of a group, plus its
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Element type, Layer, Home Story and some other data depending on the type of element). Hint: the Info Tag becomes very handy when you have several elements on top of each other. In that case, the Info Tag tells you which element will be selected when you click. The other important piece of information is the shape of the cursor. As you hovered your cursor over the lower horizontal edge of the Wall, its shape changed into a Thick Mercedes cursor. When you see a Mercedes-shaped cursor, it means that ArchiCAD has found a line or an edge of an element. When the Mercedes cursor is thick, it means that it has found the Reference Line of an element (e.g., a Wall or a Beam). The third important thing is that you can see a thick blue outline appear around the Wall your cursor is over. This is called a pre-selection highlight. Its purpose is to graphically show you what element will be selected when you click. This can come in handy when, for example, you have several overlapping elements (Wall edges, Slab edges, etc.). The pre-selection highlight will show what you will select, so you can make sure the correct element is selected. Hint: When the pre-selection highlight is displayed you can use the TAB key to step through all possible selectable elements (in case there are more than one at that location). 21 Select the View > On-Screen View Options > Walls & Beams Reference Lines menu item to show the Reference Line of Walls.
This is important because Walls are created based on their Reference Lines. Further, for Walls to be intersected and joined properly, they must have their Reference Lines accurately intersected and joined. As you can see, currently the Reference Lines of these Walls are on the outside edges of these Exterior Walls. This will be important in later steps. 22 Select the View > On-Screen View Options > Walls & Beams Reference Lines menu item again to hide Wall Reference Lines. 23 Select the horizontal Wall indicated by Label 1 by clicking on it.
When a Wall is selected, the two end points of its Reference Line are marked with hotspots. You can drag these hotspots to other positions in order to stretch the Wall. When you drag one end of a Walls Reference Line, the other end of the Reference Line will remain in its place. You will also notice that a green fill has appeared over the Walls area. This is called the Selection Highlight and it helps you clearly identify which elements are selected. We will now stretch the selected Wall. 24 Select the Edit > Reshape > Stretch menu item.
This will toggle the visibility of the Reference Lines of Walls and Beams. The Reference line of a Wall is a thick line with a direction arrow.
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25 Hover your cursor over the right-end point of the Walls Reference Line. Again, the shape of the cursor changes from Arrow to Arrow with thick checkmark. The Arrow with checkmark cursor means that ArchiCAD has found a point or hotspot belonging to an element. The Arrow with thick checkmark means that this point is on the Reference Line of a Wall or Beam. Since we want to stretch the Wall, we need to find either end of its Reference Line. We know from the shape of the cursor whether we have found the correct point. 26 Click the right-end point of the Walls Reference Line. This will start the Stretch operation. When stretching, you need to define with two clicks which end point or node of an element you want to move to which other position. 27 Start moving your cursor horizontally to the right, at close to a 0 degree angle to your first clicked point.
28 Type 12770 on your keyboard.
When you start entering a numerical value in your keyboard, the Tracker immediately interprets it as an input into whichever field name is displayed in bold. The default field is the Distance field, so the value 12770 is entered into this field. In the case of stretching a Wall, this means that this is going to be the new length of the Wall measured from its opposite end point. 29 Press the ENTER key to accept this drag vector distance. The vectors angle will be 0.00 degrees since you have your cursor on the Guide Line. The length of the Wall changes to the specified length.
As you can see, a dashed line appears to help you in your graphic input. It is called a Guide Line. Guide Lines are temporary element creation, input and editing aids. They will display at predefined angles (e.g., 0, 90, 180 and 270 degrees, and other pre-set angles) to help you speed up the element creation and editing process. When your cursor is close enough to a Guide Line (close enough in this case means it is within a couple of pixels on the screen), it will gravitate to it, meaning it will move along it. This can be seen from the Tracker, which displays 0.00 degrees in the Angle field. Also, you can see that the cursor shape changes to the Arrow with Mercedes cursor, which again signals that the cursor has found a Line (in this case the Guide Line).
30 With the Wall still selected, switch to the Wall Tool in the Toolbox. 31 Hover your cursor over the left edge of the Wall joining the middle of the Wall you have just stretched. You should have the Thick Mercedes cursor appear, signaling that you have found the Reference Line of the Wall. 32 Press and hold down the CTRL key (on Windows) or the CMD key (on MacOS). Hint: In subsequent steps and in other Chapters, when referring to the CTRL key, MacOS users should use the CMD key. This will not be mentioned at each step for which these keys are used. Notice how the cursor shape changes into a scissor shape. This is a fast way of activating the Trim functionality of ArchiCAD. It can be used to quickly remove element parts or split elements by other elements.
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33 With the CTRL key pressed, click the Reference Line of the joining Wall.
37 Start moving your cursor downward and see how the vertical Guide Line appears.
The selected Wall will be split in two at the intersection of the Reference Lines of the two Walls, with the shorter new Wall segment remaining selected. 34 With the Wall still selected, apply the Wall-02 Favorite by double-clicking the Favorites name in the Favorites Palette. The Wall segments we are now creating are different in some aspects from the ones created so far. We will apply various Favorites to them to achieve the desired results. 35 Select the Edit > Move > Drag a Copy menu item.
38 Type 7740 on your keyboard and press the ENTER key.
36 Click anywhere on the lower horizontal edge of the selected Wall to specify the first point of the Drag vector.
A copy of the Wall will be created at the specified distance, and this copy will remain selected after the operation. 39 With the newly created Wall selected, apply the Wall-03 Favorite by double-clicking the Favorites name in the Favorites Palette. Click elsewhere on the Floor Plan window to deselect the wall.
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Step 4. Editing Columns
STEP 4. EDITING COLUMNS

BASIC ITG Chapter 02_04.mp4 Watch Movie Certain Columns that are outside the boundary of Exterior Walls or fall on Exterior Walls are not needed in our design, so we will now remove them. 1 Activate the 2.4.1 Removing Columns pre-set View located in the "2.4 Editing Columns" folder. 2 Switch to the Arrow Tool. Switch to the Entire Elements Selection Method in the Info Box.
40 Activate the 2.3.8 Modifying Walls/2 pre-set View located in the "2.3 Creating Exterior Walls" folder.
With this Selection Method, when you draw a Selection Area, only elements that are fully within this area (i.e., no parts of them hanging out of the area) will be selected. This is different from the usual Selection Method (the Partial Elements Selection Method) in which, if any portion of an element is within the Selection Area, the element will be selected. 3 Make sure that the Suspend Groups toggle in the Standard Toolbar is switched ON (switch it ON if it is OFF).
4 With the Arrow Tool active, click near Label 1.1 and then click near Label 1.2. The two clicked points define the two opposite corners of the Selection Rectangle. Any element fully within the Selection Rectangle will be selected. In this case, this means two Columns. The Exterior Wall is not selected, as it is not fully within the Selection Rectangle. This is the opposite side of the other wing of the building. Here we have already done the same Wall modification steps to save time.
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Hint: Do not click at the points of the Label Arrows because that will select the Label. Only click near it so the Columns you wish to select are fully within the Selection Rectangle. 5 Now, hold down the SHIFT-key, and while keeping it pressed, first click near Label 2.1 and then click near Label 2.2. When selecting elements while the SHIFT-key is pressed, the newly selected elements will be added to the selection of already selected elements. If the SHIFT-key were not pressed down while making this selection, Columns within this new Selection Rectangle would become selected, while those two Columns already selected would become unselected. Hint: The SHIFT-key can be used both to add to and to subtract from the Selection. If elements were already selected, SHIFT-selecting any of them would deselect them. 6 Repeat the previous SHIFT-selection method with Labels 3.1 and 3.2. Repeat for Labels 4.1 and 4.2 to add Columns within their respective Selection Rectangles to the current Selection. In all you should now have twelve Columns selected.
Hint: If you accidentally selected other elements (e.g., Walls), you can SHIFT-click those elements to remove them from the selection. 7 Select the Edit > Delete command to delete the selected Columns, or press Delete on your keyboard for the same result. Hint: You can also right-click to bring up the context menu and select the Delete command from there. 8 Activate the 2.4.2 Removing Columns/2 pre-set View located in the "2.4 Editing Columns" folder. 9 Switch to the Arrow Tool and repeat the multiple selection process performed in previous steps, based on the locations of Labels 1.1 to 6.2. 10 When drawing the Selection Rectangle defined by Label Arrows 5.1 and 5.2, notice that two Wall segments are selected which should not be deleted. Click the two Wall segments one by one while holding down the SHIFT key to remove these Walls from the selection set. Make sure to hold the SHIFT key down while adding to the selection. When the selection is done, you should have twenty-four Columns selected. You may have selected some Walls during the process. SHIFT-click these to remove them from the selection.
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If you press the CTRL or option key once again, the + sign disappears, signaling that you will now drag the original element and no new element will be created. Hence, the CTRL key is a toggle between the manipulation of the selected element and its copy. 15 Using the Guide Line you learned about previously, drag a Copy of the Columns upward at 90.00 degrees to a distance of 7500. Click elsewhere to deselect the Column.
11 Select the Edit > Delete command to delete the selected Columns. 12 Activate the 2.4.3 Copying Column pre-set View located in the "2.4 Editing Columns" folder. 13 With the Arrow Tool active, click the Column near Label 1 to select it. Activate the Move > Drag context menu item. The copy of the Column appears 7500 mm above the original Column. 16 Activate the 2.4.4 Extending Columns pre-set View located in the "2.4 Editing Columns" folder. 17 With the Marquee Tool active, draw a Marquee Rectangle by clicking near Label 1.1 and then clicking near Label 1.2. 18 Switch to the Column Tool, and select the Edit > Select All Columns in Marquee menu item to select all Columns in the Marquee. The Marquee can be used to limit selection to only a given area. When a Marquee is drawn, only elements within the Marquee will be selected.
Hint: When an Element is selected, the most common editing operations become available in the Context Menu. 14 Press the CTRL key once (on Windows) or the option (Alt) key (on MacOS). As you can see, a + sign appeared next to the cursor, signaling that a copy of the selected element will be dragged with the original element left at its location.
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22 Switch to the Column Tool, and select the Edit > Select All Columns in Marquee menu item to select Columns falling within the Marquee.
Activating a Tool can also limit selection to that element type. The Edit > Select All menu command changes according to the active Tool. The combined result of drawing a Marquee and activating the Column Tool is that only Columns within the Marquee are selected. 19 Double-click the Column-02 Favorite in the Favorites Palette. This will assign the values stored in this Favorite to the selected Column elements. Click elsewhere on the Floor Plan to deselect the Columns.
12 Columns that fall completely within the Selection Rectangle are selected. 23 Again, double-click the Column-02 Favorite in the Favorites Palette to modify the Columns. 24 Press the ESC key twice to first deselect the Columns, then to remove the Marquee. 25 Activate the 2.4.6 Modified Columns in 3D pre-set View located in the "2.4 Editing Columns" folder to see the result of these operations in 3D.
The only change that will occur to these Columns is that their heights will increase to extend into the Third Floor. 20 Activate the 2.4.5 Extending Columns/2 pre-set View located in the "2.4 Editing Columns" folder. 21 Activate the Marquee Tool and draw a Marquee Rectangle by clicking at the points of Label 2.1 and then Label 2.2.
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Step 5. Creating Slabs
STEP 5. CREATING SLABS

BASIC ITG Chapter 02_05.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Activate the 2.5.1 Slab-01/01 pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder. 2 Switch to the Slab Tool, and in the Favorites Palette activate the Slab-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list. 3 Hold down the SPACE key, and while keeping it pressed, click near Label 1 to create a Slab based on the geometry defined by Exterior Walls (Magic Wand feature).
Highlight, and its purpose is to clearly and unmistakably identify which elements are currently selected. 5 Activate the 2.5.2 Modifying Slab-01/01-1 pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder. 6 Click on the edge of the Slab contour polygon near the point of Label 1.1.
This will create a Slab by finding an enclosed area (one that is defined by the Exterior Walls) and creating the Slab using that geometry. 4 With the Slab Tool still active, hover your cursor near Label 1, press the SHIFT key, and click to select the Slab you just placed.
A small palette appears near the cursor. This is called the Pet Palette. Its purpose is to provide most of the polygon editing and element modification commands at your fingertips. With its help you can: insert new nodes into polygons; delete edges, curve edges, and offset edges; add to or subtract from the contour polygon; plus drag/rotate/mirror/elevate/multiply the element. 7 Select the fourth icon from the left in the top row of the Pet Palette.
The SHIFT key is necessary to select an element when the Arrow Tool is not the active Tool. Using SHIFT you can always select/deselect elements even when the Arrow Tool is not active. You can see that the entire surface of the Slab is covered with a translucent green color. Also, the contours of the selected Slab are highlighted with a middle green color. This is called the Selection
This is the Offset edge command. It lets you perpendicularly move (offset) any edge of the contour polygon.
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8 Click on the Wall corner pointed to by Label 1.2.
The segment of the Wall situated between two other Walls intersecting it will be trimmed and removed from the Project. Hint: When an element cannot be edited, the first thing to suspect is that Grouping is not suspended, thereby blocking it from potential modification. In this case, simply Suspend Groups with Edit > Grouping > Suspend Groups menu command or with the Suspend Groups button on the Standard Toolbar. 11 Activate the 2.5.3 Modifying Slab-01/01-2 pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder. 12 Select the Wall at Label 1 and select the Edit > Delete menu item to delete it. 13 Select the Slab at Label 2 and click its edge near the point of the Label. Select the Offset edge Pet Palette command. Offset it upward 320 mm by moving the mouse upward, then typing 320 and pressing ENTER.
The edge of the Slab polygon is now offset to align with the right surfaces of the two horizontal Walls on the screen. 9 Press the ESC key twice. The first click will deselect the selected Slab. The second click will return to the Arrow Tool from the Slab Tool. 10 Hold down the CTRL key and move the mouse anywhere over the Wall near Label 1.1 until the Scissors cursor shape appears. Click to trim. 14 Select the Walls near Label 3 and Label 4.
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15 Select the Edit > Reshape > Adjust menu item.
18 Activate the 2.5.5 Modifying Slab-01/02-1 pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder. 19 Shift-click the Wall at Label 1 to select it and select the Edit > Delete menu item to delete it. Hint: If you want to use the Arrow Tool for selecting elements when nothing is selected yet the fastest way to switch to it from any other Tool is to press the ESC key once. 20 Select the Slab near Label 2 and click its horizontal edge near Label 2. Select the Offset edge Pet Palette command. Offset it downward 320 mm by moving your mouse downward, then typing 320 and pressing ENTER.
Click the horizontal edge of the Slab near Label 1.
21 Select the Walls near Label 3 and Label 4. 22 Select the Edit > Reshape > Adjust menu item. 23 Click the horizontal edge of the Slab near Label 1 to adjust the length of the Walls to that edge. The length of the Reference Lines of the Walls will be adjusted to extend to the horizontal edge of the Slab. The Wall bodys shape will change accordingly. 16 Activate the 2.5.4 Slab-01/02 pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder. 17 Activate the Slab Tool and SPACE-click near Label 1, close to the Exterior Walls, to create another Slab using Magic Wand. The Slab-01 Favorite is still in effect so we do not need to set that. Hint: When using the Magic Wand to find a large area based on which to create new geometry, it is advisable to click near an edge of the enclosed space. This will make it easier for ArchiCAD to find the enclosed area.
24 Activate the 2.5.6 Modifying Slab-01/02-2 pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder.
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25 Select the Wall at Label 1 and select the Edit > Delete menu item to delete it. 26 Select the Slab near Label 2 and click its horizontal edge near Label 2. Select the Offset edge Pet Palette command. Offset it upward 320 mm by moving your mouse upward, then typing 320 and pressing ENTER. 27 Select the Wall near Label 3. 28 Select the Edit > Reshape > Adjust menu item. 29 Move you cursor to the point of Label 4 until the cursor changes to the Filled Pencil shape, signaling that you have found a node of an element.
31 Click the horizontal Guide Line just created to specify the edge to which you will align the Wall. The Wall is extended to the intersection point of its Reference Line and the Guide Line. This is another great use of Guide Lines: they let you create temporary lines and circles that remain on the screen until the current editing operation is finished. So you do not need to create unnecessary elements to be able to create other elements (only to need to delete them after they fulfilled their purpose). 32 With the Wall still selected, select the Edit > Reshape > Split menu item.
30 Press the ALT-Y (Windows) / OPT-Y (MacOS) key combination. In the future, when ALT-click or ALT with a key combination is referred to, MacOS users should use the OPT key on their keyboard. The ALT-Y key combination does two things: it creates a horizontal Guide Line and it locks the Y coordinates so you can move your cursor only along a horizontal line (shown by the Guide Line in this case). You can unlock this function by pressing ALT-Y again.
We will use this command to split the Element into two pieces.
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33 Click in the horizontal edge of the Slab near Label 1 to define the splitting edge.
35 With the lower Wall still selected, apply the Wall-04 Favorite to it by activating the Wall Tool and double-clicking the Favorites name in the Favorites Palette. Click ESC to deselect the Wall.
An Eye cursor shape appears, with this you can specify which side of the element should remain selected after the split. 34 Click below the splitting Slab edge so that the lower Wall segment remains selected.
36 Select the Wall near Label 5. 37 Select the Edit > Reshape > Adjust menu item. 38 Click the horizontal edge of the Slab near Label 1 to adjust the length of the Walls to that edge. Press ESC once to deselect the wall.
39 Activate the 2.5.7 Modifying Slab-01/02-3 pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder.
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40 With the Arrow tool active, click to the left of Label 1.1 to select the Slab. By hovering the cursor over the surface of the Slab, the Quick Selection feature will find the element for you. 41 Offset the vertical Slab edge near Label 1.1 to the left by first clicking on the edge, then by clicking on the Wall corner pointed to by Label 1.2.
42 Press the ESC key once to deselect the Slab, then hold down the CTRL key, move the mouse over the Wall near Label 1.1 until the Scissors cursor shape appears (at its left or right side) and click to trim.
The portion of the Wall between the two other Walls intersecting it will be removed from the Project. Hint: When an element cannot be edited, the first thing to suspect is that Grouping is not suspended, thereby blocking potential modifications to the element. In this case, simply Suspend Groups with Edit > Grouping > Suspend Groups. 43 Activate the 2.5.8 Copy-Pasting Slabs pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder. 44 Activate the Slab Tool, and select Edit > Select All Slabs to select the Slabs you created.
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45 Select Edit > Copy to copy the Slabs to the Clipboard, or hit Ctrl+C or CMD+C for the same result.
46 Select View > Navigate > Stories > Go Up a Story to go to the First Floor, or activate the First Floor entry in the Project Map.
48 Click outside the Marquee area once to accept the position, and execute the Paste operation. 49 Again, go up one Story to the Second Floor and paste the Slabs again. 50 Activate the 2.5.9 Slab-02/01 pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder in the View Map. 51 Activate the Slab Tool, then in the Favorites Palette activate the Slab-02 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list. 52 SPACE-click on the Fill edge near Label 1 to trace the polygon and create a new Slab. 53 Activate the 2.5.10 Slab-02/02 pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder. 54 SPACE-click on the Fill edge near Label 2 to trace the polygon and create a new Slab. We now have Slabs above all our Stories. 55 Activate the 2.5.11 General Perspective pre-set View located in the "2.5 Creating Slabs" folder to see how the 3D Mode looks so far.
47 Select Edit > Paste or hit Ctrl+V or CMD+V to paste the Slabs from the Clipboard. The elements appear in the Floor Plan with a Marquee around them. At this point you could move them or rotate them. For our purposes their position is correct.
This completes Chapter 02.

