Creation placement and calculation of tiles Schaffen, Verlegen und Berechnen von Fliesen Creazione, posa e calcolo delle

piastrelle Cration, pose et calcul de carrelage Creacin, colocacin y clculo de las baldosas/azulejos

ArchiTiles

PLUG-IN FOR ARCHICAD

Cigraph

Contents

ArchiTiles
User Guide

Cigraph S.r.l. Via Orsato, 38 - (I)30175 VE/Marghera Tel. (+39) 041 93 23 88 - Fax (+39) 041 92 00 31 Internet: http://www.cigraph.com e-mail: home@cigraph.com

ArchiTiles
ArchiTiles User Guide Version 1.0 for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh 2001 Cigraph S.r.l. Copyright The contents of this manual and the software described therein are the sole property of Cigraph S.r.l. with all rights reserved. As per copyright laws, this manual and the software programs cannot be copied either fully or in part without the written consent of Cigraph S.r.l., except during normal use of the software to create a back-up copy. This exception does not allow the buyer to make copies for others, even if the software is sold, traded or given away. Written by Gil Liebrecht Layout by Chiara Carnevale Cover Illustration by Marco Marella Coordination and Package design by Rossana Mason Guarantee limitations Even if Cigraph S.r.l. has tested the software described in this manual and reviewed its contents, Cigraph S.r.l. can give neither express nor implied guarantees or statements with reference to the software, its quality, its performance or suitability for any particular purpose. Therefore, this software is sold as is and the buyer assumes all risks with reference to its quality and performance. In no case shall Cigraph S.r.l. be held responsible for direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages deriving from any defect in the software or from errors in the manual, even if its notified of the possibility of said damages. In particular, Cigraph S.r.l. shall not be held liable for possible loss of data or of the program on computers, including the cost of recovery or the cost of data reproduction or of the program itself. Licences and Trademarks ArchiTiles is a registered brand name of Cigraph S.r.l. ArchiCAD, PlotMaker, StairMaker, PlayBack, and GDL are registered trademarks of Graphisoft. Microsoft Windows and Windows 95/NT are registered trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. Apple, Macintosh, Power Macintosh and Mac OS are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc.. Other products and trade names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of other companies and are used purely for demonstrative purposes in favour of the trademark holder, without intent of breach.

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ArchiTiles
Plug-In for the creation placement e calculation of tiles
What is an ArchiCAD plug-in?
A Plug-in is a software component that allows ArchiCAD to provide new functions in addition to the standard characteristics. ArchiCAD allows you to manage the plug-ins automatically, starting them up and closing them through the menu bar. Indeed, once the Plug-in has been installed, a new menu will appear in the menu bar. This menu will behave completely like any other ArchiCAD menu. It will allow you to access the ArchiTiles palette and therefore to access all of its tools. In fact, you will not even realise that you are using a Plug-in: it will still be similar to using your ArchiCAD, but with more functions.

System Requirements
ArchiTiless configuration is established by the configuration requested for ArchiCAD. However if you do not have enough storage space for the libraries, a warning message will be displayed. In this case, more storage space in the Disk Operating System can be made available by closing other applications or decreasing the storage space assigned to ArchiCAD.

ArchiCAD Version
ArchiTiles is compatible with ArchiCAD 6.5 (we suggest you use the 6.5 V3-R3 release) and does not work with older versions of ArchiCAD.

Where should the ArchiTiles plug-in be placed?

The plug-ins cannot be opened directly through the Finder (Macintosh platform) or through Windows Explorer (Windows platform) and therefore, to be able to start them up, you must copy them into the ArchiCAD Add-Ons folder.

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Mac OS: the Add-Ons folder can be found in the same folder as the ArchiCAD application, or within the Graphisoft folder present in the System folder. Windows: the Add-Ons folder must be in the same folder as the ArchiCAD application. If positioned elsewhere, ArchiCAD will not be able to access it. ArchiCAD verifies the presence of Plug-ins when booting up. If the Plugins are not found in the correct place, you must quit the program and place them in the correct location and then restart ArchiCAD. For temporary use, you may run the Plug-in requested via the Load Add-On command present in the Tools menu.

