Complex geometry

[Anonymous]

Hi.

Quick introduction, as I am new to this forum:
I am a Norwegian architect, with a bachelor from Newcastle uni Australia. While studying there we used Archicad (then version 9 and 10). I have been working 2 years as an architect in Luxembourg, where we used Autocad Architecture. As I am going back to uni (this time in Germany) to take my masters degree, I would like to get back into ArchiCAD, because the uni here uses that.

I have a model I did for my firm in Luxembourg in Autocad which was fairly complicated, and I would like to redo this in ArchiCAD as a learning process.

My first problem are the non-rectangular walls, for instance the front wall. How to create this in ArchiCAD? Is it possible with the wall tool, or do I have to use another tool to create it? Or solid element operations?

I would greatly appreciate it if I could get some assistance recreating this model.

Cheers, Eirik

[Anonymous]

Ok, I have started on the windows, and I have a question on the strategy.

On the corner triangula wall I want to offset the window from all edges (blue) with 1200 mm (red).

In AutoCAD I set the cooridinate system to follow the plane of the wall, drew the outline of the wall, offset it 1200 mm, and moved the window edges to the triangle points.

How would one do this in ArchiCAD?

Is it perhaps possible to create an elevation paralell to the plane of the triangle wall and draw the outline and offset it, and then move the window?

Or can one do this in 3D?

As this is the strategy used on most of the windows, it will be very interesting to see some tips how to achieve it.

Cheers,
Eirik

[Laszlo Nagy]

c3038354 wrote:
As you can see from the illustrations, I managed to make the triangular slanted wall by attaching the front wall and side wall to a wall that was slanted with 61.93 degrees, allowing the front wall and sidewall to meet up in a perfect point.
I adjusted the degrees until it fit.

The problem using this strategy is that the front wall and sidewall are now limited to 6.05 metres (height of slanted wall). I would like them to follow the slope of the roof.

Yes, this seems to be a limitation of this situation.
Actually what happens is this: let's take the side wall and the slanted wall.
Their bottom corner is the key, the side Wall can be higher to the left of this point, but is limited to 6.05 meters where the slanted wall "undercuts" the side wall.

[Laszlo Nagy]

c3038354 wrote:
I tried to add another wall on top of those walls (see illustration), and trim to roof (did not work) and SEO (worked), but then I have two walls in the elevation, and as far as my tests showed, a window will not cross the two walls?

Any other ways of doing this with the wall tool?

Yes, the Window will not cross the two Walls.
In such a case you place the Window in one of the Walls, e.g. the lower one, and place an Empty Window opening in the upper Wall.

[Laszlo Nagy]

c3038354 wrote:
The roof was made with the roof tool; picking the three points of the plane and then the roof points. I needed to find the "mitred edge" of the two main roof halves. Unfortunately, when creating the roof I couldn't miter them? I tried to pick the edges and set mitred, but the option wasn't available, only angle/vertical/perpendicular. So I created another roof as a SEO operator and subracted with upwards extrusion the one half. I then created a roof half to meet up with this.

How could I miter the Roof edge tool?

To created a mitered connection the edges of the two Roofs involved must coincide. Then you must select both Roofs and then click the common edge and set the edge angle.

[Laszlo Nagy]

c3038354 wrote:
Another issue I have is how the walls do not join when they are cut by SEO. Also, when using a roof as a trapezoid slanted wall, the other walls do not recognize it as a wall, and there is no join. The result is all these surfaces that lie on the same plane. Maybe I can solve this by angling the Operator-element in the SEO more than the plane of the roof, but there might also be a better way of doing this.

Let me know if you need the model and I can email it to you.

Cheers, Eirik

I worked a bit on the file you sent me and I found maybe it is better to create the Walls in two step. The first set of Walls go up till 6.05 meters, and there is another set of Walls from 6.05 meters upward, and these are the ones SEOd by the Roofs. It worked out quite all right.

The light blue bodies you see are SEO cut bodies. They are there to get rid of parts that do not disappear after a Roof Trim or SEO.
I usually have a layer named SEO bodies or something. This is a layer set to Wireframe and this is where I put these SEO cutting elements.

[Laszlo Nagy]

c3038354 wrote:
Ok, I have started on the windows, and I have a question on the strategy.

On the corner triangula wall I want to offset the window from all edges (blue) with 1200 mm (red).

In AutoCAD I set the cooridinate system to follow the plane of the wall, drew the outline of the wall, offset it 1200 mm, and moved the window edges to the triangle points.

How would one do this in ArchiCAD?

Is it perhaps possible to create an elevation paralell to the plane of the triangle wall and draw the outline and offset it, and then move the window?

Or can one do this in 3D?

As this is the strategy used on most of the windows, it will be very interesting to see some tips how to achieve it.

Cheers,
Eirik

I checked this.
What I did is this: I placed a Triangle Window into that slanted triangle Wall piece then went to the 3D Window.
Then I used the View\3D navigation Extras\Look To Perpendicular command. This resulted in the Wall being shown in the 3D Window perpendicularly, showing its true dimensions.
Then I created a 3D Document out of this 3D View.
In the 3D Document Window I could draw lines parallel with the edges of the triangular Wall. I could dimension and I could set my Window to the desired size.
I then moved around and modified

[Erika Epstein]

laszlonagy wrote:
I checked this.
What I did is this: I placed a Triangle Window into that slanted triangle Wall piece then went to the 3D Window.
Then I used the View\3D navigation Extras\Look To Perpendicular command. This resulted in the Wall being shown in the 3D Window perpendicularly, showing its true dimensions.
Then I created a 3D Document out of this 3D View.
In the 3D Document Window I could draw lines parallel with the edges of the triangular Wall. I could dimension and I could set my Window to the desired size.
I then moved around and modified

VERY nice technique Laszlo.
You should post it in the tip section

[Laszlo Nagy]

Thanks.
Good idea about the tip thing.
I will do so after the thread has run its course.

[Anonymous]

Yup, it's a great tip. Thank you so much for helping me out!

Unfortunately I can't really get it to work yet.

I have done the look to perpendicular and create 3D document part, but when I try to measure, the dimensions are not correct (35m instead of 10m).

I tried to use a polyline to outline the triangle and then offset it, but since the dimensions are not correct, it offsets it far too little.

Do I have to rotate a plane or coordinate system or something as well?

Best, Eirik

[Laszlo Nagy]

I don't know what the problem is there.
My Tracker shows the correct value.

When you are in the 3D Document Window, with the Dimension Tool selected, check the Info Box. The Geometry Method should be set to Any Plane and to Any Direction. Then it works for me.

Also, if I dimension things, it will show me the values in the plane of the Wall.
The Window is actually placed at a height of 1060 mm but the parapet value along the Wall plane is 1200 mm.