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Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

inaccuracy

Anonymous
Not applicable
Good Afternoon.

I´ve been using Archicad 12 for quite sometime now and recently encountered some problems regarding inaccuracy:

On a file I am working on I started to notice discrepancies for instance, wall are like 1 degree squewed so they dont exactly match the limits of the slabs for instance.

For some reason the main directions are not accurate.

I have tried to start the file fresh but after a while these inaccuracies start to appear.

If anyone know what may be the cause of this situation I would be very grateful.

Thank you.
27 REPLIES 27
David Maudlin
Virtuoso
kgrossman wrote:
...I've learned to set my tolerance to the max of 1/64" (I wish I could set it higher than that...),...
Under Project Preferences > Working Units & Levels, under Model Units, change from Feet & Fractional Inches to Feet & Decimal Inches with 3 Decimals, the Coordinates Palette will display much greater accuracy than 1/64". This will not affect the Dimensions used in documentation. I have found this setting very valuable for seeing and avoiding tiny modeling errors. I also find numeric input easier (typing .25" rather than 1/4").

HTH

David
David Maudlin / Architect
www.davidmaudlin.com
Digital Architecture
AC27 USA • iMac 27" 4.0GHz Quad-core i7 OSX11 | 24 gb ram • MacBook Pro M3 Pro | 36 gb ram OSX14
KeesW
Advocate
I too have noticed that the horizantal and/or vertical angle can be out by a fraction of a degree. Just enought to stuff dimensions but hard to see unless one keeps an eye on the coordinates. When this happens, even though the SHIFT key is set correctly and used, lines are just a smidge of horizontal. I don't know what causes it because i always draw horizontal and vertical lines with the SHIFT key, or be snapping to known correct points. Like most things in computers, it is nearly always the operator's fault - but we don't always know what we've done to cause it.

Be alert but not alarmed!
Cornelis (Kees) Wegman

cornelis wegman architects
AC 5 - 26 Dell XPS 8940 Win 10 16GB 1TB SSD 2TB HD RTX 3070 GPU
Laptop: AC 24 - 26 Win 10 16GB 1TB SSD RTX 3070 GPU
Anonymous
Not applicable
shift sometimes snaps to wrong angles.
use the guidlines. it s much easier and you don t have to use both hands
Anonymous
Not applicable
also i use to constrain angle and x,y coord which alows to zoom and pan after locking
Anonymous
Not applicable
I'm sorry to say that it's not that easy to maintain a very accurate model in ArchiCAD. Snaps only, guidelines, all that, but my models are still inaccurate.

I've had about 9-10 years experience with AutoCAD, one with MicroStation and about 8 months ago I switched to ArchiCAD. I really like the software, but I can see that my ArchiCAD models are way less accurate than my very first one in AutoCAD when I was a student! (..many years ago, unfortunately)

I guess I still have a lot to learn about how to customize the program to improve this, but I find that inaccuracy is one of the weakest points of ArchiCAD (after the stair tool, that is its worst feature).


Enrico
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
Enrico wrote:
I guess I still have a lot to learn about how to customize the program to improve this...
Accuracy in ArchiCAD (with very few exceptions) is a great as with most CAD software and is entirely based on the user entering precise values when any element is created, dragged, stretched, etc. Unlike REVIT, you can NEVER 'read' a value in the Tracker or Coordinate palette, assume it looks good and then click. Only data entry gives precision. Further, make your working units and dimensions in working views be a fine as possible (1/64" for Imperial, 1 mm metric) so that you may see your input errors sooner rather than later.

It is all about learning to model properly in ArchiCAD.

Cheers,
Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 27 USA and earlier   •   macOS Ventura 13.6.6, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Djordje
Ace
Learn how to enter the relative coordinates and what which cursor shape means. It's that simple.

Forget about the guidelines - IMHO they are there for the effect and don't actually DO anything (personal opionion!)

As a geezer and old fashioned person (you know, 35mm camera from 1977 and all that), the first thing I do after installing a new ArchiCAD is to switch the Coordinate box and Control box on. Habit? Knowing how to use them? Both?
Djordje



ArchiCAD since 4.55 ... 1995
HP Omen
David Shorter
Advisor
Actually it doesn't matter how course you set the accuracy as you can enter in any level of accuracy and ArchiCAD will understand and place accordingly. For instance if you set your working units to 1/2" you can still enter distances as 1/64" and the dimensions will reflect this.
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Petros Ioannou
Contributor
I agree 100% with Djordje.
Having the experience of teaching AC I can tell you for sure that once Guidelines were introduced, student's drawings became more inaccurate.
The reason was obvious, they started relying on the visual aids and never really get to know how to accurate input dimension and draw.
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David Shorter
Advisor
I thought about not replying but I couldn't resist...
In Australia the introduction of Guidelines has stopped completely the problems associated with inaccuracy.
The use of Guidelines in association with Tracker gives both a visual and a numeric option for inputting distances, if you are not using them you are making your lives a lot more difficult.
Seems to be a training (or retraining issue)javascript:emoticon(':shock:')
Archicad 4.1 to 27 Apple Silicon
you can't build a line
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iPad Pro
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