topic Re: Angled Slabs and walls in Modeling

Angled Slabs and walls

wile e coyote genius — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 19:52:50 GMT

I need to create angled walls and slabs. In the pictures below there is a floor plan of a ramp going down.

In the floor plan it shows the ramp, direction arrows and 3 walls (left and right sides and center divider). When viewed in 3D you can see the ramp and the 3 walls but not the direction markers. The markers are there but are located under the ramp. Now the arrows are actually very slim slabs which can be placed on other slabs so they show in 3D but I can't find a way to tilt the slabs on an angle that matches the ramp which would allow me to locate them on the ramp's surface. And while I can create a fill I have the same issue. Fills cannot be moved vertically either. Regarding the center divider wall, it should only be to the start of the ramp (bottom). From that point I need a wall that is 3.5 ft. high and follows the grade of the ramp's surface. My problem is that I can't figure out how to make an inclined wall. Leaning the wall left or right is simple but straight up and down and on a slope I can't figure out. While AC allows the user to rotate object in the "XY" plane (same as floor plan) I can't find a way to rotate objects in the "XZ" and "YZ" planes. Is there anything I can do that will allow me to place my arrow slabs on the surface of the ramp and create a wall that slants upwards? All help appreciated.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

Barry Kelly — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 01:39:45 GMT

Slabs can't slope so using them for your arrows will not work.

Try using a roof or convert to a morph that you can freely rotate in 3D.

To rake the top of bottom of a wall, you must uses a roof in a hidden layer and use Solid Element Operation to subtract with upwards/downwards extrusion.

Or you can place a polygon opening (triangle shaped) to cut a hole in the top or bottom of the wall.

make the opening the same length as the wall and just adjust the shape of the polygon to get the cut you want.

SEO does not show in plan, but the opening can.

Barry.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

Gerry Leonor — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 01:42:57 GMT

i long for the time we finally have updated site modelling tools. but for now, why not use a 5mm thick roof in the shape of the directional arrow?

from the plan, it looks like it's located in the part of the ramp where it only falls one way & not on the kerb where it falls parabolically.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

mthd — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 05:10:32 GMT

I just learned how to slope walls with SEO and a morph. I took a more simple approach and used a wall that I have set to be invisible once it was converted to a morph. A morphed wall will also allow us to slope the top or bottom so it can also be used as an SEO operator. For sloping slabs we can use a mesh with two adjacent corners being raised in the Z direction.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

thesleepofreason — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 08:05:51 GMT

If the divider wall is just a simple vertical plane without the need of any wall functionality then I would model it using a detailed extruded shell which avoids multiple elements, keeps it parametric and shows correctly cut. There are two approaches - either use the start/end angles parameter to slope the top and bottom or use the contour functionality to get the desired form. Unfortunately the interface is a mess so might take some figuring out to get right if you are not familiar with the tool - I guess GS are busy doing cool stuff rather than making sure everyone can use the fundamental potential of AC.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

wile e coyote genius — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 20:56:43 GMT

Thanks everybody. Obviously if the slabs can't have a slope then that can't be a solution for my arrows. Maybe that is something AC can look at for future versions. As for the wall, I could have used a roof element like a rafter setting the angle of the ramp with vertical ends. It just seems awkward to use roof elements to create walls. I could actually do the same with rectangular/square slabs just by setting the appropriate sizes but it really makes it hard to remember which axis is which. It would seem, that for now, I would be better to create my wall and arrows using my 3D solids MCAD software to make the parts and then import them into AC. As I am more proficient creating special parts with my MCAD than I am using AC's solids modelling features that seems the easiest way to go. As I said above, maybe the AC software guys/gals can add the capability to rotate all objects in all three planes.

Best Regards.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

mthd — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 01:16:10 GMT

Spot on @wile e coyote genius, it shouldn’t be that difficult to edit native elements in 3D. I hope the ramp tool mentioned in the RM will also help us all out too.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

Gerry Leonor — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 01:38:24 GMT

you'll have to remember, that just because it's called the Wall Tool, doesn't mean you can only use them to model walls. same thing with slabs or roofs or any other ArchiCAD element. use whatever tool is best suited for a particular purpose. this is why there are a number responses here with different methods of producing the same outcome. just be aware that there are some limits & some (perhaps) unwanted interactions between one tool & another.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

Lingwisyer — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 06:37:14 GMT

I would do the arrows as a SEO Intersection then Subtraction with the ramp.

For the divider, if you do not need it to be a Composite and it is straight, I would just model it as a Shell. If you need it as a Composite, I would still create a Shell but this time just be the top finish thickness.

Ling.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

Barry Kelly — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 07:26:23 GMT

I think a polygon opening is really the easiest way to trim the top or bottom of a wall.

It can remain as a wall, can be basic, composite, complex profile, straight, curved, inclined.

Just ad a polygon opening and stretch to the shape you want to cut out.

The edges of the opening can even be curved.

Barry.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

Lingwisyer — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 08:13:02 GMT

Exposed wall core though...

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

Barry Kelly — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 08:18:51 GMT

That is just because I used a cavity composite wall.

You can override the edge surface thiough.

Barry.

Re: Angled Slabs and walls

wile e coyote genius — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 19:57:09 GMT

Again, appreciation to everyone for there info. To try and explain my positioning and ideas, note that I use mechanical cad software 80% of my time so when it comes to creating or modifying an object my first thoughts are doing things the way I would using my MCAD software. If I needed an object rotated I can do so in all 3 planes individually or together. So in the case of the divider wall mentioned previously, I would create the wall, rotate it to match the ramp. Then I would trim the ends as needed. That method is much faster and easier to do (the way I like it). As for using other objects to create what is needed I realize that that is possible. I just finished a house design that used wood stud walls, floor joices, headers, etc. AC doesn't do stud type walls where you set the size of the studs, their spacing with inside blocking. So I had to use roof components to create the studs and all other wooden wall and floor components. I realized that I could have just used walls but then I would have to manually figure out how many studs were needed for the BOM which an AC wall can't do. The other problem in creating the walls as I did is that I lost the intelligence AC walls have when placing doors and windows in them. That is why I don't like using parts that weren't meant for the intended use. And just so everyone knows I really like AC and the smartness of the objects which makes things easier but I think it could be better if it had more MCAD features. Just my thoughts. Again, thanks for all the insights.