suspended ceiling modeling and documentation

[RWARCHPC]

Can anyone make a suggestion for modeling and documenting a commercial suspended ceiling system in ArchICAD 21? I have read other posts here that seem to indicate that the ceiling editor / v21 is no longer supported and after trying a couple of the objects provided by bimcomponents.com (Armstrong, Certainteed) I'm not finding anything that works beyond setting a basic grid. Neither option I have tried has a workable option for adding lights, HVAC, etc. Is there a workaround with curtainwall or slab tools? I have searched youtube, Graphisoft help pages, etc. and have found nothing.

[Steve Jepson · Accepted solution]

I like to model simple dropped/suspended ceilings with Beams for the tee-grids and the ceiling tiles as one Slab. Then use SEO to cut the tiles.
If I need to schedule how many of each size tile there is I can exploded the slab/tiles into morphs.
The way to generate the Reflected Ceiling Plan then is with the Floor Plan Cut Plane Settings of the RCP View.
This will depend on how you have your Stories set up and what Story you have the beams and slab displayed on. Personally, when I need to make a RCP for a suspended ceiling I add a Story to the model just that.
I model the fire sprinkler escutcheons, lights, smoke detectors, grills, vents... on that Story as well.

[Richard Morrison]

RWARCHPC wrote:
Can anyone make a suggestion for modeling and documenting a commercial suspended ceiling system in ArchICAD 21? I have read other posts here that seem to indicate that the ceiling editor / v21 is no longer supported .

Out of curiosity, I downloaded and tried out the USA ceiling accessory provided as part of ArchiPlus. (You also need the standard Accessories Goodies, as it's a slab accessory.) It works just fine in v21, and is very simple. It's not a true 3D solution, but gives you adjustable grid lines on the bottom of a slab (and plan), where all of the intersections are snappable. Throw some of the GS standard 3D troffers in there and I'd say it looks pretty darn good and is not likely to cause file bloat. I'm not sure why people are saying it's not supported in v21.

[RWARCHPC]

Thank you, Richard,
I will look again. When I tried this out initially, I found that laying out the basic grid was not a problem with the ceiling editor or any of the ceiling objects I tried from Armstrong or Certainteed found on bimobject.com (they are essentially the same object with different mfr names and available only for non-US versons). What I found in all cases was that none of the tools were able to host anything like light fixtures, diffusers, etc. The ceiling editor appeared to have some kind pet palette one could activate for fixtures but mysteriously disappeared when selected. I found nothing in the bimobject tools that allowed me to host anything. I'll go back to the Archiplus page and see what's there - maybe my version was out of date.

[RWARCHPC]

I can see that complex profiles and slabs is the only way to do a complete model assembly but this won't work for my entire 9,000SF project. I had hoped to make use of this Armstrong object (pictured below) that has all the parts of a ceiling system, but there is no way to easily manipulate to the grid and replace tiles with lights and diffusers. the closest I got was to line up a morph, perform an SEO, and drop in a light. Way too tedious except for small "feature" spaces a like a lobby/reception area. I'm not an expert with the curtain wall tool but may try that as an alternative.

Thanks Richard and Steve for responding....

[Richard Morrison]

It wouldn't take very long at all to define a 5/8" thick slab for the ceiling tiles (per boundary area of a single grid system), then use the GS ceiling accessory to get all of the grid lines which gives you all of the snapping points. Use a complex beam with a T-bar profile, multiplying it around and using the Adjust tool to adjust T-bar beams to perimeter of ceiling slabs. For recessed T-bars, SEO with downward extrusion. Use 3D diffusers and troffers from library, SEO with downward extrusion. Probably could do 9,000 SF almost in the time that it took to write this thread.

[RWARCHPC]

Richard,
Thank you. That's exactly what I wound up doing.