modeling wall studs and plates

[Dave Brach]

what is the best way to model studs, plates, headers, trimmers, king studs, joists etc in archicad? ideally to create a schedule/take-off quantity for placing orders....

[Erwin Edel]

Probably not the best way (since I believe there are a few 3rd party addon solutions for this sort of thing), but I recently did this for wood framing with just beams and collumns.

I set up a layer for them with an intersection group different from the rest of my model (to stop unwanted connections), just used bring to front / send to back buttons to get my floorplan looking right and it was easy enough to schedule.

This was a very small extension to an exiting home though, so I don't think I'd do that for a large project.

I also had I believe 4 copies of a building material and a surface, to stop unwanted merging of fills and disappearing lines where elements were touching.

I used interior elevations with a layer combination showing only the framing for production drawings.

[DGSketcher]

You could try the updated curtain wall tool in AC22, although I doubt it will provide the quantity take offs you are hoping for due to the way it breaks down members onto a grid. Also depending on your frame profiles, some perimeter connections require SEO's to clean up.

If you want quantities then Erwin's solution will provide what you need but on a larger project, keeping everything dimensionally accurate requires a lot of care. Grouping, locking and even hot linking may be things to consider to suit your project.

Alternatively, if you are making the money and can justify the investment look at purchasing dedicated software as an add on or even independent software if that solution works best. I haven't used any 3rd party solutions so can't recommend any.

[Erwin Edel]

Yeah, for bigger projects (or more like 99% of all projects) we just go: it's a stud / woodframe wall, you're the contractor, you can figure it out.

There might be something on bimobject.com, they sometimes do little addon driven things for products. There's also something in the old no longer supported graphisoft addons (go to ARCHICAD Downloads from the help menu) for framing, I think.

I was guessing something like Cadimage would have this, but it seems they don't. Guess that leaves archiframe? Again: zero experience with this, we pretty much see this as the contractors 'problem'.

[Steve Jepson]

Dave wrote:
what is the best way to model studs, plates, headers, trimmers, king studs, joists etc in archicad? ideally to create a schedule/take-off quantity for placing orders....

Columns for vertical members. 1/2 slash for trimmers the X for studs.
For plate I use Roof Maker beams. They have better options than regular beams.
Sub floor is sometimes a Roof so I can generate the floor joists as rafters.
Roofs for soffit so I can use the Ctrl-Click thing, also roofs for sloped plate, fascia...

[Steve Jepson]

I don't think there are any 3rd party tools for this that are any better than what you can do with out them. Also, I don't fined the wall framing accessory in ArchiCAD useful either.
The trick to being efficient about this is to be using pre-modeled assemblies for door, window, and stair framing that you just tweak a little as needed. I like to place all the trimmers and kings studs first since they help me locate the doors and windows, then multiply the studs. I don't keep the trimmers, king studs, or cripples in my pre-modeled assemblies.

The reason to model the framing has very little to do with providing the Carpenter/Chippy with how-to instructions. However, it can reduce the need for skilled labor which also saves money. One less foreman to hire over the course of the project will alone save you the entire cost of generating the Framing Model.

There are several reasons to do it that will alone save more than the cost of doing it - in certain situations. Architects typically have no reason to do this since they do not benefit directly from the projects costs or cost savings. Contractors/Builders always do. The people who hire me do make Framing Models for their projects do it because it saves them a lot more than it costs them. This is my motto: "A good set of Plans will always save you more than they cost you." And that savings needs to be verifiable. Which is perhaps the biggest reason model the Virtual Building.

Another reason to do this is because it can significantly reduce the Engineers billable hours by making sure he does not need to spend hours trying to figure out a solution to the Architects 1/2 baked idea that almost works, but not quite. Also, this is the most efficient way to verify the Schedules. I usually place the Interactive Schedules right next to the framing diagrams and/or a 3D view of what is in the schedule. You can put a check mark on every part and the schedule to visually verify them. This is more important for some projects than others. Plans that include this kind of thing will produce lower bids from the subs who will not need to pad the bid for the unknowns (there aren't any).
To say nothing of the savings you realize with just routine communications. Everyone saves time and money from that.

[Erwin Edel]

We're a nation of brick layers though, so framework is not that common here

You either get the stuff prefabbed and assembled on site or the contractor just works it out based on the required dimensions and spacing.

Still odd that there isn't a more elegant solution for the markets where framework is very common.

[felcunha]

As Erwin said, you have Archiframe which seems to fit what you need (www.archiframe.fi). But it costs a leg!
If you really need and it can make you save lots of money you maybe should consider it...

[Steve Jepson]

Erwin wrote:
We're a nation of brick layers though, so framework is not that common here

You either get the stuff prefabbed and assembled on site or the contractor just works it out based on the required dimensions and spacing.

Still odd that there isn't a more elegant solution for the markets where framework is very common.

There is, but is it tightly controlled by the truss gusset companies.

https://www.mitek-us.com/software/ (for one of many examples)

The best software for this kind of thing is not something you can buy. You have to be a truss manufacturing plant get a license to use it. And to learn how to use it, you have to be sponsored as an employee of a truss manufacturing plant. They send you to a training school. And of course, you can never own your own copy of it.

[Laszlo Nagy]

With ARCHICAD 22 the renewed Curtain Wall Tool may actually be a good and feasible solution for creating the Wall Framing.