Cadimage Blog http://blog.cadimageworld.com The Cadimage Blog Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:59:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Round the World : Part 1 USA http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/round-the-world-part-1-usa/ http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/round-the-world-part-1-usa/#comments Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:19:54 +0000 Campbell Yule http://blog.cadimageworld.com/?p=4600 Read more...]]> Thanks to the continued support of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise I am currently on another round the world trip. The main reason for the trip is to take part in the ArchiCAD University but I have also taken the opportunity to visit some partners and customers in the USA on my way to the UK.

On Sunday after arriving in San Francisco I caught up with Tom Simmons, President of ARCHIVISTA and long time Cadimage Partner. As always it was interesting to hear Tom’s take on the current environment in the US and hear how his business is growing. From a sales perspective we talked extensively about our current Essentials Bundle promotion and Tom is revved up and rearing to go – watch out ARCHVISTA Customers!

From San Francisco it was on to Houston where I caught up with our partner JT Burk of CADeshack and we headed off to Energy Architecture.

Energy Architecture is a small firm focused on the Energy Sector. We had a great meeting discussing their business and talking about our Tools. Currently Energy uses our Keynotes tool extensively, but as with many customers wanted to understand best practices for its use. I was able to show them a new online tool we have in development and it was great to receive direct feedback on how the tool should develop.

To be honest it has been quite a while since I had to demo our tools but, like riding a bike, it came back to me quickly and with JT’s prompting we worked our way through a number of our tools. Two hours raced by and we concluded what was an enjoyable, productive and relaxed meeting.

After a quick bite to eat it was off to Kirksey – wow! A large office!

Kirksey have been ArchiCAD customers for well over 10 years and have over 80 seats. A user of our Stair tool for a number of years, Kirksey were impressed to see the latest version where a number of their requests had been implemented (variable landing sizes for one!)

Over the course of a 3 hour meeting I was able to present a number of Tools which sparked some lively discussion. I love the challenge of trying to achieve what a customer wants – I can’t say it always comes off but it is a thrill all the same! Again, I was able to present some ‘in development’ tools and get feedback that was extremely useful in connection with how these tools may develop from here.

Aside from the great discussion, two other things impressed me.

Firstly the projection system in the room we were in:

The above image is only one half of the screen! The system uses two projectors that are aligned perfectly and allows for a super wide screen (2560 x1050 pixels!). It also allows for Picture-in-Picture which was really cool.

The second thing that impressed me can also be seen in the image above – trees! Each year instead of sending Christmas presents to their customers, Kirksey staff plant trees. While this sounds like a great idea, I figured it was a recent initiative so I was blown away to find out this is a 23 year tradition over which time Kirksey have planted 7,880 Trees! Wow! If that isn’t forward thinking I don’t know what is!

Predominantly selling tools via the Internet, we don’t often get to visit our customers so Tuesday was a special day to visit two great customers in the Houston area and catch up with a great partner JT Burk!

Tonight I catch an overnight flight to London then straight up to Nottingham for ArchiCAD University – keep an eye out for more posts.

]]> http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/round-the-world-part-1-usa/feed/ 1 Changing Tracker coordinate display http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-29052008/ http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-29052008/#comments Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:00:00 +0000 Mark Horrocks 450 If you want to change your Tracker from X,Y Coordinates to Distance and Angle coordinates while drawing a wall ,line, slab etc. Right mouse click and select Prefer polar coordinates in the Tracker from the dialog.

]]> http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-29052008/feed/ 0 Tracing Surveyors Data http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-28052008/ http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-28052008/#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:00:00 +0000 James Service 448 When modeling meshes, be careful that your surveyor’s contours don’t touch or overlap. If they do, it will create an anomaly in your mesh when you magic wand them.

]]> http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-28052008/feed/ 0 Saving Camera changes http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-26052008/ http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-26052008/#comments Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:00:00 +0000 Joshua Osborne 444 When making changes to your Camera settings (i.e. Changing the height, view angle, sun settings etc..), make sure that you hit the Apply button once you are done. Changes to the settings are not actually made until you do this, so make sure to hit it before you move on.