Installing the package

The ArchiTiles folder contains the ArchiTiles plug-in and the ArchiTiles.Lib folder. To install ArchiTiles, please carry out the following procedure: Copy the ArchiTiles folder into the Add-On folder, found in the ArchiCAD folder. If the installation has been performed correctly, a new menu will have been added to the Menu Bar.

Thanks to this added menu, you will be able to display/hide the ArchiTiles Toolbox. The library needed for running the Arcsfaade.Lib is automatically added to the list of active libraries by ArchiTiles. If, for whatever reason, the additional library is not loaded, when you use one of the ArchiTiles commands for the first time, the program will notify you and suggest that you start it up. Select the Load library command from the ArchiCAD Archive menu. In this window, select the ArchiTiles.Lib folder and add it to the list of active libraries.

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The ArchiTiles working philosophy

The process of laying tiles with ArchiTiles is as follows: Build the tile library objects Transform a room into elevations Choose or create the tile pattern Lay the tiles onto the elevations Rotate your tiles to your walls Lay tiles on the floor and or ceiling Smile, youre done! The rest of the manual describes this process; Smiling is not obligatory!

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Building Tile Library Objects

Click on ArchiTiles in the ArchiCAD menu and select Open ArchiTerra palette. The first step in the tiling process is to construct tile library objects that you will use to lay in your ArchiCAD room. ArchiTiles provides you with 4 different tools to choose from, in order to construct the tiles of your choice. They are: Square tile tool Rectangular tile tool Perfect polygon tile tool Custom tile tool

Square Tile Tool

We start with the Square tile tool. To construct a square tile, click on the Square tile tool icon. The New tile dialog box will open:

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Parameters Mode
When the dialog box is first opened, it is in the parameters mode, allowing you to insert the various information that describes the physical attributes of your tile. Start by inserting the measurement for the side of your square tile.

There are two ways to proceed from this point: Create a tile with a material from ArchiCAD, Create a tile without an ArchiCAD material, in order to create a custom material/texture for your tile object.

To Create a tile with a material from ArchiCAD

Click on the material pop-up menu which now contains the word, General.

You will now be able to select from the various ArchiCAD materials. Notice that only some of the ArchiCAD materials contain textures. Select the desired material with texture, and the linked image section will disappear. Selecting an ArchiCAD material deactivates the image commands at the bottom of the New Tile dialog box. ArchiCAD will demonstrate a color referring to the material you chose in the 3D model, and demonstrate the attached texture in the ArchiCAD photo-rendering.

To Create a tile without an ArchiCAD material

To Create a tile without an ArchiCAD material, in order to create a custom material/texture for your tile object, leave the General material as the chosen material. The bottom of the dialog box will remain active. Now click on Open, and select the tile texture from your active library. Only the textures that have been loaded in the ArchiCAD Active library will be visible in the ArchiTiles dialog box. The image for your

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personalized tile, can be a Tiff, Giff, Jpeg, Pict, or Bmp file. Select the image, and click OK.

ArchiCAD will demonstrate this texture in the ArchiCAD photorendering. To give your tiles an appropriate color for the 3D model, click on the color pop-up menu and select the color that best represents your tile.

Glossy Effect
Once you have created your custom tile, click on the Gloss button, in order to have a glossy photo-rendering affect. Re-click this button to undo the gloss affect.

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Click on the calculations icon to change the dialog box from parameter information, to calculation information. In the calculations mode, you can enter administration information for your tiles.

Calculations Mode

Here, you can enter the producer of the tile, the tile code, the numbers of pieces in a box, the currency you work with, and the price. If the Price per item button is checked, you are entering the price per tile. If you click on the button so that it becomes unchecked, you are giving the price per surface of tiles (by square foot or square meter depending on your standard ArchiCAD settings).

Click OK, to nish constructing the tile object.

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The New tile dialog box will close and a new dialog box will open giving you the chance to save the tile as a GDL object.

Make sure you are saving the object inside an active ArchiCAD library. Give the tile a name, and click on Save. ArchiTiles will tell you that you have successfully created a new tile library object.

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Rectangular Tile Tool

To construct a rectangular tile, click on the Rectangular tile tool icon. The New tile dialog box will open:

Notice that this dialog box is identical to the dialog box for creating a square tile, except that here you need to enter both the length and the width dimensions to define the tile. Except for this difference, the process of creating a rectangular tile is identical to that for creating a square tile.

