archicad modeling e-guide

Graphisoft® ArchiCAD®

ModelingInteractive Training Guide

GraphisoftVisit the Graphisoft website at http://www.graphisoft.com for local distributor and product availability information.

Graphisoft® ArchiCAD® Modeling – Interactive Training GuideCopyright © 2008 by Graphisoft, all rights reserved. Reproduction, paraphrasing or translation without express prior written permission isstrictly prohibited.TrademarksArchiCAD®, Virtual Building™, Virtual Trace™ and Virtual Building Solutions™ are trademarks of Graphisoft.All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

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CONTENTSGetting Started with the ArchiCAD Interactive Training Guide _____ 5Step 1: Download and Install Archicad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Step 2: Create the Interactive Training Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Step 3: How to Use Movie Player in ArchiCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Introduction _______________________________________________ 10

Chapter 1: Architectural Modeling: Terrains ____________________ 131.1 Customizing the Mesh Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131.2. Creating a Mesh from External 2D Drawings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141.3. Creating a Platoo Slab on the Terrain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171.4. Adding a Sloping Road to the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Chapter 2: Creating Basic Shapes – Using Solid Element Operations 222.1. Creating the 3D Form of a Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222.2. Adding the Choir and Aisles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242.3. Creating a Bell Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262.4. Completing the 3D Form of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Chapter 3: Architectural Modeling: Structural Grid______________ 353.1. Creating a New Structural Grid – Columns, Beams and Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353.2. Adding a second structural grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403.3. Modifying the structural grid’s elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Chapter 4: Architectural Modeling: Columns, Beams and Complex Profiles____________________________________________________ 464.1. Modifying the Attributes of the Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464.2. Placing Circular Slanted Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484.3. Creating New Complex Profiles for Construction Elements . . . . . . 494.4. Placing a Profiled Column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524.5. Creating an Inclined Beam and Defining the Intersection Priority of Beams and Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534.6. Defining Holes in the Beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564.7. Adding an ArchiCAD Object to the Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Chapter 5: Architectural Modeling: Walls – Slanted Walls / Composite Walls____________________________________________ 625.1. Creating and Editing Straight and Slanted Walls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

5.1.1. Stretching the Slanted Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .645.2. Wall Priorities and the Layer Intersection Group Number Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .645.3. Creating a New Composite Structure for Walls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .655.4. Using the Modify Wall Command. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .685.5. Drawing a Double-Slanted Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .705.6. Creating and Editing a Profiled Wall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73Chapter 6: Architectural Modeling: Roofs ______________________ 776.1. Creating a Simple Roof in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .776.2. Trimming Walls and Columns to the Roof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .796.3. Creating a Polyroof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .836.4. Creating a New Barrel-Vaulted Roof on the Floor Plan . . . . . . . . . .846.5. Constructing an Irregular Barrel-Vaulted Roof in 3D . . . . . . . . . . .87Chapter 7: Special Constructions: Special Openings – Skylights / Corner Windows ___________________________________________ 917.1. Creating Special Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .917.2. Customizing and Placing a Storefront Door . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .947.3. Creating an Empty Opening. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .957.4. Placing a Skylight Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .977.5. Adding Entrances to the Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101Chapter 8: Architectural Modeling: Stairs _____________________ 1058.1. Adjusting and Placing an Existing Stair Object. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1058.2. Creating a New Staircase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1078.3. Creating Stairs with the Profile Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1108.4. The ‘Create Stair Using Selection’ Feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112Chapter 9: Special Constructions - TrussMaker_________________ 1179.1. Creating a Truss from Rolled Steel Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1179.2. Terminating the Building Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122Chapter 10: Special Constructions - RoofMaker ________________ 12510.1. Using the Roof Wizard Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12610.2. Modifying Elements of the Roof Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Graphisoft® ArchiCAD® Modeling – Interactive Training Guide 3

Contents

4 Graphisoft® ArchiCAD® Modeling – Interactive Training Guide

Getting Started with the ArchiCAD Interactive Training Guide

GETTING STARTED WITH THE ARCHICAD INTERACTIVE TRAINING GUIDEThis interactive training guide was written to ease and speed up your learning process, saving you time.Please read the three steps of this short introduction to familiarize yourself with the interactive training environment in ArchiCAD. Every chapter of the interactive training guide contains the following elements:

The PDF guide can be printed and all the narrated movie clips can be launched from the PDF. However, we recommend that you play the movie clips within ArchiCAD, while completing the steps using the training project files.

STEP 1: DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL ARCHICADTo best enjoy the unique benefits and simplicity of learning in an interactive environment, we recommend that you install the interactive training guide as well as the latest version of Graphisoft ArchiCAD on your computer.

1 Install ArchiCAD on your computer to complete the steps of this interactive training guide.

2 If you do not have ArchiCAD yet, please visit the following websites to obtain a free ArchiCAD installer:

• If you are a student or a teacher, visit https://eduregistration.graphisoft.com/ to register and download a fully functional Education Version of ArchiCAD® for Students and Teachers.

• If you are a professional architect, visit https://trialregistration.graphisoft.com/ to register and download a fully functional 30-day trial version of ArchiCAD. Projects saved with this TRIAL version can be automatically upgraded to FULL versions upon purchase of a commercial license.

• a section of the PDF Guide with detailed explanations and screenshots;

• narrated movie clips providing step-by-step instructions,

• an ArchiCAD training project file to complete the exercises.


https://eduregistration.graphisoft.com/

https://trialregistration.graphisoft.com/


Please note that ArchiCAD is available in several localized languages for both Macintosh and for Windows operating systems – make sure to choose the language and installer version that best suits you.

3 Start the Graphisoft ArchiCAD installer and follow the installation wizard to complete the process.

4 Start the installer of the interactive training guide and follow the instructions on the screen. We recommend you install the guide to the “default” location suggested in the installation wizard.

Once you have successfully installed both Graphisoft ArchiCAD and any of the Interactive Training Guide packages, please proceed with the following steps to initiate the interactive learning environment.

STEP 2: CREATE THE INTERACTIVE TRAINING ENVIRONMENT

Please note that there are separate installer packages for Macintosh and for Windows operating systems. Please make sure to use the appropriate installer.

Introduction.mp4Watch Movie


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1 Start ArchiCAD on your computer by double-clicking its desktop shortcut.

The ArchiCAD splash screen will appear shortly after you start the program, and the “Start ArchiCAD” dialog will be displayed.2 Select the “Standard Profile” for the active Work

Environment in the “Start ArchiCAD” dialog. Select the “Open Project” option, then click the “Browse” button to locate the ArchiCAD training project file on your local computer.

If you installed the interactive training guide to its default location, then you will find its folder in the “Graphisoft” folder of your machine. The Graphisoft folder is located in the “Applications” folder on Macintosh, or in the “Program Files” folder on Windows operating systems.3 Browse the chapters of this training guide and open any of

the ArchiCAD Project archive (.PLA) files.



4 Select the “Read elements directly from archive” option for Active Library Usage in the “Open Archive Project” dialog.

ArchiCAD will open the selected archive project and read all the library elements directly from the archive file. The ArchiCAD training project files are all saved as archive files. This is important because the library elements have different names in localized versions of ArchiCAD (“localized” meaning translated to foreign languages and customized to meet different local standards).

5 Activate the “File > Save As…” command, and save an ArchiCAD Solo Project of the currently open design file to the folder in which the previously opened archive file was located. The Solo Project format and the correct library are selected automatically, so practically all you have to do is to click the “Save” button to proceed.

This is an important step, since certain exercises will require a Solo Project file to be saved on your local computer. Now that the “training environment” has been set up, you are ready to proceed with any of the exercises!



STEP 3: HOW TO USE MOVIE PLAYER IN ARCHICADLet’s briefly look over the main features and functions of the ArchiCAD Movie Player.1 Open the Movie Player by

activating “Help > ArchiCAD Movie Player”.

2 The Movie Player will open and the first training clip will be automatically loaded. Feel free to reposition or re-size the movie player on your screen.

3 Click the Play button on the player to start the first clip. You can pause the movie at any time, or use the slider to repeat or skip any parts of the clip.

4 Once the movie is over and you have completed the current step of the exercise, click the “Next” button to proceed to the next step of the exercise and open the corresponding training clip. You can also click the “Previous” button if you wish to open the previous clip.

The title bar of the movie player always indicates the number of the current step and the total number of steps available in the current chapter.

We hope that you will find this guide useful and will agree with what experienced architects worldwide say: ArchiCAD is easy to learn and fun to use.You are always free to contact Graphisoft and its worldwide partners if you have further questions: www.graphisoft.com.



Introduction

INTRODUCTIONOne of the major advantages of ArchiCAD is found in the creation of 3D construction elements, forms and models, allowing architects to put their ideas in spatial terms. Working in 3D makes it possible to verify and visualize the project during the entire

design process. The intention the Modeling Interactive Training Guide to introduce the concept, tools and techniques of 3D modeling in ArchiCAD, which enables the creation of intelligent objects.


Introduction


Introduction

ArchiCAD parametric construction elements behave according to “real-life” conditions – for instance, walls, columns and beams can be trimmed to the surfaces of slanted roofs with just a few clicks of the mouse. This can save a great deal of modeling time for designers, while ensuring that all material quantity calculations reflect real design conditions.Every ArchiCAD building element is “real”: you might create a wall or slab in the floor plan view, but their 3D view is also at hand immediately, at any time. This enables users to view the project in its own 3D environment (with instant, real-time 3D feedback) and to make better, more informed design decisions. Throughout the following chapters and exercises you will “construct”, step by step, a small pavilion situated in an existing architectural environment. First, you will establish the topography of the sloping site using meshes. Next, you will learn how to use basic shapes from the ArchiCAD library to create the simplified model of the existing buildings surrounding the new pavilion. You will also familiarize

yourself with the Solid Element Operations functionalities in order to form more complicated 3D volumes. After that, you will create the structure of the building, composed of beams and columns. The functioning and handling of these construction elements will be demonstrated in detail in this overview. Finally, you will need to “dress” the building with walls, roofs, stairs, doors, windows and skylights, using an amazing variety of tools available in ArchiCAD. In the meantime, you will gain skills using special ArchiCAD functionalities, like StairMaker, TrussMaker and RoofMaker, allowing for the simple creation of stairs, trusses, girders and roof structures. The Modeling Interactive Training Guide requires a basic knowledge of ArchiCAD. Users need to be familiar with how to employ fundamental ArchiCAD design and navigation tools. These are not fully explained in this manual. For beginners, we recommend starting with the ArchiCAD Basic or BIM Interactive Training Guides, accessible at http://www.graphisoft.com.



Chapter 1: Architectural Modeling: Terrains

CHAPTER 1: ARCHITECTURAL MODELING: TERRAINSOur environment sits on a gently sloping site, which we need to create in 3D. In order to do so, use the ArchiCAD Mesh tool to obtain a realistic view of the original terrain. Meshes are surfaces of any form created by defining the elevation of their characteristic points and interpolating between them. A mesh – with its ridges – is created on the foundation of a Mesh Reference Plane. You draw the main contours of the mesh, as projected to the Reference Plane. You can then raise the characteristic points of the mesh’s superficies out of this plane.

Note: There are two types of ridges in a mesh: user-defined and generated ridges. You have the option of displaying all the ridges, or just the user-defined ones. (This control is located in Mesh Default Settings). On the floor plan, only the outline and the ridges of the mesh are visible. In 3D, you can design meshes

as superficies, meshes created with vertical sides (skirt), and meshes created as solid bodies, depending on the construction method chosen in the Info Box.

1.1 CUSTOMIZING THE MESH PARAMETERS

In the first part of this chapter you are going to set the parameters of the mesh. These will be used later, when placing the mesh. Let’s open the “Modeling Chapter 01.pla” project file.1 Activate the “1.1. Customizing the mesh” pre-set view in the

Navigator. Double-click the Mesh Tool to open its settings dialog box. Click the “Create Solid Bodies” radio button in the “Geometry and Positioning” panel. The depth shows the value to which the mesh will extend below the reference plane. Input a height of 5 m as the depth of the mesh base. Enter -11 m for the value of the relative Base Height.

In the Floor Plan and Section panel, you can find the controls related to the representation of the mesh in 2D windows, such as

Modeling Chapter 01_01.mp4Watch Movie


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the floor plan, section, and elevation views. You can also assign a fill pattern to the mesh covering the element in the floor plan. 2 Open the “Floor Plan and Section” tab page and switch off

the ‘Cover Fills’ option. Also, set the pens as shown.

3 Go to the “Model” panel. Select “Stn-Marble White” as the top material, and keep the settings of the side and bottom materials. You can control the appearance of the generated ridges in this panel. Choosing “All Ridges Smooth” means that only user-defined ridges will appear in the 3D view.

1.2. CREATING A MESH FROM EXTERNAL 2D DRAWINGS

ArchiCAD allows for the creation of meshes from 2D drawings that contain the boundaries of the site. In this exercise, you will import an AutoCAD DWG file and use it as a reference to create the Mesh Model.

1 Activate the “1.2. Creating mesh from external 2D drawing” pre-set view in the Navigator. Import the reference file by clicking the “Merge” command in the “File > File Special” menu. Browse to the “Advanced Modeling Library” folder and select the “.DWG” file type. Select the “Mesh contour lines.dwg” file and click the “Open” button.

