Modeling
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How to stop beams from merging in elevation/section?

Nik
Booster

Hi. Is there a simple way to stop beams merging in elevation (and section) when they are touching? On the attached image there are two framing elements modelled as beams. When placed together, one on top of the other, they display as a single beam without a line separating them. However we need to see the line as they are two separate bits of framing. I've tried using different layers with different priorities, but this doesn't seem to work. I could simply draw a 2D line, but then I would have to fix this every time the beams move or change. Any help would be very welcome as we have a lot of framing drawings to produce!

 

Nik


Beams.jpg
4 REPLIES 4
sinceV6
Advocate

Hi.

A simple way is to override the surface. Better yet if you duplicate the building material and control the surface there (so they don't merge in section). The surface texture can be the same, it'll just show a line between elements.

Best regards.

Thanks! I've just been playing with overides and I can get things to almost work. I'll give the building materials a go too. Nik

Yes, 2 building materials or surfaces that look the same (duplicates) but have slightly different names so you can tell them apart.

 

Barry.

One of the forum moderators.
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Depending on the project, and in order not to mess with surfaces and materials, which have their reasons for being: 

- use complex profile beams, with the tiniest chamfered corners (beam sections will still merge in sections though)

- use complex profile beams (so as to keep top-of beam for z positioning, and play around with the following) and make the beam section fill a nothingness shorter (so that it will leave a tiniest air gap with the other beam/s). 

I don't remember whether complex profiles allow you to take nominal dimensions to hotspots. For whatever reason every now and then I end up including an air gap fill in the profile, so if hotspots don't work nominal dimensions could be taken to that (and the gap/s left fixed, outside of the stretchy zone, if the complex profile is meant to work for different beam dimensions).