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Perfect Polygon Tile Tool

The perfect polygon tile tool allows the user to construct tiles that have 6 or 8 sides of equal length (an equilateral hexagon or octagon). To begin constructing a perfect polygon tile, click on the Perfect polygon tile tool icon. The New tile dialog box will open:

Notice that this dialog box is identical to the dialog box for creating a square or rectangular tile, except that: There are push buttons that allow you to choose between a six sided and eight sided polygon, There are push buttons that let you choose between entering the dimension of the tile by the length of a side or by the length of the extending box. Except for these differences, the process of creating a perfect polygon tile is identical to that for creating a square or rectangular tile.

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Customize Tile Tool

The Customize tile tool allows the user to create tiles of any shape. Use the ArchiCAD Fill tool in the standard ArchiCAD way, to design the shape of your tile. Draw this fill anywhere on the plan. The fill can be curved but must not have any holes (have you ever seen a tile with holes?). Design the fill according to your desired tile specifications, because the measurements of your tile depend on the measurements of the fills design.

Once you have drawn the shape, select the fill, and click on the Customize tile tool icon.

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The New tile dialog box will open:

Notice that this dialog box is identical to the dialog box for creating a rectangular tile, except that: The width and length measurements of the tiles within the dialog box are already entered according to your design, The width measurement is calculated from the farthest point along the left part of the tile, to the farthest point along the right part of the tile. In effect, it has measured the extending box, or, the net space this tile covers on the X axis. The length measurement is calculated from the farthest point along the top part of the tile, to the farthest point along the bottom part of the tile. In effect, it has measured the extending box, or, net space this tile covers on the Y axis.

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Except for these differences, the process of creating a Custom tile is identical to that for creating a square or rectangular tile.

Randomizing the Texture: for more realistic photo-renderings

There is one extra feature that needs to be explained: You can also make the texture photo rendering look more real by using up to 5 different images to Randomize the texture. You must first check the Randomize the texture check button, in the New tile dialog box, while creating your tile. You must have multiple images (textures) saved in an ArchiCAD active library. They also must be saved with the same name except the last digit which must have a different number (the first image name without a number, then the second image with the same name and the number 2, the third image with the same name and the number 3, etc.). Here is an example of how the different textures must be named in the ArchiCAD library: 1st image: pink_marble 2nd image: pink_marble2 3rd image: pink_marble3 4th image: pink_marble4 5th image: pink_marble5 When creating the tile pattern, leave the General material as the chosen material. The bottom of the dialog box will remain active.

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Now click on Open, and select the 1st image: pink_marble, and click OK.

ArchiCAD will demonstrate this texture plus the other 4 versions in a random pattern in the ArchiCAD photo-rendering. Remember to also select a color to designate the Tile colors in the 3D plan.

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The ArchiTiles Preferences

The ArchiTiles Preferences allows you to edit the default measurements for tile creation. Click on ArchiTiles in the ArchiCAD menu and select Preferences. The ArchiTiles Preferences dialogue window will open:

This dialogue window allows you to: Edit the default measurements that are normally displayed in the various data fields within the New tile dialogue windows, Select the minimum dimensions of a cut tile that ArchiTiles should lay. Edit the default measurements that are normally displayed in the various data fields within the New tile dialogue windows by simply typing new values into the existing fields. These fields include: the default measurements for the side of the square tile;

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the default length and width of the rectangle tile;

the default measurement of the side and extended box of the perfect polygon;

the default width of the grout;

the default layer;

currency;

the default selection for whether you desire price per tile or price per unit of measurement.

Once you change these preferences, the new preferences will be seen every time you create new tile objects. The bottom two fields allow you to select the minimum dimensions of a cut tile that ArchiTiles should lay.

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The first field allows you to select the minimum width a tile must have in order to be placed. If a tile must be cut so small, so that its width is less than your specified minimum, ArchiTiles will not place any tile in that place and instead leave only grout.

The second field allows you to select the minimum volume measurement a tile must have in order to be laid. If a tile must be cut so small, so that its area is less than your specified minimum, ArchiTiles will not place any tile in that place, and instead leave only grout.

