Framing multiple ceiling heights?

[brettSF]

I've attached a quick sketch of a concept I'm trying to implement. I've got a few different spaces with different ceiling heights, and I cannot figure out a good way to execute... Assume that I'm only using three materials -- framing, finish surface, and concrete floors.

[img:left]http://imgur.com/h1U8OT2[/img]

Condition 1: an 8' tall niche (wall return beyond shown in light gray). I have tried two methods here:

1a: A full 12' high wall with an 8' tall Door Opening in it. Unfortunately this creates a condition where the finish material is on both the interior and exterior faces of the wall all the way up to the lid. Obviously above 8' I do not need finish material on the inside (cavity side).

1b: Draw 8' walls in the shape of the niche, and then draw a second continuous wall overhead (from 8' up to 12'). I cannot get the Slab command to play nice, so the "side" of the ceiling graphically overlaps the outside face of the wall.

Condition 2: Different ceiling heights on either side of the wall. Framing should continue up to 9', but finish material height varies (8' and 9').

Condition 3: Wall and ceiling all terminate at 9'. No particular issue here, but it's a twist on the issue found at Condition 2, and may help or hurt a solution...

If anyone is super proficient and would rather model the solution I'd love to poke around in a "correct" VWX file!

[rDesign]

You can control the height of the finish material on the cavity side by creating an 8'-0" Level in that Story and then setting the Component Top for that cavity-side Wall Component to be bound to that 8'-0" Level.

For the other conditions you would create another new 9'-0" Level. You may end up with three or four different Wall Styles for all the different top bounding conditions. Each Wall Component in a Wall Style can have a different Top (and Bottom) Bounding condition.

If you don't have much experience with Levels this lengthy thread is a good place to start. It's easy to get confused.

[brettSF]

Thanks Tim!

I'll start experimenting with Levels -- hopefully it's the solution I'm looking for!

[rDesign]

Digging through my old Vectorworks references, I came across this PDF describing U.K. BIM Templates in Vectorworks 2015 — it's generally pretty helpful regarding setting up Story Levels and "bounded" wall styles.

BIM-Templates-in-Vectorworks-2015-SI.pdf