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Chapter Three: Creating Curtain Walls and Exterior Openings
Step 1. Placing Openings
CHAPTER THREE: CREATING CURTAIN WALLS AND EXTERIOR OPENINGS

In this Chapter we will continue building the exterior shell of the office building. First we will create Curtain Walls. Then well follow with the creation of Exterior Walls with the help of the Masses created earlier. Note: The Exterior Walls and Columns of the basement level of the building are already completed at the beginning of this Chapter. Throughout the Training Guide we will use similar shortcuts in the interest of saving time. In most cases we will create elements in the left wing of the building. The next Chapter of the Training Guide will contain the completed right wing of the building. Empty Window openings. We will also place Curtain Walls that stand on their own and in themselves are like complete Walls. 2 Activate the Empty Window-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. Make sure that the Geometry Method in the Info Box is set to Center.
STEP 1. PLACING OPENINGS

BASIC ITG Chapter 03_01.mp4 Watch Movie Open the BASIC ITG Chapter 03.pla ArchiCAD project file to complete this stage of this interactive, hands-on ArchiCAD training guide. 1 Switch to the View Map of the Navigator. Open up the ArchiCAD Guide folder in the Navigator and activate (by double-clicking) the 3.1.1 Empty Window-01 pre-set View located in the "3.1 Creating Openings" folder within the Chapter 03 folder. Hint: When you click on any View in the View Map, make sure that the Properties panel at the bottom of the Navigator is expanded. In this panel you will always see the ID and Name of the View, so you do not have to scroll in the View Map to see its full Name. We will create Empty Window openings in the Exterior Walls. In a later step we will place complex Curtain Wall systems into these
3 Click on the point of Label 1.1 to specify the location of the middle of the Empty Window Hole in the Wall. Then click near the point of Label 1.2 with the appearing eye-cursor to place the Empty Window.
The Empty Window opening is created. The second click is to define the outer side of the Window, which in the case of an empty opening has no relevance. Hint: Since outer/inner sides have no relevance for an Empty Opening, you can actually click anywhere on either side of the Wall for the Empty Opening to be created. You will not necessarily have to click near the second Label arrow point.
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Step 1. Placing Openings
4 Hold your cursor over the middle of the Empty Window opening you just created and scroll your mouses scroll wheel to zoom in on it until you can read the Marker Text displaying the Width, Height and Sill Height of the opening.
Hint: Some views (e.g., 3.1.4 Empty Window 04) have multiple sets of Label Arrows (Label Arrow 1.1, 1.2, Label Arrow 2.1, 2.2 and Label Arrow 3.1, 3.2). Place the same Empty Window into all the Walls specified by the Label Arrows. Hint: Some Favorites are used in more than one View (e.g., 3.1.7 Empty Window-07/02 and 3.1.7 Empty Window-07/01). Make sure you do not automatically activate the next Favorite after activating the next View. 10 Activate the 3.1.12 Empty Openings in 3D pre-set View located in the "3.1 Creating Openings" folder within the Chapter 03 folder.
As you can see, this opening has a Width of 22.20 meters and a Height of 5.80 meters. Since the Story height is 3.60 meters, this shows that this is an opening that extends into Story 1 as well. 5 Select the View > Navigate > Stories > Go Up a Story menu item to go up one Story to Story 1, or double-click First Floor in the Project Map. As you can see, the Window is displayed on this Story too. 6 Activate the 3.1.2 Empty Window-02 pre-set View located in the "3.1 Creating Openings" folder within the Chapter 03 folder. 7 Activate the Empty Window-02 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 8 Click on the point of Label 1.1 at the Wall to define the location of the openings center. Then click again at Label 1.2 to place it in the Wall. 9 Continue creating the Empty Window openings by activating Views 3.1.3 Empty Window-03 through 3.1.11 Empty Window-11, always activating the Favorite called for by the name of the View, and thus creating the opening or openings called for by the Labels. Hint: Make sure to always check the name of the View so you always activate the correct Favorite.
In this View we have all the required Empty Openings created in both wings of the building. 11 Return to the Floor Plan by Activating the Floor Plan icon in the Mini Navigator Toolbar (located by default next to the Standard Toolbar at the top of the screen).
Hint: You can also right-click on an empty area and select the Go to > Floor Plan menu item from the Context menu. This will take you back to the Floor Plan View.
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Step 2. Creating Window Curtain Walls
STEP 2. CREATING WINDOW CURTAIN WALLS

BASIC ITG Chapter 03_02.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Switch to the View Map of the Navigator. Activate (by double-clicking) the 3.2.1 Curtain Wall-01/01 pre-set View located in the 3.2 Window Curtain Walls folder within the Chapter 03 folder. 2 Activate the Curtain Wall Tool, then, in the Favorites Palette, activate the Curtain Wall-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list.
from top to bottom, enter the values 5800, 800 and 90.00 into the fields.
3 Make sure that the Single Polyline Geometry Method is activated in the Info Box. 4 Click on the points of Labels 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 to specify the location and the direction of the Curtain Wall. Every Curtain Wall has a Reference Plane. This plane can be vertical, or it can be located on any plane in space. The Curtain Walls we create in these steps will have a vertical Reference Plane. Out of the three points specified, the first two will specify two points of the vertical Reference Plane of the Curtain Wall, while the third point will specify the side we consider the outside of the Curtain Wall. 5 In the appearing Dialog, select the positioning method on the right (specify bottom of Curtain Wall as anchor point and measure height from there. Then,
This will set the height of the Curtain Wall to 5800 mm. The bottom of the Curtain Wall will be set to be 800 mm above the Current Story level (0.00). The slope angle of the Curtain Wall will be set to 90.00 degrees (vertical). 6 Click Place to accept these values and to close the Dialog. The Curtain Wall will be generated and placed into the Project.
Hence, the steps that need to be performed to create a single Vertical Curtain Wall are: specify 3 points; then enter the desired height and bottom values. (The slant angle will always be 90.00 degrees, so there is no need to set it for each Curtain Wall.) 7 Continue creating the Curtain Walls by always first activating the next View, checking what Favorite the View calls for, then activating that Favorite and clicking at the three points in sequence as called for by the Labels. In each case continue by specifying the Height and Bottom Level values for the Curtain Wall as written in the text of the third Label.
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Step 3. Creating Curtain Walls
The following Table shows the Height and Bottom Level values you will need to enter for each Curtain Wall you create. The positioning should always be the rightmost option (Height, plus Bottom Level of Curtain Wall, and the Bottom Level, should always be measured relative to the Current Story.) Note: While creating the Curtain Walls, you may at any point go to the 3D Window to see the progress of the 3D Model by clicking the 3D button on the Mini Navigator Toolbar. Name of Favorite Curtain Wall-02 Curtain Wall-03 Curtain Wall-04 Curtain Wall-05 Curtain Wall-06 Curtain Wall-07 Curtain Wall-08 Ground Floor Height Value 5800 9400 9400 2200 9400 9400 5800 First Floor Height Value 6000 6000 6000 6000 Second Floor Height Value 2400 Bottom Level value to the Current Story 800 800 800 800 800 800 800
8 Activate the 3.2.14 Curtain Walls in 3D pre-set View located in the "3.2 Window Curtain Walls" folder within the Chapter 03 folder.
Here you can see all the Curtain Walls we have created so far. (At this stage, the Curtain Walls of the farther wing of the building have already been created.)
STEP 3. CREATING CURTAIN WALLS

BASIC ITG Chapter 03_03.mp4 Watch Movie
Name of Favorite Curtain Wall-09 Curtain Wall-10 Curtain Wall-11 Curtain Wall-12
Bottom Level value to the Current Story 600 600 600 600
Name of Favorite Curtain Wall-13
Bottom Level value to the Current Story 600
In this section we will create normal Curtain Walls where the Curtain Wall will actually function as a Wall, as opposed to a Window structure. Then, when this step is done, we will modify a Curtain Wall to the exact 3D geometry we desire. 1 Continue creating the Curtain Walls from Step 3.3.1 through 3.3.4 as performed in previous steps: always first activate the next View, check what Favorite the View calls for, then activate the Favorite and click at the three points in sequence as called for by the Labels, then specify the Height and Bottom Level values for the Curtain Wall. Note: In these steps you will need to zoom in very close to the points of Labels 1.1 and 1.2 if you see other existing or already-created elements nearby, because you may accidentally click to another element if you do not zoom in close enough. E.g., with Curtain Wall-14, you will have an exterior wall
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there. If you do not zoom in you may click the Wall and not the point of the Label. In most cases you will need to zoom in at Label 1.1. Name of Favorite Curtain Wall-14 Curtain Wall-15 Curtain Wall-16 Curtain Wall-17 Third Floor Height Value 5200 5200 5200 5200 Bottom Level value to the Current Story 0 0 0 0
3 Double-click to activate the 3.3.6 Curtain Wall-19 pre-set View located in the 3.3 Curtain Walls folder within the Chapter 03 folder.
2 In the next Step (3.3.5) we create a Curtain Wall that spans several Stories, starting from the Ground Floor, using the same method used in previous steps: Name of Favorite Curtain Wall-18 Ground Floor Height Value 10800 Bottom Level value to the Current Story 0
We are now in a Section View which is a Vertical Cut Plane. We can create Curtain Walls in this Section too. In this case, Curtain Walls will be created in space relative to the Vertical Plane of the Section Line. Just as in the case of a Floor Plan, where they are created relative
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to a horizontal plane, in Sections and Elevations they are created relative to a vertical plane. The body of the Curtain Wall will be extruded perpendicularly to the Vertical plane of the Section Line. 4 Activate the Curtain Wall-19 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 5 Make sure that the Chained Polyline Geometry Method is activated in the Info Box. Switch off Grid Display in the View menu if necessary.
Here, Label 1.4 points to the same location as Label 1.3. This is how we finish creating the Curtain Wall shapes Polyline. Subsequently, the last click defined the outside of the Curtain Wall. Hint: Make sure to zoom in on Label 1.1 to select the correct point. 7 In the appearing Dialog, select the second button from the left in the upper portion of the Dialog.
The Chained Polyline Geometry method is similar to the Single Polyline Geometry method. The difference is that for the former, consecutive clicks define the nodes of a Polyline. 6 Click on the points of Labels 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 and 1.5 to specify the location of the Curtain Wall.
These buttons let you define different ways of measuring the location of the Curtain Wall from the Vertical Plane of the Section. The second button will make the Curtain Wall start from the Sections plane and extrude away from it in the direction in which the Section looks. 8 Enter 7740 in the first Text field to specify the distance of extrusion for the Curtain Wall.
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9 Click the Place button to place the Curtain Wall.
12 Right-click anywhere in the Floor Plan Viewpoint. Select the Show Selection/Marquee in 3D menu command in the appearing Context Menu.
10 Activate the 3.3.7 Moving Curtain Wall-19 pre-set View located in the 3.3 Curtain Walls folder within the Chapter 03 folder. We are now back on the Floor Plan and our Curtain Wall is placed. 11 With the Arrow Tool active, select the Curtain Wall pointed to by Label 1.
When the 3D Viewpoint opens, the Curtain Wall might not be visible because it does not fall into the View area that was displayed in the 3D Viewpoint the last time we worked in it. 13 If the Curtain Wall is not visible, click the Fit in Window button located among the buttons to the left of the horizontal scroll bar of the 3D Viewpoint.
The Curtain Wall is selected. You can get an idea of its extent from its highlighted outline.
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17 Move the cursor down along the appearing guide-line, which is perpendicular to the edge of the Curtain Wall. Move the cursor until it reaches the edge of the Composite Wall. (Drag it close to vertical so it will gravitate to the appearing Guide Line and move at a 90.00 degree angle.)
14 Hold down the SHIFT key and also hold down the middle mouse button. The Orbit cursor shape appears and you can rotate and move around the Curtain Wall by moving around the mouse while keeping the SHIFT key and the middle mouse button pressed. For the same result you can also activate the Orbit navigation mode at the bottom of the 3D Window. 15 Right-click anywhere in the 3D Window and in the appearing Context Menu, select the Go to > Floor Plan menu command to return to the Floor Plan Viewpoint. Since the Curtain Wall was placed based on the location of the Section Line, we need to move it a bit to its correct location. 16 With the Curtain Wall selected and the Arrow Tool active, click on the bottom edge of the outline of the Curtain Wall body. Make sure that the Drag command (which is the first option) is activated in the appearing Pet Palette.
18 Drag the cursor until it reaches the upper edge of the Composite Wall below and the smart cursor displays the perpendicular sign (the Tracker Palette should display 1000 for distance and 90.00 degrees for angle).
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The cursor shape has changed to the Arrow with Perpendicular shape, meaning that if you drew a line from the point where you started dragging to the point you are now, that line would be perpendicular to the edge you just reached. 19 Click again to execute the Drag operation with this Drag vector and to move the Curtain Wall to its correct location. Then, click anywhere to deselect the Curtain Wall. Hint: Another way of deselecting selected elements is by pressing the ESC key once. We will now edit a Window Curtain Wall that was placed in an earlier step. 20 Activate the 3.3.8 Editing Curtain Wall pre-set View located in the 3.3 Curtain Walls folder within the Chapter 03 folder. We will edit the Curtain Wall next to Label Arrow 1. Lets have a quick look at this part of the building in the 3D window. 21 Activate the 3.3.9 Editing Curtain Wall pre-set View located in the 3.3 Curtain Walls folder within the Chapter 03 folder to display the Curtain Wall in its environment in 3D.
22 Zoom in to the Curtain Wall on the left and with the Arrow Tool active select it. Notice that the Edit label appears in the middle of the selected Curtain Wall. Click this label to edit the Curtain Wall in 3D.
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Hint: You can achieve the same result by selecting the Curtain Wall on the Floor Plan view and then clicking the Edit in 3D label on it.
24 Click the eye-icon in front of Panel label to hide the Panels of the Curtain Wall. Certain Frames are not needed for our Layout, so we will remove those. Hint: Boundary Frames cannot be removed, but they can be set to be invisible (which is about the same as having no Frames). 25 There are six horizontal rows of Panels and three vertical rows of Panels. Move your cursor over any horizontal Frame located in the leftmost vertical column of Panels (as shown below).
Notice that only the selected Curtain Wall is displayed regularly: the rest of the building elements are displayed with transparent colors. This is to help when editing the selected Curtain Wall in 3D. 23 Zoom in to the Curtain Wall using the scroll wheel of the mouse. You can also activate the Orbit navigating option to rotate the view if necessary. Notice the Curtain Walls Edit Mode display palette at the top-left corner of the 3D window.
Two command buttons appear that let you select entire rows or columns of Frames.
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26 Move you mouse over the left button to select the entire column of Frames (seven Frames will be selected).
The Pre-selection highlights all horizontal Frames above and below the Frame the mouse cursor is over. 27 Click the left button to select all highlighted Frames. 28 Select the Edit > Delete menu command to delete the selected Frames, or push the Delete key for the same result.
All selected horizontal Frames are deleted (except the two boundary Frames, which cannot be deleted). 29 Select the whole series of vertical Frames second from the right by moving your mouse over one of them, then clicking the right one of the two appearing selection buttons.
30 With the SHIFT key held down, click each of the two longest selected Frames to remove them from the selection.
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Open the Curtain Wall Frame Selection Settings dialog.
In the Frame Type and Geometry panel, set the Frame Intersection slider to 4.
31 Select the Edit > Delete menu command to delete the selected Frames. 32 Select the two vertical Frames that remained from the last operation using SHIFT-clicks.
Click OK, and deselect the Frames by hitting the ESC key once. 33 Activate the Arrow Tool and set it to Entire Elements Selection Method. Make sure that Quick Selection is turned off.
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With this method, only Elements that are entirely within a Selection polygon will be selected. 34 Draw a Selection Rectangle around the two leftmost series of vertical Frames and their two connecting horizontal Frames in between them. Make sure all these Frames but no other Frames become selected.
35 In the Favorites Palette double-click the CW-Boundary-01 Favorite to apply its settings to the selected Frames. 36 Press ESC to deselect the previously selected elements. Repeat this after each of the following editing operations.
We basically want to select all Frames around the leftmost long vertical Panel.
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37 Now select only the series of vertical Frames to the right of the long vertical Panel on the left by clicking on any of them and clicking the right one of the two appearing buttons. Then set their Frame Intersection slider to 16 in their Settings Dialog. Click OK when done to leave the Dialog.
38 This time select (by SHIFT-clicking) only the two rightmost of the top horizontal Boundary Frames (which are still dark grey). Also select from the right vertical Boundary Frames the two that belong to the smallest horizontal Panel Bands. 39 In the Favorites Palette double-click the CW-Boundary-02 Favorite to apply its settings to the selected Frames.
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40 Press ESC to deselect them, then select the Edit > Find & Select menu item to bring up the Find & Select Dialog.
41 Click the right-pointing arrow in the upper-right corner of the Dialog, and select Load from the appearing list.
42 In the appearing Dialog, select CW-Frame:Zinc+Boundary and click the Load button.
The stored criteria will be loaded into the Dialog.
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43 Click the + button in the lower-right corner of the Dialog to add elements meeting the criteria to the selection.
44 Set the selected Frames Intersection slider to a value of 3 in their Settings Dialog. Click OK when done.
All Boundary Frames with the assigned material Mtl-Zinc-dark will be selected. 45 Exit the Find & Select Dialog by closing it and press ESC to deselect the selected elements. Then make the Panels visible by
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clicking on the Eye icon next to the Panel category at the upper left corner of the screen. 46 With the Arrow Tool and its Quick Selection option active, select the leftmost long vertical panel and assign Favorite CW-Panel-01 to it by double-clicking the Favorite name in the Favorites Palette.
47 Select the two thinnest horizontal Panels (with the grey boundaries at their right edges) and assign Favorite CW-Panel-02 to them.
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48 Select the two long thin horizontal Panels in the middle of the Curtain Wall and assign Favorite CW-Panel-03 to them.
50 Click OK in the Curtain Wall editing menu to accept all changes.
49 Of the four remaining Panels we have not modified yet, select the two on the right and assign Favorite CW-Window-01 to them.
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Step 4. Exploring 3D View Options
51 Switch back to the Floor Plan view to see how the Floor Plan representation of the Curtain Wall has changed to reflect the design developments weve completed in 3D. We could customize all other Curtain Walls we placed using the methods of the previous steps. However, we prepared these steps in advance to save time.
In this View all Curtain Walls are placed and modified to their final specification.
STEP 4. EXPLORING 3D VIEW OPTIONS

BASIC ITG Chapter 03_04.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Activate the 3.4.1 Generic Perspective pre-set View located in the 3.4 3D view Options folder within the Chapter 03 folder.
52 Activate the 3.3.10 Generic Perspective pre-set View located in the 3.3 Curtain Walls folder within the Chapter 03 folder. There are several display possibilities in ArchiCADs 3D Viewpoint. Two Engines are available for the generation of the 3D View, and these have different capabilities. The first one is ArchiCADs Internal 3D Engine. What you now see is a 3D View generated with the Internal 3D Engine, with several of its capabilities disabled.
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Step 4. Exploring 3D View Options
2 Activate the 3.4.2 Generic Perspective pre-set View located in the 3.4 3D view Options folder within the Chapter 03 folder.
4 Activate the 3.4.4 Generic Perspective pre-set View located in the 3.4 3D view Options folder within the Chapter 03 folder.
In this View, Vectorial 3D Hatching is enabled. This feature is specific to the Internal Engine. 3 Activate the 3.4.3 Generic Perspective pre-set View located in the 3.4 3D view Options folder within the Chapter 03 folder.
Finally, this is a View in which Vectorial Sun Shadows are enabled along with previous features. This phase might take a bit longer to generate, because unlike the OpenGL Engine, the Internal 3D Engine does not take advantage of the graphics cards capabilities. 5 Activate the 3.4.5 Generic Perspective pre-set View located in the 3.4 3D view Options folder within the Chapter 03 folder.
In this next View, Transparency is also enabled.
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Step 5. Placing External Doors
Here is the 3D Viewpoint using the OpenGL 3D Engine, with some of its features turned off. 6 Activate the 3.4.6 Generic Perspective pre-set View located in the 3.4 3D view Options folder within the Chapter 03 folder. In this last View both Textures and Transparency are enabled. The advantages of the Internal 3D Engine are the capabilities of generating Vectorial 3D Hatchings and Vectorial Sun Shadows. However, this engine does not take advantage of the power of graphic cards.
2 Switch to the Door tool, then activate the Door-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. Choose the Center Geometry Method in the Info Box.
Create the Doors called for by Labels 1.1 and 1.2, and Labels 2.1 and 2.2, respectively.
OpenGL offers surface highlights, emission and Textures, and Transparency. Further, it fully utilizes the hardware acceleration offered by the latest graphics processors. You can always choose the right engine with the right settings according to your needs. Hint: Section/Elevation/Interior Elevation/3D Document Views are generated using the Internal 3D Engine.
STEP 5. PLACING EXTERNAL DOORS

BASIC ITG Chapter 03_05.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Activate the 3.5.1 Door-01 pre-set View located in the 3.5 Placing External Doors folder within the Chapter 03 folder.
You can place Doors into Walls by using either their middle point or their side. When placing a Door into a Wall by its middle point, two clicks are needed: the first click places the Door into the Wall, and the second click specifies the direction in which the Door panel will open. 3 Using SHIFT-clicks, select the two Walls that enclose the two Doors you just created by hovering your mouse over them (the Walls pre-selection highlight appears and the Info Tag displays information about the Wall) and clicking. 4 Activate (by double-clicking) the 3.5.2 Multiplying Doors pre-set View located in the 3.5 Placing External Doors folder within the Chapter 03 folder. Make sure that the Tracker is activated on the Standard Toolbar. 5 With the Door Tool active, select the Edit > Select All Doors menu item to select the two Doors in the 3D Window. 6 Select the Edit > Move > Multiply menu item.
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7 In the appearing Dialog, select the Elevate radio button at the top, enter 2 in the Number of copies field, and select the Increment multiply method radio button, then click OK.
Since you have chosen the Elevate method, the drag vector will move along a vertical line. You only need to specify two points. 8 Click anywhere to specify the starting point of the Drag vector.
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9 Start moving your mouse upward, then enter 3600 on your keyboard, and press the ENTER key.
10 Select the two middle Doors out of the six Doors we have now. In the Info Box, you can see the Anchor field. All Doors and Windows have an Anchor point. Possible Anchor points are: the Wall Base, or the Floor Levels of any of the Stories. It is better to anchor a Door on the First Floor to the elevation level of the First Floor, rather than the Wall Base, because the Wall Base may change. 11 Click the Dropdown List in the Anchor field of the Info Box and select Select Story from the list.
Four new Doors are created above the first two Doors. These new Doors belong to the First and the Second Floors. We will need to make some modifications that will reflect this.
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12 In the appearing Dialog, select 1. First Floor from the list and click OK.
The Doors are now anchored to the First Floor instead of the Ground Floor a setting they inherited from the Doors from which they were copied. 13 Select the two upper Doors of the six and using the same method set their Anchor to the Second Floor. This concludes Chapter 03.
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Chapter Four: Creating Interior Walls and Openings
Step 1. Creating Interior Structural Walls
CHAPTER FOUR: CREATING INTERIOR WALLS AND OPENINGS

In this Chapter we will continue with building the interior Structures, including Elevator shafts and Stairs, and interior partition walls with doors and windows. For the sake of saving time, the basement structure of the building has already been created for this Chapter. As in the previous Chapter, we will only create the structures in the left block of the building. The right block was prepared in advanced in subsequent steps. 3 In the Info Box of the Wall Tool, select the Rectangular Geometry Method from among the Straight Wall Geometry Methods.
STEP 1. CREATING INTERIOR STRUCTURAL WALLS

