Dormers and windows

[Don@Black Dog]

I am trying to do a long dormer with several windows. The Dormer tool seems bent on using a single window centered. How can I move and add windows in the dormer face?

ALso, In top plan, the walls are hidden. How can I draw the rooms in the attic? I set the model up as single floor with roof, attic inserted.

Should anthing more than a simple dormer be done as a roof face?

Thanks.

[Jonathan Pickup]

combine all the windows into one symbol

[Don@Black Dog]

Thanks, but they are separated, different sizes and might change during design. Also, in one instance, there is only one window set off to one side rather than centered. I would hope for more adaptibility.

[Jonathan Pickup]

you can have space between the windows, and as symbols they could still be edited later

[BandA]

Don,

I have experienced similar frustrations with dormers-not intuitive, flexible, or exact.

Jonathan,

How do you control the precise insertion point x,y, and z of the symbol in the dormer function? At creation it gives several "offset" options which only make things confusing. How do you know EXACTLY where the center of the windows in the symbol are going to be with respect to the exterior walls, for example.

Maybe I haven't practiced (wasted enough time) with the function, but it could be SO much more useful if NNA spent some time with it.

[Don@Black Dog]

Band A: I would agree. The wizard (or whatever) should cut a hole, make a roof and selectable walls, and let you place your choice of door/window PIO's.

Maybe that is the route to take anyway...

[Robert Anderson]

This is a bit of a judgement call -- when does a simple dormer become a more complex roof form? VectorWorks does give you a kit of parts to do exactly what you want: holes in roofs, roof faces, fit walls to roof, etc., for those times that a simple dormer won't do.

[Don@Black Dog]

Thanks, Robert. Any chance of giving us a quick outline of procedures to do, say a wide shed dormer/raised roof or large gable, using the cut holes, roof planes, and fit walls to roof? It might save a bunch of people hours of wandering through the manuals.

Thanks!

[Robert Anderson]

Take a look at the following topics in help:

-Creating cut-outs in a roof object

-Creating roof faces

-Fitting Walls to Defined Geometry

... the rest is just walls and windows...

[Travis]

Michael,

Nearly all my roofs end up as faces as well. I guess I've grown used to it. . .and I like the additional control I get with faces anyway. Haven't yet used the soffit/fascia features.

You can enter rise over run during the Create Roof command by simply entering them as a ratio, ie 7:12. VW is smart enough to do the math for you.

Good luck,

[MKingsley]

What I don't understand is why the Roof Face and Create Roof commands are have such different parameters. For example, I can't seem to get a 3D-only skylight symbol to cut a hole in a Roof Face, so I have to manually cut a hole. The Create Roof command doesn't have the Rise over Run option, but the Roof Face does.

If we are having to ungroup a Roof object into multiple Roof Faces to add any complexity beyond the given, we are then dealing with a different animal. If that roof object had soffits and fascia applied before being broken down to roof faces, you get roof faces and the fascia and soffits become a group of many NURBS surfaces which are editable but not worth the time. The soffit and fascia features are nice but clunky and with no class options and the soffits don't work well with gable roofs. The rake dimension option doesn't seem to be working for the gable ends.

Please don't neglect advances to the Roof Face command as well. As a one man show here, I'm doing all custom work and though I haven't been with VW long, I have yet to do a project where my roofs end up as roof objects and not roof faces.