mgianzero

Glenn, I think you were implying this technique when you were helping me with a post too. Can you maybe provide us a short video on how exactly you can do this? This concept sounds very intriguing and would like to know more about it. Marc

Yes Mark, this feature is nice and I plan on using it once I complete drawing with my as-built walls the way they are on the property. The problem is, I imported a survey of the property as a guide, but it was done many years ago by a surveyor who made lots of mistakes. So when I find a mistake in the survey, I go out and measure the exact dimensions and position of the walls and then do my best to move the wall where I want. Then I want to change my CAD drawing to reflect that. Once I get my as-built done correctly, I will use reference display to compare plans.

Okay, we're talking semantics here. I should have said I wanted to snap to OBJECTS on that layer. Yes, semantics again. I want to change objects ON that layer, namely my 2D CAD image of my walls. Yes, I do have some curved walls AND angled walls in my terrain that I've discovered are MUCH easier to control their movement if I snap them to CAD. But that's only if I have the CAD there already. Once I start moving these walls (not snapping to CAD, they can be difficult to do exactly what you want. I wish I could stop that "off angle wall" warning. It comes up all the time when working with terrain. I believe I know how to use the wall tools, unless there's some snap behavior that I need to learn more about. I'm moving around my outdoor "plantar and retaining walls" (not sure what to call them since some are raised plantars and some retain a bit of soil) but I'm using foundation walls for my purpose. I also don't particularly like to use terrain walls because they have very limited features (no walls caps, footings, walls coverings and wall types to change). The problem with foundation walls is that when they get close to each other, they snap together or merge. If I set a fixed length to them, they don't stay like that if they are close to another wall but join the adjacent wall and change their length I also want to change some features like wall caps on part of some walls, but not on others and CA doesn't seem to like that. Even if I break my walls into segments, CA merges them all together again if I do any slight movements to the wall. Again, I'm perhaps not using the correct terminology here and I apologize for that. But please try to understand what I am trying to explain here.

Yes, I thought of doing it this way. But I need to play around with it more before I feel comfortable. I've actually snapped my walls to one of my CAD layers, but I wanted to modify my CAD layer (or copy and modify it) so that I can see some variations of my design. I've already draw my walls in one version, but now I want to change some walls around and play with something else. I know there's a "CAD to Wall" feature, is there a "Wall to CAD" feature as well? So that I can easily create my new 2D CAD layer with my new walls? I know I can draw some polylines that snap to the walls and do it this way. But it gets complicated when I have curved and straight walls, etc. Is there an easier way? Marc

Yes Eric I know about the concept of making 3D solids and I'm guessing that is the way to create these types of features. But that is not entirely my question here. I having trouble determining how to add the color and textures of these tiles. I know you can paint a 3D solid a single material, but the only way I know how to easily place a line of tiles (such as in my picture) on a surface is use "wall covering" for a wall structure. But this is not a wall. Remember, I only want to paint part of the object with a blue tile, and the rest with something else. I tried using something like "backsplash" but again, that doesn't seem to work on a 3D solid. Marc

This pool has pillars all around that jut from the walls in several places like in this pic. You can't see below water, but the pillars (columns) don't extend to the bottom of the pool but taper inwards to the pool walls. I've played with different ways of doing this. First I made a countertop with molding to give the cap effect. But then I don't know how to carry the tile striping pattern across it. Here's my attempt: The other method is to make the tile continuous, using the same wall that protrudes a bit from rest of pool. But I don't want this pillar to extend all the way to the bottom of pool. I'm guessing there's some way to create a 3D solid and paint it with various materials to get this effect. Just not sure the best way to do this.

Yes! That is what I want to do - copy the CONTENTS of what is on my layer to a whole other plan. As an example, I have a CAD layer that has the plan view of all my walls. I like to snap my actual 3D walls to these 2D CAD lines. But then I want to have another plan were I draw in the walls a little differently. So I want all the contents from a specific layer to be copied to another plan. When I use cut and paste, it doesn't seem to work as expected. Marc G.

Perhaps this is just a novice question that there's a simple answer to but I couldn't find answer anywhere. I imported, sized and tweaked my CAD layer for my plan which contains some details about my floor plan. But now I wanted to experiment with a few other options. So I wanted to play with another design, but use the same CAD layer as a reference. So is there an easy way to copy the entire default CAD layer, or any layer for that matter within the same plan, or even to another plan? Marc G.

Yes, a very clever idea. I'll have to play around with that. Thanks for the post! Marc G.

Just read this. I believe that suggestion was made back in 2014! How long does it take CA developers to acknowledge and consider new ideas in their updates? That's crazy!

Thank you Chopsaw for that information. It would be nice if the literature explained that - seems like an obvious concern that one would have. Although there's currently not a way to go back and edit a symbol, I'll consider using an architectural block as a way to do this for the time being. Thanks for the idea! Marc

I guess I'm not fully understanding 3D symbols and how they work. I've read the CA manual about this but it doesn't seem to answer my question. As I am continuing to model this pool, I am discovering new and convenient ways to make edits to my plan. As an example, I have these pillars (or columns - not sure the right architectural term here) which are used at several places of my plan (corners of pool and fountain spillway). I chose to make these pillars as symbols for convenience. So I created my pillars using a countertop with moulding as shown here. But then I wanted to modify this symbol (make it taller, remove molding from one side) and since I did not keep the original countertop object I used to create it, it seems as though I lost the ability to really change it much. I can change the size, but what if I wanted to make more edits like I did when I first created this symbol? I wanted to change the material and remove molding from one side. How can I convert my symbol back to its original format to make the same edits like when I created this symbol? Marc G.