BASIC ITG Chapter 04_01.mp4 Watch Movie Open the BASIC ITG Chapter 04.pla ArchiCAD project file to complete this stage of this interactive, hands-on ArchiCAD training guide. 1 Switch to the View Map of the Navigator. Open up the "ArchiCAD Guide" folder in the Navigator and activate the 4.1.1 Wall-05/01 pre-set View located in the "4.1 Interior Structural Walls" folder. 2 In the Favorites Palette activate the Wall-05 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list.
This method actually creates 4 Walls in one step: the rectangle we define will set the Reference Lines of these Walls, and the Wall bodies will be generated according to the Wall settings of the previously activated Favorite. We need to specify the two end points of the diagonal of the rectangle. 4 Click on the point of Label 1.1 for the lower-left corner of the rectangle and click on the point of Label 1.2 to define the upper-right corner.
The four Walls are generated.
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5 Make sure Groups are suspended on the Standard Toolbar (or that Edit > Grouping > Suspend groups is ON), and select the rightmost of the four Walls you just created.
7 Once you are done with the above operation, click elsewhere to deselect the Wall youve just created.
6 Right-click and activate the Move > Drag a Copy command from the appearing context menu. Drag a copy of this Wall to the left to a distance of 550 mm. To achieve this, click any point on the Floor Plan, move the cursor leftward (180.00 angle) and enter a value of 550 for Distance in the Tracker Palette by simply typing 550 on your keyboard. 8 With the Wall Tool still active, set the Construction Method to Center in the Info Box.
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9 Make sure that the View > Special Snap Options > Half and Along Entire Element menu options are set.
consideration the total length of that side of the Wall when calculating the position of the Special Snap point. 11 Select the View > Special Snap Options > Between Intersection Points menu option.
Special Snap Points are a feature in ArchiCAD that will display the position of Special Points of an edge you hover your cursor over. These Special Points are marked with a small short stroke that is displayed temporarily for a short time after you hover the cursor over any edge. They behave as hotspots that you can snap to for help in the creation or editing of existing or new elements. The Half option will find the Halving point of any edge. 10 Hover the cursor over the lower side of the horizontal Wall at the point of Label 2.
12 Activate the Straight Wall Wall Geometry Method in the Info Box.
13 Again, hover the cursor over the lower side of the upper horizontal Wall at the point of Label 2.
A small stroke appears at the middle of the lower side of the Wall. The Along Entire Element option causes ArchiCAD to take into
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Between Intersection Points will find these Special Snap points between any two intersection points between the edge and other elements. It will take into consideration only the distance between intersection points when calculating the position of the Special Snap point. As you can see, the Special Snap Point is located at a different place than the last time, because the Wall intersects the second vertical Wall from the right, which limits the edge length taken into consideration. 14 Click on the Special Snap Point that appeared on the lower side of the Wall close to Label 2 (the cursor turned into a Checkmark shape when you found the Special Snap Point). Move the mouse vertically downward and click again when the mouse is over the middle point of the upper side of the lower horizontal Wall (the Special Snap Point appears, and the cursor changes to the Filled Pencil sign).
15 Create a new Wall starting from the point defined by Label 3.1 and complete the wall by clicking on the point defined by Label 1.2.
16 With SHIFT-click, select the newly created horizontal Wall. 17 Set the Construction Method to Right in the Info Box and notice the changes on the Floor Plan geometry of the wall.
The Special Snap Point, the Cursor shape, and the 90.00 degrees value in the Angle field of the Tracker show that you are at the correct location. The new Wall now halves the available space.
18 With SHIFT-click, select the Wall you just created (a simple click would start creating a new Wall), plus the vertical Wall starting at the point of Label 1.1.
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19 Select the Edit > Reshape > Intersect menu item. Click elsewhere to deselect the Walls.
25 Activate the Door Tool in the Tool Box, and in the Favorites Palette activate the Door-02 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list. 26 Make sure that the Special Snap Points are turned on and that the Half and Between Intersection Points options are selected. Check these settings on the Standard Toolbar.
27 Change the Door Anchor Geometry method in the Info Box to Center.
This will extend the two elements to their intersection point. 20 Activate the 4.1.2 Wall-05/02 pre-set View located in the "4.1 Interior Structural Walls" folder within the Chapter 04 folder. 21 Again activate the Wall-05 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 22 Select the Rectangular Geometry Method from among the Straight Wall Geometry Methods in the Info Box of the Wall Tool. 23 Click on the point of Label 1.1 for the lower-left corner of the rectangle and click on the point of Label 1.2 to define the upper-right corner. 24 Activate the 4.1.3 Door-02 pre-set View located in the "4.1 Interior Structural Walls" folder within the Chapter 04 folder.
28 Move your cursor over the top edge of the lower horizontal Wall near Label 1.1 and wait until the Special Snap Point (half point between intersections) appears. Then click that point to define the center point of the Door. Click at Label 1.2 with the Eye-shaped cursor to define its orientation.
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29 Do the same with Labels 2.1 and 2.2 respectively to place another Door. Zoom out to investigate the results.
31 Activate the 4.1.4 Elevator Shaft Walls in 3D pre-set View located in the "4.1 Interior Structural Walls" folder within the Chapter 04 folder. 32 Activate the Arrow Tool and select the two Doors in the Elevator shaft Wall. 33 Click on one of the hotspots of one of the Doors and select the Multiply command in the appearing Pet Palette.
30 Activate the Marquee Tool in the Tool Box and make sure that the All Floors Marquee option is selected in the Info Box.
Draw a thick Selection Marquee around the Elevator shaft Walls.
As you can see, the Multiply command (along with the Drag, Rotate and Mirror commands) is available from the Pet Palette as well as from the menu.
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34 In the Multiply Dialog, choose the Elevate radio button, enter 3 in the Number of Copies field, and choose the Increment radio button. Then click OK.
35 Click a hotspot of one of the Doors, start moving your mouse upward and type 3600. Then press ENTER.
Six new Doors have now been created. 36 Repeat the same Multiply command with the two Doors, but this time the Number of Copies is 1, and the Doors need to be elevated downward by 3600 mm. The Sills of all Doors are now measured relative to Story 0. We need to change this so they will all be anchored to their own Stories. 37 Select the lowest two of the ten Doors (on the Basement level) and in the Info Box click the Anchor drop-down list and click Select Story. 38 In the appearing Dialog select -1. Basement and click OK to link the Doors to the Basement Floor Level.
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Library Part you need, and on the right youll find the panels with the settings. In the Preview and Positioning panel you can set geometry settings, and in the upper-right corner of the panel you can also see a preview of how the Library Part will look. The icons to the left of the Preview Window let you view the Library Part in 2D, 3D Side View, 3D Parallel View and other views. The Parameters panel and the panel below it let you textually and graphically set the values of parameters affecting how the Library part will look and behave (its geometry, materials, pens, colors, line types etc.). The other panels are similar to panels in the Settings Dialogs of other elements. 43 Click the fourth icon from the top in the vertical strip of buttons to the left of the Preview Window to see a 3D shaded parallel view of the Stair. 39 Repeat the same steps for the sets of two Doors each on the First, Second and Third Stories. 40 Activate the 4.1.5 Stair-01 pre-set View located in the "4.1 Interior Structural Walls" folder within the Chapter 04 folder. 41 Activate the Stair Tool, and in the Favorites Palette activate the Stair-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list. This is what the Stair will look like in 3D. 44 Click the Create Stair button to briefly overview ArchiCADs advanced Stair creation and configuration options. 45 Select Stairs (instead of Slope) and C-Run Winder at Both End stair type (third icon in the second row) in the Stair Type Selection dialog. Click OK to proceed.
Right-click anywhere on the Floor Plan view and activate Remove Marquee from the context menu. 42 Go to the Stair Settings Dialog by clicking on the Settings Dialog button in the top-left corner of the Info Box. Objects, Stairs, Doors/Windows and some other element types share a similar Settings Dialog (since these all use Library Elements): on the left there is a folder view for finding the
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47 Click the fifth large button from the top.
This opens the Stair Editing Dialog where you can enter all geometric parameters to define your Stair. The large buttons on the left take you to the various pages of the Editing Dialog where you can specify settings for the structure, the treads, the railing and the 2D representation of the Stair. 46 Review the Geometry Settings, Structure, Tread, Railing Settings, Symbol Settings, and List Settings tab pages
Here is where you can set the complete 2D representation of the Stair, including the 2D of the Stair, Walking Line Start and End Symbols, Rail symbols, plus line types, pen color and textual information to be displayed. You can also set Story Sensitivity so the Stair will be displayed on both Stories it connects: its representation can be different on these Stories as needed.
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48 Click Cancel to return to the Stair Settings Dialog. 49 Click the upmost of the vertical strip of buttons to the left of the Preview Window to show the Floor Plan symbol of the Stair.
52 Click in the corner at the point of Label 1 to place the Stair.
You can see several small black crosses in the Floor Plan Preview. These are hotspots by which you can place the Library Part. One of the Hotspots has a black rectangle frame around it. When you place the Library Part, this hotspot will serve as the anchor position of the Library Part. 50 Click on the hotspot in the upper-left corner of the Stair to make that Hotspot the anchor of the Stair when placing it.
The black rectangular frame is now around this clicked hotspot. 51 Click OK to accept the changes and leave the Dialog.
The Stair is placed, complete with Break Line, Walking Line Start and End Symbols, Railing symbols and textual information. Notice the 2D Representation of the Stair and how it is dashed above the Break Line. 53 Select the Stair and select Edit > Copy or hit Ctrl (CMD)+C to copy it onto the Clipboard. 54 Select View > Navigate > Stories > Go Up a Story to go to the Ground Floor or click Ground Floor in the Project Map of the Navigator Palette. Notice how the 2D Representation of the Stair is different on the upper Story.
55 Select Edit > Paste or hit Ctrl + V to paste a copy of the Stair onto this Story. Click outside the Marquee to accept it. 56 Go to the First and Second Stories and paste the Stair into both.
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57 Go to the Third Floor and select the Stair.
59.Uncheck the Breakline checkbox and click OK.
The Break Line is not needed here on the topmost Story, so we need to modify some settings. 58 Go to the Stair Settings Dialog and in the 2D Symbol and 3D Attributes panel click on the long horizontal button at the top and select Story Sensitivity and 2D Above Home Story.
Click elsewhere or hit the ESC key to deselect the Stair. We now have all our Stairs placed with correct 2D Representations. 60 Activate the 4.1.6 Elevator-01 pre-set View located in the "4.1 Interior Structural Walls" folder within the Chapter 04 folder. 61 Activate the Object Tool, and activate the Elevator-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
62 Click the Settings Dialog button in the Info Box to open the Elevator Objects Setting Dialog. We want the 2D of the Elevator to be shown on All Stories it reaches (Basement to Third Floor 5 Stories in all).
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As you can see, the Parameter panel has an Elevator Car group. If you click the right-pointing arrow to the left of its title, the parameters belonging to this group will be displayed under the title in a hierarchical order. Notice that the sixth parameter in this group is called Car Position (Story). This is set to 2 as the lowest Story for the Elevator is the Basement and counting from here we want the Elevator Car to be on the 2nd Story (Ground Floor).
Also, in the upper-left corner of the Story and Elevator Door Position Settings panel, you see No. of Stories, which is set to 5. In the Floor Plan and Section panel, under FLOOR PLAN DISPLAY, the Show on Stories field is set to All Stories. As a result, the 2D symbol of the Elevator will be displayed on all 5 Stories. 63 Click Cancel to leave the Dialog. 64 Click at the points of Label 1 and Label 2 to place two Elevator objects.
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Step 2. Creating Interior Partition Walls
STEP 2. CREATING INTERIOR PARTITION WALLS

BASIC ITG Chapter 04_02.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Activate the 4.2.1 Wall-06/01 pre-set View located in the "4.2 Interior Partition Walls" folder within the Chapter 04 folder. 2 Activate the Wall Tool, and in the Favorites Palette activate the Wall-06 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list. Select Single Wall geometry in the Info Box.
4 Activate the 4.2.2 Wall-06/02 pre-set View located in the "4.2 Interior Partition Walls" folder within the Chapter 04 folder. 5 Create the three Walls called for by the Labels in the order of the numbering of Labels.
3 Create the Single Wall between Label 1.1 and Label 1.2, then create the two other Walls between Labels 2.1 and 2.2, then Labels 3.1 and 3.2, respectively.
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Step 2. Creating Interior Partition Walls
showing that you can drag multiple copies of the selected element. 11 For the starting point of the Drag vector click on the point of Label 2, then move your mouse horizontally to the left along the appearing horizontal Guide Line. Click at the points when you see the perpendicular signs at Grid Lines 5 and 4 to create two copies of the interior partition Wall. Click ESC twice to complete the operation and deselect all Walls.
6 Continue creating the interior partition Walls by activating pre-set Views 4.2.3 Wall-06/03 to 4.2.7 Wall-06/07 and activating the Favorites called for by the View names, and drawing the Walls called for by the Labels. 7 Activate the 4.2.8 Wall-06/08 pre-set View located in the "4.2 Interior Partition Walls" folder within the Chapter 04 folder. 8 Switch the Construction Method of the Wall to Center in the Info Box.
9 Create the Wall called for by Labels 1.1 and 1.2. 10 Select the Wall you just created. Select the Edit > Move > Drag command, then press CTRL+ALT (Windows) / CMD+OPT (MacOS) to enable the creation of several copies by dragging. Notice that two plus signs appeared next to the Arrow cursor,
12 Activate the Wall-07 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 13 Continue creating the interior partition Walls by activating pre-set Views 4.2.9 Wall-07/01 to 4.2.13 Wall-07/05 , and drawing the Walls called for by the Labels in the numbering order of the Labels using the Wall-07 Favorite. With this we are finished completing the Walls on the Ground Floor. We will copy these Interior partition Walls to the First and Second Floors, but only in a later step after all Doors and Windows have been placed into them so as to avoid repetitive work. We still have the Third Floor interior partition Walls left. 14 We continue working with the Wall-07 Favorite. Continue creating the interior partition Walls by activating pre-set Views 4.2.14 Wall-07/06 to 4.2.16 Wall-07/08 activating the Favorites called for by the View names, and drawing the Walls called for by the Labels in the numbering order of the Labels. 15 Activate the Wall-06 Favorite, then create the last interior partition Walls by activating pre-set Views 4.2.17 Wall-06/09
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Step 3. Placing Interior Openings
and 4.2.18 Wall-06/10 and drawing the Walls called for by the Labels in the numbering order of the Labels.
STEP 3. PLACING INTERIOR OPENINGS

BASIC ITG Chapter 04_03.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Activate the 4.3.1 Door-03 pre-set View located in the "4.3 Interior Doors/Windows" folder within the Chapter 04 folder. 2 Activate the Door Tool, and activate the Door-03 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 3 Create the Door by clicking at the points of Label 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, in order.
After clicking at the point of Label 1.1, you need to click once more to specify in which direction the Doors will extend. A third click then defines the opening direction of the Door in the Wall. 4 Activate the Door-04 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 5 Activate the 4.3.2 Door-04/01 pre-set View located in the "4.3 Interior Doors/Windows" folder within the Chapter 04 folder. 6 Create the Door by clicking at the points of Label 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, in order.
7 Continue creating the Doors by activating pre-set Views 4.3.3 Door-04/02 to 4.3.13 Door-10/01, activating the Favorites called for by the View names, and clicking on the points called for by the Labels. Door-05 and Door-07 are created by first specifying the center. In these cases two clicks are enough for the creation of the Doors: the first specifies the location, while the second specifies the opening direction. 8 Continue creating the Doors, this time on the Third Floor, by activating pre-set Views 4.3.14 Door-04/04 to 4.3.18 Door-11, activating the Favorites called for by the View names, and clicking on the points called for by the Labels. We will now continue with the creation of Windows. Many of these will actually be Glass walls extending from Floor to Ceiling.
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9 Activate the 4.3.19 Window-01 pre-set View located in the "4.3 Interior Doors/Windows" folder within the Chapter 04 folder. 10 Activate the Window Tool, and activate the Window-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. Make sure that the Sill Anchor is set to the Ground Floor.
The first click defines the center of the Window, while the second defines the orientation of the window. 12 Continue creating the Windows by activating pre-set Views 4.3.20 Window-02 to 4.3.25 Window-06, activating the Favorites called for by the View names, and clicking on the points called for by the Labels. 13 Create the last Window, this time on the Third Floor, by activating pre-set View 4.3.26 Window-04/02, and activating the Favorite called for by the View name. 14 Before placing the window, click on the Anchor pop-up list in the Info Box and activate the Select Story option. Select Third Floor from the Story list.
11 Create the Window called for by the Labels.
15 Click on the points called for by the Labels to insert this Window on the Third Floor. We now need to move a couple of Doors away from Wall corners to make their correct placement possible.
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16 Activate the 4.3.27 Nudge Left pre-set View located in the "4.3 Interior Doors/Windows" folder within the Chapter 04 folder.
The Doors pointed to by the Labels are all at Wall corners. We want to move every such Door to at least 50 mm away from the Wall corner so the Wall frame and trim can fit. For this we will use the Nudge command, which lets you move elements in predefined increments. 17 Select the View > Grid Options > Grids & Background menu item to go to the Grids & Background Dialog. This Dialog contains Grid definitions that can help you construct elements faster when there is some modularity in the dimensions of the building elements you are creating (e.g., all measurements are an increment of 100 mm). The Construction Grid is displayed on the Floor Plan. Its color is configurable in Sections/Elevations/Interior Elevations (the default is
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light grey). The Grid Snap is another grid which you can set: your cursor will jump from Snap Grid point to Snap Grid point to facilitate modular design and drawing creation. The Nudge command uses the distance settings of the Snap Grid and Construction Grid. Pressing SHIFT plus any of the four arrow keys moves elements in increments defined by the Snap Grid, while ALT+SHIFT (Windows) / OPT+SHIFT (MacOS) moves them in increments defined by the Construction Grid. The Snap Grid is currently set to 50 mm, while the Construction Grid is set to 2000 mm. 18 Click Cancel to leave the Dialog. 19 Select the Doors pointed to by the Labels by SHIFT-clicking at the end of their Marker Lines one by one (they each have a Hotspot there). 20 Press SHIFT+LEFT once. Click elsewhere to deselect the doors.
21 Activate all other pre-set Views from 4.3.28 Nudge Right to 4.3.33 Nudge Down, select the Doors pointed to by the Labels, and perform the Nudge operations in the direction called for by the View names (such as Nudge Left). Our last task in this Chapter is to copy the Interior partition Walls (and the Doors/Windows placed into them) from the Ground Floor to the First and Second Floors. 22 Activate the 4.3.34 Copy-pasting walls preset view from the Navigator-View Map to go to the Ground Floor. 23 Activate the Marquee Tool. Make sure the Single Floor Selection Method is activated, and draw a Rectangular Selection area from Label 1.1 to Label 1.2.
All five Doors have moved to the left by 50 mm.
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24 Select the Edit > Find & Select menu item to bring up the Find & Select Dialog.
25 Select Wall in the Find Elements drop-down list. 26 Click the More Choices button. From the appearing two new buttons, click the one on the left and select Layer from the list. 27 Click the button to its right and select the Interior Partition layer from the list. 28 Click the + button in the lower-right corner of the Dialog to add all elements meeting the criteria (i.e., Walls within the Marquee area and placed on the Interior Partition layer) to the selection.
29 Close the Find and Select Palette. Select the Edit > Copy menu item to copy all the selected Partition Walls to the Clipboard. 30 Select View > Navigate > Stories > Go Up a Story to go to the First Floor. Select Edit > Paste from the menu to paste them. Click outside the appearing Marquee area to accept the paste operation. 31 Go up to the Second Floor and paste the elements similarly. All interior partition Walls and Stairs are now placed into the building. This concludes Chapter 04.
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Chapter Five: Solid Element Operations, Creating Objects and Terrain
Step 1. Solid Element Operations
CHAPTER FIVE: SOLID ELEMENT OPERATIONS, CREATING OBJECTS AND TERRAIN

In this Chapter we will continue with placing additional objects such as railing, ramps, interior furniture and sanitary objects, and we will create the terrain as well. 3 Right-click to an empty area and select the Show Selection/Marquee in 3D from the context menu. Or activate the 5.1.2 General Perspective pre-set View located in the "5.1 Solid Element Operations" folder within the Chapter 05 folder.
STEP 1. SOLID ELEMENT OPERATIONS

BASIC ITG Chapter 05_01.mp4 Watch Movie Open the BASIC ITG Chapter 05.pla ArchiCAD project file to complete this stage of this interactive, hands-on ArchiCAD training guide. 1 Switch to the View Map of the Navigator. Open up the "ArchiCAD Guide" folder in the Navigator and activate (by double-clicking) the 5.1.1 Stair-Slab Intersection pre-set View located in the "5.1 Solid Element Operations" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 2 Switch to the Marquee Tool. Select the All Floors Selection Method and draw a rectangular selection area by clicking at Label 1 and Label 2.
The perspective shows a Section through the Staircase. As you can see, the area of the Staircase is not cut out of the Slabs. We need to deal with that. One way is to cut a hole into each Slab. However, with a building with several Stories, this can be a lot of work. Another method is to define a multistory 3D body (in our case the shaft which the Staircase occupies) and subtract it from the bodies of Slabs to create the Slab holes we need. Another advantage of this method is that if any modification is needed later, only one element, i.e., the operator body, needs to be modified.
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4 Activate the 5.1.3 SEO-body-01/01 pre-set View located in the "5.1 Solid Element Operations" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 5 Remove the Marquee by pushing the ESC key. Switch to the Slab Tool, and in the Favorites Palette activate the SEO-body-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list. SEO stands for Solid Element Operation. We will now create the Staircase shaft body using the Slab Tool. 6 Switch to the Polygonal Geometry Method in the Info Box. 7 Create the SEO body by clicking consecutively on the points of Labels 1.1 to 1.11. 8 Activate the 5.1.4 SEO-body-01/02 pre-set View located in the "5.1 Solid Element Operations" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 9 Switch to the Rectangular Geometry Method in the Info Box. 10 Create the SEO body by clicking on the points of Labels 1.1 and 1.2 to define the diagonal of the Slab rectangle. 11 Select the View > Elements in 3D > Filter Elements in 3D menu command.
The Dialog that opens lets you control which elements are generated and displayed in the 3D Viewpoint based on the Story they are placed onto, their location inside/outside an optionally defined Marquee, and their element type. 12 In the Element Types to show in 3D list click the Wall item (but not its checkbox to the right).
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13 Press the SHIFT key and keep it held down, and click the Curtain Wall item.
14 Now, press the CTRL key (CMD on MacOS) and keep it held down, and click the Slab item to deselect it, all while keeping the other items selected.
This will select all items on the list from Wall to Curtain Wall.
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15 Now click the checkmark of any of the selected items (e.g., Wall).
19 Choose Show Selection/Marquee in 3D from the context menu, or activate the 5.1.6 SEO in 3D pre-set View located in the "5.1 Solid Element Operations" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. Now only Slabs plus the two SEO bodies that we defined are visible. As you can see, the SEO bodies are shown in wireframe. 20 Select the Document > Layers > Layer Settings menu command to go to the Layer Settings Dialog.
The checkmark will disappear from all element types except Slabs. We want only Slabs to appear in the next steps in 3D. 16 Click the OK button to accept changes and leave the Dialog. 17 Activate the 5.1.5 SEO pre-set View located in the "5.1 Solid Element Operations" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 18 Draw an All Story Rectangular Marquee as defined by the points of Label 1.1 and Label 1.2.
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21 In the list on the right, scroll down until you see the Layer called SEO Elements.
23 Select the Design > Solid Element Operations menu command to bring up the Solid Element Operations Palette.
You can see icons to the left of each Layer Name.
From left to right these control: the Locked Status, Visibility, 3D Display Mode and Intersection Group Number of the Layer. If a Layer is Locked, no element placed on the Layer may be edited until the status is changed to Unlocked The Visibility setting controls whether elements on the Layer are visible or hidden . What we are interested in now is the 3D Display Mode icon. The two possible states are Solid and Wireframe . The SEO elements Layer is set to Wireframe because these are auxiliary elements that we do not want to see as Solids in 3D. We only want to see the cutting result obtained by them. 22 Click Cancel to leave the Dialog.
The way Solid Element Operations work is that there is always a Target, i.e., one or more elements on which the operation is performed. There is always an Operator, i.e., one or more elements the 3D body of which is used to perform the operation with. And there is always an operation, i.e., a subtraction, addition, intersection, etc. The result of the operation is always manifested in the shape of the Target while the shape of the Operator remains intact. Let us see it in action. 24 Select by SHIFT-clicking the four Slabs with the yellowish tops (the pre-selection highlight helps you identify whether you are about to select the correct element).
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25 Click the Get Target Elements button in the Solid Element Operations Palette.
27 Click the Get Operator Elements button in the Solid Element Operations Palette.
The text below the button changes to 4 Target Elements, which means that these 4 elements are now ready for solid element operations to be performed on them. 26 Click ESC to deselect these Slabs, then SHIFT-click the two wireframe Slabs (find a hotspot at their top, as ArchiCAD cannot select a Wireframe element by surface, but only by hotspot).
The text below the button changes to 2 Operator Elements, which means that the 3D bodies of these 2 elements are now ready to be used as operators for solid element operations. 28 Select Subtraction in the Choose Operation drop-down list (the default option).
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29 Click the Execute button to execute the selected operation using the stored Target and Operator elements.
30 Close the Solid Element Operations Palette, then right-click on an empty area and select Go To > Floor Plan in the Context Menu. 31 Press ESC to remove the Marquee. Then, activate the 5.1.1 Stair-Slab Intersection pre-set View located in the "5.1 Solid Element Operations" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. This View was the one we started with. 32 Again, create the rectangular Marquee as called for by Label 1 and 2. 33 Again, activate the 5.1.2 Generic Perspective pre-set View located in the "5.1 Solid Element Operations" folder within the Chapter 05 folder.
The result: the 3D bodies of the Operator elements will be Subtracted from the bodies of the Target elements, as you can see from the holes generated in the Floor Slabs. The operation is performed on all Targets and Operators that intersect, so in all, eight holes have been cut. Hint: Solid Element Operations are associative, which means there is a permanent link created between the Target and the Operator. If any change occurs in the location or shape of either the Target or the Operator, the result of the Solid Element Operation performed between them will be updated immediately.
As you can see, the Staircase shaft is now correctly cut out of the bodies of the Slab it intersects.
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Step 2. Placing Objects
STEP 2. PLACING OBJECTS

