Non Uniform Walls

[Alan.AHA]

I often deal with old building here in the SouthWest of England and frequently come across cob walls. Does anyone have a solution to modelling one such wall that is both tapered from base to eaves, straight at the bottom and curved at the top where the truss has pushed it out over the centuries and finally thicker at one end than at the other. If I want to do more 3d work this is going to be an issue going forward.

[Tom W.]

Just model the wall in question with the 3D tools then convert it to an Auto-Hybrid or Hybrid Symbol so that it resembles the Walls proper in Top/Plan. If you have 'Merge with structural objects in sections' enabled in the OIP for the 3D geometry it will merge with the parametric Walls in section VPs. To clarify, you're saying you have an overall model built using the parametric tools (Walls, Slabs, Roofs, etc) but have one particular existing wall which is too irregular to represent using a Wall right? It kind of depends somewhat on the model as a whole + how easy it is to integrate the irregular geometry with the parametric geometry.

[Alan.AHA]

Thanks for the input. I was hoping for a straightforward method of constructing what is in effect a leaning and tapered wall where in this case the top section is now curved. I have managed to construct part of the overall shape of it by adding a surface to a regular wall object.

This has been an issue of mine for many years and I have ultimately avoided 3d modelling in favour of a simple 2d drawing. Part of it could be fixed by allowing an irregular extruded polygon to be converted to a wall object without making it conform to a thickness. That would just leave me with the tapering and leaning issue. One step at a time. 

Please also forgive my limited understanding of 3d modelling as despite having used VW since the days of MiniCad, my forays into the world of 3d have remained infrequent.

[Tom W.]

Can you post some images of the wall in question? It shouldn't be difficult to model. 

 

Can I confirm that you're looking to model the project in 3D + are you saying that this is your first 3D project? Trying to incorporate irregularly shaped walls, etc in a BIM model can be a bit of a nightmare + it may be more pragmatic to 'square-off' the wall in question in order to create a satisfactory overall model + not give yourself a nervous breakdown in the process. It all depends what the desired end result is i.e. are you looking to produce detailed plans, elevations, sections + details from the model, report on products/materials, R-values, etc? Or is it more about creating 3D renders?

 

Am interested to know as I am frequently working with old buildings which are all over the place as well.

[Alan.AHA]

Hi Tom

It's not my first 3d project but so far I've only experimented on new build with mixed results but I'm getting better. I haven't attempted to model this in it's entirety, just the wall in question as the rest of the building is largely solid brick built but it seemed like an opportune moment to investigate how it should be done. If it wasn't too difficult I was going to use this as a test case as it's not too large and in the end, I'll probably need to rebuild/replace the leaning section anyway. I don't want to waste anyone's time though.

[Tom W.]

8 minutes ago, Alan.AHA said:

it seemed like an opportune moment to investigate how it should be done

 

Just do it with the 3D Modelling tools: Multiple Extrude (Model menu), Push/Pull, Deform, Taper Face, etc. Then convert to Auto Hybrid or Hybrid symbol to get the desired Top/Plan representation.

 

This is a project where I wanted a fairly accurate model of the existing architecture, which I modelled in the way above from a point cloud survey:

 

 

 

 

 

 

But I then went on + modelled the proposed development 'properly' using the BIM tools as a separate model...

 

 

[Alan.AHA]

Thank you for your suggestions. It looks like you largely managed to solve all of the issues I'm talking about. I will persevere with the wall in question and see how far I get.

Cheers