December 2-5, 2003 MGM Grand Hotel Las Vegas Breaking Down the Walls in Autodesk Architectural Desktop Matt Dillon BD11-1 This course is a repeat of last year's popular tutorial, updated for Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2004 and its powerful new wall-manipulation and management capabilities. It covers everything from basic wall properties to advanced wall styles and manipulation. Learn how to customize wall styles with custom components, advanced display control techniques, and custom endcaps. Explore the advanced 3D editing tools for manipulating roof and floor lines. Explore the possibilities of applying sweep, body, and plan modifiers, and wall-interference conditions. Learn proven, simple techniques for avoiding the dreaded "red circle of death" that can occur in complex wall cleanup situations. About the Speaker: A registered architect with 16 years of experience in Autodesk architectural applications, Matt Dillon has worked with AutoCAD Architectural Desktop since the initial release and is a moderator in the Autodesk discussion forums on the product. In addition to being an Autodesk Certified Instructor at an Autodesk Authorized Training Center and providing end-user technical support, he assists customers in implementing Autodesk Architectural Desktop. He also consults with Autodesk development staff in product design and usability. Currently, Matt is promoting the adoption of Building Information Modeling in the United States. Email: matt_dillon@sbcglobal.net
Wall Basics Wall Terminology Baseline: The wall baseline defines where the wall exists in 2D and 3D. A wall s components are defined relative to the baseline, and the baseline will determine where the wall exists in 3D space. (Usually the baseline is at the bottom of the wall, at elevation zero). Walls must have their baselines at the same elevation in order to clean up with each other. Graphline: The graphline is also referred to as the justification line. It is defined by the points that were selected to draw the wall. The graphline is important for wall cleanup because in order for automatic cleanup to occur, graphlines must intersect. (Autosnap and the cleanup radius are also a factor in wall cleanup and are covered later.) Base Height: Base height is the value given in the Properties screen, and is usually considered the ceiling height. It does not have to coincide with the actual wall top. Wall Top: The top of the wall can actually extend beyond the base height and unlike the base height value of the wall, the wall top can have a varying elevation. Wall tops can form gables, or be extended above the wall base height to enclose a parapet, for example. (The wall top can actually be below the wall base height as well). Wall Bottom: In a manner similar to the wall top, the wall bottom can extend below the baseline elevation of the wall (or above it). Wall Creation Options When creating a wall, critical properties to be aware of are: Wall Style: Frequently when you add a wall the default style is set to Standard, which is a simple, 2-line wall representation with a variable width. While this may be the desired effect in some cases, unless it has been modified in your template the Standard wall style does not have the proper component settings established to allow it to clean up with other wall types. If you have other styles loaded in your drawing, you can change the wall style to one of those in the Properties screen before you create your first wall. Additionally, if you use tool palettes, you can select a pre-configured tool that automatically imports a particular style and sets it current as you create your wall. (Wall styles are covered in more detail later in this document) Width: If a wall has a variable width, this value should be set at the time of creation (although it can also be changed later). Base Height: Even if you don t yet know the actual height of your wall, it should be set to some value that makes sense for a typical wall. Drawing a wall with a base height that is set too low, for example, can cause it to display strangely in plan, leading to confusion and a loss of productivity while you attempt to diagnose the problem. 2
Justification: Justification can play an important part in wall behavior, especially when complex wall types are being used. In the case of many complex walls, the Baseline is defined to be a critical part of the wall, such as the outer face of structure or the outer face of veneer. By using Baseline justification on complex walls, you can more easily accommodate possible changes in the future. Cleanup Group Definition: If you have multiple cleanup groups defined in your drawing, you should pay attention to the definition being assigned to your wall, as this will determine which of the other walls in your drawing it will clean up with. All of the properties listed above can be changed in the Properties dialog box, either at the time the wall is created or afterwards. Tips Consider Baseline Justification: While this may not be applicable to all walls, it can be extremely important for more complex wall styles where you may be in a fluid design situation. An example is an exterior stud wall with a veneer. If your baseline is defined in a place that makes sense, such as the outer face of the veneer or the outer face of the stud, then by using baseline justification, you are allowing yourself a bit more flexibility and less trouble if you decide to change a wall to a particular style. This is illustrated in the following example. Initially, you may have a wall that consists of a simple 3 1/2" frame with a masonry Wall properties. These can be set at the time the wall is created, or modified later. veneer on it. However, later you may decide that part of the wall needs to be 5 ½" framing (for plumbing, etc.). In the examples shown, baseline justification was used, so when the wall "grew", it adjusted in a predictable and desirable fashion. Had the wall been drawn with the justification on the inside face of the wall, the situation would have been different and the wall would have to have been moved as well. In some cases, just moving the wall would have possibly caused some additional cleanup issues as well. 3