BASIC ITG Chapter 05_02.mp4 Watch Movie Open the BASIC ITG Chapter 05.Pla ArchiCAD project file to complete this stage of this interactive, hands-on ArchiCAD training guide. 1 Remove the Marquee from the Floor Plan if necessary. Activate (by double-clicking) the 5.2.1 Column-03/01 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 2 Switch to the Column tool, and in the Favorites Palette activate the Column-03 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list.
3 Open the Column Default Settings dialog by clicking the Column icon in the Info Box. Hint: If you have a scroll wheel on your mouse, you don't need to open the Settings Dialog. You can find all the needed settings on the Elements Info Box by scrolling the mouse wheel. 4 Open the Floor Plan and Section tab page and find the I200 steel entry under Core Structure. Click the pop-up list on the right to open it.
A palette pops up and shows the Profile of the Complex structure of the Column. 5 Click Cancel to leave the dialog without making any changes. 6 Click at the point of Label 1 to place the first Column. These Columns (along with the Beams we will place afterwards) serve as the structure on which the Curtain Wall is built.
7 Click on the points of Label 2 to Label 5 to place four additional Columns. 8 Activate the 5.2.2 Beam-01 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 9 Switch to the Beam tool, and in the Favorites Palette activate the Beam-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list.
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We are now at the Roof level, where the top of the Entrance Curtain Wall is located. This is where we will place the Beams, with their axes along Curtain Wall grids. 10 Create a Beam by clicking on the point of Label 1.1 to define the starting point of the Beam. Then, click on the point of Label 1.2 to define the ending point of the Beam.
14 Click on the point of Label 1 to specify the starting point of the Drag vector. 15 Successively click the points of Labels 2, 3, 4 and 5 to define the ending points of the Drag vectors to place four copies of the Beam. Press ESC to complete the operation, and once again to deselect the new beams.
11 Activate the 5.2.3 Additional Beams pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 12 Select the Beam you just placed. 13 Select the Move > Drag Multiple Copy command from the context menu.
16 Activate the 5.2.4 Railing-01 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder.
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17 Switch to the Object tool, and in the Favorites Palette activate the Railing-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the list.
18 Click on the point of Label 1 to place the Railing object. 19 Select the Railing you just created. Notice the black and violet colored hotspots of the objects. These are special points of the objects that define corners, centers of posts, etc. They will become important in a later step. 20 Activate the 5.2.5 Element Snap pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 21 Activate the Move > Drag context menu command. 22 Click near the selected Railing and start dragging it toward the point defined by Label 2.
While you are dragging the object, a ghost outline is displayed with ghost rectangles around the hotspots of the Object. Element Snap is a feature in ArchiCAD with which you can snap special points of elements (e.g., corners of a Wall/Column or hotspots of an Object) to special points of other elements (e.g., a corner of another Wall). This can accelerate element placement and editing. 23 Move the Railing object downward and leftward such that its lower-left hotspot touches the upper right corner of the horizontal Wall near the point of Label 2.
At the moment the lower-left corner of the Railing object is within a 2-3 pixel range of the Wall corner, the rectangular hotspot changes to a thick rectangle, signaling that a possible snap has been found by the program. 24 Click with your mouse to accept the offered snap. The railing will be placed to the desired position without having to enter specific numeric coordinates. 25 With the Railing still selected, select Edit > Copy to copy it to the Clipboard.
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26 Select View > Navigate > Stories > Go Up a Story to go to the Second Floor, or choose the Second Floor entry from the Navigators Project Map. 27 Select Edit > Paste to paste the Railing. A Paste Options Dialog comes up. This Dialog appears when less than the whole element (or elements) will be visible at the current Zoom Level. The Dialog asks you what to do. 28 Select the Original Location and the Zoom to Pasted Elements radio buttons.
33 Place the intermediate Stair Railing piece by clicking at the point of Label 1.
The Original Location button will paste the content of the Clipboard to the location relative to the Project Zero point (called the Project Origin) from which it was copied. We need this because we want these Railings at the same places but on different Floors. The Zoom to Pasted Elements radio button will cause the Zoom Factor to be increased such that the entirety of the pasted element (or elements) will be visible. 29 Click the Paste button, then click outside the Marquee that appears to accept the Paste operation. 30 Go to the Third Floor and paste the Railing on this Floor too. 31 Activate the 5.2.6 Stair Railing-01 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 32 While still in the Object Tool, activate the Stair Railing-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
34 Activate the 5.2.7 Stair Railing-02 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 35 Activate the Stair Railing-02 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 36 Place the intermediate Stair Railing piece by clicking at the point of Label 1. 37 Select the Railing you just placed and Copy it to the Clipboard.
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38 You are now on the Ground Floor. Go to the First and Second Floors and paste the Railing into both locations. 39 Activate the 5.2.8 Stair Railing-03 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 40 Activate the Stair Railing-03 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 41 Place the intermediate Stair Railing piece by clicking at the point of Label 1.
We are now ready to create the Ramp that will lead to the Basement parking area. 45 Activate the 5.2.18 Ramp-01 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 46 With the Object Tool active, activate the Ramp-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 47 Create the Ramp object by clicking at the point of Label 1. We will now start placing the Railings on the Flat Roof of the Building. 42 Activate the 5.2.9 Railing-02 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 43 With the Object Tool active, activate the Railing-02 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. Place the Railing by clicking Label Arrow 1. 44 Continue creating the Railings by activating Views 5.2.10 Railing-03 through 5.2.17 Railing-10, always activating the Favorite called for by the name of the View, and creating the Railing object called for by the Label.
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48 Activate the 5.2.19 Ramp in 3D pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder to see how the Ramp looks in 3D.
This method will place Special Snap Points at set intervals from the end (or intersection point, if that option is chosen) of the element. 53 Select the View > Special Snap Options > Set Special Snap Values menu item to go to the Dialog where you can set these values.
49 Return to the Floor Plan. We will now start placing sanitary objects and kitchen furniture. 50 Activate the 5.2.20 Toilet-01 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 51 Activate the Toilet-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the Favorites list. 52 Select the View > Special Snap Points > Distance menu item to change to the Distance Special Snap Point method.
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54 Enter 200 in the Distance field and click OK.
58 Select View > Special Snap Points > Half to switch back to Halving distances between intersection points, or use the Standard Toolbar to achieve the same result.
The Distance is now set to 200 mm, meaning a Special Snap Point will be placed at each 200 mm interval from the end of the element you hover your cursor over. 55 Activate the Between Intersection Points option from the Special Snap Points drop-down list on the Standard Toolbar
59 With each horizontal Wall segment near Labels 2 to 5, hover the cursor over the lower side of the Wall and click on the Special Snap point that appears to place the Toilet at the halving point of the Toilet width.
56 Hover you cursor over the lower side of the Wall near Label 1. 57 After the 200 mm divisions appear, click on the 3rd one from the right to place the Toilet 600 mm from the Wall corner.
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60 Activate the 5.2.21 Basin Cabinet-01 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 61 Activate the Basin Cabinet-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the Favorites list. 62 Place the two Basin Cabinets by clicking at Labels 1 and 2.
69 Select the View > Special Snap Points > Set Special Snap Values menu item to go to the Dialog where you can set these values.
63 Activate the 5.2.22 Basin Cabinet-02 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 64 Activate the Basin Cabinet-02 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the Favorites list. 65 Place the two Basin Cabinets by clicking at Labels 1 and 2. 66 Activate the 5.2.23 Urinal-01 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 67 Activate the Urinal-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the Favorites list. 68 Select View > Special Snap Points > Divisions to switch back from Halving distances between intersection points.
70 Enter 4 in the Divisions field and click OK.
Divisions are similar to the Half option but they divide the element edge into the number of segments specified, which in this case is four.
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71 Hover your cursor above the upper side of the Wall near Labels 1 and 2. Out of the three quarter points, click on the two side ones near the point of Labels 1 and 2 to place two Urinals.
78 Click at the point of Label 1 to place the Handicap Sign.
72 Activate the 5.2.24 Basin-01 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 73 Activate the Basin-01 Favorite by double-clicking its name in the Favorites list. 74 Select View > Special Snap Points > Distance to switch back to the Distance option. 75 Place the Basin at the second Special Snap Point along the vertical Wall near Label 1, as measured from the Wall corner. 76 Activate the 5.2.25 Handicap Sign-01 pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 77 Activate the Handicap Sign-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
Let us continue with the Tea Kitchen furniture. 79 Create all Tea Kitchen furniture by activating pre-set Views 5.2.26 Refrigerator-01 to 5.2.33 Dining Table-01, activating the Favorites called for (e.g., Refrigerator-01), and clicking at the points of the appearing Labels.
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81 Activate the 5.2.39 Copy Paste Objects pre-set View located in the "5.2 Placing Objects" folder. 82 Activate the Marquee Tool, set the Single Floor Selection Method, and draw a rectangular Marquee with its diagonal from Label 1.1 to 1.2. 83 Activate the Object Tool, select Edit > Select All Objects in Marquee and then select Edit > Copy to copy them onto the Clipboard.
We also have some sanitary wares to place on the Third Floor. 80 Create all sanitary objects by activating pre-set Views 5.2.34 Basin Cabinet-03 to 5.2.38 Toilet-03, activating the Favorites called for (e.g., Toilet-03), and clicking at the points of the appearing Labels.
84 Paste the Objects to the First and Second Floors using previously covered steps.
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Step 3. Creating the Terrain
STEP 3. CREATING THE TERRAIN

BASIC ITG Chapter 05_03.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Activate the 5.3.1 Mesh-01 pre-set View located in the "5.3 Creating Terrain" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 2 Activate the Mesh Tool. Activate the Mesh-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
7 SPACE-click the contour of the Mesh you just created near Label 1.1.
3 Switch to the Rectangular Geometry Method in the Info Box.
8 Hover your cursor over the horizontal edge you just clicked and hold down the SHIFT key. The Info Tag appears. Also, a pre-selection highlight appears on the contour of the Meshes (right now we have two Meshes on top of each other). You can see the text Multiple Elements (TAB) at the bottom of the Info Tag.
4 Draw the Mesh Rectangle by clicking on the points of Label 1.1 and Label 1.2, which define the vertexes of the diagonal of the Mesh. When this text appears you can press the TAB key (while still keeping the SHIFT key pressed), whereby the Info Tag and pre-selection highlight will cycle through all elements sharing the edge you are on.
This is a Mesh piece below the whole building, between the -6000 and -4400 levels. 5 Activate the 5.3.2 Mesh-02 pre-set View located in the "5.3 Creating Terrain" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 6 Activate the Mesh-02 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
9 When you see the text Base Elevation: -4400 appear in the Info Tag, SHIFT-click to select the Mesh you created in the previous step.
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10 Now SPACE-click the white Fill outline near Label 1.2. 11 In the appearing Dialog, choose the Create Hole radio button and click OK.
A hole is now cut into the Mesh. 12 Activate the 5.3.3 Mesh in 3D pre-set View located in the "5.3 Creating Terrain" folder within the Chapter 05 folder to see how it looks so far.
13 Return to the Floor Plan and click ESC once to deselect the Mesh. 14 Activate the 5.3.4 Mesh-03 pre-set View located in the "5.3 Creating Terrain" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 15 Activate the Mesh-03 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 16 SPACE-click inside the contour of the light yellow Fills near Label 1.1 and Label 1.2 to place two additional Mesh elements. 17 Activate the 5.3.5 Mesh-04 pre-set View located in the "5.3 Creating Terrain" folder within the Chapter 05 folder. 18 Activate the Mesh-04 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 19 Near Label 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3, SPACE-click the contours of the light yellow Fills to place three additional Mesh elements. 20 Activate the 5.3.6 Complete Terrain pre-set View located in the "5.3 Creating Terrain" folder within the Chapter 05 folder to see how the completed Terrain looks.
We now have a couple of more Mesh elements to place to fill in some areas above the basement.
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21 Activate the 5.3.7 Building with Terrain pre-set View located in the "5.3 Creating Terrain" folder within the Chapter 05 folder to see how the Building looks with the Terrain.
Orbit around the Model by using the Orbit 3D Navigation Mode to see whats been built so far. This concludes Chapter 05.
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Chapter Six: Creating Zones, Sections and Elevations
Step 1. Creating Zones
CHAPTER SIX: CREATING ZONES, SECTIONS AND ELEVATIONS

In this Chapter we will continue with placing 3D Zones and creating Sections, Elevations and Interior Elevations to prepare the documentation of the Virtual Building weve modeled. 4 Expand the Zone Stamp panel.
STEP 1. CREATING ZONES

BASIC ITG Chapter 06_01.mp4 Watch Movie Open the BASIC ITG Chapter 06.pla ArchiCAD project file to complete this stage of this interactive, hands-on ArchiCAD training guide. 1 Switch to the View Map of the Navigator. Open up the "ArchiCAD Guide" folder in the Navigator. Double-click to activate the 6.1.1 Zone-01 pre-set View located in the "6.1 Creating Zones" folder within the Chapter 06 folder. 2 Activate the Zone Tool, then activate the Zone-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
Check the Info Box and make sure that the appropriate Construction Method is selected.
3 Click the Settings Dialog button in the upper-left corner of the Info Box to open the Zone Settings Dialog.
The Zone Stamp is a multiline textual Tag, giving information about the Zones name, number, area, flooring, etc. You can see a preview of how the Zone Stamp will look after placement on the right side of the panel. In the lower portion of the panel you can see a list of parameters that the Zone Stamp can take. With these you can set to show or not show the Zones Name, Number, Flooring, Area, etc. The number and detail level of these pieces of information depend on how the Zone Stamp object is written or scripted. It can also be used to calculate and list other types of information about the Zone based on
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its geometry: e.g., total Walls area, total area of opening in Walls, Volume of the Zone, etc. 5 Click Cancel to leave the Zone Settings Dialog. 6 Place the first Zone by clicking near Label 1. Then, click once more with the appearing hammer cursor.
8 Activate the 6.1.2 Zone-01/02 pre-set View located in the "6.1 Creating Zones" folder within the Chapter 06 folder. 9 Place the Zones called for by the Labels (in the same way previous Zones were created).
The first click places the Reference point of the Zone. The second click places the Zone Stamp. The Reference point is needed because it is this point from which ArchiCAD starts to look in all directions to find elements that are Zone boundaries. This is how it will create the Zone polygon. Hence, Walls, Lines, etc., that are set to be Zone boundary elements are automatically recognized. 7 Place the remaining Zones as well by clicking twice near each Label from Label 2 to Label 16. For every Zone placed, a Zone Stamp is also placed.
10 Continue creating the Zones using pre-set Views from 6.1.3 Zone-02/01 to 6.1.5 Zone-03/01. First activate the Zone, then activate the Favorite called for by the View, and then place the Zones with two clicks for each Zone. 11 The 2D representation of the last placed Zone hides the Staircase symbol. Lets remedy this with a simple step. Select the Zone
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with a SHIFT-click. Right-click somewhere to bring up the context menu. From the appearing menu choose Display Order > Send to Back.
13 Continue creating the Zones by activating the pre-set Views 6.1.7 Zone-04/01 and 6.1.8 Zone-04/02 along with the Favorites called for by the View Names. Place the Zones of the Restroom areas the same way as above. 14 As you have may noticed, the partition Walls of the cubicles were not considered as boundaries for the Zones. The reason for this is that these Walls Relation to Zones were set to No Effect On Zones. You can find this setting on the Info Box after selecting one or more of the Restroom Walls. Use your mouses scroll wheel over the Info Box to locate this setting.
12 After placing the Zone called for in the 6.1.6 Zone-03/02 pre-set view, repeat the same steps again to achieve the correct 2D representation. Select the Zone, bring up the context menu with a right-click, then select Display Order > Send to Back.
15 Activate the 6.1.9 Copy-Paste Zones pre-set View. 16 Switch to the Marquee Tool and activate the Single Story Selection Method. Draw a Selection area as called for by Label 1.1 and 1.2.
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17 Activate the Zone Tool in the Tool Box and then choose the Edit > Select All Zones in Marquee menu item to select all zones.
20 Activate the Paste command from the context Menu to paste the Zones into the First Floor, to their Original Location.
When done, right-click and choose OK from the context menu to finalize the Paste operation. 18 Select Edit > Copy, or hit Ctrl+C on Windows (or CMD+C on MacOS) to copy these Zones onto the Clipboard. 19 Select View > Navigate > Stories > Go Up a Story to go to the First Floor, or double-click the First Floor entry in the Navigator Project Map.
21 Activate the 6.1.10 Update Zones pre-set View located in the "6.1 Creating Zones" folder within the Chapter 06 folder.
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22 Select the Zone near Label 1 and delete it.
24 SHIFT-click to select the Line element. When you check the Lines settings in the Info Box, towards the right you will see the Zone Boundary checkbox. Since this checkbox is checked, the Line will behave as a Zone Boundary: the Zone will consider it a Boundary just as it was a Wall.
25 Press ESC to deselect the Line, then select the Zone near Label 3 and select Design > Update Zones
This area is a Void on the first Floor, so we do not need the Passage Gallery Zone to exceed the edge of the Gallery Slab. We need a boundary for the Zone to limit it on this Floor. 23 Hover you cursor to the left side of the Railing near Label 2 until the cursor changes to a thin Mercedes-sign shape. You have found a Line.
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Step 2. Creating Sections and Elevations
This opens the Update Zone Palette. 26 Click the Update Selected Zones button at the bottom of the Palette.
27 Go to the Second Floor. Paste the Zones there too, and repeat steps 22 to 26. Delete the unnecessary Zones and update the Passage Zone of the Gallery, just as you did on the First Floor. 28 Close the Update Zone Palette. We are now finished creating Zones. When the update is done the updated Zone appears on the list with a status report showing whether the update was successful or not. The last column can be set to show several pieces of information about the size of the updated Zone or how the area of the Zone changed. The value in the column can be changed by clicking the black triangle and selecting a different item from the list.
STEP 2. CREATING SECTIONS AND ELEVATIONS

