picking elements on top of each other

[Anonymous]

Hi
when 2 elements are on top of each other, ie slab and wall, if I pick the wall which it gets highlighted and the end grip dots appear, and then if I try to pick the end node to stretch it, my cursor or arrow end up picking the slab not the wall or even if I don't press the mouse button just hover my mouse over the wall grip point the slab gets highlighted indicating that if I press the mouse button the slab will get picked not the wall the only way around this problem is to press the wall tool button, then I can select the wall which is annoying which means every time I try to stretch move or modify an element it' tool icon has to be activated. This problem use to happen in 10, I thought upgrading to 11 will fix this problem but obviously not. new and reset all will fix this problem temporarily and it will start happening again after a short period of time.

[Anonymous]

This has been an issue in AC forever.
I have found that if, after selecting the element you want,
go to edit-> reshape->and select "stretch" the selection
does not change and you can stretch the element selected.
This works every time, in my experience, on AC tool elements, objects, etc.
Peter Devlin

[Stress Co_]

sam wrote:
even if I don't press the mouse button just hover my mouse over the wall grip point the slab gets highlighted indicating that if I press the mouse button the slab will get picked not the wall the only way around this problem is to press the wall tool button

If your in the "arrow" tool (hitting esc gets me there) you can use the tab key to cycle thru the objects which share the common point.

[Pete]

This is one of those quirks that drives me batty! When I select an element, it is then highly likely that the selected element is the one I intend to edit using the pet palette. If only the default would favor the selected element instead of the other way around! I did not have a problem with this until AC10. The fact that it still behaves this way is ridiculous!

[Djordje]

I beg to differ.

Since day one of Archicad (I can vouch for the last 12 years) if you wanted to select an element overlapping another, the technique was to activate the tool of that element, and shift click. Works every time.

If you insist on clicking around with the arrow, then use the shift-TAB technique in 11, that not only helps with the selection, but also with the dimensioning (you can highlight the element you want to dimension).

Computers never do what we want, only what we tell them to do ... and are not very good at reading thoughts when faced with multiple answers to a question.

[Rex Maximilian]

Not only does using the tool as a filter for picking the element work, it ONLY picks that element if its present. It will only pick other elements if its own is not present.

I rarely use the arrow anymore. By default I work WITHOUT the magnet turned on. By the way, GS should change the default to have its setting turned off. Anyway, when I need to select something, I automatically chord the shift-space bars and click. Much easier/faster than picking the arrow tool. And, I use the tab key for multiple elements a lot as well.

[Anonymous]

Djordje wrote:
Computers never do what we want, only what we tell them to do ...

Well... what the programmers and users try to conspire to tell them. Since we all live in different places and speak different languages, this is sometimes complicated.

[Anonymous]

In the matter of fact AC is oriented to architect's use.
With which kind of method does the architect work better?

[James Murray]

Djordje wrote:
Works every time.

Unless there are two elements of the same type.

Arrow tool + watch the info box was the way, until they broke it. Now you must use the less-informative info tag, which is fine for telling a slab from a line but is near useless for telling two lines apart, in a detail for example. Try editing a patch with just the info tag; do you want to delete the line on fragment 2 or fragment 4?

They made the interaction 'simpler' for simpler models (sales demos and newbies) while making it more awkward for complex models, which is, uh-oh, where the issue actually arises. They might think about A.U. 77's idea.

[Pete]

I'm OK with how to initially select the desired element. What frustrates me (and the original poster if I read right) is once it is selected, and then you try to pick a node or edge for editing, AC often wants to select whatever else happens to be there instead of editing what you already selected. I say often because it is not always the case.

Nobody else has this behavior?
Instead of select and edit the edge or node, I have to: select; hover; tab; tab; tab; edit.