LIBRARY PARTS

They are prefabricated elements in Ar chiCAD. Several instances of the same library part (e.g., a chair) can be put on the floor plan. There ar e many types of Library Parts. Five categories ar e discussed here: - OBJECTS - LIGHTS - WINDOWS - DOORS - ZONE STAMPS

Library Parts may have custom parameters. The library part specification assigns default values to them.

Their graphical r epresentations may be similar — r otated or scaled but otherwise the same; others might change their appearance depending on the instance parameters and sometimes on other cir cumstances. They get decomposed to drawing primitives accor ding to these factors. These drawing primitives are stored into BLOCKs.

- In the case of a window or door, the INSERT to its block is stored into the BLOCK of the wall that owns it.

- In the case of an object, light or zone stamp, the INSERT goes into the ENTITY section.

These INSERTs ar e followed by their ArchiCAD specific extended data. W ith windows and doors the extended data also contains the window/door dimension, if any.

Depending on whether or not different instances of a Library Part look similar (apart fr om scaling and r otation), they belong to one of these categories:

Nonparametric symbols

If a Library Part has neither a 2D nor MASTER GDL script, the appearance of its instances (on the Floor Plan) depend only on the applied transfor mations (r otation, X and Y scaling) and the

combination of thr ee parameters: the “mirrored”, “use symbol

pen” and “use symbol line type” flags. Since the transfor mations ar e parts of the INSERT entity representing the symbol instance (in

the ENTITY section), a nonparametric symbol may have up to

eight representations,depending on the existing combinations of these flags in the instances. Entities in the block generated with fixed pen ar e forced to appear in the color attached to the INSERT.

Note: The mirr ored flag (N for nor mal, R for mirr ored) makes different font texts in the library part, meaning that they must be mirr ored twice to remain r eadable.

- Entities in the block generated without a fixed pen appear in their own color.

- Entities in the block generated with a fixed line type ar e forced to appear with the line type attached to the INSERT. - Entities in the block generated without a fixed line type

appear with their own line type. Naming conventions:

- If neither parameter is fixed, the block name is “SS_” + the name of the symbol

- If the pen is fixed but the line type isn’t, the block name is “PS_” + the name of the symbol

- If the line type is fixed but the pen isn’t, the block name is “SL_” + the name of the symbol

- If both parameters ar e fixed, the block name is “PL_” + the name of the symbol

Parametric symbols

If a Library Part has either a 2D or MASTER GDL script, the appearance of its instances may depend on mor e than the actual parameter values. Ther efore, every instance must be drawn into a separate block. The effect of the fixed pen and fixed line type flags is r epresented within the block. In other words, the entities in it will have the explicit values. The line type and the color attached to the INSERT entity ar e irr elevant.

ArchiCAD 6.5 DXF/DWG Conversion Guide

Naming conventions:

The block name is the name of the symbol + “_” + the index of the symbol instance

If the symbol of a Library Part contains a text block that gets its value fr om the parameter list, it becomes an ATTDEF entity in the block definition. The corresponding ATTRIB entity gets value from the matching parameter when it is inserted in the entity section.

Note: In AutoCAD, there ar e strict rules concerning the block names. Only letters (from the English and your national alphabet), digits (“0”-”9"), underscor e “_” and dollar sign “$” ar e accepted. The length of the name cannot exceed 32 characters. The Ar chiCAD symbol names (that can contain anything) under go a conversion to match these rules. You should know whether the particular copy of AutoCAD you will be communicating to thr ough DXF/DWG is localized to the same language as your Ar chiCAD copy. If you are not sur e, you should turn OFF the #NATIONAL option in the used configuration files.

SLAB

The graphical r epresentation of a slab contains its outline and a number of holes. The outline always comes first. Both the outline and the holes ar e drawn as POLYLINEs or LWPOLYLINEs. If there is a label attached to the slab, the INSER T to its BLOCK is put at the end of the slab’s BLOCK. It is followed by its ArchiCAD- specific extended data.

ROOF

The graphical r epresentation of a r oof contains its outline and a number of holes. The outline always comes first. Both the outline and the holes ar e drawn as POLYLINEs or LWPOLYLINEs. If there is a label attached to the r oof, the INSERT to its BLOCKis put at the end of the roof’s BLOCK. It is followed by its ArchiCAD- specific extended data.

BEAM

The graphical r epresentation of a beam contains its outline. It is drawn as POL YLINEs or LWPOLYLINEs. If there is a label attached to the beam, the INSERT to its BLOCK is put to the end of the beam’s BLOCK. It is followed by its ArchiCAD-specific extended data.

MESH

The graphical r epresentation of a mesh contains its outline and a number of holes and ridges. The outline is followed by the holes and then by the ridge specifications. Both the outline and the holes are drawn as POLYLINEs or LWPOLYLINEs. The (user- defined) ridges and the lines connecting the vertices ar e simple LINE entities. If there is a label attached to the mesh, the INSERT to its BLOCK is put to the end of the mesh’s BLOCK. It is followed by its ArchiCAD-specific extended data. The INSERT to the mesh’s BLOCK is put into the ENTITY section. It is followed by its ArchiCAD-specific extended data. The extended data doesn’t contain the outline and the holes of the mesh, since it can be retrieved from the block itself. On the other hand, the ridge data and the ‘z’ coor dinates of the outline/hole vertices are stored here.

LINEAR DIMENSION (or simply DIMENSION)

The graphical r epresentation of a linear dimension is made up of a number of lines, texts and arr owheads. This is all put into a BLOCK named DIM_<index>.