The Global Archicad Community

[kruskakli]

Hi!

I'm trying to create my own library object based on a morph cube. It's just a very simple object that should be a displayed as a cube in 3D and elevation but in plan I want it to show as a lamp symbol.

How do I edit the symbol visible in plan?

[matjashka]

kruskakli, welcome to the forums.

Each object in ArchiCAD has two separate types of plan view -- one is a 2D script, and the other is a 2D symbol, which is used if 2D script is missing (in a simple case, but they can be used together).

To edit either of them, you first have to open your GDL object for editing (place it on your plan, select it and File > Libraries and Objects > Open Object.
In your case, you may delete the 2D script completely, then click the 2D Symbol button for editing and draw your symbol at correct size and orientation, using fills, lines and circles.

One thing to keep in mind: origin. Your 2D symbol position must match the position of the content generated by 3D script (by default, the lower left corner of bounding box).

If you need something more advanced, please ask.

[kruskakli]

Thanks a lot! It worked perfectly!

[matjashka]

You're welcome.
Once you get comfortable with creating objects, you may want to learn how to make them work better for you:

1) create and save your 3D parts in a way that the object's insertion point is located at 0,0,0 and then commenting out the ADD* commands that are automatically inserted by ArchiCAD (ADD commands move things in x,y,z)
2) add hotspots in 2D script and/or 2D symbol for more custom snap points than the bounding box
3) using the fragment2 command in 2D script to take advantage of the 16 layers that are built into each 2D symbol, so you can turn them on and off to get different looks from the same object.

The fun part of 2D symbols is that you can edit them just like you normally draft in ArchiCAD

[ACSS]

Hello,

thanks a lot for your help.

Could you help me to edit the 2D Symbol so that the symbol doesn't scale if I edit the element's dimensions?

[matjashka]

Open the object for editing. Under Details, click the Compatibility Options button and make sure "Store fixed values" is checked and also "Fit size to 2D Symbol".

EDIT: Actually, I'd be careful with the "fit size" option if your 2D symbol is different than 3D. It's best to only use it if all you need is a 2D symbol. I'm not sure which one is your case. One useful thing I do is hiding A, B and ZZYZX for the object so that it's obvious that the size is not supposed to be changed.