Sloping slabs etc.

[Anonymous]

The slab tool doesn't seem to have any provision for drawing sloping slabs, only controls for elevation and thickness. How does one draw a footpath for example, which might slope away from a building by either being slightly tilted or reducing in thickness?

My other two problems are an inability to draw rebates for brickwork in slab edge beams, and likewise the 45 degree fillets where edge and rib beams connect with the underside of a floor slab.

Any help with these three problems would be greatly appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Sloping Slab - Roof tool at the slope you require with the slab thickness or the mesh tool
Slab/Footing fillets and rebates - Edit/Solid Elements Operation removing the base of the concrete with roofs set up as the operator and a wall or similar for the rebate operator.

[Dwight]

This is a plug for the mesh tool as the great "Fake in" tool. It will fill in between any series of points and can be predictably controlled through ridges and contours.

While it cannot stand in for a uniform thickness tilted slab since it is either a paper thin folded plate or a skin/solid with a single level base, meshes can be trimmed to have thickness that is more-or-less uniform, provided that they aren't too steep, by copying them below themselves and SEO above. Be sure to use a solid version mesh for this.

[Anonymous]

Okay, I can see the sense in using the roof tool for a tilted slab and the mesh tool for a slab of varying thickness, but your comment about Edit/Solid Elements went through to the keeper.

I started using this programme thinking that most operations would be reasonably straightforward, but it seems that a lot of improvisation is required.

[Dwight]

Caliban, in Shakespeare's play ArchiTEMPEST, discovering on the beach a strange object:

"Is this improvised or is this a fish object?"

If you didn't need to improvise, there would be two hundred tools in the tool box.

A partial list, sonny, of things common today for which we had to "improvise" when I came on the scene in 1992 with ArchiCAD 4.0 would include :

corner windows,
meshes,
solid element operations,
curved "bent" walls,

just for starters.

Anybody else remember any great obsolete work-arounds?

[Anonymous]

Caliban,The Manual and Help menus have good information about "Solid Element Operations". Not that tricky after a few attempts. Solid Element Operations are necessary to create the slab details you require.

Dwight, In terms of work arounds I used to try to make trees with green coloured glass spheres. Swimming pools with glass water (not bad), corner windows were tricky with tiny bits of wall showing at the intersection.

Cheers,

[Anonymous]

Dwight and Graeme,

Thank you both for your advice.

As a newbie I had the thought that a rectangular slab has only 8 reference points (4 top corners and 4 bottom corners). A triangular slab would have 6. If the slab tool had an option to define the levels of these critical points a user could create virtually any shape of slab by combining 3D rectangles and triangles. The height adjustment could be confined to the selected composite core (eg. concrete) while other non-core elements like surface tiles and sand bed would retain their defined thickness. I'm sure that modification wouldn't add too many complications to the slab tool.

Just a thought.

[Anonymous]

I know this should be in the "Wish List", but I was looking for sloped walks/slabs as well and came upon this thread. I have always used the mesh tool for sloped drives and such.....but now I see the usefulness in the roof tool instead.....

As for my wish, since I use Revit as well.....the revit version of mesh is like the AC slab tool....the only difference is the ability to open up the object and being able to specify each corner's height....

I think AC can do this if they used the same tools in Slab as in Mesh (i.e. select a node in mesh and select it height individually or all)

[Karl Ottenstein]

MPatrick wrote:
As for my wish.....the revit version of mesh is like the AC slab tool....the only difference is the ability to open up the object and being able to specify each corner's height....

Hi neighbor,

How much different is that from the "Regular Sloped Mesh" geometry in ArchiCAD? (8.1 screenshot below)

Cheers,
Karl

[Dwight]

Meshes are more adaptable in all respects than roof planes.
They can meet odd conditions and don't become unmanageable after nominal complexiy like roof planes do.

Besides, meshes can be made to be smooth - thier ridges are disguised - making them excellent surfacing tools.

Throw away your geeky and corny "I work with models every day" t-shirt and order your new "Stick With The Mesh" T-Shirts from me.