Converting mesh to roof AC9

[Anonymous]

I'm not able to convert mesh to roof. This is a roof structure on a tilt-up building. The mesh set properly however the "Help" menu gives the following instuctions to make the conversion to a roof:

"Select the Mesh, use Tools>Convert Mesh to Roof, and the mesh will be converted to a surface with thickness and with different materials on top and bottom."

I am using AC9 and I cannot find this command under the Tools menu. What gives?

[Ben Odonnell]

Patrick,
This tool/goodie, like may other ArchiCAD tools, is not loaded by default. You will need to go to your add-on manager and search for more add-ons.

You will find the roof to mesh add-on in the goodies folder, which is located in you ArchiCAD 9 folder. Once you have it loaded you will be able to acess it under you tools menu.

BTW, you will find the add-on manager under the same menu.

HTH.
Cheers.
Ben

[Steve Jepson]

This is a good time for me to ask about the mesh to roof tool.
What are the conditions where you would want to do that?

[Laszlo Nagy]

The last time I used this was to create a ramp. The ramp was arched in plan, and its bottom and top also arched in section. So I drew it by creating 'elevation lines' on it. I Did it with the mesh tool. The top surface of the Mesh corresponded to the top surface of the to-be ramp. Then converted the Mesh to Roofs and I had an otherwise very complicated Ramp in model.

[Steve Jepson]

I missed something. Why not leave it as a mesh?

[Laszlo Nagy]

Because the bottom surface of a mesh is a horizontal plane.
A ramp is an element that has the same thickness throughout. I could not make the ramp out of a mesh as I needed thickness. For this reason the surface option of the mesh tool was not satisfactory either for me. I also took sections of the ramp so I needed the thickness which the roofs provided.

[Steve Jepson]

aaah. Thanks