AECOsim Building Designer Quick Start Guide Chapter A06 Creating a Master Model 2012 Bentley Systems, Incorporated www.bentley.com/aecosim
Table of Contents Creating a Master Model...3 References... 4 Reference Nesting... 5 Activate Reference File... 5 Drawings and Sheet Models... 6 Creating Dynamic Building Views, Drawings and Sheets... 6 Creating Drawings and Sheets... 7 Creating the Dynamic Building Floor Plan View... 8 Create Drawing... 9 HyperModeling... 10 Enhancing the Drawing... 11 Set Reference Presentation... 11 Architectural Rules... 12 Drawing Rule Management... 13 www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 2 of 13 v2.0
CREATING A MASTER MODEL AECOsim Building Designer uses a federated approach to building a design model. A design project is modeled in individual sub models and then those sub models are referenced together to create the project Master Model, sometimes called the Design Composition Model. Depending on the project there are a variety of ways to break down this model, but a typical project model structure might look something like this: A_Ground A_Ground-Ext A_Ground-Int A_Office A_Office-Ext _A_Master A_Office-Int A_Condo-Ext A_Condo A_Condo-Int A_Atrium S_Foundation _S_Master S_Steel S_Steel-Atrium _MasterModel M_Ground _M_Master M_Office M_Condo E_Ground-Ltg E_Ground E_Ground-Pwr _E_Master E_Office E_Office-Ltg E_Office-Pwr E_Condo E_Condo-Ltg E_Condo-Pwr www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 3 of 13 v2.0
In this example, each Discipline has a Master Model. The Architectural Master Model, _A_Master.dgn, is made up of floor composites, A_Ground.dgn, A_Office.dgn, A_Condo.dgn, that are referencing an interior and an exterior model for that floor. In addition there is a separate model for a design feature, the entry atrium, A_Atrium.dgn. Note that the floor composite models are models for typical floors that could be referenced to the _A_Master.dgn any number of times depending on the number of typical floors. This is one of the advantages of the federated model structure; repetitive geometry can be modeled once and referenced multiple times, making modifications to the geometry more efficient. REFERENCES A reference is simply when a DGN file is attached to a model or another DGN file, or linked to a model within another DGN file. Many significant enhancements to project workflow are provided by the reference utility including Live Nesting of references, attachment of an unlimited number of references, and the ability to attach 2D files to 3D files and vice versa. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 4 of 13 v2.0
Reference Nesting Reference nesting enables the designer to attach a reference within a reference. By maintaining model files as nested references, designers can effectively manage extremely complex projects. There is no limit to the depth of reference nesting and nesting levels can be changed dynamically. Changes made to attached references are displayed each time model views are updated or opened. Attached references can be master files in their own right. The Architectural Floor Composites, for instance, can have numerous DGN references attached to them. In this example, the Architectural floor composites are referenced to the Architectural Master Model with a nesting depth of 1. Initially, the floor composite might only reference one additional file, such as an exterior model file, but as more references are added to the floor composite, such as an interior layout file, they will automatically be nested into the Architectural Master Model, and in turn the Building Master Model. Those references can in turn have other DGN files attached to them as references, and so on. Here the level of project granularity, with regard to DGN model files, can run extremely deep. This is a design platform where there is no limit to the number of levels within a project, and no limit to sub-level model structure. Activate Reference File A reference can be edited in-place from within the active model. To do this, the reference must be temporarily Activated. The file is locked to other users until it is Deactivated. Right click over an object in the reference file to bring up the right-click menu. Select Activate. If the element has more than one nested attachment, then it will have a selection list. The list shows up to ten nested attachments, and is displayed as seen in the References dialog s Show Hierarchy section. The only difference is that the attachment which contains the selected element is displayed under a menu divider. By default, all elements in references above the activated reference in the file hierarchy, as well as the active model, are displayed with an override color. Only operations on the activated reference are now permitted. The activated reference model is locked to other users along with the active file. To deactivate the reference, again right click over and object in the reference file to bring up the right-click menu, and select Deactivate. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 5 of 13 v2.0
DYNAMIC BUILDING VIEWS The Master Model or Design Composition Model has two purposes - pulling all the parts of the building model into one location and as a container for all the Dynamic Building Views. Dynamic Building Views were introduced in the Mass Model in AECOsimBD-A02-Making the Mass Model Intelligent. Dynamic Building Views are Saved Views which store not only view orientation, level and reference display, but also a Clip Volume which stores a Section Cut Plane, a Forward View Volume, and a Back View Volume as well as Display Styles for each. In addition, they store properties such as annotation and re-symbolization rules. The Dynamic Building Views are referenced to Drawing and Sheet models in order to create 2D drawings and sheets set up for plotting. Drawings and Sheet Models AECOsim Building designer supports three types of models which are all stored in a DGN file. Any DGN file can contain one or