Structure spanning two stories/layers

[Itchy]

How does everyone deal with structure spanning two or more levels and then getting it to look right in elevations/sections. By look right I mean no line at the join between the two. I have tested framing member, structural member, columns to but they all leave a line at the junction in hidden line render mode. If everything was just a square column I could do it with walls and they are at least "smart" but the project I am working on has a combination of steel and concrete structure, some even spanning 3 layers.

 

Ideally there was a column object than you can define its overall height, and what layers it is visible on, but any thoughts on how it could be approached now?

 

In some case (the attached image) I could hide the junction line with the ceiling, but not all and it makes it a bit complicated with items over spanning the bounds of the layer they are on. And yes the locations of the items are perfectly on top of one another.

 

I did think that maybe you could have a layer just for the structure but that only works in an ideal word where it is all the same height, I have some structure just on level 1, some spanning level 1 to 3, some 1 to 2 etc, so it would require say 3 extra layers which would not be ideal.

 

thanks.

[Guest Wes Gardner]

Hi,

You very well may need extra layers - one that will show on every floor (an "Structure-All Layers" layer) and another that will show on floors 2 and 3 ("Structure-2 and 3" layer).  This is what I would do and then manage the various views with Saved Views.

Wes

[zoomer]

I had the same situation and therefore, and other reasons, gave up BIM completely

and went to manual Extrudes and Solids.

 

If I would do it again,

it is not a problem for Columns, as these have no Styles with included relative heights

and set individually. So I would grab these and and apply custom heights, even hard coded.

 

For me there was the question if I should pack both height Levels into one Story

or create duplicates of all parts and use 2 Stories. It depends on the ratio of single vs multi story

parts.

In case you need Doors and Windows at different height levels, separate Floor Plans, etc. splitting into

separate Stories may be better.

For Walls, in case parts of these aren't interrupted by slabs, you can simply set their top (by level) by

setting "Bottom of Structure" Level up to the Z of the "Top of Structure" Level.

That way you can re-use your standard Wall Styles.

If not applicable you will need Style duplicates, or never touch "adapt height" activation again when

replacing or editing Wall Styles.

 

If a single "double" Story will work in any case, there shouldn't be any problems in Elevation Drawings.

Also for Floor Plans when created as horizontal Sections.

 

If 2 Stories needed and Columns won't behave as intelligent as Walls do,

I think the minor effort would be to paint white 2D rectangle without lines over it in annotations

 

 

There are other solutions outside that allow multi story spanning parts to be seen in Top Plans

when set to "show in all relevant Stories".

That has the advantage that you don't need to separate parts by duplicates over all Stories.

Horizontal Sections in VW should allow that too.

 

 

 

Edited November 16, 2016 by zoomer

[Tom Klaber]

Design Layers strike again.

Rather than modeling twice which causes issues with scheduling, model size, and complexity,  and causes delays when the design changes - just throw a white box over the offending line in the elevation.  

[AlanW]

Its interesting that if you use all walls even for your columns you don't get the lines across the floors anymore, whereas if you use columns then line shows.