Multiple Story Building Examples?....

[The Company Builder]

Does anyone out here have an example cadfile that you could be generous enough to lend that shows a two-story building? I have been using the training CDs, and they have a one-story example, but they don't have a two-story example. If you have a cadfile that contains a building that has at least two stories in it, let me know. Thanks for your time.

[panthony]

Can you be a bit more specific on the information you are currently stumped with. A two story building example is pretty general....what are you searching for?

Pete A.

[Jonathan Pickup]

if you have my architect tutorial manual, it has an example of a 2 story building in it, check the completed exercises folder.

If you don?t have my manual, it covers how to draw a 2 story house. Starting at a blank page it works through site modelling, height to boundary issues, drawing the building, a tricky roof, and setting up the drawings,

[Petri]

The easy answer to this is that you have a layer for each floor, at the correct z-level. You may also wish to have a separate layer for the site and the roof.

[Jonathan Pickup]

a layer for each story

- use classes to separate components of the building

a layer for the roof

a layer for the site plan

- layer link the walls to the site plan

maybe a layer for details

maybe a layer for sections and elevations

[Don@Black Dog]

More simply put, you need to go through the File/Document Settings/Model Setup and put in your vertical dimensions for the floors you will be using. These can be modified later but will give you the 3-d set up.

There is more to do, with the Create standard viewports and setting up your drawing layers, as well as document preferences, but enough for one day. I would suggest doing some fundamentals training with a local VW user or VW (or Jonathans manuals) (see their training schedule)just to get you off the ground.

[The Company Builder]

Y'all are off the chain! I didn't think anyone would answer this question.... I was asking about it because I plan to lay out the Company's first-ever housing community, with many more on the way. The main reason I went with Designer more than AutoCAD (which is what I use daily for now) was because of Designer's ability to create things in both 2D & 3D at the same time....

Speaking of which, I was just attempting to create a 20-story building from scratch when I checked y'all's responses. I already went through the Create Standard Viewports and all the other commands in the VectorWorks Document Setup area. So, are you all saying that the only thing that is needed to properly construct a building is to make sure the Z values correspond with each floor correctly?

And thanks for the reference to the manual. I'll be sure to get it soon.

[Jonathan Pickup]

So, are you all saying that the only thing that is needed to properly construct a building is to make sure the Z values correspond with each floor correctly?

yes... it's as easy as that...

[Petri]

So, are you all saying that the only thing that is needed to properly construct a building is to make sure the Z values correspond with each floor correctly?

That's all there is to it.

Now, if you have identical floors, you only need to work on one. Then you create layer links on the other similar layers.

After creating the first one, tick the "Project 2D-options", then copy the link and paste it to other floors, move the layer link upwards (front view, move by Y coordinate).

If some floors later become non-identical, delete the link, copy and paste (paste in place) the basic plan in its place.

If nothing else, this helps you in exploring the overall architecture of a multi-storey building quickly.

There are other approaches, too.