Help importing property lines, and "getting started"

[TGYoung]

Hi all:

I must admit that I've tried to utilize TFP at least a couple of times in the somewhat distant past and never really was able to use the product effectively.  But I'm trying again with a trial of TFP 3D H&L Pro 2015 and have run into difficulties right off the bat.

Using TurboCAD Deluxe 16.2 I created a 2D drawing of my lot, showing lot lines, metes and bounds, radiuses, setbacks and so forth.  The native format of saved files for TCD is TCW but it does also allow for saving files as DWG so I saved the file and tried importing that file, ending up with a blank workspace.  I found Patricia G.'s tutorial on importing and worked through it as best I could.  Basically I eliminated everything from the drawing other that the lot lines themselves, making sure what was left was all on layer 0 and exploded, grid off and so forth, but still am unable to import.  TCD has a non-removable "$CONSTRUCTION" layer and also does not have any "Purge" function I could find and maybe those are affecting things.  Suggestions on other things to try?

Apart from the importing of the lot lines, I took a stab at simply drawing the exterior walls of my existing house, based on exterior measurements I've made: outside corner to outside corner, outside corner to inside corner, and inside corner to inside corner, depending on the wall.  My problem here is twofold, (or maybe threefold). 

I can draw my first wall to the correct dimension, but with the completion of the 2nd wall TFP extends the first wall by half the second wall's thickness, making the first wall too long, requiring that I go back and shorten that first wall.  And when I turn the corner for the second wall the automatic dimensions are now measuring from the inside of the first wall to the inside of what will be the third wall of the "box".  Since I'm working with outside dimensions I've tried using Zero offset dimensions along the exterior of walls, but that dimension isn't really "attached" to those corners.  If I shorten a wall trying to get it to the correct exterior dimension that zero offset dimension doesn't change, so I can't tell when I've got that wall to the correct length.

Is there any way to have TFP's automatic dimensions always display on the exterior of exterior walls? 

[Patricia G.]

Hi there,

Thank you for following my tutorial. If you followed the DXF / DWG import tutorial in my website www.punchhelpers.com (that I am in the process of updating), I'd suggest that you follow the tutorial in my free eBook, that you will find at www.smashwords.com/books/view/369372, because in the eBook, the tutorial is already updated.
If you are interested, you will find a new eBook exclusive for TFP users with lots of tutorials. In this eBook, the DXF / DWG import tutorial includes screenshots created with TurboCad. You will find more information at:
www.imsidesign.com/Products/TurboFLOORPLAN/TurboFloorPlan-Training-Tutorials

Some solutions:
DXF / DWG tutorial: one of the things that you should check is the version number of the DWG file. The best option (in my opinion) is to save the file as DWG Version 2000

I can draw my first wall to the correct dimension, but with the completion of the 2nd wall TFP extends the first wall by half the second wall's thickness, making the first wall too long, requiring that I go back and shorten that first wall.  And when I turn the corner for the second wall the automatic dimensions are now measuring from the inside of the first wall to the inside of what will be the third wall of the "box".  Since I'm working with outside dimensions I've tried using Zero offset dimensions along the exterior of walls, but that dimension isn't really "attached" to those corners.  If I shorten a wall trying to get it to the correct exterior dimension that zero offset dimension doesn't change, so I can't tell when I've got that wall to the correct length.

In order to draw a wall with the exact dimension you can use the Custom Wall tool, outlined in blue in the image attached. Or, if you prefer, you can select the wall (or another element) with the Resize Segment tool, outlined in red in the image attached.
Another useful tool is the Virtual Ruler => 2D => Show Virtual Ruler.
I always prefer to create the house perimeter, link the walls and adjust the dimensions after

Is there any way to have TFP's automatic dimensions always display on the exterior of exterior walls?

TFP's automatic dimensions are always displayed on the exterior of exterior walls, as you can see in the image attached, outlined in green

Hope this helps

Patricia

[TGYoung]

Some solutions:
DXF / DWG tutorial: one of the things that you should check is the version number of the DWG file. The best option (in my opinion) is to save the file as DWG Version 2000

Thank you for that.  Switching the DWG version to 2000 allowed me to import the lot lines.  I'll try your method on my original "lot" file with all the other information I ended up leaving out just to see if I can get that to work.

In order to draw a wall with the exact dimension you can use the Custom Wall tool, outlined in blue in the image attached. Or, if you prefer, you can select the wall (or another element) with the Resize Segment tool, outlined in red in the image attached.
Another useful tool is the Virtual Ruler => 2D => Show Virtual Ruler.
I always prefer to create the house perimeter, link the walls and adjust the dimensions after

I'll give all of that a try.  Trying to "freehand" to precise dimensions is pretty difficult.

TFP's automatic dimensions are always displayed on the exterior of exterior walls, as you can see in the image attached, outlined in green

Maybe the problem is that I haven't yet completed the perimeter.?  As you can see by the attached start of the house's perimeter, the first wall, (top, horizontal), is showing an outside dimension, the second wall is being measured on the interior side of the wall, (though I guess at this point TFP couldn't know that), the third wall is measured on the exterior side, and the forth wall in being measured on its interior.  Now that I think of it, you'd have to tell TFP which was the interior side and which was the exterior side in order to achieve what I asked for.

I did give the Custom Wall tool a try on the attached picture and I see that the same issues arise: the first wall grew by 2" when I attached the second wall, and the second wall's length was being measure on the interior side of the wall.

It seems like in TFP if you're attempting to duplicate exact exterior wall dimensions you need to know both the interior and exterior wall dimensions as well as the wall thickness, and do some math with each wall you are drawing.  Or is the way to do that is to complete the exterior walls "close enough" and then start adjusting?  Seems like the latter.