Draw with the wall baseline at elevation zero: Again, walls with different baseline elevations will not clean up. If you need the bottom of the wall to be above or below elevation zero, you can use the "Floor Line" command to "extend" the wall bottom without moving the baseline. It will look correct in 3D and it will clean up properly in 2D. When in doubt, right-click: If you need to modify a wall, but are not sure what to do out of the many options available, right click on the wall and take a minute to look at the menu. Most of the commands that you need to adjust or modify a wall are found there and they are more easily understood in the context of the wall itself. Understand basic wall terminology: Know how the baseline and justification line (or graph line) can affect walls. Also, it is important to understand the terms "Wall Top", "Base Height", "Baseline" and "Wall Bottom". Wall Cleanup Wall cleanup is affected by a variety of factors: Graphline: If wall graphlines do not meet, walls will not attempt to cleanup without manual intervention. Wall Component Priorities: These are defined in the wall style editor, and control how the components that make up a wall act when they come in contact with components from another wall. They should be standardized and consistent, and should relate to the order of construction. We will look at these closer when we look at wall styles. Baseline Elevation: Walls whose baselines are not at the same exact elevation will not even attempt to clean up. In most cases, your walls should be drawn with the baseline elevation at 0. The Elevation field in the Properties dialog box under Location is the baseline elevation of the wall. If you need a wall to extend below the baseline or exist above the baseline (a bulkhead wall, for example), keep the baseline at zero. Instead of moving the wall up or down, edit the wall bottom to pull it above or extend it below the baseline. Again, we will cover wall top and bottom modifications later on. Autosnap: Again, graphlines must typically meet before walls will clean up without additional intervention. Autosnap is a setting that can assist walls in connecting graphlines automatically when they are drawn. Autosnap is really three settings the Autosnap radius, and under which conditions it is turned on (upon wall creation and/or during the grip-editing of walls). You can adjust these settings in the Options dialog box, under the AEC Object Settings tab. The Autosnap Radius setting will control the proximity that two graphlines The Autosnap settings of the Options dialog box. must be to each other in order to automatically connect. 6 is the default, and is usually sufficient for most conditions. When Autosnap New Wall Baselines is checked on, when you finish creating a wall the ends of that wall will look for any other wall graphlines within the Autosnap Radius distance. If any are found, the graphlines will extend to connect to them and the walls will attempt to clean up. If you grip-edit a wall and the Autosnap Grip Edited Wall Baselines setting is on, then the same thing will happen as soon as you are finished with the edit operation. (Sometimes this can happen when you don t want it to, so it is important to know where to go to turn this setting on and off). Also, remember that you can connect graphlines by using AutoCAD commands such as 4
TRIM/EXTEND, FILLET and CHAMFER, as well as the L Cleanup and T Cleanup commands found on the wall right-click menu. Cleanup Radius: The Cleanup Radius is normally used when it isn t feasible to connect the graphlines of two or more walls. Setting it to a value other than 0 will cause the wall to look for another graphline to connect to within the boundaries of the value set. If one is found, then the wall components will clean up without the graphline being extended to the other wall. The easiest way to adjust the cleanup radius of the end of a wall is to turn on the Graphline Display. This will cause an additional grip to appear at the ends of a selected wall, which will allow you to graphically adjust the radius wherever it is necessary. Graphline Display The Graphline Display is a tool that you can use to diagnose wall cleanup issues and to allow you to graphically modify the cleanup radius. Normally this display is not visible and must be toggled on manually. To do this, select any wall in your drawing and right click. From the right-click menu select Cleanup, then Toggle Wall Graph Display. If you are using one of the standard drawing templates that come with Architectural Desktop (and you should be), then the wall graph line will be displayed as a blue dashed line. Any cleanup radii will be displayed as a cyan circle (you may not have any in your drawing initially, so don t worry if you don t see any). With the graphline display turned on, you can easily see which graphlines are not touching. You will also be able to edit the cleanup radius graphically. When you select a wall you will see an additional grip arrow at each end of the wall. Selecting this arrow will allow you to adjust the cleanup radius by eye so that it will overlap the graphline of another wall. Again, if you are using one of the standard templates, the graphline and cleanup radius circles are assigned to a layer that is set to a non-plotting status, so technically you could leave them on all the time, however this can make your drawing difficult to read in the drawing editor. Graphline Display is a toggle, and can be turned off in the same manner that you used to to turn it on. Select any wall, right click, select Cleanup, then Toggle Wall Graph Display. 5
The Death Circle The wall defect marker ( Death Circle or Dreaded Red Circle of Death ) is shown when two or more walls area attempting to clean up, but there is something causing them to clean up improperly or a condition exists that is preventing Architectural Desktop from calculating their cleanups clearly. The causes for this are numerous, however the most common are graphline errors. The wall graphlines touch or intersect but may do so in a way that is ambiguous. An example is the condition shown to the right. The two walls meeting at an L intersection are attempting to clean up, however the vertical wall s graphline extends just slightly below the graphline of the horizontal wall. (The graphlines are not visible in this illustration this is how it would look before you toggle the wall graphline display on). In this particular case, the issue can be resolved easily by performing a FILLET or using the L Clean command. (The L Clean and T Clean commands are found on the wall right-click menu under the Cleanup section, just under the command to toggle the wall graph display). Other things can cause the defect marker to appear as well. For example, endcaps that are too close to each other can cause a cleanup error, and conflicting wall component cleanup priorities can also sometimes cause problems. Wall Cleanup Groups Cleanup groups are defined in the Style Manager and perform three functions in Architectural Desktop. First, walls on different cleanup groups will not clean up with each other. This is handy if you have walls to be demolished intersecting with new or existing construction for example. By simply placing the walls on different named cleanup groups you can cause them to ignore each other. Second, on the Design Rules