Wishes
Post your wishes about Graphisoft products: Archicad, BIMx, BIMcloud, and DDScad.

Curtain wall tool > Pattern tool

Tinou
Enthusiast

As curtain wall is the only tool which permits a parametric definition of grids an repetitive patterns with integration of complex profiles and materials, architects uses this tool for many purposes that are not curtain walls.

I create loadbearing wooden skeletons for slabs and walls with this tool, I also made some specific brick patterns ; and it is just two of the multiple possibilitys of curtain wall.

Now it-'s may be time to re-name this tool or create a variation of it which will be able for even more elements using a pattern, with more options absolutely not focused on creating glass walls.

It could be more rich with multi level of patterns like for example primary and secondary one. These multi patterns may be offset at different levels or may affect some different layers of the structure.

Pattern tool should accept simple materials, complex profile and coposites.

Then, do we need a pattern tool for vertical elements like walls, an other for slopy elments like roofs and a third one for slabs and ceilings ? Or do we need like now just one element for all this situations ?

A specific pattern tool for slabs should be easier to adapt in plan view, and shoud have the ability of changing the pattern direction any time for any angle. Then we will use it for wood or iron structures, even for concrete slabs if we need detail of it's internal iron structure. But it will be also used for paving, ceilings, an others.

The specific pattern tool for walls shoud have the ability of integrating openings, doors and windows, and parametric options for framing these openings with lintell etc. It sould also have some speficities for bottom, top, corners, etc.

Or should all these patterns options be directly integrated in the existing wall, roof and slab tools ? Why not ? It will have the advantage that in first sketches we use a simple wall, then change it for a complex wall, and finally, with increasing the LOD, user could add the pattern without removing this element.

Or create a "pattern" attribute that will be combine to composites ?? This 3rd solution seems more complicated...

Étienne - AC 24 - France
1 REPLY 1

Yes! The curtainwall tool as well as the railing tool offer some really useful functionality but as always GS seem unable to realise the limitations of tying every tool to a predetermined building part. The excuse that you can use which ever tool you want to model what every you want is getting obviously outdated in a world where other applications are making leaps when it comes to dynamic / parametric design and BIM. 

 

A related wish for generalising the functionality of curtainwalls and railings.