glennw

Select the roof and on the Edit toolbar, use the Break Line tool to add break points and shape the roof around the dormer.

Down here in Oz (or at least my work, and I have done hundreds of these), the owner usually stays in the house (95% of the time) while the upper floor is constructed. So it makes for a very clean job to leave the existing ceilings and framing and build a new timber floor platform over the existing ceiling. The other consideration is waterproofing the job asap. We remove the roof, build new floor platform (new floor framing and flooring). We then cover the whole floor platform with a custom welded poly tarpaulin that stays for the whole building time and the new walls are just built over it. At the end of the construction, the tarp is cut out room by room around the walls and taken away - rubbish and all. This process provides minimal disturbance to the owners living there - the only real disturbance is when the stair opening is cut through and that doesn't happen until the roof goes on and the new upper floor is waterproof.

Nick, Are you aware of the Follow Terrain and Step Terrain settings for railings/fences?

Mick, It uses a railing wall. Have a look at the attached plan - sorry about the metrics. Brick Piers and Bearers.zip

Mick, I'm not sure what dvx is - you would have to ask dscott.

Perry, The changes were all done automatically - well, it depends what you mean by automatically. I just didn't show the opening and closing of dbx's (sorry, dvx's), but the spacings, etc, were all automatic - I didn't do them all individually!

Scott, Did I give too much away in the vid? How did I know that you would probably be the one to figure it out! With your in depth knowledge Chief, I thought it wouldn't take you long. I was mainly playing around with a video technique to step through a process without all the manipulation, clicking, etc, as I only have 5 minutes to do the vid and was sometimes running out of time. It's sort of like recording a macro.

Here is a way to draw what we (here in Oz) call Bearers and joist construction for foundations. The building of the joists is taken care of by the Build Framing tool. So this is a technique to build the piers and bearer, and have control over the sizes, spacing, materials, etc. This will only work on flat sites, so please, please don't reply saying that it's no good because you have a sloping site! So, let me stress that I am not saying it is the be all and end all for building these, just that it is one way that may help some users under certain circumstances. http://screencast.com/t/HrCWjb6B

Larry, Works for me with attic walls. As per Micks answer, it is probably because of the Retain Wall Framing setting - not because it's an attic wall. You can uncheck Retain Wall Framing and then the icon will appear on the Edit toolbar.

Larry, Thanks for doing the vids - saved me a bit of work. Looks like you have got it figured out. I remember posting this technique for board and batt way back - I'll see if I can find it. One thing that you did miss though, when doing the gable infill wall thingy. You don't have to frame the walls for the whole model at the one time. You can set up all your options under default wall framing for the batten wall. Select the batten wall and then the Build Framing For Selected Objects on the Edit toolbar. Check Retain Wall Framing for that wall. You can then go back to the wall framing defaults, change any options and then build the framing for the rest of the house. PS Here is a link to an older thread about a year ago where I suggested this technique. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/137-board-and-batten-siding-texture/page-2?hl=board

Larry, When I posted my last message, I thought that the "battens" were what we call fretwork - spaced out from the wall. It seems that they are really battens on the wall surface. I still think it is easier to do it in the wall definition by adding a framing layer to the outside of the wall definition - this really gives you a 3D board and batten wall and still leaves plenty of scope for customisation and editing. I will do a vid when I get time.

Larry, How about this for a different angle to the problem. Forget about polysolids and build them all automatically! I just had a play and it seems to work. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bottom and top plate if you want (for fixing the verticals to), the tops of individual pieces splayed to match the roof pitch, shaped to roof or shape it how you want, etc, etc. Basically it uses a wall with one layer - the framing layer and no finish layers. I guess you can work the details out from there. There are heaps of options to get things the shapes and sizes that you want. Set up the framing defaults to suit what you want. Build the framing for that wall and then define it as Retain Wall Framing. You can then change the framing defaults to build other framing as needed. You can even place openings in the woodwork by using a temporary window, build framing, and then delete the window. You can edit the framing in plan, 3D or the Wall Detail. This is one I drew up in a couple of minutes just to see how it would go.

Larry, I am pretty sure that you can do this with a 3D moulding. I remember a while back I needed to do something like that and used a 3D moulding built up with solid shapes spaced with shapes with No Material for the spaces. If that works, you would still have the problem that they won't trim to the roof.

Larry, If you zoom in close, you can grab them by the centre top grip and drag up and snap them to the temp line. But, it means one at a time!

Scott, Yes, I believe that you are correct. I was working in a coloured cross section and didn't send to layout. It is all coming back to me now!

Scott, I am not seeing that with the doors. What sort of door and what sort of material? I can't remember what I had for breakfast, so I have no hope of remembering that!

Scott, I just posted at the same time. Not sure what you mean by adding a pattern to the glass material. I was indicating that all you need to do is add a color on the General panel...Colors...Material. And then give it a Material Type of Area - no pattern required. Although that is what you probably meant.

Joey, Doesn't changing the glass material to say a dark grey or black color do that? And yes, the problem is the shadow in vector view - it's on the top of my favourite request list.

Richard, Thanks for that tip. I was loosing interest in videos because I was always getting messages that I had reached my limit through Screencast. I will definitely try that option next time.

The key setting to get this working is Staircase dbx...Style panel...Options...Allow Wrap. I believe it is toggled on OOB. Or you can also do it by using invisible walls and the Winders option, but the above method is easier. Curt, not counting sheep. I went for an early surf - counting waves.

I think it can be done with internal stairs, something like this - no landings, just stairs. I haven't got time to run you through it now - I'm off to bed.

Joe, That information is readily available for every roof plane. Have a look at the Polyline panel of the roof dbx. There are also Object Specific macros available for each property, that you can use in the roof label. Joe has made a good job of gathering up the information and presenting it in a table. • Perimeter - This is the length of the roof plane’s perimeter, including fascia and shadow boards, with its pitch taken into account. It does not equal the perimeter as measured in floor plan view unless the pitch is 0. • Framing Area - This is the area of the roof plane’s framing, not including the fascia or shadow boards, with the pitch taken into account. It is slightly smaller than the Roof Surface Area as roofing typically overhangs the framing by a small amount. • Projected Area - This is the area of the roof plane polyline, including fascia and shadow boards, as seen in floor plan view. It does not equal the Roof Surface Area unless the pitch is 0. • Roof Surface Area - This is the area of the roof plane’s top surface, which covers the fascia and shadow boards, with the pitch taken into account. • Overhang Area - This is the area of the roof plane’s overhang, including fascia and shadow boards, with its pitch taken into account. • Projected Overhang Area - This is the area of the roof plane’s overhang, including fascia and shadow boards, as seen in floor plan view.

Ah, then it sounds like you could use the Merge function in the Plan Materials dbx. This will apply the new material and delete all the replaced materials from the plan materials in one go - no going near the library.

MickeyToo, Yes, not only does it change the materials for the existing roofs, say, but also the default material for future roofs.

Or...if you don't want to use the Material Painter and the associated problems it may cause, Chief has a tool to do this. Go 3D...Materials...Plan Materials. Select the material you want to replace and click the ....(drum roll.....) Replace button. Select a material from the library and it will replace the old material with the new material on every object in the plan that uses the old material.