Horizontal section of curved walls are faceted

[reddottdesign]

We have an interior space built out for a commercial project incorporating curved walls in 3D.  We need to generate a 2D drawing to be turned over to the on-site architect.  Generating a 2D section yeilds a faceted wall.  AECFACETDEV has no effect on the curve quality. Is there a control for Horizontal section?   Walls do not show up using flatshot so that is not an option.

[ntellery]

They don't here!  What version are you using. I tried in ACA09.

I think it was updated around 7.8.9 somewhere.

Might have to edit the elevation in place and delete the extra lines.

[reddottdesign]

We're running AutoCAD Architecture 2012.  It's not a matter of deleting the lines because the section is generated with large facets - no curves at all.  As a work around we exported as a DXF file and that turned the walls into a 2D representation. Not very elegant.  There must be a command to control the faceting of AEC wall objects.  We also have a support request in to Autodesk and will post any response we get.

[David_W_Koch]

Why not Export to AutoCAD, rather than generating a horizontal section?  Not sure what that does with curved Walls, but it might be worth a shot.

[reddottdesign]

Thank you David for the suggestion - our issue is that the file is drawn with 3D walls - many of them curved.  We need to give an architect at that project site a 2D plan for them to develop construction documents for permitting.  They do not work in 3D.  Exporting out of Architecture to AutoCAD keeps the 3D walls but converts them to an AutoCAD object.  We tried flatshoting this new file with the same result - wall objects do not appear.  Following along the same logic however exporting to a dxf file does flatten 3D walls and perserves the curves so we have a work around for the moment. In this case the curved sections reverted to arcs and perserved the wall fills.  We still would like to figure out if there is a command to alter the quality of the curve for Horizontal Section.  We have a support request in and will post the response.

[ntellery]

Sorry I didn't read your post correctly.  (I was thinking aecelevations).

"keeps the 3D walls but converts them to an AutoCAD object. "

Isn't that what you want??  I just exported an ACA9 curved wall to v2000.dwg and they came out as arcs.

I've not used the generate section for a plan view before. Is there any reason why you can't export the original objects themselves rather than the section?  If you use layering, can you export the walls themselves and cut&paste that into your aecelevation plan (new one cut wthout walls showing)? 

What version are you using because they've changed how elevations work.

[reddottdesign]

Thank you ntellery - we're running AutoCAD Architecture 2012.  We certainly could export as you suggest - in fact that was the only way we found to make it work - exporting to a dxf file will convert the 3D curved walls into 2D arcs.  We may not be using the program as intended - we are using Project Navigator and building Constructs and Elements that are referenced to View drawings and then again into Sheet drawings.  Using the Elevation and Section tools is a great time saver as a project evolves and is updated. It also helps to guarantee that updates/additions are updated across all drawings.  The command AECFACETDEV will control the smoothness (number of segments) of curved lines for elevation and section tools - however it has no effect on curved walls.  There must  be way or command to control this.  By the way, for that command, we found a value less than zero works well, such as .01 or .001 etc, if you wanted to try it.  We have a number of project sites to address and are finding the local architects at these sites have a 2D work flow. We would like to figure out how to make the tool work the way we want it to.

[David_W_Koch]

Exporting to AutoCAD from a plan view will generate 2D architectural objects.  If you export from the Model "tab", with the view direction set to Top and have a Display Configuration set current that uses a plan-type Display Representation for Walls, you should get lines or arcs, not 3D objects.

[David_W_Koch]

Attached ZIP file has two files.  Curved Walls - ACA 2010.dwg was started with an OOTB ACA template file and has a few sample Walls, including some arc segments.  With Top view, Medium Detail Display Configuration current, I exported to AutoCAD, 2000 format.  The result is the ACAD2000-Curved Walls - ACA 2010.dwg file, which has 2D arcs for the curved Walls.

[jmcintyre]

2 questions;

Are you using a visual style other than wireframe?

Is the project a long way from the origin 0,0?

Unless you really need the horizontal section tool (eg roof plans) exporting to acad from a plan view as David has suggested is the best way to share files with 2D acad. If you export in a plan view the outcome will be flattened lines. If you export from a 3D view you'll get a 3D acad file. No need to use flatshot or other flatten commands.

[reddottdesign]

David / jmcintyre - thank you for the direction - I tried this on our files and it works.  I like that it still preserves the fill paterns for the wall as well.  We will use this workflow for this project.  I am still curious if the curve quality can be adjusted when generating a horizontal section through a command.  We are on subscription and have a support request in.  We're still waiting for a response and will post the answer here if there is one.  Thank you again guys for your efforts - these discussion groups and the people who participate are worth their weight in gold.