2 The “Merge DXF-DWG” dialog box appears in the screen. Choose the “Merge content of Model Space into current View” option and hit “OK”.

3 The “Merge DXF-DWG Model Space” dialog box appears. Make sure “Specify On-Screen” under the Insertion Point settings is checked on. Set both the X and Y value of scaling ratio to 1. Next, click the “Bounding box node” radio button, and select the top left button as anchor point. Click “Merge”.



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4 Place the drawing as seen below.

Now you have to define the contour of the mesh.

5 Select the Mesh tool and activate the rectangular geometry method in the Info Box. First, click at the top left point of the rectangle, and then click at the bottom right corner.

Next, you need to add some level lines to the mesh. Instead of retracing each edge manually, use the Magic Wand, which will autotrace the level lines needed for the site.

Note: Whenever you create curved-type elements with the Magic Wand, the tracing method and the approximation will be based on the settings of the “Option > Magic Wand Settings…” dialog box. Activating the “Best Match” radio button means that curved segments will follow - as best as possible - the natural form of circles, arcs and splines. If real curves cannot be created, ArchiCAD will try to approximate curves according to the settings of in this dialog box.



6 Select the newly created Mesh and hold the Space bar to activate the Magic Wand with the Mesh tool still activated. Drag the cursor over the first level line and click. The “New Mesh Points” dialog box appears on the screen. Make sure that “Fit to User Ridges” is selected and click “OK” to create new points along the contour.

Note: When you add new points to the selected mesh you have three possibilities. If you choose “No Surface Fitting”, the new points will be added with the height value currently set in the “Mesh Settings” dialog box. If “Fit to User Ridges” is selected, the new points will be placed on the current surface of the mesh, and only user-defined ridges will keep their height. This method is recommended for renderings. By choosing “Fit to All Ridges”, the new points will be placed on the current surface of the mesh, and all ridges will keep their height. This method is the most precise one, but it may generate a rather large number of ridges. In the latter two cases, if you wish to create a hole (for instance, to accommodate a house plot), no slopes connected to the bottom of the mesh will be created.

7 Repeat the last operation until each contour is “redrawn” by the Magic Wand.

You have created a mesh that is at present a horizontal plane. Define the height for each contour line individually to obtain the final shape of the mesh. Do not forget that the top level of the mesh is set to -11 m. When modifying the height of level lines, this value serves as reference level from which the new altitude is measured. 8 Drag the cursor along the first line and click on the point.

Select “Elevate Mesh Point” from the appearing pet palette. Enter 1 m and select the “Apply to All” feature, which affects all points along the contour.

9 Continue the same process for the remaining level lines, as shown below.



1.3. CREATING A PLATOO SLAB ON THE TERRAIN

Let’s continue the design of the project by adding a platoo slab on the terrain. This will serve as a base for the building to be constructed in the following chapters. First, create a hole in the mesh. Next, place the slab.1 Activate the “1.3. Creating a platoo slab on the terrain”

pre-set view in the Navigator. Select the mesh with the Mesh tool still active. Choose the Polygonal geometry method in the Info Box, and draw a closed polygon by following the instructions in the illustration below.

2 In the appearing “New Mesh Points” dialog box, choose the “Create Hole” radio button. Select the “Fit to User Ridges” option and click “OK”.

3 Activate the Slab tool and open the tool’s settings dialog box. In the “Geometry and Positioning” panel, set the Slab Thickness to 1 m, and enter 0 for the value of the Relative Base Height.

4 Open the “Model” tab page and select “Wd-Pine Horizontal” as the material of the top of the slab. Click “OK” to leave the settings dialog box.



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5 Draw the Slab manually or hold down the Space bar and click inside the contour with the Magic Wand. Open the 3D window and check your design.

1.4. ADDING A SLOPING ROAD TO THE PROJECT

In this exercise, you will place a sloping road onto the terrain using the Regular Sloped Mesh. This helps you quickly create regular meshes with plane surfaces.1 Activate the “1.4.1. Adding a sloping road” pre-set view in

the Navigator. First, create a hole in the mesh. In order to do so, select the Mesh tool and also select the mesh element on the floor plan. Choose the Rectangular geometry method in the Info Box. Click the top right corner as shown and choose the “Subtract from Polygon” option. Define the second corner as shown and click outside of the Mesh to deselect it.



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2 Now select the Regular Sloped Mesh in the Info Box and define a rectangular boundary on the floor plan.

The “Regular Sloped Mesh” dialog box opens automatically. In the first part of the dialog box you can set the number of divisions in either direction. You must then set the elevation of three mesh corners: the fourth one is generated automatically.3 Set the parameters as shown below.

4 Draw a selection marquee around the newly created element and activate the “View > Elements in 3D View > Show Selection/Marquee in 3D” option. Change the 3D view mode if necessary.



5 Select the new mesh and click on one top point as shown. Select the “Elevate” command from the pet palette and adjust the slope to the existing mesh height.

6 Click on a bottom point of the slope and choose the “Stretch height” option. Modify the height as shown below.

Note: Meshes can be edited after being placed on the floor plan. Use the commands in the palette appearing in the 3D window or in the floor plan view.

7 Now check the whole design in the 3D window. In order to do so, activate the “1.4.2. Mesh in 3D” pre-set view in the Navigator.



8 Finally, return to the floor plan window and save your project using the “File > Save as…” command.


Chapter 2: Creating Basic Shapes – Using Solid Element Operations

CHAPTER 2: CREATING BASIC SHAPES – USING SOLID ELEMENT OPERATIONS Let’s continue the project by constructing the architectural environment in which the project will be placed. As a base, you will use the 3D terrain constructed in the previous chapter. You will continue with the creating of the existing buildings surrounding the new pavilion. In order to do this, use basic shapes from the ArchiCAD library. You also need to familiarize yourself with the Solid Element Operations functions. This will help you to form more complicated 3D volumes. The intention of this step is to create a mass plan of the environment that helps you to check your future project in a real situation.

2.1. CREATING THE 3D FORM OF A CHURCH

In this exercise, you will create the 3D form of the church seen in the following screenshots. Let’s open the “Modeling Chapter 02.pla” project file.

1 First, activate the “2.1. Creating church 3D form” pre-set view in the Navigator.

The appearing 2D drawings contain the contour lines and the elevation views of the church. Observe that the form of the building can be reproduced by using elementary geometric shapes.



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2 Activate the Object tool in the Toolbox and open Settings dialog. Select the “Basic Shapes” folder from Special Construction. Notice that the object named “House Model” corresponds to the form of the nave of the church. Select this object.

3 Rotate the object in the Preview window, and place the anchor point in the top left corner in the “Preview and Positioning” panel.

4 Set the dimensions as shown in the Parameters tab page. The “Roof Type” has to be set to Type 1. Also make sure that the “Footing Height” option is set to 0. Enter 12 m for “Gutter Height” and 60 for the “Roof Angle”.



Define the dimensions as shown in the illustration.

5 Use the “Paint-19” material for the whole object, as selected in the Model panel.

Finally, select the “3D form layer” at the bottom of the settings dialog box.

6 Return to the plan view by closing the dialog box. Click the top left corner of the nave. As you can see, the object appears in the floor plan.

2.2. ADDING THE CHOIR AND AISLES

Adding the choir volume requires mostly the same steps.1 Activate the “2.2.1. Adding choir and aisles” pre-set view in

the Navigator. Return to the tool’s settings dialog box and set the dimensions as seen on the screenshot below. Also select “Hip Roof on One End” in the “Parameters” panel.



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2 Close the settings dialog box and place the object as shown in the next illustration.

Let’s continue the design by adding two aisles. 3 Reopen the settings dialog box. Use the same object. This

time you need to set a simple roof. In the “Parameters” panel choose “No Hip” and select “Type 3” as Roof Type. This type has only one sloped plane.

4 You have to change the dimensions and the roof slant angle. Use the data shown on the 2D drawings. Set the hotspot to the top left corner in the Preview panel.

5 Click “OK” to return to the plan view and click as indicated on the illustration.

6 Before adding the second aisle, change the Geometry Method in the Info Box to “Rotated Diagonal”. This allows you to create the second aisle without modifying the parameters of the settings dialog box. Click as shown below.



7 To check your design in the 3D Window, activate the “2.2.2. Adding choir and aisles” perspective view in the Navigator.

2.3. CREATING A BELL TOWER

The creation of the bell tower is going to be more complicated. To construct the simplified form of the tower, you need to use multiple objects that have to be placed on each other. Additionally, you will learn how to create more complicated 3D volumes by using the Solid Element Operations function. 1 Select first the “2.3.1. Creating a bell

tower” pre-set view in the Navigator. Change the Geometry Method to “Orthogonal” in the Info Box. Open the Object tool’s settings dialog and choose “Find library parts”. Type “Cube” for the keyword and select the Cube object. Set the parameters and place it as shown.

2 Now return to the dialog box and select the Pyramid object. Set the “Number of the sides” to 8 in the Structural Dimensions. Define the “Cone Length” as 7.5 m. Set 22.5° as the angle of rotation. In the “Preview and Positioning” tab page, set 25 m as Base Height. It has to be modified later, but for now this will help you to develop your design.



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You don’t need to define the Bounding Circle Radius precisely, because this can be assigned to the perimeter of the cube after placing the object. 3 Activate the “Floor Plan” window and place the object.

4 As you can see, you have to modify the base size. In order to do so, select the object and click on one of its perimeter

hotspots. In the appearing pet palette choose "Stretch" and resize the pyramid such that its boundary box corresponds to the perimeter of the cube object.



5 Next, go to the 3D window by activating the “2.3.2. Creating a bell tower” perspective view.

Compare your design with the 2D drawings of the church. As you can see, to achieve the final form of the tower, there are some tasks remaining. You need to cut the top corners of the Cube object, elevate the roof of the tower, and add some columns to support the roof’s charge. 6 Activate the “Solid Element

Operations” function in the Design menu. This allows you to create complex shapes using Boolean operations, including subtraction, addition and intersection.

Note: Solid Element Operations has two distinguishable roles. A Target is an element whose geometry will be modified by the operation. An Operator is an element affecting the geometry of the element to which it is linked.

7 Now drag a copy of the pyramid object which will serve as the operator element. First, select the object. Then, activate the “Drag a copy” command, which is situated in the Edit menu’s “Move” panel. It can also be found in the context menu appearing as a result of a right-click.



8 Select the new object and open the settings dialog box. In the “Structural Dimensions” tab page set the XY plan angle to 270°.

9 Click on one of the new Piramyds’ hotspots as shown in the screenshot, and select the “Drag horizontally” command from the appearing pet palette. Assign the pyramid object that overlaps the cube element as shown.

10 With the object still selected, change the layer of the Pyramid object in the Info Box. Select the “Operator Elements” layer.

As you have to cut 4 edges of the cube, you need to possess 4 operator elements.



11 To do so, reselect the object and activate the “Edit > Move > Multiply…” command.

Activate the “Rotate” option and set the Number of copies to 3. Check to make sure that the vertical displacement is ‘off’. Also make sure that the “Increment” option is active.

12 In the perspective view, choose the peak of the tower as the center point of the rotation and any point of the operator pyramid as the target. Define angle of the rotation as 90º.

13 Now select the “Cube” object and click the “Get Target Elements” button in the “Edit Targets and Operators” dialog box.



Next, select the 4 pyramid objects, then click “Get Operator Elements”.

After defining every element of the operation, select “Subtraction” and click the “Execute” button.

The operation does not modify or delete the Operator element. After having performed the operation, you can hide the layers of the Operator elements without resetting the modified shape.

Hint: The result of the operation is associative: if you modify the location or the attributes of the participating elements, the linked elements will be updated accordingly.

14 Hide the Operator Elements layer to see the model without them.

To redefine the “2.3.2. Creating a bell tower” perspective view, click the “Settings” option at the bottom of the Navigator. In the appearing dialog box, click “Get Current Window’s Settings” and hit “OK”.

2.4. COMPLETING THE 3D FORM OF THE CHURCH

In this step you will complete the modeling of the bell tower. First, you need to elevate the pyramid object to a new altitude.1 In order to do so, select the pyramid object. Open the tool’s

settings dialog box and change the value of the base height to 26 m.

Continue by adding 8 columns to support the charge of the roof of the tower.



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2 Activate the “2.4.1. Completing the 3D form” predefined view in the Navigator. Open the Object tool’s settings dialog box and select “Cylinder 11”. Change the value of the base height to 25 m. Set the cylinder radius to 0.20 m and the cylinder length to 1 m.

Click “OK” to leave the dialog box, and place the first column as indicated.

3 Select the placed object and activate the “Edit > Move > Multiply…” command. To obtain the desired number of copies, set the parameters as shown and execute the operation.



Activate the “2.4.2 Site” pre-set view. The 3D model of the architectural environment appears on the screen. Notice that the simple 3D forms of the neighbouring houses were placed previously to speed up the modeling process. Observe that the church is located on the upland of the terrain. This platform is at a height of 3 m from the project zero, so you need to elevate the base of the 3D elements forming the church by 3 meters.4 Activate the “2.3.2. Creating a bell tower” perspective view

in the Navigator.Remember that the tower is partly created by a solid element operation. To keep its present form, do not forget to also elevate the operator elements, which are currently hidden. 5 Make the Operator elements layer visible. To do so, go to the

“Layer Settings” dialog box, select the “Operator elements” layer, and click the “Show” button. Return to the 3D window.