more models, each of which has its own set of eight views. Design Model A Design model can be 2D or 3D and is used for all the model files that make up the Building Master Model. Drawing Model A Drawing model is 2D and is used to apply annotations, dimensions, callouts, and other 2D embellishments to a referenced Dynamic Building View. Sheet Model A Sheet model is 2D or 3D and is used to compose Drawing models onto a sheet border for plotting at a defined scale. Creating Dynamic Building Views, Drawings and Sheets Generally during the design process, the focus is initially on the 3D Building model and then moves on to floor plans, sections, elevations, and details. In essence, a floor plan is a horizontal cut through the Building model with a view orientation of looking down upon the model. The basic concept is to cut a floor plan through the Building Master Model, then create a 2D Drawing Model. Next use the 2D Drawing Model to create additional 2D sections, elevations, and enlarged plan view areas called details. Finally, 2D Drawing Models are referenced to Sheet Models to create a set of Working Drawings. The following steps illustrate this workflow. Compose the 3D Master Model by referencing all models into one Master Model. Typically, this is an empty 3D Design Model (a container) that includes 3D Design Models referenced from all the individual disciplines. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 6 of 13 v2.0
From the Master Model, Dynamic Building Views for Floor and Ceiling plans are defined, created, and stored. At the same time, Drawing and Sheet Models that reference and are linked to the Building Views can be created. All of these can be accessed from Project Explorer. Use the Change Presentation tool to modify the Building View s appearance in the Drawing Model, using Building View Attributes. In a Floor Plan Drawing Model, place Section, Elevation, and Detail callouts to generate the other Building dynamic views. Additional plan based views such as Ceiling plans and Roof Plans, should be set up and created in the Master Model. Drawing Models can also be placed manually on Sheets by dragging and dropping the Drawing Model from Project Explorer, which will open the Attach Reference Dialog box. Set the Detail Scale in the Attach Reference Dialog and create a drawing title for the sheet. Creating Drawings and Sheets In AECOsimBD-02-Making the Mass Model Intelligent Dynamic Building Views were created in the Mass Model and used to create presentation drawings. When creating production drawings those Dynamic Building Views will be created from the Master Model, and the Drawing and Sheet Models can be created as separate DGN files at the time of the Floor Plan View Creation. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 7 of 13 v2.0
Creating the Dynamic Building Floor Plan View The Create Plan View(s) tool is used to create a Dynamic Building Floor Plan View and can be accessed from the Drawing Composition task bar on the Building Designer task menu. The Create Multiple Floor Plans icon can be used to quickly create several floor plan views in the Master Model. The Drawing Seed, Arch Floor Plan, will determine the Display Style, Detailing Symbol Style, and the location of Forward, Back, and Cut planes of the Clip Volume. Check each floor (harvested from the Floor Selector) to determine which floors need a floor plan view. Select Next. Check Create Drawing in order to have the option to create both a Drawing and a Sheet model for each Floor Plan view. Verify that the Forward, Back and Cut Plane are at the desired elevation, or modify accordingly. Select Create. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 8 of 13 v2.0
Create Drawing In the Create Drawing dialog create a name for the Dynamic Building View. Note the Name will be used as the Drawing Title when the View is placed on a sheet. In order to automatically create a Drawing Model, with the Building Dynamic View referenced, check Create Drawing Model. Create a New File to contain the Drawing Model by checking Filename and selecting the New File icon. Set the Annotation Scale for the Drawing. In order to automatically create a Sheet Model, with the newly created Drawing referenced, check Create Sheet Model. Create a New File to contain the Sheet Model by checking Filename and selecting the New File icon. Set the Annotation Scale for the Sheet. Sheet files can be set up so that the annotations scale is full size, therefore the border reference is not scaled and the drawing model reference is scaled. This facilitates adding additional drawings to the sheet at different scales. Alternatively, the sheet file can be set up at the same annotation scale as the drawing and the sheet border reference is scaled. It is generally good practice to set up a single drawing for each Dynamic Building View. However, it is common to reference more than one drawing to a single sheet file; therefore it is not always necessary to create the sheet file when creating the Dynamic Building View. Simply drag and drop the drawing file from the Project Explorer to an existing Sheet file. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 9 of 13 v2.0
HYPERMODELING Whenever a Dynamic Building View is created and placed on a Drawing, and that Drawing placed on a Sheet, then links are created between all three. The location of the Dynamic Building View is indicated in the Master Model, as well as the Drawing and Sheet model with a Marker at the cut location. The markers for Section, Plan, Elevation, and Detail Callouts can be selectively toggled on or off in the View Attributes dialog. Hovering the curser over the marker will bring up a mini-toolbar with a number of options for Navigating these links. The Pull down field allows users to select the target drawing or sheet link. Open the selected drawing or sheet target. The Apply View tool will apply the Dynamic Building View to the model. The pull down determines which options will be applied. The Clip Model By Callout tool crops the model using the clip plane and boundary defined by the callout. The Show Callout tool is used to display the marker s callout in the model, the drawing, or the sheet. This can be applied to only the Selected Callout, to any Callouts that have volumes which intersect the current Dynamic View or to all callouts. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 10 of 13 v2.0