]]> http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-26052008/feed/ 1 ArchiCAD to Artlantis http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-23052008/ http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-23052008/#comments Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:00:00 +0000 Joshua Osborne 443 Read more...]]> You can save an Artlantis file straight from ArchiCAD.  Be in a perspective 3D view. Make sure that the layers you want to see are turned on, as ArchiCAD will only export elements that are currently visible. Once you are ready, go to File>Save as… , set the Save as type: to Artlantis Render Studio File 2.0 or 3.0 (.atl), and then hit Save. Then just hit Export in the following dialog, and your Artlantis file is ready to go.

]]> http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-23052008/feed/ 0 Interim Release for Coverings http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/interim-release-for-coverings/ http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/interim-release-for-coverings/#comments Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:11:06 +0000 Andrew Watson http://blog.cadimageworld.com/?p=4574 Read more...]]> The focus tool for this past week was Cadimage Coverings.

Here are a few of the issues we (think) are now fixed:

  • The pick up/inject buttons for the Cadimage Wall Coverings and Cadimage Roof Coverings are now working again. This functionality dropped out at some stage, but it’s back again in this interim release. This is a very useful function for transferring settings from one wall/roof covering element to multiple covering elements.
  • Purlins/battens now use the correct pens for 3D outline, and for section/elevation views.
  • Various combinations of claddings/flashings/barges etc. were tested to ensure the components no longer become separated in the 3D model.
  • Multiple skylights can now be included without noticeable slow-down.
  • Roof edges may now be split by adding a node on the edge, with no ill effects.

We also had time to make a few enhancements.

Enhancements to Cadimage Roof Coverings:

  • Now has a full complement of section attributes for framing, cladding, flashings and barge/fascia.
  • Purlins/battens now use the correct pens for 3D outline, and for section/elevation views.
  • A button has been added to the Custom Settings dialog to select all holes (i.e. skylights) so as to edit the edges simultaneously. A second button allows quick selection of all roof perimeter edges.

Enhancements to Cadimage Wall Coverings:

  • You can set the battens material for board-and-battens cladding, and the groove material for panel type cladding.
  • For panel type cladding, you can now offset alternate rows of panels.

You can download the update from www.cadimageworld.com. Click on the Downloads button and then choose Interim Releases. You’ll see the Cadimage Coverings interim release, with the version number 14.0.105. Click on either the Windows or Mac icon to download the appropriate installer.

As always, please take care when downloading, extracting and running the installer! For more information, see the Help Center article on Downloading and Installing the tools.

]]> http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/interim-release-for-coverings/feed/ 0 Saving selection as a Module http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-22052008/ http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-22052008/#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:00:00 +0000 Mark Horrocks 442 Read more...]]> If you want to send a small part of your project, you can save it as a module file . Select the elements you want, copy them to your Clipboard, Ctrl+C (PC) or Command+C (Mac), then go File > Save as and choose the file type Module File from Clipboard.

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

]]> http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-22052008/feed/ 1 Sloping Beams http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-21052008/ http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-21052008/#comments Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:00:00 +0000 Mark Horrocks 441 To create a beam with a slope, i.e. a rafter or pergola member, within the Beam Settings set to Inclined and input the desired angle.

]]> http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/09/tip-of-the-day-21052008/feed/ 1 90deg. Guide Lines http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/08/90deg-guide-lines/ http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/08/90deg-guide-lines/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:00:05 +0000 Mark Horrocks http://blog.cadimageworld.com/?p=4557 If you never need the 15deg. incremental Guide Lines, don’t turn them ‘off’, simply set the increment to 90deg. and you can still automatically snap to your vertical and horizontal.

]]> http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/08/90deg-guide-lines/feed/ 0 Modifying Wall construction types http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/08/modifying-wall-construction-types/ http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/08/modifying-wall-construction-types/#comments Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:11:50 +0000 James Service http://blog.cadimageworld.com/?p=4516 Read more...]]> Often during the design of a project the type of Wall will change. If you are using Composites this could mean an change from a 90mm timber frame to a 20 series masonry block.
Simply changing the Wall from one type to the other will result in the (typically) interior space getting smaller.

The alternative is to use some of the Modify Wall options in the Design menu.

Structure allows to you modify the wall using composite but specify the offset position.
Reference Line allows to change reference line sides or offset the walls based or sides or structural cores.
Invert Direction flips the direction of the wall reference line.

]]> http://blog.cadimageworld.com/2010/08/modifying-wall-construction-types/feed/ 0