6 Select all the objects with the Arrow tool, and choose the “Edit > Move > Elevate…” command. Enter 3 meters for the new altitude.

7 Check your design by double-clicking the pre-set “2.4.2. Site view”, and then save the project.

To make your model more, you can create an entrance at the street front of the church.



8 Activate the “2.4.3. Creating the entrance” pre-set view. To create the entrance, use a truncated cone rotated in line with the XY plane. This will serve as an Operator Element during the next solid element operation. 9 Open the Object tool’s settings dialog box and choose the

“Cone 11” object. Set the “Relative Base Height” to 7 m. The “Bottom Circle Radius” has to be set to 3 m, while the value of the “Top Circle Radius” should be 1.50 m. Open the “Structural Dimensions” tab-page, and modify the “Angle to XY Plane” to 0. Type 2 for the “Cone Length”. Set 0.0° as the angle of rotation.

10 Place the Cone object such that its axis coincides with the ridge of the roof of the nave.

11 Activate the “Solid Element Operations” command from the Design menu. Select the object forming the nave of the church as “Target”, and define the cone as “Operator”. Select the “Subtraction with downwards extrusion” operation and click the “Execute” button.

12 Finally, select the “Cone 11” object and change its layer to Operator elements.


Chapter 3: Architectural Modeling: Structural Grid

CHAPTER 3: ARCHITECTURAL MODELING: STRUCTURAL GRIDThe main advantage of the Grid System feature is that it facilitates and accelerates the creation of building structures that contain repetitive or similar elements (e.g., beam and columns). It allows for creation and placement using custom local structural grids of different sizes and shapes. The Grid System feature also helps in the positioning of identical columns and beams at specified intervals on your project’s floor plan. You can easily recreate this arrangement on any number of stories.

3.1. CREATING A NEW STRUCTURAL GRID – COLUMNS, BEAMS AND DIMENSIONS

In this chapter you are going to create two local structural grids, which partly overlap each other. These will help you to add design elements to the project further down the line. Let’s open the “Modeling Chapter 03.pla” project file.1 Start this step by creating the first structural grid.

Double-click on the convenient pre-set view in the Navigator, and activate the “Design > Grid System...” command.



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2 In the appearing dialog box, the settings of the grid can be customized as needed.

In the “General Settings” panel of the Dialog, select the “Orthogonal grid” option for Geometry.

3 The “Elements at Grid line intersections” option allows you to create columns or objects at Grid line intersections. Choose Column to add columns at every axis intersection point of the structural grid.



4 Click the “Dimension lines” option to place dimension units between all intersection points. In the field to the right, define the value of the dimension position as 3.

5 In the "Grid Elements" panel, set the Extension of the Grid

elements to 5. Select the top right corner as the anchor point and choose the right and the top sides of the Grid to place Markers.

6 In order to define the axis numbering system, go to the "Naming Rules" panel. Choose the “Generate names automatically option and set A, B, C... and “Down” for the horizontal axis and 1, 2, 3... and “Left” for the vertical axis.

7 Next, open the "Grid Positions" panel and set value “A” to 5 meters in the Horizontal grid lines’ settings. Hit the plus button four times to create six horizontal grid lines. Next,

use the minus button to remove the unnecessary Vertical grid lines. Set the number of grid lines to 2. Define the distance of the vertical grid lines to 5.47 meters. Hint: Use the “Insert” (plus) and “Delete” (minus) buttons to set the number of grid Lines. Clicking the “Insert” button will add a new horizontal or vertical line to the bottom of the list if no grid line is highlighted. If a grid line is highlighted, the new line will be inserted below it. The “Delete” button allows you to remove a selected horizontal or vertical grid line. The spacing values can be edited individually.

8 Before creating the structural grid on the floor plan, the settings of columns and dimensions that will be placed with the grid must be defined. You don’t have to deal with the tool’s settings. Just use the stored favorites containing the parameters and attributes needed for the tools. In the "General Settings" panel open the Column Settings, and choose “Column-01” in the Favorites. Click the Apply button and close the Settings dialog by hitting OK.



9 Open the Dimension Lines’ Settings Dialog as well, open the Favorites list and choose the "Dimension-01" Favorite. Hit Enter to close the Settings dialog.



10 In the Grid System Settings Dialog, set “Structural Grid” for layer.

Note: The grid structure is assigned to a single layer which can be set at the bottom of the dialog box. The other elements (Columns, Beams, Dimensions, etc.) will be placed on their default layer using their current settings.

11 Now everything is set for the Grid so hit OK. The ghost form of the grid appears on the screen. A white pencil cursor indicates the anchor point for placing the grid.

Click Point 1 to define the Anchor point, and click once more on the appearing horizontal Guide line to the left, to define the direction of the first Grid System.



3.2. ADDING A SECOND STRUCTURAL GRID

Now let’s create the second structural grid of the project. 1 Switch to the “3.2. Adding a second struct. grid” pre-set

view in the Navigator. Open “Design > Grid System...” again. Uncheck the “Elements at Grid line intersections” checkbox in the “General Settings” panel, leaving only the “Dimension lines” option selected.

2 Switch to the “Grid Elements” panel and open the “Grid Element Settings”.

In the “Floor Plan” panel, set the Grid line pen to Pen 4.Open the “Marker” panel and set the Marker Pen and Text Pen values to Pen 4 as well. This will help us to discern this second grid from the previously created one. Click OK to leave the Grid Elements settings dialog.

3 Set the Markers for the left and the upper sides of the Grid system.



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4 Make sure that down… and left are selected in the Naming rules panel. Set the value of the ‘Start at’ option to 3 on Vertical Grids.

5 Now go to the Grid Position panel. In this case, the spacing values of the vertical grid lines will be different from each other. Define two Horizontal Grid lines with the distance of 10 meters, and six Vertical Grid lines with the following distances: 6.54, 4.58 and 9.36 meters in the remaining places.

6 Return to the floor plan and create the Grid by defining its Anchor Point at Point 1 and setting its direction as horizontal with a second click.



3.3. MODIFYING THE STRUCTURAL GRID’S ELEMENTS

In this part, we are going to modify the placed grid’s elements. Notice that all the Grid elements placed are grouped. If you ungroup the structure, all of its elements can be edited individually.1 Select the “3.3. Modify grid elements” pre-set view in the

Navigator, and activate “Suspend Groups” in the Standard Toolbar.

2 As you can see, the increasing order of the axis numbering is not consistent. It has to be changed at several points, as shown in the illustration.

Select the first marker to be modified, and open the tool’s settings dialog box. Open the “Naming rules” panel and set “2” for the custom parameter value of the Marker. Click “OK” when finished. Repeat the same steps for the other elements.

Choose the Vertical Grid line at Point 2 and set its value to “3”. The Horizontal Grid line’s value at Point 3 should be set to “C”.

3 Now we will modify the Dimension Lines. Select the first placed Grids’ upper Dimension Line and delete it by simply hitting the Delete button on your keyboard.



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Now select the second Grid Lines’ upper Dimension line and Control (or Command Click on MAC) the first and the third vertical grid lines to add new points to the dimension chain.

4 Let’s also modify the orientation of the bottom horizontal Grid line (F) to make it parallel to the street front of the opposite houses. Select the bottom Grid line and the marker with the Arrow tool. Be careful not to select the columns of the axis. Click on the selected Grid line and choose the “Rotate” option in the appearing pet palette.

Define the intersection point at Point 7 as the origin of the rotation, and click over the selected line. Set the angle of the rotation to minus 15 degrees by typing this value in the appearing Tracker and hit ENTER.



5 Select the “F1” column and move it to the new “F1” intersection point.

6 When you are ready with the Structural Grid, open the “Document > Layers > Layer Settings (Model Views)…” panel. Select the “Structural – Grid” layer in the list and close the Lock icon as shown. This indicates whether a layer has been protected to prevent its contents from accidental modification. Note: If a layer is locked, the elements on it cannot be edited or deleted, and no new elements can be placed on it.

7 Switch on “2.4.2. Site view” from the Navigator to check your design in the 3D window. As you can see, the Grid Lines can be set to be shown in 3D as well.



Select a Grid Line with a SHIFT click and open its settings dialog to have a look at this setting option in the 3D View panel. Click Cancel to leave the dialog.

Finally, save your project. This completes Chapter 03.In the next chapter you will continue to construct the structure of the building. The recently created Grid Systems will help you with the placement of the structural elements (columns and beams).


Chapter 4: Architectural Modeling: Columns, Beams and Complex Profiles

CHAPTER 4: ARCHITECTURAL MODELING: COLUMNS, BEAMS AND COMPLEX PROFILESIn this chapter you are going to finish the creation of the building’s structure, as formed by columns and beams. You have to familiarize yourself with the handling of the “Beam” and the “Column” tools, and also with the methods to define different geometric shapes and attributes for these construction elements. Next, you will have an overview of how to create complex profiles. Finally, you will learn to connect columns and beams to each other, and how to modify the priorities of the appearance of the elements.

4.1. MODIFYING THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE COLUMNS

In ArchiCAD, columns are made up of two components: the load-bearing core and the optional veneer (which is used to simulate fire proofing or any kind of sheeting around the core). In the tool’s settings dialog box, you have a series of controls that help you to personalize the column. The section of the columns can be rectangular or circular, or it can be complex and defined as a profile. These construction elements can stand free, or they can be smartly connected to walls and beams. The column’s axis can be either vertical or slanted.



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In the previous chapter you created the structural grids, and you added some columns to the project as well. If you compare your design with the final drawing of the floor plan, you can observe that some of the columns placed earlier are unnecessary. Let’s start this exercise by deleting these. Open the “Modeling Chapter04.pla” project file. 1 Activate the “4.1. Modifying the columns” pre-set view in

the Navigator. Select the columns marked in the illustration and delete them.

Note: There are several ways to select the columns. Activate the Arrow tool and select each element individually while holding down the SHIFT-key. You can also draw a selection boundary with the Marquee tool. In the latter case, activate the “Column” tool, go to the “Edit” menu, and click “Select All Columns”.

2 Next, select the column at the A1 grid intersection point and open the settings dialog box.

3 Activate the Veneer checkbox to create uniform sheeting

around the core. In the field to the right, set the thickness of the veneer to 0.05.



4 Go to the “Floor Plan and Section” tab page. Open the “Cut Surfaces” section and set the Veneer to solid fill.

In the “Model” tab page, select “Mtl-Stainless Steel” as material. Return to the floor plan window.

5 As you can see, the appearance of the column has changed. Use the “ArchiCAD Parameters Transfer” method to apply these settings to the other columns. First, pick the settings of the modified construction element, and then pass them to another of the same type, using the “Pick Up Parameters”.

and “Inject Parameters” commands in the Standard Toolbar.

Note: You can also select all the columns and modify their parameters.

4.2. PLACING CIRCULAR SLANTED COLUMNS

Let’s continue our design by creating new columns. We will keep most of the settings defined in the previous exercise, but you have to place some slanted elements instead of vertical columns. In this chapter, you don’t have to deal with the height of the construction elements. These will be trimmed by the roof later. 1 First select the “4.2. Placing circular slanted columns” view

in the Navigator, then click the column icon in the Info Box to open its settings dialog box. Click the “Slanted column” icon and set the slant angle to 70. Verify that the center point of the circular profile is still defined as the anchor point. Select “Outlines Only” as the Floor Plan Display, and close the dialog box.



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2 Choose the “Rotated Geometry” method in the Info Box. This means that you first place the column by its anchor point, after which a ghost contour of the element appears, while you rotate the column around the vertical axis to

define its final geometry. Place the columns at the D3, E3 and F3 grid intersection points, as shown.

3 Finally, check your design in the 3D Window.

4.3. CREATING NEW COMPLEX PROFILES FOR CONSTRUCTION ELEMENTS

The rest of the columns have to be defined as more complex shapes that cannot be created with circular or rectangular profiles. To generate complex profiles for columns, beams and walls, use profiled structural elements composed of cross-sectional profiles that are extruded perpendicular to the profile’s plane.

Note: A saved “Complex Profile” element is handled as an attribute of the Wall, Column, or Beam. ArchiCAD ships a number of predefined profile elements. To use them, you have only to select “Profile geometry method” in the tool’s settings dialog box and select the appropriate profile in the “Core Structure” section of the “Floor Plan and Section” tab page.



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ArchiCAD allows you to define your own profiles. In this exercise, you are going to create a new complex profile for columns. 1 Switch on the “4.3. Create Complex Profiles” pre-set view in

the Navigator. Observe that the 2D drawing of the column’s cross-section appears on the floor plan. Make a copy of the drawing to be used when defining the profile.

2 Choose the “Design > Complex Profiles > Profile Manger” command and click the “New” button in the appearing dialog box.

In the “Profiler Editor” window, you can draw or edit the cross-section of the profile element using 2D drawing tools. Only hotspots and shapes drawn with the “Fill” tool will be part of the saved profile. Other 2D elements added can be used as local drafting aids, but will have no effect on the final appearance of the complex profile when placed into the model.