tab of the cleanup group definition box you can specify whether or not walls on a given cleanup group can clean up across external references. This is especially handy if you are working in a project where you have typical floor arrangements (typical restrooms, office layouts, etc.) that have to be referenced into a larger floor plan. A third setting is to allow things like doors and windows to be moved to walls that are part of other cleanup groups. Tips to Prevent Wall Cleanup Problems There are a number of things you can do to minimize the amount of manual intervention that you ll have to perform to clean up walls. Use Autosnap. Turn Autosnap on and setting a reasonable Autosnap radius (6 is usually a good number to work with). Set the default cleanup radius to zero. This is the default setting in the AEC Object Settings tab in the Options dialog box, and it should stay at zero. If the cleanup radius is already set to a nonzero value before you draw a wall, you will find it extremely difficult to draw short wall segments, or wall segments that need to exist very close to each other (for example plumbing chase walls that may be only separated by a few inches). Standardize Wall Cleanup Priorities. There is a list of suggested cleanup priorities in the Architectural Desktop Users Guide, and that list is reproduced later on in this document as well. Whether you use the suggested values or develop your own, it is critical to have a logical, well thought out and consistent cleanup priority numbering system. Draw walls with the baseline at zero. Again, if wall baselines are not at the same exact elevation they will not even attempt to clean up. If you need the bottom of a wall to be at some other elevation you can use the floor line (wall bottom) editing commands which will be covered later. 6
Practice good drafting techniques. Although you are actually modeling in Architectural Desktop and not really drafting, you should still practice the techniques for good drafting that you use in AutoCAD. In particular, you should always use object snaps to connect geometry and make sure that you have good clean intersections. This should prevent dangling graphlines that can cause the defect marker from appearing. Tips to Resolve Wall Cleanup Problems When wall cleanup issues arise it is usually a case of walls not cleaning up at all or walls attempting to clean up, but failing to do so properly, resulting in a defect marker. When walls are not cleaning up at all, then you might consider the following steps in order: Turn on wall graph display. Check the wall graph lines at the locations where walls are not cleaning up. Are they all connected and touching? If not, use EXTEND/TRIM, FILLET/CHAMFER or T Clean / L Clean to fix them. If you have a situation where the wall graphlines cannot touch because of the layout of the walls, then override the cleanup radius at the end of the wall that you need to clean. Check the wall baseline elevations. Select all of the walls in question and activate the Properties manager (right click and select Properties if it is not already available on your screen). Look in the Location section of the Properties screen and check the Elevation value if it varies, then reset them all to the same elevation (usually 0). Check the wall cleanup group definitions. If walls are on different cleanup groups they will not attempt to clean up with each other, and can not be made to clean up. If they are on the same cleanup group, make sure that none of them are part of an external reference. If one or more are, then it could be that the cleanup group in one or both files is not enabling the cleanup of walls between external references. You can resolve this by editing the cleanup group definition (you need to have the capability turned on in both the parent and the child drawings). When walls are attempting to clean up, but a defect marker is shown: Turn on wall graph display. Look at the intersections on all walls on which a defect marker is shown, checking for wall graphlines that connect, but perhaps cross just slightly over each other (you may have to ZOOM in very close to see them). In these cases you should be able to FILLET/TRIM or use L Clean / T Clean to resolve the situation. Check for wall endcaps. You may need to check the wall style definition to see if there are endcaps specified for openings. If there are, and you have openings that are very close together you may have a situation where there is not enough room to display the endcaps in between the openings. To resolve this, your only recourse is to override the endcaps at the openings to use a simpler endcap style (or revert back to the simplest form Standard, which is typically just a straight line). Check the wall cleanup priorities. This is done in the wall style editor (wall styles and cleanup priorities are covered in detail later in this document). If you find problems here, and this is a wall that did not come from a source outside of your office, then your problem most likely runs deeper than just this one instance. Wall component priorities should be standardized and consistent though out all of your wall styles. In the rare case when all else fails and you still can not get your walls to clean up, you can use the Wall Merge feature. Select one of the walls in question, right click and select Cleanups, then Add Wall Merge Condition. Select all walls that need to merge with that wall. This should only be used as a last resort since it actually removes all parametric cleanup information from the selected wall and can sometimes cause more problems than it solves (note that you can remove wall merge conditions as well). 7
Wall Styles Creating wall styles is much more than just defining the components that make up a wall. You also have to consider how those components will act when they come in contact with components from another wall and how the wall will look in different types of plan and 3D representations. Additionally, you need to consider how much detail you want to show in the wall, keeping in mind that the greater the amount of detail, the more potential there is for errors, and the more performance issues you may have. When you define a wall style, it s a good idea to follow a set play or sequence of events: Sketch the wall this is your plan. Without a plan you re sunk. Edit the wall style parameters: General Provide a name and a description. Components Define the structure of the wall Test/Refine always test the wall style in a drawing as soon as possible so you can make sure it is acting the way you had intended. You will sometimes be surprised at some little detail that you may have overlooked. Display Control and Materials At the very least, you should assign materials to each component in your wall style. With a well