Trying to tell Architect 2014 to measure from outside

[Anonymous]

I am attempting to draw the floor plan of an existing structure before designing the additions, but I am having the following problems:

1.) Although I am measuring the wall from the outside with a 6" thickness each new wall segments attach at the center instead of the edge. Changing justification at least allows me to have the outside walls line up, but I can't even manually snap the new wall to the end. It always snaps to the center. The only workaround I have been able to find is to manually subtract 3" from each end, but that will skew the measurements on the blueprints and lead to serious problems later on. Is there a way to tell it that I am measuring from the outside of the wall instead of the center of the wall?

2.) When setting a window in the wall it measures 0" from the inside wall, but my wall thickness is just a general estimate (the thickness doesn't matter since I am building on the outside against it) and all new construction will be on the outside. I can't seem to tell it to that I am measuring from the outside. Is there a way to have it see the corner edge of the outside wall as 0" ? Also, I can't seem to change the value for how high the window is from the ground.

For example, a given window is 2'2" from edge corner, 2'2" wide, 4'2" tall, with the bottom exactly 4" from the bottom of wall. All as measured from the outside. If I used inside measurements it wouldn't be placed accurately on the blue prints. I suppose I could take the extra effort to measure the thickness of the wall, but I would also have to measure the thickness between floors and the ceiling height that already exists etc. because there are two floors to consider and that opens things up for quite a bit of error.

3.) There are cellar stairs that I need to work around outside of the house. The stairs option allows me to tell it to go down, but it doesn't allow me to set a height of 0' (or rather a depth, but I don't need to worry about that) and whenever I try to build it against the wall. I can't even get a preview though since pressing escape just deletes it. I tried creating it as an opening in the floor space, but there doesn't appear to be any option like that.

4.) When creating a space there doesn't seem to be an option to simply define the length x width. Instead, after dragging the area, I then can type a number in. However, when I do this, that number simply adds to it's existing length. So if I want 10' I have to subtract 10' by whatever is already there to get the total length I want, which is a problem when it lands on some long fractional. Isn't there a way to just tell it the total length? I have the same problem with walls, but at least there I can define the total length in properties. It's very frustrating to sit there trying to drag this way and that trying to get an exact measurement that should be possible with text. To make matters worse, it seems to measure the length from the center which makes it even more difficult to set the length by width.

5.) Is there a way to work inside the wall by telling it where the studs are, support beams, etc. ?

All together these problems make a project take much longer than it would with pencil and paper.

[KathyMoffa]

1.  I have seen this behavior, but it is not normal.  Correct wall snap behavior should allow you to snap to the any of the individual wall components, not just to the wall center or node.  Try copying and pasting into a new drawing and see if you regain your snaps.  

2.  You can control the placement of windows on the Location tab of the Properties Palette.  Select vertical alignment as head or sill.  Click Anchor to change the horizontal alignment within the wall,  and change the default positions within the Y.      You may also want to modify your window style to specify an exact width and uncheck auto adjust to width of wall. 

3.  Maybe someone else can help with your stairs problem.  A lot depends on how your are using the product, i.e, using Project Navigator, etc.  

4.  Have you tried to generate the space?   If you are unable to generate a space, draw a closed polyline around the area.  Go to Properties and click Yes to Bound spaces.  Now you should be able to generate the space.   

5.  Walls do not have the abilitiy to show studs.  For structural columns and beams, look at the structural member catalog and wizard under the Manage tab/Style & Display. 

[Anonymous]

I was able to create the stairs after creating the space first (but the space shows as a solid object which makes it impossible to print in conceptual view).

I tried following your directions, but after I click finish here:

The box closes and nothing happens. I can't seem to find a way to put the posts into the blueprint at all. With graph paper the entire set of blue prints takes me just a few minutes. How exactly does anyone manage to construct entire houses with this software if the most basic of structural integrity can't be defined?

[KathyMoffa]

The Structural Member Wizard creates a new style, but does not put the structural member into the drawing.   Make sure your Properties Palette is open.  Now go to the Design Tool Palette and click Column.  You will be prompted for an insert point.   Before inserting (or afterwards), look at Basic tab of the Properties palette.  Note that the Style is Standard.  Click Standard and a drop down arrow will show your new 6x6 style.   Click it and your new style is now in this drawing (and this drawing only). 

If you do not want to see your Space, change its properties to 2D.  Click on the Space, and change the Geometry from Extrusion to 2D. 

I would be equally frustrated if trying to use this product for the first time while under a tight deadline.  This software is too complex to learn while under pressure to quickly produce a set of drawings.  If you can produce your drawings by hand faster, by all means do so for your current project.   The software can do much more than what you can do by hand, but may not be practical for your needs, but most importantly,  you are not going to be able to use without some additional learning resources.  I would suggest Paul Aubin's Mastering series--the latest Autocad Architecture is 2011, but not enough has changed to make a difference.  His books give you not only a good working concept of how to use the product, but the actual step-by-step details as well.   The overview on Project Navigator alone is worth the cost.  

[dbroad]

@Elliander, reply to post 1.

1)Change osnap settings to include justfication line(base line).  Check to make sure that you haven't enabled the offset option in the walladd command.  If you are using palettes to add walls, make sure the palette properties aren't interfering.

2)Kathy explained vertical justification.  Most of these settings are available on the properties palette. Make sure the properties palette is visible when adding AEC objects.  The way a window is anchored may depend on the window style.  The side it attaches to depends on the side of the wall that you are hovering over when you pick and also depends on the anchor settings (properties palette).  You can flip a window (inside to outside)

3)Stairs are tricky but why would you want the height of a stair to be 0? There would be no stair.  You must complete the stairadd process to retain the stair. That is the limitation of the system. Once you complete the stair, then you can adjust its properties or addsimilar if you don't like it.  Again, all settings are on the properties palette.

4)Spaces are better when generated rather than adding fixed width/depth.  The best workflow is to draw the walls and then to add the spaces.  If you need non-wall room dividers, use plain linework and check the bound spaces property.  If you are just bubble diagraming, use rectangles or circles.  The way spaces display depends on the visual style and space style settings.  Use medium display, not presentation to work.  Later, you can use themes or whatever.

5)Walls don't show stud layouts. You can use arrays, hatch patterns, or structural members but the structural members are probably best in a separate construct from the walls.

When posting, its better to work on 1 problem per post rather than 5.  ACA does take time to adapt to. I highly recommend reading a good ACA text and taking an ACA class to learn when switching from paper.