Using the Magic Wand to Automatically Trace Elements

December 4, 2003 | Comments

The Magic Wand Tool is very versatile for automatically tracing elements with ArchiCAD. This tutorial will look at several different applications of the Magic Wand Tool.

EXAMPLE 1
In our first example, we will trace a simple polyline element. First draw a sequence of polylines and close the polygon.

01_small[1]
click on image to enlarge
Select the Wall Tool and choose the parameters for the wall height, width, material, etc., and then Magic Wand the polylines.

02_small[1]
click on image to enlarge
Instantly, the walls will be traced around the set of polylines. This also works on individual lines, or from a DWG template file.

03_small[1]
click on image to enlarge
Repeat this process with the Slab tool as well.

04_small[3]
click on image to enlarge
And then, repeat using the Magic Wand with the Fill Tool and the Area setting turned On.

05[1]
click on image to enlarge
Last, use the Magic Wand with the Roof Tool using the PolyRoof (Automatic Hip Roof) Option selected.

06_small[1]
click on image to enlarge
View it in 3D!

07[1]
click on image to enlarge
EXAMPLE 2

In this next example, we will create a barrel vault roof and control the resolution of the curvature.

First, draw an arc representing the profile of the roof, as shown in the image below:

08_small[1]
click on image to enlarge
Next, go back to the Magic Wand Settings under the Tools menu. Select 8 segments along an Arc this time.

09[1]
click on image to enlarge
Then activate the Roof Tool and choose the Barrel Vault style and Magic Wand the Profile.

10_small[1]
click on image to enlarge
Next, began drawing the floor plan area of the roof by starting from the bottom left side and extruding upwards.

11_small[1]
click on image to enlarge
Once drawn, select the thickness of the roof and the fascia angle.

12[1]
click on image to enlarge
Your plan should look something like this:

13_small[1]
click on image to enlarge
Now, view it in 3D!

14_small[1]

Repeat the processclick on image to enlarge using only 3 segments per arc this time.

15_small[1]
click on image to enlarge
And finally view in 3D!

16_small[1]
click on image to enlarge

Follow

Subscribe to CADdigest Weekly