How best to "panelize" a cathedral ceiling with moldings?

[GeneDavis]

A  room addition moves the living space to its larger environs, and the client wants the same flat-board molding panel scheme done to the 5:12 ceilings, as is elsewhere in the as-built house.

 

How is this efficiently done?

[Chopsaw]

I would just go with soffits.  Keep it simple. 

[robdyck]

On 5/7/2020 at 2:57 PM, GeneDavis said:

A  room addition moves the living space to its larger environs, and the client wants the same flat-board molding panel scheme done to the 5:12 ceilings, as is elsewhere in the as-built house.

 

How is this efficiently done?

Are your vaulted ceiling planes rectangular? If so, I'd build the panels flat, where it's simple and convert them to a fixture to place under the vaulted ceiling. Simply lay them out using the diagonal measurement of your ceiling plane, but in plan view...parallel to the ground.

[Alaskan_Son]

17 minutes ago, robdyck said:

Are your vaulted ceiling planes rectangular? If so, I'd build the panels flat, where it's simple and convert them to a fixture to place under the vaulted ceiling.

 

This can be done pretty easily even if they aren't rectangular.  Here's a video I made a little while back that you could probably extrapolate the basics from.  Might be worth a quick watch if you haven't seen it yet...

 

[GeneDavis]

That was interesting, Michael.  

 

And it made me come around to the thought I had when confronted with this task.  What if we could select a ceiling plane, use a (new) command to view it orthographically from below (i.e., "looking up at it") and then use material regions to create a flat board "coffered look" array of elements.

 

Here is my room, ceiling doodled with the look I want.  I used soffits for the "boards" that run up from wall to ridge, and p'line solids for the boards running parallel to ridge.  If doing it again, I will use the solids throughout.  It is easier because all the basic CAD work is done in one section view, then it is plan view and some editing, replication, mirroring, and DONE!

[Alaskan_Son]

1 hour ago, GeneDavis said:

If doing it again, I will use the solids throughout.  It is easier because all the basic CAD work is done in one section view, then it is plan view and some editing, replication, mirroring, and DONE!

 

That's actually what I would do as well.  The video link I posted was mostly just to address Robert's comment on rectangular ceilings.  There might be some supplementary steps, but in essence, I would draw and distribute the pieces running horizontal to the baseline in an elevation view, I would draw the piece running perpendicular to the baseline in an elevation view, and then I would switch back to plan to finish sizing, copying, and distributing.  Last, I would use boolean operations as desired to get the arrangement I wanted.

[robdyck]

5 hours ago, Alaskan_Son said:

The video link I posted was mostly just to address Robert's comment on rectangular ceilings

The only reason I mentioned rectangular, is because I thought that a designer who hasn't figured out how to quickly and simply make a vaulted ceiling 'flat' or level with the ground would only find it troublesome to make a 'flat' area from a complex shaped ceiling plane. Nothing to do with method. Slope/gain factors are simple for some, confusing for others.

For a simple low profile detail like Gene showed, one could easily use a replicated ceiling plane to make that panel effect. While it wouldn't be correct when zoomed in (the edges would remain plumb) it would have looked fine for most views and is very fast to make.