defined and standardized library of material definitions you can frequently avoid having to make any other major modifications to the default display settings for your wall style. However, in some cases, style-level overrides may be necessary. Define Endcaps First create an endcap style, then assign the endcap style to your wall style. You may need to define both end conditions and opening conditions. Save to the Library Using Style Manager, once you are satisfied with your wall style save it away to a central library drawing so that you can re-use it at a future date in another drawing. You should never have to create a wall style more than once. Save to a Catalog Once you have the wall style created and saved to a central library file, it is a simple task to save it to a catalog for immediate use by any and all members of your design team. Saving the wall style to a catalog will make it easy to gain access to by everyone on your team without having to manually import it using the Style Library. General Conventions The following are not requirements, but are conventions that are followed by Autodesk and most 3 rd party developers who provide custom wall styles. For consistency s sake if nothing else, you may want to consider them, however they are also based on a certain logic. Wall Style Naming: Typically wall style names will indicate the structure of the wall. For example, a wall style that represents 8 CMU with GWB on one side and a brick veneer with an air gap on the exterior might be named: CMU-8 GWB-0.625 Air-1.5 Brick-3.5 This may seem a bit redundant, since you would probably also indicate the structure in the wall style description, but when you are scrolling through a long list of names, it is helpful to have descriptive names. Component Creation Order: You should create your components starting with the exterior side of the wall, working towards the interior side. This way if you later have to attach an endcap using non-graphical methods, it is easy to remember the component index numbers. The component furthest to the outside will always be component index 1, and the others will follow in sequence. Component Dimensions and Spacing: Normally when you specify the edge offset of a wall component, you should always specify it to the interior face of the component, regardless of which side of the baseline it is on, and then specify the width of the component with a positive number. So, in the case of a wall where the baseline is on the outer face of a 2x4 stud, the edge offset of the stud would be specified as 3 ½ (not zero, although technically that would be correct), and the width of the stud component would be specified as 3 ½. 8
Example Wall Style Step 1 Sketch The sketch below shows the wall style we will build, with the components labeled and dimensioned. The baseline of the wall style will run along the outside face of the stud, which is a critical point in the wall construction. Additionally, openings will have a different endcap than the ends of the wall. In fact, they will have different endcap conditions for the sill and head, as well as the jambs. Step 2 Wall Style Parameters Convention, again, is to give the wall a name that is indicative of it s construction, with a more detailed description. In this example, we ll use the following (do this on the General tab of the wall style editor): Name Stud-3.5 Rigid-1.5 Air-1 Brick-3.5 GWB-0.625 Description 3 ½ wood stud with rigid insulation and brick veneer, 5/8 GWB on one side Next we ll define the components that make up the wall style itself. This is done on the Components tab. It includes the distance from the wall baseline to the component, the width of the component, any 3D elevational offsets and component cleanup priorities. When defining components you ll need to think of walls as being directional objects, and we usually consider them running from left to right when working in the wall style editor. Anything that is to the left side of the baseline is considered a positive value, anything to the right is negative. Some terms that you ll need to be familiar with include: Edge offset this is the distance from either face of a component to the baseline. Typical convention is to provide the dimension to the right edge of each component (the lowest edge as you are looking at the sketch), even if it is a negative value. (Wall widths are always positive values if following this convention). Elevation Offsets These are vertical distances that a component can be offset from wall top, wall base height, wall bottom or wall baseline. An example of where you might want to do this would be a case of a brick veneer, such as the one in our example wall style, where we might want to allow for a brick lug and extend the brick component below the baseline (or wall bottom). When defining components, an additional convention is to list them in order from the left side of the wall (which is typically considered the exterior side) toward the right or interior. When defining them, however, you might find it useful to start at the right (interior) side of the wall. As you define new components, 9
make sure the previously defined component is selected and it will be copied so that your new component is at the top of the list. When doing it this way, make sure that you have the option to automatically calculate edge offsets turned on (this option is found in the lower right corner of the wall style editor). This will automatically set your edge offset value to the correct amount. If you decide to list and define from the top down, however, turn the auto-calculate feature off, as it will give you erroneous results. Our wall style will have components defined as shown in the following image. Note the values in the Priority column. These cleanup priorities are based on the Architectural Desktop default values which can be found in the Architectural Desktop Users Guide. It is strongly recommended that you use these values and standardize on them. Cleanup priorities determine how components will act when they come in contact with components from other walls (regardless of the wall style). Components with a lower number have a higher priority, and will pass through components with a higher number (lower priority). Components whose priorities match exactly will clean up with each other. Looking at the numbers above, notice that the components that would be installed first have a lower number (higher priority) than components that would be installed later in the construction process. Following this convention, you will find that most complex cleanup conditions between walls will be handled automatically. Notice also that currently we are not assigning any elevation offsets. We could add a -1 1/2 offset from the wall bottom in this case, for the Brick Veneer component to allow for a brick lug, however this is only really beneficial if you are planning to show that in a 2D section view. Step 3 Test Save the wall style and exit Style Manager. Draw a wall like the one in the following image. Make sure that all the components are in the correct location and that they are cleaning up properly. If necessary, return to the wall style editor to correct any problems before going on. 10