The Origin shown in the “Profile Editor” window is a significant reference point. In the case of a column or beam, it represents the location of the element’s axis. If the complex element is a Wall, the origin prefigures the location of the Wall’s reference line. You cannot move the origin, but you can move the profile shape until it is correctly positioned with respect to the origin.3 Now, instead of creating contours, paste the drawing that

you have copied from the floor plan. Position the element to the origin to place it at the center of the profile. Finally click the “Fill” tool to add a hatching pattern to the cross-section drawing, as shown.

One part of the “Profile Manager” settings is only active if the “Profile Editor” is open. The “Design Layers” section contains layer controls applying to the “Profile Editor” window only.

The layer of the active tool will be highlighted. When the “Fill” or “Hotspot” tool is active, the Construction layer will be highlighted, and other 2D elements in this window will be placed on the Drafting layer. While they will be saved as part of the profile attribute, they will not be visible in the placed profile. “Show/hide parameters for Design Layers” affects only the “Profile Editor” window.Horizontal and Vertical Stretch (in the list of Design Layers) are optional attributes of the profile. Check the boxes to switch on the stretch parameter in either or both directions. If you do not switch them on, you will not be able to stretch or resize the cross-section of the resulting profile once you place it on the plan.If you switch on “Opening Reference” (in the list of Design Layers), the Profile Editor window displays a line representing the reference line upon which doors/windows will be placed, once you place the profile wall on the plan. Edit the line if necessary conform to the shape of the profile so that openings will be in the right place. If you do not switch on “Opening Reference”, doors/windows will be placed along the profile element’s bounding box.The rest of the controls in the Profile Manager dialog box allow you to fine-tune the Section and 3D appearance of each component of the profile element.



4 Activate the column and beam icons in the “Manage Profiles” tab pages of the “Profile Manager” settings dialog box.

5 Open the “Design Layers” tab page. Switch on “Horizontal Stretch” and “Vertical Stretch” to allow further modification of the profile.

Finally, click the “Store profile” button.

Enter “2xC section column” as the name and hit “OK”. Close the “Profile Editor” and the “Profile Manager” windows.

4.4. PLACING A PROFILED COLUMN

In this exercise you are going to place a column with the profile previously created. You will then multiply the new column on the floor plan. 1 Activate the “4.4 Placing profiled column” view in the

Navigator. Open the column’s settings dialog box. Select the profiled geometry method, and switch on the “2xC section column” in the Core Structure of the “Floor Plan and Section” tab page.

2 Note that the core size has been changed to 30x30 cm. Activate the “Slanted” radio button and set the slant angle to 70. Select “Projected with Overhead” as the Floor Plan



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Display. Change the material in the “Model” tab page to “Mtl-Stainless Steel”. Click “OK” to close the setting dialog box.

3 Place a column at the A7 gridline intersection point, with the rotated geometry method selected in the Info Box as shown.

4 Select the placed column and activate the “Drag Multiple Copy” command.

Create four copies at the intersection points A6, A5, A4 and A2 as shown.

4.5. CREATING AN INCLINED BEAM AND DEFINING THE INTERSECTION PRIORITY OF BEAMS AND COLUMNS

ArchiCAD beams are horizontal or inclined construction elements with vertical end faces. They are best used when designing support elements whose axis length is significantly larger than either their width or height. Now you will create an inclined beam and adjust the height of columns at the bottom plane of the beam.



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3D modeling helps you to create building structures without calculating the length and the precise position of each construction element. You will develop your design in the 3D window, which displays your model in real perspective or axonometry. The 3D window gives the view of what the final building will really look like, and modeling in 3D allows you to explore the model much more freely than in other windows.1 Activate the appropriate view in the Navigator. Open the

beam’s settings dialog box. Define the height as 0.70 and the beam width as 0.30. Type 0 for the value of the relative height. Activate the “inclined” button and set the slant angle to 20. Return to the floor plan view. Note: The beams can be turned around along their longitudinal axis as well.

2 Choose the “Single Beam” geometry method in the Info Box. This produces a beam element by clicking twice in the floor plan: once at the starting point of its axis’, and once at the endpoint. Place the beam as shown.

3 Activate the “Marquee” tool in the Toolbox. Draw a selection rectangle around the previously created beam to visualize this part of your project.

4 Select the “Show Selection/Marquee in 3D” command in the “View > Elements in 3D View” menu. Check to see if “Internal 3D Engine” and “Hidden Line” option is selected in ”View > 3D View Mode”.



5 Click the “View > 3D View Mode > 3D Projection Settings…” command. Select “Parallel Projection” and choose the “Side” view. Click “OK” to leave the settings dialog box.

6 Observe that the columns overhang the beam, so their height has to be modified. Select the first column and click on one of its hotspots again to open the pet palette. Select the “Stretch height with fixed angle” option and stretch the column until the top of the element intersects the inclined beam. Repeat these steps for all the rectangular columns.



Note: When Beams cross Walls or Columns, you can set the priority of the intersection that affects the appearance. The lower priority element will be cut in 3D, which means that the intersecting part will be removed. The higher priority element will remain intact. This applies to volume calculations as well.

7 Select the beam and open its settings dialog box. In the “Floor Plan and Section” tab page, change the value of the Beam Priority to 9. Return to the 3D window.

8 As you can see, the intersecting parts of the columns have been adjusted to the bottom plane of the beam. The appearance of the elements has been updated in the floor plan window as well.

4.6. DEFINING HOLES IN THE BEAM

First you have to create a beam. Once this is done, you can place circular or rectangular holes into it on the floor plan. Holes with different shapes and sizes can appear in the same beam. In this exercise you are going to define a series of holes in the previously created beam. As the beam is inclined, the uniform distribution of the holes will be easier to do in the 3D window. Finally, you will make a copy of the columns and beam created from the gridline A to C in order to define the structure of the opposite side of the building.1 Activate the “4.6.1. Defining a hole” pre-set view in the

Navigator. Select the beam and make sure that the Beam Tool is activated in the Toolbox. On the floor plan, holes can be created by clicking on the Beam’s reference axis. The pet palette appears with the possible editing choices.

2 Click the “Insert hole in beam” icon to open the tool’s settings dialog box. This will let you set the hole’s



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parameters. Choose a circular shape, set the value of the ‘Size’ to 0.40, and type 0.35 as the ‘Position’ value. Close the dialog box.

3 Place the first hole 4.34m from the starting point of the beam.

4 Activate the “4.6.2 Multiplying holes in 3D” view in the Navigator. With the Beam Tool still activated in the Toolbox, select the hole. Click on it again and select the “Multiply” option in the appearing pet palette. Set the number of copies to 29, make sure that “Off” is chosen for Vertical displacement, and activate the “Increment” geometry method.

5 Return to the 3D window and start the operation. Enter 1.10m as distance and hit “Enter”.



6 Switch on the “4.6.3. Copying beams and columns” pre-set view in the Navigator. Draw a selection marquee around the construction elements to be copied.

7 Activate the “Column” tool and choose the “Select All Columns in Marquee” option from the Edit menu. Click the Beam tool in the Toolbox and activate the “Select All Beams in Marquee” feature.

8 Do not copy the column at the A1 grid intersection. Deselect it first, then choose the “Edit > Move > Drag a copy” command, or right-click and select “Move > Drag a copy” from the appearing context menu.

9 Drag a copy as shown.

4.7. ADDING AN ARCHICAD OBJECT TO THE STRUCTURE

The ArchiCAD library contains several objects that help you to complete the structure of the building. These objects are organized into folders and sub-folders and are thus easy to locate. In this part, you are going to add some special steel beams to the project, to support the charge of the roof. 1 Activate the appropriate view-set in the Navigator.

Double-click the Object Tool in the Toolbox to open its settings dialog box.

On the left, the browser area allows you to locate single library parts corresponding to the active tool in the loaded libraries. This is done by either browsing or by entering search terms to find a library part by name.



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2 Open the “Steel Beams BS 11” folder located in “1. Basic Library 11 / 1.4 Building Structures 11 / Steel Structures 11”. Select the “Universal Columns Beam 11” structure.

3 In the “Parameters” tab page, open the “Placement” section. Change the Rotation Axis to ‘along axis’ and define the Rotation angle as 20.

4 Switch to the Dimensions section and select to use a custom Serial Size. Enter 250 for the value of Width and 700 as Depth of Section. Web thickness and Flange thickness should be set to 35 millimeters, ‘Root radius’ to 8.9 millimeters and the value of ‘Depth between Fillets’ to 265.2”. Select “Mtl-Stainless Steel” as material and “Structural-Bearing” as the layer.

5 Return to the floor plan by closing the settings dialog box. Activate the “Rotated diagonal geometry” method in the Info Box.

6 Place two objects between the interior sides of the beams, perpendicular to them, as shown below.

Note: You don’t have to set the exact position and altitude for these objects because these will be modified later in the section project view.

7 In order to do so, open the “S-01-“ section. Select the Universal Columns Beam objects appearing in the screen with their cross-section. Move the first profile by its center anchor point and position it at the imaginary intersection lines of the left slanted column’s and the inclined beam’s axis. Place the second element’s profile at a distance of 2.20m from the first one, and make sure that it is aligned with the top and bottom planes of the beam.

8 Switch to the 3D window and select the object moved second. Using the Multiply command allows you to increment 12 copies of this element at equal distances.



Make sure that “Vertical displacement” is switched on and return to the 3D window.

Click on the top right corner of the first placed object, as shown. Click twice on the top right point of the second element that serves as the reference for horizontal and vertical distance during the operation. 9 Now only two beams are missing from the structure. To speed

up the process we’ve already placed these on a hidden layer. Activate the 4.7.1. Additional Beams pre-set view to make



them visible. The two beams appear on the Floor plan. Now open the S-01 section to check their position in the model.

10 Finally, save your project.You have finished the creation of beams and columns forming the building’s structure. In the following chapters you will add other structural elements, like walls, a roof, etc.


Chapter 5: Architectural Modeling: Walls – Slanted Walls / Composite Walls

CHAPTER 5: ARCHITECTURAL MODELING: WALLS – SLANTED WALLS / COMPOSITE WALLSIn this chapter you will construct the exterior walls of the building. In the following exercises you will use the Wall tool. In ArchiCAD, you can draw straight, curved, trapezoidal or polygonal wall elements, all of which can be composed of a single material or contain several materials. You can even go a step further and create complex walls of any custom shape and combination of materials. Certain parametric objects such as Doors, Windows and Wall Ends can only be placed into walls that you have created.

5.1. CREATING AND EDITING STRAIGHT AND SLANTED WALLS

This exercise will present how to construct simple walls on the floor plan and introduce the method of modifying the wall structure and geometry. Open the “Modeling Chapter05.pla” project file.

1 Select the “5.1.1. Creating straight and slanted walls” pre-set view in the Navigator and open the wall settings dialog box. Make sure that the ‘Straight Wall Complexity’ icon is activated. Now set the wall element’s thickness to 0.30 m, and height to 14 m. Choose “Concrete Block as Cut Fill” in the Structure section of the “Floor Plan and Section” tab page, and set the material to “Surf-Poured Concrete”. Finally, choose the “Structural-Walls” layer at the bottom part of the screen. Click “OK” to leave the dialog box.



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2 Go to the Info Box and click the ‘Straight wall segment’ icon. Set the reference line location to the center of the wall.

Every wall element has a reference line possessing a direction. The reference line helps you to achieve the precise connection of walls for clear intersections, and establishes hotspots and edges for selecting, moving and transforming walls. It is also relevant for determining which side of the wall is inside and which is outside, which is useful when for assigning materials to the 3D model.3 The reference line may appear on the floor plan view as a

heavy black line, including the arrow that shows the direction of the wall. To visualize it verify that the “View > On-Screen View Options > Walls & Beams Reference Lines” is switched on.

4 Draw two longitudinal walls. Start to create the first one at the A7 grid intersection point and finish it at A2. Repeat the same operation to draw a wall between the C2 and C7 grid intersection points, as illustrated.

To continue the project, you now have to add a slanted wall, placed between the previously created elements. A slanted wall tilts in one direction, keeping its faces parallel.5 Return to the wall’s settings dialog box and change the

geometry method to ‘Slanted wall’. Activate the ‘Right’ construction method and type 110 for the value of the Slant Angle. Set the reference line offset to 0.15m and also modify the wall height value to 6m.

6 Draw the wall between the A2 and C2 grid intersection points.



5.1.1. Stretching the Slanted Wall1 Open the “5.1.2. Stretching the slanted wall” pre-set view to

visualize the result of the recent steps. As you can see, the altitude of the slanted walls has to be increased to assign it to the height of the other walls. Slanted walls and columns can be stretched, and their slant angle can be modified with pet palette commands in 3D view.

2 In order to do so, select the slanted wall with the Arrow tool and click one of its top hotspots. In the appearing pet palette, select the “Stretch slanted height” option and set the top corner of the straight wall as the reference point for the operation.

Notice that the slanted wall joints correctly the two straight walls.

5.2. WALL PRIORITIES AND THE LAYER INTERSECTION GROUP NUMBER FUNCTIONALITY

Observe that the columns and beams are cut from the walls, even if their layers are hidden. You have several ways to change the appearance of these elements if you are not satisfied with the result.



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For example, simply increasing the wall width can be enough to hide the beams and columns on the elevation of the building. You can also set a different priority for each individual wall on a scale of 0 to 16 using the “Wall Priority” slider switch (“Wall Settings / Cut Surfaces” panel).

Another way to achieve the needed 3D appearance relies on using the “Layer Intersection Group” numbers that can be found in the “Layer Settings” dialog box.