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The Tile Object Settings

Your ArchiTiles tile objects must be saved inside the ArchiCAD active library. Now you can access them, visualize them, lay them as individual objects, and modify tiles already laid in the plan, by utilizing the Tile Object Settings dialog box. To enter the Tile Object Settings dialog box, double click on the Tile Object icon from the standard ArchiCAD tool palette. The tile object icon is on the bottom of the ArchiCAD tool palette, sharing a spot with the StairMaker icon. If the StairMaker icon is visible, click and hold on it. The ArchiTile object icon will appear. Move your mouse onto the tile object icon, and release the mouse button. Now double click on this Tile Object icon. The following Tile Object Settings dialog box will open:

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You will quickly notice that this is an ArchiCAD dialog window, for which you already know how to navigate. There are some differences that I will now describe: Only the tiles you constructed (and that were saved in an ArchiCAD loaded library) will appear in the object window. They will appear in one of 3 forms. The first is an ArchiCAD texture. This means you saved your tile using an ArchiCAD material that had an ArchiCAD texture attached to it. The second possibility is your personalized texture. This means you left General as the material, and attached your own image as a texture. The third form you may see, is the ArchiTiles symbol of a clown juggling tiles. This image represents a tile that you saved with a material that did not contain a texture. This tile, when placed in your plan, will be seen in the 3D model and in the photo-rendering, with the color of the material you selected from the color pop-up menu, while constructing your tile. Another difference is that there is now a new ArchiTiles icon that allows you to view and modify your tile object settings.

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Click on this icon, and the following tile information area will open:

A summary of Information regarding the tile, selected from the object window above, is now presented below. You see information regarding tile size, material, and pen color.

You can also see the texture with the name of the image below it, or if there is no attached image, then ArchiTiles will tell you that no texture is attached.

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You can also choose to randomize the tiles by clicking on the randomize button, or unclick the previous setting to un-randomize the tiles.

By clicking on this icon: >> , you revert back to the calculations figures you entered when constructing the tile. In this area, you can: Modify the calculations information you entered before(Tile producer, cost per tile, etc.).

Select any of the following languages: English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German.

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Press << to go back to the previous view, or press OK to finish your settings modification. It is important to note that the changes you make do not get saved as new tile parameters. Instead, the settings are used for changing the information for tiles that have already been laid in the plan, and are now selected.

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Creating Elevations from the Walls of a Room

Once you have built your tiles, it is time to define the location where you wish to place them. This section describes how to create interior wall elevations from a room where you wish to place your tiles. You must use the zone tool within an ArchiCAD room, so that the room you wish to tile, contains one unique zone.

Select the Zone, and click on the Interior Elevations icon. The Interior Elevations Settings dialog box will open:

This dialog box gives the user three options for creating the Interior elevations. These three options are, in essence, the three different working methods that the ArchiCAD user can choose from to lay tiles. Note that the placement of a fill within an Interior elevation determines the location where tiles will be placed. The three options are as follows.

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A simple full filling. Filling up to three rows. Elevation without filling. A simple full filling means the ArchiCAD user will be able to place a tile pattern over the entire surface of the elevations. To make the Interior elevations all contain 1 simple full filling, click on the Simple full filling button. Filling up to three rows divides the elevations in up to three rows of fills that can all be laid with different tile patterns. To change the settings to Filling up to three rows, click on the Filling up to 3 rows button. On the right side of the dialog box, are the four numerical data fields that determine the heights of these fills.

In the lowest of these data fields, enter the tiles starting height. In the next data field above, enter the width of the first layer of tiles. If you wish to add another height of tile, activate the next layer by clicking on the push button to the right of the data field. Now enter the width of the next layer of tile. If you wish to add yet another height of tile, activate the last height by clicking on the push button to the right of the last data field. Now enter the width of the last height of tile. Elevation without filling creates the interior elevations without placing any fills. We added his option to give ArchiCAD users an extra tool to simply create interior elevations from an ArchiCAD room. To change the settings to Elevation without filling, click on the Elevation without filling button. In the lower part of the dialog box, you can specify the distance between elevations that will be drawn side by side on your plan. You can also select the pen color and ArchiCAD layer.

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Click OK to accept your settings. The pointer will transform into a pencil asking you to designate the location on the plan where the elevations will be placed. Click once and ArchiCAD will draw your elevations.