BASIC ITG Chapter 06_02.mp4 Watch Movie We will now create Sections and Elevations. 1 Activate the 6.2.1 Section-01 pre-set View located in the "6.2 Section/Elevations" folder within the Chapter 06 folder. 2 Activate the Section Tool, then activate the Section-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
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3 Enter S-01 for ID and Longitudinal Section for Name in the Info Box. Make sure that the first i.e., Infinite Horizontal Range and the Continuous Geometry Method are activated in the Info Box.
Review the General Settings tab page. Here you can set the ID and Name, the type, and the range of the Section Marker. You can also reference the Marker to other existing markers by creating a Linked Marker, or create an unlinked Marker to use textual information.
4 Open the Section Default Settings dialog by clicking the Settings Dialog button in the Info Box or by double-clicking the Section Tool on the Toolbox.
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The Marker panel is used to define the appearance of the Section line, the Marker, and its components.
6 Right-click the Section Line to select it and bring up the context menu. Select Open Section to have a look at the new Section View. Zoom in and scroll to see the details, if necessary.
The controls of the Story Levels panel can be used to define the display of Story Level lines and Story Handle Markers on the given Section View. This Training Guide will discuss these settings in later steps. 5 Place a Section line by first clicking at the point of Label 1.1, then at the point of Label 1.2 to create a longitudinal Section Line. Click a third time at Label 1.3 to define the direction in which the Section will look.
7 Go back to the Floor Plan View and select the Section Line if it is not selected already. We want this section to be broken at two points so it crosses two staircases of the building. To achieve this, we need to edit the Section Line.
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8 Activate the 6.2.2 Editing Section-01/01 pre-set View located in the "6.2 Section/Elevations" folder within the Chapter 06 folder. 9 Click at the hotspot of the Section Line (actually the halving point of the Section Line) near the point of Label 1.4. Choose the Break Section/Elevation Line option from the appearing Pet Palette, then click at the point of Label 1.5 to break the Section Line and lower its right part.
10 Click the halving hotspot of the new vertical segment near the point of Label 1.6. Make sure that the Move Section/Elevation Line Segment option is activated in the Pet Palette and click again at the point of Label 1.7 to move the Section Line break a bit to the left.
11 Activate the 6.2.3 Editing Section-01/02 pre-set View located in the "6.2 Section/Elevations" folder within the Chapter 06 folder. 12 Make sure that the S-01 Section Line is still selected select it if necessary and click at the hotspot of the Section Line (actually the halving point of the left segment of the Section Line) near the point of Label 1.8. Activate the Brake Section/Elevation line option from the Pet Palette and then click at the point of Label 1.9 to break the Section Line again and lower the right part.
13 Click the halving hotspot of the vertical segment near the point of Label 1.10. Make sure that the Move Section/Elevation Line
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Segment option is activated in the Pet Palette. Click again at the point of Label 1.11 to move the Section Line break a bit to the left.
a third click at Label 1.3 to define the direction in which the Section will look.
With these two modifications the Longitudinal Section goes through both Staircases. This is what we wanted to achieve. 14 Open the modified S-01 Section to check the changes.
19 Activate the 6.2.5 Section-03 pre-set View and the Section-03 Favorite. 20 Go to the Info Box and make sure that ID is set to S-03; Name is set to Cross Section; Horizontal Range is set to Limited; and Geometry Method is set to Continuous.
Go back to the Floor Plan View and deselect the S-01 Section line. 15 Activate the 6.2.4 Section-02 pre-set View located in the "6.2 Section/Elevations" folder within the Chapter 06 folder. 16 Activate the Section-02 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 17 Enter Cross Section for Name, and make sure that ID is set to S-02 and Name is set to Cross Section in the Info Box. Also make sure that the Infinite Horizontal Range and Continuous Geometry Method are selected in the Info Box.
18 Place a Section Line by first clicking at the point of Label 1.1, then at the point of Label 1.2 to create a Cross Section Line. Give
In the case of this Section we want to limit the depth of the Section so that we do not have distant building elements causing confusion in the Section View. 21 Place a Section Line by first clicking at the point of Label 1.1, then at the point of Label 1.2 to create a Cross Section Line. Give a third click at Label 1.3 to define the direction and the depth of the Section. This time the third click will define the depth limit of the Section too. We will now create the Elevations. 22 Activate the 6.2.6 Elevation-01 pre-set View located in the "6.2 Section/Elevations" folder within the Chapter 06 folder. 23 Activate the Elevation Tool, then activate the Elevation-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. Check the Info Box and make sure that E-01 is entered for ID, and East Elevation is entered for name.
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24 Continue creating the Elevations by activating pre-set Views 6.2.7 Elevation-02 to 6.2.11 Elevation-06; by activating the Favorites called for by the View names; then by clicking at the points of Labels 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 to define the directions and the depths of the Elevations. The IDs and Names should be the following: View Name Elevation ID Elevation Name 6.2.6 Elevation-01 E-01 East Elevation 6.2.7 Elevation-02 E-02 North Elevation 6.2.8 Elevation-03 E-03 South Inside Elevation 6.2.9 Elevation-04 E-04 North Inside Elevation 6.2.10 Elevation-05 E-05 South Elevation 6.2.11 Elevation-06 E-06 West Elevation 25 Activate the 6.2.12 Modifying Elevation-02 pre-set View located in the "6.2 Section/Elevations" folder within the Chapter 06 folder. 26 SHIFT-click to select the Elevation near Label 1.1. As you can see, there are two Lines showing the depth of the Elevation. Both have hotspots at the middle. The farther one is the horizontal Depth of the Elevation. However, the one closer to the Elevation Line (midway between the Elevation Line and the Depth Line) is called the Distant Area depth line. Everything that is further from the Elevation Line than this Distant Area line is considered to be distant in the Elevation. Elements in the Distant Area can be displayed differently, for example with a uniform lighter surface color to make it visually easier to distinguish and give additional depth to Sections or Elevations. 27 Go to the Elevation Selection Settings dialog, expand the Model Display panel and scroll down to the MARKED DISTANT AREA settings.
This is where you can set the same settings for distant area as for normal uncut surfaces (such as surface pen or Vectorial 3D Hatching). For example, you can uncheck Vectorial 3D Hatching for distant surfaces for greater distinction. 28 Click Cancel to leave the Dialog. 29 Click the middle of the Distant Area line near Label 1.2. Choose Move Section/Elevation line segment from the appearing Pet Palette and then click near Label 1.3 to move it further away from the Elevation Line, thereby including more parts of the building in the non-distant portion of the Elevation.
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31 Right-click the Elevation Line near Label 1.1, then select Open Elevation from the context menu to enter the Elevation.
Press ESC to deselect the Elevation (or click elsewhere on the Floor Plan for the same result). 30 Activate the 6.2.13 Elevation Options pre-set View located in the "6.2 Section/Elevations" folder within the Chapter 06 folder.
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You can see in the Elevation that the Grid Lines are visible. These are the same Grid Lines we created in Chapter 02. Also, you can see Story Level Lines. These can also be displayed in each individual Section/Elevation/Interior Elevation. 32 Right-click and select Elevation Settings from the context menu to go to the Elevation Selection Settings dialog. In the Dialog, expand the Grid Tool panel.
The Grid Tool panel shows settings that determine how the Grid placed on the Floor Plan appears in this Elevation. You can select grid Elements to be displayed based on the Story upon which they are placed, or their Name. You can also display Dimensions and a Total Dimension of the Grid.
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33 Expand the Story Levels panel of the Dialog.
34 Expand the Model Display panel of the Dialog.
Here you can set each Section/Elevation (or Interior Elevation) to display horizontal Lines that mark each Story Level for easy referencing. Besides the Lines, a Name and a Level value may also be displayed for each level.
Here you can set the settings that affect how the model will be displayed in the Elevation View. Lets take a look at a couple of settings and their effects. 35 Under UNCUT ELEMENTS, set the Fill Uncut Surfaces with field to Uniform pen color. Set Uncut Surfaces Pen (the new field appearing underneath) to Pen 108, then click OK to accept changes and leave the Dialog.
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As you can see, all uncut surfaces of the Elevation are filled with a uniform color. 37 Go back to the Elevation Settings. In the Settings Dialog, go to the Model Display panel, and under UNCUT ELEMENTS, set the Fill Uncut Surfaces with field to Own Material Colors (Shaded). This was the original setting of the Elevation. Click the OK button to accept changes and Rebuild the Elevation Viewpoint. 36 Right-click and choose Rebuild from Model in the Context menu.
Now you can see that surfaces are displayed with various shaded colors. You can also see that now it is possible to clearly distinguish surfaces in the Distant Area because they are not displayed with their own colors (it would be possible, but we deliberately did not do it this time). 38 Again go to the Elevation Settings Dialog, go to the Model Display panel, and under UNCUT ELEMENTS, have a look at the setting for the Uncut Contours Pen field. It is set to Pen 2. This results the uniform grey color of the Elevations uncut lines.
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39 Under UNCUT ELEMENTS, the Vectorial 3D Hatching checkbox is also checked. 40 You can experiment with various other settings such as Transparency and Vectorial Sun Shadows. Feel free to try the settings we didnt cover in the last steps. To summarize, these are the various effects you can apply to surfaces in Sections/Elevations/Interior Elevations. Most of these effects can also be applied to surfaces in the Distant Area. This results that Vectorial 3D hatching will also be applied to the surfaces within the Elevation. You may have to zoom in to see it. A Brick Vectorial 3D Hatching is applied to wall surfaces.
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41 Right-click and select Go to > Floor Plan from the context menu to return to the Floor Plan. Click elsewhere to deselect the Section Line.
43 Make sure that View > Grid Display is switched off.
44 Activate the Design > Solid Element Operations command to bring up the Solid Element Operations Palette. Move the Palette to the right side of the screen next to the Navigator palette. Zoom in to the third floor of the Section.
42 Switch to the Project Map in the Navigator and in the Sections viewpoint group, right-click S-02 Cross Section and select Open from the context menu to open the Section.
Sections have settings similar to those of Elevations, including Distant Area, Transparency, Vectorial 3D Hatching and Vectorial Sun Shadows.
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If you zoom in a bit more to the dissected Walls located on the Third Floor, you can see that their bottoms are at the top of the structure of the Slab below the Third Floor. Also, they cut into the floor skins of the Slab composite structure. We will use SEOs to correct these intersections. 46 Make sure the Groups are suspended, then select the three interior Walls of the Third Floor you see in this Section. Click the Get Operator Elements button in the SEO Palette. Click elsewhere to deselect the three partitions.
45 SHIFT-click the Slab below Story 3 (its top level is at the level of the Third Story at +10.80) to select it. Click the Get Target Elements button in the SEO Palette (Solid Element Operations Palette). Click elsewhere to deselect the Slab.
47 In the SEO Palette, select Subtraction in the Choose an operation field and click the Execute button to cut the bodies of the 3 Walls out of the body of the Slab into which they extend.
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48 Right-click on the Section Window (to an empty area) and select the Rebuild from Model option from the context-menu to rebuild the Section if it was not rebuilt automatically.
The operation can be performed both in the 3D Window and in model viewpoints (Sections/Elevations/Interior Elevations). Hint: Solid Element Operations are associative, which means there is a link stored between the Operator Element and the Target element. This associativity means that when the geometry of either the Target or the Operator Element changes or either one of them is moved the Solid Element Operation is immediately updated to reflect this.
The rebuilt section shows the result of the Solid Element Operation.
Sections/Elevations/Interior Elevations can be set to be either Auto-rebuild model or Manual Rebuild model. When set to Auto-rebuild, the model in the viewpoint is rebuilt each time the Viewpoint is activated. With Manual Rebuild model it is rebuilt only when you issue a rebuild command.
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Step 3. Creating Interior Elevations
49 Zoom out from the Section so you see all Stories. 50 Do the same subtraction operation in the three other Stories (Stories 0 to 2) by first selecting the Slab below, storing it as Target, then selecting all Walls intersecting it and storing them as Operators, then Executing the subtraction. 51 Do the same subtraction with the Slab above the Third Floor where the two parapet Walls cut into the body of the Slab.
3 Open the Interior Elevation Settings Dialog. At the top of the General panel you can see buttons near the Reference ID and Name fields.
52 Rebuild the Section again if necessary, so you can see the result of these steps. 53 Close the SEO Palette to remove it from the screen and go back to the Floor Plan.
STEP 3. CREATING INTERIOR ELEVATIONS

BASIC ITG Chapter 06_03.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Switch to the View Map of the Navigator and activate (by double-clicking) the 6.3.1 Interior Elevation-01 pre-set View located in the "6.3 Interior Elevations" folder within the Chapter 06 folder. 2 Activate the Interior Elevation Tool. Then, activate the Interior Elevation-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. These are buttons that let you insert so-called AutoText entries. These are textual information automatically generated based on orientation and numerical designation of the Interior Elevation or the Zone into which it is placed. In the Reference ID field the <Number> portion of IE-<Number> designates that automatic numbering will be generated here, so the Reference ID of the Interior Elevation will be IE-01, IE-02 and so on. Interior Elevations are actually created in groups. One Interior Elevation shows a defined section of a Wall. So, for a rectangular room you need 4 Interior Elevations. These can be created in separate steps or in one step.
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In the Vertical Range field you can see the Detect and Fit to Zones radio button. With this you can have the vertical range of the Interior Elevation be limited and determined by the Zone into which it is placed. 4 Click Cancel to leave the Dialog and return to the Floor Plan. 5 Using the Rectangular Geometry Method already set in the Info Box, click at the points of Labels 1.1 and 1.2 to specify the diagonal of the rectangle, then click at Label 1.3 to define the location of Interior Elevation lines.
The defined rectangle will determine the width limits of the Interior Elevations. The third click defined how far the Interior Elevation Lines are from these limit lines perpendicularly. The Interior Elevation Lines are all placed, and their Reference IDs are automatically numbered. You can now change the location or extent of any single Interior Elevation Line or Limit Line by individually editing. However, Interior Elevation Lines created in one step are handled as a group. 6 Switch to the Project Map and click the + sign (triangle on MacOS) in front of Interior Elevations. Then, click the + sign (triangle on MacOS) in front of IE Tea Kitchen.
As you can see, the four Interior Elevations are placed in one group.
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Thus, the Elevations can be handled together when you name them, assign numbers to them, place them on Layouts etc. 7 Switch back to the View Map and activate (by double-clicking) the 6.3.2 Modifying Interior Elevation Lines pre-set View located in the "6.3 Interior Elevations" folder within the Chapter 06 folder. 8 SHIFT-click to select the Interior Elevation Line at Label 1.1. Then, click the Line to start dragging it, then click at Label 1.2 to finish dragging it to that location. Click elsewhere to deselect it. Do the same with the Interior Elevation Line at Label 2.1.
9 Right-click on Interior Elevation Line IE-01-04 and select Open Interior Elevation from the context menu.
You can now see the Tea Kitchen furniture we created in a previous Chapter. 10 Go back to the Floor Plan. This concludes Chapter 06.
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Chapter Seven: Dimensions, Schedules and Partial Structure Display
Step 1. Creating Dimensions
CHAPTER SEVEN: DIMENSIONS, SCHEDULES AND PARTIAL STRUCTURE DISPLAY

In this Chapter we will create Dimensions, both internal and external, for our building. We will also create Schedules of Doors. In the last part of the Chapter we will look at the option allowing us to partially display structures (cores structural concrete skins of composite structures), which we can then save for our structural consultant. 3 Make sure that Groups are suspended (Edit > Grouping > Suspend Groups or the Suspend Groups button on the Standard Toolbar).
STEP 1. CREATING DIMENSIONS

BASIC ITG Chapter 07_01.mp4 Watch Movie Open the BASIC ITG Chapter 07.pla ArchiCAD project file to complete this stage of this interactive, hands-on ArchiCAD training guide. 1 Switch to the View Map of the Navigator. Open up the "ArchiCAD Guide" folder in the Navigator and activate (by double-clicking) the 7.1.1 Dimensioning pre-set View located in the "7.1 Creating Dimensions" folder within the Chapter 07 folder. 2 Activate the Dimension Tool, then activate the Linear Dim-02 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
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4 Select the Edit > Find & Select menu item to bring up the Find & Select Palette.
6 In the appearing Dialog, select the All Profiled Ext. Walls stored Selection criteria and click the Load button to load the criteria into the appropriate fields of the Palette.
7 Click the + button in the lower-right corner of the Palette to select all elements meeting the criteria, then close the Find & Select Palette.
5 Click the right-pointing arrow button in the upper-right corner of the Palette, and select Load from the list.
Walls using the Ex Conc+Brick Veneer complex profile will be selected. These are basically the Exterior Walls of the building. We want to dimension these Walls now.
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8 Activate the 7.1.2 Linear Dim-02/01 pre-set View located in the "7.1 Creating Dimensions" folder within the Chapter 07 folder. 9 Select the Document > Document Extras > Automatic Dimensioning > Exterior Dimensioning menu item to enter the Automatic Dimensioning Dialog.
Dimensions will be created for openings (Door/Windows), for the structure thicknesses, for external geometry (sections of the elevations in different planes), and for the overall length. The distance between the individual dimension lines will be 500 mm. Dimensions will be created on all four sides of the selected geometry. 11 Click the OK button to accept the settings. 12 Hover you cursor over the horizontal Wall near Label 1.1 until the Mercedes cursor appears (thin or thick) and click to specify the direction of dimension lines.
In this Dialog you can set the types of elements to be dimensioned, how Door/Windows will be dimensioned (endpoints or center), etc. 10 Of the two radio buttons at the top, check the Object center radio button. Check all checkboxes in the Dialog. In the Distance between dimension lines field enter 500.
This direction will be the first main direction of dimension lines, while the other main direction will be perpendicular to this one. 13 With the appearing Hammer cursor, click again at the point of Label 1.2 to specify the location of the dimension line closest to the dimensioned geometry. Click elsewhere to deselect.
The result of the settings will be: The center of Window/Door openings will be dimensioned (and not their sides).
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16 Select the Document > Document Extras > Automatic Dimensioning > Exterior Dimensioning menu item to enter the Automatic Dimensioning Dialog. 17 Uncheck the Place dimensions of four sides checkbox at the bottom of the Dialog and click the OK button to accept the change. Four dimension chains were created on all four sides of the building. ArchiCAD creates a bounding box for the selected geometry and will place dimensions on all sides at the specified distance from the bounding box. 14 Activate the 7.1.3 Linear Dim-02/02 pre-set View located in the "7.1 Creating Dimensions" folder within the Chapter 07 folder. 15 Switch off the Suspend Group option on the Standard Toolbar, then SHIFT-click the vertical Wall near Label 1.1 so that all exterior Walls in the same group are selected.
We want to create the next dimension for only one side of the selected geometry. 18 Hover you cursor over the vertical Wall near Label 1.1 until the Mercedes cursor appears (thin or thick) and click to specify the direction of dimension lines.
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19 Click again at the point of Label 1.2 to specify the location of the dimension line closest to the dimensioned geometry.
22 Select the Document > Document Extras > Automatic Dimensioning > Exterior Dimensioning menu item to enter the Automatic Dimensioning Dialog, then click the OK button to accept settings.
20 Deselect all Walls and activate the 7.1.4 Linear Dim-02/03 pre-set View located in the "7.1 Creating Dimensions" folder within the Chapter 07 folder. 21 SHIFT-click the vertical Wall near Label 1.1 so that all exterior Walls in the same group are selected.
We need not change any settings this time. We only need to activate the command.
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23 Again, hover you cursor over the vertical Wall near Label 1.1 until the Mercedes cursor appears (thin or thick) and click to specify the direction of dimension lines. 24 Click again at the point of Label 1.2 to specify the location of the dimension line closest to the dimensioned geometry. Hit the ESC button to deselect the Walls.
26 Suspend Groups on the Standard Toolbar, switch to the Arrow Tool and make sure to choose the Partial Elements selection method. Draw a selection rectangle starting near the point of Label 1.1 and ending near the point of Label 1.2.
Now let us create some interior dimensions. 25 Activate the 7.1.5 Linear Dim-03/01 pre-set View located in the "7.1 Creating Dimensions" folder within the Chapter 07 folder and select the Linear Dim-03 Favorite as called for by the View name.
This will select some of the Walls in the Project. The Walls we want to dimension in this step are among them. The way the Automatic Interior Dimensioning feature works is that after activating the Dimensioning, you need to draw a Polyline (a series of connected line segments), and ArchiCAD will dimension
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whatever selected Walls this Polyline crosses according to the settings you specify. So we can select numerous Walls, and only those actually crossed by the drawn Polyline will be taken into consideration when dimensions are created. 27 Select the Document > Document Extras > Automatic Dimensioning > Interior Dimensioning menu item to enter the Automatic Dimensioning Dialog.
29 Click at the point of Label 1.3 to draw the first node of the Polyline. Then move the mouse downward and this time double-click at the point of Label 1.4 to draw a vertical Polyline segment.
28 Select the Object endpoints radio button in the upper half of the Dialog. Leave the two checkboxes in the lower half of the Dialog unchecked. Click OK to accept these settings.
A vertical Guide Line should appear when you are near the point of Label 1.2, so you can make sure you are creating a vertical segment. The reason you need to double-click is because a double-click instructs ArchiCAD that this is the last node of the Polyline.
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30 With the appearing Hammer cursor, click at the point of Label 1.5 to define the location of the automatically created Dimension Line. The Dimension Line is generated with dimensions to all structures its Polyline has crossed. 31 Zoom in on the created Dimension Line to see what it dimensioned and how. Hit the ESC key to deselect the selected Walls.
32 Activate the 7.1.6 Linear Dim-03/02 pre-set View located in the "7.1 Creating Dimensions" folder within the Chapter 07 folder. 33 Again, use the Arrow Tool to draw a selection rectangle starting near the point of Label 1.1 and ending near the point of Label 1.2. 34 Select the Document > Document Extras > Automatic Dimensioning > Interior Dimensioning menu item to enter the Automatic Dimensioning Dialog. We do not need to change any settings in the Dialog; just click OK to accept them. 35 Click at the point of Label 1.3 to draw the first node of the Polyline, then double-click at the point of Label 1.4 to draw a vertical Polyline segment, then click at the point of Label 1.5 to define the location of the dimension line. When done, deselect the previously selected Walls. 36 Continue creating interior dimensioning using pre-set views 7.1.7 Linear Dim-03/03 to 7.1.11 Linear Dim-03/07 Each time, select Walls to be dimensioned, then select the dimensioning command from the menu and draw the Polyline, and finally specify the position of the dimension line. When done, always deselect whats been selected before.
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Step 2. Creating Schedules
STEP 2. CREATING SCHEDULES

BASIC ITG Chapter 07_02.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Switch to the Project Map in the Navigator, and open the Schedules category. Then, open the Elements group by clicking the + sign (triangle on MacOS) to the left of these titles. Under Elements, right-click the D-01 Door Schedule item and select Scheme Settings from the context menu.
Hint: You can reach the same Dialog by selecting the Document > Schedules and Lists > Schedules > Scheme Settings menu item. 2 In the Schemes panel, select the D-01 Door Schedule item. The Criteria and Fields panels display the settings belonging to this schedule scheme.
You can set conditions in the Criteria panel. If an element meets these conditions then it will be listed as part of this schedule. Here we specified the element must be a Door. This way Doors are listed only, but not other element types (such as Walls or Windows). In the Fields panel you can set what type of data will be generated in the schedule for the elements that are listed in it. There are parameters available in the General category. These are parameters all element types have (e.g., the Floor they are placed to or number of placed elements). Further, there are categories for the element type selected for the schedules. These parameters are specific to the element type and other element types may not have them. For example, a Door has a To Room Number parameter, which displays the room number of
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the Zone the Door opens into. Obviously this is a Door-specific parameter.
3 Click Cancel to leave the Dialog. 4 Right-click again the D-01 Door Schedule item in the Project Map and select Open from the context menu to open and generate this schedule.
The Schedule Window opens and depending on your processor speed it will spend some time generating the schedules data and drawing information. When it is finished the Schedule is displayed.
So here we selected the following parameters: Library Part Name: the name of the Door library part (e.g., D1 12). Width/Height: the two main sizes of the Door. 2D Symbol: the symbol of the Door as displayed on the Floor Plan. 3D Front View: a side view of the Door generated from its 3D model.
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5 Click the Fit Width button located to the left of the horizontal scroll bar of the Schedule viewpoint. This will fit the width of the schedule to fill available space.
6 Select Value in the Apply to field, then enter 3.5 in the Text Size field (three fields below it).
To the left of the Schedule window you can see a vertical pane that lets you specify Schedule Options and Format Options. The Show uniform items as a single entry checkbox is checked under Schedule Options. This will cause all those elements that have identical listed parameters to be listed in one row instead of having each of them listed in separate rows. A total for the elements with those parameters can also be displayed in the next row. Under Format Options you can individually set font, font pen, text size, text alignment, border pen settings, etc., for each of the various areas of the schedule (such as the Header, the Values, the Totals, the Grand Total, etc.)
As you can see, all values have increased in Text Size.
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7 Select Total in the Apply to field, then enter 3.5 in the Text Size field (three fields below it). Also click the Bold toggle in the Total Font Style line.
8 Click anywhere into this row to select it.
A blue highlight is shown behind the whole Row. As you can notice the Width and Height columns have turned into Text Boxes into which you can enter new values. This is the reason this is called the Interactive schedule: you can make modifications to certain columns in the Schedule, and the corresponding elements will be modified in the whole Virtual Building (or BIM model). This change will be propagated to all viewpoints generated from the model. First let us check what kind of Doors we are talking about here. In the fifth listed row we see the Door named D1 Sidelight Transom 12. The height of the door is 2700 mm, whereas most of the Doors in the building are 2800 mm. Let us look into this discrepancy.
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9 With the row still highlighted, click the Select in 3D button (third button from left at the top of the schedule window).
10 Select the Window > Schedule / D-01 Door Schedule menu item to return to the Schedule.
ArchiCAD generated a 3D view and selects the Doors in it. You may have to zoom out (mouse scroll) to see all the Doors selected. You may also have to use the Orbit function (SHIFT-middle mouse button) to get the best 3D view of these 6 Doors.
11 Click into the Height column of the selected row. The highlight of the clicked cell changes to a lighter blue, showing that we can now modify its content. 12 Double-click the text 2700 to select it and type 2800 instead.
As you can see, these Doors open on three Floors from both wings of the building onto the passage between the two wings. There is no special reason why they need to be 2700 mm high, so we can change their height to match the height of the rest of the doors in the building.
The change will be made very shortly after you are done typing. Note the slight increase of the size of the 3D Front View drawing of the modified Door. All six Doors are now changed in the whole model. We are now finished modifying our interactive door schedule.
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Step 3. Partial Structure Display
STEP 3. PARTIAL STRUCTURE DISPLAY