The Display Sheet Annotations tool will toggle on or off the annotations from the drawing and sheet model in the design model view. ENHANCING THE DRAWING After navigating to the Drawing model it is possible to enhance the Building Dynamic View by changing the presentation, attaching additional reference files, using Architectural Rules to annotate items in the model, and add additional line work, text and dimensions. Set Reference Presentation The Set Reference Presentation tool found on the Drawing Composition task bar is used to change View Attributes of the Dynamic Building View that is referenced to the Drawing model. Under the Building Panel on the General tab there are numerous check boxes that determine whether or not to display 2D Drawing Symbols in the Forward, Cut or Back Views, whether to turn Part Unification on and whether to Apply Patterns in the Cut View. Under the Clip Volume Settings Panel, the Forward, Back and Cut Views can be displayed on or off. In addition a Display Style can be set. For information on creating customized Display Styles see AECOsimBD-A07 - Display Styles. The Synchronize View option is used to determine how the Referenced Dynamic Building View automatically synchronizes with the Saved Dynamic Building View that is stored in the Master Model, only the clipping plane, only clip volume, or all the settings including the Display Styles. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 11 of 13 v2.0
The Update from Saved View tool will update the referenced Building Dynamic view with the settings from the Master Model. The Accept Changes tool will accept any changes made in the View Attributes dialog and then push them back to the settings in the Master Model. Architectural Rules Drawing Rules control automatic placement of DataGroup annotation cells for Building components such as doors, windows, and spaces. Drawing Rules are managed in the View Attributes dialog box > Building panel > Architecture, Mechanical, and Structural tabs. Under the Building Panel on the Architectural tab there are several settings for managing architectural drawing rules as they apply to Building dynamic views. The Architecture tab also contains a toolbar with several important tools. Attach New Rule Enables designers to attach predefined rules to the Building dynamic view. This tool opens the Drawing Rules (primary) dialog box, where designers can select predefined drawing rules and create new drawing rule definitions. Copy Rule Adds a copy of the selected rule to the Building dynamic view. This tool opens the Drawing Rules (primary) dialog box where designers can change the rule or it s criteria. Edit Rule Opens the Drawing Rules (primary) dialog box with the selected rule highlighted. This enables designers to change the rule definition, or the rule criteria used to apply the rule. Detach Rule Removes the selected rule from the Building Dynamic View. Detaching a rule does not delete the rule definition; it only removes the use of the rule in that Building Dynamic View. Rule Sequence Tools The order in which rules are applied is important. Once an object meets the criteria and the rule is processed, the object is not evaluated by any other rules. Move First Moves the rule to the top of the list. It is the first rule applied. Move Up Moves the rule up one position toward the top of the list. Move Down Moves the rule down one position toward the bottom of the list. Move Last Moves the rule to the bottom of the list. It is the last rule applied. www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 12 of 13 v2.0
Rules that are applied to the Building dynamic view are listed in the Architecture tab rules list. The Architecture tab rules list displays both rule names and the criteria. There is a check box by each rule in the Active column. This turns the rule on and off. Only rules that are checked are actually applied to the Building dynamic view. Rules that are unchecked are not applied but are available should the designer need them. This leverages the dynamic nature of dynamic views. Architectural annotation rules only annotate elements that are cut by the section plane. In the case of Spaces, the Space s ceiling height decides the range of the space. If the cut plane of the clip volume within the Building Dynamic View passes through the range of the Space, the Space is annotated. If the Space definition is hidden below a slab, but the Space s ceiling height goes above the slab an into the clip volume s cut plane, the Space is annotated and the Space label appears above the slab in the 2D representation. Drawing Rule Management As mentioned previously, the Drawing Rules (primary) dialog box is opened from the Architecture tab by selecting Attach New Rule, Copy Rule, or Edit Rule tools. There is a Drawing Rules (secondary) dialog box that is opened from the Drawing Rules (primary) dialog box. This is used to complete the actual creation, copying, and editing of drawing rules. The Drawing Rules (primary) dialog box is divided into two portions. The upper portion deals with Criteria, and the lower portion manages the Rules. When assigning a drawing rule to a view, you need to define the criteria and select the rule. When the Apply to View button is selected, the rule and criteria populate in the Architecture tab Drawing Rules list box and the rule is available for use in the Building dynamic view. MOVIE: Creating a Master Model This movie shows: 1. Creating a Floor Composite 2. Creating a Master Model 3. Drawings and Sheets 4. Hypermodeling www.bentley.com/aecosim Page 13 of 13 v2.0