How to create, and modify as required, curved roofs

[Anonymous]

I am currently involved with a university project where i must show my 3D skills in Archicad but I am new to Archicad.

I have downloaded and run through the basic tutorial which is good but they don't help me with creating a curved or double curved roof.

I have drawn the project from plans to elevations in autocad (2D) and i am lost to know how do achieve the roof in 3D and in archicad.

please help me you archicad gods !!

[Anonymous]

Have a search on these forums for 'curved roof'. It's a fairly common question.

Look at these for starters -

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=91773&highlight=curved+roof#91773

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=94022&highlight=curved+roof#94022

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=102981&highlight=curved+roof#102981

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=108534&highlight=curved+roof#108534

Hope that helps.

[Anonymous]

I'll have a look - thanks !!!

[Anonymous]

I'll have a look at the magic wand thing when i get home.

as for the images, they are a little to domestic.

the roof I'm trying to model is a curved composite panel roof? like the attached

any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

You have two options basically.

Either use the barrel roof tool in conjuction with a composite section fill. This will create a faceted curved roof made of lots of little straight roofs. Unfortunately, you get lines where they join which doesn't look so good.

Or use a complex profile. Draw a section through the roof full size using different 2d fills to represent the layers. You can even add facias and gutters etc. Assign this new profile to a wall or a beam and draw the length of the roof with it. The main advantages are that it will be nice and smooth, you have good control over the materials and it is fairly easy to adjust but you will have to add your own cover fill manually over the top of it.

[Ralph Wessel]

lamour wrote:
I have downloaded and run through the basic tutorial which is good but they don't help me with creating a curved or double curved roof. I have drawn the project from plans to elevations in autocad (2D) and i am lost to know how do achieve the roof in 3D and in archicad.

OBJECTiVE will do this with ease - and you can use it free with the educational version of ArchiCAD. You can see the method for making a curved profiled roof at:
http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=20740&highlight=

You can make all the gutters and fascia (to both the curved and level roof edges) with the same tools, and walls etc can be cut to the underside with SEOs.

You can see find out more about OBJECTiVE at: http://www.encina.co.uk/objective.html

[Djordje]

The only problem - if the project is industrial as shown - of not using the roof tool is that the skylights, and other stuff that usually does come onto an industrial roof, cannot be used.

Then the generic modeling tools have to be used (SEOs, objects) thereby blurring the line between VB modeling and just modeling to look right.

Yes, this is no excuse for the roof tool not to be smooth after so many years of asking so ... Basically - the wall and other tools have complex profiles, rigth? So should slabs (steel decking slab, anyone?) and roofs!!!

[Ralph Wessel]

Djordje wrote:
The only problem - if the project is industrial as shown - of not using the roof tool is that the skylights, and other stuff that usually does come onto an industrial roof, cannot be used.

Then the generic modeling tools have to be used (SEOs, objects) thereby blurring the line between VB modeling and just modeling to look right.

Yes, this is no excuse for the roof tool not to be smooth after so many years of asking so ... Basically - the wall and other tools have complex profiles, rigth? So should slabs (steel decking slab, anyone?) and roofs!!!

...so the bottom line is that the roof tool doesn't do this kind of thing, and we're looking for an alternative.
Yes, you can produce a facetted roof, but the seams look awful and you can't use roof-lights either (unless you're lucky enough to be able to fit them between the seams).

It fits the BIM concept well if you make a profile with OBJECTiVE called, say, "Steel roof section", and place them all over the roof. It can be placed in sections and cut (in the same way the real roof would be constructed), dynamically bent to the required curve (and easily bent further if the designed changes), and schedules well. If you want roof-lights, use the Split tool to cut an opening and place a light in it (even place a small roof segment in the hole if you really want to use the roof-light tool). And using SEO's to trim the wall would be standard practice even if it was drawn with a roof.

OBJECTiVE also comes with all the steel parts (beams, purlins, etc) you would need for the structure under the roof, all of which can be bent to a curve, rotated in 3D, and cut as required using OBJECTiVE's toolset. The fact that these parts can be placed, rotated, and split in the section/elevation window is a huge advantage over the standard tools too.