Step 4 Display Control and Materials Display control is one of the more critical aspects of defining a wall style, and it can be the most complex and time-consuming aspects of the style to set up, unless you use a well defined, standardized and consistent set of material definitions. By using material definitions to control a good part of your style s display characteristics you can simplify and standardize your wall styles. First however, it s important to understand what, exactly, is involved with wall display. Wall display properties typically consist of four areas: visibility settings, hatching parameters, cut plane parameters and other miscellaneous settings. The image below shows the visibility settings, which include some terms that need to be understood to get the maximum benefit of wall display control. Cut Plane Imagine a plan view (whether it is a reflected ceiling plan or a floor plan) being a horizontal section cut through a building. The cut plane is the distance above elevation zero (the floor, usually) where that section cut line would exist. Normally the cut plane is a globally assigned elevation defined by the current display configuration, but individual walls can override this setting when necessary. Notice in the image above elements above and below the cut plane are assigned different colors, linetypes, lineweights and plot styles (independent from the assignment that the wall as a whole might have). Shrink Wrap Wherever the cut plane passes through a wall, those lines that would be drawn with a heavier line (outer profile lines) are called Shrink Wrap and are controlled independently from other wall elements for the purposes of color, lineweight, etc. Note that the settings above (which are the default settings for walls in the standard Architectural Desktop template drawings) cause the shrink wrap component to follow all of the display assignments attributed to the wall as a whole. Defect Warning This is the Death Circle discussed in the section on wall cleanup. Note that it is placed on the layer G-Anno-Nplt for display purposes (even though the wall as a whole is most likely on another layer altogether). Boundary 1 20 Boundaries are the wall components defined in the Components tab of the wall style editor. Walls can have up to 20 boundaries. Again, the image above shows the default wall settings. If you were editing a style or object level override you would be seeing only those boundaries (components) that actually had been defined for this wall style, and they would have names assigned to them. Note also that the boundaries, in the default settings, have their display control assigned By Material. This means that instead of painstakingly assigning different visibility and plot settings to each component in a wall, you can simply assign a standardized material to that component and the material display properties will control the display of the wall component. 11
This, again, is the default method for controlling wall display and if you have a standardized library of material definitions, will make your wall display control much simpler. Hatch 1 20 Each boundary has a corresponding hatch component. Again, these are typically set to By Material to simplify display control, and if turned on will follow the display control assigned to the material associated with each component. The image below shows one of the display representations for the visibility settings for a material definition (in this case, a brick material). Note that there are settings for plan, section and elevation and 3D linework, as well as a variety of hatch settings for visibility in different contexts. (Note the image above does not represent a default display representation for a material. Most noticeably, the plot styles listed are different from the default settings. This does not mean that you should not use the defaults; if you decide to modify your materials to depart from the default settings, again, great thought and care should go into making sure that they work for you and are consistent with a standard.) So, if our materials are defined well, we do not need to modify the visibility settings of a wall s display control. We can simply assign a material instead! To assign a material, you will most likely need to import it from another drawing using Style Manager. The materials that come with Architectural Desktop normally are installed in the following location: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\Autodesk Architectural Desktop 2004\R16.0\enu\Styles\ Look in either the Metric or Imperial folders in that location, and find the drawing Material Definitions.dwg. Open this in Style Manager and you will find the material definitions underneath Multi- Purpose Objects. Hint: To avoid having to search for this file (or your own custom material library drawing), leave it open in Style Manager it will be there the next time you need it. Once you have imported all the materials that you need for your wall, you can assign them to the components in the Materials tab of the wall style editor, as in the following image. Note that the Shrinkwrap component is left with a material definition of Standard since none of its display characteristics are normally By Material. Also, you can use the buttons on the right to create new materials on the fly or edit a selected material, however again, be aware of your standards. If you create a new material, you should save it to your material library for future use, and if you edit an existing material, you should not violate any of your existing standards. 12
