The project templates' plan window now has a drawing area object and corner alignment hotspots for each sheet size. Delete the ones you don't need. Move the object around to center the plan, then move the hotspots to the corners on each story.
But you don't use the drawing area and the hotspots to align the plans in PM so the plans stack in a professional and aesthetically pleasing manner? Well you better start.
Intersection group number is an AC8 feature that controls which layers clean up to each other. If the numbers match, they do, if not, they don't.
Which you need to do from time to time, for several purposes.
Don't.
Remember our layer system is the result of lots of work on lots of simultaneous problems. As such, it is hard to improve but easy to break. Trust me. Further, layer management is far and away the most unpleasant standards task in the whole operation. You don't want to get involved.
OK, sometimes you have to. Maybe you really need a new layer. Maybe I told you you need one. If you're going to do it, you'd better do it right.
Select an existing LC that is similar to the one you need to make. Click 'New'. (The other one. Lower left.) Put in the new name. Make changes to the showing and hiding of layers on the right. Click 'Update' at the bottom. OK and save.
You will probably need to create views for the new LC.
See also:
Creating Layers
On the Archicad Help Menu, beneath the first two items, you will find two lists of items.
The first list consists of links to PDFs, including the Archicad manuals. The PDFs reside in the Documentation folder within the Archicad folder. Any PDF placed in this folder will appear in the menu.
The second consists of links to web sites. The links reside in the WWWLinks folder within the Archicad folder. Any link placed in this folder will appear in the menu.
Update: I have expanded on this topic here". I have strikethrough'd the really wrong bits here.
(I am planning a tech meeting for this topic the week of the fifth.)
Q What is a detail window.
A new kind of window in AC8. A hybrid of a section window and a patch.
Like a patch, they can be generated from existing geometry. Like a section, they can be renewed. Unlike a section, they cannot be model views, only drawings.
Q What are they for.
At 3 Resources/AC Program Files you will find AC8.1 v1 1410 USA Updater, an update patch for 8.1. Go ahead and run it. It requires a restart. I have no idea why.
Forgot something else...
In 8.1, we have the option of placing a marquee to limit the print area, instead of fiddling with the window itself.
Click 'Copies and Pages' and select 'Archicad' to view these options.
As far as I know, this option has always existed, but I've only fully internalized it recently.
Try this display option in your working plans and sections views:
It causes walls in plan, and all elements in section, to display as solid fill of the pen of the fill pattern. In plan, this means that only the corner of the wall itself can be detected, not the inside drywall corner. This eliminates the problem of accidentally aligning counters, floor fills, and such to the core of a stud wall.
I have taken the liberty of changing the working views in the templates to employ this option.
This is about four years old but I wanted to explicitly point it out...
All the attribute-related options on the Options menu (Pens and Colors, Line Types, etc.) use the Ctrl+Opt+Cmd modifier combination with the initial letter of the attribute.
Update: A couple of these (notably materials and composites) broke in AC9 due to conflicts with default shortcuts in OS X. Pens and fills still work. Keep the Attributes toolbar on.
Obsolete. We're not using cach libraries at this time.
It's good to have the libraries on the server so we are all up to date all the time. But loading libraries from the network is slow. This is a big problem when updating views in PlotMaker. The satellite library is an attempt to have it both ways. It has been bumpy in the past, but I've tried it again and can cautiously recommend it.