Note: Elements having identical intersection groups will intersect even if one of the layers is hidden. This may result in “missing” lines, indicating an intersection with an element on a hidden layer. To avoid this, you can select one of the layers, and assign it to any different intersection group.

Exception for Level 0: If the intersection group’s value is 0, the elements of the respective layer(s) will not intersect.For a better 3D result, modify the walls’ Layer Intersection Group number.1 In order to do so, open the layer settings dialog box by

clicking “Document > Layers > Layer Settings (Model Views)...”. Select the “Structural –Walls” layer and change the Intersection Group number to 2.

2 Return to the 3D window and observe that the appearance of the model has been changed.

5.3. CREATING A NEW COMPOSITE STRUCTURE FOR WALLS

Structures of buildings are not homogenous in most cases, but are constructed from several materials. ArchiCAD contains a series of predefined complex structures used for walls, slabs and roofs. You also have the possibility to create new ones or edit existing complex structures. In this part, you are going to define a new composite element for the exterior walls.1 First switch on the “5.3. Create a composite structure” pre-set

view on the Navigator. To open the settings dialog box, use the “Options > Element Attributes > Composites” menu item.



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2 Choose the “Brick plastered one side” predefined composite element from the pop-up list and click the “Duplicate” button.

In the appearing dialog box, type “Exterior wall” as the name of the new complex structure.

The “Edit Skin and Line Structure” tab page lists the components (skins and contour/separator lines) of the new structure. In the Preview window you can also see the graphic representation of it. If you highlight a component in the list, an arrow appears next to the corresponding part of the graphic. The “Edit Selected Item” tab page serves to edit the properties of the skin or line highlighted in the “Edit Skin and Line Structure” tab page.Continue your work by setting the number and the properties of the new element’s skins.3 As you can see in the dialog box, your

element currently contains only two skins, while the final structure is supposed to possess four different

components. Add new skins by clicking the “Insert Skin” button two times.

4 Make sure that the skin at the top is still selected, and change the Composite Skin to Concret block as shown. Set the thickness to 0.06 m and modify the Skin priority to 10. Continue to customize the remaining skins as shown on the following illustrations.



Skin Priority: Assign a skin priority to the selected skin. This will affect its 2D intersection appearance in the project. This control has an effect only for composite elements used as walls, not for slabs or roofs.All composite elements include structural, load-bearing skins called “Core”. These play an important role when connecting Walls and Columns. By default, the structural skin is the thickest one, but you can also check the boxes for other skins (in the Core column of the list). You can choose more skins as part of the core, but they must be located next to each other.5 Make sure that only the

“Common Brick” skin is selected as core.

Use with: Click one or more icons - Wall, Slab, and/or Roof - to indicate which of these elements should list the current Composite Structure among their structural choices. Composite Structures will



appear in the Wall, Slab, and/or Roof Settings dialog boxes (e.g., “Floor Plan & Section > Structure”).6 Activate the wall icon and click “OK” to save the new

composite element and leave the settings dialog box.

5.4. USING THE MODIFY WALL COMMAND

Now you are going to assign the previously created composite element to the exterior walls. ArchiCAD makes it possible to change the structure of the selected walls, and still keep their desired position by using the “Modify Wall” command.1 Let’s make sure that the Modify Wall hierarchical menu is

included in the menu structure. Activate the “Options > Work Environment > Work Environment” command. Click “Menus” found in the “Command Layout Schemes” part of the appearing dialog box.

The left side (“Application commands and menus”) of the dialog box lists ArchiCAD’s commands and menus in alphabetical order. The right side (“Build or edit this menu”) shows the current set-up of the main menu bar.2 Click the Edit icon next to the Design menu to open its

content . Make sure it contains the Modify Wall submenu. If not, choose the “All menus in alphabetical order” listing mode on the left side. Now you can simply drag and drop any of the listed menus from here to any place in the menu structure.When done, click OK to leave the dialog box.

3 Leave the “Work Environment settings” dialog by clicking the “OK” button, and check to make sure the “Modify wall” add-on appears in the “Design” menu.



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Using the commands of the “Modify Wall” hierarchical menu, you can modify the thickness, the Reference Line position and the direction of selected wall type elements.You can set the fill at the top of the “Modify Wall Structure” dialog box. If the chosen fill is not a composite, you can set its thickness: otherwise, the thickness of the core layer is displayed. Click the radio button at the bottom to choose the part of the wall that will keep its position after modification. (If possible, this will be done by adding an offset to the reference line. If not, the reference line will be moved.)You can move the reference line of the selected walls using the “Modify Wall Reference Line” command, without changing the walls’ position on the Floor Plan. On the left side of the dialog box, you can change the reference line side of walls. On the right side, you can add an offset to the reference line to position it to the desired part of the wall.

Change the exterior walls’ fill as follows.

4 Select all walls on the floor plan and activate the “Edit > Modify Wall > Structure” command.

5 Select the “Exterior Wall” fill in the “Floor Plan & Section Attributes” section. Activate the “Center of Core” radio button to keep the original position of the walls. Click “OK” to leave the settings dialog box and return to the floor plan window.

Observe that walls’ structure and thickness has changed, as the interior position of the core remained unchanged.

Note: Using the “Modify Wall Structure” command for slanted walls may produce some inaccuracy in the project, because the “Thicken Wall from” option works with the horizontal projection of the walls and not with the real value of the wall thickness. Always make sure that the value of the “Reference Line Offset” is set as required.

6 Select the slanted wall and set the ‘Reference Line Offset’ to 0.27 in the settings dialog box.



7 Finally, turn off the “Walls & Beams Reference Lines” in the “View > On-Screen View Options” menu, and check that the “Clean Wall & Beam Intersections” is activated.

5.5. DRAWING A DOUBLE-SLANTED WALL

ArchiCAD also lets you draw a wall with unparallel faces. This element is named “double-slanted wall”, and it appears as a trapezoid or triangular shape in the section view. Now you are going to create the double-slanted wall seen on the illustration.

1 Activate the “5.5. 1. Drawing a double-slanted wall” pre-set view in the Navigator. Open the wall’s settings dialog and click the “Double Slanted wall” icon.

2 Set the slant angles to 160 and 110 degrees. Verify that the “Reference Line offset” is set to 0, and select the “Structural-Double Slanted Wall” layer. Modify the pen of the Cut Surfaces and Outlines to pen 48 to discern the double-slanted wall from the previously created walls.



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Customize the rest of the “Wall Settings” dialog box as shown below. The remaining settings will be adjusted later in the Section view.

3 Draw the wall between the A8 and C8 intersection grid lines.

When setting the angles of a double-slanted wall, you are constrained by the minimum thickness of the top of the wall. For a simple structure (using a single material), this can be zero. The top of a composite wall, however, has to be wide enough to accommodate all of the skins.4 Open the S-01 Section by clicking the “5.5. 2. Modifying

double-slanted wall” pre-set view, and select the created wall. Click the top right corner of the wall and choose the “Stretch height with fixed angles” option. Decrease the height as shown.



5 Open the wall’s settings dialog box with the wall still selected. Set the “Wall Thickness”: to zero and click “OK”. Move the wall as shown.

6 Return to the floor plan

and hide the layers of the columns and beams. Show the exterior walls’ layer in the “Layer settings” dialog box.

7 Stretch the double-slanted wall on the floor plan window in two directions until its endpoints coincide with the exterior plane of the straight wall. Hold down the Shift key during the operation to constrain the vertical direction of the wall.

Now you need to adjust the longitudinal walls to the double-slanted wall.8 Open the 3D window by activating the “5.5.3. Modifying

walls in 3D” pre-set view. Stretch the length of the longitudinal walls. Adjust their lengths to the top of the double slanted wall. Hold down the Shift key to keep the original direction of the walls.



9 Select the double-slanted wall and increase the wall priority to 12 in the tool’s settings dialog box. Do not forget to reset the “Intersection Group number” of the “Structural-Walls” layer to 1, to have the correct intersection of walls.

5.6. CREATING AND EDITING A PROFILED WALL

Finally, let’s create some profiled walls serving as exterior benches for people. First, you need to define a new profile for use in this exercise. 1 Activate the “5.6.1. Creating profiled wall” pre-set view in

the Navigator. The 2D profile of the bench appears on the screen. All you need to do is to copy this element to the “Profile Manager settings” dialog box.



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2 Open the “Design > Complex Profiles > Profile Manager”. Click “New” and paste the copied file. Place it as shown.

In ArchiCAD, you can apply a custom profile to any selected element in the model window on a one-time basis without having to save it as an attribute. 3 Close the “Profile Editor” window and go to the 3D window

by switching on the “5.6.2 Adding profiled wall in 3D” pre-set view. Pick up the longitudinal walls’ parameters by clicking on one of them while holding down the ALT key.

4 Open the wall’s settings dialog box and activate the Straight wall complexity. Choose the “Exterior-Furniture” layer and leave the dialog box.

You don’t need to customize the wall height and thickness. The profile and the parameters will be set later. 5 Select the “Curved – Circumference”

geometry method in the Info Box. 6 Add some walls to the project as shown.



7 Now select the previously created walls and click the “Apply to Selection” button in the Profile Manager window. As you can see, the profiles of the elements have changed.

8 Finally, close the Profile Manager dialog box. An alert appears on the screen mentioning that a complex profile is currently opened. You do not need this profile anymore. Click the “Don’t store” button.

Do not forget that you have the option of further modifying the placement and/or the form of these elements using the pet palette on the Floor Plan or in the 3D window. You can also use the “Edit > Reshape” menu commands.9 Select a curved wall and activate the “Edit > Reshape >

Split” command.

10 Draw a temporary splitting line in the 3D window and click

on one of the sides. Elements on the clicked side will remain selected, while elements on the other side will be deselected. Repeat the operation as shown. Delete the unnecessary parts of the wall.



11 Finally, save your project.Note - Material for the profiled element: Use the “Materials” tab page in the Settings Dialog to set a material for the 3D display of the sides of the profiled element. Notice that the material will be applied to all sides of the selected element (Uniform). To apply a different material to one or more selected sides of the element, select a fill in the “Profile Manager > Profile Editor” window, click on one of the selected fill's edges, and execute the pet palette command “Set parameters for profile edge”. Then, edit the controls in the appearing “Custom Edge Settings” dialog box.

These custom edge settings will be applied to the edge from which you opened the Pet Palette (“Selected edge only”), or to all edges. If necessary, you can apply a different custom edge material to each individual edge.


Chapter 6: Architectural Modeling: Roofs

CHAPTER 6: ARCHITECTURAL MODELING: ROOFSArchiCAD allows for the creation of different shaped roofs, from simple plane to complex polyroof, dome and Barrel-vaulted. Methods for these are chosen in the Info Box when the “Roof” tool is selected. Every roof element possesses a pivot line, which is a horizontal non-printing line that appears only on the screen. The elevation of the roof and the direction of the slope are measured by this pivot line. There are several ways to create roofs on the floor plan or in the 3D window. In the first case, you need to define the position of the pivot line by clicking its extremities. You can set the rising direction of the structure with the Eyeball cursor. Simply draw the contour of the roof using one of the geometry methods found in the Info Box.

Open the “Modeling Chapter06.pla” project file.

6.1. CREATING A SIMPLE ROOF IN 3D

In this part you are going to create a simple roof in 3D. First of all, you have to define the roof plane by clicking any three points of the plane. Next, you’ll draw the contour of the roof. 1 Click the “Roof” icon in the Toolbox

and select the “Rotated Rectangle” geometry method in the Info Box.

2 Open the tool’s settings dialog box. Set the Cut Fill to Solid Fill in the “Floor Plan and Section” tab page. Set the roof’s thickness to 0.21m. Customize the other settings as shown.



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3 Choose the appropriate pre-set view in the Navigator. The previously created beams that support the charge of the roof will help you to define the bottom plane of the roof. Click the intersection points of three beams, as illustrated. ArchiCAD will generate the pivot line automatically.

4 Click the top corners of the double-slanted wall, and then click the top extremity of one of the slanted beams to define the contour of the roof.

Let’s continue the design by extending the plane of the roof to cover the terrace. This will serve as an area for outdoor exhibitions.5 In order to do so, return to the floor plan. Select the previous

roof element and click on one edge. Select the “Add to Polygon” option in the appearing pet palette and change the geometry method in the Info Box as shown.



6 Continue to offset two edges of the roof. Set the distance of the offset operation as 1.50m.

7 Go to the “Layer settings” dialog box to show the “Structural-Walls” layer, and activate the 3D window to check your design in 3D.

6.2. TRIMMING WALLS AND COLUMNS TO THE ROOF

Observe that the exterior walls of the building overhang the roof height. Hence, their geometry has to be modified. To do so, you will use the “Trim to Roof” command that allows you to trim either the top or the bottom of walls, beams, columns, slabs, doors, windows and objects. Please note that the operation will be executed only if the elements intersect the plane of the roof.



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1 Switch on the “6.2.1. Trimming walls” pre-set view in the Navigator. Using the Arrow tool, select the roof and open the settings dialog box. Browse the Model panel and click the “Vertical Roof Edge” radio button.

2 Return to the 3D window and select the walls that you need to trim with the roof.

3 Now activate the “Design > Trim to Roof” command. Make sure that the “Trim Top” radio button is selected, and click the “Trim” button.

