Two story walls

[Tom Krowka]

I have some two story interior walls. How can I get the walls to show up on the second floor plan. I guess I could draw a one story wall, put in slab the same width as the wall, then draw the second story wall on top of the slab.
That seems very tedious. Isn't there somewhere I can select which floors to show the walls, like some of the other tools?

[Eduardo Rolon]

Actually the way to do it is as you have described. The ideal way for it to work is part of the wish list

[Richard Morrison]

You can also draw zero height walls on the second story. Or you can draw second floor walls that are on a layer that can be hidden in elevation and 3D views. Or you can create a patch from the first floor walls.

[Tom Krowka]

Thanks. I can see where it should be a wish list item for sure. If I draw zero height walls in the middle of a tall wall, won't it screw something up?

Will I see a line in the interior wall when viewed in section or an interior camera?

[Djordje]

Tom wrote:
Thanks. I can see where it should be a wish list item for sure. If I draw zero height walls in the middle of a tall wall, won't it screw something up?

Will I see a line in the interior wall when viewed in section or an interior camera?

Tom, how would you build it?

The rule is VERY simple - what is to be shown on a plan, belongs to that storey. End of discussion. I had this same discussion with myself long ago, and decided to have the builder's approach to the problem. Saved me many a workaround, including zero thickness walls and so on.

Double and triple height walls should NOT be one wall. They in reality are not. They are also incorporating a tie beam at the level of the first floor (second to the US audience) as double height brick wall is rather unstable structrue. And so on.

IMHO, as always.

Stop drawing, start building.

If the above sounds condescending, I apologize - no offence meant.

[Potato Farmer]

Djordje wrote:
Double and triple height walls should NOT be one wall.

If this is to remain the case then some other features must be added to smooth the workflow. First, windows and doors must be able to insert properly across a wall joint, whether horizontal or vertical. Next, we need some way to link connected walls, again both horizontally and vertically, and across stories so one little adjustment doesn't become an hour's worth of realignments.

Seems to me in many cases one big wall displayed across stories would be a lot simpler. More intelligent composite joining, especially in section and between different element types, which is sorely needed anyway, would properly display the intersections.

The think-like-a-builder approach is generally good advise but can easily lead to an overly complicated model. I mean if I took that one step further I would abandon composites all together and model each component of a building separately so I could perfectly replicate the staggering of materials at corners and joints. Two steps down the road and I realize that wood frame walls are not monolithic extruded rectangles, so I'd need to stick frame the whole building. I'm sure if I did that then I wouldn't be complaining about how intersecting walls join in plan since I'd be in complete control. Of course window casings would have to be separate from the sash and jamb since they're applied over the sheathing...

[Anonymous]

Geoff wrote:

Djordje wrote:
Double and triple height walls should NOT be one wall.

If this is to remain the case then some other features must be added to smooth the workflow. First, windows and doors must be able to insert properly across a wall joint, whether horizontal or vertical. Next, we need some way to link connected walls, again both horizontally and vertically, and across stories so one little adjustment doesn't become an hour's worth of realignments.

...

May I also suggest a wall that goes floorlevel to floor level (ie: forget the floor inbetween?

Another simple option if you have windows crossing the floor level is to make a single height wall then copy to the next storey and 'explode' it. Keep 'auto group' on to make reselection easier for later amendments.

[Anonymous]

With all due respect to Djordje, the simple option to have walls visible on stories where they are not located (as we have with other objects) is long, long overdue.

I too, build my model like a builder, as Djordje recommends, but why limit our options needlessly? Can we not imagine a scenario (such as ballon framing a wall) where the option would come in handy?

This has been on the wishlist forever, and I wonder if GS doesn't act on it because some influential forum members (or moderators) tell them offline that it really isn't important?

No offense meant, but perhaps instead of insisting that we get over it, GS could simply make it an option.

Thanks,

Brad O'Donnell

[Anonymous]

The ability to create a two or multi story wall is big on our office's wish list. Where it comes into play for us is in the exterior elevations and exterior model views. We build as a builder does: build a slab, build a wall, build the next floor and then the next wall. The problem is that after we have built all of this framing we have to put on our plasterer's hat an put fills all over the exterior of the building to cover up all of the lines created between the various floors and walls. This solution works for the exterior elevations but not the model. If we need a real precise model with no lines between floors we skin the building with a thin wall representing the siding and poke empty openings in the skin.
In the case of a building with many doors and windows all of this becomes a real task and very time consuming. Changing the location or size of the doors and windows requires us to go back to the exterior fills or wall skin and match the siding to the new fenestrations. I think that there should be a easier way to make the model dynamically responsive and represent the look that we want.

A side note to all of this is a wish for the ability to set the height (or heights) where the plan view is projected.

We think the program rocks, we just want more...

Thanks,
John

[Anonymous]

Dunno if I missed your point but my understanding is that you want your walls and slab edge to appear the same colour and texture in 3d (as if its all been plastered over). If you make your walls and slab edge the same material, opengl does that for you in 3d.