Fair enough. I know I'm going a little crazy with this pool plan, but it's mostly to learn all about CA and what I can and can't do. And also what can be done easily. Let's hope that CA X13 does provide some more editing abilities regarding 3D objects, molding, etc. I know you can apply a 3D molding to a 2D object that is converted to a 3D solid such as a countertop. But it's not truly a 3D object. Rather, it's a 2D object the is extruded in the 3rd dimension. Not quite a fully-editable 3D object. Marc

Eric, This doesn't really help me here. What's it a picture of and how did you do it? Looks like a polyline solid. So did you trim out an edge in a molding? I can't tell.

So, to state it simply, there's no easy way to add a molding or edge to a 3D shape like this?

Designed my swimming pool but now trying to add a bottom of varying depth. The only practical way I see to do this is with polyline solids. Here's my attempt by using three separate solids and laying them side-by-side. Seems to work okay, but notice how my solid of varying height (the deep end) overshoots the outline of the pool. How do I fix this? Also, notice that I used a pool cove on two of the three polyline solids. So I converted two of my polyline solids to countertops to add molding. However, is there a way to add a pool cove (or molding) to the varying depth polyline solid? Or, is there a simpler, better way to do this? Marc G. Pool w: varying depth V2.zip

Thank you so much Glenn. You have been extremely helpful with this whole process. I would have never though to use room dividers to accomplish what I needed here. Just wish there was an easier way to adjust the heights of these walls besides using Cross Section / Elevation views. It's quite a cumbersome process that way, but at least it works!

Okay. .... That works! However, just a few caveats. 1. I noticed that I still need to pull that wall section away from other wall after I place my room dividers otherwise it still snaps back to the original wall after I make any changes. 2. After I make all the changes I like, it seems as though I have to keep these room divider lines in place. Even if I delete one of the room dividers (to make plan view look a little neater) the walls revert back to merge with surrounding walls and applies changes to entire wall again. I can't win. Is this what you discovered too?

I actually even pulled the entire wall out from the current wall to where it said the wall was unconnected. Then I shrank its height and removed the cap. When I dragged that changed wall back into place, it merged with the wall and applied changes to the entire wall. I must be doing something wrong.

Glen, Thanks for the advice, but when I pull that wall out of alignment (in plan view), like you said, it just snaps back and even deletes that wall segment. What am I doing wrong? Perhaps you can show me with my plan and a quick video on how you got this to work. Marc

Yes, that was my first approach, but it didn't quit work as I expected. If I try to even move the section of "split" wall by any amount, it automatically "heals" the wall by unbreaking it. As an example, I broke my spa wall where I wanted the spillway. Then once I selected that wall and deleted the cap, CA merged the broken wall with it's neighboring walls and deleted the cap on that entire side. Then I tried to take that piece of wall that I broke away from the main wall for my spillway and lower it's height using Cross Section / Elevation and it moved the entire wall downwards, not just the section I wanted. I've attached my plan for someone to play with. Notice that the wall where I want the spillway is already broken. But if I edit it in any fashion, such as it's height or remove it's cap, it joins this piece with the neighboring straight walls and applies the changes to everything. Marc My spa w: spillway.zip

Then I want to be able to add these little pilasters on the corners of the pool like this: But I have a similar problem ... I don't know how to break the wall so that I change, not only it's cap and height, but also it's width. Here the pool cover is 12" wide everywhere with a 24" x 24" pilaster sitting at each corner. Here's my attempt: I did the same thing by pulling up the walls using "Cross Section / Elevation" but then I can't change the cap and the wall width for just that section of wall.

Yes, I know about the water, but I'm not ready to add it just yet. Having difficulty with the spill way. I made it by pulling down just a portion of the wall height in "Cross Section / Elevation" view but now I want to remove the cap on just that section and cover with another cap. Here's my pic of spillway along with it's elevation view where I made the cut: How do I "split or break" a wall so that I can change the cap in one portion of a continuous wall? Marc G.

Well, I figured out this technique on my own. But I would have certainly saved time and frustration if I had read your post beforehand. Thanks for the advice! Also a very good suggestion. I simply used the "chamfered lines" on my polyline outline of my spa and then converted each diagonal wall to a curve as you described. Then I made my hole by lowering the flooring and adding a rounded molding on the bottom. Now I have a rounded hot tub, with rounded corners on inside and out with a matching rounded cap. Here's my result:

Wait, perhaps I'm misunderstood here, but I DO want curved walls both inside and out for my raised hot tub. I tried doing it three different ways with a certain degree of success but nothing easy and really working like I want. See my attached pic at my attempts, along with the actual pic of the hot tub. The easiest is to use a negative terrain rectangular feature for the hole and the I created 3D molding polylines, but there are no walls and this needs to be raised about 15 inches. Then, I got as close as possible to what I wanted using terrain curved and straight walls. I think this is the way to go if I can get it work properly. I really struggle with the editing features of terrain walls. It's so difficult to make this thing symmetrical since terrain walls always like to dynamically attached themselves to each other and so, essentially ignores my wall changes when they are close to each other. That other model with the curved walls is almost there but not exactly the size, shape, symmetry I want. The last model is drawing it all using straight walls, which again is almost as hard as doing curved walls. But then I get an octagon and not truly curved walls. Am I trying something that just isn't that easy with CA?