Drawing sections

[Chris Rogers]

I am at the point in this project that I need to begin drawing wall sections but I am not certain where this should happen. Do I cut a section though the model via a viewport then draw the section on top of that?

I guess I am going to have the same question when it comes time to add additional lines on top of elevations also.

[Jeffrey W Ouellette]

Chris,

You're on the right track. Just set the Attributes in the Advanced Section Properties of the Section Viewport to use either the 'None' class or some other custom class with very light lineweights, so you can draw the detail over the top, in the Annotation Space of the viewport, just the way you want then to look.

[CipesDesign]

Yes, that is the preferred workflow. For section(s): Use Create Section Viewport, then draw all of your detail, notes, etc in the Annotations. In the case of Elevations, depending on the graphics you are after, you can actually generate them (nearly) entirely from the Model, if the model is created accurately and with with this result in mind.

[billtheia]

I usually set the line-weight of the Section Style class to .13mm. For large scale sections, I draw over the section in annotation space. For smaller scale sections, I then override the line weight of the Section Style to something heavier (.5mm, .7mm). Of course, you can also do the reverse (set initial line-weight heavier and override with a lighter value when needed.)

For elevations I just override all of the class line-weights to .13mm in the VP and then add some fatter lines where necessary.

Being able to mask out or obscure areas, using polygons, when drawing over sections and elevations is really useful. You can draw a grade line, for instance, and make a polygon out of it to mask the bottom of a building or simply drop a detailed foundation section into a drawing.

Hide or Show Edges mode in the 2d Reshape tool is also really useful. You can use it to "turn off" edges of a polygon rather than having to have separate masking and line-work polygons. (Thanks to Jonathan Pickup for pointing that one out to me.)

[Chris Rogers]

All of my lines are measuring inches across instead of feet...as if I am drawing in paper space not model space (to use AutoCAD jargon). How can I draw sections in scale with the building, and if I decide to change the scale of the viewport, are the lines I drew on top going to stay in the wrong place?

[CipesDesign]

You need to either a) double click or b) right click on the Viewport. This will bring up three choices: choose Edit Annotations. Annotations always live with a particular VP, are always "to scale" and are the preferred place to put dimensions, notes etc...

[CipesDesign]

As to your second question, if you place all these types of items (dimensions, notes, drawn-over detailing, etc.) in the Annotations, they will re-scale in synch with any re-scaling of the VP itself. One note of caution: try it with a couple demo files first. Sometimes scaling text in this fashion can result in oddness, etc. Also, line weights will not scale, although the shapes (drawn by lines, or polys) will. Therefore what might look correct in terms of line weight in 1/8" scale may look too light in 1/2" scale. It's always a good idea to plan/think ahead whenever possible for these types of things...

[Chris Rogers]

So from the point of view of the software, the section cut drawings are annotations because they exist as a series of lines laid over the generated building section?

Do you then organize these lines into classes or layers to draft the sections?

If some of what I am figuring out by drafting the section later needs to get worked into the model as geometry, is that a straight forward operation, or should I just be building geometry on a model layer?

[Jeffrey W Ouellette]

2D work inside the Annotation should be organized by Class, if necessary.

You'll need to return to the model/Design layer to edit the building/model geometry. While inside the Annotation Space, you can right-click your mouse and get a context menu that should give you the option to "Edit Design Layer". A subsequent dialog will prompt you for options before navigating to the model. Depending on your choices, you should be able to return to the Annotation Space of the SectionVP.

[CipesDesign]

Hi Chris, "...the section cut drawings are annotations because they exist as a series of lines laid over the generated building section?". No. The Section VP is an actual live view of the model data (from Design Layers). When you make a change to the model (or any design layer data) you will notice a funny red striped boundary around the Section VP. This means that it needs to Updated, which you do by clicking Update in the OIP. So for example, if you create a Section VP, then move a wall (in the design layer) when you update the VP the wall will be in the new (moved) location.

There is however a (sometimes rather large) 2d aspect to a Section VP: that is all the detailing you (the user) do(es) in the annotations to create the exact graphics you desire (eg: drawing plates, studs, insulation, dimensions, notes, etc, etc.).

Hope that helps.

[billtheia]

Jeffrey, can you send Chris a VW2008 version of the Alexandria Lofts BIM example file? I suspect that would help answer MANY of his questions.

Chris, if you can open one of the VW BIM Example files, you can see the intended work flow.

http://www.nemetschek.net/bim/projects.php

Jeffrey, it would be great if NNA could include copies of the BIM examples on the installation DVD.

[brudgers]

Alexandria Laundry Lofts is in VW2008 format.

[billtheia]

Great.

I assumed that everything had been updated to VW2010.

[brudgers]

Great.

I assumed that everything had been updated to VW2010.

They hadn't updated it for 2009.

Maybe the have.

[Chris Rogers]

The Alexandria Lofts are downloading. Thank you for the link.

[billtheia]

You are quite welcome.

Good luck.