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Hello and welcome to the ArchiCAD Video Series!
The ArchiCAD model is composed of highly parametric building components,
which contain important information about the elements' physical and
non-physical properties.
Being able to subtract data from the model
allows you to make better design decisions.
ArchiCAD offers several ways to collect information about an element.
These useful techniques will be introduced in this video.
Select any part of the model and you can instantly check its main
parameters in the Info Box.
Depending on the actual Work Environment Setting
you can see different parameters.
For example
with the default ArchiCAD template
you can check the layer, elevation or the thickness of a wall.
Clicking on the Info Box and scrolling with the mouse allows you to display
even more parameters.
Naturally these are just part of the element's current settings.
In order to see the complete list you have to open the setting dialog and
browse through the available parameters there.
Most of the times
you only need basic information about an element.
For efficient work
you want to access this data immediately without any extra clicks
or opening any
additional dialogs.
ArchiCAD has a very comfortable solution for this purpose,
the Element Information pop-up.
When the Arrow tool is active just move the cursor over the edge
or node of any element
and the Info Tag pops up immediately.
As an example let's see a wall.
The Element Info displays the most frequently used properties
such as the structure fill,
base elevation,
thickness
or layer name.
You can even check if the element belongs to any groups
or hotlink modules. In a real project
environment elements may overlap or touch each other.
The intelligent Info Tag warns you if the currently used cursor point
belongs to multiple elements.
You can toggle between the displayable elements with the tab key.
The actually used element is always highlighted for your convenience.
Optionally the Info Tag can be turned off or minimized in the
Options/Work Environment
Selection and Element Information dialog.
As we've seen seen it's really easy is to check the elements' editable parameters,
however in real projects
it's also necessary to review object's
physical dimensions.
The fastest and most convenient way to do this
is to use the Element Information Palette.
This floating palette can be activated from the Window/Palettes menu.
Once its turned on
you can move it
to any preferred position
and also resize it if needed.
Using the Element Information Palette is simple. Select any model part
or group of elements
and the most important physical properties are displayed instantly.
There are six buttons on the upper part of the palette
in the following order:
ID,
Length,
Area Values,
Height Values, Surface Values,
and Volume Values.
Click on these buttons
to extend the content
of the Element Info Palette.
Let's see what we know about this wall:
in addition to the regular parameters
like, thickness or height
we can even measure its surfaces on all different sides.
Furthermore the door-window openings are also subtracted allowing you to have a
precise calculation of the wall finish surfaces.
Multiple elements can also be displayed
even if the selected model parts are of different kind.
In this case the listed elements will be shown
in a consecutive order.
In case you want preserve
this data
you can save it or print it from the pop-up palette located in the top right
corner of the dialog.
The most complete set of element data can be accessed via the listing functions
of ArchiCAD.
The full functionality of these tools is described
in other video clips.
As a short example let's see how we can make a wall list
with the Interactive Schedule.
Let's place some walls on the floor plan first.
Open the "Wall List" Interactive Schedule in the Navigator.
The default ArchiCAD template contains several Interactive Schedule lists
and you can create custom ones if needed.
Let's open the Wall List.
By default it shows basic properties
such as volume,
thickness,
perimeter
and surfaces on different sides.
Additional parameters can be added to the list in a simple way.
Click on the scheme settings button
and open the Fields tab page.
On the left side of the dialog you can browse through the extensive list of
general and wall specific parameters.
To add them to the list
just drag and drop
to the right side and then organize as you need.
Whenever you need detailed information about a wall
just click on the Interactive Schedule item in Navigator
and then the list will be generated
instantly.