Once the visibility settings have been established, you can move on to the hatch parameters. Again, the default is to simply allow the material definitions to determine the hatching parameters for each component. If the hatch for the component is turned on, then the hatch will be visible, but all other aspects, including the pattern type, angle, and scale, will be determined by the material. In our example, we are turning on all hatch patterns. The stud material and air gap materials have no hatching assigned, so it will be as if they are turned off. The brick, insulation and GWB materials, however will show hatching, and take their settings from their respective materials. The following image shows the hatch settings for the brick material: Next, you can move to the Cut Plane parameters of the wall s display control, however it is rare that you should have to make any changes here. Usually you can let the wall follow the cut plane definition that has been globally defined in the current display configuration (3-6 for a plan display and 7-6 for a reflected ceiling display is the default in the Imperial drawings). If you have a wall style for which you need a different cut plane however, you can override the global cut plane with your own. For our purposes the global cut plane will do fine. Finally, check the settings for Other parameters, which are shown in the following example for a plan display (we ll look at the Model display later). In the image above, the drawing defaults should be changed from the templates that come with Architectural Desktop. In this example, we need to turn off the setting to Hide Lines Below Openings at Cut Plane. This is because our window sills will be projecting outward from the wall and we will not want to see wall lines below (inside) of them. Whether you choose to do this as a default or make it a stylelevel override will depend upon your preferences, but you should be aware of the setting. For this example, turn it off. With your display settings established, you should save your wall style and exit the editor to see the effects on your wall. If satisfied, you can move to the next step which is to define wall endcaps and opening endcaps, if necessary. Step 5 Wall Endcaps and Opening Endcaps Endcaps allow you to parametrically define how your wall will act at any unconnected ends and at any openings. Openings can have different endcaps than the ends; in fact, your opening endcaps can vary depending on the type of opening. In our example we will have one type of endcap for the unconnected end and another for the openings, but the same endcap will apply to all types of openings. 13
In most cases, to define a wall endcap the easiest method is to simply draw it in place with polylines and use the Auto-Calculate feature. This what we ll do in the case of our wall s basic endcap. First, create a wall segment running from left to right. ZOOM in to the right end of the wall and draw the wall endcap in the left part of the the image below. Once you have drawn the polylines, select the wall, right-click, select Endcaps, then Calculate Automatically. When prompted, select all of the polylines that define the endcap. Specify that this is to be a wall style default endcap, then when prompted for a name, enter Stud-3.5 Rigid-1.5 Air-1 Brick-3.5 GWB-0.625 (End1). This will indicate the specific wall style that this particular endcap definition goes with, as well as the fact that it is for an end condition. Once you are finished, select OK and your completed endcap should look like the image on the right. (Note: Polylines that have a non-zero width when used to define an endcap will cause their associated boundary lines to be invisible along that section of the polyline that was assigned a width). To define the opening endcap, it s a little more complicated. Opening endcaps are actually a collection of endcap definitions. First you define the endcaps in a manner similar to what we did above, but then you define an opening endcap and specify the contexts in which each endcap will be used (sill, head, jamb1 or jamb2). To get started, however, we ll do it in a fashion similar to before. First, insert a window into your wall and zoom to the left jamb of the opening (the actual window type doesn t matter). Next, draw the polylines shown in the image on the left below. Once the polylines are drawn, as before, select the wall, right-click, select Endcaps, then Calculate Automatically. Select the wall near the left jamb and again define this as a wall style default and select the polylines. You will notice this time however, since you have selected near an opening, it is assumed that you are defining an opening endcap. You are prompted for both an endcap definition name as before, but you must also provide an opening endcap name as well. Fill out the values to match the dialog box in the image to the right. Note that we are only using this definition for the jambs. We will create the sill and head endcaps differently, then assign them to the opening endcap definition. After selecting OK, your opening endcap should look like the image to the right above. To create the head and sill endcaps we could work in plan, 14
however it might be a bit more intuitive if we work more in context. To get set up, create a section view through your wall and opening and ZOOM in on it. To create the head endcap condition, manually draw the polylines shown in the figure to the right. Since you are drawing the endcap on a section, you can t use the Calculate Automatically feature that we used before. Instead, you ll have to define the endcap manually, then assign it to the opening endcap that has already been defined. To do this, launch Style Manager. In your current drawing s view, open the Architectural Objects folder and find the Wall Endcap Styles item. Right click on this and select New. When you have a new wall endcap definition in the window on the right, double click on it to edit it. Before going any further, go to the General tab and change the name to: Stud-3.5 Rigid-1.5 Air-1 Brick-3.5 GWB-0.625 (Head1) Select OK to leave the endcap style editor. Most endcap style parameters are set from the polylines that you draw and are not accessible through the editor itself. Now that you have changed the name, however, select your new endcap style, right click on it and select Set From. Style Manager should disappear and you should be back in the drawing editor. Respond to the command prompts as indicated below: Select a polyline: Select the polyline on the outermost side (for the brick). Enter component index for this segment <1>: Press <ENTER>. The first component in your wall style editor s Components tab should have been the brick. This is why you need to follow a convention for component order when creating wall styles. Certain commands, such as this one, do not call them by name, but by index number instead. Add another component? [Yes/No] <No>: y Select a polyline: Select the polyline that caps off the Rigid Insulation component. You will probably have to use AutoCAD s object cycling feature (using the <CTRL> key to cycle between coincident objects) to make sure you are selecting the right polyline. Enter component index for this segment <2>: 3 Note that we skipped over the air gap (index 2) because it is capped off by the brick component s endcap. Add another component? [Yes/No] <No>: y Select a polyline: Pick the stud component s endcap, again using the <CTRL> key to make sure you are selecting the correct one. Enter component index for this segment <3>: 4 Again, note that this command does not automatically increment the index counter from the last one you specified. You will need to be extremely careful when specifying component indexes to make sure you are providing the right one. Add another component? [Yes/No] <No>: y Select a polyline: Pick the polyline that caps off the GWB component. Enter component index for this segment <4>: 5 Add another component? [Yes/No] <No>: Press <ENTER> Enter return offset <0">: Press <ENTER> You should now be back in Style Manager. With your new wall endcap definition created you can now add it to the existing opening endcap definition. In the window on the left, find the category for Wall Opening Endcap Styles and select it. In the window on the right, you should see your Stud-3.5 Rigid-1.5 Air-1 Brick-3.5 GWB-0.625 (Opening1) definition. Double click on it to edit it and apply your new (Head1) endcap to the head conditions of the opening endcap definition as in the image to the right. 15