BASIC ITG Chapter 07_03.mp4 Watch Movie One of the situations that can arise when exchanging data with structural consultants is that they need drawing information about only the load bearing structures of our project. ArchiCAD offers a new solution for the seamless implementation of the solution to this problem. 1 Activate the 7.3.1 Partial Structure Display-01 pre-set View located in the "7.3 Partial Structure Display" folder within the Chapter 07 folder. 3 Click the Choose Profile drop-down list and select the Ex-Conc+Brick veneer Profile.
As you can see, the two composite structures near Labels 1 and 2 now have all their skins fully displayed. 2 Select the Design > Complex Profiles > Profile Manager menu item to go to the Profile Manager Dialog.
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4 Click the Edit Chosen profile button.
6 Expand the Components Selected panel.
5 In the graphical Profile Editor window that opens, zoom in on the cross section of the Profile so you can clearly see all skins. Click the thickest skin (Fill type: Concrete Block) to select it.
In the top half of the Components Selected panel of the Dialog, you can see two checkboxes. The Core Component checkbox, when checked, will set the selected skin that will serve as a Core (a skin that has structural role in the Complex Profile, such as structural concrete). The Finish Component will set the selected skin that will serve as a finish for the structure (such as plaster). As you can see, the Concrete Block skin is the Core, while all other skins are normal skins in the Composite.
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7 Close the Profile Manager Dialog and the Profile Editor, then select the Document > Partial Structure Display menu item to go to the Partial Structure Display Dialog.
8 Select the Core Only radio button and click OK to accept the changes.
In this Dialog you can set how you want Complex and Composite structures to be displayed. Selecting the Entire Structure radio button displays all skins. Selecting the Core Only radio button displays only skins that are designated as core skins. This option is great for sending structural data to structural consultants. Selecting the Without finishes radio button displays all skins except those designated as finish skins. This is useful when certain types of drawings must be displayed, calculated and submitted with/without finishes.
The Complex Walls near the Labels are now displayed with only their Core skins. 9 Make sure the Edit > Grouping > Suspend Groups toggle is OFF (groups are not suspended) and SHIFT-click the Wall near Label 1 to select it.
This will select all exterior Walls belonging to the same group, including the other Wall at Label 2.
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10 Right-click on an empty area and select Show Selection/Marquee in 3D from the context menu.
11 Select the Document > Partial Structure Display menu item to display the Cores only, in 3D.
Partial Structure Display settings are saved with Views. We will now save a set of Views that we will then save as DWG files for our structural consultant. 12 Go back to the Floor Plan and deselect the selected Walls by hitting the ESC key on your keyboard once. Click the Structural Consultant folder in the View Map.
We entered the 3D Window. Zoom out and Orbit if necessary to achieve a good 3D View of the Walls. We can see that in 3D the whole structure is still displayed. This is because the Partial Structure Display option can be set for each viewpoint type specifically. So you may have structures on the Floor Plan displayed with their Core only, but displayed in full in 3D.
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We selected this folder because we want to create a new View Map folder under it. New folders are always created under the currently selected folder. 13 Click the Clone a Folder button at the bottom of the view list window (second-to-right of the five buttons).
14 In the Choose Folder list of the Identification panel of the Dialog that opened up, select the Stories item by clicking it.
Cloning a folder is a unique way of creating a series of similar Views in ArchiCAD. The Project Map contains viewpoints in folders: Stories, Sections, etc. If you clone a folder, you create an identical folder in the View Map with Views of each of the viewpoints of the specified Project Map folder. Each View will be saved with the same settings. Moreover, if any new viewpoint is added to the folder in the Project Map (e.g., a new Story is created) the cloned folder in the View Map will also have a new View of this new viewpoint created with the same settings as the other saved Views in the folder. So in one step you can save Views of all Stories with settings suitable for a structural consultant. Let us do this now.
The other panels will open up so you can see the currently active settings. 15 In the General panel of the Dialog, set the Layer Combination field to Structural, and also set the Model View Options field to Structural.
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The Stories folder is created within the Structural Consultant folder. As you can see, the icon for the folder is different from the icon of other folders, showing that this is a Stories-type clone folder. 17 Click the + sign (triangle on MacOS) to the left of the Stories folder to expand it.
The Structure Display field is correctly set to Core Only, so we do not need to change that. All other fields are also correctly set. 16 Click the Clone button to create the folder in the View Map.
As you can see, Views were created for all Stories. 18 Double-click the 0. Ground Floor saved View to activate it.
The Floor Plan Window is now displayed with the settings specified for the structural consultants views. Only structural Walls and Columns with their Core Structures are shown, along with the
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Structural Grid and openings in the structural Walls. This is the state we want to export as a DWG to our structural consultant. 19 Click the button in the upper-left corner of the Navigator Palette, and select Show Organizer from the list.
A new large Palette opens up, which looks like two Navigator Palettes placed side by side. In the Organizer you can show different Maps of the Navigator in the left and right sides. Using drag and drop techniques, you can quickly create new items. 20 In the left side of the Organizer, switch to the View Map (second-to-left of the four buttons at the top), and on the right side switch to the Publisher Sets (rightmost of the three buttons at the top).
21 Click on the Structural Consultant folder in the left side to select it, then drag and drop it (click on it, hold down the mouse button and drag it to the right) into the list field on the right side of the Organizer.
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This opens the Publisher Set Properties Dialog where among other things you can set the publishing method and the path where the documents should be saved. 23 Select Save files in the Publishing method field.
A Structural Consultant folder was created in the Publishing Set side of the Organizer, with a Stories folder within it. If you click the + sign to the left of the Stories title you will see that there is a document to be published for each Story of the building, so all Views will be published. 22 Click the Publishing Properties button towards the top of the right side of the Dialog.
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You can publish in different ways, including printing, plotting, uploading to the internet, and saving files. We will use this latter method. 24 Click the Browse button and select a location on your hard drive (e.g.. C: or Macintosh HD) for your saved files. 25 Click the Create a real folder structure radio button. Then click OK to accept these changes.
27 In the lower part of the right side of the Organizer expand the Format panel of the Palette.
Pressing this radio button will create the DWG files in a folder structure that is the duplicate of the folder structure used in the Publisher Sets Palette. 26 Now click the Structural Consultant folder on the right side of the Organizer (in Publisher Sets) to select it.
Here is where you can set the format of the output. If you select a folder and set format options, it will be applied to all documents within that folder and its subfolders. This will be applied to all files we will save. 28 Click the drop-down list at the top of the Format panel and select DWG from the list.
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29 Click the Structural Consultant folder in this list, and choose this set from the Sets to output list next to the Publish button on the bottom of the Palette. Click the Publish button.
30 Click the Close button to close the Dialog. The DWG set is now saved and can be sent to the structural consultant. 31 Close the Organizer Palette. 32 In the operating systems file system go to the location in which you saved the files and check that they are correctly created.
A Publishing Dialog will open up and show you the progress of saving the files. Publishing may take 1-2 minutes depending on the speed of your computer. When Publishing is completed a green checkmark will appear before the name of each Floor and the Status column will display Saved for all files.
You will see that a Structural Consultant folder was created, with a Stories folder in it. In that folder you will find the six ArchiCAD-generated DWG files . This concludes Chapter 07.
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Chapter Eight: Creating Drawings, Worksheets and 3D Documents
Step 1. Importing Details
CHAPTER EIGHT: CREATING DRAWINGS, WORKSHEETS AND 3D DOCUMENTS

In this Chapter we will place exterior Drawings in Detail viewpoints, plus we will import Structural Engineer data into a Worksheet viewpoint to compare it to our model using the Trace Reference and Visual Compare features. We will also create 3D Documentation, which is made of 3D axonometric/perspective sections of the building that can be dimensioned and annotated just like any other Section, Elevation or Detail view. We will also create Section Markers and link them to existing Sections to facilitate navigation around the design.
STEP 1. IMPORTING DETAILS

BASIC ITG Chapter 08_01.mp4 Watch Movie Open the BASIC ITG Chapter 08.pla ArchiCAD project file to complete this stage of this interactive, hands-on ArchiCAD training guide. 33 Select the Document > Documenting Tools > Create Independent Detail menu item to create a new Independent Detail.
An Independent Detail is a detail that does not have an associated Marker placed somewhere on the Floor Plan or Section/Elevation, etc. 34 In the appearing Dialog, enter D-01 for Reference ID, and enter Gallery Slab above Ground Floor for Name. Then click Create to accept the entries.
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Step 1. Importing Details
The Detail is now created and its new view appears in the Project Map, under Details.
37 Find the D-01 Gallery Slab above Ground Floor.dwg file in the Chapter 08 folder and select to open it.
35 The Detail Window opens up automatically. If it does not, switch to the Project Map in the Navigator and click the + sign (triangle on MacOS) before the Details group to expand the group. Then, double-click D-01 Gallery Slab above Ground Floor to open it. Hint: Viewpoints and Views can be opened by either right-clicking on them and selecting the Open command from the context menu, or by double-clicking on the Viewpoint/View name. 36 Activate the Drawing Tool and click in the middle of the Detail viewpoint. The click would normally place a Drawing. But no Drawing is selected for placement yet, so the File Open Dialog opens. Here you can select the source file of the Drawing.
38 In the appearing Dialog, set 1 mm in the Set value of 1 Drawing Unit in field, and click the Place button to place the Drawing.
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Step 2. Using Trace & Reference
STEP 2. USING TRACE & REFERENCE

BASIC ITG Chapter 08_02.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Select the Document > Documenting Tools > Create Independent Worksheet menu item to create a new Worksheet.
The Drawing is placed and shows the contents of the DWG file. Using this method you can insert any number of standard Details that are available in your Detail Library into the Project. Since these Drawings are linked to an external file, they can follow the updates of their original external files. In later steps we will place these and other Detail drawings onto Layouts for publishing.
Independent Worksheets, similar to Independent Details/Sections, etc., create a new viewpoint that is not linked to a Marker (but can be linked later, as we will see in later steps in this Chapter). 2 In the appearing Dialog enter W-01 in the Reference ID field and enter Columns in the Name field. Then, click the Create button to create the Worksheet viewpoint. Switch off Grid Display in the View Menu.
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4 Activate the Drawing Tool and click anywhere in the Worksheet view.
5 In the appearing Link To Dialog, find the Columns from Structural.dwg file, select it and click Open to place the Drawing based on the contents of the DWG file.
3 The new independent Worksheet opens up automatically. If it does not, switch to the Project Map in the Navigator and click the + sign (triangle on MacOS) in front of Worksheets and double-click W-01 Columns to open it.
6 In the appearing Dialog, set 1 mm in the Set value of 1 Drawing Unit in field, and click the Place button to place the external Drawing.
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9 Switch to the Project Map in the Navigator. Under Worksheets, right-click the W-01 Columns Worksheet and select Show as Trace Reference in the context menu.
The Drawing appears and displays the contents of the DWG file, i.e., the information about the structural columns we got back from our Structural Consultant. He looked at the Columns we created and made calculations. The information received from him reveals that certain Columns (three in number) are not needed in the Project, since there are Structural Concrete Walls overlapping them or being very close to them. We will need to find and delete these Columns. We will use two features of ArchiCAD to help in this: Trace Reference and Visual Compare. 7 Switch to the View Map in the Navigator and activate the 8.2.1 Trace Reference Placement pre-set View located in the "8.2 Using Trace Reference" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 8 Activate the Trace & Reference Palette from the Window > Palettes > Trace & Reference menu. Move it to the top-left part of the screen, next to the Tool Box and below the Info Box.
10 Right-click anywhere and select Fit in Window from the context menu to show everything in the Floor Plan.
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The contents of the Worksheet (i.e., the Drawing we placed into the Worksheet) will appear in a ghost form in the Floor Plan. This is what the Trace Reference feature offers. It lets you display the contents of any Viewpoint, View or Layout in any other Viewpoint, View or Layout, so you can coordinate, compare and modify them based on data in the Trace Reference. In this case we want to compare our Columns to the Columns the Structural Consultant has sent us, in order to coordinate our model with his drawings. The Trace & Reference Palette lets you move, rotate or rebuild the Reference, and set color and intensity for both the Reference and the Active view. This makes it easier to distinguish and notice differences. First we want the Trace Reference to be located exactly under our model. 11 Click the Drag Reference button of the Trace & Reference Palette (second from left of top row of buttons).
The corresponding Columns in the Reference and the active View are now on top of each other. We will set some colors for easier differentiation. 12 Click the Reference Color button and set it to Blue, which is one of the pre-sets. Pull the intensity slider (right of the Reference Color button) all the way to the right to set it to maximum.
Click the lower-right corner of the lower-right Column in the Trace Reference, and move the Reference to the lower-right corner of the lower-right Column in the active View (near Label 1). Zoom in if necessary. To finish, activate the Fit in Window option from the Context menu or from the bottom of the Floor Plan View.
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13 Click the Active Color button and set it to Red, which is another one of the pre-sets. Pull the intensity slider (right of the Reference Color button) all the way to the right to set it to maximum.
Let us check the differences in drawing content between our project and the data from the structural consultant. 15 Click the Show/Hide Splitter button of the Trace & Reference Palette (second from right on the bottom row of buttons) to show Splitters in the Floor Plan View.
The structural consultant has made some notes on the file he sent back to us, so we can see where the possible changes are located. 14 Switch to the View Map in the Navigator and activate the 8.2.2 Visual Compare-01 pre-set View located in the "8.2 Using Trace Reference" folder within the Chapter 08 folder.
Splitter handles appear in the middle of all four sides of the Floor Plan viewpoint. The Splitter is a Tool used for visually comparing the active content with the Reference. You can click any of the Splitter handles, keep the mouse button pressed and drag the Splitter toward the other side of the active Floor Plan View. As you start moving the Splitter from any of the four sides of the Floor Plan toward the opposite side, the area it covers with its movement will only show the Reference, while the area still ahead of it will show both the active content and the Reference, thus peeling back the contents of the active Floor Plan View. This is as if the two Views were tracing papers on top of each other. As you move it across an area you can easily see whether the content in the Reference is the same as in the active View. 16 Click the Splitter on the right side of the Floor Plan viewpoint, hold down the mouse button, and move the Splitter to the left until you reach the middle of the Floor Plan Viewpoint. Move the Splitter back and forth like this several times. Watch the Columns at Label 1 and 2 in both the active content and the Reference.
The note at Label 1 says that this Column will need to be deleted. The note at Label 2 says we need to keep this Column because we need it on Floor 3.
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needed in the design because there is a structural concrete wall coinciding with it that can carry the load. 17 Select the Column with a SHIFT-click at Label 1, and select the Edit > Delete menu item from the Context menu to delete it. You can activate the Column Tool to make the selection easier elements of the currently active tool are always the easiest to select.
As you have probably noticed, the Column at Label 1 appears in the active content but does not appear in the Reference, just as the note says. According to our Structural Consultant, this Column is not
18 Activate the 8.2.3 Visual Compare-02 pre-set View located in the "8.2 Using Trace Reference" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 19 Now click the Splitter on the left side of the Floor Plan viewpoint, and move it to the middle, then back and forth. Watch the Columns at Label 1 and Label 2 in both the active content and the Reference.
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Step 3. Creating a 3D Document
22 Switch off or close the Trace and Reference palette after turning off Trace.
STEP 3. CREATING A 3D DOCUMENT

The notes say these Columns are not needed because there are other coinciding or nearby structural Walls that can carry the load. The drawing data confirms this, as the Columns are not there in the Trace Reference. 20 Select the two Columns and delete them. Our Columns are now modified to the Structural Consultants specifications. 21 Click the Trace On/Off button in the upper-left corner of the Trace & Reference Palette to turn off the display of the Reference. Notice that the Trace & Reference options can also be controlled from the Trace button and its dropdown list on the Standard Toolbar. BASIC ITG Chapter 08_03.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Activate the 8.3.1 3D Document pre-set View located in the "8.3 Creating 3D Documents" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 2 Activate the Marquee Tool and use the Rectangular Geometry and All Floor Selection Methods to create a selection area using Labels 1.1 and 1.2.
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3 Right-click anywhere, then select Show Selection/Marquee in 3D from the context menu. You are now in the 3D Window, looking at a section through the Gallery and Staircase. We will now create a so-called 3D Document, which is a unique feature of ArchiCAD. 4 Switch to the Project Map in the Navigator and find the 3D Documents group. Right-click on the 3D Documents title and select New 3D Document from the context menu.
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5 In the appearing Dialog, enter 3D-01 for Reference ID and enter Gallery-Stair 3D Section for Name. Then, click the Create button to create the 3D Document.
6 Right-click on an empty area and select 3D Document Settings from the context menu.
The Model Display panel is the area we are interested in here. The settings are similar to the ones we find in Section/Elevation Dialogs. We have selected a limestone colored material for all surfaces cut by the Marquee, and we selected all uncut lines to be displayed with a uniform middle grey color. We also enabled Transparency. We do not display Vectorial 3D Hatching because it may interfere with the annotations we will create.
The 3D Document is generated and displayed. Let us take a look at the settings of this document type.
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9 Switch to the Dimension Tool, and activate the Linear Dim-04 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
10 Move your mouse cursor over the cut parapet Wall corner pointed to by Label 1.1. Click when you see the Intersection cursor shape appear to select that point for dimensioning.
11 Click the two corners at Label 1.2 and 1.3 in the same way to select them for dimensioning. 12 Right-click and choose OK from the context menu to finish selecting points to be dimensioned. 7 Click Cancel to leave the Dialog. The 3D Document viewpoint type lets you create 3D Perspectives and Parallel views, which are real 3D views. This means you can edit and modify elements in them. There is an additional feature by which you can place annotations (dimensions, texts, labels) and additional 2D drawing elements onto the view just like for Sections/Elevations. The program recognizes special points and nodes of elements, so you can accurately dimension these elements. The 3D Document viewpoint type combines the advantages of both 2D and 3D worlds, and makes it possible for you to create fully annotated 3D drawings. 8 Activate the 8.3.2 Linear Dim-04 pre-set View located in the "8.3 Creating 3D Documents" folder within the Chapter 08 folder.
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Now you need to place the Dimension. There are several possibilities since these selected points are part of several surfaces,. ArchiCADs Dimensioning Input Logic lets you graphically determine where you want to place the Dimension Line. It can be placed parallel to any surface (cut or uncut) that your dimensioned points touch. 13 Move your mouse around the various surfaces near the three selected nodes and watch how the ghost line changes to show what orientation the dimension would be if youd click to place them in various locations.
14 Click at the point of Label 1.4 to place the dimension.
The program always highlights the element you found a surface of and aligns the dimension to that surface. This way you could find for example a vertical cut plane and the placement of your dimension in that plane.
A vertical dimension was created with two dimension units of 80 and 30 (centimeters). 15 Activate the 8.3.3 Linear Dim-04 Addition pre-set View located in the "8.3 Creating 3D Documents" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 16 Select the Dimension you just placed by SHIFT-clicking it. 17 With the Dimension selected and the Dimension Tool active, CTRL-click (or COMMAND-Click on MacOS) the corner node near the point of Label 1.1.
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19 Scroll down and PAN the viewpoint. Dimension all other nodes near the points of Labels 1.3 to 1.10 by CTRL-clicking. We are basically dimensioning Slab Thicknesses and Story Heights. Make sure that the Dimension line is selected throughout this process.
CTRL or CMD-clicking any point when a Dimension Line is selected will add that point to the selected dimension chain. 18 Dimension the corner node near the point of Label 1.2 by CTRL-clicking.
Hint: You may need to zoom in and out to accurately find the points that need to be dimensioned.
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20 Activate the 8.3.4 Linear Dim-05 pre-set View located in the "8.3 Creating 3D Documents" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 21 Make sure that the Dimension Tool is still selected in the Tool Box, and activate the Linear Dim-05 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 22 Create dimensions similarly to the way you created the previous dimension chain in steps 16-19.
24 Select the dimension you created and add the dimension points marked by the Labels (similarly to the way you added them in case of the previous dimension chain).
As you can see, the created Dimension Chain is not the linear, but the elevation dimension type instead. 23 Activate the 8.3.5 Linear Dim-05 Addition pre-set View located in the "8.3 Creating 3D Documents" folder within the Chapter 08 folder.
As you can see, the elevation dimension markers and the dimension texts are aligned with the perspective slope of the horizontal levels they dimension. 25 Activate the 8.3.6 Linear Dim-04/02 pre-set View located in the "8.3 Creating 3D Documents" folder within the Chapter 08 folder.
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26 Activate the Linear Dim-04 Favorite again. 27 Create the Dimension Chain by clicking on the nodes at Label 1.1 to 1.3 and choosing OK from the Context menu. Then, place the Dimension Line on the vertical plane at Label 1.4. You will need one click to determine the plane, and one more at Label 1.4 to place the Dimension.
32 Create several other Text elements by always double-clicking at the points of Label 1.2 to 1.10 and entering the text shown in the table below (i.e., enter Vestibule at Label 1.2 etc.) Label number 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 Text to be entered Vestibule Gallery Flat Roof Third Floor Second Floor First Floor Ground Floor Basement Staircase
28 Select the newly placed Dimension Line and add new Dimension points to the Chain with CTRL-clicks up to Label 1.10.
29 Activate the 8.3.7 Text-01 pre-set View located in the "8.3 Creating 3D Documents" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 30 Switch to the Text Tool, and activate the Text-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
31 Double-click at the point of Label 1.1 and in the appearing Text Editor Box type the following: Entrance.
33 Activate the 8.3.8 Label-01 pre-set View located in the "8.3 Creating 3D Documents" folder within the Chapter 08 folder.
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34 Switch to the Label Tool, and activate the Label-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
38 Create four more Labels, clicking three times each at Label 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3, then Labels 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3, etc. 39 Modify the Label Text of each Label according to the table below, by SHIFT-clicking the Label to select it, clicking into it for the Text Editor to appear, double-clicking to select the text and typing the text in the appropriate row of the table. Label numbers 2.1 to 2.3 3.1 to 3.3 4.1 to 4.3 5.1 to 5.3 Text to be entered I Profile Beams Curtain Wall Shaders Curtain Wall I Profile Columns
35 To create a Label, you need to click three times to define the shape and length of the Labels leader. Do so by clicking consecutively on Labels 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3.
The Label is created, but the Label Text is not what we need. We can either go to the Label Settings Dialog and enter the Label Text prior to placing each instance of the Label, or we can place the Labels and then modify the Label Texts one by one. We will use this latter method. 36 SHIFT-click the Label to select it and click on its text when the text editor cursor shape appears. When the Text Editor Palette appears, double-click the text (LABELTEXT) to select it. 37 Type the following text for the Label: Flat Glazing. Then, click outside the Text Editor to finish the Label change. The newly entered text will automatically delete the text you selected, just like in a word processor application.
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40 Activate the 8.3.9 Align and Distribute pre-set View located in the "8.3 Creating 3D Documents" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 41 Switch to the Marquee Tool, and draw a rectangular Marquee with its diagonal from Label 1.1 to Label 1.2.
43 Select the Edit > Align > Left menu item to align the left side of all Texts
42 Switch to the Text Tool and select the Edit > Select All Texts in Marquee menu item to select the Text elements within the Marquee.
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The selected Text Elements are now aligned so that their left side falls onto the same vertical line. 44 With the Text elements still selected, select the Edit > Distribute > Along Y menu item to distribute the Text elements evenly along the Y-axis of the viewpoint.
45 Press the ESC key twice to deselect the selected Text elements and remove the Marquee, then right-click an empty area and select Fit in Window from the context menu to see the complete 3D Document.
The two extreme Text elements remain in their position, while all intermediate selected Text elements are distributed evenly between these two.
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Step 4. Cross-referencing Markers
STEP 4. CROSS-REFERENCING MARKERS