Notice that to make your work easier, we added numbers next to each wall in your ArchiCAD room. These numbers exactly match the numbers under the corresponding Interior elevations drawn in your plan. Please note:

This version of ArchiTiles can not lay tiles on a curved wall. For this reason, the elevations drawn on the plan skip curved walls (the corresponding numbers are intelligent and take this into consideration).

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Modifying the Interior elevations

You have just built the interior elevations of an ArchiCAD room. If you have created a Simple full filling, your elevations are now completely covered by fills (except of course where you have doors and windows).

If you created a Filling up to three rows, then you have rows of fills covering the heights you designated in the settings dialog box (again avoiding the doors and windows).

These fills are 100% modifiable using the normal ArchiCAD tools and methods. That means you can curve them, cut holes, expand them etc., to position the fill in the exact location you wish to tile. It is important to note, that ArchiTiles places an origin object at the bottom left of every interior elevation. Do not cancel or modify these objects in any way!

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Selecting Tile Pattern and Laying the Tile

Once your fills are ready, it is time to lay tiles. There are two options for laying the tile: Choose a tile pattern from our list of most common tile patterns, Design your own pattern.

Choose a tile pattern from our list of most common tile patterns

Select the fill you wish to tile. You can select one fill at a time, or select multiple fills to lay a specific tile in various parts of your interior elevations at once. Once you have selected your fill(s) click on the Tile pattern icon.

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The Select Tile Laying dialog box will open:

This dialog box displays various tile patterns that you can choose from. The shaded tiles represent the tiles for which you will need to define with the tile objects you created earlier. Scroll to the right until you find the pattern you desire, and then click on it.

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A new dialog window will open.

Notice that the pattern you chose is now displayed, with a number on each tile that must be defined. There are corresponding numerical buttons below which allow you to select your tile objects from within the ArchiCAD active library.

Press the 1 button, and a new dialog window will open that allows you to select the tile objects from your active library.

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The only objects you see in this Library window are the Tile objects that youve created. You may see one or more of the following versions: An ArchiTiles image of a clown juggling tiles. This means the tile was made with a material but without a texture An ArchiCAD texture. This means the tile was made with a material that had an ArchiCAD texture attached. A personalized texture. This means the tile was made with a texture you attached. Click on a tile to select it. You can read about each tile on the bottom part of this dialog window. There is information that describes what type of tile it is that you have selected, the dimensions, and the size. You can also select to rotate your tile 90, 180 or 270.

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Select the tile that will be inserted into the pattern in the 1 position and press ok. This takes you back to the tile pattern. Repeat the process for each tile that must be defined. This dialog window contains 4 other important settings: Select the distance the tiles are to be set from the wall;

Select the layer in which the tiles will be inserted;

Select the grout width;

Select the grout material.

Now click on OK, to finish building your tile pattern. The dialog window disappears, and the pointer becomes a pencil.

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Laying the Tiles (predefined pattern)

To lay the tiles, click on a selected fill. The first click designates the origin where the tiles will start to be laid on the fill. Move your pointer and click again to designate the tile laying angle. If you have selected more than one fill, you will need to now designate the origin you desire for each fill. Once you have finished, ArchiTiles will lay the tiles on all the selected fills.

In laying the tiles, ArchiTiles cuts the tiles where necessary. The tile pieces that are smaller than the minimum setting you designate in the tile settings window, will not be placed. Tile settings is described on pg. 15 Now select the next fill(s) where you want to lay tile, and repeat the 5process of Selecting Tile Pattern and, Laying the Tiles until you have finished laying tiles on the interior elevations.

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Design your own pattern

If you wish to use a pattern that is not included in the ArchiTiles pattern list, or you have created a custom tile that does not fit in one of the standard ArchiTiles patterns, you will need to design your own pattern. First, you will need to create a module pattern. Once you have created the module pattern, you will be able to use the ArchiTiles Multiply Tile command to create a pattern from your base design of customized tiles.

Create Module Pattern

A module pattern can be one tile, or can be created by placing individual tile objects together.

The tiles you have created can be accessed by entering into the ArchiTiles Settings dialog box. To enter the ArchiTiles Settings dialog box, double click on the Tile Object icon from the standard ArchiCAD tool palette. The tile object icon is on the bottom of the ArchiCAD tool palette, sharing a spot with the StairMaker icon. If the StairMaker icon is visible, click and hold the icon. The ArchiTile object icon will appear. Move your mouse onto the tile object icon, and release the mouse button.

