Placing a multi-level house on a DTM - best practice?

[skavan]

Hi experts,

I'm quite new to Vectorworks Landmark (2014) and hoping to get some pointers to how to approach placing my house onto a terrain.

Let's start with what I have accomplished:

1. I have a house in one file. It is slightly unusual as it is a one story building on the West side (2nd floor only), and a two story building on the East (1st and 2nd floors). The base of the 1st floor is set to a Z-level of 0'.

2. I have a terrain built from contours in a second file.

Now the task at hand:

1. I need to get the house into the terrain model.

2. I need to rotate it to the right direction (-62 degrees).

3. I need to 'fit' the house to the terrain with a z level (for the 1st floor) of 404'.

4. I need to ensure the terrain is modified so that the West Wing sits on a pad (?) at 416' and the East Wing sits on a pad (?) at 404'.

5. I then need to adjust the "fill" so it grades the terrain on the South Eastern, outside face of the East Wing from the 416' level to the 404' level.

6. I'd love it if when I make changes to the house model file, it ripples through to the Terrain + House file.

Could you experts suggest the best approach to doing this?

Thanks so much.

s.

Edited December 29, 2013 by skavan

[CipesDesign]

Skavan, All good questions. In general you should add a Profile with your System and VW's versions, etc. This is often helpful info?

There are a couple approaches to #1. Assuming you want to keep the files separate from each other, you will want to look (in Help) at Referencing. I think this might the best approach for your particular needs (as stated above). However Referencing can have it's own drawbacks (as references may become broken when files are moved, renamed, etc.).

Another way is to copy and paste the various layers of one file into the other. A third would be to make the entire house into a Symbol, then insert the Symbol into/onto the Site. Both if these assume that you will bring data from one file into the other and subsequently work on one file only (However, you could still keep the house in it's own file and then Replace the Symbol in the Site File each time you update the House).

Generally I prefer to keep all of my info in one file, so I start with the Site Model, then (by adding Design Layers) build my house right on the Site. But that's just me and it may or may not suit your needs here.

For # 2. I generally like to keep North Up (as in most surveys I receive). When there are odd angles (which is frequently the case) I use the Rotated Top/Plan View to bring the house to "square". I either jot down the exact Rotation or use a Saved View to regain the Rotated View as desired. It's much easier to work with things this way.

#3. My preference is to use Layer Z heights (or elevations) to place the House Layers at their correct elevations. This may involve changing the Elevations of multiple Layers. Keep a note pad handy! If you choose to make the house into a Symbol you can simply move the whole symbol up or down using Move 3d (or in any Side View).

#4 & 5. Modify the Site Model using Site Modifiers: Pads, Grade Limits, Etc. (see help for more).

#6. I'm not sure this is currently possible. However others might know of a way!

I think you'll need to experiment a bit, so make sure to use Copies of the files (or Save As) before digging in too deep.

Hope that all helps...

[skavan]

Thanks. I am a bit stuck on #4 and #5.

1. Do I use multiple pads that abut each other but are at the different levels? and then...

2. How do I get the slope at the external rear wall - but not inside the building or at its front wall?

[CipesDesign]

Yes you can use multiple Pads at different Elevations. Make sure that they are not touching or overlapping and that all Modifiers (Pads) are surrounded by a Grade Limits Object. I find it easier to use 'hard' shapes (rectangles, Polys, etc) then the AEC> Create Objects from Shapes Command. This will allow more precision when attempting to get close but not beyond certain limits.

[CipesDesign]

Oh, one more tidbit, and in answer to your (second) #2: by moving the Grade Limits farther away from the Pad you will get a sloping rather than (nearly) vertical transition to the original terrain?

And thanks for creating a profile ;-)

[Guest Wes Gardner]

Another workflow that Peter touched on regarding referencing is to keep the building separate from the site while you're are actually designing things - in this manner you don't have to care too much about elevations of building model vs. elevations of the site. You can set the elevation of the building model at 0'-0" for the first floor and model away...when you reference the building model onto the site, put the file in front or side view and move the building up or down to get the elevations right. You can break the referencing "links" and basically dump all you building model stuff into your site model at any time.

Additionally, if your building is drawn "in Stories" the proper course is to reference the site into the building file - this we you will maintain the story connection in the Wall Styles, etc.

Edited January 2, 2014 by Wes Gardner

[skavan]

Thanks Gents...

Progress made -- but more questions:

1. Lets say I have a pad for a terrace...and on that pad I want a cutout (another pad?) for a swimming pool. How do I do that? Can I have a pad inside (but not overlapping) another pad?

2. How do I force two abutting pads to have a hard (near vertical) drop off (like a stair step)?

3. Is there an easy way to replace an object from an object stored in a file? Kind of like referencing -- but more like the sketchup reload function on a component...and if so - will it work with pads?

4. What's the difference (in English) between a pad and a pad with a retaining edge -- is it the answer to #2 above? THANKS!

5. I get a lot of "out of memory" errors - sometimes just by nudging an elevation by a smidge. I have LOTS of RAM (32GB), a high end quadro gfx card etc... so its not that!

[gester]

hi, sorry for reviving this old thread...

from what i gather from the thread and what i uderstand myself the most advocated option (for having both the edifice and the site model in one file) is to place the house on the real geographic level of the dtm, right?

thanks for the feedback.

rob

 

[CipesDesign]

Hi Gester, Yes, I usually use real world elevations (and in general I feel strongly that things in the virtual world should be as close to anatomically correct as possible). But sometimes you can run into problems if objects are too far away from the VW's origin (most recently I had a file in which Trees/Image Props would disappear in Open GL because the house was at over 2,500 ft above sea level). The reason I like real numbers is that I never make a mistake in the notes, etc., and the surveyor can locate stakes without doing any math. The other option is to use numbers under 100 when you building the Site Model, so 3,223 would become 23, and so on. If you do this you will not have "far from (Z) origin" issues, but you will need to remember the real numbers to convey to the people on site. As a side note, I had never had a problem with the Z origin until very recently, but have had many many problems being too far away from X and/or Y.