Day 3

Important Tips of the Day temporary dimensions are accurate permanent dimensions round, and thus must be checked in most cases allow dimensional tolerance of about 1/8” make starting point for dimensioning consistent through project tabs cycles through different elements do not over-constrain, can cause problems in project good idea to pin gridlines or imported cad files utilize quick select tool (resembles funnel in option bar) to cycle through highlighted selections space bar rotates objects 90 degrees

Today, Drill Instructors Chris Sharkey and Cory Boaz drilled us in the arts of working with dimensions and constraints and adding architectural elements such as floors, ceilings, and roofs. 

Dimensions and Constraints

Dimensions

• Temporary dimensions are made when placing an item, such as a wall, and can be changed when changing the position or size of element
  • these dimensions are exact – no rounding
  • will be blue and editable
• Permanent dimensions are created with the ruler function found in the tools toolbar at the top of the screen or by using the dimension function in the design toolbar
  • these dimensions utilize rounding – are not exact
  • will be black and un-editable
  • must check dimensions to confirm accuracy
  • to add text to permanent dimension, click the dimension and a toolbar will pop up
  • edit witness lines changes how object is measured
  • to move dimension text click and move blue dot under measurement
  • clicking the EQ button on a dimensional line will make elements being dimensioned equivalent

•     before

 

          after

 

 

• to dimension an entire wall including windows and doors, select in the options toolbar the entire wall option instead of individual options, click options and activate openings to do one quick dimension of the entire wall and all openings

Constraints

• Lock button located on dimensional line will lock in position of element
• Align tool also caused elements to be constrained
• Can also pin an object
  • good to use when utilizing grid lines and AutoCAD underlays
• Be wary of over-constraining elements in project, because it slows processing time and can change elements of project unintentionally

Ceilings

• Ceilings functions can be found in the design toolbar
• ceilings are hosts of components like vents and lighting, so as the ceiling is moved, so are the components

Roofs

• Roof by footprint
  • to create a flat roof, draw shape of roof, either by selecting the walls to which it will be placed or by sketching it with define slope unchecked
    • can change type of roof created by roof properties
    • level in which the roof is created is the level in which it will be housed in
  • to create a roof with a pitch, select the wall extents once again but with the define slope checked
    • not all walls will need to define slope... the type of roof needed will indicate which walls need to define slope
    • attaching walls to the roof might help create wanted aesthetic

 

 

 

 

 

Above: every wall defines a slope

Below: Only the north and south walls define slope

 

 

 

 

 

• to create an extruded roof, must place a reference plane in plan view and then draw shape of roof in an elevation or section view
  • only need to define uppermost part of roof as selection of roof material will define its thickness
  • in element properties, you can find different forms of rafter cuts in order to better define the roof
  • to connect different roofs together, utilize the join/unjoin roof tool found in tools toolbar 
  • the align tool might be beneficial as a method of aligning different sections of roofs