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Double click on the Tile Object icon to open the ArchiTiles Settings dialog box. Here you can view the library of tile objects you have created. Select one for your new pattern and press OK. Place this tile on an empty area of your plan. Select other tiles that you may need for your pattern and place them according to your desired module pattern.

Cut Tiles
You may desire to cut the tiles in order to reach your desired result. To do so, place a fill on your pattern, select the fill and all the tile objects of your module pattern, and click on the Cut Tile icon from the ArchiTerra palette.

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The following dialog box will open:

Choose whether you wish to delete the inside of the fill, or the outside of the fill, and press OK. Add any other tiles or make any further cuts to achieve your desired module pattern.

Laying the Tile (custom pattern)

Place an ArchiCAD hotspot at the origin of your custom module pattern. The origin is the part of the custom pattern where the multiplying of the pattern will begin.

Now select the fill where you wish to lay the pattern, the hotspot, and your custom tile pattern, and click on the Multiply Tiles icon.

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The following dialog box will open:

This dialog box contains various important features. First, designate the height from the surface to be tiles, where your tiles will be laid. Next, you will see that the width and length measurements of the extending box of your customized tile pattern, are already entered in the dialog box according to your design.

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The width measurement is calculated from the farthest point along the left part of the tile, to the farthest point along the right part of the tile. In effect, it has measured the extending box, or, the net space this tile pattern covers on the X axis . The length measurement is calculated from the farthest point along the top part of the tile, to the farthest point along the bottom part of the tile. In effect, it has measured the extending box, or, the net space this tile pattern covers on the Y axis.

You must now make an adjustment to this measurement to restrict the multiplication to only the X and Y measurements (not the whole extending box) you desire multiplied. In the X coordinate field, enter the exact width measurement you wish repeated. This measurement should include the grout width and X portion of the tile pattern you wish to multiply.

In the Y coordinate field, enter the exact length measurement you wish to multiply. This measurement should include the grout width and the Y

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portion of the pattern you wish to multiply. Please look at the below example to clarify this procedure:

Next, select the layer in which the tiles will be inserted, and select the grout material you desire. Disable the check box if you do not wish to create the grout. Click OK, and the selected fill will be covered by your customized tile. The pointer will become a pen and wait for you to define the origin of the fill (where you will start to lay the tiles). Click on the origin, then move your mouse towards the direction you wish to lay the tiles, and click again.

In laying the tiles, ArchiTiles cuts the tiles when necessary.

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The tile pieces that are smaller than the minimum setting you designate in the tile settings window, will not be placed.

Creating and Using Libraries of Custom Patterns

Creating a custom pattern, as we have seen above, is very simple. But sometimes it could be very useful to reuse the same pattern scheme inside other projects. Using ArchiTiles day after day, could result in your building a valuable library of custom patterns that will be available for every ArchiCAD project you will create. Lets see, showing a simple example, how we can store a pattern sceme by using the simple standard procedures provided by ArchiCAD: First of all, build the module of our pattern as we described in the previous paragraph, then select the elements that make up the pattern (the tiles and the hotspot that defines the pattern origin). Store them in the clipboard by using the Copy command from the ArchiCAD Edit menu or by using the universal keyboard shortcut (Command+C for Macintosh, Ctrl+C for Windows). Now from the ArchiCAD File menu, select the Save as command. Choose the Module File from Clipboard file format and type the file name, defining the desired location for the new file. We suggest that you also insert, within the file name, the two pattern step values, along the X and Y directions, in order to have an efficient mnemonic reminder for the next time you use this pattern.

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In order to use the saved pattern in another project, load it in the ArchiCAD plan by using the ArchiCAD Merge command from the File menu (choosing the Module file format). Note:

You can also reach the same result by using the Drag-and-Drop technique: 1. To save the pattern: select the pattern elements and drag them to the desired location (ArchiCAD will automatically create a Module file). 2. To use the saved pattern: select the desired Module file and drag it onto the ArchiCAD plan window.

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Rotating Tiles
ArchiTiles gives the ArchiCAD user the ability to, with one command, rotate all the interior elevations and paste them into the ArchiCAD room. It also gives the user the ability to create separate tile selections, and rotate them individually.

