On Land

On, well, land. Site model roundup.

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The Working Units and Levels preferences offer two reference levels in addition to project zero. It is common to set one of these levels to sea level. (We don't use the other one for anything at this time.)

With sea level set correctly, you can build your site model mesh using sea level topo data. Level dimension texts have autotext elements that can refer to sea level. Our standard story level markers and elevation marker objects can refer to sea level or project zero.

Reference levels are set in the Working Units and Levels preferences dialog.

Leave the 'relative to' marker on project zero. The sea level value is the elevation of project zero in the real world, which is usually the finish floor of the main story of the building. This value needs to be entered as a negative number, because it is below project zero. If you change the actual elevation of the project, you need to recalculate the sea level value and change it.

Sea level and the second reference level are only for display and input assistance. Elements are always placed relative to their stories and project zero. If you change sea level, you don't have to worry about your site mesh moving around, even if you used sea level values to set it up.

It is awful to hear that David Foster Wallace has apparently taken his own life. Really not happy with that. I don't have anything constructive. If you like reading and you haven't read Infinite Jest, you should. There's an investment of time and attention (about a kilo), but it's the best novel that I know of. The cover copy says it's a comedy but, though there's a lot of funny in it, it's ultimately sad. It will be sadder going forward. His sober-gonzo travelogue reporting is all-funny, see the essay collection A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again, especially the title track. Hmm, that title has suddenly gotten a little weightier.

He was raised on literary and general cultural irony but concluded that the ironic position risked disengagement from the reader and isolation from reality. Which reality might be painful. Which pain might be Too Much.

Perhaps this site is a little graybearded to be discussing basic tools, but so it goes. I want to talk about site modeling, which is 90% mesh management, and I thought it better to break out the basics. Though site topics tend to intrude. Because the mesh tool is unchanged (+/-) since Archicad 6.5, we can also 'wish' for 'improvements'.

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You know the one I mean. Three walls meet at a point, and the inline ones are different thicknesses. The corner formed with the inner wall simply must be expressed. We've had this one for-[stupid]-ever.

HCTPBWIW

Or, seen and not seen. Fills, white pens, and materials.

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