BASIC ITG Chapter 08_04.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Activate the 8.4.1 Longitudinal Section pre-set View located in the "8.4 Cross-referencing Markers" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. There are several kinds of Markers in ArchiCAD. Source Markers are used when a Marker (e.g., a Section Marker) is placed and a Section Viewpoint is created, with the Marker linked to it. Linked Markers are Markers that point to a specified Viewpoint, even a different type of Viewpoint (e.g., a Section Marker can reference an Elevation Viewpoint). Unlinked Markers are Markers that do not point to any Viewpoint. Linked Markers are useful when placing several instances of the same Detail Marker in different Sections, when all these Markers reference and lead to the same Detail Viewpoint. Linked Markers also make it easier to navigate around Viewpoints: in a Section you can create another Section Marker that is linked to another Section. By right-clicking the Section Marker and selecting Open Section from the context menu, you can directly go to that Section instead of having to find and activate it in the Project Map. We will now create some of these Markers. 2 Activate the 8.4.2 Section-04/01 pre-set View located in the "8.4 Cross-referencing Markers" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 3 Switch to the Section Tool, and activate the Section-04 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
4 Create the Section Marker by clicking on the points of Label 1.1 and 1.2 to create its length, then clicking on the point of Label 1.3 to define its direction.
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5 Select the Section Line you just created and click the Settings Dialog button in the Info Box to open its Settings Dialog.
6 Click the Unlinked Marker drop-down list and from the list select Linked Marker. In the appearing Define Marker Reference dialog, make sure that the The Marker will refer to field is set to The selected viewpoint.
As you can see in the General panel, the Section Marker has no name or reference ID, since it does not reference any viewpoint.
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The Define Marker Reference dialog is similar to the Project Map. It lists all viewpoints to which you can link this Marker. The Marker will then use the Name and Reference ID of the linked viewpoint. Markers can refer to not only viewpoints, but also to Drawings that are placed on Layouts (we will learn about Layouts and drawings placed on them in Chapter 10, when creating the published output of our documentation). We will now create Markers that refer to viewpoints. 7 Select S-02 Cross Section from the list in the Sections group and click the OK button.
S-02 Cross Section is one of the sections we created in Chapter 06. Now we will be able to use this Marker to reference and navigate to this Section from the currently open Section View. In the Setting Dialog you can now see that the Reference ID and Name fields are filled with the appropriate data based on the referenced viewpoint. 8 Click the OK button in the Settings Dialog to accept changes. Our Marker now references the S-02 Section.
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9 Select the Section Line you just created, then right-click and select Open Section from the context menu.
12 Select this Section Line and in its Settings Dialog change it to a linked marker. Link it to S-01 Longitudinal section using the steps previously outlined for the other marker.
ArchiCAD opens the S-02 Cross Section. 10 Activate the 8.4.3 Section-04/02 pre-set View located in the "8.4 Cross-referencing Markers" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 11 Create another Unlinked Section Line in the position defined by Labels 1.1 to 1.3.
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13 Select the newly created Section Marker and navigate back to S-01 Longitudinal Section by right-clicking Open Section from the Context menu.
17 Select the newly created Section Marker and navigate back to S-03 Cross Section by right-clicking Open Section from the Context menu. 14 Activate the 8.4.4 Section-04/03 pre-set View located in the "8.4 Cross-referencing Markers" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 15 Create another Unlinked Section Line in the position defined by Labels 1.1 to 1.3. 16 Select this Section Line and make it a linked marker in its Settings Dialog. This time link it to S-03 Cross section using the steps previously outlined for the other marker.
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18 Activate the 8.4.5 Section-04/04 pre-set View located in the "8.4 Cross-referencing Markers" folder within the Chapter 08 folder. 19 Create the last one Unlinked Section Line in the position defined by Labels 1.1 to 1.3. 20 Select this Section Line and make it a linked marker in its Settings Dialog. Link it to S-01 Longitudinal section using the steps previously outlined for the other marker.
21 Select the newly created Section Marker and navigate back to S-01 Longitudinal Section using the context menu method outlined earlier.
The Section Markers are now placed and linked. This concludes Chapter 08. This way we will have a linked Section Marker in both Sections S-02 and S-03, referring to Section S-01.
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Chapter Nine: Creating Presentation Images
Step 1. Creating Fills
CHAPTER NINE: CREATING PRESENTATION IMAGES

In this Chapter we will create presentation images for the final output. First, we will see how any viewpoint (such as Sections or Elevations) can be embellished using gradient and image fills. Then, we will create sketch-like and photorealistic renderings. To achieve this, we have different setting in the Elevation Settings Dialog, as reflected here in the Elevation. You do not see either Story Level Lines or Grid Elements. Both of these were set in the Elevation Settings Dialog, so as to not be visible in this Elevation. Also, Vectorial 3D Hatching is set so as to not be displayed here. Instead, we will create Image Fills that show textures. When using Image Fills in ArchiCAD you can select a texture file: the Fill will display a tiled image of this texture. 3 Activate the 9.1.2 Fill-01/01 pre-set View located in the 9.1 Creating Fills folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name. 4 Activate the Fill Tool. Then, activate the Fill-01 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
STEP 1. CREATING FILLS

BASIC ITG Chapter 09_01.mp4 Watch Movie Open the Basic ITG Chapter 09.pla ArchiCAD project file to complete this stage of this interactive, hands-on ArchiCAD training guide. 1 Switch to the View Map of the Navigator. Open up the ArchiCAD Guide folder in the Navigator and activate (by double-clicking) the 9.1.1 E-07 Elevation pre-set View located in the 9.1 Creating Fills folder within the Chapter 09 folder. 2 Switch off Grid Display from the View Menu in case it is switched on.
5 Make sure the Fill Tool is set to the Polygonal Geometry Method in the Info Box, then create the Fill by clicking at the points of Labels 1.1 to 1.9, consecutively, to define the contour of the Fill polygon. After clicking at Label 1.1 please make sure that the Straight Segment option is selected in the Pet Palette.
Here we have an Elevation View of the building. We wish to create a presentation image of this Elevation with color and without the technical drawing information (such as Grids and Story Levels).
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8 Activate the 9.1.4 Fill-01/03 pre-set View located in the 9.1 Creating Fills folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name. 9 Create a third Fill of this type using the same settings by clicking at the points of Labels 1.1 to 1.5, consecutively, to define the contour of the Fill polygon.
6 Activate the 9.1.3 Fill-01/02 pre-set View by double-clicking its name. 7 Create another Fill using the same settings by clicking at the points of Labels 1.1 to 1.5, consecutively, to define the contour of the Fill polygon.
10 Activate pre-set View9.1.5 Fill-02. 11 As you can see, this View calls for a different Favorite than the previous three. Activate the Fill-02 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
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12 Create the Fill for the Curtain Wall by clicking at the points of Labels 1.1 to 1.7, consecutively, to define the contour of the Fill polygon.
14 Select the Options > Element Attribute > Fill Types menu item to go to the Fill Types Dialog.
ArchiCAD has the capability of creating Fills with any degree of translucency. With this feature it is possible to place a Fill with a certain degree of translucency over another Fill to achieve a more subtle effect. This is created through the combination of the translucent Fill in the front and the other Fill in the back. 13 With the Fill Tool still active, activate the Fill-03 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. If you look at the Info Box (which now shows the settings stored in the Fill-03 Favorite) you will see that this Favorite uses the 50% Fill type.
In this Dialog you can see and specify the settings for all the Fill Types used in your Project. 15 Click the long horizontal button showing the currently selected Fill Type, and select 50 % in the appearing drop-down list (if its not set so already). It will be listed towards the top, in the SOLID FILLS group.
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elements (such as a Curtain Wall and a Fill in this case), ArchiCAD will find the elements of the active Tool first (i.e., it will find the Fill first because the Fill Tool is active). This way you do not need to use the TAB key to step through the overlapping elements to select the one you need. 18 Right-click anywhere and select the Move > Drag a Copy menu item from the appearing context menu.
If you expand the Fill Appearance panel of the Dialog you can see that there is a Translucency field where you can provide a percentage value, which will determine how translucent the Fill will be. 16 Click Cancel to leave the Dialog. 17 With the Fill Tool still active, hover your cursor over the Fill you last created and SHIFT-click it to select it. 19 Double-click anywhere to create a copy of the Fill at the same location. Hint: When dragging an element, the two clicks define the starting and ending points of a drag vector. When you double-click, the starting and ending points of a drag vector will be at the same point, so another instance of the selected element(s) (a so-called duplicate element) will be created at the same position. 20 With the Fill still selected, open the Fill Selection Settings Dialog by clicking its button in the Info Box.
Hint: A useful trick in ArchiCAD selections is as follows: if you have a certain Tool active and you have more than one overlapping selectable
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21 Open the General Settings tab page of the Dialog and select 50 % for Fill Type from the pop-op list.
22 Press OK to leave the Dialog with the changes intact, then press ESC to deselect the Fill and see the result of the two fills on top of each other.
Also, set the Cover Fill Pen to Pen 61, and the Cover Fill Background Pen to color 0.
The Curtain Wall now has taken on a less saturated look: the blue of the other image Fill is not as strong now. 23 Activate the pre-set View 9.1.6 Fill-04 and choose the Fill-04 Favorite called for by the View Name. 24 In the Info Box, switch to the Rectangular Geometry Method.
This will create a middle grey Fill that is 50% transparent. The 0 Fill background color value means that the Fill will not have a background. Instead, you will be able to see what is behind it, which in this case is the other Fill (the image Fill).
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25 Create the new Fill with two clicks at Labels 1.1 and 1.2, which will define the two opposite nodes of the diagonal of the Fill rectangle.
29 In the General Settings panel of the Dialog, activate the Use Distorted Fill radio button and click OK to accept this change and leave the Dialog.
26 SHIFT-click to select the newly created Fill (if necessary use the Tab button to toggle between the pre-selected elements). 27 Activate the Display Order > Bring to Front command from the context menu if the new Fill is not visible on the screen.
28 Make sure that the new Fill is still selected and go to the Fill Selection Settings Dialog by clicking its button in the Info Box.
As you return to the Elevation Viewpoint you will notice that two handles appeared in the middle of the selected Fill. These handles are used to define the position, the two main directions and unit lengths of the distorted Fill. Any Fill may be transformed into a distorted Fill. Normally the local X and Y-axes of the Fill are horizontal and vertical, respectively, and the ratio of their lengths is 1 to 1. Using these handles you can specify the exact position of the local origin of the Fill pattern (useful for example in case of image Fills) and the angle and length of both unit axes.
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30 With the Fill still selected, click the origin of the Fill axis handle (the point where the horizontal and vertical handle lines intersect) and make sure that the Move sub-element option is activated from the appearing Pet Palette. Move the Fill Origin to the left as much as you like.
Move it so that it is still within the area of the Fill. It is also possible to move it outside of the Fills contour (e.g., to adjust it to another element). 31 Now click the end of the X-axis. With the Move sub-element option at the Pet Palette is still activated, move it to define a new direction angle and unit length for it.
35 Click the right-pointing arrow button in the upper right corner of the Dialog and select Load from the appearing menu.
Notice how the texture of the Image Fill changes and distorts accordingly with each change of the handle. 32 Press ESC to deselect the Fill. Now that we have several Fills in place, let us check out some other variations for the exterior Wall texture. 33 Activate the 9.1.7 Fill variations pre-set View located in the 9.1 Creating Fills folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name. 34 Select the Edit > Find & Select menu item to bring up the Find & Select Dialog.
36 In the Load Criteria Set Dialog, select the Fills w. Stone-Image Fill criterion and click the Load button.
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37 Click the + button in the lower-right corner of the Find & Select Dialog to select all Fills with this Fill type.
38 In the Info Box, modify the Fill Type for the selected Fills to Brown boards-Image from Stone-Image, then press ESC to deselect them to see the result.
39 Activate the 9.1.8 Fill variations/2 pre-set View located in the 9.1 Creating Fills folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name. This will take you closer to the Elevation so that the texture of the Elevation walls will be more clearly visible. This shows how the elevation would look with a horizontal wooden board finish. Let us try another variation. 40 In the Find & Select Dialog, select Brown boards-Image as the criterion in the Fill field, then again click the + button in the lower-right corner of the Find & Select Dialog to select all Fills with this Fill type.
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41 In the Info Box, modify the Fill Type for the selected Fills to Brick Running-Image from Brown boards-Image, then press ESC to deselect them to see the result.
44 Create the Fill called for by the two Labels using the Rectangular Geometry Method.
This brick texture will do for this presentation. 42 Close the Find & Select Dialog. Then activate the 9.1.9 Fill-05 pre-set View. 43 Make sure that the Fill Tool is still active, then activate the Fill-05 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list.
This Image Fill is the same pattern as the other, but lighter to give a sense of depth to the Elevation. Let us create the last Fill in this Elevation, which again has some additional features. 45 Activate the 9.1.10 Fill-06 pre-set View. 46 Activate the Fill-06 Favorite in the Favorites Palette by double-clicking its name in the list. 47 Create the Fill called for by the two Labels using the Rectangular Geometry Method.
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48 SHIFT-click the Radial Gradient Fill you just created to select it. Click the outer circle with the Mercedes cursor to slightly increase its radius, and then repeat the same step with the inner circle.
Click elsewhere or press the ESC button once to deselect the Fill and investigate the results.
This Fill gives you a smooth radial transition between the two colors defined for the Fill. Similarly to the distorted Fills, here too you have handles that let you define how and where that transition will take place in the Fill. You can see a yellow circle in the center of the Fill. If the Gradient Fill is selected, you can see two circles there, with their center displayed. These are the handles we need to modify to achieve our desired effect. 49 Activate the 9.1.11 Radial Fill pre-set View located in the 9.1 Creating Fills folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name. 50 SHIFT-click the previously created Fill to select it. Click the common center of the two handle circles near Label 1.1, and make sure that the Move sub-element option is activated in the Pet Palette. Click again at the point of Label 1.2 to move the center there.
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Within the inner handle circle, the Fill is displayed with the Fill foreground color. Outside the outer handle circle the Fill is displayed with the Fill background color. In the ring-shaped area between to two handle circles, a smooth transition takes place between the two colors. 52 Hover you cursor over the inner handle circle (the Mercedes cursor appears), click it, then click at the point of Label 1.4 to extend it there.
51 Hover you cursor over the outer handle circle (the Mercedes cursor appears) and click it to start moving it, then click at the point of Label 1.3 to extend it there.
53 Press ESC to deselect the Fill so you can see how it looks now.
Since this is a Radial Fill, the center of the handle defines the center from which the gradual transition extends in all directions.
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Step 2. Presentation Renderings
This is the background effect we will place behind the building. 54 Select the radial Fill again, right-click and select Display Order > Send to Back from the Context Menu. This will send this Fill behind all other Fills in the display order in this Elevation. Press ESC to deselect and see the result.
STEP 2. PRESENTATION RENDERINGS

BASIC ITG Chapter 09_02.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Activate the 9.2.1 Ground Floor pre-set View located in the 9.2 Presentation Pictures folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name. We will now create some presentation images for our building. These images will be part of the final documentation. First, let us familiarize ourselves with the PhotoRendering capabilities of the program. ArchiCAD uses the LightWorks Rendering Engine, which offers several advanced features for greater realism. Let us review these features. 2 Activate the 9.2.2 General Perspective pre-set View.
We will use this 3D View to generate PhotoRenderings to compare the various LightWorks Rendering Engine features. 3 Select the View > 3D View Mode > 3D Window Settings menu item to go to the corresponding Dialog.
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4 Select the Document > Creative Imaging > PhotoRendering Settings menu item to go to the PhotoRendering Settings Dialog.
Switch off the Keep Proportions radio button, set the Window Size in Pixels fields to 640 and 480 for width and height respectively, then click OK to leave the Dialog.
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At the top you can select the Rendering Engine used. Each Rendering Engine has different capabilities. Right now we need it to be set to LightWorks Rendering Engine. We will start with the generation of a simple, rather flat-looking image. Each upcoming pre-set View will have a new feature activated. We have prepared these Views in advance. Of course you can find every setting in the Photorendering Settings Dialog. Experiment with the settings freely to achieve the result that fulfills your personal expectations. 5 Click the Cancel button to leave the Dialog. Then activate the 9.2.3 PhotoRendering-01 pre-set View located in the 9.2 Presentation Pictures folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name.
6 Activate the 9.2.4 PhotoRendering-02 pre-set View located in the 9.2 Presentation Pictures folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name.
In this image we have enabled Ambient Light. This means that the LightWorks Rendering Engine simulates the light that exists in the environment as ambient light (and does not come directly from the Sun). The scene is now light enough to look like a day shot. Let us now look at Anti-aliasing. Anti-aliasing is a feature that lets you reduce the jagged or stepped appearance of edges on images. Look at the long horizontal heads of Window assemblies on the right: their appearance is very jagged.
In this first PhotoRendering very few features are turned on. Also, the image is dark. Let us add some light to the scene.
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7 Activate the 9.2.5 PhotoRendering-03 pre-set View.
mathematical formula to make each pixel of the texture unique for greater realism of the texture. Let us now add transparency. Hint: Naturally, as more advanced Rendering options are enabled, you can expect that the time to calculate the images will increase. 8 Activate the 9.2.6 PhotoRendering-04 pre-set View located in the 9.2 Presentation Pictures folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name.
On this image, Anti-aliasing has been set to the highest value, resulting in clearly visible improvement in the quality of the aforementioned lines. The quality of textures has also improved as a result of this setting. Another thing to notice about textures is that their surface pattern is continuous, and you do not notice any repetitions in them. This is a feature called Procedural Shaders. This means that the Rendering Engine does not use a rectangular texture to tile both horizontally and vertically (creating the tiled effect of textures). Instead, it has a
With Transparency added, we can now see inside of the building. Let us finally add Reflections to the image, which can give image quality another boost.
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9 Activate the 9.2.7 PhotoRendering-05 pre-set View located in the 9.2 Presentation Pictures folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name.
11 In the Engine field at the top of the Dialog, select the Sketch option.
Here we have very nice reflections of the building in the water in the front, along with reflections of the environment, a cloudy sky and other parts of the building in the window panes. This can give the most dramatic improvement to the quality of the image. ArchiCAD offers another type of Rendering Engine, too, which provides a completely different look for your images. It is called the Sketch Rendering Engine. As its name suggests, it creates renderings with a sketchy look. It is a good tool to be used in earlier schematic or design development stages to provide some idea of the design to clients without the requirement of complete realism. 10 Select the Document > Creative Imaging > PhotoRendering Settings menu item to go to the PhotoRendering Settings Dialog.
In the Basic Settings panel you can see that there are Sketch Styles you can select. The style defines the base color of the sketch, whether shadows/3D hatching will be generated by it, plus how the sketch lines, shadow lines and hatch lines should be generated. There are various other settings as well. Let us see a couple of the available styles. Here again we prepared a few saved Views, but you can explore unlimited variations by changing the settings yourself.
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12 Click OK to leave the Dialog. Then activate the 9.2.8 Sketch Rendering-01 pre-set View.
14 Activate the 9.2.10 Sketch Rendering-03 pre-set View.
This first style is light grey. It is unique in that its lines greatly extend the intersection points with other lines at corners, etc. 13 Activate the 9.2.9 Sketch Rendering-02 pre-set View.
This is yet another Sketch style with very nice lines, shadows and hatches. 15 Activate the 9.2.11 Sketch Rendering-04 pre-set View.
This is a much simpler style without shadows and 3D hatches.
This last Sketch Style is the one we are going to use to create a couple of renderings of our Project.
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Let us see another View rendered with this Sketch style. 16 Activate the 9.2.12 Sketch Rendering-05 pre-set View located in the 9.2 Presentation Pictures folder within the Chapter 09 folder by double-clicking its name.
You can find the saved rendered Views in the Architectural\LightWorks Rendering and Architectural\Sketch Rendering folders within the View Map. You can generate them any time you like. This concludes Chapter 09.
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Chapter Ten: Layouting and Publishing the Project
Step 1. Creating Layouts
CHAPTER TEN: LAYOUTING AND PUBLISHING THE PROJECT