Rotating the Interior Elevations

You have now just finished laying tile onto the interior elevations. The following section describes how to paste the interior elevations back into your room. Select all the interior elevations by selecting all the elevations, origin objects, and tile information, with the mouse pointer. It is crucial that you select the elevations with the origin hotspots that are on the bottom left of the elevations.

Now click on the Rotate Tiles icon from the ArchiTiles palette. The following dialog window will open:

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ArchiTiles transforms the tiled interior elevations into 1 object that will be placed inside your room. Give a name for the Object to be created and click on Save.

ArchiTiles will automatically place the object into your room.

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Rotating individual selections

ArchiTiles also gives the user the ability to create separate tile selections, and rotate them individually. The rotate tile command can be used to rotate a single tiled fill or even a single tile. Just select the tile or tiled fill to be rotated, and click on the Rotate Tiles command. ArchiTiles will open a dialog window to have you save the selection as an object. Give the selection a name and Click Save. The pointer will become a pencil. Click once on the origin where you wish to place the rotated object, move the mouse along the direction your object will be pasted, and then click your mouse a second time. The tile object you rotated, will now be placed where you selected.

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Tiling the Floor and Ceiling

There are two ways to Tile the floor and/or ceiling. Create a fill that covers the entire room. Draw a fill(s) directly inside the room and transform the fill into a tiled floor.

Use a zone to cover an entire room with Tiles

To Create a fill that covers the entire room, select the room Zone, and then click on the Tile floor or ceiling icon. The following dialog box will open:

Select whether you wish to create the pavement or ceiling by clicking on the appropriate push-button. You can also select the pen colors and the layer. Click on OK.

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The pointer will become a pencil, and you will have to click on the plan to designate where you wish to place the fill that represents the floor or ceiling. Click where on the plan you wish to place the floor or ceiling fill, and the fill will appear on your plan. You can modify this fill in the standard ArchiCAD method to contain holes, curves, etc.

Now that you have the fill of the rooms floor or ceiling, you can tile it using the methods described earlier in this manual: chapter about Selecting Tile Pattern and Laying the Tile.

Once your floor is tiled, you need to paste the floor or ceiling tiles back into the room. Simply select the tiled fill, and click on the Create Floor or Ceiling icon.

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A new dialog window will open:

In this dialog window, you can enter the distance you wish the floor or ceiling to be from the zone. Enter the distance and click OK. Another dialog box will open requesting that you save the floor as a GDL object. Give the object a name and press Save.

Make sure that the object is saved in an active ArchiCAD library! The tiled floor object will now be placed in your ArchiCAD room.

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Draw a fill directly inside the room and transform the fill into a tiled floor

To Draw a fill(s) directly inside the room and transform the fill into a tiled floor, select the fill tool and draw the fill(s) you desire directly into your ArchiCAD room. You can modify these fills using the standard ArchiCAD methods to contain holes, curves, etc.

Select the fill and tile it using the methods described earlier in chapter about Selecting Tile Pattern and Laying the Tile. If there is more than one fill for your floor or ceiling, repeat the process until you have finished to tile your floor or ceiling. Click OK to finish. Repeat this process if you desire to create a floor and a ceiling. Your work is done! Smile

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If at any time you forget how to use a tool, click on the Help icon. ArchiTiles will open a help window where you can browse through various colorful explanations. Also, if you make an error, the correct help page, which describing the feature you were using, will automatically open.

On-Line Help

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Tile Calculations
Some very interesting features provided by ArchiTiles concerning the tiles calculations. As we already described before, when you create a tile object you can also link it to some information regarding pricing, quantity, producer, etc. Using a set of predefined templates, you will be able to display/ print all of this information. If you have properly loaded the ArchiTiles library, there will be 7 new list templates displayed in the ArchiCAD Calculate Menu:

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The first three Element list templates provide you with:

- Tiles(3D)
o This template lists all the tile objects included in your project, giving information about name, sizes and number of occurrences.

- Tiles/Stories
o This template lists all the tile objects included in your project, giving information about home story, name, total surfaces, and number of occurrences.

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- Tiles (Grand Totals)

o This template lists all the tile objects included in your project, giving information about name, total surfaces, and number of occurrences (this is a grand total list).

