Slab/Mesh Clerestory Window problem!

[Anonymous]

Hi there,
I'm still new to Archicad and I have been attempting to create come Clerestory windows in the roof of my new building. The building has a flat roof and as I haven't explored the roof tool and in the brief time that I did I couldn'f find a flat roof type I am just using a mixture of slabs and mesh's for my roofs so far.
Now I have a problem.
See image 1 -

With seeing that you can see that I have a raised wall with the windows in place and a sloping mesh coming from that wall to intersect with the roof.
I have two questions, is there a way to basically "cut out the inside" of the mesh so that it doesn't make the sides disappear?
And two, am I, as I suspect going about this in a stupid way and is there a far simpler/more effective way of creating flat/sloped roofs with Clerestory windows in them!?

Thanks for your time.

[Erich]

First, to cut out the center of your mesh (a slab is similar):
1 - Draw mesh
2 - With both the mesh selected and mesh tool active draw the outline of your desired "hole"
3 - hit return

However, if I were trying to model this, I would use the roof tool set to a slope of around 1/4" to 1'=0" (flat roofs are not flat). Depending on your drainage situation you would likely use several different roof sections set with different fall lines to achieve the proper result. If you select one roof section and then hold the cursor over the edge of an adjacent section you will see a black scissor cursor, click on the roof edge and it will extend or trim and necessary to match the selected roof.

HTH

[Dwight]

DO NOT USE MESH FOR THIS.

Depending on your Archicad version, you can download a Goodie from the Graphisoft website called "Mesh to Roof" that converts mesh planes into roof parts. See your help menu for the link "Archicad Downloads"

Explore the roof tool. It behaves like any plane with thickness would.

As far as flat roofs go, the roof tool at zero slope does the trick.

Reasons for using the roof and wall tools instead of slab-type primitives is that they are attuned to automatically cut openings for doors windows and skylights.

[Anonymous]

is there a way to basically "cut out the inside" of the mesh so that it doesn't make the sides disappear?

It appears you're looking for a way to keep the end triangular surfaces of the mesh you used to create the roof. You can create the hollow mesh but you'd have 4 sides rather than the three you want. As stated earlier mesh isn't your tool for this.

Do this instead. Create the roof with the roof tool. Draw walls at the ends of the clerestory taller than the highest point of the roof. Trim the walls to the roof using "trim to roof" or better still use solid element operation (SEO) to trim the excess.

[Anonymous]

Okay thanks for the response guys!
Well, I've been experimenting with the different methods you've shown me and I have come up with a working final product!
Though I must say that I am having trouble with the SEO. It just never seems to work for me.
But on the bright side I've discovered that the roof tool is amazing and I love "trim to roof"
Below is what Ive ended up getting, its not a very good job but I suppose Ill figure it out eventually,

Thanks


Hayden!

[Anonymous]

Haydos,

Sorry you are having trouble with SEOs. SEO is one of three of the universal "do-everything-else" tools for Archicad. The others are the Mesh tool and Custom Profiles

There are two issues to keep in mind to when using SEOs
A) select and then deselect your targets and operators.
. the target is the element(s) to be modified
. the operator is the element(s) doing the work.
B) (Usually) hide the operator so you can see the results.
. the solution here is to prepare a layer just for SEO operators, you will turn this layer off to see the full results of the operation.
. sometimes you will find an element to be the operator that does not need to be hidden, but this time, just hide the operator.

Launch SEO, >Design >Solid Element Operations.

With the SEO window visible,
1) pick the element that is the target(s), THEN go to SEO window and click "get target elements". (Actually you can pick either target or operator first.)
. THEN release the selection prior to doing anything else. Make sure the SEO window lists at least, "1 target element stored"
2) repeat these steps for the operator(s). Again make sure to release the selection and verify you have at least one operator stored. Remember to place the operator on your "hide SEO" layer.
3) choose the operation and click it to execute. At this point, depending on the geometry of the operation you may not see any changes.
4) hide the SEO layer. Now you should see the results.

SEOs have a double benefit. One, is the operation itself of course, two, the effect is associative. So if you clip to top of a wall off, using the roof as the operator, you can now raise the roof and the wall cut off remains tied to the roof. The "trim to roof" command can not match this level of flexibility (and one wonders why not).

Snap

[Anonymous]

You're close to getting the results you're looking for. It appears your long wall is projecting a bit through the roof. You can trim this the same way or adjust the height. Cutting a section would help.

Also, it looks like your walls aren't intersecting at the corners. The reference lines of the walls must meet for the intersection to take place. You can do this manually or by selecting both and doing an intersect command. If this still doesn't work, it could be a wall intersection priority problem.

Regarding SEOs, I too have a layer for hidden SEO operators. These are generally used to carve away from the model. I frequently leave this layer on in wireframe mode so I can see what's going on in the model. Like your roof most of the SEOs are part of the model reside in visible layers.