ArchiCAD Training –  (Quick Start Course – 5-4)

This 20 minute lesson focuses on two additional annotation elements: the Fill tool (which is used for hatch patterns as well as filling in areas with a poché shading or a texture) and the Label tool (which is a combination of text with a leader line).

The Fill tool is demonstrated first. A quick introduction explains the various types of Fills: Solid (which may be totally opaque, transparent, or a percentage shading in between), Gradient (used for presentation effects), Vectorial (for common line or hatch patterns), Symbol (used for more complex patterns including paving stones, and can be added to easily by users), and Texture (added in recent versions of ArchiCAD, allowing more realistic depiction of materials such as grass or brick, etc.).

A Fill pattern representing plank flooring is chosen then the fill is drawn in the bedroom area. It naturally slips underneath the bed (in the graphic stacking order) rather than covering it up. The View is changed to a ceiling plan and a grid-type vectorial fill is picked to represent acoustic ceiling tiles. The layer is changed for the fill tool to coordinate with the ceiling plan, then the fill is drawn in the living room.

The fill is selected, and various manipulations are demonstrated, including changing the foreground pen color and the background color and bringing the fill to the top of the display order to cover other elements. The background pen is changed to Window Background (the bottom right option in the pen table – it looks like a tiny computer monitor) to create a non-printing cover-up. It is then changed to the Transparent pen (right next to the Window Background pen, a zero with a line through it, also known as the Null character) to have the fill be on top but still show the other information underneath it.

Other typical polygon manipulations (similar to slabs and roofs) are demonstrated, including offsetting the edge, moving a corner node point, adding a node point, and adding an area with the Boolean addition option; then all of this is undone to restore the fill to the boundaries of the room.

The grid pattern does not coordinate with the room since the fill is set to use the Global Origin. This is changed to allow a Fill Origin to be moved around to set the starting point for the tiles as well as the direction.

Next, the Label tool is demonstrated, with a simple label drawn to the right side, then another to the left side. The text is changed to right-aligned make the left-hand label look neater. Another variation is shown with the text being bounded to wrap within a specific width; this width is then adjusted using the pet palette “stretch” option and the text reflows.

Finally, the original label is manipulated to show how

• you can move the individual points for the leader line segments
• the leader line may be switched to a curved shape rather than an angular polyline
• the leader line may be set to point to the top or bottom rather than the center of the text

In the final example, since the leader line at top or bottom goes to the edge of the bounding box rather than pointing to the text line itself, a tip is shared: to get the leader to point at the bottom line of text, set it to point to the middle but add one or more blank lines of text below the last real line.

ArchiCAD Training: The Fill Tool and the Label Tool