Modelling Elevation and Site Buildings

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am new to archicad and am not sure about the best way to model a wall with several gables. It is a historic building and does not have a roof. I have attached a sketch of the elevation to clarify what I mean.

Is the best way to do it... to make a wall which is higher than needed and then using Solid Element Operations subtract all the wedges? If so then how do I make these wedges? Would it be a case of drawing a fill and then extruding it as I would have done in sketchup?

Also, What is the best way to model surrounding massed buildings of irregular shapes? Should I use the wall tool with geometry method set to polygonal, and then similar to the elevation above subtract the roof slant using SEO? I could not attach the sketch for this as I am only able to have one attachment for the post.

I hope that all makes sense. Thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers,

Malte[/img]

[Anonymous]

Hi Malte,

You're absolutely right, you will need to build the wall to the highest point and use SEO with upwards extrusion to remove the bits you don't need.

The simplest tool if it is just a straight slope is to use the roof tool. Draw a short strip of roof that covers the width of the wall, duplicate/mirror it across to the other gables, then group it together. Use this as the Operator, then place it on a special layer that is turned off in all output layer combinations.

If it is a more complex shape, use the complex profile as you suggest. It doesn't necessarily need to be triangular in shape as you have have drawn, as the 'upwards extrusion' bit means that it will remove any part of the wall above.

If the wall has a coping stone running along the top, another option is to use that as the Operator instead.

[Anonymous]

Also, there are several ways to model the surrounding buildings simply.

One option is to use the 'House Model' library part (found in 'Special Constructions' then 'Basic Shapes') that allows you to set the eaves heights, angles, materials and plan hatching and also choose between several different roof types. You can combine several of them together to form more complex shapes.

A faster way may be to use the wall tool with the polygonal option as you suggest. To set up the roofs try using the polyroof option which quickly places a slope on each side, then delete the parts you don't need and tidy up. As before, you can use this as the Operator in an SEO to make sure gables show correctly.

A third option is to use the mesh tool to block out the roofs separately if they are very out of square.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the quick reply. The wall does actually have a coping stone running along the top which I could model using complex profile and the beam tool? I would then duplicate the coping and put one on a special layer - operator layer. Again hidden on all output formats. Would you put all your operator elements in the model on the same layer. So on a 'operator layer'?

Also thanks for the method of modelling the surrounding buildings. I'll have to play around with the roof tool but i think that gives me enough flexibility without having to use the mesh tool.


Cheers,
Malte

[Anonymous]

malte wrote:
...The wall does actually have a coping stone running along the top which I could model using complex profile and the beam tool? I would then duplicate the coping and put one on a special layer - operator layer. Again hidden on all output formats. Would you put all your operator elements in the model on the same layer. So on a 'operator layer'?..

Yes, complex profile and beam tool is the way to go for coping stones. You may notice that both ends of a beam remain vertical regardless of the sloping angle which may not be correct. Another SEO can be used to square off the end if necessary, but it can get a bit messy.

This thread describes the problem further - http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=14796

BTW, If you do a lot of mouldings/copings etc 'Objective' by Encina is a useful tool to have as you can freely trim stuff to any angle you like (and much more)!

Generally you would put all your operators on the same layer, but no need to duplicate it in this case, just use the original coping as the operator.

Hope that's useful!

[Thomas Holm]

malte wrote:
Thanks for the quick reply. The wall does actually have a coping stone running along the top which I could model using complex profile and the beam tool? I would then duplicate the coping and put one on a special layer - operator layer. Again hidden on all output formats. Would you put all your operator elements in the model on the same layer. So on a 'operator layer'?

Operator elements only need to be hidden when you don't want to see them. In this case, just do the SEO and then let them be.