To test your modifications, you will need to make one more change to the wall style. By default, wall endcaps are not displayed in 3D, meaning that you wouldn t see this change in your wall section either, since it uses the wall s 3D ( Model ) display settings for much of it s information. To make the endcaps appear in your section (and in any 3D views you might generate), you need to edit the wall style again. In the wall style s Display Control tab, place a check mark in the box under the Style Override column to the left of the Model display representation. This will automatically bring up the display editor. Go to the Other tab. Here you ll find that there s only one setting turn on the option to display wall endcaps in 3D, then select OK until you return all the way out to the drawing editor. You ll not see any changes yet, however you have just instructed all walls on this style to depart from the drawing default settings where 3D endcaps are concerned. Finally, select the section view you created earlier, right-click and select Refresh. If you did everything correctly, your updated wall opening endcap style will look like the image to the right. Using the techniques described above, see if you can create the more challenging sill endcap condition to the right, following these basic steps: Draw the polylines in place on top of the wall section. You may find it helpful in the case of the brick endcap to create some lines on top of which you can trace your polyline. Also, make sure that the endpoints of all of the polylines line up across the width of the wall. You may also find it helpful after drawing the polylines to move them away from the section to make it easier to select them. Create a new Wall Endcap Style. Call it Stud-3.5 Rigid-1.5 Air-1 Brick-3.5 GWB-0.625 (Sill1). Use the Set From option to select the polylines (don t forget to use <CTRL> to cycle and make sure you re picking the right polyline). Assign the new wall endcap style to the existing opening endcap style as a sill condition. Refresh your section to check your work. If any of the endcaps seem reversed, redraw that particular endcap in the opposite direction from the way you did it the first time, then redefine your Wall Endcap Definition (not the wall opening endcap definition), and finally, refresh the section to check. Note: Don t worry about the position of the window and window frame within the wall. This is not controlled by the wall style, but is an anchor property of the window itself. It can be adjusted by selecting the window and using the right-click Reposition Within command or grips. Step 5 Save to the Library Once you have gone to the trouble to create a wall style, and have tested it, you should store it away in a central library file so that it can be re-used in the future. A library file is nothing more than a drawing file that contains the style definition. If you are in a multi-user environment, this file should be on a network drive where everyone can get to it (you can write-protect the file or grant Read only permissions to other users if you want to control who can actually modify the styles within it). Using Style Manager, you can drag and drop your new wall style into the library file. Any required endcap styles will also be exported with the wall style when you do so. Step 6 Save to a Catalog To make access to your wall styles easier, you should go the extra step of saving them to custom tool palettes and catalogs. The details of that process are somewhat outside the scope of this course, however the basic steps are as follows: In your Content Browser, add a new catalog in a network location if you do not already have one. Open that new catalog. Create a category and/or palette for your wall styles. 16
In your drawing editor, create a new palette (call it scratch or work this is a temporary palette that serves as a transfer point for your styles). Open Style Manager and drag your new wall style from the library drawing to your new palette. It is vital that you drag it from the library drawing, as it carries the location of this file with it. The style is not imported into a drawing until the tool that this operation creates is actually used. The source file is stored as one of the tool properties. Drag the new tool from your scratch palette to the appropriate palette in your custom catalog. The catalog file on the network is updated immediately, and all users will now have access to your style, either by dragging and dropping the tool from Content Browser to a palette, dragging the entire custom palette to their workspace, or by refreshing the palette after it has already been dropped into their workspace. Advanced Wall Plan Tools There are a variety of additional tools to manipulate and edit walls, as well as to modify their appearance. Wall Grips Several grip control tools are available, as illustrated in the following image. Note that in some cases not all of these grips will appear. For example, the grips to control the wall width will only appear for a variable width wall (they wouldn t appear on the wall style described in the preceding pages). The grips to adjust the cleanup radius will only appear if you have wall graphlines toggled on. Any grip that controls a distance value (for example the grips that control wall width or wall length) will allow you to enter a dimensional value in addition to graphically selecting a distance, and will frequently have multiple dynamic dimensions that appear that you can tab through, choosing the dimension that you want to change. Wall Offset In addition to being able to move, copy and offset walls with AutoCAD commands, you can use the wall offset feature included in Architectural Desktop to provide more contextual accuracy and convenience. First, you select the wall you want to move or copy, then right-click. Select Offset and then one of three options: Move selecting this option will move the wall a set distance, using either the face of the wall or the center of a wall component as a reference. You are prompted to select the reference point, and you will see a red line as an indicator of what you are selecting. Holding the <CTRL> key will toggle you to a mode where you are selecting the centers of components rather than their faces. Once you have selected your reference point, you can either drag or enter a distance for the move operation. 17