Now you will adjust the height of the columns situated on the terrace.



4 Switch on the “6.2.2. Trimming columns” pre-set view in the Navigator. Select the columns as shown and modify their heights to 18m in the tool’s settings dialog box or in the Info Box. As a result of this operation, they will reach over the roof’s plane.

5 Again, choose the “Design > Trim to Roof” command. Verify that “Trim Top” is still selected and activate the “Set Wall/Column Top to highest Point” option. Leave the dialog box by clicking the “Trim” button.

Note: Activating “Set Wall/Column Top to highest Point” means that the height of a trimmed wall or column is recalculated to adjust it to the maximum of the trimmed height of the construction element.

You have modified the height of the slanted columns with the trimming operation. This means that the roof’s overhang at the left side has been changed as well. To customize this parameter to exactly 1.50m from the exterior side of the columns, use the “Create Roof Level Line” feature. With this option, you can generate a level line at the intersection level of the roof and the slanted columns. This will serve as a reference to define the roof’s overhang. To create the roof level line, all you have to do is measure the vertical distance between the intersection point and the project 0.6 Return to the floor plan window. Choose the ‘Section’ tool

and click twice to define the ends of the section line as shown. With the Eyeball cursor, click above the created line to set the orientation of the section.



7 Open the S-02 section. Select the Dimension tool and activate “Level Dimensions”.

Click the intersection point of the roof and the slanted columnand the project 0, and place the dimension as shown.

Observe that the vertical distance is 11.83 m.

8 Return to the floor plan. Open the “Design” menu with the roof selected, and click “Create Roof Level Lines…”

In the appearing dialog box, enter 11.83m as height, and turn on the “On Bottom” radio button. Click “OK”.

Note: Choosing the “Create Roof Level Lines” command from the Design menu will place lines on selected roofs at the height values you specify in the “Roof Level Lines” dialog box. Click the “On Top/On Bottom” radio button to set the level lines on either the top or the bottom surface of the roof.



Use the “Specify Roof Level Lines” height level to define the height of the roof level lines as measured from either the current story level or the project zero.

9 The new level line appears on the screen. Reposition the left contour line of the roof with the “Offset Edge” command to 1.50m to the left of the new level line.

6.3. CREATING A POLYROOF

You have finished creating your building’s roof. Nevertheless, you can try to build some other, more involved roof shapes using ArchiCAD’s roof construction methods.By choosing the Polyroof option in the Info Box, you can create equally sloped roofs on any polygonal or curved base. The result will be a set of individual roof planes. 1 Switch on the “6.3.1. Creating Polyroof” pre-set view in the

Navigator and select the “Polyroof” geometry method in the Info Box. Choose the “06-03_Roof” layer.

2 Open the tool’s setting dialog box. Select Current (0. Ground Floor) as the Home Story, and change the Floor Plan Display to “Projected with Overhead”. Close the dialog box.

3 Let’s start to draw a polygon of straight segments that defines the pivot lines of the elements. When you are finished, the Polyroof settings dialog box appears on the screen.

Note: Polyroofs can be made up of a maximum of four levels. The inclination and maximum height of each segment can be independently defined. Draw the shapes with 2D drawing tools to create curved or other shapes with the Polyroof method.

4 Set the number of Levels to 2. Customize the remaining parameters as shown below. Do not forget that the final



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outline will be defined by the “Eave Overhang” value (1.50m), which is added as an offset to the pivot line polygon.

5 Open the 3D window by activating the “6.3.2. Creating Polyroof” pre-set view in the Navigator. Select all walls and beams. Activate the “Trim to Roof” command and trim the top of the elements.

6.4. CREATING A NEW BARREL-VAULTED ROOF ON THE FLOOR PLAN

To create a Barrel-Vaulted roof in 2D, you can draw a cross-section line made with arcs and straight segments, or you can use a predefined curve. When you have finished defining the cross-section with a double-click, a rubberband boundary appears on the screen, the ends of which are connected to those of the curve. To finish the operation, you have to click the first point of the roof and then define the length of it.



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1 Choose the appropriate view in the Navigator. Modify the layer of the roof to “06-4 Roof” and select the “Barrel Vaulted” geometry method in the Info Box.

2 Activate the Magic Wand in the Standard Toolbar, or keep the Space bar pressed while clicking on the predefined curve.

3 Define the starting point of the roof. Hold down the Shift key and define the length.

The Vaulted Roof settings dialog box appears on the screen.

Enter 3.00m for the elevation of the base point of the roof.Note: The resulting roof planes are individually editable. If ‘Autogroup’ is on, they are generated as a group.Note: Whenever you create curved type elements with the Magic Wand tool, the tracing method and the approximation are based on the state of the “Option > Magic Wand Settings…” dialog box.

4 Open the “6.4.2. Creating a Barrel-Vaulted roof” pre-set view in the Navigator, and adjust the position of the roof to the top edge of the double slanted wall. Verify that the “Suspend Groups” option is switched off, and select the roof.



5 Click one of the bottom corners of the element and assign its position to the wall as shown.

6 Next, activate “Suspend Groups” and lengthen some of the roof planes to cover the terrace.

7 Modify the roof geometry as shown. Use the “Offset edge” and the “Move node” commands of the pet palette that appears on the floor plan.



8 Finally, trim the walls and columns to the roof.

Note: ArchiCAD allows only the construction of curved roofs that can be hit by vertical rainfall. This avoids the construction of self-intersecting or reclined roofs. This also means that the same curve may be valid for the generation of a roof from one angle of the boundary box, and invalid from another angle. This is so because the shape of the roof is determined not only by the curve from which it is to be constructed, but also by the angle of the boundary box to which it will be associated. The start and end points of the roof must be defined in such a way that the heavy line side of the rubberband boundary does not intersect the original cross-section curve.

6.5. CONSTRUCTING AN IRREGULAR BARREL-VAULTED ROOF IN 3D

There are three ways to draw a Barrel-Vaulted Roof in 3D: Vaulted, Gable and Complex methods. These appear in a pet palette after drawing the first side of the outline rectangle of the roof at the desired height. 1 Select the appropriate view in the Navigator and set

06_5_Roof as the layer of the roof.2 Begin to draw the roof boundary by clicking the bottom

corners of the first longitudinal wall.



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3 Select “Complex roof” in the pet palette. Define the shape of the roof by clicking as many times as you wish to create new planes. Double-click to finish creating the roof planes.

4 Extend the roof to the desired length and click to place the roof.

Use the commands of the pet palette in the 3D window to change the geometry and the position of the roof if you are not satisfied with the result.5 Make sure that “Suspend Groups” is switched on, and select

one of the bottom nodes of the first roof plane. Click on a corner point, select the “Change Roof Slant angle” option, and modify the angle of the slope to 20 degrees.



Note: Once you’ve drawn a roof and selected it, you can modify its slant angle in several ways. Select the roof in the Floor Plan or 3D Window, then Ctrl+click (Windows) or Cmd+click (MacOS) at any point on the roof plane to bring up the “Roof Elevations” dialog box. Enter a numerical value in the top field: this will be the elevation value of the roof plane at the point at which you clicked it. Altering this elevation value has the same effect as modifying the roof slant angle.

6 Modify the length of roof plane as shown.

7 Finally, save your project. Note 1: Dome-shaped roofsIn ArchiCAD, you can also create a Dome-shaped roof, by selecting the “Dome” geometry method in the Info Box. The process for drawing a Dome-shaped roof is the same on either the Floor Plan or in the 3D Window. With the first click, you define the center of the arc; the second click marks the beginning, and the third the end of the outline. Double-clicking the beginning of the arc will create a full circular dome. Once you have defined the outline, make your choices in the Dome Settings dialog box. Here you can set the characteristics of the roof.



Note 2: Roof intersectionsYou may need to adjust simple roof planes to each other or to modify some of the planes of a complex roof. For example, you may want to accommodate a dormer. To have these two roof planes intersect, select the lower one on the Floor Plan, and Ctrl+click (Windows) or Cmd+click (MacOS) the ridge line of the other.Now, select the other roof plane and Ctrl-click (Windows) or Cmd-click (MacOS) the ridge line of the lower one. The two faces have been adjusted to each other.


Chapter 7: Special Constructions: Special Openings – Skylights / Corner Windows

CHAPTER 7: SPECIAL CONSTRUCTIONS: SPECIAL OPENINGS – SKYLIGHTS / CORNER WINDOWSArchiCAD’s Door and Window tools allow you to create elements simulating the look and behavior of real-life windows and doors. In this chapter, you will familiarize yourself with the use of special openings found in the ArchiCAD library. Do not forget that these construction elements can be only placed in walls, using the wall’s layer. Next, you will learn the method for creating storefronts, corner windows and empty openings of different forms. You will also get an overview of skylights that are smart GDL Objects that can be intelligently placed in Roofs.

7.1. CREATING SPECIAL WINDOWS

In this exercise, you will create a custom-shaped window formed by two ArchiCAD window type library parts. These elements allow for a large amount of freedom in terms modifying the size and the shape of openings before or after placing them in the project. Open the “Modeling Chapter07.pla” project file.



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1 Switch on the “7.1. Creating special windows” pre-set view in the Navigator. Activate the Window tool in the Toolbox and open the settings dialog box. Select the “Special Window 11” folder in the left part of the screen, and choose the “W Triangle Fix 11” object.

2 Open the “Parameters” tab page and set the width of the window to 1.40. Set its height to 3.85. Enter 0.30 for the value of the sill.

3 Set “Mtl-Aluminium” as the frame material and “Glass-Blue” as the glass material in the “Parameters” tab page.

4 Activate the “Special Window Settings” tab page and select “Elevation and Opening” from the list. Customize the horizontal offset of the top corner of the triangle, as shown. Make sure that the “Turn Plaster” option is off in the “Cavity Closure” settings.

5 Open the “Preview and Positioning” tab page and select the “Sill” geometry method. Enter 0.05 as the “Reveal Depth”, and activate the Side Anchor Point. Return to the floor plan.



6 Place the window 2.50m from the bottom right corner of the walls. To locate the object, click to the left of the anchor point with the double eyeball cursor. Next, click below and to the right of the new window’s center with the eyeball cursor to define its orientation.

Now you need to place a second window. When selecting a different object in ArchiCAD, the previously customized parameters will be lost and the window’s settings will return to their default values. Parameters Transfer between objects: There is, however, a way to transfer your parameter changes to a newly selected object. When you switch to a different library part, press Ctrl+Alt (for MacOS: Cmd+Opt) while clicking on the new object. The cursor will change to a syringe shape, indicating that the current object’s parameters will be transferred to the appropriate parameters of the newly activated object.

7 Reopen the window settings dialog box. Now keep the Ctrl+Alt (MacOS: Command+Opt) buttons pressed and click the “W Trapezoid Fix 11” object. You don’t have to deal with defining the dimensions of the opening: these will be adjusted later in the 3D window. Click “OK” to leave the dialog box.

8 Place the second window next to the first one as shown in the illustration below.

9 Open the 3D window. If one or both of your Windows are mirrored compared to what you see in the screenshot, then select them one by one and use the Edit>Move>Mirror command to mirror them. Now select the Trapezoid Window. Click the bottom left corner and select the “Stretch horizontally” option. Set the value to 4.20 m.



10 Click the top left corner with the window still selected, and choose the “Move node” command. Set the Shoulder Height to 1.50 m.

7.2. CUSTOMIZING AND PLACING A STOREFRONT DOOR

Openings can be placed in any type of wall, even in a double-slanted wall created with a complex shape. In this step, you will learn the method for customizing and placing a storefront in the slanted wall. In this case, the door and window type object can be fitted to the slanted surface, or they can remain vertical. To set the opening’s position, use the Window (Door) Opening Plane control in the Parameters Panel of “Door/Window Settings”.

Note: In Complex Profile Walls, the slant of the Window/Door is determined in the Profile Manager. Use the “Opening Reference Layer” in the “Design Layers” panel of the Profile Manager to define the slant of Windows/Doors set into the Complex Wall.

1 Switch on the “7.2.1. Placing a Storefront door” pre-set view in the Navigator. Click the Door Tool in the Toolbox and go to the settings dialog box. Select the “Storefronts 11” folder located in the browser area at left, in the “1.4. Building Structures” folder. Choose the “D2 Storefront 3 11” object.

2 Set the width to 8.0m and the height to 6.0m in the “Parameters” tab page.



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3 Switch to the “Storefront Settings” tab page and follow the illustration below to customize the Panels settings.

4 Activate the Center anchor point geometry method and enter 0.38 as “Reveal Depth”. Click “OK” when you have finished, and place the storefront into the middle of the slanted wall.

5 Finally, go to the 3D window by activating the “7.2.2. Adjusting Storefront” pre-set view in the Navigator. Select the new element and adjust its height to the previously created window, following the illustration below.

7.3. CREATING AN EMPTY OPENING

Every door and window can be transformed into a simple empty opening. Just click the button in the “Preview and Positioning” panel of the door or window settings dialog box, then enter the height and width of the hole in the “Parameters” panel. Click along an existing wall to place the empty opening.Let’s create some splits in the double-slanted wall using empty opening elements.1 Activate the “7.3.1.Creating an empty opening” view in the

Navigator. Open the window settings dialog box and choose the “W1 Casement 11” object in the “1.3 Window 11 > Wood Plastic Window > Casement Window 11” folder.