The Component list templates provides you with:

- Tiles/Names
o This is a very useful component template. It lists all the tile objects, displaying all the info regarding these components. These components come from the data you inserted during the tile creation (producer, code, currency, price, number of tiles per box) or from the changes you performed by selecting the tiles and configuring the values in their dialog settings window. Once again, we want to point out a very

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important feature: if you enabled the unit price check-box (during the tiles creation or in the tile dialog setting window) the cost will be calculated by multiplying the tile price for the number of tiles you inserted in the plan. Otherwise the cost will be calculate per area. That means the typed price will be multiplied for the tile covered surface. Another calculation method you have to remember is the way in which ArchiTiles calculates the number of tiles. In all the other lists, this number comes from the tile object occurrences and (not distinguishing whether the tiles have been cut or not). This special list calculates the number of tiles in a smarter way: if the tile surface is less than half a tile, ArchiTiles calculates half a tile, if the tile surface is more than half a tile, ArchiTiles calculates a whole tile.

- Tiles/Zones/Names
o This template lists all the tile objects included in your project, giving information about home room, name, components and quantity, and number of occurrences.

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The last Zone list template provides you with:

- Tiles/Zones
o This template lists all the tile objects included in your project, giving information about home zone name and number, tile name, and number of occurrences.

- Cigraph Zones
o This list doesnt have anything to do with the tile calculations. It only returns all the useful data about the zones inside your project enjoy it!

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Personalize the ArchiTiles list templates

There are some features you should know in order to customize the ArchiTiles list templates. First of all, the header data (all the info displayed in the page header) can be personalized by editing the following files (that you can find inside the ArchiTiles.Lib/ ArchiTiles List/ Personal Data folder): AT_TEXT_1.txt (a text file that identify the data displayed in the first header row) AT_TEXT_2.txt (a text file that identify the data displayed in the second header row) AT_TEXT_3.txt (a text file that identify the data displayed in the third header row) AT_TEXT_4.txt (a text file that identify the data displayed in the fourth header row) Logo_Studio.jpg (if you replace this image file with the logo of your office, your logo will be included in the list header)

Tile Drawing inside the lists

The ArchiTiles element list named Tiles(3d) can display also a graphic representation of the listed tiles. In order to display these drawings, you have to select all the tile objects in your project and link them to one of the following Property Objects: - Tile3D.GPS - TilePlan.GPS This is a standard ArchiCAD procedure, so we will suggest to you to read the ArchiCAD User Manual in order to better learn how you can link a property object to an ArchiCAD element. If you use the Tile3D.GPS property object the ArchiTiles list will display a 3D view of the listed tiles:

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If you use the TilePlan.GPS property object, the ArchiTiles list will display the plan of the listed tiles:

Filtering the data calculation

In order to get the correct result by using the ArchiTiles lists, we suggest you use these lists only with the ArchiTiles elements. This means that you have to customize these lists by properly configuring them. From the ArchiCAD Calculate Menu, choose the Setup List Schemes command.

On the right side, select the list scheme you want to modify.

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Now, on the First tab page, configure the listing option.

The best way to filter the ArchiTiles element is by using the layer hierarchy; when you lay your tiles, always use the same layers. Then, when you want to display the calculation, enable only these layers, and the ArchiTiles scheme lists will show all the requested data in the best way.

Origin of the calculation data

As you learned in the previous chapters, the final result produced by ArchiTiles is a set of objects that represents your tiles. From the tile laying on your room walls, you got a single object. From the laying of room slab and ceiling, you got single objects, ect. This ArchiCAD object represents only the 3D visualization of your tiles, but all the calculation info comes from all the single tile objects ArchiTiles automatically inserted in the ArchiCAD Floor plan. Once you have created the final 3D objects, DONT delete the tile objects from which they have been created, otherwise you will loose all the data needed for the tiles calculations. Of course, you can put these tiles out of sight by hiding their layer (the same layer you will use for the calculation purpose!). But once again, remember that if you delete them, you will not have any calculation features.

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There is another trick we suggest you use to hide these tiles without deleting them: 1. Select all the tiles you want to hide 2. Double-click on the ArchiTiles Tile Object Tool 3. In the displayed Tile Object Settings window, disable the variable named Show 3D (Show 3D = Off); In this way, independently from your layer configuration, the selected tiles wont be displayed in the 3D window, they will be displayed only in the ArchiCAD Floor plan.

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