Hope this helps

Patricia

Absolutely.  Thank you very much.

[Patricia G.]

You're welcome! 

Yes, as you have an open perimeter, the program doesn't know if your are drawing exterior or interior walls. But, if you wish to visualize the dimensions, by selecting the walls outlined in blue in the image, go to the Properties bar (right pane) and click flip dimensions => the dimensions will appear on the external face of the wall. You can also choose (for internal walls) set the dims to surfaces or centers.
An additional tip: you can select one end of the wall and move it using the arrow keys (keyboard)

TFP, as any program, has a learning curve. The best way to learn the program, IMO, is practice + practice + practice => Read and follow the manual (this is important), see the videos => try to create elements not related with your project, so you will become familiar with the commands and how to develop the different components.

Patricia

[TGYoung]

go to the Properties bar (right pane) and click flip dimensions => the dimensions will appear on the external face of the wall.

Patricia

Thank you again.  I did try that, and it worked perfectly.  At 268 pages the User's Guide is a weighty tome that I just haven't managed to get through and digest, yet.

I've always know that TFP is a pretty potent program, having seen various user's renderings over the years, but yes, it's a steep learning curve.

[Patricia G.]

You're welcome! 

Glad to know that the solution worked

Patricia

[TGYoung]

Unfortunately, I'm still not "getting" it. 

I drew a rough exterior wall version of my house, flipping dimensions to the exterior side of the wall.  Having sort of, kind of, got the perimeter set, (due to imperfections in measurements the last wall did not "heal" correctly with the first wall), I started using the resize segment tool to get the exterior measurements to the "right" numbers.  What I found, however, is I couldn't really "fix" a wall size permanently: a resizing of a wall after the first two walls were resized resulted in the size of previously corrected walls with the same orientations, (horizontal, vertical), to also change.

In Pic 1 you see the top horizontal wall sized correctly at 32'-4 1/2" and the next vertical wall to the right sized correctly at 12'-0".  The next horizontal wall is incorrect at 6'-4 13/16".

In Pic 2 that third wall is properly sized at 6'-7", but the first wall has now shrunk to 32'-3 3/8".

If it's not really possible to directly draw exterior walls at fixed corner to corner lengths, (with the last wall being "derived" to close the structure), is there any way to keep TFP from resizing previously sized walls?

TIA.

Tom

[Patricia G.]

Hi Tom,

I see only one image in your post, but I think that I understand the issue.
In order to help you, I will ask you to follow this exercise => it is not related with your project and I am not saying that it is the perfect way to develop a project => my goal with the text and images is to help you to visualize the solution.
- Open a new and empty file, imagine that you are going to start a new project.
- Stage 1: using Quick Start, add 3 rooms in the workspace (in my image, a kitchen, living and dining room)
- Stage 2: click "Continue" so the 3 rooms will appear in the project stage, with walls, names, dimensions, etc. Note that all the exterior dimensions are on the perimeter.
- Stage 3: I removed the interior walls, so you can visualize the enclosed perimeter
- Stage 4: When you have an enclosed perimeter and you pass the mouse over the exterior face of the exterior walls, you will see a blue shadow (pointed in red) => this shows that the perimeter is perfectly fused (important for a lot of reasons that you will discover). When the perimeter enclosed, you can select a wall (outlined in green) and move it with the arrows in the keyboard or use Edit => Move => type the desired distance. As you can see, I moved each wall 1".
Also, you can set the grid and align the plan to the grid. In addition, set the Snaps, so you can Snap to grid.

I hope the exercise helps,

Patricia

[TGYoung]

Hi Tom,

I see only one image in your post, but I think that I understand the issue.

Patricia:

I went back and added the missing Pic 1 to my post to leave an historically accurate record of the issue.  (I also notice that your 4th picture is not showing up as a thumbnail or preview in the browser and clicking on it results in the picture opening via an image viewer installed on my computer.)

Your directions got me pointed in the right direction and I was able to complete the exterior outline of my house.  Using Quick Start to get the rough outline of the house sealed up the exterior.  I then tried using the Resize Segment tool but, initially, that ended up resizing walls that I previously had sized correctly.  I then tried using the Resize Segment tool with the Change Segment Length NOT being on Center and that worked, somewhat, but at some point I could no longer change segment lengths.  I'm guessing that the tick mark on "Linked" in the Change Segment Length window was the issue here.  A mystery to be explored at some other time.

Starting at the top of the drawing and working in a clockwise direction and moving adjacent walls to get the segment lengths correct did the trick.  To get wall lengths to match exactly with my (probably inexact) measurements required that I turn off snap to grid and push walls with the arrow keys.  Probably by dumb luck all my horizontal (East/West?) measurements lined up perfectly and the vertical (North/South) adjustments pushed the accumulated error of 1/16" to the final wall.

Now on to other challenges!

Thank you.

[Patricia G.]

Hi Tom,

You're welcome and thank you for your feedback! 

(I also notice that your 4th picture is not showing up as a thumbnail or preview in the browser and clicking on it results in the picture opening via an image viewer installed on my computer.)

Odd, see the screenshot attached, it appears OK in my computer

The # wall and the # arrow work fine for walls or other components that are not fused. If you have an enclosed perimeter, moving the walls with the arrow key as explained or using Edit => Move are the ways to go.

Patricia

[TGYoung]

Odd, see the screenshot attached, it appears OK in my computer

You are correct, it was there all along.  I'd scrolled down far enough that I wasn't seeing the thumbnail and I now see that clicking on the title, instead of the thumbnail, always opens the picture on your own computer.  Rookie mistake.

[Patricia G.]

 
Glad to know that the images are appearing OK, thank you for the confirmation!

Patricia