transparent fill in composite

[Anonymous]

I am trying to make a composite wall with one fill transparent (air)
but it seems impossible?
Am I doing something wrong or AC15 just can't do that?

[Gerald Hoffman]

I have been able to make composite walls with an airspace. Can you post a screen shot of what it looks like when you set up a space with airspace or empty fill as the fill pattern?

Cheers,

[Karl Ottenstein]

dasneboja wrote:
I am trying to make a composite wall with one fill transparent (air)
but it seems impossible?
Am I doing something wrong or AC15 just can't do that?

Better to use a complex profile wall with a physical air space... it will show up in all views.

Just select your current composite wall and use the menu command to capture the selected wall's profile... edit (delete the 'air' skin, etc), save the profile, and change the wall type from composite to your new profile...

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

While what Karl said may work as a work around, switching from a composite to a complex profile can create other substantial problems down the road.

--> I was just going through section settings (AC20) and found a toggle for transparency in the cut elements rollout. That's your best bet. Also check your wall object settings for any cut surface overrides that may be set for the specific wall.

[Barry Kelly]

This original post is over 5 years old and I don't think we had transparent materials (surfaces) in composites back then.
All you need to do now is set up a surface (air space) that is transparent.
Use that surface in your 'air space' building material and then use that building material in your composite.
So long as transparency is turned on in 3D you will have an invisible air space.

Barry.

[DGSketcher]

Just an observation but if you have a transparent cavity then you will see ALL the penetrations across the cavity in the section (unless you limit the depth of cut). Sometimes useful, usually confusing...

[Erwin Edel]

You can give your 'air' materials a white/window background pen and still have it invisible in 3D views though (using 'air' as surface). I agree that having a transparant fill is not going to be very clear in sections where you see all windows and what not there. It may be true to reality, but it will confuse your average construction worker