Copy selecting this option will do the same thing as Move, however it will leave the original in place. Set From this will allow you to move a wall relative to a component on another wall, or an external reference point. This is handy if you are trying, for example, to maintain a clear distance for a corridor or you are needing to adjust the center to center distances of existing walls studs. Endcap Edit-in-Place At some point, you may find that an endcap needs to be modified. In most cases you can do this graphically, editing it in place. Select the wall, then right-click and select Endcaps, then Edit-in-Place. You will see a hatch pattern cover the wall and one of the endcap components will have grips on it. To select a different endcap component, select its associated wall component on the hatch pattern. Once the appropriate grips appear, you can edit them, then save your changes, either updating the existing endcap definition (and therefore changing every wall that uses this endcap), or creating a new endcap definition as an override to this particular instance. The image below shows the in-process editing session followed by the result. Plan Modifiers If you need to create a pilaster effect, a niche, or some other condition that would be a vertical element along the face of a wall, you can do so with a plan modifier. These are named objects that are based on a 2D polyline, converted to a profile definition. The easiest way to do this is to draw a 2D polyline in the location where you need the modifier, right-click on the wall, select Plan Modifiers and Convert polyline to wall modifier. 18
3D Modeling Tools In addition to the plan tools, there are a number of 3D operations you can perform on your walls. Roof/Floor Line Choosing either the roof or floor line tools from the right-click menu will allow you to modify the wall top or wall bottom components (independently of the baseline or base height). There are several options: Offset Allows you to offset the current wall top (roof line) or wall bottom (floor line) up or down from it s current position by a value you specify (positive or negative). This is a relative value, not an absolute. Project Allows you to extend or trim the top or bottom of the wall to a polyline that defines a shape that you would like it to follow. Auto-Project Allows you to extend or trim the top or bottom of the wall to another AEC object (such as a roof, for example). Reset Removes all wall top or wall bottom modifications and restores the wall to it s original baseline or base height. You can also edit the wall roof line or floor line with grips. Selecting a wall in a 3D view will give you vertical grips to allow you to graphically offset the wall top or bottom by dragging or entering a dynamic dimension. Edit-in-Place In addition to the Roof/Floor line modification commands described above, you can also edit them in place. In a 3D view, select a wall, right-click, select Roof/Floor Line, then Edit-in-Place. Your wall s surface will show hatched with grips at critical locations along the roof and floor lines, similar to the image below. Notice also that when you are editing the wall in this fashion, you are automatically placed on the correct 3D plane. Sweeps A wall sweep is created from a 2 dimensional profile that is driven horizontally along the surface of a wall. These are useful for creating reveals, mouldings, and other horizontal fenestrations in a wall, especially when they define angled or curved surfaces, since those types of shapes cannot be defined as part of a parametric wall style. 19
When you add a sweep to a wall, it has to be applied to an existing wall component, and it will replace that component. If you don t want to replace an existing component, but simply add a sweep to the wall, you can add a zero-width component to the face of the wall style in the wall style editor and apply the sweep to it. Sweeps can also be added and edited graphically, in place. The images to the right show a sweep applied to a wall to form moulding, and another sweep that is being edited in place. Like all of the other 3D tools, sweeps are best accessed from the right-click menu. Note: depending upon the sweep that you add and the component that it is added to, there could be an effect on the endcaps as well; you should watch for this any time you add a sweep to a wall with endcaps applied. Body Modifiers Body modifiers allow you to replace or modify one of your wall components with a 3D shape to add more 3D detail to your wall. Create the form that you want using either an AutoCAD ACIS solid or an Architectural Desktop mass element, put it in position on the wall, then, using the right-click menu, add it as a body modifier to one of your components. There are four types of body modifiers: Subtractive The 3D form is subtracted from the component that you apply the modifier to. Additive The 3D form is added to the component that you apply it to, however door and window openings are not included in the form, which can lead to some interesting effects. Additive (cut openings) Again, this will add to the component, but will cut any openings as well. Replace This will completely replace the component that it is applied to. The Body modifier will take on all the properties of the component that it replaces. Interferences Interferences allow walls to interact with other Architectural Desktop objects. A typical example is a column that might be embedded in a wall. By creating an interference between the wall and the column, the wall components can work around the wall, updating if either the wall or the column are moved or modified. There are three types of interferences: Additive Causes the shrinkwrap to be drawn around the outside of the object. Subtractive Causes the shrinkwrap to be drawn to the inside of the object. Ignore Has no effect on the shrinkwrap at all. It simply causes the components to respect the boundaries of the object. Ignore is typically used where you have a column that interferes with two walls simultaneously. If an object already has had one additive interference condition applied to it, then you should not apply any more; instead use Ignore. An example of the three types of interferences is shown at the right. 20