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2 Activate the “Preview and Positioning” tab page and click the “Empty Opening” button. Modify the value of the width to 0.20m. Leave the dialog box and select “Center Anchor point” as your geometry method in the Info Box.

3 Verify that the Special Snap Points is active and the ‘Half’ option is selected. Place the opening to the middle of the double slanted wall.

4 Go to the 3D window by double-clicking the “7.3.2. Multiplying empty openings” view in the Navigator, and select the element. Modify its height using the “Stretch vertically” option in the pet palette as shown to create a split in the wall.

Now you need to create a series of copies of the empty opening.



5 Activate the “Multiply…” command and set the Number of copies to six. Click the “Distribute-1” option. Hit “OK” to close the dialog box.

6 First, select the middle point of the slanted wall. Next, click its corner point. Reselect the opening in the middle of the wall and repeat the same operation on the other side.

7.4. PLACING A SKYLIGHT OBJECT

Skylight objects are stored in the “Dormers and Skylights 11” folder of the standard ArchiCAD library, and can be activated with the “Skylight” tool. They are smart GDL objects that can be intelligently placed in Roofs, even in the 3D window or in the floor plan view. In the first case, ArchiCAD will detect the location of the mouse-click and place the skylight on the roof plane with a click on the roof plane. In the floor plan view, you can place the object inside the contours of the roof.1 Select the appropriated view in the Navigator and activate

the ‘Skylight’ tool in the Toolbox. 2 Open its settings dialog box and select the “Skylight Top

Hung 11” object.



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3 You don’t need to deal with customizing parameters. Just select the bottom left corner as the anchor point. Click “OK” to leave the dialog box.

4 Select the “Rotated” geometry method in the Info Box and place a skylight on the floor plan, as shown in the illustration below.

5 Select the newly created element and click on the bottom left corner. Using the “Stretch” command, resize the width of the object as shown.



Now you need to modify the vertical position and the height of the skylight object to locate it exactly between the two slanted beams of the roof. These operations can be executed in the 3D window. To achieve better visibility of the model while editing, you have the possibility to show the elements of any layer with their contours only, independently of the current 3D mode set in the “View” menu. All you have to do is to click the “Wireframe” icon of the selected layer in the “Layer Settings” dialog box. Set the visibility of the layers of the roof and the skylight in wireframe. 6 Open the 3D window by opening the “7.4.2. Modifying the

Skylight” pre-set view. Activate the “Document > Layers > Layer Settings (Model Views) …” command. In the appearing dialog box, select the “Shell – Roof” layer and click the wireframe icon, and return to the 3D window.

7 Select the skylight object and modify the lower and the upper edge type to perpendicular in the “Skylight Settings” tab page of the tool’s settings dialog box.



8 Activate the “Move node” command in the pet-palette and adjust the corner of the skylight to the edge of the lower beam element, as shown in the illustration.

9 The “Move node” command lets you stretch the height of the skylight. Modify the size of the object to assign it to the edge of the upper beam.

Let’s continue the design of the project by creating some copies of the previous skylight. This will provide lighting for the conference room. 10 Select the skylight and activate the “Multiply…” command.

Set the number of copies to 1, and choose the “Increment” option. Also make sure that the “Vertical displacement” feature is on.

11 Drag the element as shown in the following three screenshots.



Note: If the “Drag a copy” command is used, the newly created element will be translated horizontally, which means it will be placed off of the Roof. In this case, use the “Multiply…” command, even if you need to create just one copy of the original object.

12 Reselect both of the skylights and multiply them as shown in the illustration.

13 Open the “Layer Settings (Model views)…” dialog and set the “Shell – Roof” layer back to Solid Model.

7.5. ADDING ENTRANCES TO THE PROJECT

Finally, you need to add two custom openings to the project. These will serve as entrances to the building. ArchiCAD makes it possible to create custom windows and doors. If you are interested in how to construct openings with custom shapes, consult/download the free “Creating GDL Objects” interactive training guide.1 Switch on the “7.5. Adding entrances” pre-set view in the

Navigator. Activate the ‘Door’ tool and open its settings dialog box. Open the “Load Other Door…” pop-up menu



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and choose the “from File Dialog Box” option. Browse to the Advanced Modeling Library and select the “Custom entrance door.gsm” object. Hit the “Open” button.

2 Activate the “Sill” placement method in the “Preview and Positioning” panel, and set the Reveal Depth to 0.80 m. Click the “Side Anchor Point” and return to the floor plan.

3 Place the entrance doors into the exterior plane of the wall. First, click to the right of the anchor point, then click again inside to the right of the imaginary axis of the entrance door. This allows you to create the entrance correctly. Check your design in the 3D window.



Note: It is possible that the entrance is mirrored instead of the desired position. In this case, select the object and activate the “Edit > Move > Mirror” command. First, click the middle point of the object and draw a vertical line to define the mirroring axis.

4 Repeat the same steps at the opposite wall and save your project.

The Corner Window tool: You have finished the creation of the exterior openings of the building. However, it is useful to know that with ArchiCAD you can place corner windows at straight wall corners. The Corner Windows function is similar to the Door and Window functions. There is no separate object type associated with the tool: most of the windows of the standard ArchiCAD library can be placed using the “Corner Window” tool.Do not forget that you can click anywhere on the wall when placing a corner window, because ArchiCAD will automatically snap the window to the nearest corner of the wall and create a mirrored copy of it in the adjoining wall. The parameters and properties of the second window are identical to those of the first. Angles and positions are automatically adjusted. The placed windows can be stretched manually and individually without breaking the link between the two windows.


Chapter 8: Architectural Modeling: Stairs

CHAPTER 8: ARCHITECTURAL MODELING: STAIRSArchiCAD gives you several possibilities for modeling stairs in 3D. You can draw special forms, editing each node and step of the staircase with the Slab tool. It requires a lot of work so it is worth your while to construct complex geometry stairs. Using Stair objects allows you to easily create a wide variety of predefined stairs. The ArchiCAD Library includes a number of parametric GDL stair objects, which function like other objects. They are accessible in the “Stair Settings” dialog box. You can also use StairMaker, which is a dedicated ArchiCAD tool for design stairs based on predefined geometry. In this chapter you are going to add three different stair forms to the project.

8.1. ADJUSTING AND PLACING AN EXISTING STAIR OBJECT

Let’s start by adding a spiral staircase that allows for vertical circulation between the coffee room and the auditorium. Open the “Modeling Chapter 08.pla” ArchiCAD project file.1 Activate the “8.1.1. Placing existing stair” pre-set view in the

Navigator.



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2 Double-click the Stair tool in the Toolbox to open the settings dialog box. Select the “Stair Spiral 11” object in the “Complete Stairs 11” folder.

3 Set the dimensions in the “Parameters” panel as shown. Enter 32 for the Number of Risers; set the Angle of Stair to 500; and define the height of the staircase as 5,44 m. Under “Accessories”, select “Above Floor Level” for the First Tread Level.

4 Also check the settings of the 2D Representation and the Materials parts, following the illustrations.



5 Return to the floor plan and place the object as shown below.

6 Click the “8.1.2. Placing existing stair” pre-set view in the Navigator.

Observe that the slab element does not contain a hole for the staircase, so you have to create one.

7 Reactivate the “8.1.1. Placing existing stair” pre-set view. Select the ‘Slab’ tool in the Toolbox and select the slab above the spiral stair. Click to the perimeter of the staircase and select the “Arc by 3 points” option in the pet palette. Create a circular hole in the slab, following the contour line of the previously circular stair.

8.2. CREATING A NEW STAIRCASE

In this exercise, you will create a new stair object that will serve as seating in the auditorium. In order to do so, use the StairMaker add-on. This feature allows you to create a new staircase based on a predefined geometry type, by editing its parameters to suit your needs. There are 17 basic types built into the StairMaker application. These cover almost every standard situation, from straight runs to winders - with or without landings - and to spiral and circular stairs.1 Activate the appropriate pre-set view in the Navigator. Open

the stair’s settings dialog box and click the “Create New



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Stair” command in the pop-up list in the “Preview and Positioning” tab page.

Use the two top buttons in the appearing dialog box to choose whether to build a stair or a slope. If you choose Slope, the symbols of those stair types whose geometry can be transformed into slopes will automatically turn into symbols of slopes; all the other buttons become inactive.2 Click the top left object and hit “OK”. The “stair editing”

window for the chosen stair type appears on the screen.

The “Stair Geometry” tab page contains preset values for the available parameters. A preview window on the right side of the dialog box shows the floor plan symbol of the stair. Changes made to the geometry parameters are reflected on this symbol.

Note: Several controls on this tab page (Geometry, Flight and Tread Settings) have lock/unlock icons. You should set the desired geometry and flight settings here and then lock them. Otherwise, modifications on subsequent tab pages may cause

StairMaker to automatically recalculate these values. If they are locked, then StairMaker will ensure that subsequent options you set are compatible with this basic geometry.

3 Set the parameters following the instructions below. Set the sum of twice the riser and the run (2*Riser + Run parameter) with the range of 0.60 to 4m before defining the value of the tread length. Define the Tread lenght as 1.20 m and the Riser height as 0.68 m. Lock the parameters.

4 Set the number of risers to 8 and lock the parameter. Finally, set the geometry settings as shown.



5 Switch on the “Stair Structure” and the “Tread Parameters” panels. Set the controls as shown. In the “Railings” tab page, select “No railing”.

6 When finished, click the “Save As…” button and save the stair to the Advanced Modeling Library. Enter “Auditorium Seating” as the name of the object.

7 In the stair’s settings dialog box, select the top left corner as the anchor point and switch on “Dashed Lines Above” in the Parameters panel.



8 In the “Floor Plan and Section” panel, set the Cut Fill and the pens as shown.

9 Click “OK” to leave the dialog box, and place the object as shown.

Now activate the “8.2.2 Stair in 3D” preset view to check the result in 3D.

8.3. CREATING STAIRS WITH THE PROFILE MANAGER

In this part you will design a staircase with the help of a 2D cross-sectional drawing using the “Profile Manager” feature. Do not forget that Complex Profile elements are handled as attributes of Walls, Columns, and Beams.1 First, activate the next pre-set view in the Navigator. A

cross-section appears in the screen, illustrating the desired shape of the staircase.

2 Select the fill of this element and select the “Copy” command from the Edit or the context menu.



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3 Click the “Design > Complex Profiles > Profile Manager” button. In the appearing Profile Manager, click the “New” button.

4 Paste the fill and position it as shown. 5 Check to make sure the beam icon is selected for the “Use

with” option.

Now select the Fill in the Profile Editor window and set “Surf-Poured Concrete” as Side materials in the “Components – Default” tab page. Click “Store Profile” and name the profile “Auditorium Stair”.

6 Activate the beam tool and go to the settings dialog box. Click the “Profile” button in the “Geometry and Positioning” tab page and set the Slant Angle to 0. Next, open the “Floor Plan and Section / Structure” panel. Select the newly created profile and select “08-3_Beam” as the layer.



7 Go to the floor plan and place the stair beam as shown.

8 Open the 3D window or activate the “8.3.2. Stair in 3D” pre-set view and check your new custom stair.

8.4. THE ‘CREATE STAIR USING SELECTION’ FEATURE

ArchiCAD standard stairs work with fixed geometrical data. If you cannot find the stair type you want among the predefined templates, you can define the geometry of your Stair within your ArchiCAD project. The “Design /Create Stair Using Selection” command allows you to create custom stairs from a stair contour and a line of travel designed with 2D drawing tools. All you have to do is to draw the exact contour of the stair with the Fill tool. The fill defining the stair cannot contain any holes. Next, define the line of travel by using connected Lines and Arcs inside the fill polygon. The segments of the line of travel need to be connected properly: they cannot cross each other or the sides of the fill. The line of travel has to be a continuous chain of lines.

Note: The endpoints of the line of travel must snap exactly to the sides of the fill polygon, but cannot connect adjacent edges or nodes of the fill polygon. Corners within the line of travel define landings. If the connection of two segments of the line of travel is not tangential, it will define a landing.

In the following exercise, you will create an exterior staircase allowing access to the platform of your building.1 Switch on the “8.4.1. Create Stair Using Selection” pre-set

view in the Navigator. The appearing fill boundary indicates the contour of the new stair element.



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2 Before starting to construct the staircase, open the “S-03“ section by activating the “8.4.2. Create Stair Using Selection” view. Take note that the length of the staircase will be 40.25m, and its height will be 6.75m.

3 Reactivate the “8.4.1. Create Stair Using Selection” view. Next, select the fill and the line of travel. Activate the “Design > Create Stair Using Selection” command.

4 The “Stair Type” dialog box appears. StairMaker automatically finds possible stair types for your draft. If none of the predefined Stair Types match the sketch, you will need to define a Custom Stair. Click “OK”.

5 You can define the geometry of your element in the “Geometry and Flight Settings” panel. Unlock the Total rise height, set it to 6.75m, and then lock it again. The number of



risers has to be set to 42. Check the Riser height and modify the value to 0.16m if necessary.

6 Open the “Structure and Landing Settings” panel and customize the parameters as shown. Select “Stn-Marble White” for the tread surface and define “LS-Earth” as the material of the bottom, side and riser surfaces.