In this last Chapter we will create Layouts, place Views on these Layouts as drawings, and publish our whole documentation as PDF files.
STEP 1. CREATING LAYOUTS

BASIC ITG Chapter 10_01.mp4 Watch Movie Open the Basic ITG Chapter 10.pla ArchiCAD project file to complete this stage of this interactive, hands-on ArchiCAD training guide. 1 Close the Favorites Palette by clicking the X button in its Title bar, as we will not need it in this Chapter. 2 Increase the size of the Navigator Palette at its right-bottom corner. Switch to the Layout Book and click the + (triangle on MacOS) sign to the left of the Layouts folder to expand its contents.
The Layout Book contains Layouts. Layouts are basically the digital representations of sheets of paper onto which you place Drawings. The sources of the Drawings you place on these Layouts are either external files (e.g., a PDF or a DWG file brought into ArchiCAD with the Drawing Tool or as xRefs) or Views. When a View is placed on a Layout, a Drawing is generated from the View using the settings with which the View was saved. This Drawing can be updated later, whenever its source View changes. 3 Expand the Masters folder and open the Properties tab page at the bottom of the Navigator-Layout Book Palette.
You can find Master Layouts in the ArchiCAD Layout Book. Master Layouts define the Layouts size, orientation, and contain Drawing elements such as Frames, Autotext elements, etc. Each Layout in the Layout Book is based on a Master Layout. Since usually more than one Layout has the same size, you can have a Master Layout defined for that size and you can assign this Master Layout to every Layout of that size. Whenever the Master Layout changes, every Layout based on that Master Layout will also change accordingly. Let us create a new Master Layout.
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4 Click the New Master Layout button above the Properties tab page of the Navigator-Layout Book (third button from the right) to create a new Master Layout.
Here you can see the Master Layout Settings Dialog, where you can select the size of the Master Layout from predefined sizes. You can also define custom Layout sizes. 7 Click the drop-down list in the Size field and select A2 (ISO) Metric from the list.
5 Enter A2 Portrait for the title of the new Master Layout and click the Create button to create it.
6 Click to select the newly created A2 Portrait Master Layout from the Masters list of the Navigator Layout Book. Click the Settings button in the Properties tab page to display its settings.
8 Click the Portrait radio button to select the Portrait orientation, then click OK to accept these changes.
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the Layout appears, right-click it and select Fit in Window from the context menu.
When you activate a Layout or Master Layout, it will appear in the main ArchiCAD Window just as in the case of Floor Plans and other Viewpoints. 10 In the Masters folder of the Navigator Layout Book, hover you cursor over the A2 Landscape Master Layout. Click once to select it, then drag-and-drop this Master Layout onto the A-08 Interior Elevations Layout.
You can also define Margins for the Layout. ArchiCAD will calculate the printable area of the Layout by deducing the Margins on each side of the Layout from the full size of the Layout. The thick blue line shown on the Layout shows the printable area as defined by the Margins. No element should be located outside this blue border, as it will not be printed. 9 Activate the A-08 Interior Elevations Layout by double-clicking on its name in the Layouts folder of the Layout Book. When
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13 Zoom in on the lower-right corner of the Master Layout.
11 Double-click the A-08 Interior Elevations Layout again to open it and notice that the existing Master Layout has been replaced by the A2 Landscape Master Layout. The easiest way to assign a Master Layout to a Layout is to drag-and-drop the Master Layout onto the Layout of your choice. The Layout will then use the size, orientation and other settings of that Master Layout. 12 Activate the A2 Landscape Master Layout by double-clicking on its name in the Masters folder of the Layout Book. When the Layout appears, right-click and select Fit in Window from the context menu. Layouts and Master Layouts can contain any kind of 2D elements, including Lines, Circles, Text Blocks, Fills, Drawings, images brought in with the Figure Tool, etc. This is useful because there may be certain elements you want to appear on all Layouts of that size. A usual example of this is the Title Block. You may draw the Title Block on your Master Layout: the 2D elements drawn on the Master Layout will appear on all Layouts based on that Master Layout.
We have a pre-drawn Title Block already in place. It has its border drawn with lines, plus two Text Blocks placed in each cell. The one in the upper left corner of each cell is the name of the cell, while the Text Block in the middle of the cell is the content of that cell. The last six cells are empty. We will now create the content for those cells. 14 Make sure that the Guide Lines and Tracker buttons are activated in the Standard Toolbar.
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15 SHIFT-click to select the Text Block with the text 2008. 16 Right-click and activate the Move > Multiply command from the context menu.
17 Click once and start dragging the cursor vertically down, and wait until the vertical Guide Line appears and the cursor gravitates to it. Then type 15 and press the ENTER key.
In the Multiply Dialog, turn on the Drag radio button, set the Number of Copies to 6, and select the Increment radio button. Then click OK.
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18 Press the ESC key to deselect the created copies, then select the lowest of the newly created 2008 Text Blocks and Drag it downward an additional seven millimeters.
We have placed all six Text Blocks into their correct positions and changed them to their desired Text Sizes. Now, we will need to change their content. 21 Select the File > Info > Project Info menu item to go to the Project Info Dialog.
19 With the lowest Text Block still selected, enter 15.00 for the Text Size in the Info Box.
20 Press ESC to deselect the Text Block and select the Text Block immediately above it. Enter 8.00 for the Text Size in the Info Box. After you are done, deselect the Text Block.
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The Project Info Dialog contains a predefined set of textual information that you can use to be displayed in Text Blocks anywhere in your Project, in any viewpoint where the Text Tool can be used. They can be used by the AutoText feature of the Text Tool, and they are always kept updated to reflect what you set here in this Dialog. Beside the predefined set, you can define your own Project Info items. You can define its Name and set its values. This is what we will do now. 22 Click the New button in the upper right corner of the Dialog. In the appearing new fields, enter Document Type in the Name column and enter Design Documentation in the Description column, then click OK to accept these changes.
23 Return to the Layout. Activate the Text Tool and SHIFT-click the Text Block in the Layout ID field (with the largest letters), then move you cursor a bit to the left or right until the cursor shape changes to a Text Editing Cursor shape. Click the Text Block to enter the Text Editor mode. Select the Text if it is not selected.
24 Click the Insert AutoText button (second from left of the top row of buttons).
In the appearing Dialog, select Layout in the Category list at the top, and then select Layout ID from the Autotext Items list, then click the Insert button. The Insert Autotext Dialog is where you can choose from the Text items found and defined in the Project Info Dialog. Autotext items are textual items that are automatically generated by ArchiCAD. The four categories of Autotexts are: Project Info (textual data you provided in the Project Info Dialog); Layout (e.g., the Layout ID or Layout Number of the Layout on which the Autotext is located); Drawing (e.g., the Drawing Name, Drawing ID or Drawing
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Scale, etc., of the Drawing the AutoText is associated with); and System (data such as Date, Time, File Name/Path, etc.).
26 Select the Text Block in the Scale Field (just above the previous Text Block) and click into it to edit it. Use the Insert AutoText button. This time ,select the Drawing Scale AutoText from the Drawing Category.
You can insert Autotext items into any Text Block. The Autotext item will reflect data that changes according to where the Text Block containing the Autotext is located, or will change according to the changes in the linked Autotexts. For example, if you have a Text Block and you insert the Layout ID Autotext, then the Text Block will show the Layout ID of the Layout where the Text Block is located. 25 Click anywhere on the Layout to finish editing the Text Block. Then press ESC to deselect the Text Block you just modified.
27 Click anywhere on the Layout to finish editing the Text Block. Then press ESC to deselect the Text Block you just modified.
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28 Select the Text Block in the Revision Number field, and click into it to edit it. Type N/A. Click anywhere on the Layout to finish editing the Text Block. Then press ESC to deselect the Text Block you just modified.
30 Activate the A-08 Interior Elevations Layout by double-clicking its name in the Layouts folder in the Layout Book of the Navigator. 31 Notice how the texts displayed by the Text Blocks we created have changed according to the Layout we are currently on.
29 Do the same thing for the remaining three (of the six) copied Text Blocks and modify them according to the table below. Text in upper left corner of cell says: Document Type: Drawing Name: Date: Category: Project Info Layout System Autotext Entry: Document Type Layout Name Date (Long)
32 Re-open the A2 Landscape Master Layout by double-clicking its name in the Masters folder in the Layout Book of the Navigator. We are not finished with our Master Layout yet. We will place two additional images on the Master Layout for some embellishment. 33 Pan upward on your Layout until the two empty fields are visible in upper part of the Title Block. 34 Activate the Figure Tool and click the Figure Settings button in the Info Box to go to the Figure Settings Dialog.
Hint: The Figure Tool is located in the More group of the Toolbox.
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35 Click the Open button in the Preview and Positioning panel of the Dialog to bring up the Open File Dialog. Select the South Eastern View.png file located in the same folder as the Project PLA file. Then click the Open button to bring it into the Figure Settings Dialog.
36 Type 180 into either of the Resolution fields in the upper-right corner of the Dialog, then click OK to accept these settings.
Changing the Resolution will result in the change of the size of the Figure. Since the Keep Proportions checkbox is checked, vertical resolution changes along with the horizontal resolution and the proportion between the horizontal and vertical sizes of the image will stay the same after the resize operation. 37 Switch on the View > Special Snap Option > Half and the View > Special Snap Options > Between Intersection Points menu items.
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38 Select View > Guide Line Options > Create Guide Line Segment menu item, then draw a diagonal from the upper-left corner of the upper field rectangle to the lower-right corner of the same field rectangle of the Title Block.
We created this Guide Line because the middle point of the Guide Line will be located at the center of the field. Also, the Guide Line, being temporary in nature, will disappear after the operation is done. 39 With the Figure Tool still selected, hover your cursor over the middle of the Guide Line you just drew. When the halving Special Snap Point appears, click onto it to place the image with the Figure Tool.
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41 Place it into the middle of the remaining empty Field of the Title Block using the technique you used with the other image file.
40 Similarly, go to the Figure Tools Setting Dialog again, and open the North Eastern View.png file. Set it to 180 dpi, just as you did with the previous image file.
We are now finished with our Master Layout. We can now start placing Views on the Layouts to prepare and arrange them for Publishing.
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Step 2. Placing Views on Layouts
STEP 2. PLACING VIEWS ON LAYOUTS

BASIC ITG Chapter 10_02.mp4 Watch Movie Note: Some of the Views have already been placed on Layouts for the sake of saving time . 1 Activate the A-07 Elevations Layout by double-clicking on its name in the Layouts folder of the Layout Book. Then right-click on the Layout window and select Fit in Window from the context menu.
2 Click the Project Chooser button in the upper-left corner of the Navigator, and select the Show Organizer item from the list.
You can see the empty Layout and all drawing items coming from the Master Layout displayed in red.
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The Organizer is like two Navigator Views placed alongside each other. It helps you create items in the View Map, Layout Book and Publisher Sets faster, because you can use drag-and-drop techniques to quickly create or place what you need, as you will see in later steps. 3 Dock (on Windows) or Snap (MacOS) the Organizer to the left side of the Navigator Palette. 4 Activate the View Map in the left side of the Organizer. Activate the Layout Book on the right side.
6 Drag-and-drop the six Elevation Views onto the A-07 Elevations Layout on the right side of the Organizer.
5 On the left side of the Organizer, go to the Architectural > Elevations folder and open it. Click the E-01 East Elevation View. Then hold down the SHIFT key and click the E-06 West Elevation View to select all six Elevation Views between these two Views.
In the Layout Book on right side of the Organizer, a + sign (a triangle on MacOS) appeared to the left of the name of the A07 Elevations Layout, showing that the Layout is not empty. 7 Click the + sign or triangle to the left of the name of the A07 Elevations Layout to see its content.
Six Drawings corresponding to the six drag-and-dropped Views have been created on the Layout. As you can see in the Layout viewpoint, the six Drawings are now shown on the Layout. However, you can also see that the six Drawings have been very nicely automatically arranged on the Layout. Let us see how this happened.
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8 Select the 2400mm x A0 Landscape Master Layout in the Masters folder of the Layout Book, then click the Settings button at the Properties tab page of the Navigator Layout Book to open the Master Layout Settings Dialog.
9 Notice the Auto arrange new Drawings radio button checked in the Drawing Placement panel. Click the Auto Arrange Setup button to go to its Dialog.
This is the Master Layout out that the current Layout is based on.
The Auto arrange new Drawing setting will automatically arrange Drawings that are drag-and-dropped onto a Layout based on the settings defined in its Dialog. You can define which direction they should be placed (alongside, horizontally or vertically), what distance to keep from Margins on all sides, how much of a gap should be in between placed Drawings, and what the sequence of the placement of a bunch of Drawings dropped at the same time should be. ArchiCAD will then automatically place them for you. 10 Click Cancel in these two Dialogs to leave them without changes. 11 Activate the A-08 Interior Elevations Layout by double-clicking on its name in the folder of the Navigator Layout Book. Then right-click on the Layout window and select Fit in Window from the context menu. 12 Select the whole Interior Elevations folder within the Architectural folder on the left side of the Organizer Layout
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Editor. Drag-and-drop it onto the A-08 Interior Elevation Layout on the right side.
You can also drag-and-drop a complete folder. In this case, Drawings will be generated from all Views contained in that folder and its subfolders. 13 Activate the A-09 Detail Drawings Layout by double-clicking on its name in the Layouts folder of the Layout Book. Then right-click on the Layout window and select Fit in Window from the context menu. 14 Select the A0 Landscape Master Layout in the Masters folder of the Layout Book. Then click the Settings button in the Properties tab page of the Navigator Layout Book to open the Master Layout Settings dialog. 15 Note that the Align and assign Drawings to a Grid radio button is checked in the Drawing Placement panel. Click the Grid Setup button to go to its Dialog.
This is another type of automatic Drawing placement method offered by ArchiCAD. If you have several Drawings that are similar in size and theme (as Detail Drawings usually are), you can define a Grid on the Master Layout (usually one Grid cell being slightly larger than the size of a Detail Drawing), and ArchiCAD will place and arrange all the Drawings based on the defined Grid. You can set the number of cells (both horizontally and vertically) for the Grid, and set a numbering logic for the Grid cells (e.g., A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, etc., or 01, 02, 03, etc.). A Detail Drawing placed automatically into a Grid Cell will take its Drawing ID from the Grid Cell itself, so numbering is also automatic. This feature was specifically designed for the easy and fast placement and publishing of Detail Drawings. This can be a great help when dealing with larger Projects. 16 Click Cancel in both Dialogs to leave them without any changes. 17 Select the whole Details folder within the Architectural folder of the View Map of the Organizer Layout Editor. Drag-and-drop it onto the A-09 Detail Drawings Layout.
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19 Select the D-01 Door Schedule item within the Architectural > Schedules > Element folder of the View Map of the Organizer Layout Editor. Drag-and-drop it onto the A-10 Door Schedule Layout.
ArchiCAD places one Detail into each cell automatically. 18 Activate the A-10 Door Schedule Layout by double-clicking on its name in the Layouts folder of the Layout Book. Then right-click on the Layout window and select Fit in Window from the context menu.
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The Door Schedule was placed on the Layout, but it is not the correct shape and size and thus will not fit onto this Layout. So we need to rearrange it a little bit. 20 Select the generated Drawing containing the Door Schedule. Click its upper-left corner and select the Drag option from the appearing Pet Palette.
For the end point of the drag vector, click to the upper-left corner of the printable area of the Layout (marked with the blue rectangle outline).
Whenever we modify the shape of a Drawing, its upper-left corner point will remain in place and other corners will change accordingly. This is how the Anchor Point is used. 22 Click on the lower-right corner of the Drawing (not the endpoint of the Drawing Title below it). Select the Restructure Table command (rightmost button in bottom row of buttons) from the Pet Palette.
21 Go to the Drawing Selection Settings Dialog by clicking the Selection Settings Dialog button in the Info Box. Select the upper left position button in the Anchor Point field in the Properties panel. Click OK to close the Settings Dialog with the change intact. The Restructure Table command works only when the Drawing comes from a Schedule. ArchiCAD automatically checks whether it is possible to place the width of the table two or more times into the Drawing boundary we just defined. If so, ArchiCAD will carry out the placement. This makes it possible to use the available space more effectively.
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Step 3. Publishing the Project
23 Zoom into the lower-right corner of the Layout so you can see the lower part of the Title Block on the Layout. Then drag the lower-right corner of the Drawing to the upper-left corner of the field containing the Layout Number.
STEP 3. PUBLISHING THE PROJECT

BASIC ITG Chapter 10_03.mp4 Watch Movie 1 Switch to the Layout Book in the left side of the Organizer. Switch to the Publisher Sets page on the right side of the Organizer.
2 Select the Layouts folder in the Layout Book (on the left side). Then click the Add Shortcut>>> button below the list of Layouts.
As the width of the Drawing increases, ArchiCAD can fit two columns of the Table next to each other on the Layout, so it will now fit in the Layout. Once the processing is done, the layout book is complete. Notice that some of the Views have already been placed on Layouts for saving time. There is one final step left: we must publish the project.
A Layouts folder was created in the Publisher Sets, with a copy of each Layout.
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When you use the Add Shortcut button, instead of simple drag-and-drop (which is also possible), the Publisher Set will always mirror the number of items in its source folder in the Layout Book. If you add or delete a Layout in the Layouts folder in the Layout Book, its equivalent item in the Publisher Sets will also be added or deleted. This way Publisher Sets can always be kept synchronized with their source Views or Layouts. 3 Click the Publishing Properties button at the top of the Publisher Set side of the Organizer.
There are other ways to publish your project, including printing, plotting and uploading to the Internet. We will create a PDF documentation set, so we will have to use the Save Files option. 4 In the Publishing method field, select Save Files. Then click the Browse button below it and select a folder location to which you wish to save the files (e.g. , C:\). Click the OK button to accept these changes and leave the Dialog.
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5 Select the newly created Layouts folder in the Publisher Sets on the right side. Select PDF from the list of available formats in the Format panel of the Publisher Sets.
7 Click the Document Options button to enter the settings dialog. When you set the format of a folder, all items located in that folder will take on that format, so it is easy to set them in one step. As you can see, there are many formats in which it is possible to save the Project, including DWG/DXF/DWF, Photoshop and many types of image formats. 6 Check the Merge to one PDF File checkbox at the bottom of the Format panel. With this option, the whole documentation will be generated into a single PDF file. Each page in the PDF file can be of different size and orientation.
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9 Make sure that the Layouts folder is selected in the Publisher Sets side of the Organizer. Click the Publish button to start publishing.
These are some settings for the PDF format. We chose to save this documentation in color, but it is also possible to set it to be saved in grayscale or black and white, which is more usual for construction documentations. 8 Click OK to leave the Document Options Dialog. At the bottom of the Publisher Sets side of the Organizer, select selected items from the list to the right of the Publish button.
With this option, only items selected in the list will be published.
A Dialog is brought up. Here you can follow the progress of saving these PDF files. A green checkmark shows when a page is completed.
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When all items have green checkmarks beside them, the publishing process is completed. 10 When the Publishing process is finished, click the Close button to close the Publishing Dialog.
The PDF file is now generated and saved to the location you specified in a previous step. 11 Go to the folder where you saved the Layouts.pdf file in your computers file system, and open it to see the result of the publishing process.
All Layout pages of the Project are published one by one into the PDF file. This file can then be handed out to any client, consultant or authority in a single package.
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This concludes Chapter 10. This also concludes this Interactive Training Guide. Congratulations on completing this guide! We hope that you have learned many new and exciting things about the possibilities of BIM and about how you can achieve your design and documentation goals in ArchiCAD in a much more productive and fun way. We also look forward to seeing you in the ArchiCAD community. There are several more things we recommend for your consideration. The following web page provides additional free training guides in other areas of ArchiCAD, including Building Object Creation, Collaboration, and Modeling: http://www.graphisoft.com/products/archicad/training_guides/
Should you have any questions or require help while using ArchiCAD, visit ArchiCAD Talk. This is the ArchiCAD User Forum, where you can meet friendly and helpful fellow ArchiCAD Users who can help to answer your questions and solve your problems.: http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/ You can share your experiences and tricks & tips, and read other ArchiCAD users articles, on ArchiCADwiki. http://archicadwiki.com You may also visit ArchitectsJURY.com where ArchiCAD Users publish their work and vote on one anothers published projects: http://www.architectsjury.com/
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Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 2. Introduction to the Building

STEP 2. INTRODUCTION TO THE BUILDING

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 3. Introduction to the ArchiCAD Environment

STEP 3. INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHICAD ENVIRONMENT

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 3. Introduction to the ArchiCAD Environment

The Navigator has four buttons in its upper-right corner.

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 3. Introduction to the ArchiCAD Environment

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 3. Introduction to the ArchiCAD Environment

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 4. Navigating in the Project

STEP 4. NAVIGATING IN THE PROJECT

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 4. Navigating in the Project

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 4. Navigating in the Project

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 5. Working with Stories

STEP 5. WORKING WITH STORIES

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 5. Working with Stories

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter One: Introduction

Step 5. Working with Stories

8 Switch back to the View Map of the Navigator.

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter Two: Creating Masses and the Building Structure

Step 1. Creating the Masses of the Building

CHAPTER TWO: CREATING MASSES AND THE BUILDING STRUCTURE

STEP 1. CREATING THE MASSES OF THE BUILDING

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter Two: Creating Masses and the Building Structure

Step 1. Creating the Masses of the Building

Chapter Two: Creating Masses and the Building Structure

Step 2. Creating the Structural Grid

STEP 2. CREATING THE STRUCTURAL GRID

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide

Chapter Two: Creating Masses and the Building Structure

Step 2. Creating the Structural Grid

Graphisoft ArchiCAD Essentials Interactive Training Guide