7 In the Tread settings, set the materials to “Stn-Marble White”.



8 Select the “No railing” option in the “Railing Settings” and click “OK”. Save your stair to the Advanced Modeling folder as “Exterior stair”.

9 Return to the floor plan window. You will see the new staircase is displayed on the Floor Plan.

10 Activate the “8.4.2. Create Stair Using Selection” view in the Navigator. Select the staircase and drag it vertically to adjust it to the mesh.

11 Return to the floor plan. Activate the “Site & Landscape – Terrain” layer and cut the form of the staircase from the mesh. Activate the Mesh tool, select the mesh and click the “Subtract from Polygon” pet-palette command. Click the corners of the staircase with the Polygon geometry method, which can be activated in the Info Box.



12 Switch on the “8.4.3. Create Stair Using Selection” view in the Navigator to check your project in 3D. Finally, save your project.


Chapter 9: Special Constructions - TrussMaker

CHAPTER 9: SPECIAL CONSTRUCTIONS - TRUSSMAKERTrussMaker makes possible the simple creation of trusses and girders. All you have to do is to draw the framework of the truss in 2D and define the profiles for each part of the structure. ArchiCAD automatically creates the 3D model of the truss in order to add it to the project and edit it further. Technically, TrussMaker is an add-on that is loaded with ArchiCAD on startup. This functionality can be accessed from the “Design > Design Extras” menu.

9.1. CREATING A TRUSS FROM ROLLED STEEL PROFILES

In the following exercise, you will construct the trusses supporting the charge of the terrace roof. Let’s open the “Modeling Chapter09.pla” ArchiCAD project file.

1 Activate the “9.1. Creating truss” pre-set view in the Navigator, or open the “S-02” building section.

The 2D framework of the truss appears on the screen. Observe that the roof edge doesn’t fit to the edge of the truss, so you need to modify it first.

2 In order to do so, select the roof and open its settings dialog box. Change the edge of the roof to ‘perpendicular’ in the “Model” tab page. Return to the section view.



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As can be seen on the screen, the axis lines of the truss have various pens, because TrussMaker assigns diverse parameters to the outlines of different pens. To distinguish the parts of the truss, use distinct pens when drawing the 2D framework of the truss.3 Select the axis lines of the truss and select “Design > Design

Extras > TrussMaker > Create Truss”.

The TrussMaker settings dialog box appears on the screen. You have various choices when selecting a construction type. You can choose one of the following options on the left side: Timber Construction, Hollow Section or Rolled Steel Profile.4 In this case, select the “Rolled steel” profile option,

and activate the “Attributes” tab page.This tab page defines the appearance of the truss in the floor plan, section and 3D views.

5 Select “Mtl-Stainless Steel” as the material and “Structural – Bearing” as the layer.

You can set the elevation value of the object from the current story or from the project origin. At the moment, you don’t need to deal with these controls. You will adjust the height of the truss later, in the 3D window. 6 Switch on the “Truss Profiles” tab page.This part of the settings dialog box lets you assign profiles and parameters to each element of the truss. To select a part of the structure, click its pencolor icon or its outline in the “Truss Preview”. The thick outline in the preview and a black diamond next to the pencolor indicate which part of the truss you are working on. The available parameters depend on the construction type of the truss you are creating.



7 Click the violet-colored pencolor icon. Choose the profile from the pop-up menu, and set the value of the width to 0.30, the height to 0.70 and the thickness to 0.01. Select the red and orange-colored line and set the parameters as shown.

Now open the “Steel Junctions” tab page, which is only available for the rolled steel profile construction type. These controls allow you to use customizable junction plates at the points where the truss elements meet.

8 Click the “With junction plates” radio button and set the parameters as shown.

9 After finishing the design of your truss, click the “Save As…” button at the bottom of the dialog box. Enter “Post-tensioned truss” for the truss name, and save the object to the Advanced Modeling Library.

An alert will be displayed, informing you that the new truss object has been created on the Floor Plan. The truss is placed on the same line as the section line.



10 Go to the floor plan view. Observe that the truss has been added to the project. Select the placed element and reposition it to structural gridline D, as shown.

11 Return to the section view. Select the truss and move it if necessary, as the contour lines overlap the 2D framework of the element. Open the 3D window.

12 Decrease the height of the columns at the D1, E1 and F1 grid intersection points, as there is a correspondence to the altitude of the nearby column. To do so, first activate the “Suspend Groups” option.

13 Now select the truss element and activate the “Multiply…” command from the appearing pet-palette. Choose the “Increment” option and set the number of copies to 2 in the appearing dialog box, make sure, that “Vertical displacement” is “Off” and translate the elements by 5.00m along the first structural gridline, as shown.



Use the center of two neighboring columns as reference points, as shown below.

14 Return to the floor plan and rotate the truss at the bottom of the screen. Select the intersection point of the F and 3 grid intersection lines as the center of the rotation.

Note: Use the commands of the palette appearing in the 3D window to modify the geometry of the truss or beam if you are not satisfied with the result.



The framework drawn on the floor plan is not associated to the truss after it has been created and placed. Modifying this outline has no effect on placed trusses.To edit a placed truss, select it in a section view, and choose the “Edit Truss” command from the TrussMaker menu. The original framework will appear in the window, and you will be able to edit it. When you have finished with your changes, choose the “Create Truss” command again.

The “TrussMaker Settings” dialog box will appear, with the same options as seen before. The only difference is that in addition to the “Save” button, a “Save as” button appears. If you click “Save”, TrussMaker will display a warning, telling you that you are about to save a library part under an existing name. Clicking “Overwrite” will replace the previous truss.

9.2. TERMINATING THE BUILDING STRUCTURE

1 Switch on the “9.2.1. Terminating the structure” pre-set view in the Navigator. Select three inclined beams as shown, and open the settings dialog box. Click the ‘Profile’ option in the “Geometry an Positioning” tab page icon and choose the “Beam_I” in the “Floor Plan and Section / Structure” tab page.



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Click “OK” to return to the 3D window.

Observe that slanted columns extend beyond (overhang) the modified beam element. To achieve the correct intersection of the construction element, cut the overhanging parts of the slanted columns.2 In order to do so, activate “Design > Solid Element

Operations…”. Select the slanted columns and click the “Get Target Elements” button. Next, choose the beam element, and define it as the operator element. Select “Subtraction with upwards extrusion” and click the “Execute” button.



3 Activate the “9.2.1. Terminating the structure” pre-set view in the Navigator, and repeat the same steps for the construction elements of the opposite side of the model.

4 Finally, open the “9.2.2. Terminating the structure” pre-set view and save your project.


Chapter 10: Special Constructions - RoofMaker

CHAPTER 10: SPECIAL CONSTRUCTIONS - ROOFMAKERIn this chapter you will create the roof structure formed by purlins and rafters using RoofMaker. This is a dedicated ArchiCAD tool to facilitate the creation of the roof frames. You can use this feature to construct each part of the roof structure, like rafters, trimmers, purlins, beams and ridges. Once placed, the GDL Object-based elements behave like ordinary objects and can be modified. You’ll need to familiarize yourself with the Roof Wizard, which is a RoofMaker function that makes the creation of entire roof constructions quick and easy.

ArchiCAD makes the creation of roof structures simple, by using Roof Wizard. It is also possible to construct different elements of the roof frame individually, using the “Design > Design Extras > RoofMaker” commands or the icons of the RoofMaker toolbar. In this case, Graphisoft recommends that modeling of the roof construction be started with the purlins and continued with the hip rafters/valley rafters, before placing the rafters. This way, you can easily keep track of all the connecting elements. When placing ridges, you already know the thickness of the purlin; when placing rafters, you already know the thickness of purlins, hip and valley rafters, etc.A single roof plane has to be selected to place rafters, ridges or purlins (beams). If multiple roof planes are grouped, you must first ungroup them. You will then be able to select roof planes individually.Although the placement of roof construction elements using RoofMaker works using other methods, Graphisoft strongly recommends setting the reference line of the roof to the upper exterior edge of the wall (as handled by ArchiCAD’s Complex Roof Placement Method). The definition of elements, with or without overhang, uses this reference line as a basis. Setting the



roof thickness equal to the general cross-section height of the rafters is recommended. This way, you can use the roof to cut elements that are standing upon the rafters.To place a trimmer (blocking), a collar beam or a tie beam, two corresponding rafters must be selected (opposite rafters for a collar beam or a tie beam, and rafters in the same roof plane for a trimmer).A dialog box opens after choosing the command for the placement of an object. Certain parameters concerning the object itself can be set in this dialog box. Surface materials and a layer can be assigned to all elements. The current pen set for the Object is used by default. By changing the current pen, all the subsequently placed elements will be newly colored. The object is then placed with one or more clicks, or is placed automatically, depending on its type.

10.1. USING THE ROOF WIZARD SETTINGS

In this chapter, you will create all the roof constructions of your building using the Roof Wizard. Let’s open the “Modeling Chater10.pla” ArchiCAD project file. 1 Open the “10.1.1. Roof Wizard Settings” pre-set view in the

Navigator. To begin this exercise, click the “Design > Design Extras > RoofMaker > Show RoofMaker” toolbox command. The toolbox appears on the screen. Modify the position and the form of the toolbox as you wish.

2 You need to select next the roof surface in the project, to which you wish to add structural elements. Choose the “Roof Wizard” command from the “Design > Design Extras > RoofMaker” menu (or the last icon in the “RoofMaker” Toolbox).



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Observe that the appearing “Roof Wizard” dialog box contains five tab pages, which serve to set the different construction elements. You can see two options that control the material and layer of further elements at the bottom left part of the dialog.

3 Select the “Structural–Roof” layer and check that “Wd-Pine Vertical” is selected as your material.

4 Open the “Rafters” panel and set the dimensions as shown. Disable the “Add extra rafters to big gaps” and the “Add extra rafters to corners” options. Also make sure that “Join on slant edges” is selected.

Note: While creating rafters, the bottom plane of the roof serves as a reference plane. Rafters will be automatically placed on top of it. By definition, rafters are perpendicular to the reference line of the roof.

5 Switch to the “Beams” tab page. As your roof is formed by one plane, you don’t need to place a collar or tie beam. Switch off the checkmark to disable the relative controls.



6 Open the “Purlins” panel now. Activate “Create Ridge Purlins”, turn off the “Create Eaves Purlins” option, and set the values for the width and the height of the cross-section. Make sure that the “Purlin between rafters” feature is disabled.

Note: By default, the purlin is placed under the reference plane defined by the roof, since this generally supports the rafters from below. However, an elevation value can be set for the purlin so that it can be higher or lower than the reference plane. It can be also perpendicular to the rafters, or be on the top of them. If the purlin is placed on top, the cross-section height of the rafters has to be set.

7 Activate the “Trimmers” section of the settings dialog box and customize the values.

Note: A trimmer is placed at the same height as the rafters. It can be vertical, or rotated to a position perpendicular to the pitch angle of the roof. The 2D symbol also shows the current position.

8 Go to the “Ridges” tab page and switch off “Create Hip Rafters and Valley Rafters”.

9 Leave the settings dialog box. The 2D view of the roof structure appears on the floor plan. Open the “10.1.2. Roof in 3D” pre-set view to check your design in 3D as well.



10.2. MODIFYING ELEMENTS OF THE ROOF STRUCTURE

The elements of the roof structure can be edited individually, like other ordinary ArchiCAD objects. In this section, you will modify the parameters of the placed ridge purlins. You will add some additional elements as well.1 Select the roof frame and go to the 3D window by clicking

“View > Elements in 3D View > Show Selection/Marquee in 3D”. Activate ‘Suspend Group’ in the Standard toolbar, and select a ridge purlin as shown. Go to the tool’s settings dialog box.

2 Open the “Parameters” panel and turn on the “Purlin Rotated” option. Change the rotation angle to -20º. Leave the dialog box by clicking “OK”.



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3 Select the other purlin as shown in the illustration and delete it.

4 Activate the “10.2. Adding elements to roof structure” pre-set view in the Navigator.

The lines appearing on the floor plan view show the position of the purlins to be added to your project. You will use them as reference lines during the next operation.

Note: If you click inside the roof polygon during the creation of a roof structure’s element, the axis of the beam will pass through the clicked point parallel to the reference line of the roof. (Clicking outside the polygon produces an error message.)

5 Select the roof and click the ‘Create Purlin’ icon. The “Purlin Settings” dialog box appears, and you can now set purlin parameters.

6 Customize the values for the width and height as shown, and make sure that the purlin is perpendicular to the rafters. In order to do so, activate the “Rotated purlin” option.



7 Clicking “OK” returns you to the floor plan with the reference roof surface still selected. To place the object, click as shown below.

8 Repeat the same steps to create additional elements. Finally, save the project.

Note: The real advantage of RoofMaker consists in the creation of more complex roof planes. If you are an enthusiast and want to obtain more information about this functionality, visit Graphisoft’s website.

With this step, you have succesfully completed the Training. Open the 3D Window by activating the last, ‘10. Final Model preset View’ and use ArchiCAD's powerful 3D navigating features to explore your model in 3D.Thank you for taking the time to complete the Graphisodt ArchiCAD Modeling Interactive Training Guide. We hope it was beneficial for you and we wish you every success in your architectural practice. You will find further information and Training materials on Graphisoft ArchiCAD’s exceptional Modeling and documentation capabilities on www.graphisoft.com


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